office. binders filled with women, whole binders of them. women we have never met, strange people from another planet that mitt romney apparently never visited. anyway, it's not that funny. romney would make abortion effectively a criminal act. if you believe the platform he's running on, the running mate he's chosen, the words he's spoken about outlawing abortion, the judges he wants to put on the supreme court. do you know what's cooking here? it's not daddy coming home early for supper. mr. job creator is coming over to boss you around just like he did to jim lehrer and tried to do to candy crowley. he's the big shot who wants to tell what you birth control coverage you can get at work and what you can do with your body. he's got plans for you, and you owe it to yourself to know them. with me is activist lilly ledbetter and jane walsh, whose new book is "what's the matter with white people." thank you for coming on the program tonight. it really has come down to the strange way in which mitt romney speaks, how he speaks almost in a 1950s pre-"mad men" era, if you will, about men and women in the workplace. >> that's right. and he's scaring me to death. it scares me for my family, my neighbors, and all the people across this nation because if he's elected and these crazy ideals are implemented, i don't know where we common people will end up. it is so scary, chris, for where we're headed, and these are not even common sense thinking ideals about what he wants to do. i don't and would not want an employer of mine to decide what i can do with my body or my birth control or what medications i can take. i just want my equal pay for equal work at work, and then i do not want and do not believe that abortion is killing someone. i do not because most of those are done simply because it's to save a woman's life. >> let's take a look at this. mitt romney's problem with many women voters stretches far and wide. these are some of the highlights we put together here. number one, the republican party platform, everyone should read this part of the platform, criminalizes abortion. basically says from the moment of conception the fetus has the rights of the 14th amendment to personhood, to life, liberty, and property, whatever that means. number two, romney says he'll abolish obama care. abolish. his plan to replace it boils down to getting you, if you're still alive, to the emergency room, if you're still alive. number three, he'll voucherize medicare. boy, is he serious about that. number four, eliminate federal funding for planned parenthood. >> number five, he supports the blunt amendment which allows employers to, by their own fiat, deny contraceptive coverage to employees as they see it. joan, this is a round robin of a lot of stuff. >> what's happening here now, chris, is very obvious. we had a summer and fall in which mitt romney was hung up on his support for the personhood amendment, his support for the blunt amendment which again would put the employer in the way of birth control and anything else -- >> said it would be terrific to sign a law outlawing abortion. >> i saw that interview with anderson cooper. then he picked paul ryan, and then we were talking about legitimate rape and todd akin. this was his problem through the spring and summer, and we watched that gender gap expand, go nuts. he figured something out, women don't like these extremist positions, and he's backtracking as fast as he can on every single one of them. the obama administration is being very smart and they're not letting him. they're putting out his real words in ads, the president on the stump. >> here he is, joan. campaigning at manchester, ohio, president obama recalled romney's debate line about getting those, quote, binders of women when he was staffing his cabinet up in massachusetts as governor. let's listen. >> by the way, we want our sons to thrive in math and science and engineering, but we also want our daughters to thrive in those fields, too. we don't have to order up some binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women who can learn and excel in these fields right now. and when these young women graduate, i want them to receive equal pay for equal work. >> well, that's a good commitment there. you don't get that from the other side. mitt romney's line about binders of women, which was a dodge of a question about this very point, whether he supports the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. >> by the way, we want our sons to thrive in math and science and engineering, but we also want our daughters to thrive in those fields, too. we don't have to order up some binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women who can learn and excel in these fields right now. and when these young women graduate, i want them to receive equal pay for equal work. >> well, that's a good >> i went to a number of women's groups and said, can you help us find folks. they brought us whole binders full of women. >> well, shannon o'brien, mitt romney's opponent, said the scenario romney presented in which he proactively sought out the binders full of women was not exactly the case. it came from the women's group. let's listen. >> i call it another one of mitt's massachusetts myths, and he's made himself the shining knight. the fact is there was a group, massgap, which is the government appointments project put together by a number of bipartisan women's groups. at the time there were approximately, i don't know, 30% of women in high-ranking positions in that administration, and this group got together and demanded, frankly, of me and of mitt romney that we make a pledge, that we pledge to bring more women into whether it was my or his administrations. we actually signed -- i think he did, too, signed the pledge. >> he did what he was told to do. the organization shannon o'brien references there put out a statement reinforcing it was they who reached out to romney, not vice versa. they reached out to all the candidates. they said, massgap committees selected top applicants for each position and presented this information to the administration for follow-up interviews and consideration for appointment. romney got into trouble on this. he told something dishonest suggesting he was the good guy when he was responding to pressure, appropriate pressure. because he wouldn't answer the question. from everything you know following this campaign, where is he on the bill named after you on equal pay? >> well, chris, i think he will veto it or try to do away with it simply because his running mate, paul ryan, voted against it, and mr. ryan has been out on the campaign trail talking against the ledbetter bill, saying it wasn't needed, and i can assure you it was needed, and the house and the congress and the senate, they passed it. they knew it was needed. it had been there for many years, and i don't think that he's ever going to commit, and it's so simple because it's just a fundamental american right, and the men in this country, like yourself, they all understand it now because their wives, their daughters, their daughter-in-laws, their granddaughters are all working. it takes two people to earn a living. i don't think mitt romney is ever going to bring himself to commit, yes, the ledbetter bill will stay on the books, yes, it's a good bill, we need it. i don't think he will, and i know paul ryan is not because he never supported it, and this is such a terrible injustice to the working women and their families across this nation. it's not right. it's a simple bill. >> is it insane -- what is it on his part, is it tom donahue, the u.s. chamber of commerce, what pressure is he doing not to do what seems to be the reasonable thing to do, equal pay? why would romney, who is not an idiot, why would he take that position? >> well, the united states chamber of commerce probably is pushing for that because they sent in a lawyer to argue against lilly ledbetter the two times i testified in the house and the two times i testified in the senate. so they are not for the ledbetter bill. >> it makes sense he's getting pressure. >> he is. >> that doesn't show good faith with american women. american women vote. most of the voters, yet he'd rather go with the downtown group, with the u.s. chamber of commerce. why? that's got to be psychological. why does he feel more comfortable with a bunch of guys downtown with some money to spend when he has all the money in the world? >> well, because he's their candidate. he represents them. that is what he's going to restore to the white house, but i also think we have to say, he will not commit to being against it either. i mean, ed gillespie came out and said, well, it turns out he was against it in 2009, and then he had to come out and say, well, actually he didn't take a position. and then somebody came out and said, well, actually, he was against it. he just -- >> dare i say the obvious, candy crowley gave him an opportunity to say what he's for or against and he didn't take it. >> put it on the record if that's how you feel. he's too cowardly to do that. >> this issue of abortion rights, which i didn't think would get into this campaign. a new romney ad airing in washington, d.c., and suburbs. this ad attempts to make romney's position on abortion and contraception seem less extreme. the obama campaign fired back with an ad of its own. let's watch both of them together starting with the romney ad. >> turns out romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue is important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. >> that's the most dishonest ad in the world. we don't debate the legality of contraception in this country, not since the '50s. for him to come out and say that's the issue. the issue is do you get help from your insurance company. >> is it like another medical -- >> i'm sorry, i interrupted. let's get the obama ad before we jump in here. >> seeing this from mitt romney, then take a look at this. >> if roe v. wade was overturned, congress passed a federal ban and it came your desk, would you sign it? >> i would be delighted to the sign it. >> he goes further to say it would be terrific if he could sign it. i would say that's a declarative statement. he wants to outlaw abortion and, by the way, reading his party platform, he wants to criminalize it. you're creating a murderous situation on the books. i don't know what they're talking about with parenthood and all this if it isn't to criminalize it for the woman as well as the doctor. that's the most extreme ticket we have ever seen on this issue i can remember. lilly ledbetter, your thoughts. >> absolutely. >> that's a direct statement. >> that is a brazen ad, chris. that ad is a brazen ad that he -- >> i lived in this area for 40 years now. i know so many people who lived over in arlington, northern virginia, bedroom communities, they work in washington, a lot of them are single. they're very keen on knowing this stuff. >> that's why the obama ad is brilliant to call him out on it. >> it assumes you're incapable of understanding the words. >> it starts with somebody going to google and trying to find his positions. i hope women go to google and find his positions. he wants to sign a bill that would overturn roe v. wade. he's on the record because he says so. >> anybody voting out there, man or woman, who cares about these rights issues, you don't vote on somebody's right. you ought to know these things. everybody i think will by the time we vote. lilly ledbetter, an honor to have you on the show. >> i thank you. >> and joan walsh, of course. coming up, the big dog and the boss hit the campaign trail together. while the president is courting women, bill clinton and bruce springsteen were in ohio going after what you might call white blue collar people like where i came from. also, prospects for the democrats holding the senate are brightening. we have some real brand new poll numbers that suggest the democrats may just hold onto this senate after all. one state where they face an uphill battle is nebraska where bob kerrey, great old bob kerrey, is hoping for a comeback. he's coming here in a minute. >> impressive crowd, the haves and the have mores. some people call you the elite. i call you my base. >> that's going to be a lot of fun tonight. this is "hardball"hardball," the place for politics. with less than three weeks to go to election day, you can learn a lot about the election by simply looking at where the campaigns are spending the most money on tv ads. and this week four of the top five cities are in wisconsin or ohio. number five, madison, wisconsin. number four, columbus, ohio. third, cincinnati, ohio. number two, denver, colorado. and the top ad this week, green bay, wisconsin, again. so the battle is mostly in the midwest. for the first time there are no cities in virginia or florida in the top ten. at least not for now. whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios we might still be making mix tapes. find this. pause this. play this. eject this. write this. it's like the days before esurance express lane™. you had to find a bunch of documents just to get a car insurance quote. now express lane finds your driving info with just one click, saving time to be nostalgic about the days before express lane. thank you, insurance for the modern world. esurance. now backed by allstate. click or call. i had, i don't know, 20-something jobs before i got elected president, but this is the first time in my life i ever got to be the warm-up act for bruce springsteen. >> 45-minute warm-up act, and it was a good 45 minutes. welcome back to "hardball." 19 days to the election, and barack obama is bringing in the big guns. the big dog and the boss. two legends in their own time. they came together for a joint appearance near cleveland this afternoon, and they made the sales pitch for the president's re-election and i guess energized a lot of blue collar voters out there who love this guy, rust belt people, hoping to shore up what i call the scranton/oshkosh corridor, where we make things in this country. i want to offer up a small thought, i think obama has yet to hit the right note about the auto industry and saving it. i think autos in this country are part of our culture. we love cars, loved the new models when we were kids. the fact we make our own cars and we're leading the world in production right now and sales is a fantastic achievement this president deserves to have on his credit, and he's not taking enough credit for it, and the other guy was for bankruptcy. bill clinton made the sales pitch to northeast ohio voters, many of whom have jobs in the auto industry. let's watch. >> he said it's important to remember that one in eight jobs in the state of ohio are tied to automobiles, and he saved those jobs, a million of them. >> i love ohio. it's an old-school place. we like our families, we like our communities. we value personal loyalty. when you were down, you were out, and your whole economy was threatened, the president had your back. you got to have his back now. >> this guy can sell shoes to imelda marcos. >> bruce springsteen touted the president's accomplishment in between a few tunes, and they were great tunes. >> i have lived long enough to know that despite those galvanizing moments in history, the future is rarely a tide rushing in. it's often a small march, inch by inch, day after long day. i believe we are in the midst of those long days right now. and i'm here because i believe president obama feels those days in his bones for all the 100 percenters. i believe he's got the strength, the commitment, and the vision to live these days with us and to carry the standard forward. >> thank you. we've got john heilemann and ron reagan here. this cultural importance of tying into people, regular people, i think it's a big deal. >> well, it's a huge deal, and, you know, in a state like ohio, working class voters, lower middle class voters, particularly women but also men in that state are going to make the difference, and to a large extent ohio has become the state president obama must win or mitt romney must win to be president. and president obama has a little bit of a lead there. he's got to get those people to come out for him. i went to an event last time around four years ago on the sunday before the election. right outside the cleveland browns stadium. bruce springsteen, 20,000 people, a lot of working class folks who had been at the football game, came from the football game, watched bruce springsteen, the president showed up. you remember springsteen did the 2004 event for john kerry. he's become a regular surrogate in places like ohio, and people love him there. he speaks to those kind of people in a way the president sometimes has a hard time doing. >> are these guys anecdotes to the crap that's been thrown by people like donald trump saying the president is really from kenya, his ideas are from europe, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. and then you have these two guys, the big dog and the boss, come in and say we are sui generis american like obama is, but they have a special claim on a certain kind of voter. do you see it that way? >> yes, i do. the conventional wisdom, as john has pointed out, is this election will come down to ohio, and ohio comes down to the very kinds of voters we're talking about, working class people that used to be called reagan democrats, now a lot of them are independents, and these people are not necessarily obama's natural constituency, but they are reachable on economic issues, and nobody is better, not barack obama, not joe biden, nobody is better than bill clinton at speaking to folks like this in terms they can understand and dissuading them from voting against their best economic interest. he can say it cuttingly. he can cut romney off at the knees in a way maybe president obama shouldn't go there, but bill clinton can. >> you know, i'll just say one thing, ron is so right about this. i wrote this cover story in the magazine about the clinton -- clinton's role. >> great story. it's out now. >> the thing clinton kept saying while he was writing that convention speech, these people don't need eloquence, they need education, they need explanation. you have to tell them the facts. you have to lay the case out for them and the brilliance of bill clinton is not just that -- he invests the people that are listening to him with the intelligence to figure it out. if he lays the case out for them and clears away ideology, that they will understand and then do what the right thing is. >> well -- >> that's a very powerful tool. >> here is more from bruce springsteen talking about what the president has already done. maybe he'll do a better job than the president of selling himself. let's listen. >> i came here today because i'm thankful for universal health care, you know, the lack of which was for so long an embarrassment to our country. i'm thankful for a more regulated wall street. i'm thankful gm is still making cars. i'm here today because i'm concerned about women's rights. i don't have to tell you the dangers to roe versus wade under our opponent's policies. i'm here because i'm deeply concerned about the continuing disparity in wealth between our best off citizens and our everyday citizens. >> you know, ron, it's always great to have you on. it's always a contrast between your thinking and your dad's, but you're both amazingly good communicators. this ability to talk, i used to think your dad, although he made a lot of money in hollywood, he always had the magical ability to get on television or radio, especially radio, and talk to the gu