righties who blame hurricane sandy for mitt romney's rough finish. >> the hurricane is what broke romney's momentum. >> good to have you with us tonight. folks, thanks for watching. the days are racing by and time is running out. mitt romney needs something short of a miracle in the worst way. romney went to clooeflds today to project strength. in the choice of the american people can lead to one of two very different destinations. if the president were to be reelected -- [ booing ] >> it's possible, but not likely. >> romney's running mate paul ryan is trying to complete a hale mary pass in wisconsin. he was tailgating with packer fans today at lambeau field. then it was off to ohio as well. >> two more days. just two more days. two more days. this is one of those elections we will think back at and look at for years. >> the national polling average has president obama on top by just half a point. romney isn't as close in the states where the election is going to be decided. in paul rooip's home state of wisconsin, the president leads by an average of more than four points. president obama has kept a stead zi two-point lead in nearby iowa. in ohio the president's lead has not diminished in recent weeks. the obama campaign isn't leaving anything for chance in the buckeye state. he also sate down with my colleague, chris matthews. >> what do you think is going to happen? >> i think we're going to win clearly. i think we're going to win this state, ohio. i've been here 23, 24 days, something like that. i think we're going to win iowa, we're going to win wisconsin. we're going to win informed. we're going to win new hampshire. we have an even chance of winning virginia and florida. it could be a big win. don't just vote. knock on the door of the neighbors. the middle class depends on it. it literally depends on it. >> the vice president took on his latest lie. >> scared the heck out of these people. and it's flat false. this is the most cynical play. there's an editorial in the denver post saying this goes to character. it's not just a lie. but it goes to character. >> most of the attention is on ohio, a record breaking crowd gathered in concord, new hampshire. president obama was joined by one of the best retail politicians in the business, former president bill clinton. >> 20 years and nine months ago new hampshire began the chance for me to become president. i have worked very hard in this campaign. [ cheering ] i worked hard in the last one, too. i did 40 events for the president. hillary did 70. but i want you to know something. i'm much more enthusiastic now than i was then. >> as the campaign gets down to the final hours president obama wants his supporters to know he hasn't lost any of his drive. >> new hampshire, i'm here today because i'm not ready to give up on the fight. i know i look a little older, but i have a lot of fight left in me. i am not ready to give up on the fight, and i hope you aren't either, new hampshire. >> the obama campaign has the latest poll number on the sides. the best way for mitt romney to squeeze out a victory is if people don't vote. keep in mind, ohio republican secretary of state has cut back early voting hours. rick scott cut the number of early voting from 14 doing to 8. giving us lines that look like this. one polling place in miami-dade county shut down temporarily because workers could not meet the demand. every vote will be important in the election. one side seems intent on making sure not everyone gets to vote. get your cell phones out. we want to know what you think tonight. can voter suppression win for mitt romney? text "a" for yes or "b" for no. joining me tonight, first is ben levolt, national press secretary for the 2012 campaign. very bold prediction tonight by the vice president in his interview with my colleague, chris matthews. do you believe the electoral college is not going to be that close? is the obama team that confident tonight? >> at the end of the day it all comes down to turnout. in a state like nevada, more than 70% will vote by election day we have a 70,000 vote lead there. we have more than 100,000 vote advantage in the bank at this time. we signed up more than 6,600 volunteer shifts for the get out the vote program. it all comes down to turnout in the final hours. >> well, you have the turnout, it looks like. if these early voting hours have been cut, how much concern is that to you? >> well, we have a voter protection team on the ground and right here in chicago that took quick action in florida yesterday. miami-dade and palm beach announced early voting tomorrow. so we're going to make sure that everybody's vote counts. if you're in line, stay in line. we're going to make sure it happens through the final hours. >> the romney campaign says it has numbers showing that they're going to win ohio. is that a bluff? >> well, i think we heard a lot of bluffing from the romney campaign for days that says they have an intensity advantage on their side. look no further than the fact that mitt romney spent the day in the state of pennsylvania. he's desperately searching for a new pass to 270. he's not comfortable with his position in ohio. if he was, he wouldn't be lying to auto workers across the state, saying that their jobs are going to be shipped overseas. they know they're down in ohio. they're desperately searching for a new pass. >> all right. ben, good to have you with us tonight. thank you so much. let's turn to richard wolffe, msnbc political analyst and vice president executive editor of msnbc.com. jonathan alter also with us tonight. msnbc political analyst. gentlemen, great to have you with us. richard, you first. the romney campaign is selling hard that they have got a path to victory even through ohio. your reaction? >> well, you can poll all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time. at some time the wheels fall off. it wasn't in play for bush in 2004. it's not going to be in play now. and the numbers that you're seeing in the early votes, they may not hold up in the sense the republicans think they'll have a better turnout on the the day. but it says a lot about the ground game that chicago has been talking about for a long time. it's what they built in iowa back in 2007. the clinton folks didn't bloef it then. >> jonathan alter, you've been on the ground in iowa in the last 24 hours. enthusiasm, who has it? >> i think they both have it. i agree pennsylvania is a bluff. but ohio is close. and it is within the margin of error. and the republicans in the rural conservative counties have pretty good organization. the evangelicals will come out strong for romney. so obama has a lot of advantages it's one of the area where is people are switching to obama rather than away. but there are some other demographic groups where there has been some slippage for obama. and i think this one is really genuinely going down to the wire. >> well, cuyahoga county. there are 12,000 votes off of early voting from where they were in 2008. now if that's a micro kochl for the state, what does it mean? >> well, early voting favored obama and ohio in 2008. mccain won the state on election day. obama carried the state comfortable bli, but not on election someday. >> here is romney today in iowa talking about people getting handouts. >> paul and i have not promised you a bigger check from the government. and we haven't promised to take from some people to redistribute to you. >> your response. is this another last ditch effort to appeal to sentiment? >> at this point even a dog whistle doesn't breakthrough. there's too much white noise out there. what matters at this point is the ground game. it's can you find the right people? the republican playbook is they have the intensity. there are enough people who hate the president that they will show up anyway. you're seeing two very different philosophies of how you get people to go out and vote. the obama campaign is trying to find the actual individual to vote. you still have to have people go out and vote. this is a long way from being over. but if you have the organization, the bet is, and they showed it before in 2008, the bet is you can go out and get the votes. >> i sense more confidence in ohio than you, jonathan. >> there's two dozen battleground polls in the state. in all of them romney hasn't come up ahead. >> i'm not being pessimistic about ohio, i'm just being cautious. it's true the polls get more accurate the closer you get to an election. they're not accurate at all a year or two out or even a month or two out. at this point the track record is pretty good. i was talking to identical twins in perry, ohio, yesterday. they were working for obama in lake county, ohio, in 2008. they say the organization is significantly better this year than 2000. >> the pugh research poll came out, romney had a 19-point advantage. now it's down to nine. medicare, is that story breaking for the obama team? richard? >> well, those pew numbers are -- first of all, i think you've seen the one last ship in the campaign with the president's response to the hurricane that affected voters across the demographic. even into the romney campaign. >> romney right now is polling as the favorite. i'm not sure the medicare message cut that deeply. >> okay. richard wolffe, jonathan, great to have you gentlemen with us. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts with us on twitter and on facebook. we want to know what you think. coming up, the lines are long but the voters aren't backing down. why florida's governor is refusing to help out. this is the ed show live from democracy plaza. we're coming right back. stay with us. ♪ [ female announcer ] you can always measure the growth of your children by the way they clean themselves in the bathroom. try charmin ultra strong. with a new duraclean texture, charmin ultra strong helps you get clean. plus it's four times stronger than the leading value brand. and you can use up to four times less. good news for even the biggest kids in the family. we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra strong? 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[ relaxing music playing ] [ chuckles ] -whew, so many choices. -take your time. -the service center. -okay. giving you choices -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. >> coming up, the lathest from the ground in florida where the republican rick scott is doing everything he can to keep people from voting. then the romney campaign has broken their silence on their deceptive jeep advertising. teamsters president james hoffa is here with reaction. and today was a big day on the trail. tomorrow will be even bigger. howard fineman is talking to both campaigns tonight, and he will join us later. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter. welcome back to the ed show. thanks for watching tonight. long lines, short tempers and lots of confusion tonight. over early voting in the state of florida. voters report standing in line for four, five, six, even seven hours to cast a ballot in south florida this weekend. these are working people who say they can't take off work to get to the polls on tuesday. but governor rick scott, he doesn't care. he refused to extend voting hourses. he doesn't want anybody to vote today. so civil rights advocates filed suits and judges in five counties in the state of florida went over the governor's head and extended voting hours. hundreds of people lined up in miami-dade. just after two hours, election officials said they didn't have enough resources and they locked the doors. the voters started chanting. >> let us vote! >> election officials brought in another ballot printer and more staffers so that they could reopen for a few more hours. miami-dade, broward and palm beach counties say they'll accept ballots tomorrow. still voting in florida has become a serious challenge. >> look at this mess. >> no, it ain't no mess. >> i've been in this line for seven hours. i got here at 7:30 in the morning. and i was finally done at 2:30 or 2:40. >> both jeb bush and charlie crist extended voting hours when they were governor, but rick scott refuses. the republican mayor of miami and top republicans in tallahassee say these voters don't need an extension. you believe that? they say they don't need an extension. if there's one thing we can't do in the country, it's vote properly. this is america. you mean to tell me with all the internet technology and communications skills and resources at our fingertips, this is what america looks like? in a very important election. and you're going to tell me we can't do better than this? washington ought to fix this no matter who wins. maybe they're hoping the democrats just will go home. they don't want to wait in line anymore. joining me tonight, mitch sezer. he's also on the executive board of the democratic committee as a representative of the 14 southern states. i mean, it's great to have you with us tonight. but it just infuriates me when i see video tape like that. i mean, we vote like a third world country. >> well, welcome to ground zero. homeland of rick scott. i will expand the bid and tell you that folks who got online before 7:00, those people had a process by either midnight or 1:00 a.m. this morning. these are people who want their dmok, want the right to vote, and what's standing in their way, as you said, is governor rick scott. >> why is he doing this? why isn't he saying we're going to exhaust every effort we can to make sure there's democracy. i know the answer to it. i want to hear yours. >> it's obvious democrats do well in early voting. statistics prove it. also minorities, especially in south florida tend the vote. originally there twr two early vote days cut in half to repent minority votes. specifically african-american kmurj goers wo would march to the polls. you know, it's interesting ed. it's an amazing coincidence. all the republicans governors came up with the ideas, presumably individually about two years ago. and yet it all seemed to come together for them. obviously tl no coincidences in politics. there are none in life. >> i have said all along that i think south florida is the bread basket of victory for president obama in the state of florida. but as far as the number of people coming out do you see it equals that in 2008? >> well, i think it's running relatively close. i will give you a statistic that is not public in broward county. when you up all the early voting in 2008, by the close of the polls tuesday night, broward county will equal but probably probably surpass 2008 totals for early and absentee voting. in spite of governor rick scott. >> well, excellent point. i also see that rick scott is also appeared with mitt romney one time in the last nine months. why is that? >> well, obviously he's radio active here. he's the invisible man politically. mitt romney may change his mind every other day. the one thing he hasn't changed his mind about is never appearing on the same stage as rick scott. this guy is toxic. i chatted with him. he is just home. he's a returning veteran. he was very angry. he was online for three or four hours already and said i don't mind suing for the country and fighting for the country. i don't appreciate having to fight for my rights to vote. >> thanks for joining us tonight. appreciate it so much. next up, the romney camp finally responds to their lie about cheap outsourcing jobs to china, and it's not pretty. teamster's president james hoffa will weigh in and have the latest on the ground from ohio. and a few days ago karl rove predicting victory for romney. hear what excuse he came up with to save his hide. you're watching the ed show coming to you live in democracy plaza in new york city. welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney's campaign can't answer for their completely false jeep to china advertising blitz, and it's a blitz. romney has been running bo gus radio and tv ads in ohio they claim because of the auto loan. the claim is a lie. chrysler ceo says jeep production is staying in the state of ohio and called the commercials inaccurate. romney's political director was asked about st lie for the first time today, and his response was embarrassing. the fact is that chrysler far from chipping jobs go to ohio with actually expanding operations in toledo. >> well, i found it interesting that president obama would attack governor romney hon that when they put up an ad saying that governor romney says let detroit go bankrupt when that's a headline from "the new york times" op-ed. >> just another classic nonanswer from the romney campaign. "the new york times" did pick the title of the op-ed, but romney wrote if the auto companies get a loan, quote, you can kiss the american automotive industry good-bye. the substance is all the same. romney did not want to help detroit with a loan. he has made that very clear more than once. >> there's no question that if you just write a check that you're going to see the companies go out of business ultimately. >> you said if general motors, ford and chrysler get the bail out that the chief executives ask for yesterday you can kiss it good-bye. >> that's exactly right. if you write a check they're going to go out of business. his response wasn't much better. >> david, i've not seen the ad. i've just heard it. apparently not running it in virginia. i've not seen the ad. >> he's not seen the ad. he doesn't know anything. apparently one of the highest ranking members of congress isn't paying any attention to the presidential race. you believe that? for more, let's turn to james hoffa, mr. hoffa, good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be here. >> you get. what do you make of the romney campaign's inability to speak directly to the commercials that they are running in the state of ohio. >> well, i think it really shows a desperation. as the race gets closer to the end, i think that the romney campaign is getting desperate to run the jeep ad and be repudiated by the ceo of chrysler. it's so embarrassing. it's not true, and he continues to run the ad. just more lies. they're not going to move the jeeps to china. they're going to keep making them in toledo, where i'm going to be campaigning. so i don't know what is the purpose of lying like that. it's just more of the same, and it hurts his credibility, and it shows a certain desperation setting in as we only have two more days in the campaign. >> mr. hoffa, we're showing pictures of president obama live in cincinnati at a rally. making the final pitch to the i know you've been on the ground in ohio. outcome? >> well, i was there all last i'm going back in the morning. i'll be back in by 9:00 in the morning. we're going to be campaigning there. i think it's upbeat right now. there's a lot of enthusiasm. i was with the president on thursday. he has tremendous bounce in his step. tremendous confidence. all kind of people are walking up. i was impressed by what i saw. people, black people, latinos. every type of american was coming to the rally. people were bringing the children, taking them out of school because it was such an event. it was very moving to see the type of people who attended the event. that's the deep seeded enthusiasm that will carry the day in ohio. >> in ohio are the voters or them, do they bring up the automobile fiasco that romney has gotten himself into? ohio senator rob portplan was also asked about the jeep lies today and here is his response. >> the fact is we now make jeeps here in toledo, ohio, that we're proud to send to china, to asia. we export 25% of what we make here. if they're going to start facilities overseas, we're g