there. >> bill shultz, you suck. a delight as always, that does it for me. i'm greg gutfeld and i shall see you next time. america. >> president obama tries to fire up a youth vote five weeks ahead of the november mid terms and brit hume tells about a new and risky strategy by the white house to pump out the turnout and ramps up endeavors to kill ill m tennants inside afghanistan. who they are. and live from the studio in washington. this is special report the. good evening, i'm bret baier. the white house decided that youth must be served and democrats must be shamed. we have fox team coverage of the administration's latest push for the mid terms. brit hume has analysis of democratic leaders tough love for democratic voters. we begin with wendell goler on the latest efforts to overcome what's being called the

enthusiasm gap. >> in a back yard economy discussion in albuquerque, president obama showed a glimpse of frustration in the fall elections. >> that's choices are going to mean something and you've got to ask yourself what direction do i want this country to go in. >> across the country at penn state university, vice-president biden was all, but apologizing for expressing his feelings more openly. >> yesterday, i was up in new hampshire and i was talking to a bunch of folks and i did say that i was tired about some of the whining coming from our supporters. and i got roundly criticized today. >> with biden asserting people would decide later than usual who to vote for in mid term elections, the president headed from new mexico to the university of wisconsin aiming to rally the young voters who made such a difference in 2008 to vote for democrat congressional candidates this fall, but experts say the numbers are against them.

>> you'd expect the falloff in younger voters, but we're seeing a very serious falloff and democrats know that they need these voters. >> in a fox news opinion dynamics poll, 17% of voters under the age of 30 said they were extremely interested in the upcoming congressional elections compared with 46% of those aged 46 to 54. in a rolling stone interview, mr. obama scolded disaffected voters saying, quote, the idea that people are sitting on their hands complaining is just irresponsible, people need to buck up. part of the problem, experts say, is the jobless rate that remains stubbornly high despite nearly a trillion dollars in deficit spending and then there's health care reform that doesn't seem to have energized mr. obama's supporters as much as it angered critics, but the president's star is fallen and giving him a high profile role in the mid term elections could carry a price. >> there is some risk of having barack obama out there talking about why people have to vote.

they're going to be independent sweing voters who are reminded that the election is about president obama. >> since the election is not about reelecting president obama, it's unclear whether his personal appeal will work to get people under 30 to do what older people are more inclined to see as civic duty and critics say a chance for pay back. >> bret: wendell, thank you. it appears the president may be trying something new this campaign season. political analyst brit hume is here to tell us about an unusual strategy. >> all right, bret. at one time or another, president obama attacked wall street for greed and doctors for greed and insurance companies for theirs. and never stopped attacking the bush administration, he has attacked the tea party movie and the republican leadership. none of this seems to have work well with the president's poll ratings at new lows and even liberals such as wisconsin russ finegold hesitant to appear with him and now the president and allies are trying something new, attacking their own

voters. at the end of the rolling stone interview the president came back into the room and spoke with inintensity and passion, it's inexcusable for any to stand on the side line, the apathy among democrats he says it quote, irresponsible. meanwhile of course, vice-president biden was telling democrats to stop whining and senator kerry we have an electorate that doesn't always pay attention to what's going on. mr. obama and allies are certainly not the first politicians to think the voters insufficiently appreciative of their wonderous achievements, but first to be whiney and ignorant. >> bret: what about the fallout from the left. >> it went badly in the left, which matters. the guy who produces the daily coast website called the strategy idiotic, is on the left, referring to it as, let

me see if i can think of the phrase, hippy, hippy banging. >> bret: wow. okay. we'll leave it there. >> i'm sorry, hippy punching. >> bret: thanks for the clarification. >> you bet. >> bret: bret, thanks. transition, in world headlines. venezuelan president hugo chavez says his government is carrying out initial studies into starting a nuclear energy program. chavez says it's for peaceful purposes. it's unclear how quickly he intends to pursue it. iran state tv reports that powerful revolutionary guard received its first three squadrons what they're calling flying boats. supposedly able to dodge radar and iran offered the first official indication that oman is playing a key role in trying to secure the release of the remaining two american hikers in president for more than a year. the suicide bomber killed a deputy provincial governor and five other people today in

eastern afghanistan. president hamid karzai tearfully decried the violence saying that young people will choose to leave the country. also today, the afghan government announced the aappointment of nearly 70 people to a new high peace council, designed to reconcile with top taliban leaders and lure foot soldiers off the battle field. in pakistan, there was even more reason than ever for insurgents to keep their eyes on the skies. national correspondent catherine herridge reports on an expanded effort by the u.s. to track down and kill militants from above. >> senior u.s. officials tell fox the drone campaign in the tribal areas of pakistan has intensified. more than 20 strikes this month. it's one of the highest monthly totals on record. national security analysts say the obama administration has embraced this program, a carryover from the bush administration. >> they can reach in places that we can't put troops into and many instances don't want to put troops into because of the enduring commitment that it might create.

>> the targets are sometimes referred to as pakistan's witch's brew. among the group seeking shelter in the lawless border region with afghanistan, including osama bin laden and the afghani and pakistani taliban. the naturallized u.s. citizen tried and failed to set up a car bomb in new york's times square in may. the special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan seemed to suggest that terrorists were pinned down or somehow compromised because of the recent flooding in pakistan. >> there may or may not be a connection, i'll leave it to you to decide whether there is or not. but bridges are all gone in that area. the flooding has washed away the roads. >> while limited transportation may be faster, senior u.s. officials insist there is better human intelligence on the ground allowing them to hit high priority targets. wheel there's no evidence of an imminent plot in the u.s. the threat level in europe remains high.

in paris the eiffel tower and surrounding park were evacuated tuesday for the second time in two weeks after a bomb threat. germany and great britain are also on a heightened state of alert. while travelling in montreal, canada, the homeland security secretary acknowledged a, quote, we need to move to the next stage of screening, terrorists kind of figured out the magnet ometer business and continues to be a threat stream about taking down a commercial airliner in part because it was used successfully before and could have a huge impact. >> a senior u.s. officials confirms to fox there has been an up tick in chatter especially when it comes to europe and tonight our sister network sky news is it reporting plots targeting london and other european cities has been intercepted, this is a reference to commando style attacks using guns, explosives and also cell phones for coordination. sky news is also reporting tonight that the plot, quote, was advanced, but not imminent, there was no immediate comment from u.s.

officials, bret. >> bret: catherine herridge will have tonight in chicago, thank you. be careful what you say about someone, you may end up working with them. that story in the grapevine and

>> the recently resigned head of the nation's second largest public employee union is being mentioned in connection with a federal corruption investigation. chief washington correspondent jim angle reports andy stern has some friends in high places. >> reporter: given his standing when andy stern's name comes up in fbi and labor department investigations, it raises a lot of eyebrows, especially since he resigned his union post earlier this year. >> the big talk in washington, why would he do that? he was supposedly at the top of his game and getting into the white house anytime he wanted to. obviously, the head of one of the largest unions in the united states.

>> some clearly suspect he resigned because he knew what was coming, but travel officials refused to confirm the nature of the investigation or whether stern was in the center of it or if his name came up in wider investigations of union corruption. one example is stevens who has been convicted of fraud and tax evasion and is now in prison. alejandro stevens lost his job and as part of the conditions with him losing his job he was going to get paid $75,000 a year for consulting services sciu officials say he signed the contract for community contacts and to finish the project. the legal question whether stevens did anything for that money. federal law prohibits unions from creating no-show jobs where you get paid tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for doing no work. >> the second year of the contract stevens was not doing the required work and demanded that he return all the money. he refused and the matter has been in arbitration since

2008, but union critics are not satisfied. >> it strikes me as somebody who loses their job because they were basically pushed out of it and then stern decides to pay him off with other people's money. >> this is not the first sign of wrongdoing at sci chapters in california. the president of the largest chapter tyrone freeman was kicked out after lucrative contracts to family members who weren't doing the work they were paid for and then there's the question of stern's book "a country that works" for which he got a healthy advance. the legal question over how it was sold. >> if you've got the union buying up tens of thousands of copies of books and gets $5 for every copy sold that looks fishy immediately. >> sciu says that stern receives no royalties at all and late today the union said stories about hem being investigated are quote, flat-out false ap moments ago a knowledgeable official told fox that the investigation is nearly completed and that no additional charges are expected, bret. >> bret: he will likely stay a member of the president's debt

commission. >> he will and they meet tomorrow, we'll see. >> bret: thank you. the head of the afl-cio is urging labor to recap tour the moment before the election and take control of the national conversation. the labor federation's blog reports, richard trumka said at a recent event that neighbor quote needs to fundamentally restructure our economy and reestablish popular control over the private corporations. well, that statement is getting, as you could imagine, a lot of attention on the internet particularly on conservative blogs. the afl-cio has not responded to clarification of trumka's statement. former president jimmy carter was taken to a cleveland hospital today, a spokeswoman says mr. carter developed an upset stomach while on a flight into cleveland. the 85-year-old former president is said to be resting comfortably and will remain in the hospital overnight. president obama called to check up on him this afternoon. the congressional budget office says extending all of the bush tax cuts through 2012

would boost economic growth, but would also increase the deficit. republicans are pushing for the extension, but the president and democratic leaders want to limit it to the middle class. fox business network, correspondent peter is here to tell us what it means, good evening, peter. >>emmen dorf, to those democrats who want to extend the bush tax cuts. permanently or temporarily extending all or part of the expiring income tax cuts would boost output in employment in the next few years. >> but some bad news for tax cutters, he also said extending the tax cuts would generate less economic bang for the buck than increasing unemployment benefits, reducing payroll taxes or other stimulus moves. he also warned lawmakers once again that financing new any stimulus programs of any kind through more deficit spending could hurt economic growth in the long-term. and finally, there's this map,

extending the bush tax cut for everyone for a year would cost $130 billion dollars. the cdo estimates it would create 300,000 to 900,000 jobs in 2011 which works out to $140,000 to $430,000 per job, bret e okay, peter, we'll follow it. thank you. home prices were up in july for the fourth straight month. the case-shiller raise 6/10 of a point and experts expect it to drop now that the peak buying season is over. consumer confidence has fallen this month now standing at the lowest point since february. stocks were up today. dow gained 46 and s&p 500 up 5 1/2, the nasdaq finished ahead almost 10 and gold prices set another record today. december futures rose almost $10 to settle at $1308 an ounce. we told you earlier the president's right-hand man may be leaving for another job,

but why would someone want to be mayor of chicago? we'll look at that later. up next, more bad news for some of@@

>> the connecticut senate race has tightened the new poll puts democrat richard blumenthal's lead over republican linda mcmahon at three points, within the margin of error. in a different poll back in march. blumenthal was up 33 points. republicans are making gains in several other states, that's the indication from the latest fox battle ground polls. correspondent molly henneberg reports they come at a time when president obama begins a quick four state trip to try to pump up his party's chances in november. >> president obama heading to a rally for democrats in

wisconsin tonight. in part to try to help one of the top democrats in the state. senator russ finegold who is expected to attend the event. the polls show finegoaled trailing johnson, and political analysts say that democrats thought this would be a safe seat. >> it was assumed that he would win reelection in a state that the president carried by 14 points and he had already won three reelections. >> according to our poll 47% of wisconsin voters think that finegold is too liberal and in the middle column half of the voters think that johnson is about right on the issues. in colorado republican ken buck, a tea party favorite, is ahead of the incumbent democrat there, leading michael bennett 47 to 43% and president obama endorsed bennett during a heated democratic primary, but 49% say that the president's economic policies hurt the

economy. and to illinois president obama's old senate seat. both candidates had ethical issues, but the republican is virtually tried with the democrat. the green party candidate gets 7%, and says that's significant for democrats. >> it hurts them, because most of the green party voters in 2008 voted for barack obama. >> a surprisingly close senate race in the blue state of washington and one point united states patty murray from her republican challenger dina rossy and in ohio still a double digit lead for republican rob portman over democrat lee fisher. president obama won all five of the states in 2008, but now, ohio seems somewhat out of reach. and democrats are struggling to hold on to the others. barone attributes that mainly to voters discontent over the democrats handling of the economy. in washington, molly henneberg, fox news. >> bret: over on capitol hill

senate democrats failed to pass a measure aimed at discouraging out outsourcing of american jobs. why a handful blocked the bill. >> mr. hennessey, no-- >> another legislative showdown on the senate floor. >> they chose to ignore the concerns of the american people and to press ahead with their own agenda over the past year and a half. >> another fight over who is to blame for a stalled economy and unemployment numbers that just won't budge. >> we just simply have a very different view of the world. they believe that helping bills at the very top will solve every problem. >> today senate republicans with the help of four democrats and one independent blocked a bill, democrats said would keep jobs here in america. but republicans characterize as yet another tax hike. >> if american businesses are going to compete with foreign corporations, we should have competitive tax rates. >> stand up for the american

workers and american middle class not just the ceo's of multinational corporations. >> the finger pointing comes on the same day that a group of republicans led by jim inhoff released a report that said it's the administration, through environmental protection agency through overregulating. >> interestingly enough, a lot of the labor unions are coming over and saying, hey, wait a minute republicans you're right on these things and they're chasing our jobs overseas. >> president obama, energy policy and enacting tougher regulations will continue under his watch. calling it a top priority for next year, akin to the push to get health care legislation past. in an interview released today, mr. obama told rolling stone magazine, quote, we're going to stay on this because it's good for our economy. it's good for our national security and ultimately, it's good for our environment. . >> he tried this year, they did everything they could to try to do that with energy

this year, but they tried to do is just shut down this machine called america. >> democrats are painting today's loss in the senate as more obstructionism by the party of no, but republicans say the fault lies with senate majority leader harry reid, they say he continues to schedule high stakes votes when he knows in advance he does not have the numbers he'll need to actually get the measures passed. bret. >> bret: shannon, the final days of this shortened session it appears there's partisan bickering over the house as well. not a surprise there, but what's the latest on the looming ethics trials for charles rangel and maxine waters. >> today they sent out a statement and basically publicly calling out the democratic counterparts for the failure to actually set trial dates and to try to get these things resolved before the november 2nd elections, well, democratic aides close to the process say they have been trying to meet with republicans to get those dates set and they called the statement, quote, a load of garbage, bret. >> bret: okay, shannon bream live on the hill. thank you. a reason for some happy meal

fans to be even happier tonight. we'll tell you what it is next in the grapevine and he may end up running for mayor of chicago, but rahm emanuel chicago, but rahm emanuel can't seem to get back i got an egg [pop] i got gum a kazoo a candy necklace i got one of these [pop] a stamp helium fabric softener ear plugs [pop] lipstick two pills a day is what it takes to stay alive

if you're hiv positive. those pills cost about forty cents a day.

>> and now some fresh figures on the political grapevine. burton poresponded to a question

about rahm emanuel running for mayor of chicago. there's going to be a decision pretty soon, but right now rahm is making sure that the white house is run in the most effective way possible for the american people and emanuel may have a hard time moving back into his home in chicago if and when he decides to run for mayor. the chicago sun times reports the tenant living in emanuel's north side home has refused to budge. just six days before mayor daley announced his retirement, the tenant extended from december 1st of this year to june 2011 and the report suggests that emoon mule will not have a problem with residentsy, but an expert says you can bet it's going to be challenged. a vote on an ordinance aimed at making happy meals healthier has been postponed. the legislation would require fast food meals with toys to have fruits and vegetables and not have excessive calories,

fat, sodium and sugar and mcdonald's franchise owners clam they already offer healthy options and this proposal would undermine parental choice and responsibility, even if the measure passes mayor gavin newsome indicated he'd veto it. finally former new york governor eliot spitzer's new colleagues at cnn took a lot of shots at the democrat back when he was infamous as client number nine in the prostitution scandal that forced him out of office. here is a small sample of what was said in march of 2008. anderson cooper, quote, it seems like eliot spitzer according to allegations was spending a fair amount of his time on his job figuring out ways to hire hookers. jack calferty, sometimes the moralistic holier than thou self-righteous folks get caught up and hoisted and their own petard. he could lose his job, could the next stop for eliot spitzer be prison?

apparently not. his next stop is it to co-host a show on cnn. now, bah being to the rahm emanuel story he said last april that he has always wanted to be mayor of chicago, but correspondent mike tobin reports from the windy city, there are plenty of drawbacks to that job. >> i'm announcing that i will not seek a 7th term of mayor of the city of chicago. >> observers say the worst thing that could happen to a candidate looking to succeed mayor richard daley is that he wings. >> if you hang out on the corner bar as i do sometimes, the winner of next mayor's race is the loser. >> the winner inherits problems. chicago public schools graduate only half their students. the different fund raising schemes like privatizing toll bridges and parking meters left the city half a billion dollars short and unable to pay wage increases for city workers. the real question though is will the next mayor be a one-termer? >> of course, whoever wins becomes boss of the city that carl sandburg described as

player with railroads and freight handler to the nation. more than once the mayor of chicago has been credited with boosting a presidential candidate to success. >> it's a wonderful position because it has relatively unlimited power, an executive position and he can do pretty much whatever he wants. kind of like being local president in a sense. >> from a field of nearly two dozen potential candidates, none of them will succeed without crossing bitter ethic divisions and winning the black or hispanic vote. in the case of rahm emanuel, president obama is not obligated to help himments all he will do is put his own reelection in jeopardy and people worked hard for barack, he got 90% of the black vote in this town and he will not get it the next time if he endorses rahm emanuel. >> in the last century only a ten year period when a daley was not running the city of chicago. whoever wins the mayoral free for all will be faced with the likelihood of raising taxes and cutting services and then trying to win a second term.

in chicago, mike tobin, fox news. >> as we showed you earlier, president obama held another back yard discussion session today in albuquerque, new mexico and the subject of his faith came up. specifically why he is a christian. here is what he said. >> i'm a christian by choice, you know, my family didn't, you know, frankly they weren't folks who went to church every week. i mean, my mother was one of the most spiritual people i knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. >> bret: the u.s. is getting more aggressive going after insurgents inside pakistan. we'll talk about it with the fox allstars after the break.

>> they're going to serve a surgical strike capability and in particular the most recent

attac attacks the area where the pakistani government doesn't have great control of either. >> every bridge is out, by the way, in the same area you were discussing a moment ago, there is a-- there may or may not be a connection and i'll leave it to you to decide whether there is or not. the bridges are all gone in that area, the flooding has washed away the roads. >> bret: u.s. officials don't talk about it publicly, but privately, they concede there have been an increase in the number of strikes. there has been an increase in the number of strikes, the predator drone strikes along the north wizzerstan section of pakistan and 20 within the last few days in september. there you see along the afghan, pakistan border. 20 drone attacks into pakistan that killed some 125 people along that area in the past

couple of weeks. what about this? and what is heaned it?-- behind it? bill kristol. mara liasson, national public radio and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer, charles? >> i think there's several reasons why there's been this escalation. number within, we heard from holbrook, it's a tactical one. if you have an opportunity the bridges washed out and there is mobility and these guys can't escape. if you've got them and you have the intelligence, apparently an increase in intelligence and they're immobile you hit them. secondly we see all of this, all of these scares in france, england and germany and there is a lot of indication of near imminent or at least in the works, attacks within europe and by the fact they're protecting the eiffel tower, obviously, this is a-- this would indicate something large hitting iconic targets and apparently, it's emanating

out of pakistan and that would be the second reason and the third is actually, there's a war on in afghanistan. we're now beginning the phase where we are trying to retake kandahar, and the hinterland for the people who control kandahar and that area, obviously, is in pakistan and we are hitting the sanctuaries in a way, it's an odd analogy, but i think it does hold which is the way that in the vietnam war we went into the neighboring countries like cambodia which was also a place where there were sanctuaries, and when we were having offenses in vietnam. so, i think that's probably why. the one thing i'm a little concerned about it is we know about it, we shouldn't. it is an embarrassment, the pakistanis aren't happy when the leak is made and if this is all being leaked in private it shouldn't be, it should not be an irritant which we already have a lot between us and pakistan. >> bret: you're usually very

critical of the administration, is this something they're doing right? >> absolutely right and kandahar and afghanistan, so it makes a lot of tactical and strategic sense. >> bret: mara. >> for anybody who thought that president obama wasn't going to prosecute the war vigorously this is a case where they might have been wrong or too pessimistic. he's pursued the bush policy and doubled down on it and war drone attacks and now taking advantage of the flooding there although the flooding is a terribly destabilizing thing for the pakistani government, this is one of its positive side effects. >> because as holbrook said, bill, the bridges are washed out and some roads are washed out and perhaps tough for people to move. what about the talking about it? we've seen pakistan release a couple of statements, but there hasn't been a lot of pushback like there was for just a few strikes in the bush administration? >> yeah, for whatever reason, general petraeus or--

and president obama the ability to go know into pakistan to some degree and without much pushbacks and now standees understand what a threat it is to pakistan and the pakistani a year and a half ago sort of looked as if it might be teetering against the threat of the fundamentalists of the taliban and i think they may have-- some people at least in pakistan may have second thoughts being cute and playing games too much with the taliban, but look, general petraeus went over there and i think when he went over there he was assured by president obama he would get to try to win the war and wasn't going there to hang on for a year and find a fancy exit strategy, they've been working hard there in kabul and they have planned this offensive in kandahar where they're going to in kandahar city and i think by next door in the hellman province and doing damage to the counterterrorism streaks by using the drones so you know, i remember in june of 2007 with the general under

general petraeus the surge of forces is completed and the surge of operations is now completed. ang the surge of forces has been completed and 100,000 troops in afghanistan and i think the surge of operations in the next few months. >> bret: the new york times attempted bomber was tied back to the pakistani taliban and publicly when that was happening in the early stages the administration talked was a clumsy attempt and the pakistani taliban perhaps wouldn't be able to launch something across the sea and yet now there's a lot of talk of possible attacks and possible imminent plans to launch something in europe. >> al-qaeda is degraded. it's on the run. it's in hiding, but it's not destroyed. and they haven't had a major attack in years, they've had these, the one-offs here and there, which is not impressive if you're looking for something that will catch the attention of the world. from what we hear from the europeans and the threat level, and the closings of

these iconic areas and structures, it means that they're looking at something large, and if you hear about that these days, you don't wait. you strike, you strike, particularly at headquarters and that's where the northern pakistan, the border is the headquarters. >> bret: and mara, the left has been fairly silent. >> we haven't heard anything about this. i think that the left is against the escalation of the war. i don't knowi i don't think they're going to focus on drone attacks, they've never made that a kind of specific issue, but i think that come december, especially next summer, you are going to see some demands for probably a greater pulldown than there will be, but if it's successful and it looks like the war is working, i think a lot of that, those complaints go away. >> bret: last word, bill. >> okay, spoke president obama said something leakike i can't afford to lose the democratic

party. i hope he decides he can't afford to lose the war. >> you can check out the show notes portion of the page and keep up-to-date on the situation on pakistan and afghanistan, up next, the president's chief of staff. will he stay or will he go? and who is in line to replace him? . it's our honeymoon. but we've parted wa with our old airline credit card that promid flights for 25,000 miles. it was always... [ laughing ] that seat's not happening without a big mileupcharge. a miles upcharge wasn't part of the deal. was i supposed to go without my wife? [ elevator bell dings ] [ grunting ] haha, that was awkward. so we upgraded to the venture card from capital one. we've had it with the games. [ male announcer ] don't pay miles upcharges. don't play games get the flight you want with the venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet?

. >> i think that rahm will have it make a decision quickly. because running for mayor in chicago is a serious enterprise and i know this is something. >> has he told you what he wants to do. >> he hasn't told me yet. as soon as he does i'm sure we'll announce it. >> president obama speaking about his chief of staff rahm emanuel possibly running for mayor of chicago. it's expected at least our

reporting a decision could come as early as friday. here is the possible replacements being talked about here in washington. first, the insiders. these are the folks who are under consideration, we're being told and it's being reported deputy national security advisors tom donlan, ron klein, pete rouse. outsiders mentioned, former senate majority lead are tom daschle, one time clinton chief of staff, poedesta and leon panetta. whether he'll go or stay mara. >> seems like he's going to go. he's been totally open for wanting to do this for a long, long time. he never thought the opportunity would come up so soon. of course he's going through this with his family they did just move here after all. we don't know for sure. but as far as what happens, pete rouse would be the interim chief of staff and the

president doesn't have to decide right now who to release, could wait until january. >> reaction to the mid terms. >> a lot of times when the presidents get a drubbing in the mid terms they bring in somebody else, new blood. they want to send a message that they got it. that things will be different. i mean, ronald reagan brought in howard baker, bill clinton brought in leon panetta and these things happen. >> bret: looking at the polls now and the mid term we don't know the full extent of it and looking at the insiders. how do you see that message being sent? >> well i think that if a lot of democrats think it would be a good thing if the white house did reach out to somebody outside, somebody who could be a real surrogate. don't forget for some reason and i've never figured this out. president obama has great foreign policy surrogates, hillary clinton, bob gates, people can go out and talk for him and they're big heavy weight people, but that's not true on the domestic side. there never has been someone

who could be a real surrogate for him. those three guys as talented and competent as they are you put on the screen are not surrogates for him. now, i don't think that the three outsiders you put up are seriously in the running either, but i think a lot of democrats would like the president to look outside at someone who could reach out to the business community, to the hill. it's going to be a completely changed environment after november no matter who ends up with majority on capitol hill and he needs somebody to meet that challenge. >> critics like bill kristol would say it's because the domestic poles are tough to defend. >> i'm not looking for the job, bret. if i felt i could serve the country, i would be an excellent chief of staff to president obama and reach out to the business community. reach out to conservatives, bipartisan administration after they lose the house and maybe the senate, but i, i don't want to be campaigning here too much on that. better relations with fox news, i could even help with that. i don't know what-- it is kind of stunning for him to be leaving, i guess mayor of chicago, may have been a

boyhood dream, but white house chief of staff is a pretty important job and now that you're leaving a month before the mid term elections. >> he has to if he's going to run for mayor. >> filing. >> november 22nd. >> and won't they make nasty comments about rats leaving a sinking ship. there have been a lot. >> one can. >> one could say that he's the chief rat, but that would be wrong. >> bret: charles. >> how do you follow that? look, i think he clearly is leaving. i think obama is going to want to get an insider for two reasons. number one is he likes people he trusts. and he was an outsider, he doesn't have a long history here in washington, but i think the deeper reason is that when you bring in an outsider, somebody who's a public face, mara spoke about reagan bringing in howard baker, but that was in iran-contra. clinton bringing in panetta, but that's after the debacle in the mid term election, it's an admission that i was, i didn't quite get it. it's an admission that i

didn't govern effectively or correctly, that i was off in my early days. it was-- and it's a reach for getting kind of legitimacy on you by means of appointing somebody whom everyone likes. obama is not someone who is going to make a tacit admission of that sort, i don't think. i think he doesn't want to admit he was wrong in the way he governed and that would be, i think, what would be understood as you say, the message it would send is i get it now, i don't think he believes-- i'm not sure he believes he didn't get it. and that's why i suspect simply from his nature he'll find somebody on the inside. >> bret: mara, what about the internal chemistry, you have the chicago crew, valerie jarrett, david axlerod will leave to run the presidential reelect effort and david plouff comes from the campaign and what about the internal mixing of people. >> i think that pete rouse is the most beloved of the three

candidates you just showed he is kind of, the best light inside and considered the best kind of stabilizing force of the insiders. the chief of staff for the vice-president is not in the inner, inner, inner circle of the obamaites and donlan is fairly new, too. i think of those people pete rouse is clearly the top candidate for insiders. >> bret: is there any advance valerie jarrett would be. >> i don't think so, she doesn't seem to have expressed any interest in it. and you know, i think that the big question is does he think he needs to look outside for any reason? and right now, we're not seeing any indication that the president thinks that way, but after november, things might look different. >> bret: did you want to give your cell phone number. >> there's one democrat in this country that knows a lot how to save an administration after you lose congress, after first two years and he's available, bill clinton, why not? >> there you go, that's it for the panel. stay tuned for a critique of

the critics. ;7

>> this is a serious issue, i think it's an insult to the time and american people that congress conducted themselves in this fashion. >> we've got time to bring a comedian to washington d.c., but they don't have time to eliminate the uncertainty by sending the current tax rates. >> i think it's an embarrassment for mr. colbert, more than the house. >> of course, colbert is more embarrassed than the house of representatives, colbert still has dignity and integrity left to lose.