The bus is about to leave the station.
President Obama today kicks off his first bus tour of the 2012 campaign, making three stops in Ohio before wrapping up Friday in Pittsburgh. The tour, which the campaign calls "Betting on America," is targeted to swing states the President won in 2008, but are now politically vulnerable. Together, Ohio and Pennsylvania constitute 38 electoral votes - a critical combination for the path to 270 for either candidate. It's perhaps no surprise that Governor Mitt Romney took a bus tour last month - covering six states that included Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Tomorrow, the President will speak in the context of the monthly jobs report, which many consider one of the leading indicators of how the election will be decided. We'll discuss the strategy and the stakes with guest host Ari Melber today, noon ET on NOW.
PANEL
Richard Wolffe, MSNBC Political Analyst (@richardwolffedc)
Steve Kornacki, Co-host, MSNBC's "The Cycle" (@stevekornacki)
Patricia Murphy, Daily Beast Contributor/Citizen Jane Politics (@1patriciamurphy)
Kurt Andersen, Author, “True Believers” (@kbandersen)
GUESTS
Jen Psaki, Obama Campaign Traveling Press Secretary (@jrpsaki)
Peter Shane, Law Professor, Ohio State University
Amna Nawaz, NBC News Pakistan Bureau Chief (@nawazistan)
Leave a Comment:
I am a grandma raising two autistic grand kids. i am a collage student too. i have no tax able income , a widow of a veteran . Why can the president give me and other grandparents a education tax break? My education expenses for myself and kids were over $4000.00 . but MY tax return was only $1000.00. I can't get food stamps,childcare help or respite ! I am on a fixed income . there is no help for the children therapy no one will take medicaid, !
Alex, you are the best!
As you, I missed your show today. I want to share a thought on Ann Romney's "Kill Mitt" strategy:
Carpet bombing the ever changing leading opponents throughout the primaries has clearly left Ann feeling guilty somewhere beneath that overt veneer of righteousness.
I think that what we have done to others is the first thing we see in others, good or bad and how we create our own heaven and hell.
You, as well as Chris Hayes are two of the most brilliant stars MSNBC has to offer. I love your show. You are so amazingly clear, smart, fun and beautiful, you could charm the teeth off a shark and not even know it!
...and speaking of teeth, you probably have the prettiest smile in the business. Nice frosting on a genius core cup cake.
May your career be long, bright and ever so rewarding,
Christopher
Flagstaff, AZ
I'll have to watch the recording on the dvr tomorrow morning, but I did notice the President's speech eating up almost half the running time lol. As interesting as it is to hear Obama (and, I guess, Mitt) go on for half an hour, I do mainly watch to see Alex and the guests talk. Maybe they can put a video insert of the speech in after a few minutes and come back to it full screen intermittently. Or something, I dunno.
Speaking of jobs, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my home state (Virginia) has one of the lowest unemployments @ 5.6%. It may not be a wholly accurate number and I do call it the 'backwards state' for a lot of reasons, but kudos V.