Last night's debate in Massachusetts between Republican Senator Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren showed that Brown is "...making a place for the angry, white working class people," former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said on Morning Joe today. Dean also stated he believed Brown looked "condescending" towards Warren.

Recent polls show Warren maintaining a lead over Brown, and in its assessment, the Boston Globe's Political Intelligence blog characterized last night's debate (the second) as having "...a lot of friction but not much new illumination, lacking a game-changing moment" and "two stumbles." With little time left in the race, Politico is considering this race for the Senate to be the most competitive in the country.

Our own Mike Barnicle wondered about Brown's reputation as a "nice guy" and if that might carry him despite the fact that President Obama is going to "crush" Mitt Romney in Massachusetts.

"The biggest thing [Scott Brown] has going for him in a heavily Democratic state is the perception that he’s a nice guy," Barnicle said. "That he’s the nicer person of the two candidates. That shows up in all the polls; that shows up when you see them and when you encounter them on the street. What he does in the debates runs counter to that impression, and that’s a dangerous sign for him. His biggest problem in Massachusetts is [Obama] is going to crush [Romney], and that numbers hill for Scott Brown to climb is a tremendous task."

A recent Rasmussen poll in the state shows Obama enjoying a significant lead over Romney.

Dean wondered why Brown continues to hit Warren over her claims that she is of Native American ancestry.

Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner said Brown is employing anything he can because "he knows he's behind...He’s trying to make something out of it in politics. It’s not the first time somebody has tried to do something like that."

The panel then considered Warren's work on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"She actually built something that is really all about protecting the American middle class," Mika Brzezinski added. "[Warren is about] ...protecting the American people from the voracious appetites of banks and greedy Wall Streeters. She has done things that have showed that she’s not out there on the edge. She’s fighting for people."

Brown and Warren have two more debates scheduled for October 10 and October 30.

DEBATES CAN SHIFT A RACE'S OUTCOME, BUT IT'S NOT EASY
JOHN HARWOOD
NEW YORK TIMES

History shows that candidates have different ways to score through presidential debates: the forceful put-down, the surprising show of skill, the opponent’s fumble, superior post-debate tactics. But it also shows that to fundamentally alter the direction of a campaign, a candidate usually has to accomplish all of those things. That underscores the challenge that Mitt Romney faces against President Obama as they approach the first presidential debate of 2012, the 27th of the television era featuring the major party nominees.

TREMBLING BEFORE MITT
FRANK BRUNI
NEW YORK TIMES

…For the last week, we’ve been told that the thought of sharing a stage with that fearsome oratorical beast otherwise known as Mitt Romney has [Obama] trembling in his leather oxfords. If he hops away with even three of his four limbs, it’ll be a miracle. … The Obama camp’s assertions of Romney’s advantage rest on two inarguable realities. One, Romney has indeed been better on the debate stage than on the stump, in many interviews or at the London Olympics. … Two, Romney has had more practice than Obama…But the Obama camp conveniently overlooks whom Romney got all that practice against, an all-star lineup that included Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann and of course Rick Perry.

Must-Read Op-Eds for Oct. 1, 2012

Here's a look at the stories we're following right now. What are you reading this morning?

Senate leaders at work on plan to avoid 'fiscal cliff'

Most Americans face big tax hit if Congress can't avoid 'fiscal cliff'

Gains made in Afghanistan may be temporary

Brown, Warren stumble in second debate

Al-Qaeda threat in N. Africa focus of secret talks

Romney: Debates won’t be about ‘winning or losing’

At least 36 dead after Hong Kong ferry sinks following collision

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

How much more can one expect to spend on payroll taxes in 2012? The Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog puts that number at $1,001.08.

No matter which party comes out on top in the November elections, nearly every working American is likely to pay higher taxes in 2013 than 2012.

Lost in the debate over the fiscal cliff and whether the Bush tax cuts should be extended for all Americans or just those who make more than $250,000 is the expiration of a tax holiday both parties quietly support.

In an effort to stimulate demand and put more money into consumers’ pockets, Congress temporarily lowered the Social Security tax withholding rate to 4.2% from 6.2% for 2011 and earlier this year extended it into 2012. The holiday in the so-called payroll tax is set to expire at the end of this year, and so far neither party has expressed much interest in another extension.

A NEW COURSE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST
MITT ROMNEY
WALL STREET JOURNAL

By failing to maintain the elements of our influence and by stepping away from our allies, President Obama has heightened the prospect of conflict and instability. He does not understand that an American policy that lacks resolve can provoke aggression and encourage disorder. The Middle East is a case in point. The Arab Spring presented an opportunity to help move millions of people from oppression to freedom. But it also presented grave risks. We needed a strategy for success, but the president offered none. And now he seeks to downplay the significance of the calamities of the past few weeks. ... In this period of uncertainty, we need to apply a coherent strategy of supporting our partners in the Middle East—that is, both governments and individuals who share our values. But this Middle East policy will be undermined unless we restore the three sinews of our influence: our economic strength, our military strength and the strength of our values. That will require a very different set of policies from those President Obama is pursuing.

WAITING FOR AN ARAB SPRING OF IDEAS
TARIQ RAMADAN
NEW YORK TIMES

Many Americans were nonetheless shocked by the chaos and bloodshed across Muslim countries, believing that they had come generously to the aid of the Arab peoples during the uprisings. But Arabs, and Muslims in general, have a longer memory and a broader view. Their mistrust is fueled by America’s decades-long support for dictators who accommodated its economic and security interests; by the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan; by the humiliating treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay; and by America’s seemingly permanent and unconditional support for Israel. The United States and its European allies would be well advised to examine why Muslims are seething. Withdrawing from Afghanistan, respecting United Nations resolutions and treaty obligations with regard to Palestine, calling back the killer drones and winding up the “war on terror” would be excellent places to start.

Is there a universe in which Mitt Romney is ahead in the polls and appears to be zeroing in on clinching a win?

Politico's Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns write this morning there is:

On TV, talk radio and especially the Internet is a place where the swing-state polls that show Romney losing are not just inaccurate but part of an intentional plot by the heretofore unknown media-pollster axis to depress Republican voters. In this other world, Romney not only isn’t losing — he’s on the verge of a convincing victory.

"This is an extension of the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ approach that we now have for news," Mike Allen told us this morning. "The people go to places that reflect what they think the news should be, and as a result, they’re feeling the same way about polls."

We here at Morning Joe want to send a special congratulations to producer Liz Grodd and her husband Aaron Friedman.

Liz and Aaron were married this weekend at the Beach Point Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y.

We couldn't be happier for them both!

1970s Rock legends Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of HEART stop by Morning Joe for a candid talk about life as a rock-and-roller.

HEARTtv on YouTube is one of their latest ventures. Check it out below.



Story as published by the New York Times

A G.O.P. Reunion, With Plans for More Togetherness

By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ASHLEY PARKER

VANDALIA, Ohio — For the first time in almost a month, Mitt Romney reunited on Tuesday with the man who many Republicans thought would charge up the presidential campaign: Representative Paul D. Ryan, the charismatic PowerPoint-wielder who can draw thousands to rallies that are really mostly giant question-and-answer sessions where they can ask “Paul,” in effect, how to save the party, and the country.

The question now is whether Mr. Ryan, Mr. Romney’s vice-presidential running mate, can save his own ticket.

Mr. Ryan often seems to get people more fired up about Mr. Romney’s message than Mr. Romney does at his own rallies. But the last few weeks have been one step forward, two steps backward for the Republican ticket, capped by the disclosure of a video showing Mr. Romney telling people at a high-dollar fund-raiser that 47 percent of Americans consider themselves “victims” and are dependent on the government.

And so on Tuesday afternoon, two men in windbreakers — Mr. Romney, 65, and Mr. Ryan, who at 42 is the same age as Mr. Romney’s eldest son — got together on a windy tarmac outside Dayton that seemed to represent just how tough their challenge now is as new polls showed them trailing President Obama by significant margins in Ohio, a state considered critical for Republicans.

Romney campaign officials disputed the recent polling.

Senator Claire McCaskill had a few words for her Republican challenger in the Missouri Senate race after he called her less than “ladylike.”

“This is somebody who kind of makes Michele Bachmann look like a hippie,” McCaskill said in describing Rep. Todd Akin on Morning Joe Friday. “He is very much in the group who would never be part of the compromise that we need to find to address the fiscal cliff. He would never be a part of the group in the middle that figures out ways to solve these problems, that works across the aisle.”

Akin, who stirred up controversy and provoked the ire of his own party last month by making false statements about female biology and using terms like “legitimate rape,” complained to reporters on Thursday that McCaskill was “much more sort of ladylike” during her 2006 campaign.

“In the debate we had Friday, she came out swinging, and I think that’s because she was threatened,” Akin told a Bloomberg reporter.

“I’m at a loss. I don’t know exactly what his accusation that I’m not ladylike means,” McCaskill said. “I try to be strong and informed, and I think the debate was tough for Todd.”

Following his “legitimate rape” comments, McCaskill a moderate Democratic has sought to highlight Akin as a “fringe” candidate with extremist views.

“I hope this motivates my supporters even more,” she said. “It seems to have.”

GO LARGE, MITT
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
WASHINGTON POST

For six months, [Romney's] been matching Obama small ball for small ball. A hit-and-run critique here, a slogan-of-the-week there. His only momentum came when he chose Paul Ryan and seemed ready to engage on the big stuff: Medicare, entitlements, tax reform, national solvency, a restructured welfare state. Yet he has since retreated to the small and safe. When you’re behind, however, safe is fatal. Even his counterpunching has gone miniature. Make the case. Go large. About a foreign policy in ruins. About an archaic, 20th-century welfare state model that guarantees 21st-century insolvency. And about an alternate vision of an unapologetically assertive America abroad unafraid of fundamental structural change at home. It might just work. And it’s not too late.

2012 DEBATES: THIS IS IT, MITT
PEGGY NOONAN
WALL STREET JOURNAL

There are some institutional and personal elements surrounding the Wednesday debate that may well work in Mr. Romney's favor. From a canny journalist with a counterintuitive head: "The media will be rooting for Romney." Two reasons. First, they don't want the story to end. They're in show biz: A boring end means lower ratings. ...Second, the mainstream media is suddenly realizing that more than half the country (and some of their colleagues) think they are at least operationally in the tank for the president, or the Democrats in general. It is hurting the media's standing. ... Mr. Romney walks in as the underdog, behind in the polls. He's not the president, the other guy is. He's not world-famous, the other guy is. The president is known for smooth presentation and verbal fluidity, Mr. Romney more recently for awkwardisms and gaffes. It's good to be the underdog. "Politics is exceeding expectations."

Must-Read Op-Eds for Sept. 27, 2012

Must-Read Op-Eds for Sept. 26, 2012

Introduction:

Signs and Wonders

This book is a chronicle of a confused time, a period when Americans rose up against imaginary threats and rallied to economic theories they understood only in the gauziest terms. It is about a country where fears of a radical takeover became epidemic even though radicals themselves had long since ceased to play any role in the national life; a land where ideological nightmares conjured by TV entertainers came to seem more vivid and compelling than the contents of the news pages.

Seen from another perspective, this is a chronicle of a miraculous time, of another “Great Awakening,” of a revival crusade preaching the old-time religion of the free market.1 It’s the story of a grassroots rebellion and the incredible recovery of the conservative movement from the gloomy depths of defeat. Inevitably the words “populist” and “revolt” are applied to it, or the all-out phrase chosen by Dick Armey, the Washington magnifico who heads one of the main insurgent organizations: a “true bottom-up revolution.”

Let us confess that there is indeed something miraculous, something astonishing, about all this. Consider the barest facts: this is the fourth successful conservative uprising to happen in the last half century,* each one more a-puff with populist bluster than the last, each one standing slightly more rightward, and each one helping to compose a more spellbinding chapter in the historical epoch that I call “the Great Backlash,” and that others call the “Age of Reagan” (the historian Sean Wilentz), the “Age of Greed” (the journalist Jeff Madrick), the “Conservative Ascendancy” (the journalist Godfrey Hodgson), or the “Washington Consensus” (various economists).

Richard Drew / AP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel shows an illustration as he describes his concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions during his address to the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012.

Here's a look at the stories we're following right now. What are you reading this morning?

Polls: Obama leads in N.H., tighter in Nev., N.C.

New Virginia poll shows tighter races for White House, Senate

Security fears hobble Libya  attack inquiry

Nod to Obama by Netanyahu in Warning to Iran on Bomb

Reported anti-Muslim film producer ordered jailed in probation case

RNC cuts ties with firm over voter registration allegations

On August 25, President Eisenhower was deep in a bombproof shelter in the North Carolina mountains when he got the news that Red China was bombarding the island of Quemoy. The Formosa Straits crisis of 1954-1955 had come back, like a bad dream. Ike was at the time participating in the federal government’s Operation Alert, an annual drill to evacuate policy makers from Washington in a simulated nuclear attack. The news from the Far East added a touch of reality to the exercise. Once again, Eisenhower had to decide how close to bring the United States, along with the rest of the world, to the nuclear brink.
     
No national leader talked, or possibly thought, more belligerently about nuclear war than Red China’s Chairman Mao. Under the misimpression that Sputnik signaled the superiority of the Communist bloc over the West, on November 18, 1957, he told Chinese students in Moscow that “the international situation has now reached a new turning point…The East Wind is prevailing over the West Wind.” [i]  The Soviets were too ashamed of their inferiority to set him straight. That same November, Mao blustered to Khrushchev that a nuclear war would be a victory for Marxism. “If worse came to worse and half of mankind died, the other half would remain, while imperialism would be razed to the ground and the world would become socialist.” The Kremlin leader was dumbfounded. “I looked at him closely,” Khrushchev later recalled. “I couldn’t tell from his face whether he was joking or not.”  [ii] 

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