Senate's fiscal standoff

>>> in the senate today, republicans were out in full force , attacking the president's handling of the country's fiscal situation.

>> never before, never before has a president and a senate done so little to confront challenges so great.

>> the president has put our entire economy in jeopardy to serve his own political interests.

>> senate democrats and the obama administration too afraid to tackle, let alone vote on, the tough issues in an election year.

>> after hearing all of that from republicans, senate majority leader harry reid gave a 15-minute response.

>> what they have done is the very definition of hut spa, what neb, mr. president. complaining about about what they have created. they have created the fact we haven't gotten anything done.

>> joining me reid wilson and "the washington post " columnist ruth marcus . thank you both for joining me. ruth, i want to talk to you, harry reid the definition of chutzpah.

>> i'm flglad you raised that.

>> worth the price of admission.

>> chutzpa.

>> i wanted to clear that up myself.

>> i'm a reliable source on that.

>> i feel like we're so focused, i'm so focused on november 6th . in some ways what comes after, no matter who wins, and that's the presidential, senate and house, no mat who wins, we're facing a dire situation in which we have a narrow period of time to solve a problem that both sides, judging from the rhetoric today are not willing to give on. how scary is the possibility that we go off the fiscal cliff? regardless of whether it's president romney or president obama and it's a democrat controlled senate .

>> pretty scary. not as completely alarming as the debt ceiling debate which was very alarming because you hear among democrats and republicans both debates how bad the bad impact would be but nobody disagrees it would be bad to go off the fiscal cliff. right now i feel like we're in a road return cartoon.

>> do tell.

>> we're running and running and running and soon we'll look down and notice, it's a long way.

>> let me follow up clearly. you mentions the debt ceiling. i operated under the assumption that politicians will do whatever they can do avoid a bad outcome. we got close to a very bad outcome, that damaged them, we avoided them --

>> damaged them, the country, the economy, the credit rating .

>> does that predict that this will be better or is that an indicator that what happened with the debt ceiling could have the same partisan chicken?

>> i think you can see a scenario, and there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes .

>> right.

>> work in the senate going on behind the scenes . there's work even in the house, the administration is working really hard to come up with a package. so the likely -- there is -- it is not impossible that it could get worked out but it really depends in part on the combination of electoral outcomes to be determined, which is why we're not hearing about it very much right now. there's not a lot to talk about publicly except for the finger pointing.

>> november 6th and the end of the year is not very long. reid, i want to turn to you. obviously i do a lot of yoeg ga and breathing to prepare to host the show. there was a virginia senate debate on tim kaine , george alan , moderated by david gregory host of "meet the press." we're getting into senate debate time.

>> debate season.

>> i love it. you love it. among likely voters, i want to slow this, this is a "the washington post ," i'm doing my employer some good work, "the washington post " poll. tim kaine among likely voters 51, george alan 43. this a race we assumed, i assumed, would be a toss-up down to the end. do you buy it? if you do, why is tim cain to open up a lead.

>> this is more optimistic for t kaine folks. this is not the only poll we've seen. there have been others that have shown kaine opening up a lead. the reason, democrats are starting starting tart tune into the race. in previous 6,000 surveys that showed the race --

>> funny, it's 46.

>> the one thing we were seeing president obama was running ten points better than tim kaine among nonwhite voter. that gap is going to shrink. as it does shrink that's growth for tim kaine .

>> quickly, do you see any way that barack obama wins virginia and tim kaine loses the senate race?

>> no. you tell me who wins the presidential race , and i've got a good shot telling you who is going to win the senate contest. if mitt romney wins i think tim kaine can win.

>> there are romney - kaine voters.

>> there are no obama-alan voters.

>> i'd like to talk to the guy from you probably could.

>> let me tell you the kaine - romney voters in the northern virginia suburb whose might remember his time as governor, hess time as mayor. more fondly than they do president obama at the white house .

>> i want to play one clip how the 47% controversy with mitt romney is bleeding into the senate races. this is tim kaine and george alan with david gregory today.

>> you can say something off the cuff you regret but i deeply disagree with the sentiment expressed by governor romney . i don't meet virginian who think they're victims.

>> would you disagree with governor romney ?

>> i have my own point of view. my point of view is that people of america believe in the american dream .

>> so, not totally distancing from george allen from mitt romney but close. we had linda mcmahon saying i disagree, scott brown if a high profile massachusetts race, i don't view the world that way. how much of a problem is this for down ballot senate conditions this 47% comment? they need to do what they need to do. it's easier to align yourself with the american dream than to align yourself with a dismissive attitude with voter some of whom you need to win.

>> we're seeing in nevada, hawaii, back in 1996 , i remember when the house republicans distanced themselves from bob dole 's campaign. i wonder if we're starting to see distance put between some of the down ballot candidates and the top of the tick. mitt romney the candidate, if he wouldn't have said it would be distancing himself.

>> he already is.

>> thank for joining us.

>>> next, broken trust in smalltown america . marry smith with a story how one town put their trust in the wrong person.

>> time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. joshua davis knows the frustration of looking for funding. after being