hours under our belts. >> sandra: pretty crazy, a lot going on. i'm going to join martha coming up in the next hour. >> john: of course, because you just can't work enough. >> sandra: so much going on, and especially with the economy the top issue. democrats who are fearing the shelacking the "new york times" says are changing their message. i'm sandra smith. >> john: too little or too late? "the story" starts right now. s around thank you both. i'm martha maccallum. the story is this. don't look away from any of this for a second, folks. these races are moving. our brand new fox power rankings are tracking them as democrats start shifting their message now trying to scramble for votes in places that they thought were locks for them. this surprising new york

governor's race. kathy hochul is in a bit of trouble here as lee zeldin nudges this race now from what was a solid dem in that column, now it is just likely dem. so these are moves that we watch closely. hochul is now trying to recalibrate, scrambling to say that everyone deserves a "subway ride" that is without fear after this horrific scene that we watched over the past several days. so many other beatings that have frightened new yorkers. these two races are also shifting. sean patrick malone, head of the democrat campaign committee, a very important influential democrat is now in danger of losing his seat to mike lawler of the gop who you may have seen on with sandra. then you have john katko's seat a republican leaving office.

looks like it could stay in gop control in what is considered to be a part of new york stay that could easily go to the democrats. these are places that joe biden won by double digits. so republican congresswoman nicole malliotakis is running against max rose who lost his seat in 2020. hello, congresswoman malliotakis. good to have you here today. >> good afternoon. >> martha: good afternoon. it's a quick day, right? so you're running against max rose. he's a former congressman. this race, we have at 49 to 43 in some of the recent polling. this is a sienna poll among likely voters. why do you think we're starting to see this shift as we get within two weeks away from election day, congresswoman? >> sure. my seat is a seat that we flipped two years ago. we need it to take back the

house. i see you're seeing resulting -- these districts that are trending more republican because people are fed up and tired of what's going on. they see one party democrat rule at the city, the state and the federal level has not served us. we've seen sky rocketing crime, high taxes. people like kathy hochul in office and max rose who actually supported these bail laws. they had no problem until this year when it became an election year to support these policies that have made us less safe. kathy hochul, to this day, refuses to fix the radical bail laws s want a change, they have to support lee zeldin. the other day, somebody with 20 prior arrests, out on parole for attempted murder. he shoved somebody in front of a train track. this is what we're seeing

regularly and continue to see if we have one party rule in our state. >> it's very disturbing. we see it time and again. people that have a history of breaking the law and in many cases, their own families in this man's case believed that he was not safe to be on the streets. they feared him themselves. why are there so many people that are unstable on the streets of new york, congress woman? >> first of all, they're career criminals that have been released back to the street due to the dangerous laws in play. you have people like kathy hochul and max rose that supported paroling murderers and rapists on the street. we've been able to stop that so far. you also have governor cuomo who closed mental health beds in our state. so more people are on the streets. it's a revolving door. they're coming out of jail and not getting the mental health treatment that they need to protect themselves or other people. so that's really the core of the

is issue. they're not doing anything to address it. you saw mayor de blasio put a billion dollars in the system. we're wondering where the money is. the justice department should investigate it. every disaster, whether it's at the southern border, the inflation, economy, rising food costs, public safety, all created by democrats. the only way we'll fix it is if we restore a balance two weeks from today. people will want to help us do that. >> martha: max rose has been invited to join us here. nicole malliotakis, good to see you today. joining me now, reince priebus, former chair of the rnc and juan williams. great to have you with us. juan, let me start with you. a few short months ago the supreme court came down with a decision that pushed decisions with regard to abortion back to the states to allow them to

decide. it was felt in many ways that that was going to be an issue that would make it difficult for republicans. do you find it surprising that it appears that it is falling lower and lower on the list of priorities after we heard for decades that that kind of reversal would be so devastating, people don't seem to be as fired up about it as many thought they would be. >> well, i don't think there's any decline in the passion around the abortion issue in the united states. i think it's pretty clear the polls show it's close to 2/3s of americans favor a constitutionally protected right for a woman to have an abortion. i think what we're seeing is the dominance of issues like the economy really diminish the impact of that still sustained passion around that issue, martha. even when it comes to something like crime that we've been discussing here today, again, i

think people understand that politically speaking, it can be a very powerful halloween fright moment issue for republicans messaging. >> martha: i wish it was only halloween that we have to worry about it. my hometown, people are getting attacked in the coffee shop. this is very real. >> i'm saying relatively speaking, new york city, new york state are pretty safe places. yet it's playing out as a successful advertising messaging effort by republicans. >> martha: yeah. the numbers are pretty clear we have an increase in crime in every category in new york. so i don't know that it's pretty safe. so here's the ad that kathy hochul just put out. let's turn to reince priebus on this. this came out october 21. watch this. >> a safe walk home at night, the subway ride free of fear, a safer new york for every child. that's what kathy hochul is

working for as governor. >> your thoughts on that new add from hochul. >> she knows what's in front mind of new york voters apparently. that's why lee zeldin is doing so well. to your question before, the reality is the reason the democrats are not doing well and the republicans are is you have to look at what is front and center in the mind of voters across america. number 1, it's groceries every day. you're reminded how much the price of groceries are. number 2, what is the price of gas. number 3, crime, which is why governor that is not doing well on crime is trying to make it look like she is. number 4, parental rights. people are ticked off at their schools and what is happening and what their kids are being taught. the harvard university put out a study two weeks ago. abortion was number 6 on the list after everything i just said, plus immigration.

so voters know what they care about and right now the democrats don't have any lifelines with two weeks left to go. >> martha: nancy pelosi was on the sunday shows. she basically said that inflation is a global problem. you know, people understand that. cost of living sometimes goes up. here's a piece from "the new york times" today titled "pelosi's last dance, speaker sprints across the u.s. as republicans close in." the majority she's built and nurtured is in jeopardy under fears of crime and inflation and hery republican campaign spending and the traditional mid-term drag on the president's party in congress. you believe we're about to see the end of nancy pelosi's leadership in the house, ron? >> well i don't know about her leadership. it's likely that republicans win the house. so all the polls, our fox polls show that right now republicans would gain 15 to 20 seats.

that would be sufficient to give them the majority in the house of representatives. when you ask about her leadership, martha, she might remain as a minority leading although there's increasing pressure for a new generation of democratic leadership in the house that would push against that. that's a separate issue. i just think that right now, you know, given the fact that historically the out of power party wins in mid-terms speaks against democratic prospects. >> it can be very interesting to watch that syracuse new york race, the sean patrick malone race. new york went through a lot of redistricting that democrats felt was going to help them. now it appears at least at this point with the couple weeks to go that it's going the other way. gentlemen, thanks very much. we'll stay tuned. there's a lot of twists and turns in the final weeks. great to see you both. our 2022 coverage continues.

sandra smith and bill hemmer will be joining us as dr. oz, the republican in the senate race in pennsylvania will match up tonight with democrat john fetterman as they get ready to square off in their one and only debate in prime time tonight. ohhh, she's so powerful, she carried on the family legacy. we were blown away. (chuckles) i not only was a student and an undergrad, but i've been a professor there for twenty years, so it's really a special moment to know that i had a family member who over a hundred years prior have walk these grounds. it's deeply uplifting. yes, it is. we're walking in their footsteps. psoriasis really messes with you. try. hope. fail. no one should suffer like that. i started cosentyx®. five years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting get checked for tuberculosis.

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>> martha: well, it's the economy, stupid again. these three battleground states, the economy, the inflation ranked twice as high in what is important to you as abortion. three times as important as voting rights and election integrity, which democrats have pushed very hard to make the theme in these races. it doesn't appear at this stage and i keep emphasizing, we have

two more weeks to go and sometimes there's surprises, but right now this is where the movement appears to be with 14 days to go. "the new york times" publishing this headline, fearing a new shellacking, democrats rush for economic message. first to hillary vaughn. >> hi, martha. some democrats want their candidates running for re-election to do a quick 180 warning that dodging inflation could mean doom for denims in the mid-terms. four democratic strategists say rising coasts will beat us if they avoid the issue. so now top democrats are talking about the elephant in the room, inflation by pointing the blame at the gop. >> the fight is not about inflation. it's about the cost of living. if you look at what we have done to bring down the cost of

prescription drugs, the republicans have no plan for lowering the cost of living or helping with inflation. >> what are the republican's response to inflation? do they want to raise the minimum wage? no, they don't. it's important to take the attack to the republicans. what do they want to do other than complain? >> republicans want to cut spending that we don't have. president biden pepping up supporters at the dnc says that plan is a red flag. >> if we don't meet their demands, they're going to shut the place down. and then they talk about inflation. everything they're going to do is going to make inflation worse. republicans will crash the economy. >> so president biden making his closing message before the mid-terms warning voters if republicans are in power, they will double down on megamaga

trickle down and raising taxes. a tax hike is something that the president would have veto power for and something that he would have to sign in to law. martha? >> martha: absolutely. the president just released a new editorial on cnn, which is basically the same note that you just saw him speaking about, warning about megamaga trickle down economics. that's the catch phrase coming from the president as we head into the final couple weeks here. let's bring in sandra smith joining us, co host of "america reports." great to have you here. >> sandra: hi, martha. >> martha: it's tough to turn the ship at this point. but we see a pretty significant effort trying to do that for the democrats. >> it's remarkable when you read through that piece you mentioned. "the new york times" fearing a shellacking. democrats are rushing for a economic message. now a new message, an economic message. i don't find the message. so they're still looking 14 days

out, if anything. what this told me is four democratic strategists that published a piece in a liberal magazine, they're pleading with democrats to find this new message but what they're saying is empathize with the voters, acknowledge the pain they're feeling. we have this new lending club survey that just came out shows 63% of people in this country are living paycheck to paycheck right now. i spoke to a man that owns a regional energy company in the northeast. he said he's never seen anything like it. he fears his customers that he's none for 26 years might not make it. they're choosing between rent and mortgage and heating their homes. he's predicting foreclosures. i spoke to a woman in maine that tries to help these people get through the winter. she says some are choosing between groceries or heating their homes. it's brutal. we're not even in the heating season yet. gas prices up 28%, heating oil -- that is going to be real pain on americans. so in anticipation of that and

what the american voters have already been feeling to not have democrats or even this white house acknowledge that pain, that has been really tough for these voters. you have to think that that is going to play in the mind of their decision making come election day. >> martha: there was a feeling among some voters that this -- inflation reduction act was going to do that. and it passed. there was this glee that it passed, right? it turned out that the prescription drug price cuts that were in it are not going to start to be felt into deep into 2023 at the very least and the green energy efforts that were also in there are just making conventional energy companies retrench and not expand. now you have a situation where in the united states of america, as you so rightly point out, sandra, people are deciding just fill up half of my tank in my front yard.

we'll make a decision about the rest of the month. listen to this from former president obama who has been very quiet throughout this entire election process. but he went on with the manning brothers on monday night football last night. here's what he said. >> you got all kinds of issues from jobs, the economy, climate change, you name it, that is essentially on the ballot. you're deciding who will speak for you. >> martha: there's the former president saying you can make a change. he said democracy is an opportunity to make a change. the first two things he mentioned were jobs and the economy when the message that i think a lot of voters have been hearing has been abortion and january 6. >> sandra: as far as solutions that democrats are really offering people, i think you have to ask yourself that, too. you had this letter from new england lawmakers in the face of what is going to be record high

heating prices this winter. they wrote a letter to the president, okay? they basically said and i was hopeful at the beginning of it, families shouldn't be forced to make hard choices between keeping loved ones healthy and putting food on the table. it only goes on to say as winter approaches, it's critical, mr. president, that we quickly release oil from these reserves to help people stay warm. there's an acknowledgement that they don't see the problems with the decisions from this administration. it's been tapped. it's been depleted. gas prices are still over $1 since this president took office. our heating bills will be sky high. it is not working. we need a bigger plan. we need to look at these policies and find out how we got here. unless you see democrats acknowledging what got us here, i don't know that voters can expect them to fix it. it's a great suggestup by the president but they might look to another party for those solutions if democrats are laying out how they're going to

fix it. >> martha: i've been covering this a long time. i can't remember a period where people were talking about wearing extra layers in their house in order to get through the winter. we'll have a very strong awakening in the next several months. we'll see where it goes. sandra, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> martha: great to have you with us. coming up, we'll talk to general jack keane and bill hemmer will join us and also pete hegseth. more when "the story" continues. you've earned a powerful benefit that can really help in uncertain times. it's your va home loan benefit. veterans can get more cash by borrowing up to 100% of their home's value, not just 80% like some other lenders. with home values near record highs, you can have a lot more cash than you think. with the newday 100 va cash out loan, you can take out an average of $60,000 and lower your payments by $600 a month. pay down high-rate credit cards. consolidate second mortgage and car loans.

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>> martha: this just breaking moments ago in this fox news alert. we can tell you there's been a 5.1 magnitude earthquake near san jose california. it's south of the city. we're waiting for reports to come in. we don't have any substantive report of damage or injury at this moment. we'll keep a close eye on it and go back there as we get more information. and now a big oops from congress woman jayapal. she just resended a letter that she sent to president biden. in it she and 30 house liberal democrats pushed for a negotiated cease fire agreement in ukraine. but then there was a lot of outrage, a lot of sort of hand wringing over this as they're 14 days away from an election. it got pulled back. here now retired general jack

keane, former vice chief of staff for the u.s. army, chairman of the institute for the study of war and our fox news senior strategic analyst. good to have you with us. the beginning lines of this letter that she pulled back are every war ends with diplomacy and this one will, too, after ukraine victory. she was encouraging some sort of settled agreement here. what do you make of this, general? >> well, first of all, the premise is wrong. wars start because of a failure of diplomacy. they don't all end with diplomacy. sometimes one side wins and the other side surrenders and that's the end of it. the fact is, it makes no sense. listen, i'm not a political expert. so i don't know what the political motivations are here. but i will -- i do track strategically what is going on in ukraine every day through the institute of the study of war,

this much we know is happening. strategically there's been a major seat change in ukraine. the russian military is being defeated by ukraine. mobilization is taking place and not meeting expectations and likely not to be decisive. the fact is, russia is making more on the ukrainian people to break their will, but they will not succeed at that president zelensky and the ukrainian military would never go to a cease fire now. russian would likely go to a cease fire. why? that would stop the ukrainian offensive that is taken back their territory. by the way, territory is -- it toesn't really tell the story. what we're really talking about is liberating the lives of ukraine people that are under the gun of russian occupiers and painfully we've seen evidence that they're committing genocide and wantonly killing and torturing innocent civilian people during that occupation.

this is what is happening. that's the reality on the ground. there's no pressure from this administration on president zelensky to go in to any negotiations. it's obvious things are working to his favor and he's liberating his own people. that is what is taking place. why anybody would suggest that -- did we learn something from afghanistan when the previous administration negotiated directly with the taliban and crafted a terrible deal with the afghan government not participating in it? i cannot imagine us doing something like that with the russians without ukrainian government that represents the people. >> martha: a great point. we've seen the taliban reneg on all of their promises. that wept out the window when we walked away. thanks, general. very good to talk to you.

>> great talking to you, martha. >> martha: tonight is a big night in this. you have the big pennsylvania debate between john fetterman and mehmet oz. and so tomorrow we are heading to pennsylvania ourselves to be there to talk to people, what did you think about last night? did it change your mind about who you're going to vote for? what did you think about how john fetterman did up there? how about mehmet oz? bill hemmer joins us with a preview next. helping them achieve financial freedom. we're providing greater access to investing, with low-cost options to help maximize savings. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive.

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has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. >> martha: all right, folks. we're just hours away from a crucial showdown. democrat john fetterman battling republican dr. mehmet oz for the open seat. it's pat toomey's seat. it's a republican seat that john fetterman hopes to flip to the democrat side. a new cnn poll gives fetterman a six-point lead in this race. that's according to the cnn

numbers that came up. those are pretty recent. we've seen tightening in other polls. this one is outside the margin of error as these two gentlemen get ready for an important night for both of them. america's newsroom co-anchor bill hemmer is here. first to bryan llenas who is on the ground in harrisburg, pennsylvania where we'll be tomorrow talking to voters and getting their reaction to what they think about what happens tonight. hi, bryan. >> hi, martha. this is the most anticipated debate in the nation. remember, democrat lieutenant governor john fetterman only agreed to one debate against republican dr. mehmet oz. it will be an hour long. it will be just the two of them in a tv studio. no live audience. there will be live closed captioning at the request of john fetterman as he continues to recover from a stroke. fetterman's campaign is trying to down play the debate and lower expectations. the campaign sending a memo to the press and others admitting

it's likely fetterman will lose and he's not great at it and dr. oz is a tv host. we'll admit that this is not john's format. oz comes in with a huge built-in advantage. >> the big question for fetterman is his health. and how he's going to perform and whether there's any limitations that could keep him from representing the state. >> a new poll shows voter whose are really focused on the issues in pennsylvania are split between dr. oz and fetterman. we expect both candidates to try to paint the other as the most extreme choice tonight. oz will likely do this with crime and fetterman with abortion rights. take a look at this. with likely voters in pennsylvania who care most about a candidate's character and integrity, fetterman blows dr. oz out of the water by 36 points. i bring this up, martha, because fetterman's whole campaign has

been really based on attacking dr. oz as being an out of towner, a wealthy guy that is not relatable. it's interesting to see on the stage whether or not he will relay that exact same message or if he will be forced to talk about the issues. especially the economy, which republicans like dr. oz are favored on. martha? >> thank you, bryan. we'll see you tomorrow. bill hemmer watching all this as he always does very closely. >> how you doing? >> martha: good to see you. it's interesting. so basically they're going to have monitors over the moderators. so each side will be able to read what the question is while it's being said and then they got 60 seconds to respond. >> yeah, a 30-second rebuttal and 15 second other response if your name is invoked. these are not just monitors. they're 70-inch monitors above each moderator. based on my understanding, there will be certain tv shots where

the audience will see that as well. i think if cnn's poll is right, that oz has some work to do in order to get people to come over and support him. i also think that if the condition of fetterman is what we perceive it to be based on these interviews that he's done, he's got some work to do to prove that he can go ahead and close the deal. you mentioned the text. i'll be curious to know from brian. my understanding is that all the text will be in that monitor. the question and the answer from oz and the question to fetterman, but not his answer. why is that important? that's important because in some of these interviews he's shown that he's not been able to tie those words together in his words mush -- mush the words together. it would not give him or afford him the opportunity to go back and correct an answer. that could be critical tonight. >> martha: you know, it's unprecedented. we have never seen a situation

like this. the other thinking though here is if he surprises at all in terms of his ability to kind of string things together, that people will say oh, you know, it wasn't that bad. and maybe it turns out that that interview that he did kind of burst this realization for people in terms of what to expect. you can see his side dramatically trying to lower expectations here. oz is a big tv star. so it's very interesting. >> you know, you mentioned they're lowering expectations. this is what the campaign manager said just the other day. that oz's team will try to paint him in a negative light because of awkward pauses, missing words or mushing other words together. so they're lowering the bar. what i thought was interesting on behalf of mehmet oz over the weekend, he was on fox. he said we need to talk about the policies. if we get away from other issues like fetterman's health, if the people of pennsylvania focus on

fetterman's policies they'll show a clear distinction. oz has ground to make up. we know what fetterman's record is when it comes to crime. we'll see how he manages that tonight. oz has an opportunity here. he's like 5'11." fetterman is 6'9". the monitors you describe, the setting that we describe, it's going to be absolutely unique to see how this thing goes. i think it will take a good three days for the people of pennsylvania to decide how they feel about the two men after that. >> martha: this is the only debate they agreed to. early voting has been going on for several weeks. you have 500,000 votes already in. mostly democratic votes. >> it's four to 1 so far. >> martha: and i think it's interesting to watch oz's reactions. does he -- how does he react if fetterman starts to stumble a

bit. is he gracious about it. is he -- i think everybody will be watching this closely. the body language and all of this. >> by the way, also a debate in new york and there's a debate in michigan. all of those governor races. >> martha: which are both getting super interesting. so we're busy these days. >> we'll have a lot to talk about tomorrow. >> martha: good to see you. tomorrow we'll be live in harrisburg, pennsylvania talking to voters. what did they think about how all of this went down. there's about 9 to 12% undecided voters right now according to the most recent polling in pennsylvania. those folks we hope will watch this closely and see if it moves the needle at all. we'll be there and look forward to having you join us for that show tomorrow. here's another question for you. where is the outrage from the teacher's unions on the devastating learning loss for our children all across this country. where is their passion as a teaching organization, what is

their plan. we're going to dig in with pete hegseth who reacts. he's written a book about the american educational system and also we have a new statement that just came in from nea president becky pringle at the big union after this. not cheap. neither are cash advances from your credit cards. call newday. you may not realize it, but one of the lowest cost ways to get money is to use your va home loan benefit. the newday 100 va loan lets you borrow up to 100% of your home's value at low re-fi rates instead of high credit card rates. and that makes a huge difference.

>> martha: we now know the damage that was done by shutting down our schools. we know it was devastating. what do the teacher's union say about digging in their heels on this as they watched our kids fall further and further behind. "fox and friends" co host pete hegseth joins me. first to grady trimble reporting live from chicago. hi, grady. >> hi, martha. the teacher's unions are not connecting the dots between the

school shut downs that they pushed hard for during the pandemic and these dismal test scores. becky pringle with the national education association says the respects confirmed what educators have been saying. the pandemic exacerbated gaps in learning experiencing between white students and students of color as well as between well-funded schools and chronically underfunded schools. no mention of how virtual learning could be even partly to blame for those results. randi weingarten, president of the american federation of teachers tweeted kids need so much support to recover from the pandemic. the pandemic but failed to mention she was one of the loudest voices in support of school shut downs. we have not heard back from united teachers los angeles. last year its president down played the negative effects of shut downs saying "there's no such thing as learning loss." parents groups say our leaders

say union heads need to put politician aside and take a all hands on deck approach to solving this problem. >> definitely not surprised. but continually horrified by the lack of urgency and frankly the lack of inspiration we're seeing from our policy makers, our administrators and our elected officials around getting after this and addressing what is a national crisis that we're facing right now. >> so i asked keri rodriguez what is the solution, martha. she said it's simple. get kids in the classroom for longer and with high quality teachers. >> martha: we need school break programs, summer programs, after school programs and a national effort to catch our kids up. that should be led from the white house. the first lady is a teacher. it would be a great project for her to take on in a meaningful way. thanks, grady. continue the points i'm raising here as we bring in "fox and

friends" co host, pete hegseth. good to have you here today. i want to start with a reminder of this chicago teacher's union dance that was released by video back during the pandemic. let's take a look at this, that was supposed to make feel feel better. watch this. ♪ ♪ keep our students and our teachers safe ♪ >> martha: you remember this flashback from the teacher union head in los angeles. no such thing as learning loss. our kids didn't lose anything. it's okay they didn't learn all of their times tables, they learned resilience, survival, critical thinking skills. they know the difference between a riot and a protest. pete, what do you think? >> that is staggering. i was going to read that quote. in her mind, the role of teacher's unions in schools is

to create little activists. if you don't believe me, look at what unions push from chicago to l.a. to the nea to the aft. they're not concerned about excellence for your children. these are educational cartels that exist to protect teachers. they're effectively democrat super pacts to continue the funding and the gravy train which are never tied to results in the classroom. which is why they were happy to keep kids on lockdown, on zoom because results are not the metric that they use. the metric is how much can they pay their teachers, how much can they prevent them from doing additional work. you mentioned summer and after care. they don't want that because results are not what matters to them. so if you care about your kids, stop looking to the unions or your superintendent and take your own kids education in to your own hands. you are the union for your kids. these unions are cartels to protect themselves. no wonder they have nothing to say. there's been no learning loss.

ask any principal or teacher. of course they have fallen behind. we have fallen behind with no consequence for these unions. >> martha: we need a national program. when i was a kid, there was the presidential physical fitness awards. it was a program to get kids in shape. i'd love -- >> martha: you can't do that anymore. >> it's ablism. >> martha: people say that we all have to get behind this effort. >> you can't. >> martha: i know. >> you can't. they -- >> martha: i can always hope. >> it's sad. thanks, martha. >> martha: thanks, pete. always good to see you. a quick break here and we'll be right back. governor ron desantis and democrat challenger charlie crist took each other on last night and they didn't hold back. >> i want to make things very, very clear. the only worn-out old donkey i'm looking to put out to pasture is

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>> gas prices are up as well under your lack of leadership. you slipped in something to drop the price of gas but only in october right before the run up to the election. that's so political, it's disgusting. >> why are fuel and natural gas prices up? because of the biden crist energy policies. they're waging war on american energy. they're not producing what we need them to do. they're begging maduro and opec for more oil. >> martha: ron desantis faced off against charlie crist. that was not the only pretty spicy back and forth there. steve harrigan joins us live from atlanta with a look at what happened last night in florida. hi, steve. >> martha, you could get a sense from the background noise there the cheering and the shouting on each side. this was a raucous debate. these people came after a delay

from the hurricane to see the only debate to become florida's next governor. these two men went after each other. charlie crist now running as a democratic candidate wentz on the attack. he said ron desantis was too busy trying to become president to run the state properly. >> i have a question for you. you're running for governor. why don't you look in the eyes of the people of the state and florida and say if you're re-elected you'll serve a full four-year team as governor. yes or no, ron? will you serve a full four year term? >> do we have enough time? >> we did not agree on the questions, governor. it's your turn. >> charlie is interested in talking about 2024 and joe biden. i want to make things very clear. the only worn out old donkey i'm looking to put out to pasture is charlie crist. >> over and over again, crist

brought up abortion and even a question about teacher pay. desantis tried to link crist and biden with inflation and failed economic policies. if you look at the last four races for governor in florida, they've all been decided by a razor's edge. desantis won four years ago with less than 1/2 of 1% margin only after a recount. so it's a tough race. many people saying that desantis has grown tremendously both in national stature and his war chest. most people see him leading at this point. back to you. >> martha: very interesting. and charlie crist used to be the republican governor of florida now running as a democrat. it's a battle ground state that we watch closely. it does get very tight. a lot of people from the northeast that move to florida now. it's a shifting electorate and one that the candidates have to keep moving to keep up with there in a lot of ways. steve, thanks very much.

great to have you with us, steve. thanks for being here today, everybody. that is "the story" on this tuesday. hope you join us tomorrow. because we are looking forward to getting out on the road as we head to pennsylvania. a lot of folks will be watching this debate tonight between mehmet oz and john fetterman. we'll talk to some voters. some of whom are undecided. >> neil: all right. you didn't hear this from me, but there's an election two weeks from today. the mid-term countdown is on. so is the rush to get out the vote and the early voting at that. long lines in georgia, long lines in florida. in fact, we've been seeing this play out in long lines in some two dozen states where early voting has been going on for a while right now, this is a mid-term election year. crucial moments that could decide how that vote sorts out two weeks from now, particularly in four key st