what. you don't have a desk bed? don't be left in the dark. get proactive alerts 24/7. comcast business. built for business. tonight on "all in" -- >> this is a strange election, isn't it? man. >> it's debate night in america. all eyes are on marco rubio and ben carson at the fourth republican debate. >> man, is he sweating. >> tonight proving the economic debate with a look at each candidate's plan for america. >> we cut taxes. >> we are reducing taxes. >> if we cut taxes we can bring it back. >> a look at the fore shadowed attack from bush and trump. >> you should show up to work. >> and where each candidate comes down on the dark side. >> i hated darth vader. now i feel sorry for him. >> and the pyramids. >> joseph built the pyramids to store grain. >> hillary clinton's coming for

your wallet. don't worry about huckabee or jindal. worry about her. >> "all in" starts now. >> good evening. from new york i'm chris hayes. an hour from now eight republican presidential candidates take the stage for their fourth debate, hosted by fox business. two weeks after the cnbc debate widely viewed within the republican party as a disaster, this one similarly focus on economic issues is being seen as a do-over though the campaign declined to impose their specific demands on tonight's network, a sister to fox news. candidates are likely to get more speaking time. for the first time the main debate field is down from ten to the eight most popular in national polls. chris christie and mike huckabee having been demoted to the under card debate wrapping up now. the second tier shed lindsey graham and george pitaki whose support is so low they don't get to debate at all. less than three months to the

iowa caucuses, an enormous gop field that started with at least 16 candidates is finally narrowing down. here is the state of the race. donald trump and ben carson neck and neck, just shy of a combined 50% of all republican support. trailed by three candidates who hold or have held elective office. marco rubio, ted cruz and jeb bush bringing up the rear. none of the other candidates break 5%. new polling shows every one of the top five would lose tole hillary clinton if the election were held today, ben carson by the smallest margin. clinton's poll numbers may have something to do with the wifi pass word tonight, stop hillary. everyone there will be forced to type it in. an rnc operative out there is very proud of himself tonight. when the candidates take the stage in less than an hour, all eyes on cofront-runner ben carson who is struggling to adapt to heightened security

that comes with the quasi cofront-runner status after reporters started looking at his much vaunted biography he lost his trademark cool for the first time while facing the press on friday. he continued to take questions about his past business dealings. >> why were you involved in a company that was selling a product the texas attorney general says is a sham product? >> well, remember, they contacted me to give a speech. i didn't go into great depth when i get a contract to do a speech. i do a speech. >> i talked to a microbiologist who said there is no scientific proof it works at all. >> it may not. i take it because i almost never get sick anymore. i used to get sick a lot. i like it. >> senator marco rubio crowned the winner of the last debate by the pundits is undergoing a new level scrutiny over his finances and donald trump senses an

opening. >> everyone says marco rubio is a wonderful speaker. i said really? do you remember when he was doing the message to the president? remember the thing with the water? the president has just spoken, right? he's doing the message. he's talking. i noticed and i said, man, is he sweating. all of the sudden and we will fight and we will this -- and it wasn't out of a glass. it was out of a bottle. maybe he got paid from the company that had the be thele. i don't know. >> a super pac put out an ad hitting marco rubio over his support for comprehensive immigration reform called amnesty. and now the "new york times" reports jeb bush's super pac is planning attacks on him including a video casting him as unelectable because of his hard-line stance on abortion. will either cruz or bush take on rubio?

joining me snow steve schmidt. are you anticipating people coming after rubio from both sides tonight? >> absolutely. marco rubio is on the rise. we are moving into the stage of the race where the candidates are conscious of it. the person who benefits by ben carson going down in the race is ted cruz who doesn't have much room to grow outside of carson coming down. trump is effective when he's fighting from his right to his left against these establishment candidates. you will see him tonight. two big departures from republican orthodoxy will challenge interests and you will hear him challenge the free

trade deals. most of the establishment republicans on the stage, ardent free traders. trump will dekraai the trade deals, talk about repealing nafta. marco rubio tonight is in the middle of the action. these previous debates he's been like a supporting actor. really strong performances, got people's attention. but he comes into this and some degree the star of show. once again jeb bush's campaign is telegraphed the punches they will throw at marco rubio. in debates, like in boxing, most knock outs come on the counter punch. you saw that devastating counter punch marco rubio delivered in the last debate that did such damage to jeb bush. but jeb bush coming into this debate in order for him to come back up. in order for jeb bush to have a comeback, marco rubio has to come down. >> i want to talk about it. the telegraphing of the attack which is the second time the bush camp has seemed to do this.

these are people close to the super pac. you can see, look, legally the bush folks in the campaign can't control what the super pac is doing although the degree is up for debate. can you explain why you would go to a reporter to talk about your me the fars plans to go after your opponent on the eve of a debate like last time which resulted in the devastating counter punch moment? >> it's a quansi move for sure. one of the thing that's under appreciated by most in the media, there are felony criminal provisions for coordinating between a campaign and a super pac. in fact, it's very rarely done. the way super pacs contribute is through the media. >> exactly. >> you see that playing out. not something you want to announce. coming into the debate. so you know looking at the level of preparation that we saw from marco rubio in the last debate,

he's going to be ready on a number of different fronts from a predictable line of attacks that are going to compos bli from trump, jeb bush or others in the field. >> you know, it was interesting to me in the article that the notion of electability. just watching the under card debate which should be wrapping up and chris christie focused the entire time on electability. i can beat hillary clinton. this is something you haven't heard at all. thus far, no one is trying to make an argument that i'm the most electable. it's been who excites the base most. at some point, someone there start making the argument like, really, guys? donald trump? you really think he'll go and win ohio? do you really think he can win the swing states? are we going to see that tonight? >> look, it's tough to make an electability argument as in i'm the most electable candidate when you areth or sixth place. jeb bush has a hard time making that argument vis-a-vis marco rubio now.

when the voting starts, only jeb bush or marco rubio, one of the two will be eliminated after the results at a florida primary. they both won't survive that. whoever loses, think, is out of the race. i would say tonight strong performance by chris christie in that under card debate. he should be on the main debate stage. the statistical analysis that got him booted off is deeply flawed. it's a tv calculation. not a mathematical, statistical calculation. >> perish the thought. >> when you look at chris christie, the video that's gone viral talking about drug addiction, this is a huge issue in new hampshire. while jeb bush has a lot of difficulty in his campaign, we shouldn't under estimate his capacity to inflict damage on marco rubio. if marco rubio starts to bleed in this race and starts to come down, look for chris christie to start to peak up.

chris christie's numbers are rising in new hampshire. he's on a level of descent not dissimilar from mccain in 2008. if christie can keep the numbers up into thanksgiving, the period between thanksgiving and christmas, you could see chris christie making a move in new hampshire. >> all right. thank you very much. >> you bet. >> joined now by jess mcintosh from emily's list, which endorsed hillary clinton and the senior editor for investigations at the international business times. i want to talk about rubio. david, you had a great piece in international business times basically about the fact that rubio, his book contains passages that are essentially endorsing the tenets of obamacare. endorsing the energy policies from before when he was a state senator. that was a massive opening for jeb bush, much more than electability over abortion.

>> i think so. marco rubio laid out a book of innovative ideas. in the chapter on hillary clinton he talked about vastly expanding government-run health care programs. he talked about setting up insurance exchanges. this is a reminder of mitt romney being one of the originators of romneycare which became obamacare. that term "obamacare" has become such a hot button term you may see in the debates people saying you proposed obamacare, you supported it. >> the key to me about that is the way they are going for marco rubio and the reason this is so clarifying and you have seen it from ted cruz. they are going after him because of comprehensive immigration reform. in the words of ted cruz's super pac what has he done? that's the thing he's known for.

>> logically that makes sense. there is enough in rubio's record you can go at him as too aligned on government intervention in general and certainly on the immigration issue. my guess is they are looking at polling that says being against abortion access for rape and incest victims is an absolute makes you unelectable nonstarter. they have decided to go with the attack they know is going to move the most people. it is not a comfortable rhetorical tactic for them. obviously -- especially since jeb bush's record is awful. he tried to intervene to force a rape victim to carry her baby to term as governor. this is an odd place. i see numbers and they are

horrible for the position that marco rubio holds on abortion. he's really extreme. i think they chose between -- the attack that made logical sense and the one they think can work. i'm glad they chose that one. i want to see this fight. >> i agree. it's a clarifying fight. >> you will see a management argument. jeb bush has managed a state. marco rubio managed a senator's office. you will hear -- you may hear an argument where jeb bush says, look, we have had a president without enough experience coming into office. >> that's the line. >> that's their line. he may try to tie into that marco rubio's trouble with his finances. the controversy over him going into debt or using credit cards and running up personal bills on political organizations. you may see a management argument from jeb bush. does it move anyone forward?

>> first of all, i think the management argument, that horse has left the barn at least for now. the big question to me going into tonight is do we see folks looking for someone they think can beat hillary clinton? that has to factor in. one of the interesting things is the republican -- the conservative media bubble has convinced themselves that hillary clinton is a terrible candidate who will be defeated easily. so it is not a priority to imagine someone who will be the most formidable against her. i wonder if the polling today and her solidifying certain kinds of support changes the dynamic. >> i think it could. i think they have always under estimated her at their own peril. i'm thrilled they are continuing to do it. i think this elect cat just isn't interested in the electability argument.

they are passionate. they are moving with their emotions. they don't want anything that sounds like politics, that sounds like politics as usualle or politicians as usualle. it's why they don't care that they don't know about ben carson and he's leading.. it's why they don't care that they don't know about ben carson and he's leading. they don't care that donald trump is a buffoon who can't be elected. they don't care about the logical arguments. the political donor card may shift into who can get it done for republicans. but i don't see voters carrying them. these guys don't seem swayed by that argument. >> the quick thing to add is it's difficult for jeb bush to make a marco rubio is too moderate. jeb bush endorsed a lot of his arguments. >> this is terrible at hitting marco rubio in general. he endorsed him as somebody who could be a good president.

>> there is also, david, i'm curious to see when people get into the weeds on economic policy. one of the things you will see is there is a lot of talk about cronyism, cleaning up washington. shows how close jeb bush and marco rubio are to the same entities they talk about. >> when jeb bush says want to clean up washington or i'm a change agent of washington before you get to how close he is, he's the brother of a president, the son of a president. i think as the candidates make arguments i'm a change agent, there is going to be more scrutiny about how much they represent a lot of the same. i should add both for the republicans and for the democrats, hillary clinton has people around her who were part of the same r same part of the establishment. >> still ahead, why they are facing intense scrutiny and much more debate night coverage.

the greatest hits from the republican under card are next. >> i'm one of the victims of that hack. if the chinese commit cyber warfare against us, they are going to see cyber warfare like they have never seen before.

well, the pyramids were made in a way that they have hermetically sealed compartments. you don't need hermetically sealed compartments for a sepucher. you would need it to keep grain for a long time. >> ben carson keep with his position that the pyramids were built not as tombs for the pharoah but by the biblical figure joseph to store grain. that's been teased bi people including donald trump who considers himself an expert on how to build things.

>> i hope everything is okay with ben. he's having a hard time. the pyramids are solid structures. you can't put grain in them because they are solid structures other than a little thing for the pharoahs in the bottom as you understand. they don't have beams going across connecting and big holle low spaces underneath. they are solid. i don't get that one. >> perhaps the most credible fact checkers are the egyptian antiquity officials who gathered to discuss thermal scans of the pyramids. an associated press reporter took the opportunity to ask the egyptian antiquities minister for a response to carson's theory. the reporter got one, sort of. quote, does heaven deserve a response? he doesn't. we don't have video so imagine the look on the pyramid expert's pace.

the under card debate is over. governor christie demoted from the main event of past debates because the polling average wasn't high enough joined former senator rick santorum, bobby jindal and mike huckabee dropped down to turned card debate referred to probably not by any of these men as the kids' table.

lindsey graham and former governor george pitaki couldn't qualify this time joining jim gilmore in siberia. when governor jindal tried to bait governor christee he kept focused on hillary clinton. >> your budget has gone up 15%, down 26% in louisiana. up $5 billion in new jersey. down $9 billion in louisiana. >> the differences between me and bobby. we can talk about those and obviously bobby wants to. i want to talk about what will happen to this country if we have another four years of barack obama's policies. by the way, it will be worse. hillary clinton is so far to the left to try to keep up to her socialist opponent bernie sanders it's hard to see her anymore. >> you expanded food stamps at a time we have record numbers of americans on food stamps and you kaefed in to obamacare, expanded medicaid. >> i complimented bobby.

imagine how much time he'd want if i criticized him. >> i will give you a ribbon for participation and a juice box. in the real world it's about cutting government spending. >> by the end, candidates were ignoring the moderator's questions. >> who in congress do you most admire on the democratic side. one name from each of you. starting with governor jindal. >> we can waste our time. this is why people are frustrated with the last debate with these silly questions. [ applause ] we have a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. let me use my time to say i want to fire everybody in d.c. in both parties. >> since we are not answering the question, tomorrow is veterans' day. >> do you know who i respect and why i respect them? because they fight. they are not willing to back down. they are willing to stand up, fight and win. i respect them because they are willing to take it to us. >> joining me now political correspondent for the daily beast. that was a fascinating moment t. shadow of the seents debate hung

over it. you had the fox folks saying cnbc mismanaged the debate. here you have the candidates straightforwardly steam rolling the moderators, getting the crowd on their side and completely ignoring the questions. >> it was amazing. i will say that. jindal started it. right? he was on fire tonight. he was trying to fight with everybody. he said he wouldn't answer their ridiculous question. the over candidates couldn't say, i will answer that. they had to follow his lead or look like weak liberals, i don't know. amazing. >> it's telling that none of them wanted to have a moment in which they ex pressed admiration or respect for a democrat in congress. >> it happened during the democratic forum on this network when rachel maddow asked hillary clinton which of the republican candidates would you choose as your running mate. she wouldn't answer the question.

any candidate is concerned they will accidentally endorse someone from the opposite party. i don't think any of them are particularly eager to do it. >> jindal was just up there strafing the entire field. he was going hard at christie's record. chris christie declined to defend his record. jindal would say, you did this. i want to talk about hillary clinton. again and again. it was interesting because it was hard for chris christie to defend his record to a republican primary audience and chris christie sees his best chance about making this about his possibility of beating hillary clinton. >> it reminded me of jindal trying to attack donald trump and donald trump said on tweeter i only speak to people polling in a certain number in the polls. i won't speak to bobby jindal because he's not popular enough. he's taking a page saying i'm too presidential to be here on

this sat stage with these sad people. i will act like i'm in the general election. it was a good strategy. he looked for presidential than the others on stage. he seemed more presidential than bobby jindal who seemed like somebody who would tear the party apart from the inside. whether or not that's going to -- that message christine is putting forth would appeal to a republican primary audience, i'm not sure. >> there was an odd "take my wife, please" moment with mike huckabee. i want your reaction. take a listen. >> if elected president would you keep janet yellen? >> my wife's name is janet. when you say janet yelling i'm very familiar with what you mean. >> nailed it. that's a question about whether or not he would retain the current fed customary janet yellen. it played well but i don't think that's the joke republicans want

to make a lot down the stretch. >> it played well in the room. it's just typical of mike huckabee to say something awkward. i read a story last week. he says awkward things about his personal life, sex in general. it really isn't called for and is not part of the topic. he does it all the time. it keeps happening in such a way. he was talking about, you know, the private sector being more successful than the public sector and brought up viagra, for some reason, as an example of this. he says strange things i don't think will play well beyond a room like tonight in milwaukee. >> they started off the debate, i think admirably, they were going on economic policy and substance. it became clear quickly why television producers producing the debates haven't spent a lot of time on the substantive questions. there was no daylight. if you asked them about taxes you get the same answer from

even. nearly identical essentially carbon copy, i will reduce regulation. i'm going to cut taxes and barack obama is terrible for the economy. hillary clinton will be even more socialist. that's it. i didn't hear disagreement out there about economic policy. >> the big secret here is all of the candidates pretty much believed the same thing when it comes to economic policy and other issues as well. when it comes to social issues most believe the same thing. they can't answer questions directly and have the substantive debate bobby jindal was trying to have about the budget. they all pretty much think the same thing. some are less successful than others. chris christie is the prime example. his budgets have been bigger than bobby jindal's. i think it's very difficult for them to talk about issues of substance. it doesn't play well. donald trump is who they are running against now. he's not someone who will go out and talk about substance.

he'll talk about who's ugly, sweating too much, rap, do different things. i think this is what the primary is about. trying to one-up donald trump and not talk about substance at all. >> olivia nuzzi, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> how are tonight's moderators planning to reign in the candidates? a look at that next. do you knot to a happy home in these modern times? it's a housewife who's in control of the finances. actually, any wife, husband, or human person can use progressive's name your price tool to take control of their budget. and while the men do the hard work of making money, she can get all the car insurance options her little heart desires. or the women might do the hard work of making money. [ chuckling ] women don't have jobs. is this guy for real? modernizing car insurance with -- that's enough out of you! the name your price tool, only from progressive. where is your husband?

ahead of tonight neil

cavuto, one of three of the moderators characterized the dynamic of the debate this way. i understand candidates getting annoyed but they better be careful about looking like whiners and babies. looks like he's taking a shot to avoid the histrionics but the whining has begun already. according to according to the daily mail an aide to a hopeful will stand beside him and spelled out worries. it's not lost on my boss that neil interned in the jimmy carter white house. neil cav, to is suspect because three decades ago he interned for carter. there is a debate moderator maria bartiromo who angered the crowd with this question to herman cain. >> in recent days we learned four women accused you of inappropriate behavior. here we are focused on character and judgment.

you have been a ceo -- [ booing ] >> yes. >> you know the shareholders are reluctant to hire a ceo with character issues. why should the american people hire a president if they feel there are character issues? >> the american people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations. [ cheers and applause ] >> editor in chief of the washington journal is the third moderator tonight. in the wake of the tantrum thrown by the candidates all eyes will be on how the moderators comport themselves but the new demands don't apply tonight. according to the washington post, among the reasons kosht one operative is people are afraid to make roger ailes mad, a reference to the network chief.

let me ask you if you stand by the claim that as a 14-year-old boy you attempted to stab another boy and attacked your mother with a hammer. >> those things are absolutely true. i am 100% sure they are true. this is simply an attempt to smear and to deflect the argument to something else. >> to many carson supporters questions about whether or not past stories are true are nothing more than a smear campaign by the so-called liberal media. we watch fox news and listen to the radio. >> if you predict how the flurry around the memoir would play out so far it's done nothing to damage his popularity. a news poll has him leading the pack with 71%.

another has him the highest against hillary clinton. due to his mild mannered if odd disposition, candidates other than donald trump have been reticent to attack dr. carson. one of the big questions going into tonight's debate is if one of the other candidate wills try to go after carson on that area. joining me now, assistant professor at the harvard kennedy school author of "the loneliness of the black republican" a wonderful title. you wrote a book about the experience of being a black conservative republican. as you watched the campaign unfold can you account for the strangeness? it's unfolded in such a strange fashion i can't figure out

what's going on. >> that's a great point. it's about pulling yourself up by your boot straps, going up against everything against you. that's why there is a lot of popularity and support around carson and why people are rallying around him. despite all of the odd and particulars here and there. >> that explains why you have this weird situation for about 48 hours in which the knock on the candidate was that he was not a violent young man. >> right. >> he had not hit his moth were a hammer and had not stabbed someone with a knife and the campaign was like, no, he absolutely hit his mother with a hammer and absolutely stabbed someone.

it's important for that biography to be there to get the story. >> in fact, going out and saying we have people to counteract the liberal media claims that he didn't stab someone. here, we have verification. because this is not a normal story. this is not a normal part of presidential politics. this is part of his uplift story. this is part of what makes him appealing to many different audiences. among them, white republicans. >> there is a sense. rupert murdock got in trouble for tweeting about ben carson being authentically black in a way ben carson is not. he later apologized for that. there is something happening with the conception of him and his blackness that seems to be at the heart of the appeal. >> right. i think a lot of this goes into his likability. so white republican voters, likely vote ers love him. they think he's honest, has integrity.

they think he represents their values. he also emerges as a kind of blackness that they can understand. and that they can like. he's a good black person who's over come the odds without relying on certain things. i think it's no accident that carson is emerging in popularity among white republican voters at the same time campus unrest, black lives matter, things like that are taking off in steam and success. >> it's been a hallmark of barack obama's political career, the desire on the part of political opponents to find a black adversary that can complete him. there was a moment when herman cain, people rallied around him. barack obama isn't on the ballot but the sense of white republicans smeared as racists and this was proof positive of how liveless the claim is.

>> right. he offers a little bit of protection. he eval dates concerns and he says, you know, look, i have a black friend. i can't be racist. i want to push back or flip it a little bit. think about how carson has support amongst some black circles. >> yep. >> that goes in a different direction than what we would traditionally understand. a new pole came out that said if carson matched up with hillary clinton tomorrow 20% of african-americans would support him. that support is unheard of amongst republican candidates. that's amazing. >> that's one of the most fascinating things. barack obama won upwards of 98%, somewhere in that ballpark. you could see something more like margins of 80%. we may never know. leah, thanks for joining us.

>> thanks for having me . >> ahead a preview of tonight's main debate and what the crop of candidates doesn't want you to know about gop economics. stay with us.

marco rubio was asked if he had a favorite "star wars" character and if he had action figures growing up. >> i think i had the death star. it kept breaking just like in part two. in empire strikes back because that guy got the rocket to go in the hole. >> that guy got a rocket to go in the hole? "star wars" fans know there is much wrong with the statement and the comic-con fans on my staff want me to go into detail. we now know when marco rubio is missing senate votes it is not to watch "star wars" movies. the tax plan does belong in the fantasy genre.

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in just a few minutes the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 cycle will begin. the moderators say they will focus on business and economic issues. it's huge tax cuts that will require cuts to service or blow a hole in the deficit. both right and left leaning groups found donald trump's plan could lead to a $10 trillion revenue loss over a decade. more than half of jeb bush's will go to the top 1%. getting an average of $180,000. ben carson's plan a 15% flat tax based on the idea of tithing would create a $1 trillion based on his own math.

marco rubio's plan would reduce federal revenue by 11.8 trillion over the next decade according to citizens for tax justice with more than a third of the benefits going directly to the top 1%. since marco rubio promised not to cut defense or benefits for current or near retirees to pay for the cuts medicaid, veterans health insurance, transportation, border security and education not to mention the entire federal anti-poverty budget other than medicare and socialle security have to go. the bidding war over who can cut tax it is most has made george w. bush look cautious by comparison. up ahead, the first question i would ask the canada datas tonight. it's one i suspect would make them squirm. that's next.

when a moment turns romantic why pause to take a pill? or stop to find a bathroom? cialis for daily use is approved to treat both erectile dysfunction and the urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach,

delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial. joining me now to preview tonight's debate josh barrow from the up shop, "new york times" and msnbc contributor dorian warren from the warren institute. i thought there was a lot of economic policy that i'm curious about. one of the problems is illustrated in the first debate today. if you ask question s about certain economic policy you get a lot of similar answers. the first question i'm interested in is should there be a federal minimum wage? i think you would get different answers among the folks there. >> i don't think you will get anybody saying it should be higher. you get republican candidates saying i don't think we should change it. the system is fine the way it is. >> then you get others who would

say to abolish it. fiorina says uncontroversial. >> i e-mailed her campaign after she said there is no constitutional basis for it. i didn't get a response as to whether she meant it was unconstitutional. so many states have higher minimum wage. abolishing would have almost no effect on the economy and would be unpopular. the candidates realize that's not a fight to fight even if you think the minimum wage is bad policy. >> they asked the candidates in the last debate the jobs record is 8.6 million private sector jobs created in the obama presidency, unemployment around 5%. how can you criticize the obama jobs record? rick santorum had an interesting response. he said, just listen to the democrats. the hollowing out of the middle class. listen to the debate. the trick for me is how do you make the critique of the obama

economy from the right when so much is about these issues that are kind of bread and butter to democrats and progressives? >> it's interesting. rick santorum is going for the working class position of the republican party. he's actually on this issue closer to democrats than he is to his comrades in the republican party. but the thing is republicans are at a disadvantage whenever wages come up. this is an issue that turns out democratic voters. in a recently released poll that's innovative it polls workers who make $15 an hour or less. 69% of those polled who are unregistered said they would turn out to vote -- they would register and turn out to vote if a candidate came out in favor of $15 and a union. this is at a disadvantage for republicans in terms of the turn out game next fall, a year from now. >> josh is shaking his head. we saw a bunch of states in 2014 with ballot measures about

minimum wage increase s. they did democrats no good. >> tom cotton who ran in arkansas came out not against the minimum wage because he understood the politics wasn't on his side. >> i understand that. it with wasn't just there. it was four states around the country where they put them on the ballot and they passed. minimum wage is popular. when you poll voters they send to say yes, whether or not they are actually going to register and vote. >> i don't think we have seen an example where democrats have used the minimum wage issue to get broader gains. the minimum wage is a fine thing but i don't think we have seen it affect behavior. >> part of the thing that strikes me and i have seen this critique by conservatives that the kind of core domestic policy plank which is tax cuts. >> good times and bad. >>le no matter what the malady is the prescription the tax cuts.

you have slow growth, tax cuts. high growth, tax cuts. small deficits, big deficits, tax cuts. that's taken from the re gan playbook. the gop failed to reckon that the economy now is very different than the economy reagan had. even when you poll people this tax burden isn't ranking up there in front of that. that's what the gop field has to offer. >> you start off with the early 2000s tax cuts. we had a different moment now of 30 years of wage stagnation and we are in a political movement with movement energy. today there was a massive protein. thousands of workers went on strike. when you poll them they know this is something that's happening in their cities and their communities around the country.

they are aware. this is an issue that'ses residence nant for more people today than it was in reagan's time. to josh's point because the issue is more salient now because we are in a movement moment, we are likely to see people willing to register and vote and turn out around the issue if a politician is guaranteeing to raise wages. >> this is the question i have. a complaint if i'm overtaxed is similar to a complaint which is my wage hasn't gone up. you have to tell a story about how you will do that. >> at the bottom of the wage scale you can do it with minimum wage policy. in the middle where people are making $20 or $30 an hour, they hear a minimum wage increase. that will help people but won't affect my family and the way you can sell them a tax cut. another difference between now and when george bush was running is there was a budget surplus when george bush was running.

what are we going to do with the surplus. not there now. >> josh and doer yan, thank you. the rachel maddow show starts now. good evening. good evening, thank you. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. in 2010, a one-term united states senator was up for re-election. and it was a race where nobody could really predict the outcome. it's because on the one hand this is a republican senator and he represented a red state -- a really red state -- and it was a mid-term election year, not a presidential year. everybody knew 2010 would be a really republican year. so all of those basic fundamentals would indicate that should have been an easy seat for an incumbent republican senator to hold onto in 2010. on the other hand, though, this particular incumbent republican senator had an unusual problem. specifically, he had a hooker problem. the senator was a conservative