A survivor of the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater in July appears in a new ad calling on the public to push the presidential candidates for stronger gun control.

Stephen Barton, a young man shot in the face and neck less during the Aurora, Colo., shooting that left 12 dead and dozens injured, stars in the ad, which takes place in an empty theater setting.

"I was lucky," Barton says in the ad. "In the next four years, 48,000 Americans won't be so lucky, because they'll be murdered with guns in the next president's term—enough to fill over 200 theaters. So when you watch the presidential debates, ask yourself, 'Who has a plan to stop gun violence?'"

The first presidential debate takes place on Wednesday in Denver.

Produced by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of mayors led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston's Thomas Menino, the ad is expected to air nationally.

The 30-second spot pushes viewers to the website DemandAPlan.org where the public can gain more information on gun violence and the mayors' ongoing campaign for greater attention to this issue. It includes a petition asking President Obama and Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney for a "plan to end gun violence."

"What we need from our nation’s leaders is more than just a moment of silence -- we need a moment of courage," reads the petition.

The group released a similar ad last month featuring survivors of the Tucson, Ariz., shooting in which former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survived being shot in the head.

Courtesy Morning Joe

Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS Poll

Both presidential candidates are campaigning in Ohio Wednesday, but it's President Obama who now holds a 10 point lead (53% to 43%) over Mitt Romney in the Buckeye State, according to the latest Quinnipiac/New York Times/CBS News poll. 

The new poll represents a three point improvement for the president in Ohio and a one percentage point decline for Romney compared to last month's results.

The president also holds a nine percentage point lead over Romney in Florida (53% to 44%), the poll found. Compared to last month, this represents a four point improvement for Obama in the Sunshine State and a two point decline for Romney.

Obama carried both states in 2008, but both are considered swing states, and Florida, in particular, is known to swing red. Both states have Republican governors, and former President George W. Bush carried Ohio and Florida in 2004.

Florida represents a heavy 29 electoral votes, the most of any swing state, and Ohio holds a significant 18 electoral votes.

"He's not driving a consistent message," Mark Halperin, a senior political analyst for Time and MSNBC contributor, explained on Morning Joe Wednesday. 

Romney is also behind in Pennsylvania by 12 points, the poll found. Pennsylvania, a state Obama also carried in 2008, is worth 20 electoral votes. Bush won the state in 2004.

The political director for the Romney campaign disputed another recent poll in Ohio showing Obama ahead of Romney.

"I kind of hope the Obama campaign is basing their campaign on what the public polls say. We don’t. We have confidence in our data and our metrics,"  Rich Beeson told reporters, according to NBC News.

A trio of workers who said they were laid off after Bain Capital took over their companies were given time to speak on the stage at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night. They told their personal stories of what happened at each of their companies, accusing Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney and his former Bain partners of putting profits before people and describing the fallout after a Bain takeover.

Democrats have thrust Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Romney, into the spotlight numerous times during the presidential campaign, questioning its role in job creation, as well as various overseas investments. 

"I wanted to tell you about Mitt Romney's record of cutting jobs," began one speaker. "Mitt Romney once said, 'I like being able to fire people.' Well I can tell you from personal experience—he does."

Romney and his campaign have consistently defended his business and job-creation record at Bain. 

Video above.

Rep. Todd Akin is done apologizing and ready to get back to attacking his opponent in Missouri's senate race, incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill. In his latest ad, "Six Seconds - Six Years," Akin tells viewers that his "six second" flub (where he said raped women cannot get pregnant) is nothing compared to Sen. McCaskill's six years in office.

"My six second mistake is well-known," he smiles. "But Claire McCaskill's six-year record is something you should know."

The video then goes on to outline the "mistakes" of McCaskill that he has outlined in previous ads, namely voting with President Obama, including for "Obamacare," and the federal stimulus.

"What's this election about?" Akin wraps up. "Saving our country."

It is the fourth video pumped out in the last four days by the congressman who has stubbornly refused to drop out of race despite pleas from the highest level of his party following his discredited and much lambasted remarks on rape and female biology.

The prior daily Akin video, "Case against Claire," featured Mike Huckabee, one of the few conservatives who came to Akin's defense, and complained about McCaskill's "100% pro-choice" record and an 'F' rating from the NRA. 

Although the Republicans' Florida convention is on hold due to weather, the debates are moving forward starting with MSNBC host Chris Matthews and the chair of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus. The pair got into it Monday morning on the set of Morning Joe, which is broadcasting live from Tampa.

Matthews accused the Romney campaign of taking a "cheap shot" and "playing the race card" with Mitt Romney's comment last week that no one has ever asked to see his birth certificate. The campaign has defended it as a harmless joke, not directed at the president, but simply an acknowledgement of where Mitt and his wife Ann were born.

Matthews, to Preibus:

I have to call you on this Mr. Chairman. You’ve been suggesting that somehow Obama has been running a negative campaign and your guy is running a positive campaign, but that’s not accurate. They’ve both been negative. That cheap shot about 'I don’t have a problem with my birth certificate [from Romney] was awful. It is an embarrassment to your party to play that card. This part about getting rid of the work requirement for welfare is dishonest. You are playing that ethnic card there.

You can play your games and giggle about it, but the fact is your side is playing that card. When you start talking about work requirements, you know what game you’re playing, and everybody knows what game you’re playing. It’s the race card. Yeah, if your name is Romney, yeah you were well-born, you went to prep school. Yeah, brag about it. Yeah, this guy [Obama] has an African name and he has to live with it.

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough asked Matthews to clarify. "You think Mitt Romney’s playing the race card?" 

"There’s no doubt he did on the birth certificate," Matthews said. "Why would he bring it up?...And I think the work requirement fits right into it."

Priebus disputed Matthews' accusation.

"You got your monologue in, so congratulations," Priebus said. "The fact of the matter is he’s from Michigan, he was born in Michigan. He’s making the point that 'I was born in Michigan.' We’ve gotten to a place in politics where any moment of levity is totally frowned upon by guys like you just so you can push your brand. It’s a moment of levity. Everybody gets it." 

"What's the joke?" Matthews asked. "I don't get it."

Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinksi suggested it was an ill-timed, ill-written joke on the Republican candidate's part. "He misfired badly on the joke," said Scarborough.

"Mitt Romney has continuously said the president was born in this country. It's a non-starter, it's a dumb issue, it's a distraction," Priebus added.

They continued like this for a while.

"Garbage, garbage," Priebus said, shaking his head.

"It's your garbage," Matthews fired back.

"We went from a tropical storm to Hurricane 3," joked guest Tom Brokaw.

Cue commercial break. 

Watch the clip above.

Mehdi Taamallah / AFP - Getty Images

Mayor Michael Bloomberg(C) and police commissioner Ray Kelly(R) hold a press conference after a shooting outside the Empire State Building on August 24.

After a shooting Friday morning in midtown Manhattan that left two people dead, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an outspoken gun control advocate, said “there’s an awful lot of guns out there.”

Although the city is “on track” to see a record low murder rate this year, the mayor said New York is “not immune to the national problem of gun violence” in this country.

Just last night, the Chicago Tribune reported that 19 people were shot in the South and West side portions of the city Thursday evening into Friday morning.

Bloomberg called on both political parties to tighten up the country's gun laws following the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater last month.

Calling it a “terrible thing,” the mayor, standing with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at a press conference near the scene Friday, sought to alleviate New Yorkers fears that the proximity of the shooting to the iconic Empire State Building could mean it was terrorism related.

“I want to assure everyone this is nothing to do with terrorism,” he said.

The shooter had a 45-caliber semi-automatic handgun, the commissioner added.

The suspect, Jeffrey Johnson, 58 of Manhattan, was shot dead after he turned his gun on responding police officers, the mayor and Commissioner Kelly said.

Johnson shot a 41-year-old former colleague of his from Hazan Imports (10 west 33^rd St.), a designer of women’s apparel located next to the Empire State Building, where he was let go about a year ago, the officials said.

Nine others were shot during the incident, some of which may have been bystanders hit by responding officers, they added. All of them are expected to survive. There were two women and seven male victims; no children or elderly were among them, they said.

Bloomberg also praised a construction worker who followed the suspect and then alerted officers in the vicinity.

“When he saw something, he said something” the mayor said, referencing the city’s post-9/11 slogan. “And then [he] turned it over to the professionals.”

NBC News has more on the shooting.

A little more than half of the middle class believe President Obama's policies will improve their situation, according to a new Pew Research Center report. Fifty-two percent prefer Obama's policies to the 42% who said Republican candidate Mitt Romney would aid the middle class.

Figures from an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll last month showed a similar lead by the president in winning the middle class. It found that 49% of voters believe Obama's policies look out for the middle class, compared to 33% that believe Romney does—a 16-point advantage. A whopping 80% of those respondents said they would vote for the candidate they believe will strength the middle class. Interesting, because a new Obama campaign ad released Thursday has the popular former President Clinton promising that Obama's economic plan will do just that.

Courtesy Daily Rundown

This doesn't mean the president's path to re-election is a simple skip down the yellow-brick road. Indeed, only 44% of voters in the NBC/WSJ poll approve of his handling of the economy (though up 2% from the prior month).

While both campaigns profess their dedication to strengthening and improving the middle class, the number of those who possess a middle class income are dwindling as more people join the ranks of the poor and the wealthy, increasing America's income disparity, Pew found. In 2011, 51% of adults were considered middle class, a 10-percentage point drop from 1971 when 61% were middle class.

While upper-incomers wealth held steady over the last decade, the middle class' median net worth fell by $36,432 (see chart).

And they aren't happy. Eighty-five percent of those who identify as middle class say it is more difficult for them to maintain their standard of living today than it was a decade ago. Who do they blame for this? Politicians and a few other culprits. 

• 62% blame Congress
• 54% blame banks and financial institutions
• 47% blame corporations
• 44% blame the Bush administration
• 39% foreign competition
• 34% blame the Obama administration

In discussing the Pew report this morning, conservative Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough blamed both parties for the "depressing" news. "It's all B.S.," he said. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer because for 40 years our economy has been changing...We had an IT revolution that displaced a lot of people."

"The political parties are just stupid in their simple-minded solutions," Scarborough continued while pointing to tax reform suggested by each candidate for president. 

Watch the clip below.

Sen. Claire McCaskill said she hopes her Republican challenger's comments on rape and pregnancy serve as a "gut check" for Missourians come November.

"For most Missourians, I hope this is one of those gut check moments where they realize this is not somebody we want speaking for us and our values on the floor of the United States Senate," she said on Morning Joe Monday.

Rep. Todd Akin suggested over the weekend that women are able to "shut down" their bodies during rape to prevent pregnancy. He has since said he misspoke (though he does not specify which part). 

"For the state I love, I hope this is a moment where everyone who hasn’t been paying close attention—this statement is kind of a window into Todd Akin’s mind," McCaskill said.

When asked whether or not she believed Akin should step down or be removed as the GOP candidate in this race, McCaskill demurred a bit. 

"It's not my place to decide," she said. "I think the people of Missouri have to make this decision." 

Pointing out that Akin won the Republican primary by a "comfortable margin" earlier this month (36% in a three-way race), McCaskill said she believed it would be "pretty radical" for the national Republican Party to try to forcibly remove him given the voters had selected him.

Cynics will point out that if Akin stays in the race, this could make what was supposed to be a tough re-election for the Democratic Sen. McCaskill a bit easier. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, for instance, jokingly introduced her to the show Monday morning as "Let’s bring in right now the woman re-elected last night from St. Louis."

McCaskill, a former prosecutor, sought to put it into other terms.

"I spent 10 years as a prosecutor in the courtroom and did hundreds and hundreds of rape cases, held their hands, cried with them," she said. "That’s why for me this is incredibly painful, because it shows how many people are out there sometimes in very important positions that just don’t understand the trauma and don’t’ understand what it means." 

"This is a very, very, very, very, very, very conservative person," she later added.

Meanwhile, several Republican officials sought to distance themselves from Akin's ignorant remark.

Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney: "Congressman’s Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong."

Republican congressman Scott Brown: I found Todd Akin’s comments about rape victims outrageous and way over the line. He needs to apologize.

George Allen, Virginia GOP candidate for Senate: While Congressman Akin may have addressed his statement, like many men and women I strongly disapprove of his original comments — and the sentiments behind them.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) on NOW with Alex Wagner: It was outrageous. I don't think he represents the party in any way...He has a lot of apologizing to do.

COMMENTARY

The Romney campaign and Republicans have set out to make them into the heroes on Medicare (vouchers = choice = great!) despite selecting a running mate who has specifically spelled out ways to gut the country's health care system for seniors and shift more of the burden of costs to the elderly.

Seeking to confuse the issue on Medicare, Mitt Romney himself, along with his GOP surrogates, have accused President Obama of being the one who "robbed" Medicare of billions of dollars, or as the Republican National Committee's Reince Priebus termed it: possessing "blood on his hands."

The GOP narrative bases its accusation on an Obama administration rule under the Affordable Care Act that reduces Medicare payments to some hospitals, private insurers, and on prescription drugs as a way to control costs on the country's burgeoning health care bill.

The problem with Republicans attacking the president on this topic is namely because it's the GOP that has voted, via the Paul Ryan budget, to cut Medicare benefits for seniors, not the Democrats. The Obama change to Medicare does not reduce the benefits that seniors receive as PolitiFact has pointed out when this line of attack has cropped up previously among the right.

MSNBC host Chuck Todd appeared to grow tired of hearing the talking point and took Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a one-time member of the Romney campaign's short-list for VP, to task when he began to trot out the line on Daily Rundown Monday.

"[President Obama] didn’t make any cuts to programs. They are trying to slow the growth and yet you guys are calling it 'cuts,'" Todd said to Jindal.

"I think the difference is that President Obama cut Medicare by over $700 billion," began Jindal. 

"No, let me stop you there," Todd cut in. "But he didn’t cut it. Is it a cut? Now you're saying slowing the growth is a cut? That’s what you’re saying when you use the $700-billion talking point?"

Jindal sought to explain the nuance away, arguing Obama's plan won't work to extend Medicare. "The difference is that he didn’t use those savings to extend the solvency of the trust fund," he said. "He took that money out of Medicare to create a new entitlement when we can't afford the programs we’ve got." 

Editor's Note: This story appeared under the previous headline of: Chuck Todd calls out GOP faux $700B Medicare talking point. It was updated to reflect nuances in the "cut" vs. "spending growth slowdown" debate over Medicare.