i think we have some cyclists coming in behind us now. >> thank you very much for the update, and thank you, everybody, for watching today. you can always continue the conversation with me on twitter. you can find me@randikayecnn. state of the union with candy crowley starts. sgroirchlgts today's obama and romney prepare to defeat -- we'll ask former ambassador to the united nations, democrat bill richardson, and former republican speaker of the house, newt gingrich. >> hello, virginia. >> what a great virginia welcome. >> then battleground virginia with the state's democratic senator mark warner and former congressman republican tom davis, and courtship of the american woman. gender politics with the top republican woman in congress cathy mcmoore-rogers, democratic

congresswoman and dana baish and dan bal sfwl from "the washington post. i'm candy crowley, and this is "state of the union." in an election about the economy, the debate over international affairs has been minimal. >> al qaeda is on the path to defeat, and osama bin laden is dead. >> up against criticism that the president's approach has been too hard on friends and too consillatory to enemies. >> the president's policies throughout the middle east began with an apology tour. >> tomorrow night's debate, the last before the election, will focus solely on foreign policy. it is certain to include the specifics, including the who knew what when surrounding the murders of four americans in benghazi, over the debate over the mesh's role in the global village. former u.s. ambassador bill richardson to former speaker of

the house newt gingrich. i want to get to that, but i first want to get just your remembrances of senator george mcgovern who died today at the age of 90, because in some ways he played a pivotal role as the democratic candidate in 1972 in the midst of a war. >> he was a great statesman. i knew him quite well, and i'm very saddened. i think he will be remembered, obviously, for his stance on the war in vietnam, for his bomber missions, but also for his contributions on agriculture, on hunger, and then the democratic party. he transformed the party. the primary system, getting minorities involved. he was a gigantic figure and a classy, good, good guy. >> he probably had nothing many common with senator mcgovern politically. >> george actually was a very complicated person. he was not a pacifist. he was a citizen. i remember being with him in

rome for dinner one night talking about he and goldwater, and he said one of the nice things about losing badly enough was he don't have lots of regrets about what one thing might you have changed, and he had a very good sense of humor, and he was a very down to earth guy who later on in life ran a small business, a bed and breakfast and wrote an article about all the problems he had through the regulations he sponsored as a small business owner. just a great guy. >> i agree. he was far more complicated than just dove would lead you to believe, as the case with most everybody that we talk about. far more complicated. i want to move on now to foreign policy and this big and final debate and ask you one of the questions i hear out there all the time. is there a fundamental difference between these two men that you have discerned over the totality of foreign policy some. >> there is a big difference. i'm concerned about governor romney becoming commander in chief. i told newt that we served in

the house with him. he move foreign policy, and he rose above partisanship on issues like the peso crisis, nafta. we worked together. governor romney just seems to be bluster, blunder, cowboy at foreign policy, and i'm troubled that at this time when we have a benghazi crisis he is trying to make political gain, and i'm also troubled with the house of representatives with the house oversight committee releasing information about some libyan nationals that we are exposing. i think the president has a very strong record in foreign policy. he went after bin laden. he decimated al qaeda. he has restored our alliances. >> mr. speaker, you are

unusually quiet. >> look, i respect bill richardson, old friend, congressman, ambassador, secretary of manager. i have a very, very different view of this. first of all, governor romney lived overseas for several years as a missionary, worked in international business for many, many years, was governor of massachusetts, dealt with the entire world in helping rebuild the winter olympics and literally had virtually every country in the world that he was dweelg in that session, and he is a man who understands the larger world. the biggest difference, i think, is a question between self-deception and realism. i think if you look at the whole obama approach m middle east, it's all -- if you look at libya, where, you know, a country in where even today we're in arguments over benghazi. every person is worry about our intelligence capability. if we can't figure out what went

on in the relatively open city in a country we helped liberate, why do we think we know what's going on with the iranian nuclear program, and i think you can go country by country and see sort of the fray at the edges of the obama policy and the fact that apologizing to islam and worrying about this and mentioning, for example, the stupid film six times in the united nations speech is not a strategy that's getting us anywhere in the region. >> let me -- i just wanted to inform the audience here. this is our latest pew research center poll. the question was who can do a better job making wise foreign policy decisions, and what it shows is that from september to october the president has dropped six points in this, and the former governor has picked up five points, and what's happened in that time has been benghazi, so the toons the question we don't know what happened in a relatively open city that, by the way, united states at least helped to keep

free. how can we possibly stake what the u.s. does next on what we think is happening in iran with the building of a nuclear weapon? >> well, first, candy, when i was u.n. ambassador, i get a daily intelligence assessment. those intelligent assessments change with more information coming in. when the president found out about what happened in benghazi, the next day he called it an act of terror twice. in washington and in nevada. he said he was going to bring those individuals responsible to justice. our libyan policy worked. nato cam in. we assed nato. we came in on humanitarian grounds. i think we have been on the right side of the argument. >> do you know now what happened in benghazi? >> well, i have seen the press reports. i'm not privy to what's happened, but i do think it's a

very strong al qaeda effort. >> more than a month later these things are still -- >> we're now told that ambassador rice was in fact acting on what the intelligence community supposedly told her on sunday after this attack and what they told her on sunday, if that's correct, was factually false. we still don't know the details. we don't know who these people in charge were. you have over 100 people in a five-hour running battle, and this is not a temporary mob. this was not a short-term thing. we now -- they now say at least four al qaeda members are involved. let me give you a bigger picture. the way we handled libya as it collapsed, over 10,000 moved in denali. syria has one of the largest if not the largest chemical weapon stockpiles in the world. that dictatorship falls in such a way that those chemical weapons get into terrorist hands, we have an enormous

problem everywhere in the civil wi wicivilized world. >> i want to play you something that the president said in the debate. this was a question that never got answered, and it was whose decision was it not to beef up security after so many folks we are now learning through these cables through the state department had asked for it? this is part of what he had to say. >> the suggestion that anybody in my team from the secretary of state, our u.n. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. >> my question, let me do it first to you, mr. speaker. my question is how does mitt romney avoid that charge, they're playing politics? you hear it on the campaign trail. this is politics. this is politics. >> first of all, it's offensive

for the president of the united states to pretend that being asked a serious question about a serious topic in a presidential campaign is some personality game. the fact is that the president of the united states, he says he was responsible. he was asked. he said hillary is not responsible. she, for me. i'm responsible. fine. if he is responsible, why did he have somebody to testify to congress did -- this is his quote. he felt like the taliban was inside the state department. he felt like his major enemies were inside the state department. this is the man in charge of security for the middle east who talked painfully about being turned down and said don't you even ask for security. you're not going to get it. >> candy, what troubles me is that governor romney, before we knew that four americans had died was already taking political pot shots over this incident. i think that is the fundamental wrong thing. foreign policy -- >> he was actually, in fact, responding to something that came out of the embassy in

cairo. >> well, at the same time, candy -- and then in subsequent debates, the vice presidential debate -- >> no, no. wait a second. >> no. wait a minute. >> this isty typical campaign -- romney was not responding to benghazi. romney was responding to the embassy in cairo apologizing over the movie at a time -- >> nonetheless, none the leshgs at a time when our people were attacked, he was taking -- he made several political statements that morning, and i think that's what is wrong. what i want to stress, again, is that there's a difference between embassy -- diplomatic security that takes care of the ambassador. marines take care of the embassy. there was a statement that paul ryan made to confuse the two, so it was trying to make political hay before all the facts were in. >> it was an interesting film

about the rescue of six americans from the embassy in iran, and i was reminded in the iranian hostage crisis runs 444 days. should ronald reagan not have talked about it for 444 days? the fact is we were in the middle of a mess in the middle east, and the mess keeps evolving. you just gave a good example. i don't care whether you are talking about the diplomatic security service or the marine corps. the obama administration failed to protect the consulate, failed to respond to the request, rejected demands to get help. the ambassador was personally worrying about not only his own life, but violence and the obama administration did nothing. that offends the president, then that is his problem, and he has to get over it. >> i feel like we've had a predebate debate. thank you for coming. bill richardson, former speaker newt gingrich, thank you for being here. >> next up, this red state turned blue in 2008 and helped put president obama in the white house. four years later it's up for grabs again. battleground virginia is next.

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virginia is new turf. reliably republican for ten straight republican elections until president obama won there in 2008. in year it is seen as a tilting point. >> virginia, have you heard of the new deal. you have heard of the square deal, the fair deal. mitt romney is trying to give you a sketchy deal. >> it's to you guys in virginia. you can make the difference. >> four years ago the northern virginia suburbs of washington d.c. and the state's african-american voters were key to the president's historic win, but virginia's conservative roots are deeply embedded in the rural regions. norfolk naval base, large numbers of military retirees and civil defense workers also keep the state competent tiff for republicans. mitt romney is clearly counting on the latter group to help him carry the state. he has been hammering the president over possible defense cuts he says will increase virginia's current 5.9% unemployment rate. 16 days from the election, the race is tight, and arg poll of

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voters in the states of ohio, virginia, and florida will decide this incredibly important election, which begs the question, what are we doing here? >> president obama joking thursday night at the alfred e. smith memorial dinner in new york. no one questions morning is squarely in the obama column. virginia, on the other hand, a jump ball. joining me, virginia democratic senator, former governor mark warner and former republican congressman tom davis. thank you, both. you've got a barn burner in virginia this time. give me your best analyst look at the state of play right now. >> i'll start.

i think romney is on an upward trajectory, and we think he has passed it. it's close, but obama's turnout model is down from 2008. the kids are not coming out for him like they did before. we think he will be down slightly just because -- northern virginia, we're going to do much better than we did last time. >> it's clearly a battle grouped state, but that means it's going to be close. i think we saw polls yesterday showing the president up two. i think he is going to be successful. i think he has done a great job for veterans. i think we can actually pick up versus where we were four years ago against john mccain, and the split on women's health in virginia is bigger than the national. we were talking off camera. last year the legislature controlled completely by the republicans, and it made virginia the brunt of late night jokes with the so-called invasive ultra sounds. most recently ae week ago our state health director resigned rather than having these restricted abortion requirements

put in place. frankly, the virginia party right now is not the tom davis virginia republican party, and i think the women in virginia see that and, unfortunately, the romney-ryan campaign has adopted that kind of ouof the mainstream approach. >> since the senator brought it up, i want -- we do have two ads that are playing now. i'm sure you've seen them several times. both from the romney campaign and the obama campaign, both on abortion. >> those ads say mitt romney would ban all abortions and contraceptions seemed a bit extreme, so i looked into it. turns out romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option many cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. >> banning all abortions? >> i would be delighted sign that bill. >> trying to mislead us. that's wrong. but ban all abortions? only if you vote for him.

>> so obviously somebody thinks this is a great way to turn out female voters. >> it's worked for democrats in virginia traditionally on that issue, but, look, romney wasn't anywhere near richmond when what mark talked about was going on. i have to add obama doesn't benefit of having mark warner on the ticket. >> kill you with kindness here. >> let's talk about abortions. that's been -- they hit me on the same issue. they hit john warn other the same issues. they hit anybody with the label. it doesn't fit. >> frankly, it's still a very conservative state in so many places. these abortion issues split both ways. >> absolutely splits both ways. virginia is a mainstream state, and virginians don't like either political party when they get too far out of the mainstream. you know, the mitt romney that campaigned for republican nomination was way out of the mainstream. he is trying to -- he is getting close to halloween, and he is trying to change clothes and get

back to a moderate view. i think at the end of the day people sht going to respond to that. i think on top of that tom is an expert on politics, virginia and elsewhere, but i think at the end of the day the ground game the president has built will make sure that turnout comes out. >> what do you say? the congressman says the ground game is not as muscular as it seems. >> the message behind the ground game. >> four years ago, and the momentum at this point seems to be. >> this is the whole national election. that's why -- >> going into the last two weeks, you want to be the guy who -- >> we have twice as much operations in place in virginia than the romney campaign. i think the issues in terms of women -- i also think the issue and the fact is i'm a more on the economics side. the romney numbers just don't add up. we heard the other day, $8 trillion in tax cuts for additional defense spending. mitt romney could eliminate capital gains distinction, the mortgage deduction, charitable

deduction, and health care exclusion for everybody, and it still doesn't add up to $1 trillion. >> a lot of numbers don't add up. >> there are two things you can pick up, and one is the ballot and as is gary johnson, so might that affect the outcome in a green candidate is on there as well, but thoer likely to take votes away from governor romney, and in a close race, does that worry you? >> you know, it probably cuts into us, but he just is driving around the state. we don't see a lot of penetration for him. i think it's really on the margins at this point, and i think it's going to be enough to overcome that if we get our vote out. >> let me ask you, wills also a question on the ballot, which is about imminent domain, and it would limit instances where private property can be seized

by the government more public use. might that drive out the conservative vote? >> that issue hasn't gotten a lot of attention. i don't hear it talked about a lot. i think at the end of the day a person who has been a democrat and republican and now running as a constitutionalist on the south side of virginia, i think he will draw votes are a with a from governor rom my. >> do you think imminent domain splits? >> i don't think it's been -- >> there's no money behind it. if you are an incumbent, you get nervous. i've run a lot of xaenz. i would much rather be romney than obama in virginia. >> virginia with a 5.9% unemployment, virginia with -- >> a republican governor. >> even the buck stops with the president. these people have always said governor romney makes this thing that the economy is not -- virginia's economy is doing pretty darn well. >> by and large their economy is pretty good. you would agree with that, congressman, that's for

president obama. >> it's certainly good in northern virginia because we go down to martinsville and other places, it's still hurting in these areas. i think the president -- >> let me ask you about your senate race there because it's such a great one. i want to show our viewers the latest poll from nbc news, the maris poll. tim kaine, 47%. he is the democrat. george allen, 46%. he is the republican. does this race depend on the top of the ticket? >> you know, i think the top of the ticket is going to affect this race? i do think at the end of the day, again, tim kaine, who is a great friend of mine. i have known him for 30 plus years, i think he is going to be successful, and i think he lazy out a much more positive ability to come to washington and actually work with people like tom and mark warners who want to get stuff done who after the election think he have to check your republican and democrat pa hats. >> i want to repeat something that you said that i found fascinating. the christian science monitor on

friday. you said i am shocked as i am going out and ringing on doorbells on behalf of republican candidates. people don't know the senate candidates despite their pedigree." these are two pretty high profile guys. what does that mean when it comes to the end result? >> i think the presidential race has suffered out of this in terms of the ads and the voter retention, and northern virginia in particular has a huge turnout. new people coming in all the time. the presidential race is a very poor -- it's going to dictate your turnout model. we have a 2008 turnout model. what we can see is they are disspirited. republicans are enthused. i haven't seen such enthusiasm in this state since ronald reagan. >> i have to run, so i need a one-word answer to button this up. as the presidency goes in virginia, so goes the senate race? yes or no? >> i think kaine -- >> i think the presidential

race -- >> thank you for being here. >> thank you as well. appreciate that. >> coming up, president obama and mitt romney racheting up the campaign to win over female voters. >> this president has failed america's women. >> in the 21st century a woman deserves equal pay for equal work. everyone has goals. take the steps to reach yours, with us with real advice, for real goals. the us bank wealth management advisor can help you. every step of the way.

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time for a check of today's top stories. presidential candidate george mcgovern died this morning at the age of 90. mcgovern served in the senate from 1963 to 1981. he was the democratic presidential nominee in 1972 whose top issue was ending the vietnam war. he lost in a landslide to richard nixon. mcgovern sought the white house again in 1984 but dropped out after a poor showing. in his later years mcgovern served as a u.n. global ambassador on world hunger. mcgovern died peacefully in a south dakota hospice.

>> he will continue to accept donations by mail and text message. president obama will pull an all-nighter in battleground states. he will rally supporters in iowa, nevada, florida, and virginia and ohio ---ing a 48-hour whirlwind tour. he will also stop in chicago to vote, presumably for himself. obama will be the first sitting president in modern history to cast an early ballot. congressman jesse jackson jr. is speaking publicly for the first time since taking a medical leave in may in a robo call to his constituent. the nine-term chicago democrat says he has been undergoing medical treatment to address several serious health issues. he also said he is anxious to return to work, but doctors tell him his road to recovery will be long. jackson has been undergoing treatment at the mayo clinic for depression. he is also under federal investigation for possible financial improprieties.

those are your headlines. next up, obama, romney, and gender politics. republican congresswoman cathy mcmorris rogers and democratic congresswoman donna edwards joins cnn's dana bash and dan balz of "the washington post." ♪ 100% greek. 100% mmm... ♪ oh wow, that is mmm... ♪ in fact it's so mmm you might not believe it's a hundred calories. well ok then, new yoplait greek 100. it is so good. ♪

and i was told to call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this could happen so young. take control, talk to your doctor. i didn't know this could happen so young. see life in the best light. [music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards!

awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. joining me senior congressional correspondent dana bash, democratic congresswoman donna edwards, republican congresswoman cathy mcmorris-rogers and washington post political correspondent dan balz. huh thank you all. i have a couple of polls i find really interesting, and i set the -- this was a choice for president among lely female voters in swing states. president obama 49%.

mitt romney, 48%. that is a huge closing. what's happening here? >> it is luge. in the last month we've seen an 18 point shift, and that the jernt gap is really neutralized. it's even, which i think really speaks positive to governor romney and his message. especially to women. on the economy, on jobs, on getting women back to work, that this president's policies have failed. we have 5.5 million women that are unemployed. a record number that are living in poverty, in -- on food stamps. it's the highest number in the last 20 years. governor romney is coming up with a plan with a way to get these women employed and take care of their children and their families. >> you know, congresswoman edwards, that's been true. i mean, the -- what women are concerned about has been true through the whole thing. something has happened here. can you point to what could be just a normal closing of the polls.

one point advantage of the president among women voters seems small. >> well, i think what we're seeing here is that the electorate and women are also crystallizing what this election is about, and i think when they look really hard at what they will see in president obama is both what he has done with and for women, including supporting equal pay for equal work, making sure that mammograms and cervical health care is taken care of, and i think what are you seeing in the polls is that women care about a lot of things, and that is is true. at the end of the day they're going to look at president obama's record as a demonstration for the future, and they will look at mitt romney's words and understand that he really has not stood on the side i know will. >> you two jump in, because it does seem to me that something fundamental happened in here with fee mall voters. >> one thing about that poll is that it seemed to be an outliar, and that was the one poll that

really showed it neck and neck virtually with female voters. others showed different results, but i think that does. >> it's closing, right? >> yes. it does speak to the fact that women historically tend to be late deciders in elections. not only do they vote more than men. they're registered more. they vote more than men. they tend to decide late, ask that's what pollsters and campaigns will tell you, and that is why you see in every chance that these candidates get an overt sometimes frankly over the top almost character tour kind of way appeal to women. >> let me ask, i just want to -- we found some stats about the number of abortion ads that are running, and many mid-september 14 races were running ads about abortion. right now 50 races include some sort of ad about abortion. clearly there's a huge spike for the female vote. what happened? >> i couldn't agree with dana

that the poll that shows them essentially -- how people vote in this country. president obama should and probably will been the vote of women. the question is about how much, and i think that the first -- >> margin matters. >> the first debate obviously helping romney on that score. i think it came across in a way that was more appealing than some of the ads that had been attacking him. i know i sat in on a focus group that was done in fairfax county last month, and you could tell that the advertisements had been going on by the obama campaign on women's issues had an affect on women voters. that they had taken that in. they said the economy was not the biggest issue, but those ads on social issues were having an affect. it's moved back toward a closer race, but i think it will likely see it move a little bit farther -- >> female. >> internal. >> on that i just wanted to show one more poll because he found this fascinating.

this is usa today gallop poll. female registered voters in the swing states. what's the most issues for women, most important issue came in as abortion, 39%. >> you ask about women's issues. when you ask issues in general, women -- yes, abortion women care about abortion. pro-life and pro-choice. >> both sides, windshield say, yes. >> they care about that issue. i think women are not single issue voters. you see where women are making their decision based upon the economy, on jobs, on the debt, and very concerned about the trillion dollar deficits run up by this administration. what that means for our future. health care. very concerned about government's role when it comes to health care, but we're seeing these polls closes, and, you know what, i think they're seeing governor romney unfiltered in the debates. they're seeing him and his record when it comes to women. the fact that he hired half of his cabinet were women. he had a lieutenant governor, chief of staff. he has made a commitment to promoting women in his administration. you know what, and i predict that the republicans are going

to win the women's vote in 2012. >> well, that is certainly not true. >> the fact of the matter is that president obama has actually demonstrated by his record. he signed the first bell that he signed into law was the lily ledbetter fair pay act, and to this day mitt romney still cannot say i support equal pay for equal work. he was asked really clearly during that last debate, and he punted yet again. what they also see is that women care about their reproductive health care. not just abortions, but access to contraception, access to mammograms and cervical exams and what they see in president obama is a president who is actually supporting that access and what they see in mitt romney is somebody who really has said, you know what, let your employers, let your bosses decide whether or not you have access to something as fundamental as contraception. 98% of women use contraception at some point in their lives. women care about that.

>> hold on to that thought. we're going to come right back. the candidates are heading into the last two weeks of the campaign. more with our panel when we return. would you like to know more about it? yeah, but let me put my wife on speaker. hi! hi. it's led and it has great picture quality. i don't know... it's ultra slim... maybe next year. you could always put it on layaway and pay a little at a time. alright. we'll take it! ah! i love you! hmm! ahem. football. [ male announcer ] shop now. get the hottest brands on your list today... like the lg 55 inch led tv. and put it on layaway now so you have more time to pay. walmart.

we are following reports of riots now in beirut which has been the scene of some violence previous to this. these disturbances apparently following the funeral of folks that were killed there earlier. i want to bring in our nick payton-walsh. i'm sorry. i meant we don't have nick. what we're told happened here is that after the funerals of a senior police officer and an opponent of the syrian regime, but, remember, this is in lebanon. a group of young people stormed the government headquarters in beirut. this comes amidst calls for the prime minister in lebanon to

resign. you are seeing here some of what happened, and i'm told now we do have nick payton-walsh with me. nick, fill in the gap here for me. tell me what's happening right now. >> reporter: about half an hour worth of clashes. let me tell you we got to this point. earlier on there was a dignified and somber funeral procession in the square for top officials assassinated on friday. a speech given by former prime minister to that crowd called the prime minister to resign and then said there should be no dialogue. now, shortly after that an angry group of individuals from that crowd, mostly young, began storming down a central highway towards the prime minister's office. had he headed towards police lines, tore away from in front of them and there were railings put in place to prevent what they were trying to do.

some began throwing sticks at police. i have to admit, i couldn't see police lines from my vantage point from here about six stories up, but they appeared to be throwing things at the police. the police obviously held their lines for some time, and the crowd grew in number, but eventually tear gas was released into the crowd. they began to scatter. >> following these demonstrations which have turned a bit violent, but as far as we know, no one has been killed during this latest incident here on the streets of beirut. of course, cnn will have more of this as the day unfolds with nick payton-walsh, who is covering it for us there. we'll be right back. mr. margin? don't be modest, bob. you found a better way to pack a bowling ball. that was ups. and who called ups? you did, bob. i just asked a question. it takes a long time to pack a bowling ball. the last guy pitched more ball packers. but you... you consulted ups. you found a better way. that's logistics. that's margin. find out what else ups knows. i'll do that. you're on a roll. that's funny.

i wasn't being funny, bob. i know.

we are back with cnn correspondent dana bash, kathy mcmorris rogers and "washington post" political correspondent dan balls. i've got to at least move us a little bit toward the debate tomorrow night. foreign policy. this has not been a foreign policy election. certainly what's happened in libya has kind of put at least the headlines to the front. do you think tomorrow makes a difference and in what way? >> yes because any time that voters see the candidates on the

same stage debating big issues, it matters. and my understanding from the romney camp is that he is going to try to make this about an issue that women care about and all americans but particularly women, which is leadership. can this guy be the commander in chief. not so much a tit for tat like we saw in the last election. i was looking up rutgers has a women in politics program. women historically tend to be the ones who don't want to be in war, get troops out and that's been at the forefront of a lot of elections in recent years but it's not right now. the question is what are women going to focus on, and i really do think it is the issue of leadership. >> i agree. and i think romney's going to do very well. last night he's presented the leadership that he would bring domestically on issues here at home and he's going to be able to present that same leadership on foreign policy. women care about leadership. they care about problem-solving,

getting the job done, working across the aisle. and governor romney is someone who has proven that he's a leader, can get the job done, proven that he can work with democrats. 87% of his legislature in massachusetts were democrats. i think he's going to do very well tomorrow night. >> congressman rogers, you can look at it and point a has to be osama bin laden. after that, how do you expect him to -- what do you expect him to bring to the table tomorrow night in terms of foreign policy as a way to show his leadership? >> i think president is definitely going to talk about his impressive record when it comes to foreign policy. when it comes to understanding and have a command of the state of the world and i think the president demonstrates that, i think he'll demonstrate that by obviously talking about osama bin laden. and i think it's important for our perspective. he'll talk about ending the war

in iraq just like he promised, u bringing to a close our engagement in afghanistan and what lies ahead. the president has a really clear record on foreign policy, and i think he's going to demonstrate that in the debate tomorrow and i think the american people are going to look at that and say he is the kind of commander in chief that we want and he'll be able to focus, i think, on the importance of having a stable foreign policy so it allows us to get our house in order. as the president said, we're ending the war in afghanistan so we can focus on fixing the streets and roads and bridges in the united states. >> dan, when i hear about focusing on leadership and who can handle not just national but global affairs, it says to me tomorrow will be a more somber debate perhaps than a town hall, that we're going to look at two men who are now trying out for leader of the western world so we're looking for a different dynamic. >> i think for two reasons. one, they're going to be seated.

they're not going to be standing and moving around the stage and circling one another like they did at your debate. and the second is i think both of them and particularly governor romney were a little hot in that town hall debate. >> you think? >> and i think that they're both going to want to show a different demeanor in this. though the conversation will be about foreign policy, i think one thing the voters will look at is who has the kind of strength, camness, tellerment to be the next president and thank's where both of them will want to try to project the image that they're superior in that way. >> and we even got less than a minute so i'm going to give you the last word here. is there somebody who has the most to lose tomorrow night or is this just a matter of the two of them not messing up? i think that mitt romney has to

most to lose because he's the charger and he's the one that's got to prove he can be commander in chief and this is his last chance to close the deal. he's still -- yes, he's closed the gap in a lot of ways in the swing states but he has to come back and not have binders of women moments where he's trying to make a point about the fact that he because -- for exam hello, he was very good with women. massachusetts is not a histor historically female state, but he -- the way he articulated it did not come over right. >> dan na bash, congressm macon rodgers and congress wwoman and dan balz. [ male announcer ] now you can swipe...

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