[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, october 24th. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv coming to you all the way across this great land of ours from our studio of capitol hill. and the skount in yes in debate number 3, according to think progress, which keeps track of such things, mitt romney told 24 lies in 41

minutes. but the worst part is he'll never admit that he was wrong, he just keeps telling the same lies over and over and over again. you can't believe anything the man says. so that's where we'll start here on the "full court press" and take your calls, of course 866-55-press. but first lisa ferguson is standing by in los angeles. >> hi, bill. good morning, everyone. another republican candidate is under fire for comments about rape. richard mourdock is running for senate in indiana and he said a mother should not have an abortion even in the case of rape, because that life is an intentional gift from god. >> i believe that life begins at conception, and even when it begins in the horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. >> murdoch confirmed his belief

that god creates life he said while he does not think god preordained rape, he does think abortion should be illegal even in the case of rape and incest. if you are wondering who might support a person like this. check out this ad. >> this fall i'm supporting richard mourdock for senate. richard will be the 51st senator to vote to repeal obamacare. >> now the romney campaign is saying he disagrees with murdoch's comments. turning to the new poll numbers out this hour, president obama has the lead in two swing states. this survey is brand new this morning from lake research and the mellman group and show the president up three in new

hampshire and up by one in virginia. more bill press is coming up after the break. and we're live in chat, current.com/billpress. >>brought to you by geico. 15 minutes could save 15% or more on car insurance. visit geico.com for a free rate quote.

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a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: donald trump says he has got an announcement that is going to decide this election, a bomb shell, and he's going to drop it any minute. idiot. hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? who cares about donald trump? good to see you today, and welcome. it is the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capitol right here in

washington, d.c. on capitol hill. keeping track of mitt romney on the road yesterday barack obama on the road yesterday all of the latest polls and trends here in this 2012 election campaign. telling you what is going on here in our nation's capitol around the country around the globe, and of course giving you a chance to comment and get involved in the conversation giving you a chance to participate in our daily townhall here called the "full court press" on current tv on your local progressive talk radio station and on sirius xm this hour only. you can join us by phone at 866-55-press, 866-55-press, or join us on twitter @bp show. facebook facebook.com "bill press show."

and you can go to current tv and just click on the chat room and you are on and you can sound off. we have got the entire team assembles to join you today, to join me and you. peter ogburn and dan henning, hello, guys. >> happy wednesday. >> good morning. >> bill: middle of the week. we have a big lineup today. six guests. >> how about that? you can just show yourself out. >> bill: really. and siprion bolling as always handling the cameras here for current tv, our videographer. so i sort of have been feeling this way for a long time. and david letterman said it last night. he was talking about the fact in the next two weeks -- and it's 13 days to go that mitt romney and barack obama are focusing on those people who at this point,

after two years of candidates running for president for 2012 people who are still undecided. david letterman last night. >> and of course both president obama and the contender -- [ laughter ] >> -- mitt romney they are going after the undecided votes. there are still about 6 or 7% maybe closer to 10% of registered voters undecided after two years. they can't really make up their mind. they have only had two years to think about it. you are idiots! make up your mind! [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> bill: i think they are liars. every time i see these people identify themselves as undecided. at this point i don't think they are telling the truth. i think they want the media attention. >> i have never met an undecided

voter, as we cover this stuff and as we have been out on the road in charlotte, and the whole point in going to a place like charlotte is to win over the undecided voters. never met one of them. >> bill: yeah. what a lineup as i said. former senator, and eleanor holmes norton will be here in studio with us as will jennifer duffy from the cook political report to review all of the big senate races going on today. and eliot spitzer, current tv's own el host of "viewpoint" will be here for his wednesday visit as well. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> good morning, overhead lines making news on this wednesday.

baseball gets underway in san francisco. the giants welcome the american league champions detroit tigers. san francisco has home field advantage thanks to the nl winning the all-star game in summer. they will play game one and two at home and if necessary six and sen as well. >> bill: i ran into the chief lobbyist for majority leader baseball last night, and she was on her way this morning to san francisco. i said man, i'm surprised to see you still in town. >> i'm really torn on this. >> oh, giants. >> i like a winner and the tigers look good. they cooked the yankees in four games that's pretty good. >> that's impressive. >> another celebrity endorsement for president obama.

you'll remember kelly clarkson voiced her support for ron paul a year ago, now she says because of his support of gay marriage she will be casting her vote for president obama. >> bill: good for her. >> and how would you like to get from new york city to tokyo in 90 minutes? private rocket company, ex-core one of the top contenders in the private space race is developing a super sonic aircraft that sometime in the next 10 to 13 years will be able to make that trip. they will fly through space for a portion of the trip. the price of the ticket will easily cost a hundred thousand dollars. >> bill: that's not even time to get a drink let alone the meal. >> not that flying is a

particularly enjoying experience, but 90 minutes might be a little fast -- >> and you would have to wear one of those suits. >> that's the problem you just sky dive out when you get over tokyo. >> bill: yeah, climb on top of the rocket and let you go. look the debates are over now, right? here is what i would like to ask you starting off this morning, because i have been thinking about this a lot. what do we think about the debates themselves, and how they are run, and how they should be run? are they fair? are the rules fair? and do they even serve a purpose? we have talked a lot about the debates and the candidates for each debate. how did paul ryan do? why did mitt romney do? how did barack obama do? but how about the debates

themselves? that's the debate i would like to have this morning with you. and i wrote my column about that this week. after the debate the debate over the debates. that's what i would like to suggest this morning, and i believe -- i would love your take at 866-55-press -- i think the debates themselves badly -- are badly in need of a fix. i think they -- look they are still important. they are important. if somebody is running for the highest office in the land, we deserve to see how well he or she does on their feet right? but the debates themselves i think are a little out of whack, so just a quick word of history. the debates used to be under the league of women voters. and they are so independent and impartial, everybody trusted them.

but back in 1984 the dukakis campaign and the george h.w. bush campaign -- the two campaigns decided they didn't like the way the league of women voters -- they thought they were maybe too above the fray or whatever or maybe not fair enough, so they got together and they said here is what we want. we want to determine -- the campaigns -- we want to determine who gets invited to debate, and who is allowed to sit in the audience, and who the moderators are, and the league of women voters said we're not going to go along with that. so they pulled out of the debates. and the two parties put together this commission. frank fairencauff heads it up

for the republicans and dave curry sets it up for the democrats. and they are in charge. the commission sets down the rules, but the commission is controlled by the two parties, and they have controlled every debate since 1984. and they are powerful. they determine how many debates there are. where the debates are going to be held. how long they last, what topics are going to be covered, who is invited to debate what the moderator -- who the moderator is, what the moderator can and can't do, for example. they even -- the format for the debate -- and they even decide the temperature in the room. it's got to be somewhere between 64 and 66. there you go that's how you turn yourself on and off bill.

all of that power in the hands of this commission and they don't always make the right decisions, i would argue. 866-55-press. for example, let me give you a few. they say that you can't -- that you have to have 15% of the national -- in the polls, you have to show 15% to be invited to debate. so the third-party candidates never make it. it's sort of a catch-22. you can't get 15% unless you are in the debaits, but you can't be in the debates, right unless you get 15% in the polls. so ross parrot was the only guy to be allowed in the debates. ralph nader never made it. i think ralph nader destroyed al

gore's chances in 2000. and ron paul should have been on the stage. so we are deprived by a full choice. the candidates are also not allowed to bring any notes -- not allowed to have any notes. why the hell not? do you really think that any president of the united states is going to make a decision on any major issue without having a briefing paper in front of him or her? no. you think they're not allowed to make notes during cabinet meetings? it is crazy. >> and on that note about the notes, i will -- just to play devil's advocate the fact that romney didn't have notes at this last debate i think showed how unqualified he was at this last debate. >> bill: i think it would have been fun if barack obama had a middle of the east and when

mitt romney said -- [ laughter ] >> bill: -- that syria is iran's path to the sea. that barack obama would have say what about this governor -- >> proceed governor. >> bill: right. and no applause. okay? why not? they had applause during the primary. people booed, hissed applauded, laugh. no, everybody has to take a vow of silence. what the screw -- i know what i want to say -- but they are not monks. good. that was a good zinger. i like that one. as long as they make sure the audience is fairly balanced. >> i couldn't agree more about that. you see a completely different

candidate in the primary debate and the presidential debate. >> bill: and why no follow up? fortunately, i think candy crowley just ignored the rule. bob schieffer so a certain sense did. but jim lehrer in the first debate totally totally followed that rule. and the result was a disaster. so don't you think it's time maybe to put somebody else in charge of the debates, not the two parties. 866-55-press. i think it's time to fix the debates. ♪ >> announcer: heard around the country and sene on current tv this is the "bill press show."

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♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current tv. >> bill: so are we really being served by presidential debates the way they are today? and do they really show the best of the candidates? and do we really learn anything from them. peter what are people on twitter saying. >> barkway writes in and said the third-party candidates held their own debate last night, shown on c-span.

but i'm with you. tm writes in i like the quiet audience, but agree with all of the other changes that bill suggests. and shelley writes show of hands for martha raddatz. she was very good. >> bill: she was good. how about [ inaudible ]? what do you think? >> caller: i was just thinking -- i watched the last debate, and romney was so rude. >> bill: he was. >> caller: he wouldn't let the president finish. i think they should have a penalty for that when you go over and interrupt, you should lose a minute or two. >> bill: that's another point. if there are -- like they said two minutes, romney blattered on

and on for like three minutes. and they let him go. and also if there -- maybe if there are just rude people seated and that has age pact, but i wouldn't mind if the moderator said hey, you know, tone it down dude. ron in illinois. hey, ron, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. i think the debates are absolutely an essential piece of information for the voters to decide. >> bill: i do too, but how about the way they are today? >> i think we have got to have moderators that can keep the candidates on subject and in the time limit, and if they go off subject or go bullying around you have to hold their feet to the fire. >> bill: maybe one place to start is require the candidates to answer the question asked.

>> caller: absolutely, yeah. >> bill: you know? i mean would you keep the mortgage interest deduction? paul ryan was asked that question. that's a yes or no answer. he never answered it. and you can go on and on. and to tell the truth president obama did not answer the question the second debate from one guy on that panel, why did you ignore the warnings that they needed more security in benghazi? the answer is those -- the warnings we needed more security were for the embassy in triply but the point is the president didn't answer it. i think we can do a lot better than we have got with these debates. keep the debates but open them up a little bit and make them tighters. we're going to take a break and

then we'll come back with eliot spitzer "viewpoint," current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: you got it. thirty-three minutes after the hour now. here we go the "full court press" on a wednesday, october 24th. brought to me by the good men and women of asme. for more information they are under of course president lee saunders for more information

visit their website at afcm.org. we'll get you through the morning, and eliot spitzer gets you through the evening, host of "viewpoint" at 8:00 pm eastern. good morning eliot. >> good morning. >> bill: this third debate was interesting, wasn't it on foreign policy. it looked like president obama was in his limit and mitt romney -- >> the president was at ease had command of the facts. he has been dealing with this for the past four years, but mitt romney not only looked uncomfortable, and visibly he looked sweaty to the point of the nixonian debate but the

delcos mitt romney who has been attacking the president, kind of say, yeah, that's my position too. >> bill: yeah. >> and it was almost as though, wait a minute mitt you were running for president because you disagreed with president obama not because you wanted to emulate what he has been doing. and his campaign has been very open in the debate saying yeah, this was a strategic decision, we wanted to talk about economics. >> bill: but also it seems, eliot that there's a deliberate attempt now on the part of the campaign on several issues almost across the board. on the auto bailout, foreign policy, going to war in iran or bombing syria or whatever, for mitt romney to say see, i'm not as conservative as i pretended to be during the primaries.

>> correct. everybody is now so cynical, that we know we ran way to the right to get the nomination, now he's coming bay back to the middle. what does he believe in? you understand there may be some tactical movements, but the etch-a-sketch metaphor has become so overwhelming. >> bill: one thing that bothers me, and i loved your take on it. the media seems to have bought into the romney -- kind of message, if you will might? that we have got it. we're going to win, it's in the bag, so we just need to be careful for the next two weeks as if this thing is all over. do you buy that? >> i don't buy that.

there is an intrade that apparently jumped almost out of the race even at one point yesterday. but it's thinly traded. >> bill: and they point out -- i read that article this morning. that was basically fixed by a couple of people who -- probably romney supporters. >> what do you expect come on? [ laughter ] >> bill: look, he -- here is the thing that i think is real this is closer than any of us thought it would be. i still think ohio is the firewall. i think ohio is the final line of protection for the president, and when it comes to ohio the auto bailout will be the dispositive bailout. although amazing by when you talk to some people in the auto industry, they say yeah i know

they did that, but we didn't like all of the government spending. >> bill: interesting, steve ratner said flat out if mitt romney had done it his way the auto companies would have failed. >> yeah, you need -- when you are -- anybody who has been in business, whether you have succeeded or failed knows you need operating capital. there was no money for these companies. they couldn't pay suppliers, couldn't pay their wages and taxes. the point is they would have literally put a chain around the front gate and locked the door, and it would have then lead us into a 1929-type depression for romney to say i wanted a structure bankruptcy. that requires cash on hand to run the company. >> bill: right. eliot spitzer is our best.

of course he is the host of "viewpoint" on current tv every night at 8:00 pm eastern. a couple of foreign policy questions i wanted to ask you about is libya. bob schieffer started with libya. i was surprised that romney was not more aggressive -- didn't really score on that. >> i'm with you. i was sitting there -- we had -- vice president gore and governor granholm and john fugelsang, we were in new york and cenk uygur was in los angeles. but the benghazi issue had been the focal point of all of the screaming by the republican party. and rather than going after it romney just kind of mumbled and bumbled around. and i said something is going on. and i also think he was a little

bit nervous and out of his element, but there was no concerted attack even on that issue, and that was the first moment when we saw the new strategy. >> bill: and he also -- he did repeat this line that president obama wants to put daylight between the united states and israel. so he was trying to drive that wedge in there. what is the reality? >> this is one of the things that has bothered me at a could .of levels. it has bothered me that the republicans would completely misinterpret the president's policy which has been entirely supportive of israel. it is also bothered me that some conservative voices within the israel and jewish communities have worked to foemeant the motion that there is that division, and there isn't. the president has been

there -- i did a show with ed koch yesterday, who is not only one of our great mayors but one of the strong voices for israel absolutely rock solid, and disagrees with anybody when they don't think that president obama is supportive of israel. >> bill: and finally, i got ask, maybe you can help us out here eliot, we're all waiting for the donald trump bomb shell to drop today. >> i think he is changing the time slot for his tv show. >> bill: it has to be something self-serving --

>> i was thinking he was going to release mitt romney's tax returns finally. >> maybe you are on to something. >> bill: anything you want to tell us about tonight. >> no it's too early. i'm just waking up bill. come on give me a chance here. >> bill: all right. eliot spitzer catch him tonight "viewpoint" at 8:00 p.m. 866-55-press is our toll free number of course. peter let's go back to the phones here. >> we have some stuff on facebook, we were talking about debating the debates. hal said it seems the first debate had a big effect on the race this year. if obama would have shown up, race would have been over. >> bill: i couldn't agree more. it just -- everybody -- we were headed -- and suddenly went off course. we're back on track now, but

that was tough. let's say hello to kathy in san antonio, texas. >> caller: good morning, bill. i agree with all of the ideas of the debates. they would have pie charts and a big map of the world as a backdrop. >> bill: something. >> and it's tv. the split screen just doesn't cut it. >> bill: you would have to have -- you couldn't say i'm going to show my 30-minute powerpoint presentation. there would have to be some kind of limits, right? but certainly written notes in front of you that you could consult, i don't see a problem with that. >> i want a big gong in the background, and sandman to come

out when somebody makes a mistake, confetti at the end. i want a production. >> bill: that's right. you thought todd akin was bad? you haven't met richard mourdock yet. you will. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." only on current tv. joy behar. on my next show i'll talk to parker posey. she's the star of "a mighty wind" and no, that's now what comes out of rush limbaugh. only on current tv.

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understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa. ♪ >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show," now on current tv. >> bill: all right. thirteen minutes before the top of the hour. we want to tell you about the latest outrageous comment about senator candidate richard

mourdock in indiana. but i want to tell you how much fun i'm having in finding out my family secrets. i think i mentioned to you, for my wife carol -- you can trace her family back literally to the mayflower. she's quaker -- quakers who came down to washington, d.c. to visit with president lincoln. all of the way back. and for me it's been a big blank slate, but i have been working on ancestry.com, and i have traced my family back to 1824 in salem, new jersey and now i'm trying to get them across the pond. and you can do that too, ancestry.com by the way is the place to go. they have 10 billion documents you can source but you can get

two weeks free at tryancestry.com. join me today and figure out your own family tree. visit tryancestry.com, and you get two free weeks to see what you can discover. we'll compare family trees here. so peter -- well first before we get to comments, and i know you have had a lot of people on facebook and twitter, say we have got to talk about this richard mourdock. he is a tea partier, a republican consolidate in indiana. he is up against joe donnelly who will be on our show tomorrow morning -- friday i'm sorry. they are having a big debate and the question was up about abortion. both of them happen to be pro life, or anti-choice, joe

donnelly is like bob casey, if you will democrat from pennsylvania, but murdoch said i want a ban on apportion, with only one exception, when the life of the mother in danger but no exception for here here is why. >> i believe that life begins at conception. the only exception i have for -- to have an abortion is in that case for the life of the mother. i struggled with it myself for a long time, but life is a gift from god and even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. >> bill: rape is something that god intended to happen. you heard it. mitt romney has endorsed richard mourdock. the question is and romney would not answer yesterday the question from reporters -- he would not answer whether or not

he continues to support richard mourdock -- this is as bad if not worse than todd akin. >> i agree. >> bill: todd akin said there is such of thing for legitimate rape, and a woman's body knows when sperm is coming in but for -- for murdoch to say -- this was all a part of god's plan. >> this has always been an issue because i remember when i was younger, and i was going to church all the time i used to have sunday school teachers that would bring this up when i was a kid, about abortion is bad in all cases, it's all gods will. everything happens for a reason. and that is terrifying. >> bill: you talk to any rape victim and say this is all part of god's plan. this is something that god intended. that's exactly what richard

mourdock said. you heard him say it word for word. it's like saying somebody was murdered, that's all part of god's plan. why waste any time trying to find out who did it and punishing them? >> that's right. >> bill: because this is all what god intended. or somebody has cancer. why go to the doctor? this is what god intended. people don't believe how extreme the tea partiers and evangelicals are and they have taken over the republican party and the two worst examples are todd akin and richard mourdock. if republicans don't stand up today and denounce him once and for all. they cut off todd akin and now they have sort of gone back to him, but they ought to cut off richard mourdock at his knees. are they going to stand for what

is morally right? you know? or are they going to stand for the -- just another republican senate seat, and putting party over -- i don't know honesty and morality -- >> kudoses to any reporter that asks mitt romney about this today. >> bill: and they ought to hound paul ryan too, because paul ryan is the bedfellow -- he's a total echo of todd akin and richard mourdock on this issue. his entire history in the united states congress has been totally anti-woman anti-choice, with no exception. he authored the fatherhood amendment. these guys are dangerous, wrong, ugly, mean and we have just got to politically throw them out the door. they don't represent the best of america at all.

richard mourdock what a disgrace. god intended you to get raped, hah, hah hah. you didn't see that coming. may cause god to turn out to be a pretty unattractive person huh? >> yeah. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." [ male announcer ] red lobster's hitting the streets to tell real

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the powerful my steal an election but they cannot steal democracy. ♪ >> announcer: taking your emails on any topic at anytime. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv.

>> bill:sy sill richard joins us in the next hour as well as egor from think progress to talk about the lies that mitt romney told in the foreign policy debate. jackie says why isn't anyone talking about the 44 observers coming to monitor the polls? ohio, wisconsin, and pennsylvania. what is that all about? >> we'll find out. >> bill: pat crawford is concerned about mitt romney buying the voting machines in ohio. that was tagg. lisa says i can't believe you people still thinks you are winning. you might as well pack up and go to kenya. and bill says flattout, bill press you need to be taken off the air permanently.

>> keep watching.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: hey, good morning, everybody. it is wednesday october 24th. good to see you today, and welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. we're coming to you live from our nation's capitol and booming out to you from every corner of this great land of ours with all of the news of the day and giving you a chance to sound off about it by giving us a call at 866-55-press or joining us on

twitter @bpshow. as you just heard richard mourdock says he is against abortion even in the case of rape because he says rape is something that god intended. oh, yeah tell that to a 13 year old girl who has been raped and made pregnant by her father. what a disgusting creature. let's get the latest from lisa ferguson. good morning, lisa. >> hey bill, good morning, everyone. an island newspaper is slamming the president for not speaking to them on the record this week. president obama did speak off the record to the des moines register, and editor rick green wrote a blog saying obama gave a genuine and passionate case for endorsement but they can't report any of it. green says iowa voters would

have liked what the president had to say and it would have helped them make up their minds before the election. governor romney's campaign is also refusing network interviews in these last two weeks of the campaign. romney did give an endorsement pitch to the des moines register but that was back in october. and tagg romney has apologized to president obama for saying he wanted to take a swing at him during the debate. you can see him speaking with the president after monday night's debate. mics were off so no one picked up the audio, but we are now learning that obama said he is sorry, and did apologize for saying he wanted to take a swing at the president. and the president is making another push for a youth vote with an appearance on mtv this week. he will take part in a live tv event on friday, answering questions from young voters on

phases book. more bill press coming up live after the break. stay with us. ♪ (vo) answer in a moment. (vo) brought to you by courtyard.

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[♪ theme music ♪] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: thirteen days to go and president obama and mitt romney hitting the key swing states. man, ohio, watch out, you are going to be pounded for the next thirteen days. good morning, everybody. great to see you today. it is wednesday, october 24th. and is the "full court press."

we're coming to you live on your progressive radio stations across this great land of yours, and on current tv. taking your calls at 866-55-press. good to see you today. the latest from the campaign trail, on the polls, and senate race in indiana, particularly, where richard mourdock has really stepped in it big time and basically letting the cat out of the bag is as to what republicans really believe when it comes to women's choice. we'll take your calls at 866-55-press, and to talk about not only what is happening in indiana, but taking a look back now at the third presidential debate on foreign policy and trying to sort out what was -- what for mitt romney's side -- what was fact and what was fiction. egor volski from thinkprogress.

nice to see you. thank you. happy to be here. >> bill: of course our regular team, peter ogburn and dan henning. >> good morning. >> good wednesday. >> our videographer siprion bolling. so team, good to see you. president obama -- friday i went out, egor to george mason university from the president's big rally out there where he first pointed out that mitt romney had a little problem maybe even a medical problem because he couldn't remember what he said and did when he was governor of massachusetts and his positions today, in fact sometimes he can't even remember his own positions from one week to the next. the president indicating maybe he had a bad case of romneysia.

yesterday in delray florida, the president picked it up again. >> obama: we had a severe outbreak last night. [ laughter ] [ cheers ] >> obama: it was at least -- at least stage three romneysia. >> he is having a lot of fun with this. >> bill: he is and it's something that people pick up and get and understand it right away. >> obama: if you talk about how much you love teachers during a debate -- [ cheers and applause ] >> obama: -- but said just a few weeks ago that we shouldn't hire any, because they won't grow the economy, what do you have? [ crowd shouts romneysia ] >> bill: i move that. we have egor here and cecel

richards will be joining us as well as former senate majority leader george mitchell, and jennifer jennifer duffy from the cook report. we'll talk on richard mourdock but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> good morning, making headlines on this wednesday. apple computer introduced the ipad. and the regular ipad. the fourth generation ipad starts at $500. it has the fastest processer and camera front and rear-facing

that the company has produced so far. >> bill: sorry to trade in my ipad and get the bigger one or smaller one. >> it will be outdated in a week. >> i'm not sold on the new mini. they didn't drop the price low enough to where i go now i got to get it. it's not that much cheaper than a regular ipad. >> no, it is more expensive than the other competitors. >> bill: yeah. >> baseball's world series kicks off in san francisco tonight, but there is probably as much cheering going on in venezuela as in the u.s. there are nine venezuelans, the most ever are taking part -- >> bill: that's one whole team. >> yep. marco scutaro is from venezuela.

>> bill: is hugo chavez coming to the game? [ laughter ] [ laughter ] >> bill: he'll throw out the first pitch. >> the third-party debate was held last night, moderated by bill king. >> bill: oh, my god. virgil goode rocky anderson i haven't heard of them in ages. >> bill: now imagine how much more interesting the debates would have been if they had been on stage. >> i told my team that we should live blog this last night, but they wouldn't go for it. >> thank god they didn't give larry king a chance to moderate

an actual debate. >> he might have been better. >> he might. >> bill: thinkprogress calls them myths that mitt romney tells. i call them lies. but first, richard mourdock he is the tea partiers he knocked richard lugar off in the primary. and we thought todd akin is bad, and he is bad, but richard mourdock is just as bad. here is what he says last night. his position on abortion no exceptions -- well, one exception, sorry, only if the life of the mother is endangered, but no exception for abortion for rape because he says -- i'll let him tell you. >> i believe that life begins at conception, the only exception i

have to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother. i came to realize that life is gaft from god, and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape; that it is something that god intended to happen. >> bill: sounds like he is almost ready to burst out in tears. >> it does sound that way. and what did he struggle with as a man for a very long time thinking about this. >> bill: obviously he didn't struggle long enough. but here is what is interesting. first of all, i'm waiting to see the leaders of the republican party who have enough guts and courage and decency to stand up today and condemn richard mourdock, but what makes it very interesting is that mitt romney has cut one tv ad this year for one senate candidate, the only

one in the country, not todd akin of course or you go across the board, not george allen in virginia, the only one he has an ad for is richard mourdock. >> romney: this fall i'm supporting richard mourdock for senate. he worked with governor daniels to balance the budget and make government more accountable. richard will be the 51st vote to repeal and replace government-run health care. and help stop the liberal pelosi agenda. i hope you'll join me. >> i'm richard mourdock and i approve this message. >> bill: what is mitt romney going to do about that ad? that's the big question. will he and paul ryan -- because you know paul ryan agrees with richard mourdock and todd akin. we know that.

his entire career he has joined them in sponsoring legislation. so is mitt romney going to stand with richard mourdock or will he have the guts to withdraw that endorsement. >> and there's the uncomfortable policy. because officially romney says you can have an abortion in the case of life incest and rape. but in the past he has supported a state personhood amendment. in 2008 he said he would be delighted to sign a bill banning all abortions. so on a policy level -- >> bill: romney is trying to have it both ways. he does support the personhood amendment, which also outlaws many forms of contraception. >> uh-huh.

>> bill: peter? >> on twitter at @bpshow, bill says they are afraid of being called bias. this is sickening. also sco says this is rick santorum -- >> bill:. >> yeah those blanks to ever have to worry about being raped or dealing with the repercussions. >> bill: yeah, and paul ryan is a bedfellow to these guys and again, mitt romney endorsed it so we'll see what happens now. joe donnelly is our democratic senate candidate in indiana. he has been in studio with us here before, and he will be our guest on friday on the "bill press show." your comments welcome on rich

rich -- richard mourdock at 866-55-press. egor on the debates we have had a lot of fun for the first -- for the first two debates. we'll talk about the third today. where your team have cataloged all of the misstatements or myths -- >> mitt's myths. >> bill: the first debate was 27 myths in 38 minutes. the second was 31 myths, or lies, again, i call them in 41 minutes. and the third one you catalog 24 in 41 minutes. >> compound mitts, yeah. streamlines. >> bill: yeah, he has settled down just a little bit. what are some of the worst ones? >> it was tough on foreign policy because this is a guy who spent all campaign saying that obama doesn't have a foreign policy. that's a quote.

and then what he did on monday night is he agreed with a lot of this foreign policy that obama supposedly doesn't have. >> bill: yeah. >> so he -- he had less but he has a few pretty big whoppers. certainly one was the geography problem where he claimed that syria is iran's route to the sea. he had a big one on foreign aid -- >> bill: you point out, first of all, that iran has already 1500 of its own coastline on two bodies of water. >> yes. >> bill: and secondly there's this little problem with iraq and turkey. >> yeah. >> bill: they get in between -- >> yeah. >> bill: you have to leap frog over them. >> this would have been a great opportunity to have a visual aid in the debate.

>> yeah. and i mean it didn't get any better from there. so he had that -- he had his claim that he is going to make sure we have strong relations with countries; that we have foreign aid; that's how we are going to encourage them to do good things by sending them foreign aid. this was a guy in 2011 saying we should zero out foreign aide. on his website it still says he is cutting some 8 million, $8 billion from foreign aid, still on his website. and -- and so -- i mean that's where it stood. i think, though what is critical, is you have pretty big flip flops when it comes to issues like iran for instance;

that -- that iran was able to -- so much closer to a bomb on obama's watch, that obama doesn't think it is a big threat. he has done so little. and now you have the biggest and strong strongest sanctions on iran. and romney admitted that during the debate. >> bill: he says when i'm president i'm going to put blockade in place so no ships, tankers from iran can unload oil in u.s. ports. that actually has been in place since 1987. >> yeah, we had a little bit of oil in 1991 from iran but that's it. this is the kind of thing -- it's something obviously he said as part of his

policy spiel, how they didn't clean that out when he was practicing that, i don't know. >> bill: all right. twenty-one minutes after the hour. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." joy behar. on my next show i'll talk to parker posey. she's the star of "a mighty wind" and no, that's now what comes out of rush limbaugh. only on current tv.

we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to.

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ >> bill: it's twenty-six minutes after the hour. here we go. the "full court press." egor volski from thinkprogress.

thinkprogress.org check it out. they have the mitt romney myths. egor before we go to the phones. peter you have something on twitter. >> yeah on richard mourdock, bishop jl mills tweeted us and he said i get the theological context he was trying to make life begins at conception but it is very bad politics. voters are not theologians. >> bill: what i'm waiting for is some scintilla of evidence that there is any understanding of or sympathy for the rape victim. >> right. >> no. it is always the child -- they are pro the birth, not pro the life as we found out. >> bill: hey on that issue, let's take a quick call from paul from fairland oklahoma.

hey, paul. >> caller: hey first of all i'm a giants fan and liberal out here in oklahoma if you can believe that. >> bill: it must be lonely. >> caller: i am. what is lost in all of this is the fact that some of these legitimate rapes, and these god-intended rapes, there are murder victims and nobody is talking about that. >> bill: well, i think richard mourdock might say, well you know murder too is all par of god's plan. that's how sick this guy is. again, i'm waiting for mitt romney to repudiate. >> they have been running away from it. >> somebody ought to push him on it. seriously. >> bill: it makes me want to get on a plane and catch up with the romney campaign. >> you can make it. >> bill: egor thank you so much

for coming into the studio. >> thank you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current tv. >> bill: oh yeah. oh, yeah. thirtity-three minutes after the hour. here we go the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capitol brought to you by the laborer's international union, after president terry o'sullivan. building a better america that's their website,

liunabuildsamerica.org. i told you yesterday about being out in fairfax, virginia on friday with president obama where he first told the crowd about mitt romney's bad case of romneysia. he was there to talk about women's health issues particularly, and outline the difference between himself and mitt romney on these issues critical to american women. and the president introduced by a great heard, the president of the planned parenthood federation of america, cecil richards. she has taken a leave to campaign for the president the next couple of weeks. and joins us from new hampshire. it was great to see you on friday. >> it was a great event. it was an incredible crowd, and

the president was fantastic. >> bill: yeah, he really was and you did a great job revving up the crowd as well. i have to ask you about richard mourdock yesterday who said he would not allow an exception for abortion in the case of rape because, quote, rape is something that god intended. >> it's just incredible that folks like this are not only running for the senate, but serving in the senate. and if were the only one it would be one thing, but this has been so consistent throughout this whole campaign. some of them are sitting congressmen that take positions like this. and this is really frightening. for woman it is not just rolling back the clock on the affordable

care act, but going back to the days before roe. and mitt romney is right there with them. >> bill: yeah, he has only cut one ad in the entire senate race this year, and it was for richard mourdock. >> right. look, i mean -- this is what i -- where is the outrage from mitt romney about these kinds of comments, whether it's this one, todd akin, about redefining rape. i think it's tough for him to say much since his own running mate has been part of this move to redefine rape. we have never had, as women a more extreme candidate on women's health issues at least in my lifetime as in mitt romney. >> bill: what are you telling your audiences what is at steak

in this election for american women? >> there are three things that mitt romney says he will do first is he wants to overturn the affordable care act on day one, and i know the affordable care act is a big complicated bill, but for women that means losing our coverage for preventative care, and losing insurance coverage for preexisting conditions, and for sures we have been charged more for care than men. he said he is going to overturn roe v. wade, and we know that the next president will make the next appointment to the supreme court. and then he said he will get get rid of funding for planned parenthood. president obama has been fantastic for women. he has done more to expand

access to health care for women than any president in my lifetime. >> bill: mitt romney also said that he did not support the lilly ledbetter act, and would not have signed it. >> that's right. and again, this is where i think romneysia seems to really be setting in. i was at the debate in which he seemed to not be able to answer a very simple question which was, where do you stand on equal pay for women. and he made his binder comment. this is a man who literally doesn't believe that the lilly ledbetter fair pay act or making policy to help make sure women get paid equal to men is important. >> bill: we're talking with cecile richards president of the planned parenthood

federation. you can follow their work at plannedparenthoodaction.org. mitt romney says i'm going to get rid of all of these loop holes and deductions. he won't name any of them that he really wants to cut, big bird and planned parenthood. >> yeah, he is putting himself forward as some sort of great businessman. this is really challenges because if you look at family planning -- and the vast majority of planned parenthood's work is preventative care and planned parents. every dollar you invest in family planning, this has been repeatedly proven saves the government nearly $4.

this is a direct investment? women's health that prevents the cost of unintended pregnancy later on. so to think he is going to balance the budget by refunding planned parenthood shows he doesn't understand women's health care, and frankly, i don't think he understands the federal budget. >> bill: and the outrage to me is he continues to go around and of course, his wife excos this, and remember saying i love women! i'm the candidate who is going to do best by woman. and despite these policy positions, which are extreme, overturning obamacare which will affect and impact women especially, right? >> right. >> bill: appointing people to the supreme court he has said that, who would overturn roe v.

wade. and yet he still tries to champion himself as being for women. >> first of all his claim that he did a miraculous job of appointing women in massachusetts turned out to be completely untrue. so the problem is, he literally says one thing and does another. so if women are confused it's not their fault, it's because mitt romney talks out of both sides of his mouth and he hasn't been consistent or clear. he said he would be delighted to sign a bill to overturn roe v. wade. i don't see that ad running by mitt romney. instead he is running ads to confuse women to say he is not

that anti-birth control or anti-choice. but i have been fascinated when this subject came up when paul ryan said that he and mitt romney want to make government and politicians in charge of deciding the most personal private medical decisions of women, both women and men dropped off precipitously. >> bill: that's why it is so important that you are out on the campaign trial. cecile richards and doing such a great job as leader of planned parenthood. thank you. >> absolutely bill. thank you. >> bill: she is the greatest. when we come back former senate majority leader george mitchell joins us here on the "full court

press." >> announcer: chatting with you life at current.com/bill press. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current tv. ♪ happens. i like mitt romney but i'm sorry. they guy has flipped more than a crack house mattress. (vo) so we gave him a weekly show. >> thank you.

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♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: fourteen minutes before the top of the hour wednesday october 24th. i look forward to joining george mitchell in just a minute but first a quick question about, if you are running short at the end of the month here is something you might want to consider.

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god made me do it to make a baby. >> bill: friends we here a lot today about the fact that the congress is not accomplishing anything, and one of the reasons we don't have leaders anymore like george mitchell. remember the days when congress would get things done when people were willing to work across the aisle. i don't think we ever had a better majority leader than george mitchell. senator welcome to the program. >> thank you, bill i appreciate you having me on. >> bill: your leadership particularly after the senate on behalf of bill clinton, in the middle east, i would love to get your debate -- or your comments on the debate monday night when mitt romney said our entire policy in the middle east is falling apart, and obama doesn't know what he is doing there.

well, both are inaccurate of course. first the notion that upheaval and dispute and crisis in the middle east is something brand new is completely contradicted by history. >> bill: wright. >> this is a long-standing conflict, and it is going to continue. one of the silliest statements made in the campaign was that if governor romney is elected president there won't be these upheavals in the middle east. they are going to happen no matter who is president for a long time to come as they have for a long time in the past. the real challenge is for the president to support and establish democratic institutions in the region to

help the moderates in the region who are engaged in an internal struggle themselves. and we can do that in a positive and constructive way, but we cannot -- the future of egypt should be decided by egyptians and so on. i don't think the governor's remarks were correct in any way to the criticism of the president. the president has had a steady solid, firm support for the institutions in the region and i think that is recognized by the people over there. >> bill: on the issue of israel you know, the romney campaign is trying to make a great deal of

the fact that president obama has not been as supportive as israel as it should be. what is the reality? >> first, united states and israely cooperation on security and intelligence is the best that it has ever been. that's from the defense minister of israel stated publicly just recently on several occasions. second, u.s. support for israel is the highest it has every been. in addition to the amounts we supply israel president obama has approved substantial increases, primarily to assist israel in deploying its anti-missile regime. so on what really matters, support, cooperation it is the best and highest it has ever

been. the principle criticisms of the president are two. first that he called for a settlement freeze. that was called for by president george bush. he proposed that so the president simply repeated the same policy. and every american president has opposed israeli settlement policy. that doesn't mean we oppose israel. we are strong and close allies but we are both mature democracies, and there is issues where we disagree. and in his statement he said the basis of negotiation should be the 67 lines with agreed swaps. for that governor romney said the president through israel under the bus.

in fact, the identical proposal was made by the prime minister in his negotiations with palestinian palestinians. the president's proposal was identical in substance and almost by words by that made by the prime minister. he repeated positions taken previously by the prime minister of israel and by george w. bush. israel hasn't had a better friend in the white house than president obama, and the peace process in the middle east hasn't had a better friend and supporter in the white house than president obama.

>> bill: senator we are prisoners of the clock but i pray that you sit down with the leader of the senate today, and remind them how to get things done. thank you so much. >> thank you. bye-bye. >> bill: george mitchell never been a better leader in the senate. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪

what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone is ready with the know-how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ ♪

1c >>and now to my point. that is a whole bunch of bunk! the powerful my steal an election but they cannot steal democracy. ♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: i got to tell you, president obama today, coast-to-coast, time zone to time zone.

leaving the white house right about now. his first stop is davenport, iowa where we has a campaign event at the mississippi valley fairgrounds. leaves there to go to denver colorado hitting another key swing state with a big event at city park in denver today. then he flies to the west coast to los angeles california to tape an appearance on jay leno and then he leaves burbank and goes to las vegas, november november for a big campaign event at do little park in las vegas. and i don't know where he is going from there. >> what happens in vegas, stays

in vegas.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: good morning, america. what do you say? it is wednesday, october 24th. great to see you today, and thank you for joining us here on the "full court press" on current tv where the tackle the big stories of the day, whether it is happening here in our nation's capitol, around the country, or around the globe, we'll give you a chance to sound off on it. at 866-55-press or going to

twitter @bpshow. and mitt romney told 24 lies in 41 minutes. that bad enough. what makes it even worse is he will never admit he is wrong. he just keeps telling the same lies over and over again. we'll start off with eleanor at the top of the hour but first we'll go to lisa ferguson. >> hey bill. good morning, everyone. new emails obtained by at least two news agencies show the white house new about the terror attacks in the benghazi attack two hours before the attack. the email informs the white house, the state department and the fbi that an islamist group

had claimed credit for the attacks. that would be the anybodyian group and sal ashira which is known to be connected to al-qaeda. president obama did reference an act of terror from his speech from the rose garden the next day. but for days the administration said the attacks are spontaneous protest against a film. earlier statements show intelligence reports were mixed and officials did not want to point fingers prematurely. back at home investigators are looking at questioning of their

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viagra. talk to your doctor. [♪ theme music ♪] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: thirteen days to go and it will be all over. two weeks from today will be wednesday morning, we'll be celebrating the reelection of barack obama. you heard it here first. hey, good morning, everybody. great to see you. this is the "full court press" on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. coming to you across the great

nation of ours. good to be with you, and great to have you with us. thanks for joining us. we look forward to hearing from you any way you want to. you can give us a call at 866-55-press. an army of operators standing by to take your calls. you are join us on twitter, on facebook, and in the chat room by going to current.com and just clicking on the chat room and joining other viewers and listeners, other full court pressers across the land. this hour we have the honor of joining a -- good friend of ours, congress woman eleanor holmes norton. good to see you. >> good morning, bill. >> i walked around the corner to

get here. they are located in the wonderful neighborhood of capitol hill. there are people who live here you know. >> you live here and work here. >> bill: last night i was mentioning we had an event at the hill center, and last night's event was withsenator who lives around any corner. we have our team here too. peter ogburn and dan henning. >> good morning. >> hey hey, hey. >> bill: siprion bolling with us as well. congress woman this is something you probably have been wondering as much as i, what is going on with these people at this date in this election who still haven't made up their mind. david letterman had something to say about that. here he is.

>> of course both president obama and the contender -- [ laughter ] >> -- mitt romney they are going after the undecided votes. there are still about six or seven, maybe 10% of registered voters undecided. they can't really make up their mind. they have only had two years to think about it. you are idiots! make up your mind! [ applause ] >> bill: it is hard to believe, isn't it? >> it is given the difference between the two candidates. often we are told that there are not difference between the candidates. you really can't say that this year. >> bill: no. >> so if you are having trouble making up your mind, you probably are not paying attention. >> bill: i think that's the case.

first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> a royal world premier for the new james bond movie said. prince charles and princess camel la attended the first screening. it follows the 23rd film in the franchise. it opens here on november 9th. one of the nation's top women's college basketball coaches is calling for a radical change to the game. geno who has won seven national championships and has an 86% career winning image, says he thinks the nets in women's games should be lowered by seven

inches. >> more dunking. >> uh-huh. he compared it to college volleyball the women's net is lower than the mens. >> bill: i don't know about that. >> it doesn't -- as a feminist i got to think about that one. >> bill: yeah, people are going to say this is an unfair advantage. and there are some tall women. >> there are. but a dunk in women's basketball is a pretty rare to see. and everybody loves dunks in basketball. >> bill: absolutely. we'll think about this and come back and debate it. >> every forget a birthday card for your husband or wife, senator [ inaudible ] did. and then took to twitter to tweet a card. but he doesn't have a twitter

account. >> bill: he was probably out there campaigning for the president. >> i'm sure. >> i'm going to try that next time just tweet to my wife who doesn't use twitter. >> bill: senator eleanor holmes norton our guest in studio. headline yesterday, she may lack a vote but she sure has a voice. boy, you do indeed seeking your 12th term in congress. er guess the question is since the congress is not smart enough or fair enough to give you a vote, why do you want to serve in the congress? >> well, it's really important to understand and your audience out there in the great beyond ought to understand too, that while it is tan for a member to register her vote so you know whether she is reflecting your

views, that's not how the work is done. the work is done before the vote. because there's very little vote trading. you look at how the vote sizes up democrats and republicans, even in less polarized congresses. i have been able to bring home benefits to the city without being able to vote on the last vote. that's a crying shame, because the people i represent are among the highest federal tax-paying citizens in the united states. but nobody should send their representative to congress saying because she doesn't have a vote she won't be able to do anything. that's not how the congress works. and watch out for your own congress person out there make

sure their voting reflects something they have done for you and your district. >> bill: you do have a strong voice, and there is no stronger message than the fact that people who live in washington should have a vote and have voting representation in the congress. why don't we? >> it's a political matter at this point for -- in and out, the district has had -- i have had home rule even, and not home rule. >> bill: but we're like a colony, aren't we? >> we certainly are. this is the very definition of a colony, but it's interesting to note. if i had spent more than 20 years in the congress three-quarters of that time i have been in republican congresses and with republicans in the white house. that is the major reason the

district doesn't have the vote. the republicans stand four square against having the united states citizens who live in their own capitol the vote. and being in the minority has kept us from moving forward to get the vote we certainly would have had if democrats had been in power for more of those years i had been in congress. >> bill: and the fear it is it would be one more democratic vote in the congress. >> and to show you how set against a vote for the people of the district -- the republicans are -- we had a situation where there would have been a port of republican utah and democratic dc. >> bill: right. >> it would have been a wash. got it through the house and senate and then the national rifle associate attached an amendment that would have wiped

out all gun laws in this big city, and we had to pass up this vote we have been working on for years. >> bill: right. congress isn't in session. everybody is campaigning. and when they come back the big fear is the fiscal cliff. now we have got sequestration $1.2 trillion in cuts across the board. half of that defense, half of it domestic programs? is it going to happen? does it have to happen? >> i believe it is not going to happen, but not because we solved it all in the lame duck. i say that -- just because i saw absolutely insane activity on the republican side when they

almost refused to raise the debt celling. >> bill: that's how we got into this mess. >> exactly. it was after midnight when we raised the debt ceiling. there were republicans walking around with congressmen saying one thing i regret is that i voted to raise the debt ceiling. so i say that in that context. i think, however, that it is so clear that we will be plunged into a greater recession than we have just come out of -- >> bill: woe. >> that we're likely to see at least a down payment of some kind to keep us from going over the fiscal cliff. in this region there is great angst because there are so many defense contractors here. >> bill: of course. right. >> i just don't -- it will be mostly saved by the senate

packaging a deal which comes over to the house. if of the republicans will vote against it but in effect boehner will let it come over and let it happen carried by democrats. >> bill: but some republicans are going to have to vote for it -- >> yes. and some will. >> bill: doesn't that mean that some republicans are going to have to accept raising revenues? >> and you will note bill increasingly they are beginning to creep away from the pledge. >> bill: grover norquist? >> yeah. >> bill: oh, really? >> we have seen more and more saying i'm not going to take that pledge, or i haven't taken that pledge, so some are going to have to vote for it and i believe given the d&asker that

will be staring us in the face some will, but it will be carried think democrats. >> bill: one statement that the president made in this last debate when he said sequestration will not happen. >> yeah, and some republicans are taking that in a very strange way to mean he has kind of given up. he hates the notion of sequestration so much and he is going to give in -- >> bill: that's not what he went at all. >> of course it is not. their interpretation is absurd. it means when he will reelected they will not be in a position to effect the balance. if the president is reelected what we have seen in the polls over and over again, which is

that americans want a balance, some revenue, some cut backs. >> bill: that's right. and what they want is simpson boles. >> exactly. >> bill: we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your raider you, and current tv. ♪ pillsbury crescents. let the making begin. building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

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this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it's 24 minutes after the hour. on a wednesday, october 24th. in studio with us congress woman eleanor holmes norton. we have been talking national politics not just the race for the white house, but your seat as well as 33 senate seats. and richard mourdock the tea party candidate in indiana, up against democrat joe donnelly. they had a debate last night, and the issue of abortion was raised. and both are pro life candidates. joe donnelly democrat and richard mourdock republican, said he is against abortion with one exception only in case the life of the mother is in danger no exception, not even for rape,

because he says -- i'll let him say it. >> i believe that life begins at conception, the only exception i have is in the case of the life of the mother. i came to realize life is a gift from god, i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. >> bill: rape is something that god intended to happen. >> my, my my. >> bill: how offensive. >> it couldn't be more offensive. nobody is twisting his words. that is how it was meant to be and god meant it to be that way. his position was very close to mitt romney's. >> bill: and paul ryan's. >> and paul ryan's to be sure. but romney is running ads that

try to depict his position on abortion as moderate. this candidate beat senator lugar, and he leaves out the health of the mother. that is how rape or abortion or however you are framing it has to be handled. a mother should have to be almost dead in order for roe v. wade to click in. and health of the mother is the dividing line on abortion, and mitt romney leaves out the health of the mother and so does mourdock. >> bill: and mitt romney has cut one ad for one senate candidate in the entire country and that is for richard mourdock. >> amazing. >> bill: and the question today

is mitt romney do you still endorse richard mourdock. he refuses to answer that question. >> richard mourdock essays rape is aer toable thing, and for anyone to twist my words otherwise is absurd and sick. >> bill: we just played his words. >> exactly. he said god does not want rape and by no moans was i suggesting that he does. he also tweeted out his support for senator john corning. >> yeah that's really dangerous, because once a republican stands by such a statement, then of course they taint republicans running elsewhere. >> bill: absolutely. congress woman good luck we need you back in the united states congress fighting for all americans. thank you for coming in today. >> thank you, bill.

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♪ >> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio, and on current tv. >> bill: thirty-three minutes after the hour now. here we are, the "full court press," it is wednesday october 24th, thanks so much for being part of the program. we have talked before about the fact that it is not just the white house at steak, it's the entire house of representatives. eleanor holmes norton here with us in this last hour.

and three senate seats, jennifer duffy has the senate test k at cook political. interesting developments in senate races as we get down to two weeks. overall, what are you now projecting the chances that democrats hold on to the senate. >> i think they have a 55 to 60% chance of holding the senate. here we are a little less than two weeks out, and we have nine really close races out there, which is a lot two weeks out, and they are fairly evenly divided between the parties, but it's -- >> bill: so it could go either way. >> it is definitely a race to the end, there's no question about that. >> bill: we have been talking a lot about richard mourdock who

made the comments that no exception for abortion in the case of rape because rape was something that god intended. he wasn't endorsing rape. he just said it's part of god's plan, basically. we haven't seen any polling since that happened. how close is the race in indiana and how might this impact it? >> mourdock was really starting to pick up steam. mitt romney went out with the only senate endorsement ad outside of utah have i seen this cycle. mourdock said that a pregnancy that resulted from rape was -- that he was not saying that god intended rape. however, republicans are pushing back very, very hard on this one. you know, they realize the potential damage it can cause,

and the interesting thing they are doing is putting out donnelly's own record on issues like this, which is somewhat mixed. and that will be their pushback. >> bill: but joe donnelly didn't say -- >> no. >> bill: and he has -- >> but i think the difference between this incident and todd akin where the party ran from todd akin, you are seeing the party rally behind richard mourdock and push back very hard on this. >> bill: could that backfire on the republican party? >> maybe not in indiana. but -- and i'm not saying it is not a problem, don't get me wrong, but i think the reaction is very interesting, how different it is from the whole akin situation. >> bill: you would still put

indiana -- >> i have it in toss up. >> bill: it is one of your nine? >> absolutely. >> bill: is virginia one of your nine? >> absolutely. tim kaine against allen -- >> i still think this is the one case in the country that has the presidential race goes in the country, so does the senate race. we have seen romney take a lead the senate races, i think it's two points in either direction. this will be a very close race. >> bill: all right. so northern virginia tim kaine -- >> right. it's the one senate race in the country where these candidates talk a lot about sequestration and defense spending you know -- just the acknowledgment of how big the military complex

is in virginia. >> bill: and federal employees. >> and federal employees in virginia, so it is a very close race. >> i got stuck in the car for a long time this weekend, and found the virginia senate debate, and you are exactly right, it's all about defense and budget. >> bill: and those of us who live in the district of columbia are inundated for all of these spots -- >> i have stopped turning my tv on, but then again i am never home, so it makes it easier. >> bill: i was visiting the senator who had just flown back from connecticut. they were up there campaigning for chris murphy against linda mcman. is that a toss-up state? >> it is the murphy campaign

yesterday put out a pull that showed murphy six points up. i'm not sure i believe it's six. i think he has recovered from really a bad august and september -- >> bill: for a while it looked like she was surging. >> i think that she was. i don't think you have seen the last of what the mcmahon campaign has to offer. in fact i know that to be true. and i think it is going to be a close race. now here is the -- my favorite expression of the cycle is the known unknown in this race. >> bill: that sounds like a donald rumsfeld -- >> it is exactly that, but it's true, i think in this cycle that we have a lot of things that we know would be factors but we're not sure how they play. democrats in connecticut have generally always taken two lines on the ballot. the democratic party line and

the working families party line. the republicans usually don't do that. this time linda mcmahon decided to see what would happen if she got the independent party line which she did. this is where the logic comes from. in the 2010 governor's race in connecticut, if you just took the two-party vote the democrat would have lost that race being on the working family party line to put him over the top, he got almost 29,000 votes on that line, and he won that race you know, by -- i think it was less than a thousand votes overall, so they looked at that and thought that maybe there was a lesson to be learned there, and something they tried. we don't know what kind of impact that will have. >> bill: wisconsin?

>> another close race. tommy thompson he hasn't been on a ballot since 1998 and i didn't he didn't realize campaigns have changed a lot. and he really gave the democrat tammy baldwin went three unanswered weeks both on the air and the campaign trail as he went out to race about $3 billion. she developed a little bit of lead, and now that he is on the air and back the race has tightened some. i think it's very close. republicans are hoping that the ground game that they had built for the gubernatorial recall section helps them. obviously the presidential race makes a difference here and obama is certainly ahead in

wisconsin, so i think this will be another fun one to watch. >> bill: most of the at attention has gone to massachusetts because of elizabeth warren and scott brown. i haven't heard anything in the last week or so. does that mean it is in the bag for either one? >> no. it is interesting. this is the one senate race where they came to an agree to keep outside money out of the race. they had been successful at it. they didn't keep all outside activity out. you can still do mail and phones. i think elizabeth warren has gotten something of a lead. it is still a very close race but my sense is i'm not sure scott brown would pick up some

undecided vote. >> bill: and there's no doubt if he wins, he will buck the trend. >> oh, absolutely. >> bill: you mentioned just before we began the show that you think the most interesting development in the senate races is in pennsylvania. and with that tease we'll take a little break, come back and find out what is happening in pennsylvania that makes it so intreating. we haven't talked about north dakota and florida -- >> montana. >> bill: montana, yeah. so stick around jennifer duffy from cook political report and the website is cookpolitical.com. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/bill press. this is the "bill press show,"

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♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: thirteen minutes before the top of the hour, here. the "full court press" on this wednesday, october 24th. jennifer duffy is here and we're reviewing the important senate races. here is a story right our of today's "new york times." page 3. headline "credit card data breech at barnes & noble stores." as recently as last month at 63 barnes & noble stores across the company.

hackers had broken in and stolen information from customers and had used that information to go out and make unauthorized purchase. there you go identity theft strikes in. get life lock ultimate. it's the most comprehensive id protection ever made. but it can't protect you or your bank account if you are not a member. call now and mention press 60 for 60 free days of identity theft protection. if you are not happy give them a call within another 60 days and they'll give you a full refund. find out more at 1-800-356-5967. bob casey, running for

reelection, the democrat in pennsylvania. what is the latest? >> well it's interesting that race has not been on anybody's radar. >> bill: no. >> understand that -- this is what i spend my entire day doing, so i have been watching this kind of germany for a few weeks. off cycle, casey -- the ballot test has been fine but i have been noticing his job number has seemed pretty week. his favorable number has seemed pretty weak. which is interesting, because the same casey in pennsylvania carries a lot of political cache'. and his opponent is fairly unknown. his name is tom smith. he owns coal mines in western pennsylvania. however, smith sold his businesses in 2010 and made quite a bit of money, and he has

been running a very aggressive campaign. the theme is bob casey senator zero is what he calls him. he hasn't produced any legislation. he hasn't done in smith's view a lot for pennsylvania. he believes the country is off on the wrong track, and he has been advertising, you know, none stop since august. casey i'm not sure took this guy very seriously. he let tom smith be on the air in the philadelphia market for five weeks unanswered. >> bill: don't do that. >> you can't do that. you cannot let your opponent have that much room. the race -- the polling -- polling is all over the place. if if you have some polling out in this race, trust me i can find you the poll that has the spread and margin of error you

want. but i think everybody now recognizes that this race has closed up. casey still is ahead. i have not put it in the toss-up column, not sure that i will but i think the development of majority pact going into pennsylvania with an ad -- this ad actually has a positive opener for casey, which means that they see that they need to bolster his numbers, and then they go and attack smith. so very interesting new race on the table. >> bill: another one to watch closely. i have five more that i would like to go through quickly. we have just a couple of minutes. north dakota? >> i think it's one of the closest in the country. i think rick berg the republican has a bit of a lead but nothing to be comfortable about. >> bill: heidi hidecamp has

really made a race there. >> plus with a name like heidi hidecamp. >> bill: yeah. florida? >> florida is in mid-single digits, maybe 7 to 9 points and a lot of it has to do with the fact that romney is doing so much better in the state. i'm not sure the republican can really close those last few points. really tough. >> bill: at this point nelson ahead. nevada? >> another close race. i think the republican here is a little bit ahead, but the one thing that republicans are concerned about is the fact that president obama is running ahead here. democrats talk a lot about their -- about their turnout operation there, their voter registration advantage, which could be worth a couple of points to the democrat, but close race. >> bill: maine? >> maine will be the death of me

this cycle. you have a three-way race. leader is angus king former governor, but i think the writing is on the wall here and he will caucus with democrats. this ball game an important race for republicans. crossroads went up on the air with an independent expenditure aimed at king. the democrat cynthia dill who has not been embraced by the democratic national group as well. they need to peel off as many voters from king as well and they need to prop up cynthia hill. and then they have a race on their hands, and again, this is the race that they ran in the governor's race in 2010. >> bill: here is any good news

jennifer, it will all be over in 13 days. [ laughter ] >> i can't wait. >> bill: you can follow all of cook political's work at cookpolitical.com. jennifer duffy thing you so much. >> thanks so much. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." [ female announcer ] add your own ingredients to hamburger helper for a fresh take on a quick, delicious meal. it's one box with hundreds of possibilities. [ male announcer ] with over 50 delicious choices of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant ♪

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