illegally. i'll make sure employers who hire people who have come here illegally are sanctioned for doing so. i won't put in place magnets for people coming here illegally. so, for instance, i would not give driver's licenses to those who have come here illegally as the president would. the kids of those that came here illegally, those kids i think should have a pathway to become a permanent resident of the united states and military service, for instance, is one way they would have that kind of pathway to become a permanent resident. now when the president ran for office, he said that he'd put in place, in his first year, a piece of legislation, he'd file a bill in his first year that would reform our immigration system, protect legal immigration, stop illegal immigration. he didn't do it. he had a democrat house and senate, super majority in both houses. why did he fail to even promote legislation that would have provided an answer for those that want to come here legally and for those that are here

illegally today? that's a question i think the president will have a chance to answer right now. >> good. i look forward to it. >> lorena? lorraine. we're a nation of immigrants. i mean, we're just a few miles away from ellis island. we all understand what this country has become because talent from all around the world wants to come here. people who are willing to take risks. people who want to build on their dreams and make sure their kids have an even bigger dreams they have. but we're also a nation of laws. so what i've said is, we need to fix a broken immigration system, and i've done everything that i can on my own and sought cooperation from congress to make sure that we fix this system. first thing we did was to streamline the illegal immigration system -- legal immigration system, reduce the backlog, make it easier for people waiting in line, obeying the law, that they can come here

and contribute to our country. that's good for our economic growth. they'll start new businesses. they'll make things happen to create jobs here in the united states. number two, we do have to deal with our border. so we've put more border patrol, more than anytime in history, and the flow of illegal immigrants across the border is lower than in 40 years. what i've also said is we're going to go after folks here illegally, we should do it senatorially and go after folks who are criminals, gangbangers, people who are hurting the community, not after students, not after folks who are here just because their trying to figure out how to feed their families, and that's what we've done. what i've also said is for young oq come here, brougt here oftentimes by their parents, have gone to school here, pledged allegiance to the flag, think of this as their every way except

having papers, then we should make sure we give them a pathway to citizenship. that's what i've done administratively. governor romney just said he wants to help those people too, but during the republican dream act that would allow these young people have to access. his main strategy during the republican primary was to say we're going to encourage self-deportation, making life so miserable on folks they'll leave. he called the arizona law a model for the nation, part of the arizona law said that law enforcement officers could stop folks because they suspected maybe they looked like they might be undocumented workers. and check their papers. you know what? if my daughter, or yours, looks to somebody like they're not a citizen, i don't want to empower somebody like that.

so we can fix this system in a comprehensive way. and when governor romney says the challenge is, well, obama didn't try. that's not true. i sat down with democrats and republicans at the beginning of my term, and i said let's fix this system, including senators previously who supported it on the republican side, but it's very hard for republicans in congress to support comprehensive immigration reform if their standard-bearer has said this is not something i'm interested in supporting. >> let me get the governor in here. governor, speak to the idea of self-importation. >> let me go back to the points the president made and get them correct. i did not say that the arizona law was a model for the nation in that aspect. i said that the e-verify portion of the arizona law, which is -- which is a portion of the law which says that employers could be able to determine whether someone is here illegally or not

legally is a model for the nation. that's number one. number two, i asked the president a question, i think hispanics and immigrants all over the nation was asked. he was asked on univision the other day, why didn't you file legislation in your first year? he didn't answer. he doesn't answer that question. he said the standard-bearer wasn't for it. i'm glad you thought i was a standard-bearer four years ago, but i wasn't. four years ago, you said in your first year you would file legislation. in his first year, i was just getting -- licking my wounds have being been beaten by john mccain, i was no the standard-bearer. my view is the president who have honored his promise to do as he said. let me mention one other thing. that is self-deportation, let people make their own chips. we'rchoice. we're not going to round up 12 million people, undocumented, illegals, take them out of the nation. instead let people make their own choice. if they can't get the benefits

here they want, the job they want, they'll go to a place where they have better opportunities. i'm not in favor of rounding up people and taking them out of the country. i'm in agreement with if people commit crimes we have to get them out of country. something else the president said, when he was describing chinese investments and so forth -- >> candy, hold on a second. >> mr. president, i'm still speak. >> governor romney, i'm -- >> go ahead and finish, governor romney. you can make it short. see all these people, they've been waiting for you. >> just going to make a point. any investments i have over the last eight years have been managed by a blind trust. i understand they do include investments outside the united states, including in chinese companies. mr. president, have you looked at your pension? have you looked at your pension? >> candy, i've got to say -- >> mr. president, have you looked at your pension? >> i don't look at my pension. it's not as big as yours.

>> let me give you some advice. >> i don't check it that often. >> look at your investment. you also have investments in chinese companies, investments outside the united states. you also have investments in a cayman's trust. >> we're a little off topic here. come on. i thought we were talking about immigration. >> i came back to that so -- >> if i could have you sit down, governor romney. thank you. >> i want to make sure we do understand something. governor romney says he wasn't referring to arizona as a model for the nation. his top advisor on immigration is the guy who designed the arizona law, entirety of it. not e-verify. the whole thing. that's his policy. it's a bad policy. it won't help us grow. look, when we think about immigration we have to understand there are folks all around the world who still see america as the land of promise. they provide us energy and they provide us innovation, and they start companies like intel and

google, and we want to encourage that. now, we've got to make sure that we do it in a smart way, in a comprehensive way, and we make the legal system better. but when we make this into a divisive political issue, when we don't have bipartisan support, i can deliver, governor, a whole bunch of democrats to get immigration reform done, and -- >> we'll get it done in the first year. >> -- we've not seen republicans serious about this issue at all. time to get serious about this. used to be a bipartisan issue. >> don't go away. >> i'm here. >> carrie lotke wants to switch the topic for us. >> this question comes from a brain trust of my friends at global telecom supply. yesterday we were sitting around talking about libya, and we were

became aware of reports that the state department refused extra security for our embassy in banghazi, libya, prior to the attacks that killed four attacks that killed four americans. security and why? >> well, let me, first of all, talk about our diplomats, because they serve all around the world and do an incredible job in a very dangerous situation. these aren't just representatives of the united states. they're my representatives. i send them there. oftentimes into harm's way. i know these folks. i know their families. so nobody's more concerned about their safety and security i am. so as soon as we found out that the banghazi consulate was being overrun, i was on the phone with my national security team, and i gave them three instructions. numbering one, beef up our security and procedures, not just in libya, but in every

embassy and consulate in the region. number two, investigate exactly what happened. lead us, to make sure that folks are held accountable and it's doesn't happen again. and number three, we are going presidency is when folks mess with americans we go after them. now governor romney had a very different response. our diplomats being threatened, governor romney put out a press release, trying to make political points, and that's not how a commander in chief operates. you turn national security bo io a political issue, certainly not right when it's happening. people not -- not everybody agrees with some of the decisions i've made, but when it comes to our national security i mean what i say.

i said i'd end the war in libya -- in iraq,and i did. i said we'd go after al-qaeda and bin laden. we have. i said we'd transition out of afghanistan and start making sure that afghans are responsible for their own security. that's what i'm doing. when it comes to this issue, when i say that we are going to find out exactly what happened, everybody will be held accountable, and i am ultimately responsible for what's taking place there, because these are my folks, i'm the one who has to greet those coffins when they come home, you know that i mean what i say. >> mr. president, i got to move us along. governor? >> thank you, kerry, for your question. it's an important one. i think the president just said buck does stop at his desk, and he takes responsibility for that -- for the failure in providing those security resources and those terrible things may well happen from time to time.

i feel very deeply sympathetic for the families of those who lost loved ones. today there's a memorial service for one of those that was lost in this tragedy. we think of their families and care for them deeply. there were other issues associated with this -- with this tragedy. there were many days that passed before we knew whether this was a spontaneous demonstration or actually a terrorist attack. there was no demonstration involved. it was a terrorist attack. it took a long time for that to be told to the american people. whether that was some misleading or instead whether we just didn't know what happened, i think you have to ask yourself why didn't we know five days later when the ambassador to the united nations went on tv to say that this was a demonstration, how could we have not known? i find more troubling than this, on the day following the assassination of a united states ambassador, the first time that's happened since 1979, when we have four americans killed there, when apparently we didn't

know what happened, that the president the day after that happened flies to las vegas for political fundraiser. then the next day to colorado for another event. another political event. i think these actions taken by a president and leader have symbolic significance. and perhaps even material significance in that you'd hope that during that time we could call in the people who are actually eyewitnesses. we've read their accounts now about what happened. it was very clear this was not a demonstration. this was an attack by terrorists. and this calls into question the president's whole policy in the middle east. look what's happening in syria, in egypt, now in libya. consider the distance between ourselves and israel. the president said that he was going to put daylight between us and israel. we have iran four years closer to a nuclear bomb. syria. syria is not just a tragedy of 30,000 civilians being killed by a military, but also a strategic -- strategically significant player for america.

the president's policies throughout the middle east began with an apology tour, and pursue a strategy of leading from behind. this strategy is unraveling before our very eyes. >> because we're closing in, i want to still get a lot of people in. i want to ask you something, mr. president, then have the governor just quickly -- your secretary of state, as i'm sure you know, has said that she takes full responsibility for the attack on the diplomatic mission in banghazi. does the buck stop with your secretary of state as far as what went on here? >> secretary clinton has done an extraordinary job, but she works for me. i'm the president. i'm always responsible. that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened i do. the day after the attack, governor, i stood in the rose garden and i told the american people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror, and i also said that

we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime. and then a few days later i was there greeting the caskets coming into andrews air force base and grieving with the families, and the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state, our u.n. ambassador, anybody on my team, would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. that's not what we do. that's not what i do as president. that's not what i do as commander in chief. >> governor, if you want to respond. >> i certainly do. i think it's interesting that the president just said something which is on the day after the attack, he went in the rose garden and said this was an act of terror. you said in the rose garden, the day after the attack, it was an

act of terror? it was not a spontaneous demonstration. is that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> want to get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in banghazi an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did in fact, sir. let me call it an act of terror. >> can you say that a little louder, candy? >> he did call it an act of terror. it did as well take -- it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a rite out there about this tape to come out. you're correct about that. >> the administration -- [applause] >> the administration indicated that this was a reaction to a video, it was a spontaneous reaction. >> they did. >> it took them a long time to say this was a terrorist act by a terrorist group. to suggest -- am i incorrect in that regard? on sunday the ambassador to the united nations went on the

sunday television shows and spoke about how this was a spontaneous act. >> candy, i'm happy hav to havea longer conversation about foreign policy. >> i want to move on. >> i'm happy to do that, too. >> i want to make sure all these wonderful folks will get a chance to get their questions answered. >> mr. president, stand there for a second, because i want to introduce you to nina gonzalez, who brought up a question that we hear a lot, both over the internet and from this crowd. >> president obama, during the democratic national convention in 2008, you stated you wanted to keep ak-47s out of the hands of criminals. what has your administration done or plan to do to limit the availability of assault weapons? >> we're a nation that believes in the second amendment. i believe in the second amendment. you know, we've got a long tradition of hunting and sportsmen and people who want to

make sure they can protect themselves. but there have been too many instances during the course of my presidency where i've had to comfort families who have lost somebody, most recently out in aurora. you know, just a couple weeks ago, actually probably about a month, i saw a mother who i had met at the bedside of her son who had been shot in that theatre. and her son had been shot through the head. and we spent some time. we said a prayer. and remarkably about two months later this young man and his mom showed up, and he looked unbelievable. good as new. but there were a lot of families who didn't have that good fortune. their sons or daughters, or husbands, didn't survive. hçok7óxd belief is that, a, we e

to enforce the laws we've already got, make sure that we're keeping guns outs of the hands of criminals, those who mump better job in terms of background check, but we've got more to do when it comes to enforcement. i also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong on our streets. and so what i'm trying to do is about how do we reduce the violence generally. part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced, but part of it is also looking at other sources of the violence, because frankly in my hometown of chicago there's an awful lot of violence. they're not using ak-47s, they're using cheap handguns. what can we do to intervene to make sure that young people have opportunity? that our schools are working, that if there's violence on the streets, that working with faith

groups and law enforcement, we can catch it before it gets out of control. so what i want is a -- is a comprehensive strategy. part of it is seeing if we can get automatic weapons that kill folks in amazing numbers out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, but part of it is also going deeper and seeing if we can get into these communities and making sure we catch violent i am pulls before -- impulses before they occur. >> governor romney, the question is about assault weapons, ak-47s. >> i'm not favor of new legislation on guns, taking guns away, making certain guns illegal. we of course don't want to have automatic weapons. that's already illegal in this country, to have automatic weapons. we have to do, as the president mentioned toward the end of his remarks there, which is to make enormous efforts to enforce the gun laws we have and to change the culture of violence we have. you ask, how are we going to do that? there are a number of things.

he mentioned good schools. i totally agree. we were able to drive our schools to be number one in the nation in my state. i believe if we do a better job in education we'll give people the hope and opportunity they deserve, and perhaps less violence from that. let me mention another thing. that is parents. we need moms and dads helping raise kids wherever possible. the benefit of having two parents in the home. that's not always possible. a lot of great single moms, single dads. but, e, gosh, to tell our kids that before they have babies they ought to think about getting married to someone, that's a great idea. if there's a two-parent family the prospect of living in poverty goes down dramatically. the opportunities that the child will be able to achieve increase dramatically. so we can make changes in the way our culture works to help bring people away from violence and give they mean opportunity and bring them in the american system. the greatest failure we've had with regards to gun violence in some respects is what is known as fast and furious, which was a

program under this administration, how it worked exactly i think we don't know precisely, but where thousands of automatic and ak-47-type southwest were given to people that ultimately gave them to drug lords, they used those weapons against their own citizens and killed americans with them. this was a program of the government. for what purpose it was put in place, i can't imagine. but it's one of the great tragedies related to violence in our society, which has occurred during this administration, which i think the american people would like to understand fully. it's been investigated to a degree, but the administration has -- has carried out executive privilege to prevent all the information from coming out. i'd like to understand who it was that did this. what the idea was behind it, why it led to the violence. thousands of guns going to mexican drug lords. >> governor, if i could, the question was about these assault weapons that once were banned, and are no longer banned.

i know that you signed an assault weapons ban when you were in massachusetts. obviously with this question you do no longer support that. why is that given the violence we see sometimes with these mass killings? why is it that you've changed your mind? >> candy, actually, in my state, the pro-gun folks and the antigun folks came together and put together a piece of legislation, and it's referred to as a -- as an assault weapon ban, but it had at the signing of the bill both the pro-gun and antigun people came together, because it provided opportunities for both that both wanted. there were hunting opportunities, for instance, that hadn't previously been available and so forth. it was a mutually agreed upon piece of legislation. that's what we need more of, candy. what we have right now in washington is a place that's gridlocked. >> if you could get people to agree to it, you're for it? >> we haven't had the leadership in washington to work on a bipartisan basis. i was able to do that in my state and bring the two

together. >> quickly, mr. president. >> first of all, i think governor romney was for an assault weapons ban before he was against it, and he said that the reason he changed his mind was in parts because he was seeking the endorsement of the national rifle association. so that's on the record. but i think that one area we agree on is the importance of parents and the importance of schools, because i do believe that if our young people have opportunity, then they're less likely to engage in these kind of violent acts. we're going to eliminate everybody who is mentally disturbed, and we've got to make sure they don't get weapons, but we can make a difference in terms of ensuring that every young person in america, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, have a chance to succeed. candy, we haven't had a chance to talk about education much, but i think it is very important to understand that the reforms we've put in place, working with 46 governors around the country

are seeing schools that are some of the ones that are the toughest for kids starting to succeed. we're starting to see gains in math and science. when it comes to community colleges, we are setting up programs, including with nassau community college to retrain workers, including young people who may have dropped out of school but are now getting another chance, training them for the jobs that exist right now. in fact, employers looking for skilled workers. so we're matching them up, giving them access to higher education. as i said, wife made sure that millions of young people are able to get the education they weren't able to get before. now -- >> mr. president, i have to move you along here. we need to get to the questions. >> just one second, because this is important. this is part of the choice in this election. when governor romney was asked whether teachers, hiring more teachers, was important to growing our economy, governor

romney said that doesn't grow our economy. >> the question, mr. president, was guns. >> i understand. >> let me move along. >> this will make a difference whether we can move the economy forward for these young people and reduce our violence. >> i understand. thank you so much. i want to ask carol goldberg to stand up because she gets to a question both men have been passionate about. it's for governor romney. >> the outsourcing of american jobs overseas has taken a toll on our economy. what plans to you have to put jobs back in the united states? >> you're absolutely right. the place where we've seen manufacturing go has been china. china is now the largest manufacturer in the world. used to be the united states of america. a lot of good people have lost jobs. a half a million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last four years. that's total over the last four years. one of the reasons for that is people think it's more attractive in some cases to go

offshore than to stay here. we have made it less attractive for enterprises to stay here than to go offshore from time to time. what i will do as president is make sure it's more attractive to come to america again. this is the way we're going to create jobs in this country. it's not by trickle down government, saying we're going to take more money from people and hire more government workers, raise more taxes, put in place more regulations, trickle-down government has neer worked here, has never worked anywhere. i want to make america the most attractive place in the world for entrepreneurs, for small business, for big business, to invest and grow in america. now, we're going to have to make sure that as we trade with other nations that they play by the rules. and china hasn't. one of the reasons -- one of the ways they don't play by the rules is artificially holding down the value of their currency, because if they put their currency down low that means their prices and goods are low, making them advantageous in the marketplace. we lose sales.

manufacturers here in the u.s. making the same products can't compete. china hurricane currency manipulator for years and years and years. the president has a regular opportunity to label them as a currency manipulator, but refuses to do so. on day one, i will label coastline a currency manipulator, which will allow me as president to be able to put in place if necessary tariffs where i believe that they are taking unfair advantage of our manufacturers. so we're going to make sure that people we trade with around the world play by the rules. but let me not just stop there. don't forget, what's key to bringing back jobs here is not just finding someone else to punish -- i'm going to be strict with people who we trade with to make sure they follow the law and play by rules, but it's also to make america the most attractive place in the world for businesses of all kinds. that's why i want to bring down the tax rates on small employers, big employees, so they want to -- big employees,

so the -- big employers so theyt to be here. we have to be competitive if we're going to create more jobs here. regulations have quadrupled. the rate of regulations quadrupled under this president. i've talked to small businesses across the country. they say we feel like we're under attack from our own government. i want to make sure that regulators see their job as encouraging small business, not crushing it. there's no question but that obamacare has been an extraordinary deterrent to enterprises of all kinds hiring people. my priority is making sure that we get more people hired. if we have more people hired, if we get back manufacturing jobs, if we get back all kinds of jobs into this country, then you're going to see rising incomes again. the reason incomes are down is base unemployment is sos high. i know what it takes to get this to happen. my plan will do that. one part of it is to make sure

that we keep the rules. thank you. >> mr. president, two minutes here, because we are then going do go to our last question. >> okay. we need to create jobs here. both governor romney and i agree actually we should lower our corporate tax rate. it's too high. but there's a difference in terms of how we would do it. i want to close loopholes that allow companies to duct expenses when they move to china, that allow them to profit offshore, and not have to get taxed so they have tax advantages offshore. all those changes in our tax code would make a difference. governor romney actually wants to expand those tax breaks. one of his big ideas when it comes to corporate tax reform would be to say, if you invest overseas, you make profits overseas, you don't have to pay u.s. taxes, but of course if you're a will small business or a mom and pop business, or a big business starting up here,

you've got to pay even the reduced rate that governor romney's talking about. that will create 800,000 new jobs, the problem is they'll be in china. or india or germany. that's not the way we're going to create jobs here. the way we're going to create jobs here is not just to change our tax code, but also to double our exports. we are on pace to double our exports. one of the commitments i made when i was president. that's creating tens of thousands of jobs all across the country. that's why we've kept on pushing trade deals, but trade deals that make sure that american workers and american businesses are getting a good deal. now governor romney talked about china. as i already indicated, in private sector, governor romney's company invested in what were called pioneers of outsourcing. that's not my phrase. that's what reporters called it. and as far as currency manipulation, the currency's actually gone up 11% since i've

been president because we have pushed them hard. we've put unprecedented trade pressure on china. that's why exports have significantly increased under my presidency. that's going to help to create jobs here. >> mr. president, we have a really short time for a quick discussion here. ipad, the macs, the iphones, they're all manufactured in china. one of the major reasons is labor is so much cheaper here. how do you convince a great american company to bring that manufacturing back here? >> the answer is very straightforward. we can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level. china has been cheating over the years, one by holding down the value of their currency. numbering two, by stealing our intellectual properties, our designs, our patents, our technology, even an apple store in china that's a counterfeit apple store selling counterfeit goods. they hack into our computers. people have to play on a fair

basis. >>that's number one. number two, we have to make america attractive for tense, people who want to expand the business. that brings jobs in. the president's characterization of my tax plan is completely is false. let me tell you -- >> let me go to the president here, because we are really running out of time. we can't get wages like that. it can't be sustained here. >> candy, some jobs won't come back, because they're low wage, low skill jobs. i want high wage, high skill jobs. that's why we have to emphasize manufacturing. that's why we have to invest in advanced manufacturing. that's why we've got to make sure that we've got the best science and research in the world. when we talk about deficits, if we're adding to our deficit for tax cuts, for folks who don't need them, and we're cutting investments in research and science that will create the next apple, create the next new innovation that will sell products around the world, we will lose that race. if we're not training engineers

to make sure that they are equipped here in this country, then companies won't come here. those investments are what's going to help to make sure that we continue to lead this world economy, not just next year, but 10 years from now, 50 years from now, 100 years from now. >> thanks, mr. president. >> government does not create jobs. government does not create jobs. >> governor romney, i want to introduce you to barry green, because he'll have last question to you first. >> hi, barry. >> hi, governor. i think this is a tough question. each of you, what do you believe is the biggest misperception that the american people have about you as a man and a candidate? using specific examples, can you take this opportunity to debunk that misperception and set us straight? >> things. that's an opportunity for me. i appreciate it. in the nature of a campaign, it

seems that some campaigns are focused on attacking a person rather than prescribing their own future, the things they'd like to do. in the course of that, i think the president's campaign has tried to characterize me as someone who's very different than who i am. i care about 100% of the american people. i want 100% of the american people to have a bright and prosperous future. i care about our kids. i understand what it takes to make a bright and prosperous gut for america again. i spent my life in the private sector, not in government. i'm a guy who wants to help with the experience i have the american people. my passion probably flows from the fact that i believe in god, and i believe we're all children of the same god. i believe we have a responsibility to care for one another. i served as a missionary for my church. i served as a pastor in my congregation for about 10 years. i've sat across the table from people who are -- were out of work and worked with them to try to find new work or help them through tough times. i went to the olympics when they

were in trouble to try to get them on track. as governor of my state, i was able to get 100% of my people insured. all my kids, about 98% of the adults, was able to also get our schools ranked number one in the nation. so 100% of our kids would have a bright opportunity for a future. i understand than that i can get this country on track again. we don't have to settle for what we're going through. we don't have to settle for gasoline at $4. we don't have to. >> for -- don't have to settle for unemployment at a chronically high level. 47 million people on food stamps. we don't have to 32 for 50% of kids coming out of college not able to get work. we don't have to settle for job. track to a balanced budget. the president hasn't. i will. i'm make sure we can reform medicare and social security to preserve them for coming generations. the president said he would. he didn't.

>> governor -- >> i'll get our incomes up. by the way, i've done these things. showed i could get them done. >> mr. president, last two minutes belong to you. >> barry, i think a lot of this campaign, maybe over last four years, has been devoted to this notion that i think government creates jobs, thatting that's somehow is the answer. that's not what i believe. i believe that the free enterprise system is the greatest engine of prosperity the world's ever known. i believe in self-reliance and individual initiative, and risk takers be rewarded, but i also believe that everybody should have a fair shot and everybody should do their fair share and everybody should play by the same rules, because that's how our economy's grown. that's how we built the world's greatest middle class. you know, and that is part of what's at stake in this election. there's a fundamentally different vision about how we

move our country forward. i believe governor romney is a good man. loves his family, cares about his faith. but i also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47% of the country considered themselves victims, who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. folks on social security who have worked all their lives. veterans who sacrifice for this country. students who are out there trying to hopefully advance their own dreams, but also this country's dreams. soldiers who are overseas, fighting for us right now. people who are working hard every day, paying payroll tax, gas taxes, but don't make enough income. i want to fight for them. that's what i've been doing for the last four year, because if they succeed i believe the country succeeds. when my grandfather fought in

world war ii and came back and he got a gi bill, that allowed hip to go to college -- allowed him to go do college, that wasn't a handout, that advanced the entire country. i want to make sure that the next generation has those same opportunities. that's why i'm asking for your vote and asking for another four years. >> president obama, governor romney, thank you for being here tonight. on that note, we've come to an end on this town hall debate. our thanks to the participants for their team and the people of hofstra university for their hospitality. the next and final debate takes place monday toda monday night a raton, florida. don't forget to watch. election day is three freaks thm today. don't footing vote. footinforget to vote. >> an extraordinary 90 minutes,

literally getting into each other' faces, spaces. we've been promised by the obama campaign that we would see a more aggressive president obama, and indeed we did tonight. both men fighting for the last word, interrupting each other on virtually every question, fighting with the moderator at various times. the questions, 11 questions asked in all, and some of which will be certainly discussed tomorrow, topics we haven't heard much about at all in this presidential campaign. equal pay for women. in fact, there were a lot of women -- >> ak-47s. >> -- abortion, contraceptions, women, some might argue pandering to women. we heard a discussion about assault weapons ban, a question to mitt romney about how are you different from president bush, and then a question to president obama, what have you done to ear my vote. the one question on foreign

policy by my count was about libya, and seemed to cover ground that we already knew the answer to. it was who denied the request for increased securities. well, we heard great testimony about that last week. there was state department officials who answered that question. so there will be some questions about those selections, bret. also speaking to the issue of their policies, their domestic policies, when it comes to jobs, we heard increased focus on the messaging. president obama saying, look, mitt romney has a sketchy plan and the math doesn't add up, and mitt romney saying, look, i think you know better to the american public about president obama's promises and saying we don't have to live like this. finally i thought it was interesting that the president saved the 47% comment for his closing remarks. mitt romney did not have the chance to respond. the president wrapping up by calling mitt romney a good man on the heels of a few weeks where his top advocates, his top surrogates, have been out

literally calling mitt romney a liar to any reporter with a microphone. so those are just some of the observations from here inside the debate hall. bret? >> the spin room is filling up. a lot more blue signs this week than the first debate. so much for the analysis that this was not going to be confrontational, or tough to be confrontational in a town hall format. that went out othe door in the first minute as you mentioned. i thought the ideological game of chess with the george w. bush question was interesting, where governor romney tried to list ways that he was mosser moderate than george bush, and then on the redirect president obama tried to list ways that he was further right than george bush as they were trying to fight toward the center for governor romney. on the libya question, there was something very interesting. the president was saying that he was declaring it's an act of terrorism at the beginning, in the rose garden on september 12th. this is the quote that he said there. "no acts of terror" at the end of the speech.

not specifically speaking about banghazi, but saying generically. "no acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter the character or eclipse the lights of the values we tanne stand for." he was asked repeatedly later on univision, was it terrorism, and he said the investigation was still going. by joy buy har on the "the view," asked if it was terrorism. and then said six times the video was the cause of that attack. lits bring in brit hume and former howard dean campaign manager joe trippi. >> i felt like watching this, difficulty in being confrontational in a town hall format went out the window. just a couple things. obviously we saw a more

aggressive, a more assertive president obama tonight. he was much more on his game. i thought mitt romney was basically the same mitt romney we saw in denver two weeks ago, roughly two weeks ago. i thought the president, because he raised his game to some extent from the first time around obviously is going to look better by comparison he did. he'll probably be declared the winner of this on most cards. i will say this, though. it was pretty clear time and time again the difficulty the president has in being the incumbent. you saw it in answer to the question from the african american man who said, you know, i voted for you last time, mr. president, i'm not sure what you've done for me is enough to get your vote again. that's not an exacts quote. and governor romney used that question, his turn on that question, to deliver this indictment of the obama record, which when you hear it all in one player, the way it was stated, is very powerful. there's really no rebuttal to that. there's no way a good debate performance can get you around that. that is the burden the president

carries. that was his burden tonight. i think he carried it about as well as he could. >> >> bret: a lot of people are interested in the time breakdown. because both candidates, president obama and governor romney seemed to run over the allotted time many times. here's as close as we can get to an official time. president obama with 43 minutes, 57 seconds, and governor romney with 40 minutes, 58 seconds. so president obama getting the time jump there on the amount of time spoken. >> brit is a genius. i never thought i'd see the confrontational tile in a town hall debate like -- style in a town hall debate like this. they were both physically invading each other's space ala al gore versus bush in 2000. >> there was one moments they were right there. >> i thought it was one of the big moments of the debate. the other thing is they both --

it played okay when they were pushing off each other. i'm not sure how it played with romney pushing off the moderator, candy crowley. i think mitt romney had another good debate, but he does better when the other guy doesn't show up. this time president obama showed up and had a good debate, a much stronger debate he had last type. i think democrats have to be happy with that. i think both sides are probably happy with what happened tonight, but i do think you'll see -- or should see the romney people push back on the libya thing. when the moderator said, you know -- >> bret: she said to read the transcript. >> that kind of pushes -- you know, makes it look like -- well, it's like there's a ref and rev just threw the flag. that's going to help the president. >> the truth is that the opportunity -- governor romney had a tremendous opportunity

once the president had said that, because the answer to that, the obvious answer to that is, mr. president, if you thought on the monday after that this was an act of terror, why did your u.n. ambassador go out several days later on five sunday television shows and say the best information you had was that it was all reaction to that movie, and why did you yourself -- >> bret: why did you go to the u.n. and -- >> all of that. romney didn't believe that the president had actually said that, so he was trying to use that against him. the smart play would have been to turn it, as he could well have, into a basic question on it, which i think is an unanswerable question. >> megyn: that was quite a moment here in the debate hall, because for the first time the audience erupted. we haven't seen that yet at the first presidential debate or at the vice presidential debate, where they actually start clapping, and they seemed to be clapping what the moderator was saying, because she sort of weighed in to help the president, then tried to offer

the other side, but didn't really, and we heard the audience actually erupt in response. let's go to "fox news sunday" anchor chris wallace in washington for more. chris? >> let me sort out couple of facts. on this question of libya, i think you have to say that both the president and romney were wrong. the president was wrong because he seemed to imply that he had declared the attack on banghazi an act of terror the next day. he was clearly stunned by romney saying, well, you went off to a fundraiser in las vegas. he said, no, i was in the rose garden and declared it an act of terror. all he said was all acts of terror will never shake the resolve of this great nation, and did not refer specifically to that at all. i think romney was wrong in that he tried to say, well, look, you've given up the game here, because you declared it an act of terror on september 12th, but then susan rice went out on the 16th and said it wasn't an act of terror.

i'm not sure either one of those is true. the other remarkable moment was when the two men -- i don't think i've ever seen this -- in a presidential debate, face-to-face, interrupting each other on the question of federal drilling permits. take a look at the tape. >> in the last four year, you cut permits and licenses on federal land and federal waters in half. >> not true, governor romney. >> so how much did you cut them back by? >> not true. >> how much did you cut licenses and permits on federal land and federal waters? >> governor romney, here's what we did. there were a whole bunch of oil companies -- >> no. >> well, we've looked at the facts. we can't say that it's exactly in half, but romney we'd certainly say had the edge on the truth here. turns out on oil and gas permits two years of the bush administration -- three years of the bush administration versus three years of the obama administration, offshore permits were cut by 60 -- were cut, i'm sorry, by more than 1/3.

wait a second. i've got that wrong. by 62%. that's what i meant. 62% from 2006 in 2009, there were 995 new wellw8eo[:÷ permitn the first three years of the obama administration, 374 new well permits, a 62%=f cut in permits. as far as onshore permits were concerned, it was a cut by a third. the last three years of the bush administration, 20,000 federal drilling permits. the first three years of the obama administration 12,800. so romney was basically right, that there was a major cut in permits onshore and offshore. in terms of overall in the debate, my feeling was, you know, if you favored one guy or another, you had plenty of proof. i thought romney's best moments were as before it mentioned when he was laying outs the -- brit was laying out the litany, the record of the obama administration, on unemployments, on debt, on poverty, on median income. i thought obama's best moments were when he basically said

romney favors the rich, and he talked about the fact that he thinks it's okay for him to pay 14% when a lot of middle-class people pay a lot lower, because, of course, romney is paying capital gains taxes. overall my reaction, i think it certainly stopped the bleeding of the obama campaign, and for that they'll be very happy. >> megyn: chris, did this debate lift either candidate up? did it lift the audience at home up? we know as anchors, the one thing viewers, and in this case voters, don't like is when they talk over each other and they're disrespectful to one another. i personally found it ironic they spent so much time trying to win over the women voters. one thing women voters don't like is a bully. these two men were in each other's faces, getting in each other's grill, interrupting each other. i don't have a dial here, but i think a lot of women will react negatively to that. >> it's interesting, because

they had clearly been well coached, because when somebody asks you a question, you want to walk toward them, repeat their name. when they were dealing with each other, they were totally obnoxious with each other. at that point likability went out the window. >> megyn: they've been struggling so lard to buil hardt up. we'll see if tonight is a game changer or not. chris wallace, thank you. >> bret: when we come back, charles krauthammer with his thoughts greta van susteren will speak with reince priebus. stay with us from hofstra stay with us from hofstra university.

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♪ (sirens) (train horn) ♪ vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. >> i can tell you that 23 you're to elect president obama, you know what you'll get. you'll get a repeat of the last

four years. we can't four more years like last four years. he said that by now we'd have unemployment at 5.4%. the difference between where it is and 5.4% is 9 million americans without work. i wasn't the one that said 5.4%. this was the president's plan. didn't get there. >> megyn: mitt romney saying repeatedly tonight we don't have to settle, that i think you know better, we don't have to live like this. that was one of the points he was trying to make in that answer. welcome back to hofstra university in hempstead, new york, on long island. we'll go to greta van susteren in washington for her take on the debate, what she has coming up on "on the record." >> greta: thank you. rhines priebus is at hofstra university. welcome. mr. chairman, let me talk about the debate. did you think it was fair? are you satisfied with how it went? >> well, look, i'm not going to whine about the rules or the

moderator. i will say, though, that tonight point-blank the president lied to the american people about libya. i think the moderator may have helped that along as well. and the other takeaway here is that the governor had a plan, he had a vision, and every single time governor romney went to the truth as to where we are in this economy, the president had no answers. he sat quietly. he couldn't defend the truth as to where we were on his watch, on the president's watch tonight, and i think between the lie on libya, which i think will make his libya headache even worse, and where we are in this economy, in the fact that he didn't have an answer, i think that's the story coming out of the debate tonight. >> greta: all right, just pain they get clear, i put on

gretawire.com the president's remarks in the rose garden. did you thinwhich question did e president had the toughest time with, and which question did the governor have the toughest time with? >> i do think that the president had a difficult time after the gentleman -- the african american who was sitting in the middle and said, hey, mr. president, i voted for you four years ago, i'm not sure where i'm today. that was clearly, in my opinion, governor romney's best answer. it was an indictment on president obama. look, president obama is not just wasting money. president obama is borrowing money from china first and then wasting the money. i think that in and of itself is the problem facing not only this championcountry, but it's facine presidents making the dies the american people that he should -- making the case to the

american people that he should be reelected for another four years. it's just not working out. i think that case was made pretty well tonight, greta. >> greta: another one, do you think that the american people saw a different president obama debater tonight than they saw two weeks ago? >> well, i mean, he was more aggressive, but he didn't have any substance. i mean, he was doing a lot of bark, but didn't have bite, because, you know what, the truth on the american economy has inoculated the president. that's his problem. he can spin and he can get himself excited, like he did tonight, but he really didn't have any answers for why so many people are out of work, why we're going broke, why we're in debt, which china is manipulating their occurrences, why -- their currency, why we're not doing anything about it. we can go on and on. the fact is the president is a man of many words, but not a man of his word. you have to keep your promises in politics if you want to get

re-elected. promises matter. unfortunately for this president he's broken nearly every one of them. >> greta: tomorrow is a whole new day. debate number two under our belts. now tomorrow. what are you going to do? >> well, i mean, we just got to win every day, greta. i mean tomorrow is a new day. tonight was a great night for governor romney, but tomorrow is another day. we need to get to work and do the groundwork, go neighborhood by neighborhood in ohio and iowa and west wisconsin, virginia, florida, make the phone calls and get the work done. i happen to believe the winner is the winner on the ground, the person who has the best ground game, the campaign that can get it done on the ground is the campaign that will win. we believe we've got a better ground game than the democrats. that's what we're worried about right now. >> greta: mr. chairman, thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> greta: be sure to join us again at midnight for a special hour of "on the record." karl rove, pat buchanan and our political panel will be right here. we'll see you at midnight. so drink some coffee.