martha: that was for andrea. bill: his mind is not for rent. don't put him down as arrogant. martha: look at this guy. bill: hope you have an outstanding day, folks. martha: bye, everybody. "happening now" starts right now. jon: 11 a.m. straight up on the east coast, and we begin with this fox news alert. the dow taking another big dive today, down more than 234 points at this moment. one and three-quarters percent all because of poor earnings reports from big companies like 3m and due possibility, even apple sharply lower today. also the federal reserve branch in the richmond, virginia, sees a manufacturing pullback. all of that bad news piled on top of the dow, down 234 points. the nasdaq down about 33. we will keep an eye on it throughout "happening now." brand new stories and breaking news now, a fierce showdown in florida. president obama and governor romney going head to head in the final presidential debate.

jenna: now the final sprint to the election is on with just two weeks to go. who won, is one of the questions. and will it be enough to change any minds? we're going to break down the style and substance of the debate with our own fair and balanced conversation, aren't we, jon? and is one of our greatest threats is a nuclear-armed iran. did the candidates lay out plans for making sure that that nation, that same nation that calls us the great satan, never has those types of weapons? we're going to talk more about that. and also a massive manhunt is underway as a gunman terrorizes drivers in one state. it's all "happening now." ♪ jenna: well, the presidential candidates clashing over foreign policy in the third and final debate last night. now the countdown is on til election day, just two weeks away. no more debates but certainly a lot ahead. we're glad you're with us, everybody, jenna lee. jon: and early voting underway.

i'm jon scott. we heard from the candidates on libya, iran, china and our defense budget, but it's no surprise the discussion often move today domestic issues including the economy, jobs and even the auto bailout after nearly 90 minutes, each manmade his case in a closing statement. >> as commander in chief, i will maintain the strongest milk tear in the world, keep -- military in the world, keep faith with our troops and go after those who would do us harm, but after a decade of war i think we all recognize we've got to do some nation building here at home. rebuilding our roads, our bridges and, especially, caring for our veterans who have sacrificed so much for our freedom. >> the president's path means 20 million people out of work struggling for a good job. i'll get people back to work with 12 million new jobs. i'm going to make sure that we get people off of food stamps not by cutting the program, but by getting them good jobs. america's going to come back, and for that to happen, we're going to have to have a president who can work across the aisle. jon: so who came out on top?

most of the analysis says the president won on points, but governor romney did not make any major mistakes and put himself forward as a viable alternative to the president. let's talk about it with bob cusack, the managing editor of "the hill." not so manyfireworks last night, bob. >> that's right. i think mitt romney threw the president a bit of a curveball, wasn't as aggressive as we thought he would be on libya, other issues, did land some blouse, but it was obama who was -- blows, but it was obama who was more of the aggressor. overall, though, i think the debates were a net positive for romney because he won the crucial first debate. he's got the momentum, but remember, obama is up in ohio, and i think ohio's going to decide this thing. jon: all right. so you said that mitt romney has the momentum. you don't think that it was blunted at all by last night's debate? >> no, i don't think so. i think it can be argued who won the debate as well as the second debate, and i think, you know,

polls show that obama had a slight edge in the second and third, but romney really dominated the first one, and that's really changed the race. so i think it showed that mitt romney is very confident that the way he acted last night that he wanted to appear presidential, did not want to get in tit for tat in the last debate. i think that she shows -- shows he's confident about winning these things. jon: when the president made that comment about we have this thing called aircraft carriers and planes land on them, he sounded so depracating, i wonder if it turned people off? >> yeah, that's true. romney did not respond in kind because that kind of big withering in washington people have been -- bickering in washington people have been tired of, and that's the kind of partisan bickering that obama vowed to end that still, obviously, is ticking on. if you looked at the debate last night, you would have thought obama was down by five or six points. but i don't think last night was

a game changer either way. jon: when the president came on and said our alliances have never been stronger, and i think he even included israel in that, i had to wonder what the truth-o-meter would have been doing if you had one on the screen at that moment. [laughter] >> right. and you knew that romney was going to point out the fact that obama as president has not been to israel, and he did that. so that, you knew he was going to land that blow. there were some surprises though. on libya i thought romney was going to be more aggressive. so romney made the tactical decision that he was going to come in, he was going to jab, and he was going to dodge a lot of the president's punches, and i think that's basically what happened. jon: you say the president is still up in ohio. i suppose that's the reason we heard so much about the auto bailout in a debate that was supposed to be about foreign policy. >> that's right. it kept going, swinging back to the economy. that's what's going to decide this election. romney has made some gains in ohio and in other states, including wisconsin, but right now the map is a little bit

friendlier toward the president, so that's what makes these last two weeks so important. it could be decided by a gaffe, it could be decided by resources, are you going to play in north carolina? are you going to play in virginia? where are you going to put the resources, the money in that could decide this thing. jon: and we'll be talking about one of those critical swing states coming up. bob cusack from "the hill," thank you. >> thank you. jenna: while the debate focused on foreign policy, the economy certainly came up, too, with the candidates saying that a strong economy is not only key to our national security, it's also what keeps network in a leadership -- america in a leadership role on the world stage. take a listen. >> joint chiefs of staff said that, admiral mullen, said our debt is the biggest national security threat we face. we have weakened our economy. we need a strong economy. we need to have as well a strong military. >> it's driven by what are we going to need to keep the american people safe. that's exactly what our budget does, and it also then allows us to reduce our deficit which is a significant national security concern. because we've got to make sure

that our economy is strong at home so that we can project military power overseas. jenna: joining us now, aaron david miller, woodrow wilson center vice president, former adviser to both republican and democratic secretaries of state. aaron, we talked a little bit to preview this debate on friday, and i'd like to get your thought on an overarching theme you talked to us about. you said really when it comes to foreign policy, it's not about democrats or republicans, it's about what's smart foreign policy and what's dumb foreign policy. what's the smartest thing you heard last night and from whom, and what's the dumbest thing you heard and from whom? >> i'd love to answer that question, and i thought about it. the problem is i'm not sure there were a lot of really smart things said, and there were no dumb things said. the fact is there were no spectacular successes in this debate and no spectacular failures either. i think the president probably won the debate on substance, but on politics i think governor romney did himself two very important services. number one, he softened what had

been an aggressive tone during the second debate in an effort to reach out to independents, and he offered, i think, what he wanted to do which was safe change. finally, he was -- perhaps not as presidential as the president, you can never be -- but he shared that stage. no mispronounced words, no howlers, and he demonstrated that he knew the terrain relatively well. i mean, nothing beats the incumbent on those matter whats when you can talk about talking to the joint chiefs and the secretary of the navy, it's really hard to trump that. but on those issues i think the governor did very well. and the debate reminded me since so much of it was devoted to the economy that despite the chattering classes, myself included, effort to interject foreign policy into this campaign, the fact is it started with the economy, and in the last two weeks i suspect it's going to end with the economy. and that is going to be the key

focus. not iran, not libya, and not the u.s./israeli relationship. jenna: well, aaron, we appreciate you being part of the chattering class, because otherwise we'd have no one to talk to about this. [laughter] you mentioned when you're on stage with the president, you can't be the president because your sitting next to someone who holds that position. and the president did not lose the opportunity to point that out. let's take a listen. >> you say that you're not interested in duplicating what happened in iraq, but just a few weeks ago you said you think we should have more troops in iraq right now. and the challenge we have, i know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you've offered an opinion, you've been wrong. you said we should have gone into iraq despite the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction. jenna: i know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, seen as one of the zingers of the debate, aaron. what about experience? you have worked with a lot of

people that have had some experience, those who have had none, those who have had a lot. what's your reaction to that, that? >> look, i think judgment is really important. i mean, there's no question about that. foreign policy experience is important too, but the temperament of a president and the reality that the president inherits -- and here i really do believe what was most striking to me about this debate was what i saw on that stage, and i have a word for it, was barack o' romney. there is a new consensus in this country driven by our own broken house and the need to repair it, and it's driven by the challenges in this international system that's tough for us to address. jenna: is it the right policy, aaron? >> well, i would argue what it does is to reflect the reality that we find ourselves in. we don't have to lead from behind, but we have to be very cruel and unforgiving from now

on in when and how we choose to project our power abroad. after all, we're coming off of the two longest wars in american history, and governor romney's comments reflected this. where the standard for victory was not when we win, it's when can we live. and that's not a happy place to be on libya, on israel, on iran. i found governor romney's comments to be quite similar, frankly, to the policies that the current president is, um, is following, and i don't think it was simple, simply politically cheap triangulation. i think it reflects mitt romney's own sensibility and his own temperament. this man, his base may not be happy, but this man, i suspect both on domestic and foreign policy, is going to end up governing far more from the center than many of his supporters want to acknowledge or admit. jenna: very interesting point,

aaron. maybe not so much this debate reflecting the candidates, but where we are as a country at this time. aaron, it's always great to have you. we look forward to having you back. >> terrific, jenna. take care. jon: presidential debates can make or break a campaign. voters want to know what the candidates have to say on the issues, but viewers also notice how they present themselves. we're going to take a look at what role style can play when the candidates face off. and we're going to bring back a familiar face and catch up with an undecided voter who attended in person the second presidential debate. she had some serious concerns about the future. >> i spoke with the president at the end of the debate, and i posed that question, you know, to him. i said to him i'm worried, i'm worried, and i'm worried about my kids. i would like to be hopeful, but, um, it's hard, you know? it's hard to say right now with the way the economy is, with the way that everything, the condition of the nation right now, it's hard to say. i want to be hopeful. jon: so after attending the second debate and watching last

night, is she ready to make her choice? wendi joins us live. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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jenna: well, just two weeks left for the presidential candidates to win over those coveted undecided voters. the debate last night was really the final opportunity to see president obama and governor romney face off. many polls showing them running neck and neck, making the remaining undecided voters more important than ever, and last week we spoke to someone who still hasn't picked a candidate. she gave us her thoughts of after attending the second presidential debate. so as of right now, still undecided? >> i am undecided. jenna: so what do you think's going to help you make up your mind? >> well, i know that there's another debate coming, and i'm hoping we get some clearer answers and just not as much fighting. jenna: wendi is with us now to tell us if she got any clarity last night, wearing a politically-neutral yellow. >> absolutely.

jenna: did you feel like you got any more information? have you made up your mind? >> i did. i definitely feel like i'm leaning more now. i'm a little clearer on the economy, which was my big issue, and even though it was a foreign policy debate, i don't think we really discussed a lot of foreign policy last night. jenna: so you said you're leaning in one direction. which direction? >> i would have to say romney. jenna: really? >> i really would, yeah. jenna: and why? >> i think it's because, um, he just has an idea of what the economy needs right now. um, obama has not really been giving any sort of idea on what sort of plan he wants for the next four years, um, i think romney's a little more focused. we need a change in that regard. he's had four years to work on things, and nothing has gotten better, it's only gotten worse. and, um, i think that he could pull us through. i mean, after last night especially because it was really about the economy last night. jenna: so that's interesting, because the topic, everything was going to be about foreign policy. >> right.

jenna: and is people have said the president really has the advantage there. but yet through all of that and all the conversations with the different countries we were led through -- >> right. jenna: -- what sticks out in your mind is the economy. >> it does, because i have to agree with romney with regard to foreign policy, how the economy plays a part in foreign policy. it also weakens our military, and if our military is weakened, it weakens us as a nation, and that all kind of ties back to the economy. so i think that it's really important that we get back on track. jenna: a lot is made, and we get on the air and a lot of people talk about what did people really think about a couple things like body language. what did they really think about comments like the president saying to romney, you know, we have these things called aircraft carriers. >> yeah. jenna: you know, that's where planes land. how did you take the interaction between the two of them? >> honestly, i think he came off a little bit like a bully. jenna: who? which one? >> obama. because it was a little bit degrading, and i don't think that's necessary. you can still be a gentleman and get your point across without

lowering yourself to that level, and i think it sort of came across that way, and i didn't like it. i mean, the candidates have to understand that they're talking to the people, too, and we need to relate to them, and we need to like them. and for me personally, i didn't like it. i didn't like it. jenna: very interesting. so you say you're leaning romney. >> i am. jenna: but 100%? or -- >> um -- [laughter] i think if romney could connect a little more to the every man, that would work with me a little more, too, but i sort of just have to push that aside and go with what i think he can do that's best for the country. jenna: all right. we're going to be talking to you in the next couple weeks, see how it goes. wendi, you're our undecided voter, we found one. [laughter] and congratulations on the tough mudder. >> tough mudder. jenna: jon, wendi ran it as well. jon: i am outnumbered. [laughter] congratulations to both of you, that's some race or event. hey, the candidates came on stage with some in-depth liners,

but did governor romney miss an opportunity to hit the president with what some see as a foreign policy debacle? judge napolitano joins us later in the hour to talk about libya. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare?

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jon: when it comes to televised debates, you know, sometimes style counts as much as substance. in the 1960 faceoff between richard nixon and john f. kennedy, people who heard the debate on radio thought nixon won, but of those who watched it on tv, they saw a handsome, relaxed jack kennedy versus richard nixon giving kennedy a huge advantage. so which candidate had the style advantage last night? our very stylish james rosen is our chief washington correspondent, has some thoughts on that. james? >> reporter: that's kind of you to say, jon, because as a

native new yorker, my default setting is pale and nervous. [laughter] the default setting for president obama last night was aggressor, even snapping at mitt romney at one point. i know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but few have noted the jenin coherence of the president's overall attack which charged the republican simultaneously with being trigger happy, with being too much like the president himself and with being, quote, all over the map. >> there have been times, governor, frankly, during the course of this campaign where it sounded like you thought that you'd do the same things we did, but you'd say 'em louder. the disagreement i have with governor romney is that during the course of this campaign he's often talked as if we should take premature military action. >> reporter: perhaps because their differences here were less pronounced or perhaps because he was courting women voters, governor romney could often be heard commending the president's decisions, but where there were differences -- say on iran, russia and the overall tone of

the obama administration -- governor romney displayed his own sharp edge. >> when there were disdents in the streets of tehran, a green revolution holding signs saying is america with us, the president was silent. you said that on occasion america had dictated to other nations. mr. president, america has not dictated to other nations, we have freed other nations from dictators. >> reporter: one other angle not getting a whole lot of attention this morning, president obama's labeling of china as our adversary. follow me on twitter @jamesroseen jfnc, and i'll show you the different terms they've used to describe china. jon: yeah, there were some interesting nuggets. james, thanks for pointing some of them out to us. jenna: so the initial question always postdebate is who won the debate, right? but the bigger question is now, will this debate move the needle in this raise sew-close race?

we have a fair and balanced debate on that coming up. plus, a sniper shooting at cars near detroit, even people leaving fairholmes. their homes. the latest as police step up their manhunt for this gunman, next. endless shrimp is our most popular promotion

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jon: president obama and governor mitt romney trading punches last night on everything from the civil war in syria to iran's nuclear program. but which man can claim victory? syndicated columnist and fox

news contributor charles krauthamer says governor romney came out on top. here is charles last night. >> i think it is unequivocal romney won. he just didn't win tactically but strategically. strategically all he needed to do was draw, needed to continue the momentum he had since the first debate and this will continue it. tactically he simply had to get out there and show he is competent man, a somebody who can trust as commander-in-chief. a man who knows every area of the globe. he gave interesting extra details like the haqqani network which gave the impression he knows what he is talking about. but there's a third level here and that is what actually happened in the debate. we can argue about the small points or that the debating points. romney went large. obama went very, very small. shockingly shawl. romney made a strategic decision not to go after the president on libya or syria or other areas where obama could accuse him of being a

bush-like warmonger. i would have gone after obama on libya with a baseball bat. jon: do undecided voters agree with that assessment? several snap polls taken right after the debate are giving a narrow advantage to the president. vice president joe biden approved of the president's performance as you might expect, slammed governor romney in the process saying that governor romney doesn't have what it takes to lead america on the world stage. listen. >> i didn't see anything that the governor disagreed on, and he seemed to be desperately trying to demonstrate he agreed with the president's policies. and what governor policy -- governor romney showed today, and i felt badly, it is clear he is not ready to be the commander-in-chief of the united states military. he demonstrated the lack of sophistication about what is going on in the world. his rapid change in his positions. look, being president requires a clear vision and a steady hand that is exactly what president obama

demonstrated tonight and it is exactly what governor romney demonstrated was lacking. jon: so who won? joining us now for a fair and balanced debate, simon rosenberg and founder of mdn and former clinton campaign advisor. ron bonjean with us as well on the right of your screen. former communications director for former house speaker dennis hastert. simon, to you first, it is a who won question but also a question about who advanced their campaign priorities the most. give us your take. >> sure. i mean every poll and every focus group done last night had barack obama winning the debate and i think, you know, the democrats feel very good today. we have won three out of the last 4-d bates. we feel like we have momentum going the final two weeks. it is very hard to hearing argue that mitt romney won the debate. charles catt hahmer made a valiant effort that to make that he won the night and there is no polling date to

evidence of that. if you want to come in the final debate and do a good job. you want to come out with momentum and troops fired up. that is not the case for republicans today. i think democrats feel confident. we're ahead in the electoral college. 2/3 of the polls out in the last week have obama head by two or three points. we feel pretty good. we know this will be close and it will be a tough fight at the end. jon: you also want to come out of a debate like that, ron, not scaring people. for instance, we just spoke with wendy biondi, who was a non, undecided voter, attended the second debate. she said she liked what romney had to say last night. >> right. if you look at what mitt romney did, he won the debate on what he needed to do, which is to look presidential. and the polls say that he, that the polling says that he can handle the roll as commander-in-chief. by far and away it was 60-36%. what he didn't do take the bait president lead out for him. get into arguments on serious details regarding

foreign policy obama though was so aggressive against mitt romney because he knows mitt romney has the momentumg i. he is trying desperately to stop the momentum and entrap mitt romney and make him unlikeable. right now mitt romney is now going off for the next two weeks. doing, very, very well. in fact there are stories on "the drudge report" talking about democrats possibly pulling the obama campaign, possibly pulling out of north carolina. the president's comments regarding the navy were devastating to the battleground state of virginia where you have all the navy workers and shipyards. jon: what about that simon? virginia is a critical state this time around and do you think that the president lost any naval votes, any navy veterans, any active duty navy personnel as a result of what he had to say about the navy? >> president didn't attack the navy last night. i think any assertion that he did is farcical and silly and was not people paying attention to what he said. what he said we have a more modern navy. which have more effective

capacities. you can't measure it based on number of boats you have but on the force that we can project. we have nuclear submarines. we have aircraft carriers. we didn't have those things, 70, 80 years ago. i think the president was affirming smart strategic insvelts modernizing the navy made it more effective and lethal that it was 70 or 80 years ago. i don't think he lost anybody in the navy and marines. i think the real problem for mitt romney last night what it said out of leadership. what we want out of our leader to be steady and strong. he was all over the place changing his positions. we want our leaders to be honest and truthful. he lied repeatedly on national television last night. i think on leadership test, he failed the leadership test and lost debate. jon: give us your take on the president's points, ron? >> well, i have to say first of all obama compared the navy to horses an bayonets, that we don't use anymore which i thought was really interesting, there will be a lot of ads in the state of virginia moving battle

ground voters. >> bring them on, ron. >> okay. mitt romney, again, he has momentum. president tried to take that momentum away and just couldn't do it. you could see the president trying to get under mitt romney skin with sound bites, you know, regarding his to foreign policy. and it wasn't working. if looked like somebody, if you looked at it no idea who was president or not president, looked like mitt romney was president and president obama was the challenger. jon: it alls take as few days for these things to sink in. we'll see what the polls show us next week. it was an interesting night. that is the last one for this campaign cycle. simon rosenberg, ron bonjean thank you for that fair and balanced debate. >> thank you so much. >> right now a desperate search for a sniper shooting up communities in michigan. rick folbaum has details from the breaking news desk. rick? >> reporter: the total is 22 separate shootings have taken place all spread over multiple counties in

southeastern michigan. no one has been hurt thankfully. people are scared and police are asking the public for help. this is the sketch released of the man witnesses described as the shooter. a man in his 30s, short hair, stubble on his face. one man was shot while taking out of his trash. most of the shootings are directed at cars driving on the local interstate, i-96. >> hit the wind shield, head-on collision my kids, anybody ales's families are dead and he is driving out around with a gun. >> we have a good community. that is the best thing we love and have someone come in here and disrupt is very disturbing to us. >> reporter: police are asking anybody to be loon the okay lookout. call if you see anything. the number to report you've seen something, 1-800-speak up. a task force and local officials from the atf meeting to fine tune their game plan. they say they are confident they will find this person.

back to you. jenna: how scary. rick, thank you. jon: there has been an awful lot of criticism over the obama administration's handling of the situation in libya, from the apparent lapses in security before the terror attack on the u.s. consulate in gaziano -- benghazi to the changing narrative after the attack that left three americans dead. here is how mitt romney addressed it last night. >> we've seen in nation after nation a number of disturbing events. in syria 30,000 civilians killed by the military there. we've seen in libya an attack apparently, i think we know now by terrorists of some kind against our people there, four people dead. jon: and mr. romney pretty much left it at that, leaving some to say he missed an opportunity. joining us now, judge andrew napolitano. fox news senior judicial analyst. you have some thoughts about the libya situation. you say that the president destroyed the libyan government? >> well the president,

president obama destroyed the libyan government when he unilaterally bombed libya last year, jon, while the congress of the united states was on spring break. he made the announcement while i was in brazil and said he didn't have time to get congress's approval or authorization as the constitution required. he did have time to get approval from nato and the arab league. mysteriously, not from congress. in bombing the way he did, he destroyed not only muammar qaddafi personally and qaddafi's government but also destroyed government material, government personnel, police station, the intelligence community, and by creating this vacuum in the government once qaddafi was dead, he opened up room for the gangs of militias that now rule the country to come in and one of the first things those did was open up some of the jails. out of the jails came some of the people qaddafi locked up and members of al qaeda.

in the case of a few of them they had been released from guantanamo bay because the u.s. military captured them. so he is largely, in my view, responsible for having created the environment in which ambassador stevens and others were murdered. jon: he is the commander-in-chief and does the war powers act not give him the opportunity, the right to use military force where he deems it appropriate? >> it does but to have suggested that he had time to consult and get the approval of the arab league and nato and not the approval of the united states congress is an insult to congress, an insult to the american people and an insult to the constitution. and it shows a rush to please the european mentality. qaddafi's bad and he has got to go, without thinking about the likely consequences of such an invasion. and those consequences unfortunately were manifested on september 11th when the ambassador was murdered. and then to dispatch a u.n. ambassador rice to lie about

it and to do this at the height of a presidential campaign is chutzpah that governor romney should have challenged last night. jon: judge andrew napolitano, our senior judicial analyst. judge, thank you. >> a pleasure, jon. jenna: besides libya one of the other big topics in the debate is the is going on with iran right now. the iranian nuclear standoff to tough talk and why iran may be closer to a nuclear weapon plus the roll the demonstrations in back in 2009 played in all of this. we'll go in depth just ahead. [ owner ] i need to expand

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anncr: every president inherits few have faced so many. four years later... our enemies have been brought to justice. our heroes are coming home. assembly lines are humming again. there are still challenges to meet. children to educate. a middle class to rebuild. but the last thing we should do is turn back now. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. jenna: the iran nuclear standoff, a key issue during the final faceoff between president obama and positive mitt romney. with the pressure on to stop tehran from building an atomic weapon, the president talking stuff making it clear america's patience with iran is wearing very thin. >> the clock is ticking. we're not going to allow iran to perpetually engage in negotiations that lead

nowhere. and i've been very clear to them. you know, because of the intelligence coordination that we do with a range of countries including israel we have a sense when they could breakout capacity which when we couldn't intervene in time to stop the nuclear program and that clock is ticking. >> governor romney blasting the obama administration saying last four years only brought us closer to nuclear iran. he chided the president during his reaction to the crackdown in iran four years ago. >> when there were dissidents in tehran, green revolution, holding signs say is america with us. the president was silent. they noticed that as well. when the president said he would create daylight between ourselves and israel, that they noticed that as well. all of these things suggested i think, to the iranian mullahs, hey, you know, we can keep on pushing along here. we can keep talks going on but we'll keep on spinning is l centrifuges. there are some 10,000

centrifuges spinning uranium, preparing to create a nuclear threat to the united states and to the world. that's unacceptable for us and it is essential for a president to show strength from the very beginning to make it very clear what is acceptal and and not acceptable. jenna: we have the executive director of the foundation for defense of democracies, and peter brookes, fellow of national security affairs at the heritage foundation and former member of the cia. mark, first to you, what is the major difference of these two gentlemen and how they will engage iran in the future? >> i think there are two fundamental differences one, governor romney made it very clear he will not allow iran to develop nuclear weapons capacity. the president believes he can catch iran if they sneak out or breakout and he believes the intelligence community which missed chinese nuke, nukes from pakistan and north korea will get it right this time. the second fundamental difference is the israeli prime minister. there are clearly daylight

between the obama administration and the israeli prime minister and i think that daylight is being recognized in tehran that is not terrified by this administration and the government in jerusalem is not reassured by it. jenna: peter, respond a little bit to what mark said about the intelligence community. we talked about the intelligence community last couple weeks specifically with libya. the administration is critical from the information they received from that community. how good is our intelligence in iran is the president correct we will know when the point of know return is actually hit? >> look, jenna, we have the world's best intelligence services but once again, they're often working with imperfect knowledge. in some ways like putting together a jigsaw puzzle but you don't know what the box looks like the end goal is, the picture is. you may not have all the pieces. you may have other pieces. it is really, really difficult work and iran is a very difficult target. they have, they're doing their best but i can not put full confidence in the

president's statement that he will know, we will know when iran is at that point. so i'm very, very concerned and i'm worried that his belief in that will lead us astray in terms of dealing with iran's nuclear program. jenna: how so? >> well, i'm just worried that he is going to think that we have it right. there are a lot of things involved in these programs. that we just don't know. we don't have full visibility on the iranian nuclear program, even our spies don't, like i said we're working with imperfect knowledge. we will will continue to work with imperfect knowledge what policy needs to be built. if we don't have perfect knowledge, transparency about the program how can we make these sorts of decisions? iran could get outside assistance. we may be basing on certain things we know. things may change and accelerate iran. we've seen it in the past. we saw it with north cry's long-range missile program in the 1990s. intelligence community

thought it would take a certain time to get to that point and all of sudden we were surprised by that despite the great job the intelligence community does we do not have perfect knowledge on these very hard targets. jenna: one of the things president said mitt romney was repeating some of his policies when it came to iran and came to so many parts of the world. you're saying same thing i'm saying but only saying it louder. mark, quick thought from you, does delivery and perception matter even if the message is the same? >> economic pressure, political pressure is as much about psychology as it is about legalities. the fact of the matter these sanctions have been tough, and they have been severe but we're a long day away from the economic cripple date. the economic cripple date comes long after the nuclear threshold date. we have not struck fear in the hearts of the men who lead iran. they welcome --. jenna: go ahead. jenna: hold on a second. we have great sound from the president and mitt romney specifically on sanctions. i will take a quick

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jenna: back now with mark and peter talking about a little more about iran and the debate. we throw around the word sanctions like everybody knows what it is all about, gentlemen. the key for these sanctions, the goal is so to stop a nuclear weapon in iran and therefore stop war. here is what both candidates had to say about the sanctions last night. >> we then organized the strongest coalition and the strongest sanctions against iran in history. and it is crippling their economy. their currency has dropped 80%. their oil production has plunged to the lowest level since they were fighting a war with iraq 20 years ago. so their economy is in a shambles. and the reason we did this

is because a nuclear iran is a threat to the our national security and it's a threat to israel's national security. we can not afford to have a nuclear arms race in the most volatile region of the world. >> i would tighten those sanctions. i would say that, ships that carry iranian oil, can't come into our ports. i imagine the e.u. would agree with us as well. not only ships couldn't. i would say companies moving their oil, people trading their oil can't. i would tighten those sank shuns further. secondly i would take on diplomatic isolation efforts. i would make sure that ahmadinejad is indicted under the genocide convention. his words i amount to genocide in citation. i would indict him for it. i would make sure their diplomats are treated like the pariah they are around the world. the same way we treated the apartheid diplomats of south africa. jenna: mark, pick up on the point you were making before the break that we haven't changed path quite yet.

what with the path forward. >> president obama talks about crippling iranian economy because of a drop in currency and oil sales. what he is not talking about how are the foreign exchange reserves and how long will they last and when will they run out? that is the weapon iranians have to forestall economic collapse. he clearly hasn't shown it to congress and hasn't shown it to our allies and hasn't shared it with iranian people or the american people. how far are they from economic collapse and will economic collapse break the nuclear will of iran's supreme leader? by the way is the gentleman should be cited on incitement of genocide. ahmadinejad is lame duck. he is irrelevant. it is supreme leader who holds see people power and he he is the man who should be indicted for genocide. jenna: peter, your thoughts? >> iran is more wires lated and greater economic sanctions than before but it

is irrelevant. it hasn't changed the aspiration of the a tomic ice sew tops of iran. endless rounds of diplomacy and sanctions didn't prevent north korea and pakistan from joininging once exclusive nuclear club as 8th and 9th members. if iran wants to become nuclear state it is a game-changer for them and game-changer for us they have to be willing to endure the pain to cross that nuclear thresh hoed. jenna: a lot more to talk about on this topic. thank you for your time today. >> thank you. jon:. jon: well the attacks came "fast and furious" in last night's debate but did the facts back up both candidates arguments? we did a little fact-checking. we'll bring you those answers coming up

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final stretch of the 2012 campaign. the candidates making a dash for the key battleground states in a very tight race to the finish. have we said that enough? jenna: i think we're going to be saying it even more over the next couple weeks. [laughter] jon: i think we will. welcome the second hour of "happening now," i'm jon scott. jenna: i'm jen la lee, and the debates are finally over. the candidates are certainly on the move, and where they go very telling about where their priorities are at this time. governor romney and congressman ryan are campaigning today in nevada and colorado, the president is wrapping up an event in florida before heading to ohio for an event with vice president biden. in the mean time, reaction is pouring this from that's -- last night's debate. here's what some had to say about what the candidates had to say about foreign policy and the economy. >> in order to be able to fulfill our role in the world, america must be strong, america

must reed. and we have to strengthen our economy here at home. >> america remains the one indispensable nation, and the world needs a strong america, and it is stronger now than it was when i came into office. jenna: president obama appearing at a tennis club in southern florida, apparently, with more to say about last night's debate. chief political correspondent carl cameron is live in delray beach, florida. i thought he was more of a golf guy, no? what's the deal? >> reporter: well, getting a little bit of exercise the morning after the debate. so it's in the books, the third and final foreign policy debate now history, and mitt romney and barack obama are in the final two week sprint of the campaign, and it's going to be blistering. both of them today releasing new ads, in some cases using the video and the sound from last night. by the snap polls and pundits, you would think that mr. obama won last night, in some cases decisively, but the romney campaign's very upbeat, they say they made the point that mitt romney showed last night a

command of the necessary issues. listen to a little bit of the exchanges. >> what we need to do with respect to the middle east is strong, steady leadership, not wrong and reckless leadership that is all over the map. >> i congratulate him on taking out osama bin bin laden and going after the leadership in al-qaeda, but we can't kill our way out of this mess. >> reporter: the likelihood of a game changer from last night's debate is pretty small, although by most accounts the president took the upper hand in most of it. the romney campaign is making three ads from last night's debate, two of them attacking president obama and a third essentially amounting to has a closing argument for mitt romney's campaign, and they believe this is a very, very close race, and it's really just a matter of ground game now for the next 14 days to that end, mr. romney will be hitting three states in the next 36 hours, president obama, seven states in

the next two days. jenna: what did the debates show us about what we're going the hear over the next two weeks? how have they set the tone? >> it really is closing arguments, that's right. today the obama campaign has unveiled a 20-page booklet that is, essentially, his policy goals for a second term. a lot of criticism of the president for not really laying out his second term agenda effect effectively, and the romney campaign, excuse me, is thinking about whether or not to go with 30-second infomercials to really put the issue forward for the closing argument over the next 14 days. and last night's debate and these ads are meant on both sides to try to reach voters who may not have watched it and put the most possible positive impression forth in each case, mr. obama's closing argument and a little bit of what mitt romney said last night in closing argument now in an ad. watch. >> we're not real yet, but we've made real progress. read my plan, compare it to governor romney's. >> reporter: and for mr. romney, he used some of what

he said last night to further his own argument. watch. >> the president's path means 20 million people out of work struggling for a good job. i'll get people back to work with 12 million new jobs. i'm going to make sure that we get people off of food stamps not by cutting the program, but by getting them good jobs. >> reporter: so for the last year and a half even before mitt romney had won the republican nomination, most of the polls suggested that the margin between he and mr. obama was about seven points. and now that we're in the last couple of weeks, it's really about finding the undecided and independent voters who have been hanging out there which way they lean. both campaigns have spent tens of millions of dollars on infrastructure and ground game. in the case of president obama, many more field offices than the republican side has, but the republicans this time around are experimenting with data mining and computer methodology to find what they call new, persuadable voters, a test of whether republicans are caught up with democrats in terms of the

technology and social media and whether or not prime minister ma's field offices -- prime minister ma's field offices could be changed back to a more traditional campaign for him. jenna: we're going to make sure we have that gps secured on you carl over the next 14 days. you're going to be on the move. thanks, carl. jon: so who do you think won last night's debate? our next guest feels it was president obama, but will it help him win the election? looking into his crystal ball now, larry sabato, director of the center for politics at the university of virginia. so you say advantage obama, but the crystal ball says it might not help the president much? >> sure. he won on points. he's won two debates on points. he won the second debate on points, he won the third debate on points, but you put 'em both together, and they don't equal the denver debate which was a slaughter. also, debates are much more important for a challenger than an incumbent. we've seen an incumbent for four years day in and day out. people already know what they

think about the incumbent. it's the challenger who has to score. romney scored in denver and in the other two debates he passed what we call to value office test -- the oval office test. he appeared reasonable, he appeared moderate. the most important message last night, jon, and i haven't seen this much repeated yet today, but the most important message he sent out last night was the following quote: war is the last resort. war is the last resort. that told swing voters or undecided voters that he wouldn't rush into a war whether it's against iran or any other country. so, you know, on the whole i don't think it changed very much. i think we're in the autopilot phase of the campaign now, and carl is part of the autopilot. jon: the president said america has never been stronger and our relations with our allies have never been stronger. i'm not sure that i know too many people who feel that way. is that the kind of thing that

people take apart after a debate and think about? >> well, possibly. you know, i went down twitter last night, i tweeted a little about this, i found every democrat on my list saying obama won and every republican on my list saying romney won. that's another reason why i just don't think it had much impact in the vast majority of cases. people simply took away from the debate what they wanted to and, therefore, it didn't change the dynamics, and it didn't change the late momentum which has been mainly to romney. jon: you're there in virginia, we've been talking a little bit this morning already about the comments about the shrinking navy, the likelihood that the navy is going to take real hit if they don't get to do something about this, you know, this budget crisis that's coming up. is that an issue that is going to resonate with virginia voters, particularly veterans? >> well, defense is big here. you know, virginia is second only to alaska in per capita defense spending.

it's a big part of the reason why virginia has a 5.9% unemployment rate, well below the national average. so, yes, we are very attuned to anything that affects defense spending and would affect the navy in particular. i grew up down in norfolk. norfolk would close down without the navy. jon: yeah. it's a great city. love it there. larry sabato from the university of virginia center for politics, always good to get the view from your crystal ball. thank you. >> thank you, jon. jenna: plenty of claims and attacks last night coming really from both sides, but do the facts back up their arguments? a big question today. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is looking into all of this for us, he's live in washington with more. hi there, mike. >> reporter: hi, jenna. president obama takes credit for ending the iraq war and bringing the troops home, and he's critical of mitt romney on the issue of iraq. >> just a few weeks ago you said you think we should have more troops in the iraq right now. and the challenge we have, i

know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you've offered an opinion, you've been wrong. >> reporter: to be fair, mr. obama hoped to negotiate a status of forces agreement that would have allowed up to 10,000 troops to stay in iraq after 2011, but the talks failed. meanwhile, a huge issue in places like battleground virginia, the massive defense cuts due to begin on january 2nd. after governor romney charged the half billion in defense cuts as making our future less certain and less secure, the commander in chief responded. >> first of all, the sequester's not something that i proposed, it's something that congress has proposed. it will not happen. >> reporter: instantly, republicans on capitol hill perked up with don stewart saying, quote: well, that's certainly new. i'm curious to see what his plan is for preventing it. while the house has passed legislation to prevent it, the white house has presented no plan. then afterwards senior white house adviser david plouffe told

reporters everyone in washington agrees the sequester should not happen. in his book "the price of politics," bob woodward says the idea of these automatic cuts originated from the white house. although it was a foreign policy debate, some of the biggest sparks were over the auto industry. mr. obama suggested mr. romney would not have provided government assistance to auto companies even if they went through bankruptcy, but romney wrote in 2008 about a managed bankruptcy and government guarantees helping the auto industry be competitive again. je mike emanuel live for us in d.c. mike, thank you. jon: an update to a story we first brought you yesterday on a horrific attack, a fire bomber on the loose. now police say they have a better idea who they're looking for, and they want the public's help. plus, how different are president obama and governor romney when it comes to iran? something you might have missed in their final debate that could have huge implications. >> we're four years closer to a

nuclear iran. we're four years closer to a nuclear iran. and we should not have wasted these four years to the extent they continue to be able to spin these centrifuges and get that much closer. begin.

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jenna: well, at last night's debate president obama and governor romney appeared to be on the same page when it comes to using military force only as a last resort when it comes to iran. that's not the only thing that apparently they had a similar agenda when it came to conversation about that includes what is the plan with the way forward in syria. they shared the same end date in afghanistan. but where they differed really was when it came to military spending. what does our military need to look like? major general bob scales is a fox news military analyst and the perfect person to talk to about all of this. [laughter] general scales, nice to have you with us. >> hi, jenna. jenna: we have a treat for our viewers, we need to show general scales in alaska, it's something we haven't -- in action, it's

something we haven't seen, these photo toes of you, giving our viewers an idea of your military career. >> well, i started off in germany as a second lieutenant, i went to vietnam during the now-famous battle of hamburger hill, and then i served in the germany again, korea three times, all over the world. my wife and i moved some 26 times in 35 years, and i ended my career as president of the army war college, jenna. jenna: i point this out, and we're showing these photos on purpose to show that your career has probably seen quite a lot of change in the way that we engage with our military and what our military needs. one of the moments last night that really is getting a lot of play is how the president spoke to governor romney about where we were spending our money in the military. let's take a listen to this. >> i think governor romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. you mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer

ships than we did in 1916. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. jenna: so that was just pointing out, he went on to say, you know, we have these things called aircraft carriers, he went on to give a description about the military. it brings up a question, general scales, what does the military really need today? >> that's a great question, jenna, and the president's right to some degree that capabilities or technologies are important. but, you know, lenin once said that quantity has a quality all by itself, and mass is important. numbers count. numbers of ships count, numbers of planes, the number of men, numbers of tanks and so forth. and there's a safety net that if you go below in terms of total numbers, then our capabilities throughout the world are going to be put at risk. i mean, if the navy goes to, say, 210 is ships just hypothetically, if sequestration kicks in, that means using the 1-3 rule. there'll only be 70 ships, 70 combat ships in the navy to

police the entire world, all the world's oceans. frankly, that's a number that's much too small, and i'm a soldier, not a sailor, jenna. [laughter] jenna: so you would probably want things maybe for a little bit more gear towards land warfare, but we haven't have reckless -- we can't have reckless spending as well, so where do we draw the line? >> we have to have a bottom line as to what the numbers are going to be, what the technologies are gown to be and what the future's like. the greatest sense of unease i get from my friends in the military is where the military is going. will sequestration break the military? look, jenna, i've been in two broken militaries in my life. after vietnam in 1973 during the hollow army period in the late '70s, and i watched army and marine corps almost break after 9/11 when too few soldiers and marines were applied to too many missions. we have to be very, very careful as we move into the future that

when we reduce the defense budget, we don't break the back of our services and force our young men and women to go to war unprepared without the sufficient numbers to win in the future. jenna: and that's certainly something neither party wants as well, general scales. one of the things we mentioned, we would hope neither party would want. one of the things that we did see discussed was afghanistan and the, quote-unquote, exit strategy there. let's just play a little sound from the debate last night, and i'll get your reaction. >> we're going to be finished by 2014, and when i'm president, we'll make sure we bring our troops out by the end of 2014. the commanders and the generals there are on track to do so. >> and we're now in a position where we can transition out. because there's no reason why americans should die when afghans are perfectly capable of defending their own country. jenna: general scales, we almost have to remind ourselves that we are at war right now, today. aaron miller was on our show earlier, and he said this: where the standard of victory was not

we can win, but when can we leave. when we start looking about that, then we've actually lost something as a country. what are your thoughts on both men really reiterating this 2014 date? >> well, i think they're both right. i think the u.s. military will be substantially out of afghanistan in 2014. that doesn't mean we can't have residual forces and stay behind the continue to train the afghan forces, to offer advice, perhaps to assist them in some of the more technical aspects of future warfare. but i think the american people have reached the point be where -- the point where, you know, at this stage 13 years is enough, it's america's longest war, particularly the ground forces are very tired right now, and it's time to come home and let the afghans take up the panel l of defending their own country, jenna. jenna: you have a ph.d., general scales? >> i do. jenna: is that right? i thought i would add that as well. what is that degree in? >> it's in military history. jenna: okay. i like showing these photos and

introducing you more to our viewers than just the analyst role, general scales. it's always great to have you on the program and give us the overarching view of the military. appreciate your thoughts as always, sir. >> thank you, jenna. jon: i heard from one veteran who echoing the president's lines who said we have these things called aircraft carriers that are very expensive, and we're not going to be building new ones if we don't get that debt under control. jenna: interesting point as well. jon: yeah. the feds are investigating a popular energy drink linked to five deaths including that of a 14-year-old girl. we'll tell you about that. plus, a tight race in a key battleground state. we'll look at the race in iowa and what it will take to claim victory there. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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jenna: new details on a disturbing report about a

popular energy drink that apparently has been linked to the at least five deaths. rick folbaum is live in the newsroom with more details on this. >> reporter: well, jenna, the food and drug administration is looking into these reports, but the agency is also quick to say just because there are reports of a link, it doesn't mean there is one. monster energy drink, it's the number one energy drink on the market ahead of red bull and rockstar. these are carbonated drinks packed with caffeine, about seven times the amount in a can of soda. parents of a 14-year-old girl in california who died after drinking two monster energy drinks in a 24-hour period are suing the company. an autopsy showing the girl died of heart problems due to caffeine toxicity, and the parents say the drink maker did not warn about the possible risks. monster says that it does say that the drinks are not for kids or for anybody who is overly sensitive to caffeine. monitor's stock taking a hit on the news, jenna, down about 14%. the fda, meantime, the

investigating and may decide to limit the amount of caffeine allowed in these energy drinks. right now soda does are a cap, energy drinks do not. back to you. jenna: that's an interesting fact, i didn't know that, rick. watch out. all right, thank you. jon: let's take you inside america's election headquarters once again and talk a little politics. you know, over the next two weeks the swing states can expect all kinds of attention a barrage of campaign ads and cam pawn visits are coming -- campaign visits are coming their way. tomorrow both president obama and governor romney will be making stops in the state of iowa. let's take a look at some of the stats that are important there. six electoral votes up for grabs, but those votes could be key in this very tight election. in terms of the economy, iowa is doing pretty well with an unemployment rate of only 5.2%. gas prices looking pretty good there, too, compared with the rest of the nation, $3.53 a gallon. the foreclosure rate one in every 1,640 housing units is in

foreclosure in iowa, that actually makes the state number 33 out of the 50 states, so doing pretty well there as well. in terms of the history, president obama's been there six times, mitt romney six times as well and another visit from each candidate to come tomorrow. the latest real clear politics polling average for ohio -- i'm sorry, for iowa shows president obama gaining ground. a month ago he was virtually tied with governor romney. today he's two points ahead, about 48-46. that is still within the margin of error though. kathy obradovich is the political editor for "the des moines register". what are people talking about, kathy? >> well, i think that a lot of people are still talking about last night's debate, you know, president obama did very well in last night's debate, um, but, you know, i do think that mitt romney scored a few points as well including, um, i think possibly with demeanor.

women didn't necessarily all like the sort of hot aggression that president obama came with, and mitt romney has been trying to close the gender gap that the president has enjoyed in the polls. jon: yeah. one analyst we spoke to earlier said, you know, there may have been two recent victories, minor victories, however you want to character eyes them by -- characterize them by the president, but those two victories don't eclipse the mauling that he took at the hands of mitt romney in the first debate. >> this last debate was definitely not a tie breaker. i think that the first debate did a lot more damage than the next two debates combined possibly will fix. however, um, in iowa president obama does start, he started with a slight lead. he is leading right now in early voting. one stat that might be significant in the iowa is that 350,000 people have already voted, another half a million, or about a half a million total

have requested early ballots, and democrats do lead in that count. now, will they lead enough to overcome an expected republican lead in turnout on election day, that remains to be seen. jon: iowa has been leaning more republican lately, hasn't it? >> yeah. definitely in the 2010 elections the state leaned pretty heavily republican. we elected a republican governor, um, and fired a one-term democratic governor. we, the legislature went significantly toward republicans. we now have a 60-seat majority in the house, very slim democratic minority in the senate -- majority in the senate. and so, yeah, um, it swings heavily. and, you know, iowa, um, went heavily for barack obama in 2008 but just four years before had a narrow margin of victory for president bush. so we're swingers here in iowa. jon: that's low unemployment rate you've got, that's got to

help the president because your state is not feeling the unemployment crisis the way the rest of the country is. >> the low unemployment does help. but i tell ya, iowa has consistently had a lower unemployment rate and better economic recovery than the rest of the country, and iowans have still, you know, this time early in the year we're giving president obama pretty low marks for his work on the economy. and the economy is the most important issue to iowans. so, you know, iowans are maybe happier with the way things are in the state, but they're looking at the national picture as well and not being as happy with what they see there. jon: good stewards of your money there in iowa, i do admire that. kathy obradovich. >> that's right. we don't like debt. jon: thank you. jenna: america's standing in the world when it comes to debt and everything else really is part of the picture, isn't it? has it taken a hit as governor

romney claims, our standing, or is it better these days as the president suggests? we're going to debate it fair and balanced coming up. plus, apple set to make a major announcement. what will be their latest must-have gadget? we'll show it to you next.

jenna: well, "happening now," measuring america's stature in the world. the president and governor romney trading jabs in their final debate on whether or not america is really better off on the world stage four years after mr. obama was elected.

>> we need to have strong allies. our association and connection with our allies is essential to america's strength. we're the great nation that has allies, 42 allies and friends around the world. and finally, we have to stand by our principles. and if we're strong in each of those things, american influence will grow. but unfortunately, in nowhere in the world is america's influence greater today than it was four years ago. >> america remains the one indispensable nation, and the world needs a strong america, and it is stronger now than when i came into office. because we ended the war in iraq, we were able to refocus our attention on not only the terrorist threat, but also beginning a transition process in afghanistan. it also allowed us to refocus on a alliances, relationships that had been neglected for a decade. jenna: more influence, less influence, stronger, less strong, let's talk about it now with zania from london, danielle

pletka is vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the american enterprise institute. it's nice to have you both with us. are we stronger? less stronger? more influential, less influential? what do you think? >> both of them were, actually, telling a similar story or both of them, what both of them said are true. on the one hand, you know, america is the indispensable ally. america continues to be considered around the world certainly with our strong allies with europe as necessary, a necessary player in almost any issue, any challenge that we face. on the other hand, it's also true that compared to four years ago you look at poll ratings about the united states four years ago, and today views -- when obama came in, everybody in europe was so hopeful about what obama was going to do, about what kind of america he'd see.

hopeful after four years or eight years of president bush who hadn't gone over well in europe. and so came from a very, very high level of hope, and the reality is that america comets to pursue its -- continues to pursue its own interests. those interests don't always align with those of our allies terribly closely and, therefore, that hope has diminished over four years. actually, both of them were telling an accurate story. jenna: that's interesting. danielle, how do you see it? >> well, i actually think that romney did a pretty good job in laying it out although, you know, picking the number of allies around the world perhaps wasn't the most effective way to go about it. but if you look at the pew surveys around the middle east, an area in which president obama explicitly promised to restore america's reputation in the region, we are even less popular in the arab world than we were under george w. bush. now, that's a pretty tough feat for barack obama to have accomplished. but i think there are other

measures as well. you know, our allies don't trust us to have their backs. it's not just the israelis, it's also our allies in asia who are being, who are being, frankly, scared in the south china sea by the chinese military. it's our allies in eastern europe who see us not standing up to the russians. all around the world there are countries that have looked to the united states, and what they've gotten from the white house is, sorry, we're really busy, not now. jenna: danielle, why does perception matter when it comes to foreign policy? some might be saying, okay, they don't perceive us positively, well, who cares? it's about us and what we want to achieve as a nation. tell us why we need to do both, why perception's important, but also laying out what we want to achieve and whether or not we've actually done that with either candidate. >> there are two sides. first, is the perception -- oops, sorry. [laughter] jenna: go ahead, danielle. >> there are two sides to this program. the first is, do countries work

with us perceive us as reliable, and the answer to that is, no, they don't per sue us as -- perceive us as reliable anymore. the other side is how do your adversaries perceive us. i think that their perception is, nope, we're not going to be there. all the president likes to emphasize is we're getting out, we're turning our backs, ended the war many iraq, getting out of afghanistan on schedule. he emphasizes turning america's back on the world. that's a problem for us everywhere. jenna: zania, is it? >> well, i think i would say sitting here in london it's a little bit more nuanced than that. i think that a lot of countries -- i spent quite some time in asia this year -- a lot of countries in asia are actually concerned with a more assertive, a more aggressive america. they feel squeezed between america and china. china is their principal trading

partner, but america is their principal security partner, and what they want to do is balance between these two powers in some sense and not be squeezed by either. what a lot of people were saying in d.c. over the last year or two is that china's been america's best diplomat, and in some respects that's true. the aggressiveness of china over the last couple of years has meant many of these asian allies have moved towards the united states. if you look at poll ratings in europe, you know, it's quite stunning, actually, the, some of the numbers of europeans and whether they support romney or they support obama. and the answer is very, very strongly they would go for obama. but this is about you asked this question about perceptions versus reality. a lot of this is perception. the difference, and we heard this in the debate yesterday, both romney and obama would pursue a not dissimilar policy. but the perception is obama has

in his quieter talk while i take everything that danielle has said onboard and i think it's very true, there are some who are concerned with a less assertive, a less perceived to be strong america. others who also say the nuanced position, that taking the middle road makes us more comfortable. so there's an in in-between line taken. i actually think we heard that last night. jenna: and it'll be interesting to see if the perception has changed about romney post the debate. it's nice to have your perspectives today. we look forward to having you both back on the program. thank you. >> thanks. >> thank you. jon: we've been talking our military forces and the upcoming election, and here is a touching image that brings both together and we hope inspires others to make their voices heard. this photo shows the 93-year-old war veteran katzing his ballot from his hospital bed. it was taken by his grandson and

quickly went viral on the web. two months ago he was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor, but his family said he was determined to make his vote count in what very well might be his last election. jenna: well, here's something retailers hope will inspire consumers to spend. apple's expected to make a major announcement, really any moment now, reportedly set to unveil a much smaller, maybe even cheaper version of the ipad. adam shapiro with fox business is live for that announcement in san jose, california. hi, adam. >> reporter: hey, jenna. it's kind of funny when you think about the world's large company announcing something pretty small, and that's what they're going to do today. the ipad mini, not the official name, but it will be smaller, roughly 7.5 inch screen than the ipad you see now on the market, and it will be cheaper. analysts saying anywhere from $250-$400, but some are going out on a limb saying we might see this thing priced at $199

which would absolutely be a nuclear shot at kindle, at amazon's kindle fire as well as google, the arch nemesis of apple and their nexus 7 tablet. jenna? jenna: adam shapiro live with fox business, we'll wait for the details on all of that, adam. thank you. jon: a real commuter nightmare, how not one, but nine tractor-trailer rigs ended up colliding on a busy interstate and the mess that resulted. oh, boy. plus, a massacre that shocked the nation. so why is the pentagon refusing to call the fort hood shootings an act of terror? oh no, not a migraine now. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine.

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jenna: a massive pile-up on a los angeles freeway after nine big rigs are involved in a chain reaction crash. it happened in the middle of a tunnel bypass on interstate 5. the highway patrol says the rainy weather really is to blame here saying that by the looks of this, the crash could have actually been a lot worse which

is hard to imagine, but you can see it for yourself. at least one trucker had to be pried out of his vehicle, taken to the hospital. however, he's expected to be okay. jon: right now new fallout from the fort hood massacre. almost three years ago army major nidal hasan allegedly opened fire at the texas military base killing 13 people and wounding nearly 30 others. today victims' families and survivors are expressing outrage over the government's refusal to classif+9is as a terrorist attack. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon with more on that controversy. jener in? >> reporter: hi, jon. well, 160 family members and victims of the fort hood shooting have made a video in which they challenge the government for not, not calling this an act of terror. they say that they are very frustrated because their relatives are not receiving the same benefits as those killed or injured in combat and that theye

hearts. >> he got up, stepped in front of me as i was signing soldiers in. >> sounded like somebody just started yelling out allahu akbar. >> approaching the scene, i could just see soldiers running in all different directions. >> the first round of bullets, one hit me in the chest. i had to go down to the ground to get cover and i, obviously, couldn't breathe because i'd been shot. >> it's not workplace violence. that's terrorism. and i pray every night that somebody, somebody will finally care enough to make it what it really is. >> reporter: the pentagon says it does not want to jeopardize what they say is otherwise an open and shut legal case that will likely result in the death penalty for major nidal hasan by changing the designation. quote:

>> reporter: but what the families say is that those with permanent disabilities won't get the same long-term benefits as those injured in a combat zone, so they are still trying to press the pentagon and others to label this as an act of terror. jon? jon: ucmj is uniform code of military justice. real quickly, so they think they would be less likely to win a conviction if they call it terrorism? >> reporter: they think that at this stage since the legal case and the legal proceedings have started, if they change their designation, that that could give ammunition, if you will, to the defense of major

nidal hasan. swrn jon interesting. jennifer griffin, i'm sorry, at the pentagon, thank you. jenna: well, a possible attempt to intimidate voters in a key battleground state. coming up, who could be sending dozens of letters scaring he visit mate voters into thinking they've done something wrong? plus, he was set on fire by a crazed maniac. next, find out how you can help police track down this man behind this brazen attack. suspension and agility. the only trail capable side-by sides, featuring the ultimate value rzr 570. the only 4-passenger sport machines, lead by the all-new rzr xp 4. and the undisputed king of high performance, rzr xp. razor sharp performance. only from polaris. get huge rebates on 2012's and low financing on all models

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jon: fox news alert, we told you at the top of the hour that the dow is down, well, it dropped 210 points in the first hour of trading since then, and things have not gotten better, down 228 right now. big companies that make, you know, manufacturing essentials like 3m and dupont, they are

reporting very bad numbers and prospects for the future, also the federal reserve bank of virginia saying manufacturing is down in the middle atlantic states. the dow down 227 points right now and so far no sign of a turn around. we'll keep an eye on it throughout the day here on fox. jenna: an unsuspecting victim brutally attacked by a fire bomb. today we have some news potentially about his attacker, and rick has more for us now. rick? >> reporter: we're tracking this from down here in the newsroom, jenna, and you're right. we did mention this yesterday, now we have some breaking day tails on -- details on the man police believe is behind the attack. you can see the aftermath here. a 54-year-old man has a molotov cocktail thrown at him. you can see him engulfed in flames, he then runs into a parking lot. bystanders nearby helped to put out the flames. this was friday night in front of a market, a supermarket on the pacific coast highway in long beach, california.

the suspect is described as a man 25-30 years old, 5-10 is, about 380 pounds -- 108 -- 180 pounds. they do not have a motive at this point. the victim was, apparently, waiting outside the tore for his dad who was inside shopping. he did not know his attacker who ran off afterwards. the man is in critical but stable condition and, again, they put this out there, this information about the suspect, in hopes that the public will come forward. so, hopefully, that will happen. if we hear anything more, jenna, we'll be sure to let you know. jenna: rick, thank you. jon: right now a possible case of attempted voter suppression. republican voters in at least 18 florida counties receiving suspicious-looking letters questioning their citizenship. phil keating has that live from miami. phil? >> reporter: hi, jon. but the reality here is that every single florida voter who received one of these very official-looking letters is, in

fact, a u.s. citizen, not under investigation for their citizenship status. and nearly all of them are a registered republican, people like john who now lives in naples, florida. he received one of these letters, and he said, well, it looks awfully legitimate. after all, the heading on the top of the letterhead, it looks real, the right election supervisor name spelled correctly at the bottom, and in his mind this is simply a blatant attempt at suppressing republican voter turnout. >> so i can't help but think that it was, was a presidential election issue and not simply -- although it would trickle down to every republican candidate as well. so it's a republican/democrat issue, i would say. >> reporter: the game plan here according to investigators seems to be that you have maybe an older voter or somebody who doesn't have a car, someone who's unable to actually hurry

up before election day, get to the election supervisor's office and clear the matter up, so they may just be, well, it's not too much worth my time, i'm just not going to vote. that's what's being investigated. according to elections investigators as well, at least 18 counties now were targeted by these letters, and that is expected to grow because this information's really now -- invest's really get cg underway. key here, all of the envelopes had a postmark of seattle, washington. it's a dirty trick of voter intimidation, that is a new one in this historic battleground florida. >> conceivably, they know that florida's going to probably be a highly-conned state -- contested state on the presidential level, that it's very close, and if they could get enough voters convinced not to go to the polls who ordinarily would, that would help their cause. >> reporter: the romney campaign did react to us, it says it is concerned and aware

of this issue. anybody in florida, and the world's getting out, if you receive one of these bogus letters, clear it up first. jon: hope they get to the bottom of it. phil keating in florida, thank you. and we'll be right back. my doctor told me calcium

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