on the broadcast tonight, the showdown, biden and ryan, how did it go on taxes, medicare and more? their only face-to-face meeting is in the books now, the post debate is well under way. and dire warning about the u.s. power grid. it could shut down banking and even the flow of water. now there is a new warning about the chance of a massive attack in cyberspace. and behind the scenes, a little known chapter of the american crisis, now shown on the screen and tonight, ben affleck, on why he was drawn to this story. and from the heart, a mother's promise that got millions of moms talking about how to stay in the picture for their kids.

good evening, the vice president debate is now history, and while all eyes are on next tuesday's presidential debate and the town hall format, we have learned the eyes of over 50 million americans were on last night's event, a crisply moderated event, rowdy at times, tense at times, between the two men who represented the largest age gap of any debate. paul ryan and joe biden were not at the top of the ticket, but the reviews were instant in both style and substance, we begin with ron mott traveling with the campaign in ohio, good evening, ron. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you, as you can see behind me, governor mitt romney behind me in front of a very big crowd, about 8500 people, we're told. and we can tell you there is more confidence in the air around the republican ticket tonight, very pleased on how congressman paul ryan handled

himself last night against a very seasoned debater, joe biden. reunited again after what the romney campaign says was a big win in kentucky last night, in a 90-minute marathon of disagreements over everything from social security and taxes. >> it has never been done before. >> reporter: the candidates fought over whether the obama administration dismissed security concerns at the u.s. consulate in libya. >> we were not told they wanted more security. we did not know they wanted more security. >> reporter: it was topic number one, a charged moment in the night for the wisconsin congressman. >> ronald reagan -- >> oh, now, your jack kennedy. >> reporter: as predicted by the campaign, the vice president came out grinning, flapping, flailing arms. he was aggressive, attacking the republican ticket hard. >> we will have credibility on this issue. >> incredible. >> thank goodness we have these

sanctions in place, in spite of their opposition. it has been discredited by studies, over 100 criminal investigations. >> reporter: along the way, the vice president cut in. >> >> mr. vice president, i know you're under duress -- to make up for lost ground. >> reporter: he talked about the auto bailout. >> when mr. ryan said that romney was a car guy, i thought well if they have them in an elevator, i guess he was. >> reporter: for a group of undecided voters put together in virginia, a split decision. this voter thought mr. biden won. >> the vice president did. >> why? >> i think he came off as being very strong, emotional, and i like the looking at the camera and talking to the american people. >> reporter: another, paul ryan. >> vice president joe biden was being kind of immature, with a lot of the snide -- he sneered and everything.

>> reporter: and take a look at this photo, at the very top, no apology, followed by egyptian people, and alq. an interesting night, brian >> reporter: while he spends a lot of time in ohio, as polls show, now the democrats once with a wide lead, now within striking distance. >> ron mott in ohio, thank you, starting us off. the argument over what happened in the libya attack and what the administration has been saying about it publicly became the issue of this the day after the debate. our political director, chuck todd with more at the white house on that. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, well, you're absolutely right, it didn't take long for mitt romney to jump on joe biden about the white house security and when the attack took place in benghazi, libya, take a listen. >> the vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of the state department officials. he is doubling down on denial.

and we need to understand exactly what happened, as opposed to just having people brush this aside. >> reporter: here at the white house, press secretary jay carney defended biden on that front. but he also seemed to over and over point folks to the state department. and hillary clinton didn't exactly get into the back and forth but did admit there were questions on both sides, take a listen. >> it is certainly not the case that the assignment of security personnel at diplomatic facilities is made here at the white house. nor should it be. the decision is made about requests for security personnel, and security matters, they're made at the state department. >> to this day, to this day, we do not have a complete picture. we do not have all of the answers. no one in this administration has ever claimed otherwise. >> reporter: you know, brian, senior officials do admit to me

they wish they had a clean explanation, they don't. intelligence officials are still uncovering evidence that leads them to believe that the attack in benghazi was somewhat spontaneous, meaning it was never planned in advance, but was opportunistic, meanwhile, nobody is satisfied with the intelligence gathering that they got. >> chuck todd, for us on the lawn, as ron mott mentioned in his reporting there has been so much talk about the style of the debating, especially the way the vice president acted, smiling, laughing, frowning, rolling his eyes. his supporters called it vigorous and effective, others said it was disrespectful. one person said it was unhinged. the big question, will it matter on election day, david gregory has more with "meet the press." there was the big debate among democrats, even, worried about the optics last night.

as we discovered, they were handed a couple of open net shots by paul ryan, invoking car accidents where the vice president has personal history, the car business and green jobs, three in particular, early on. >> reporter: yeah, and those were certainly opportunities that he was able to convert on. these comments about biden and his smiling, his laughing, his interruptions, it may have come across rude to independent voters, middle of the road voters. i have been talking to obama advisers today who think not. they're looking at limited data that indicates otherwise. i think there is a sigh of relief going on among the president's team. because all we're doing is talking about the vice president. and talking about an energized, aggressive performance. this, after always about the under card. they really know they will be paying attention to the president on tuesday.

>> and the thoughts were on how the first two presidential debates go. we have two more to go. david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." we will be watching come sunday morning, thank you, david. and when the secretary of defense warns of a possible pending attack, it gets our attention. and this one just did, the new warning of the consequences of a cyber attack by iran that could create trouble in this area. our report. >> reporter: it is predicted that cyber space will be the world's next big battlefield. but defense secretary leon panetta warned that the threat of a defense cyber attack against america is already here. >> the collective result of these kinds of attacks could be a cyber pearl harbor. >> reporter: panetta warned that cyber attackers have tried to shut down america's critical infrastructure, power, water, transportation and major financial institutions.

>> such a destructive cyber terrorist attack could virtually paralyze the nation. >> reporter: while russia and china are prime suspects, for the first time u.s. officials blame iran for the recent jump in cyber attacks. officials tell them iran was behind the recent attempts to disable the website to several u.s. banks. those attacks failed, but another attack nearly shut down saudi arabia's oil production. using a website, they destroyed 30,000 computers. experts say this complex attack should be a warning to the u.s. >> we do not have the proper level of security within the financial sector or the oil and gas sector, or any of our critical oil structures. >> reporter: officials say if they pose a threat, the u.s. could launch their own cyber attack to shut down iran's cyber system. but they warn it is a battlefield filled with many enemies, and that the u.s. and

others must do more to combat this threat. the pentagon. overseas tonight, in egypt, tahrir square is under watch again. protests have started all over again, on one side, supporters for the muslim brotherhood, and president morsi. president morsi, now 100 days in office, now in others, those who feel that morsi failed to keep promises he made after the revolution, these riots are a reminder that the battle in egypt is still serious and deep. and the news about the young girl who was targeted by the taliban for speaking her mind continues to grip not only pakistan but the entire world. we have an update on her condition tonight, from all of it, from nbc's amna nawaz. she has been covering the story for us since the start. >> reporter: good evening, brian. malala yousufzai is in the hospital still, but still, she is inspiring the world to act.

we have seen shock and outrage since the attack, thousands coming across the country to protest the taliban attack, show their support for malala yousufzai. last night, in fact, a group of clerics came together to issue a religious condemnation against the attackers, saying that what they did was not islamic, that it crossed the boundaries of islamic law, officials say they are closing in on the attackers in an overnight raid. three men were arrested, they said they were involved in the attack. but tonight, her condition can be described as satisfactory by a spokesperson. meanwhile, the world is just waiting for her to wake up. amna nawaz, who continues to cover the story for us. the folks who give out peace prizes awarded it to the european union for peace, democratic and human rights. and while most of official europe celebrated, most of

europe was shocked. europe is in the middle of a crisis, which has hurt greece, italy and spain. portugal, just this week, they mocked the chancellor on her visit to athens, regarding germany's role and the crippling austerity measures. one person joked that the place up for the prize was antarctica, a country who has always been at peace. still ahead, a nasty chapter in america, turning into history. what ben affleck saw that turned it into history on the big screen. and later, the mom who revealed something many other moms realized was true for them and their kids, as well.

if the story was not true, they would have to make it up. but the movie coming out this weekend called "argo" is a gripping true story from an awful chapter in our country, the iran hostage crisis. it is directed by, and stars ben affleck, and tonight, andrea mitchell talks to him about what he saw in history that made him want to convert it to the screen. >> reporter: argo, a film that could have been taken from today's headlines, an angry mob storms the american embassy, somewhere in the middle east, but this is not benghazi or cairo, it is tehran.

1979 it is in the hands of students tonight. they took 52 americans, most of them diplomats, hostage, in what became a 444-day nightmare, the movie, starring ben affleck, said he was drawn to the story because it was so much like today. >> i knew it would be the revolution, the consequences of the revolution, i didn't know it would be so tragic and resonant. >> reporter: for days, americans were glued to their tv on word of the hostages. many didn't know. the film tells the story america didn't know six embassy workers escaped to the home of the canadian ambassador. and the big secret? a daring cia officer who created an improbable plan to rescue them. >> they're a canadian film, or science fiction movie. >> we all fly in together to tehran. >> we had a film, we had real

estate, we had cameras. we had whatever we needed to go out and shoot a movie. >> reporter: antonio mendez was the real cia mastermind behind the escape. >> i said let's do something flamboyant. >> reporter: they put together a film sham in hollywood. >> we decided to do the film, calling it studio six productions there were six people involved. >> reporter: they bought an ad in variety for a fake film. >> do you have a better bad idea for this? >> this is the best bad idea we have so far. >> reporter: incredibly, the bad idea worked. >> six americans in tehran, not held captive in the american embassy have escaped with the help of the canadian embassy. >> it is an understatement to say it feels good to be back. >> the cia is controversy, heros to some, villains to others, but you managed to latch on to a heroic aspect of a gutsy, creative guy.

>> the guy i played as a cia agent was a real american hero, tony mendez. >> you really believe your story is going to make a difference? >> i think my story is the only difference. >> reporter: to protect them, mr. carter gave all the credit to canada. >> this is a greeting card that the canadian service gave to me, the salutation at the bottom is "see you later". >> reporter: now, they are bringing this real-life spy drama out of the cold. >> there is something, really, i think, classy and elegant of that sort of service that the cia performed. it is not done for credit. it is done because it is the right thing to do. >> reporter: andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. up next here tonight, a sentimental homecoming for people who need barbra streisand.

the space shuttle endeavour, making its long, last, slow journey to its permanent retirement home through the streets of los angeles tonight. you're looking at the two miles an hour processional right now. lots of people have turned out to watch. a total of 12 miles of surface streets covered, lots turning out to watch. as we reported, 400 perfectly good trees gave their lives for this effort. power, cable, tv lines have been moved. steel plates have been added to the streets to accommodate the journey, which ends tomorrow night. well, she is from brooklyn but never played brooklyn until now. >> i don't know why i'm frightened ♪ ♪ ♪ i know my way around here. >> a return to her roots this weekend for barbra streisand, taking advantage of the biggest

and newest borough, the newest home, the barclay center, two shows, one last night, she is 70 now. and the new york times says her voice is still "singularly compelling" you know what they say about people who need people. and last night she seemed to enjoy the love of the crowd and among the most quoted moments of the debate last night, switching the distinctive hair of the duo last night, just like it was striking a week ago with romney and obama. when we come back, a rallying cry, and a new movement to make sure mom stays in the picture.

finally tonight, she is just one mom among millions in this country, and yet something she said, something she wrote about, something she noticed in her own family has the attention of a lot of other mothers and fathers in the u.s. specifically, she noted she was not in any family photos with her kids. and her coming to grips as to why, sure has resonated with us. rehema ellis has more.

>> reporter: like many mothers, allison tate, a mother of four, was everywhere in their lives, but nowhere in their pictures. >> i knew i was not in pictures with my kids, not in front of the water fall. i avoid the camera, i know i avoid the camera. >> reporter: recently at a family party, she had every intention of remaining behind the scene. >> i was kind of a mess, and my five-year-old little boy ran up to me and said "mommy, come in the photo booth with me" i was like how do i look? but i did it. >> reporter: and that is when it dawned on her, of the thousands of pictures with her kids, she was almost in none of them. and she blogged about it. >> some day i want them to see me sitting beside them, me, the woman who gave birth to them, me, who cried when i dropped

them off at school, when i read them bedtime stories. i want to be in the picture to give them that visual memory of me. i want them to see me, how much i am here, how much they are loved. >> reporter: the message went viral, viewed almost 6 million times. thousands of readers even sent photos and shared their own stories. this lady had to dig through 11 thousand pictures of her four-year-old son to find one with her in it. this lady sent these pictures of the last mother's day she had with her kids. her 12-year-old son died last year. >> every once in a while, somebody says something, everybody nods. this is one of those quotes where allison said something, and every mother nodded. i am not perfect, but i am perfectly their mother.

>> reporter: bringing her life into focus, with her children, rehema ellis, nbc news. >> and that is our broadcast this night and for this week, thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams, we of course hope to see you back here on monday night. meanwhile, please have a good weekend. good night. oakland city leaders discipline officers following the violent occupy protests. we'll have the details. a man was shot and killed outside this vietnamese bar, the city's 37th homicide this year. we have the latest thon case plus how homicide detectives are moving other investigations forward. an important ruling today over pg&e's gas pipelines. good friday evening everyone. thanks for joining us. i'm