rginia this morning. just getting ramped up there one day after he threw down the hammer on the record of the man who wants to take his job. so what's he saying today? let's listen in live. >> they are both good men but they have fundamentally flawed judgment, in my view. they call their plan as bold and gutsy. it's bold. it's bold. but i don't get -- i mean this seriously now, i don't get what is gutsy about giving millionaires another tax break. i don't get what's gutsy. i don't get what's gutsy about gutting medicare and education to pay for that. that's not new. that's not new. it's not only not new. it's not fair. it's not fair to the middle class. it's not fair to the working poor and it will not grow this economy. ladies and gentlemen, we've seen this movie before. you've seen this before.

and you know how it ends. >> vice president biden staying on message, the same topic, the same conversation he had yesterday talking about it's not gutsy what the romney/ryan ticket represents. president obama will spend another day in iowa. he was joined there by paul ryan who moves on to colorado and nevada today after going on attack against the incumbent president. take a listen. >> you know, but as you see the president come through on his bus tour, you might ask him the same question that i'm getting asked from people all around america, and that is, where are the jobs, mr. president? >> so romney's bus tour is going to take him to ohio from florida as he continues to downplay the differences between his own policies and his running mate's resume. >> can you give us an idea of any principals in the ryan budget who have significant

provisions with which you disagree? >> i can tell you what is radical and extreme is to spend a trillion dollars more every year than you take in. well, the items that we agree on outweigh. we haven't gone through piece by piece and said, here's a place where we have a difference. >> time to bring in our political panel. jonathan and jill, former spokesperson to transportation, tray lahood, and chip. jonathan, i want to start with you. the vice president is in virginia using the same phrases and do you think that message is going to resonate in the all important state of virginia? >> it will resonate in virginia and with the base as we've known since paul ryan was announced of the democratic party base has

been against the alarm about what is in that budget specifically, the specifics that are in there. they've had a good test in there. when the ryan/romn budget, she that against a hammer against a republican candidate in what was deemed a safe republican seat. so when you hear joe biden hammering away at the biden plan the way he is, it's about revving up the base and that's going to be very important, particularly in virginia because the president was the first president to win that state in decades and he's going to need that if he want to win re-election. >> chip, real quickly. ryan's plan would cut $5 million in ten year.

as we talk about his proposals about his budget, we're off message. why is it that the ryan/romney budget been better about keeping on plan as to going on defense to what his resume brings? >> i don't think you're going to see him bring defense. the united states senate hasn't passed a budget in three years. talking about the economy, you heard about that from paul ryan yesterday talking about when you see president obama's bus tour, ask him, mr. president, where are the jobs? over the next 85 days i think you've seen a replay of what joe biden said today. and i think you're going to see the romney/ryan campaign hammer on unemployment and jobs and the economy because that's what this election is going to end up being about. >> it's interesting, jill, newt gingrich was on "jansing & co." in the last hour with my

colleague richard lui. listen to what he said. >> any effort to frighten you is a dishonest disservice to america because it blocks us from having an honest dialogue about reform. >> all right. so, jill, he is the one that started the phraseology about the ryan budget. he's backtracked that now. how do you answer those that say the democrats are engaging in the distraction? >> the problem is, anybody who is a baby boomer and is heading towards retirement, anybody who has retired and counts on medicare and social security, they have a stake in this debate, in this presidential campaign and there's a fundamental, i think, lack of trust among the electorate, when they've looked to republicans to talk about these entitlement programs. yes, things need to be done to make them steady and to hold on to them for the future. but who is going to do that without throwing the baby out

with the bath water and i think that's a big, big concern for a huge percentage of the population. >> chip, politico had a piece and former mark mckinnon as saying, i think it's a bold pick and it means that romney/ryan can provide real direction and vision for the republican party and probably lose maybe big. when you hear that, what is your reaction to that? because obviously when we talk about leadership, it's about casting vision. it's about asking people to rise up to that vision but he's saying, you know, they might do that but they may lose big. >> i disagree with my friend mark on that. i think this is a great opportunity with what's gone on in this economy to talk about the big issues that matter as opposed to rearranging the deck chair on the titanic. paul ryan knew that he was going to pass it and the house and senate would never take it up

but he thought it was more important to have a conversation about entitlement reform in real term, not just bumper stickers. i think you're going to see the democratics talk about bumper sticker type honest solutions. you may not agree with all of them. i think this country is ready to go in bold leadership. >> weren't we supposed to go that way, chip, in one direct? >> every couple of years we seem to have this big conversation that we're going to fundamentally change government and we always tend to fall just a bit short. we always have hope and i think mitt romney and paul ryan are moving in the right direction on that. they really do have a wonderful opportunity to fundamentally change government as we know it. >> jonathan, a usa gallup poll found 48% of people thought ryan was qualified to be president. would you say that ryan's been worth all of the noise over the

last few days? >> i would think from mitt romney's point of view, yes, he's worth the noise. look, compared to who was the vice presidential nominee four years ago, paul ryan is a light year's improvement. here's a hair of the house budget committee, someone who, whether you agree with his plan or disagree with his plan actually has a plan with some specifics in it that have been a lightning rod for conversation on both the left and the right. so the fact that paul ryan has a 48% approval rating is a good thing. >> is it a good thing, though, when we consider what the approval rating of congress is you a how congress have a different view of themselves and how people have a different view of them as executives of congress and congressmen actually have records and those people have been elected have to atone for what they say yes and no to? >> look, ryan is being touted

for his medicare plan and ryan plan. as weeks go ahead, he's going to be accountable for all of the other things that he's done, said, voted on, voted against in minute detail. he's at 48% now. maybe he'll plunge down to the depths of the overall congressional approval rating which, last i heard was, what, 12%? >> it's down there in the teens. the big news about the gop convention, the roles for chris christie and marco rubio. christie is going to give the keynote address. rubio is going to introduce romney. two people that were talked about being v.p. picks. how worried should the obama camp be that romney will get a solid bump from the convention? >> i think every presidential candidate gets some sort of bump if they do it right from the convention. i'm sure that mitt romney is going to get some sort of bump. but then it's what happens after

that. i think that both christie and rubio are extremely popular and they are going to try to lend their popularity to the candidate but that's what your going to try to hear for the entire convention. everybody is going to say why obama is bad and mitt romney is good and that's nothing new and then there's the sprint to elect day. >> great to see all three of you. thanks for your time. >> thanks, thomas snoop recent campaign ads run by super pacs have been called negative. they've been called shameless and dishonest. just how low are they actually going to go? plus, it's time to meet paul ryan's wife, janna, an insider look at the former attorney and lobbyist and deep ties to democrats. we'd love to hear from you. tweet me any time @thomas aroberts. day?

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welcome back. one from the obama campaign accusing challenger mitt romney of hypocrisy and misleading the public and one wants to take the president to task on the economy. >> let's talk about what it takes to get america working again. >> president obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform. >> politifact, pants on fire, which is really, really false. >> what does it say about a president's character when its campaign tries to use a tragedy of a woman's death for political

campaign? >> deputy political editor, dominico, is joining us. when we look at those two ads, the newest ones, how is this all go to play up as things ramp up over the next 80-plus days. is it going to be same ole, same ole. >> in fangt, we've seen these ads going up, this is the only one that is actually running in states. the priorities ad that you had up was a web video. it's gotten a lot of views. it's gotten a lot of buzz, a lot of free air time. both of them have been widely discredited and yet the romney people will still run the welfare achlt and the obama am campaign not taking any responsibility for the priorities ad. of course, the priorities ad ran by an outside group.

they have called on the ad that were considered to be run months ago. one ad brought up jeremiah wright and romney went ahead and denounced that ad. you see at this point not a lot of responsibility, nobody wanting to take any kind of responsibility for these things, perfectly willing to let the mud fall wherever it goes. >> it seems as if iowa is right there with the four cities in the top ten. is this going to be the mantra as we move forward about iowa, iowa, iowa? >> well, right now it is and it certainly tells you which is a big swing state. iowa now, new hampshire this weekend. paul ryan is going to be in florida talking about and going to be asked about medicare. so iowa, very important. president is there today. he's talking about the wind tax credit as well which mitt romney is against and republican governor in the state is for

that. we're hearing mitt romney is going to be in ohio today and he's going to be talking about coal and hitting the president on that. so all about the midwest, the industrial midwest, certainly that's what the pick of paul ryan was all about. >> so i know that you, chuck todd, mark murray all sit around and make these concoctions of numbers from the electoral votes. as you bring up new hampshire, we know that the president is going to be in colorado. what's the latest chemistry project you guys are working on with the votes? >> well, you know, the easy thing is to shake up or looking at what is paul ryan mean? and i don't think any of us knows just yet. but one thing we have looked at a little bit is seniors and what kind of impact this could have. we're going to see medicare, the defining of medicare be a central issue over the next few weeks. florida, ohio, pennsylvania, states like that with older populations is going to be really critical to seeing how

paul ryan moves the ball. now, wisconsin, we probably would have had it as a tilt obama and now with paul ryan on it, i think you could put it towards a pure toss up at this point. but how medicare plays out, especially in a place like iowa with an older population, ohio, florida, it's going to be really important. >> thank you, sir. as always, for you guys out there, keep tabs on the latest political news by downloading nbc's political app available on itunes. why some catholics love ryan, others not so much. either way, that vote is up for grabs. we'll dissect that. plus, what caused a suspected gunman to snap and kill two people? details of the texas a&m shooting, next, in the news now. [ kyle ] my bad.

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right now, live pictures as

we take a look at the breaking news coming from clearwater, florida. a crew was reportedly working on a city storm drain proct when the man got stuck about waist deep in the dirt. more than a dozen people are working to get this guy out, as you can see right there. it's a little chaotic. officials say it's going to be a slow process. we'll keep our eye on that for you. police have i.d. the man that was shot and killed near texas university but won't say what caused thomas caffall to pull the trigger. he opened fire on a veteran police officer trying to serve him with an eviction in the. caffall was shot by police and later died. a top official defects and joins the rebel fight. the prime minister is urging other syrian leaders to advance even further. weakening the government's

control over major cities. a new jersey man is behind bars accused of keeping his girlfriend locked in a bedroom on and off for as long as a decade. michael mendez is charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment. police say they were searching his apartment for drugs when officer found the 44-year-old woman. she's currently receiving medical treatment. mendez has not made a comment on this. medical officials say jesse jackson is responding to a type 2 bipolar depression. doctors have not offered a time line for his recovery. he's facing a deadline for re-election on december 6th. he also underwent gastric surgery in 2004. "twilight" star robert pattinson is back in the spotlight. the 26-year-old spoke with jon stewart on the daily show last night. take a listen. >> the last time i had a bad

breakup, ben and jerry got me through some of the tougher times. so i thought you and i could bond over this. >> that was his first time sitting down to talk about it. a little awkward. while he did not talk about the relationship, he shared a few laughs. the actor was there to promote his new movie. kristin stewart issued an apology. busy day on the campaign trail. the stakes couldn't be higher. for the first time ever, a female is going to moderate a presidential debate. first time in 20 years, all because of three teens from new jersey. how these girls got that done. you're going to meet them later this hour. power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8.

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down here, folks measure commitment by what's getting done. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. it is game on. both presidential campaigns are in full swing across the country with all four candidates, presidential and vice presidential on the stump.

once again, let's take a look at this breakdown state by state. president obama on his second day in iowa. he's making remarks in about an hour from now. vice president in the old dominion for a second day. and then barack obama's bus tour concludes in ohio before he led to florida. paul ryan campaigns in colorado before heading on to nevada. now, yesterday both the president and ryan, they mixed it up in iowa. >> i am told that governor romney's new running mate, paul ryan, might be around iowa in the next few days. he's one of the leaders of congress standing in the way. if you happen to see congressman ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to iowa and the rural communities. >> my guess is, the reason president obama isn't making it here is because he only knows left turns.

>> so we have the very latest for you from the campaign trail. kristen welker is in iowa and ron mott is in colorado with paul ryan. knowing that ryan was going to be there, will ryan continue to be the focus point on this trip or are talks today shifting back to the main candidate? >> i think the talks are going to shift focus back to the main candidate, thomas. in fact, one campaign official tells me not to expect the president not to even mention ryan during some of these speeches that he's going to give here in iowa over the next two day. he will continue to draw a contrast between his policies and those between the ryan/romney ticket. he's going to call on congress to pass the wind energy tax credit or to extend that tax credit. that is something that he has clashed with romney over in the past. it's something that is very popular here in iowa, according to the obama campaign.

the wind energy market supports about 37,000 jobs in the u.s. and 7,000 just in iowa here alone. in fact, the republican governor of iowa, terry branstad, criticized romney, for not supporting the wind energy tax credit. i think that's what we're going to hear the president focus on today when he takes the podium in just about an hour. >> kristen, the president is spending a lot of time, investing a lot in the state of iowa. is that unusual? >> reporter: it is. he's spending three days here in iowa. it's a swing state that carries six electoral votes and candidates say it's notable that he's spending so much time here when there's three months until election day. it shows that a race is deadlocked here. e iowa holds great significance

here for president obama. it launched his campaign back in 2008. he's hoping to hold on to tl by targeting independents. they say they should add seniors to that list. they make up about 14% of iowa's population and may be back in play now in a very big way, in part because of the ryan pick. as you know, polls show that ryan's medicare plan is not incredibly popular with seniors right now. >> nbc's kristen welker with president obama in iowa. >> meanwhile, take a listen to paul ryan's campaign in iowa. so right there medicare, what is he going to do about that. sn could he face more in colorado and obviously they would be more prepared for it?

>> reporter: hi there, thomas. i tweeted a picture of the folks waiting to get in to see paul ryan who will speak here in about two hour's time. they gave away 3500 tickets and it doesn't seem like they can sit 3500 people. there's a lot of excitement around paul ryan ever since announcement on saturday morning. you saw what happened there yesterday in iowa. i looked at the crowd yesterday in iowa and saw a lot of people wearing shirts about two hours before he was supposed to speak there supporting unions. i thought, this doesn't seem like republicans. today he's going to talk about energy which is a big topic here in colorado being one of the states on the leading edge of alternative energy and providing other sources to fuel. mitt romney has been talking about. he talks about five plans that he and paul ryan will put into place to get this country turned around. energy is the number one item on that list. >> ron, as we heard kristen

welker talking about how important it is and romney was hammering hard on his opposition to he can tend the wind credit. the debate going toe to tow on the trail? >> reporter: certainly i believe so out here in the west. there's about 5,000 or so people employed in the wind industry and apparently one of the leading manufacturers of wind energy in colorado is says if the tax credit is not extended, they may have to lay off most of their workers. that message will not go over well here in colorado state. they are trying to get the keystone pipeline plan approved. president obama has stalled on that, the first 1300 miles. the oklahoma to texas portion is under way. the army corps of engineers just approved that portion of the plan. we'll have to see if there are

jobs that have been promoted if that pipeline project gets under way. 20,000 jobs. so the folks on the right say that the president is holding upbringing jobs to colorado by not signing those permits, thomas. >> ron mott in lakewood, colorado, with paul ryan. thank you so much. we've spent a lot of time talking about romney's v.p. pick, paul ryan. how much do we now about janna? she's a mother of three and so far has kept a low profile. i'm joined by krista thompson who just wrote an article called janna steps lightly into the national spotlight. good to have you here. explain to all of us a little more about janna ryan. she does have heavy credentials on her own. >> that's right. she's a stay-at-home mom. she's adopted the town of

janesville, wisconsin. she has a ton of friends here in washington. you know, before moving paul and moving out to wisconsin, she attended welsey college and got her law degree. she went to law school at night at george washington university, you know, worked as a lobbyist, worked on the hill and that is when she and paul met and actually fell in love rather quickly, according to her friends. >> so in your article, though, you write about ryan's background being connected when she was single and obviously her family, that is. but she comes from a well-established oklahoma family that is deeply rooted in democratic politics. her uncle was a democratic congressman. how does family and politics meld together for this marriage? >> well, you know, janna is from oklahoma. democrats that go way back.

if you know anything about oklahoma, you know democrats there are conservative democrats. so her cousin is a blue dog democrat and folks who know both janna and paul say that while their families are different parties, their politics, their values are very much the same, very family-oriented, you know, she's adopted his conservative values to a certain extent and has been very supportive of the impact that he wants to make in the public's sha fear. it doesn't seem like there is too much tension in terms of where they are politically. >> what are your opinions of what she can bring to the campaign, who she might be willing to try to embrace to bring into the fold of a romney/ryan ticket? >> so, you know, it's unclear how much she's going to be out front talking, campaigning, that

sort of thing. her friends say she is a private person but also a real people person. you know, that she's a natural in terms of being able to be in high society, sitting down to eat with the governor. at the same time, you know, she can go to the sandblast festival in southern oklahoma and meet folks and is just a very friendly and genuine woman. so it will be interesting to see just what the scope of her role is. you know, vice presidents have a clear role as an attack dog. it doesn't look like she's going to be going after any red meat any time soon but she knows policy. she knows politics. i think we'll be seeing a lot more of her between now and november. >> krissah thompson "the washington post," thank you so much. a woman to remember today, the legendary brown, the author of sex in the single girl and former cosmopolitan editor passed away yesterday.

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it's just one way purina one is making the world a better place... one pet at a time. discover vibrant maturity and more at purinaone.com. congressman ryan has now given definition to governor romney' vague kmcommitments tha he's been making the last year and they have already done what governor romney is promising to do for the nation. so this is one of those rare cases for real. it's almost like running against an incumbent. >> that was vice president joe biden talking about his republican opponent, paul ryan, who happens to be a fellow catholic. and with two catholic on the presidential tickets, it's raising all new possibilities for the catholic vote.

the obama/biden campaign unveiled its catholic vote. 52% in favor of obama over joe biden. mat trick murphy of pennsylvania, catholic president matt smith, it's good to have you here. catholics have voted for the winner eight out of nine of the last presidential elections. so why has there been such a strong correlation between the winner of the election and the winner of the catholic vote? >> well, thomas, thanks for having me on the show. i really care about both my faith and my country. so i appreciate the opportunity. and i think the reason why catholic is so important -- the catholic vote, because it's not monolithic. the reason barack obama and joe biden won four years ago is because their policies clearly mirror the teachings of jesus christ and what it's all about

and that's to say they are the least among us. >> are catholics looking for that, for someone who supports the least among us? >> the least among us begins with the unborn. and what this administration has done has been one of the most pro abortion in this history. that's the settled issue of our church, first and foremost, along with the sanctity of marriage. and that is something that faithful catholicses are not going to stand for in this election. >> the president saw this backlash from catholic bishops earlier this year. do you think this could impact the president as catholics go to polls in november knowing where the left ticket stands and knowing how strong of an opinion, of course, paul ryan has, and doesn't even support abortions when it comes to incest or rain rape.

>> right. and paul ryan also believes we should ban all birth control. the pugh research poll from one month ago in july, where i was on sunday mass this past sunday with my two kids, the view from the pugh is the reason is that there is a clear contrast. if up want to talk about the catholic bishops, let's also talk about the catholic nuns all who have said that the romney/ryan budget is immoral. and the reason it's immoral is because a guts medicare and medicaid. when you look at the gospels of jesus christ, matthew 25 when he quotes jesus and says how do you treat the least among us, do unto me. >> congressman, you voted to cut medicare by half a trillion dollars and create a board that

would cut medicare. there's also the principle where the most local entity provides the best resources to those people in need. and that's a fundamental discussion of the paul ryan budget that you're attacking right now. >> no. let's be very clear. the president tweaks -- the bill that i voted for and the president's health care bill took the $700 billion and put it back into medicare to strengthen it for eight more years. the romney/ryan budget takes the same $700 billion. does it put it back into medicare? no. it guts it and gives an additional tax break to the wealthiest 1% of americans. so millionaires like paul ryan and like mitt romney and all of the millionaire buddies get over $2 trillion in additional tax cuts because they support medicare and they need the help in the twilight of their lives, helps the poor among us, poor

children who are on a children's health insurance program, the disabled. that's who it affects. and i get it, matt. you and i -- you're a republican under bush and cheney and i'm a proud democrat. but the facts are this. is that the bible -- jesus christ never spoke about contraceptives so we don't know where he fell on that. >> but it's force the chunk to cover -- the ending of life after conception. and that's what that is about. >> that is what this budget it. >> matt, real quickly, one thing to look at from the view of catholics is that no matter what, there will be a vice president who is catholic and with a direct line to whoever the president is over the next four years. what does that mean to catholics modern day, especially when we think about when kennedy was elected and were demonized for the fear that the pope would have a direct line into the white house? >> it's tremendous progress when you have some states back in

colonial times when a catholic couldn't even be elected to office. it shows a great religious liberty tolerance that, unfortunately, the obama administration has been ignoring with the hss mandate forcing catholic institutions to violate their conscience. so the stark contrast here is between the obama/biden administration that wants to violate our conscience. >> isn't the bigger problem the catholics in the pews don't want to listen to what is coming down from the bishops and don't want to listen to what is coming down from the pope. isn't that the bigger problem, the fact that people are leaving the pews of catholic churches because there is no modernization. >> actually, there's been a growth in receptions into the church consistently for the past 40 years. >> that doesn't mean that consistently the fact that these people showing up -- it doesn't mean that the catholics are believing in what they are being told.

isn't there a big contradiction there? >> and also i would -- listen, let's be clear. what they are being told by the u.s. conference of bishops and by the catholic nuns is that the romney/ryan budget is i am porl because -- >> actually, no. if you go back, congressman ryan actually exchanged -- >> he says this. >> they don't speak for the church and that is something that has been investigated by the vatican for the past four years. >> matt, let me quote arch bishop dolan says this. a significant part of our duty as pastors is to insist that the cries of the poor are heard and that the much needed leading to fiscal displciplined by all, th is archbishop dolan's words. >> gentlemen, i've got to jump in because we're running out of time in this segment but i know

that this is a fiery debate. we'll have you guys back to talk more about this as we ramp up to the election. stick with us. coming up next, i'll introduce you to the three young ladies able to start their own change.org petition to get women moderating a presidential debate. back after this. [ female announcer ] most whitening strips promise full whitening results in two weeks or more. rembrandt® deeply white™ 2 hour whitening kit is proven to quickly remove surface stains and deep stains in just two hours. [ female announcer ] rembrandt® deeply white™: whiten in just 2 hours.

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welcome back. it's been 20 years since a woman has asked the tough questions during a presidential debate but that's all about to change. cnn's candy crowley has been tapped to moderate one of three face-offs between president obama and governor romney this fall. meanwhile, martha raditz will moderate the one and only presidential debate. that wouldn't have happened if three girls hadn't started a petition signed by over 180,000 people. we have emma axlerod, sami siegel and elena simbears. i want to start out talking about this petition that was launched. tell us why you wanted to do

this. >> well, we are in our high school, there's a small learning community called the civics in government institute with a strong focus on civics and social movement. feminists and social rights issues have always been on the front of our minds and so when we heard there has been this huge gap in having women present in this huge prominent role in american politics we knew that had to change because it's just not right that in 2012, women should still be on the sidelines, missing out from important positions like this. >> so there was this female drought, no women really being involved to help moderate, ask the tough questions. when the three of you took on the prospect of doing this, did you really think you would be able to get this done and effect such major change to have it now there are four people that will moderate, half of which will be women. >> absolutely. i didn't think it would get such nationwide coverage and support. i thought maybe locally, we would get it in the newspapers and people would support us but it spread out across the nation

and internationally. it's been really amazing to watch it grow. >> this is a big deal because when it comes to the vice presidential debate, there will only be one. martha raditz will moderate that one. interesting when it comes to congressman paul ryan, he voted against the lily ledbetter fair pay act which gives women more time to bring a lawsuit forward if they find there's a pay disparity in the workplace. do you think he'll have a tough time defending his no vote when he gets asked about that? >> i mean, i think so. it's really disappointing for many women to know that they don't have the support of someone who can possibly be leading our country and women still have such a long way to go. that is just a step backwards. >> so are you guys all going to get together to watch the presidential debates, the vice presidential debate? will you get together with your class, your civics class? >> if we can. it would be fantastic. >> you know, if you guys have learned one thing out of this, you guys can make some changes. we wish you the best of luck. thanks for coming in today.

ladies, congratulations. great job. >> thank you so much. >> absolutely. that will wrap things up for me. see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. stick with all the networks of nbc tomorrow for a special look at the devastating drought that is impacting much of the country. the drought of 2012. until then, follow me on twitter. don't go anywhere. girl empowerment continuing with alex wagner. what's coming up? >> i need to borrow them from your set. they are amazing. thomas, we have a lot coming up, including dodge-paul. governor romney avoids questions about his fiscal plan compares with his running mates. we will talk about paul ryan's liabilities including his not so secret florida problem when we are joined by the grand poobah of the sunshine state, jose diaz-balart. plus ever hear the one about the mormon and the catholic on a campaign bus? we look at how religion will play out for the romney/ryan ticket.

and with surrogates like these, a new story reveals turmoil on team romney, both behind the scenes and in front of the cameras. a little snack. on a wednesday. at 2 am. get that great taste anytime with kingsford match light charcoal. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot?

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crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. after four days of pomp and circumstance touting the big choices facing the country, the biggest choice for governor romney may be whether or not he can touch his running mate's record with a ten-foot pole. it's tuesday, august 14th and this is "now." joining me today, rana foroohar from "time" magazine. patricia murphy, contributor to the daily beast. and "new york times" political reporter, nicholas confessore. it is the first week of mitt romney's vp rollout extravaganza and his selection is already creating problems for the campaign in a crucial swing state. at a press c