>> can you say that louder candy? >> delivering body blow after body blow and romney fighting back. >> the suggestion that anybody in my team whether the secretary of state, our u.n. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. >> mr. president, you looked at your pension? you know i don't look at my pension. >> let me give you something -- >> four consecutive years where he said when he was running he would cut the deficit in half. instead he's doubled it. >> and it was a night in which the candidates appeared ready to throw real body blows. >> you'll get your chance in a moment. i'm still speaking. the i don't think that's -- >> you're asking me the question. >> that wasn't a question. that was a statement. >> mitt romney showed his cheek and the president took that opening to wind up with the percentage line.

>> i care about 100% of the american people. >> when he said behind closed doors that 47% of the country consider themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. >> he seemed to strike all the right notes, but this morning's question remains did he stop the swing state hemorrhaging from his first epic lackluster performance? >> one, you don't run over a female moderator. you just don't. secondly, you don't run over the president of the united states whether that president's a republican or whether that president is a democrat. >> in denver, mitt romney had a plan, a strategy, he executed. president obama didn't. in this debate president obama had a strategy. you could see all throughout the debate. >> president obama i thought strategically had a good debate. >> at the top of the hour we're also watching this. any minute the kickoff of a post-debate campaign event. paul ryan will be stumping in ohio with condoleezza rice. we'll go live in that warrants.

but now to ed shultz host of "the ed show." we were talking about after the last presidential debate. did he bring the fire he demanded? you were upset the last one. >> i don't think the president left too much on the table last night. it's hard to win in 90 minutes. that's president came damn close. in the midst of all that in the president' performance, mitt romney created two new problems for himself on women and immigration. the problem with women has nothing to do with contraception it's now how they're viewed in the workplace. they're out there talking about what he really thought of lilly ledbetter. he wasn't for it, but now he's not going to repeal it. last night when he had a chance to talk about equal pay for equal work, he didn't address it. that's going to be a big issue. now, the binder comment. that has a life of its own right now on the social media. these are new problems for mitt romney that have nothing to do

with women's reproductive rights. that's one thing he's going to have to spend a lot of money on and shoulder up here in the next few weeks. the other issue is immigration. undocumented illegals, that is offensive. there are people in this country who want to be americans but haven't gone through all of the things they need to because of their laws. the dream act is troo iing to fix that. he created problems for himself. so from that standpoint, the president had a major victory last night. the 47% mark, why in the world did romney give him a chance to do that? he closed strong and gave him the opportunity. the president savvy enough to take advantage. >> suburban women, right. that's who they were going after in yesterday's debate. who gained the most based on what you've said? >> i keep thinking about ohio. as i said last night, i've been to ohio six times in the last year. i think i've got a good pulse of where that state is. i don't think the president did

anything to hurt himself last night with ohio voters. on the other hand, i think that romney as i said has created some new problems for him. right now the romney/ryan camp, they might as well go buy a house in ohio and stake their entire campaign on that. i think they hurt themselves in florida last night. i think that's a big issue as well. but the president did what the base wanted him to do last night. he came out on fire. he wants the job from the opening statement we knew the president was on. >> joe biden as well as paul ryan were hitting the morning shows this morning. and they were reacting to what their top of the tickets said yesterday. let's listen. >> the president's objective the same as mine was to lay out clearly the choices. not let people run away from what they've been saying for 13 years or 14 years. >> he clearly changed his tactic. they said he would. but his answers didn't change. he didn't offer any new idea about how the next four years would be any different than the last four years. >> so the president as you said

brought the passion. did not necessarily offer the details. >> well, there was one deficit the president had last night. mitt romney scored well saying the deficit went up and we added trillions to it. that was an opportunity for the president to say we had a bunch of unemployed people not contributing to the treasury. it wasn't all spending. yes there was a stimulus package that the country wanted and it was both conservative and liberals went along with. we had to dig ourselves out of the worst hole. the reason we had those numbers was we didn't have enough people contributing into the treasury. i think the president could have taken a moment to explain that. he was left flat footed on that issue. if there was anywhere that romney scored, it was there. >> that was an opportunity. >> it was. but i think the president hit all the right notes as far as where we were and where we've come. but explaining the big number in

something that was left out. and the other was foreign policy last night. mitt romney is inept on foreign policy. he proved he has no experience. the next debate is going to be a hard lift for him. the fact is last night when he went after benghazi, he didn't seem confident. he didn't have it all put together. it wasn't very well thought out. and richard, look how the conversation of the country has changed. in 2004 we were told if we don't vote for the republicans again, we're going to get hit again. the issue of national security has been almost taken off the table. we're now talking about an isolated attack in benghazi. it's a terrorist attack. it was said that in the rose garden by the president the day after it happened and they're not even accepting that answer. they're trying to word smith it out as if the president doesn't have his act together and his foreign policy is unraveling. american people aren't going to buy that. >> it was a surprising misstep in a complex argument you have to bring out with the details behind what he was trying to do. thank you so much, ed shultz,

for coming in early. you can catch "the ed show" week days here on msnbc. let's bring in our all women political power panel. you've got nia-malika henderson, anita dunn, and jackie gingrich cushman. a very good morning to all three of you. anita, we'll start with you. you advised the president heading into this debate. there was a moment last night from governor romney that's getting a lot of attention. and here it is. >> i had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men. i went to womens groups and said could you help us find folks and they brought us binders full of women. >> there you have it twitter exploding with tweets like this one. and this one from a big bird spoof account. saying i don't use binders but

when i do, i like them full of women. chuck schumer said here isn't this like saying i know some women? >> well, i think many women looked at that last night and said how is it possible that someone who had been a senior business person for 25 years in massachusetts who'd operated and who'd been the head of an investment firm who'd been a partner in a consulting firm knew no women on his own. didn't know any senior women. as the facts came out this morning and of course the facts are often different from the way governor romney presents them, this was a bipartisan effort that went to governor romney. and to his credit he met with them and said we need to get more women. and the final fact that is worth knowing is the number of women in senior positions in the government of massachusetts actually declined in the course of the romney gubernatorial record. so the reality is i think that it does show something very important about governor romney

and his attitude towards women in the workplace. but this wasn't isolated. this goes back to his attitude about lilly ledbetter. back to the fact not one republican in the senate supported the paycheck fairness act. and mitt romney agrees with that. he was against it as well. this is an attitude about women in the workplace and not getting what it's like. >> jackie, building on what anita is saying here, the obama campaign quick to hit romney with a new ad titled romney's condescending views towards women. and romney told an anecdotal story but he didn't take a position on women. so will this comment, the emotion behind it, the negative reaction behind it, will it stick come november 6th? >> i think what'll happen is the truth will come out. this is a clear example as we've seen many times of rhetoric talking about binders of women or any of those versus reality.

let's talk about reality. in obama's cabinet today, he has five of 14 positions of women. when romney was in governor he had six of 14. he had a better record than president. let's take the time and not think about rhetoric. that's what team obama loves to do because they can't run on the record. the record is terrible. >> this was not necessarily does it not have good here. >> no, but again, you're talking about optics. i'm talking about a record. the record -- the facts are fewer woman today -- today in october of 2012 have jobs than had jobs when obama took office. that is a tragedy. that is terrible. there are fewer women working today in this country. and every woman should stand up and say every woman has the right to a job. we need president obama or whoever is president next to

actually stimulate the economy to make small businesses work. this is unbelievable. so the point is the record means more than rhetoric. >> i want to get over to nia. the president repeatedly mentioned planned parenthood during the debate and spoke about contraception coverage as an economic issue for women. when he did bring that up, was the president able here to show that he realizes he needs to connect with women beyond social issues? what's your thought? >> i think that's exactly right. i mean, making contraception an economic issue and also talking about equal pay and issues like that, i think he was able to broaden the discussion beyond social issues. going into this debate you heard from a lot of liberals that they wanted these issues front and center to be brought up by a moderator or obama himself. that of course happened. what was interesting he didn't really talk about abortion. if you look at some of these ads that are out there from the

obama side, they do talk about abortion. in narrowing it to contraception and linking it to an economic issue, i think he was effective in that instance. and i think you saw from mitt romney an attempt to be a little more moderate. he talked about women being able to have access to contraception. but what he didn't do was make the conservative argument around whether or not health insurance policies should actually have to pay for that contraception which of course obama thinks they should. and i think republicans don't think that health insurance plans should be forced to cover contraception. >> anita, ron allen spoke to a group of undecided voters during the debate. here's how one woman reacted to what was said. >> i really like what mitt romney had had to say about the economy about what he's planning on doing in order to change things for us and how president obama has not really gotten it done the last four years. >> and you voted for president obama last time. >> i did.

>> now you're leaning towards romney, it sounds like. >> i am. >> so are women truly concerned about kitchen table economic issues more. and what's your thought? one poll showing romney leads on that issue by 31 percentage points. does that leave an opening here for mitt romney? >> jackie said it's about records. and i think she's absolutely right. and the reality of this is president obama passed a law that said insurance companies can't charge women more for their health insurance simply because they're women. and mitt romney wants to repeal that law. president obama said health insurance companies have to cover contraception for women and can't deny them coverage. that's a pocketbook issue. mitt romney had a me too moment with congress. that employers shouldn't have to do that and deny women that kind of coverage. president obama is fighting hard for an economy that builds from the middle class up that includes everyone. because he understands that when

you can get a little help to send your kid to college, that when you have paycheck fairness, that when you have a childcare tax credit, it makes everybody more productive. that's what women want to know is they have a president who's going to fight for them and who's going to make sure that everyone in this economy gets a fair shot and a fair chance at moving ahead. and that's the record. >> we've got 45 seconds. jackie and nia i want your response. jackie to you, another group known as the walmart moms thought the president won but not by much here. described as women with kids under 18 who shop at the retail chain once a month. why does this group seem to be bucking the gender gap trend? >> if you look at the last election, obama won the women's vote 56 to 43. if you look at the last poll that was out this week, we're actually -- on the women it's neck and neck. so obama and romney are drawing the same number of women on both

sides. specifically about the economy. if you look at what women care about most, it's jobs, economy, budget deficit. all of those areas president obama has totally failed. if you look at unemployment rate, the only reason it is down is because there are fewer people looking for jobs. they are so disillusioned they've given up. >> all right. i want to get to nia. nia, last word to you. >> i think women also care about education. they also care about medicare. that's why you saw obama hitting those things over and over last night. so i think his goal is to expand it beyond the economy, talk also about social issues, health issues. and i think romney has done himself some good in that last debate. we'll see what the polls show on going forward whether or not obama was able to pull away again in terms of the women's vote. >> all right. our wednesday morning power panel. powerful this morning. i appreciate all three of you being here. anita dunn, jackie gingrich

cushman, and nia-malika henderson. thank you all three. >> thank you. all right. up next for you, the woman who introduced that infamous viagra bill in ohio. will it slow romney's momentum in the buckeye state? and we want to know what you think. if you put together debate number one and debate number two, is the horse race dead even right now? or is one of the candidates leading? tweet me @richard lui, we will share some of your tweets a little bit later on. re trust duracell...?? duralock power preserve. locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. now...guaranteed. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere. duracell with duralock. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level.

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and now to the big three battle ground states and the head looibs on the ground there. tampa bay times reads second debate brings out assertive obama, tough romney. in virginia, face to face. obama, romney in crackling

debate. and in ohio people woke up to obama more feisty but romney pushing back. when it comes to one issue that resonates with ohio voters, president obama got the last word. watch president obama use the issue of coal production as a way romney will say anything to win. >> when i hear governor romney say he's a big goal mind, governor when you were governor of massachusetts you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said this plant kills and took great pride in shutting it down. and now suddenly you're a big champion of coal. >> let's bring in democratic state senator from ohio nina turner. thank you for being here with us. we're going to get to what's happening on the ground in your state. before we go there, i've got to get your reaction to one item of the debate you introduced we were discussing moments ago. for those who don't know, you introduced the viagra bill that challenged women's reproductive rights in your state.

how do you feel about governor romney's binder full of women remark last night. zb it >> it's ridiculous. governor romney talked about women as a binder. he is out of touch with the needs of women. health care is one of those. yes, women care about the economy. they care about their children being educated. they want to make sure their children will have a better future, but what is more personal than a woman's body? and women should not need a permission slip from government to make decisions about their own bodies. so the president was dead on last night. >> all right. i do want to get to what is happening in your state, ohio. in recent polls, it's showing a volatile race night now. polls have the president up by four, others have romney up by one. i want to play you what mark halperin said on "morning joe" this morning. >> for me the whole selection about ohio today. if the president wins ohio or

virginia, the race is pretty much over. if governor romney wins both, he's in a commanding position. what has killed him more than anything else in a distinctive way in ohio particularly in the north part is the sector. >> may have gained in ohio after that first debate been changed? >> well, certainly the debate did a magnificent job last night. ohioans have had four years to get to know the president. and what they do know is the president threw out a life line when he rescued the auto industry saving thousands of middle class jobs. . they understand that mr. romney said let ohio go bankrupt. when coming to women and equal pay and them being the breadwinners of their families, they understand the president stands with them. even though the polls may go up or down, what the final analysis is is what the voters will decide. i believe firmly that ohioans will continue to vote for the president. he won this state by 51% of the

vote in 2008 and he will win this state again. >> thaalking about voters, we he to talk about early voting. early voting for everyone on the weekend before the election. republicans oppose that. what's your thought here? what does this mean for the democrats who had early gains on getting out the vote? >> this is a big deal, richard, not only for democrats but for all ohioans in this state. it perplexes my mind that the secretary of state would play games in a partisan way when it comes to the vote. thank god that the u.s. supreme court decided and they rejected his stay. and now all voters in this state will have access to the last three days of the early vote. we should make sure all voters have that opportunity. democrats have been fighting hard while republicans have been trying to not only intimidate, but to suppress the vote. but the u.s. supreme court had the final say. and we are thrilled in the state of ohio. we will continue to push to make sure folks get out to vote. >> always a pleasure talking with you.

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shop now. get the hottest toys on your list today, like leapfrog leappad2 and hot wheels wall tracks... then put it on layaway so you have more time to pay. walmart. in the united states of america, our president can't seem to get the stories straight. and he was totally dishonest last night. >> reince priebus doubles down on the libya attack even though it didn't work well for romney last night. will that issue stick with voters? i'll ask shawn spicer. and our own spin debate room. [ female announcer ] e-trade was founded on the simple belief

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middle class a tax cut. you have a man running for the presidency of the united states on the central issue of our time and he's not being straight with the american people. >> president obama's chief debate coach senator john kerry on "morning joe" this morning. last night might have been sweet redemption after some slammed him after the president's first debate performance. polls conducted last night feel the president won that debate. the cnn of all voters has the president up by seven. it's the same margin in the cbs poll of uncommitted voters as well. but with almost as many voters saying the debate was a tie. a poll of battle ground states, however, gives the president his biggest lead. he breaks 50% and leads governor romney. joining me now is shawn spicer. thanks for joining us. let me start with this. in talking about women in the workplace, there is that comment about binders full of women. is that a common phrase that the governor uses?

>> well, i think he was trying to explain the process by which he has brought women into his administration. a process by which was actually praised and put massachusetts among the first states that had the highest degree of women at senior positions. so governor romney was explaining the process by which he ensures that women of what they bring to the overall decision making process are involved in how he puts together the best team he can. >> so it was an ill-coined phrase, you might say. >> i think he was asked about the process or he was talking about the process, but i think he adequately addressed how that worked. >> would you have him express it in a different way? >> i think, again, it was an accurate portrayal how the governor came to his decision making. how he ensured women were brought into his administration at a senior level. so i don't think you can ask him to not tell it the way it occurred. >> okay. some women i've spoken with put this together with romney's

comments about gun control where he said two parents, not gun control, will change the culture of violence. here's what columnist and single mother wendy fon tan wrote in the "huffington post." i'm sick of the cliche single parents especially mothers are lazy welfare cases and that their children are growing up to be delinquent. ask president obama. what do you say to women who felt demeaned and dehumanized after the governor's remarks? >> well, i think any woman who's out there raising a child should be praised for doing the hard work that that entails. i think it's -- you're doing two jobs. you're taking care of them financially and raising them on your own. that's a daunting task. i think what the governor is talking about and what we all agree on is the ideal situation, having a two-parent family that is the most ideal way to raise a

family. that doesn't mean in any way we demean anyone whose circumstances prevent that from occurring for whatever reason. we should be praising single parents. i don't think the governor in any way did anything but try to talk about what the ideal situation is to raise a family. >> sean, quickly on this one if you could. libya. the argument that romney is trying to make on the obama foreign policy apparatus can be a complex one. should the remaining days be focused on an issue that resonates more resoundly like the economy? >> well, i think it goes to a larger point about leadership. and it's the administration that continues to have questions that they have to answer about this. it was the president himself who went to the u.n. two weeks after the events and said six times that a video was responsible for this. it was jay carney who from the podium and from air force one who said it was a video. it was ambassador susan rice who went on every sunday talk show a week after the events and said

the events stemmed from a video. so it's the administration that i think by and far and according to every timeline continues to have questions about how they responded to this crisis. >> sean spicer, communications director for the rnc. as always, thank you for your time. we turn now to two people with special perspectives. ron reagan is the son of the former president. he's currently an msnbc contributor. megan mccain is the daughter of senator john mccain. also an msnbc contributor. good morning to both of you. ron, your father defeated jimmy carter in 1980 offering a message of hope. he went on to repeatedly call america a shining city upon a hill as many of us remember. now, while they were both very tactical last night, did they take advantage of the moment to inspire with big ideas as your father was able to do? >> i don't know if you would say that about them. i'm not sure that's what they were really trying to do inspire with big ideas. but i tell you this.

the president obama who showed up last night, had he shown up in the first debate, this election would probably be over right now. he dismantled mitt romney on energy. mitt romney was unable to explain his tax plan satisfactorily. he was condescending and unconvincing on womens issues and committed perhaps the only huge gaffe, if you will, of the debate series here when he claimed that barack obama as you observed recently did not call the libyan attack an act of terror when in fact the transcripts prove that the day after he referred to it as an act of terror. that was a bad moment for mitt romney there. so president obama did very well this time. >> megan, take that into context. you in your grading of the debate, you said it was a draw basically. you gave the president a b and gave mitt romney a b-minus from your grade sheet. why did you grade that way? >> i think if you're already a romney supporter, you're already

a obama supporter you're more of a supporter for each running. i think the president won by a slight. he came out fighting with guns blazing and showed himself to be the president he was in 2008. and you know, mitt romney, he made a few gaffes. this notebook full of women or binder full of women going around on the internet today really is a statement that could have said better. specifically given the hard time that republicans are having with the womens vote right now. >> and again, your grades of b and a b-minus for mitt romney. ron how would you grade the candidates? >> i gave barack obama a b-plus because there's always room for improvement and i gave mitt romney a d-minus. i do mark off heavily for lying. >> lying. and so what -- >> lying. >> when we put that together, we have the grades. there's also the way they interacted with each other. megan, some saying your dad of 2008 in that very same style of a town hall debate against then-senator obama, that he

paced around the stage and he was aggressive and that it may have come off a bit cranky. do you think mitt romney may have made the same mistake last night? >> this is not my favorite format. i think it's awkward for the men to sort of be standing around and walking around. their body language is very alpha male and trying to domina dominate. i think they came off aggressive in their physical body language as well. i think it's distracting. as a woman i'm here to hear the issues and not see their physical. i found it extremely distracting. >> thank you so much for your time today. >> thank you. coming up, in the middle. candy crowley now being criticized after fact checking the candidates. how a moderator can make or break a debate. when a former moderator herself carole simpson.

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having a stressful day? exercise can help. according to a new study, people who exercise not only have a better mood when they work out, but have lower anxiety levels well after compared to people who rested instead. as the debate unfolded last night, viewers weighed in with an instant reaction on social media. twitter reported 7.2 million tweets were sent out during the 90 minute encounter. that fell short of the record 10.3 million tweets during the first debate two weeks ago. the moment that drove the most on twitter was a topic that did not come up in the last debate. that issue is immigration. >> i will not grant amnesty to those who come here illegally. i'll put in place an employment verification system and make sure employers who have come

here illegally are sanctioned to do so. i won't put in place magnets for people coming here illegally. so for instance i would not give driver's licenses to those who have come here illegally. >> governor romney's talk on immigration lit up twitter for over 108,000 tweets per minute. that was the highlight. also driving heavy twitter traffic were the president's forceful traffic on libya as well as the discussion on equal pay for women. that last topic came down to this. binders. governor romney's comment about binders full of women went viral. the binder soon had its own twit and facebook accounts as well. as well as a tumbler page like this. no one puts baby in a binder. big bird romney sent out this tweet. bindering full of women sold for 77 cents at staples. binders full of men selling for $1. you, too, can join the conversation on msnbc's brand

new app on facebook. we'll be adding new quotes and photos all the way through the election. you can even make your own binders full of women meme if you'd like to do that. the spotlight during last night's debate was also on the moderator. cnn's candy crowley. what's seen as her moment was when she deferred the dispute over when president obama called the attack on the u.s. consulate attack in libya an act of terror. >> you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. it was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> i want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called it ab act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did in fact say it. >> can you say that a little louder, candy? >> he did call it an act of terror. it did as well take two weeks or

so for the whole idea of there being a riot about the tape to come out. >> joining me now the moderator of the first town hall style debate back in 1992 former abc news anchor carole simpson. what a pleasure to talk to you this morning. when you watch candy there, you can remember the tension, the stress, if you will, and the energy that existed in such a town hall debate forum. how did you think candy handled that fact checking, if you will? >> i thought she was fantastic. and i think her performance last night and martha's last week has dispelled forever any belief that women can't handle the job. i think candy given the -- wow.

the awful dissension between the debates which i thought was going to have to come hoe blows. >> i thought she was going to have to jump over the podium there. >> i thought they were going to punch each other. she was in control. she was settling them down. in a much better way than jim lehrer did. but i have to tell you, richard, i've been watching debates. this is the best or the worst debate i've ever seen. >> yeah. you had to keep your eyes on every second of that one. i want to play another -- you talked about the rules and the timing. something you also had to deal with. let me play a bit of this and how candy crowley handled that. >> governor romney, there'll be plenty of chances to go on, but i want -- >> that detroit answer -- that detroit answer. >> republicans -- >> mr. president, let me move you on here, please. mr. president. >> it's time for them to get serious on it. >> joe scarborough was making a comment here that it can be difficult as a debater in this forum and this format to, if you

will, run over the moderator if she is a woman. and that it would be not seen as being very savory. >> well, yes. it looked like they were trying to roll her, but they didn't. she stood her ground and she made her point. i do want to say that there was a loser in this debate and nobody's talked about that. but i think the american people, the audience were the losers. they only got to ask 11 questions. most of the by play and the content of the debate was the two men arguing, and candy trying to keep control. so i think there wasn't enough questioning from the audience that had prepared for this debate. >> carole simpson, thank you so much for your time this morning. >> thank you. >> and we'll be right back. ble till you finish your vegetables. [ clock ticking ] [ male announcer ] there's a better way... v8 v-fusion.

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the candidates are back on the campaign trail on the left

center tom harken opening up for president obama in mount vernon, iowa. congressman paul ryan in berea, ohio, battleground states critical to the campaigns right now. we'll keep our eye on msnbc. as we've mentioned before, one of the most memorable moments of the debate was when the moderator was forced to fact check mitt romney. the subject of the check was the president's remarks in the rose garden the day after the u.s. m bass dor to libya was assassinated and whether the president called it an act of terror. here's what the president actually said. >> the world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts. no acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation. alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. >> joining me now is glen kessler, of "washington post" fact check. good to see you. we heard what the president did say the day after the consulate attack. some have called the libya exchange governor romney's weakest moment from last night.

when you look at that, did that round go to the president is? >> well, as a factual matter i think romney was numb muxed by the fact that obama had said in the rose garden i said -- this was an act of terror. notice the statement was no acts of terror. little vaguer, more disembody from the actual event and romney's larger point that it took the administration quite a number of days, even weeks, to say this was, you know, for the president to even say this was an act of terrorism directed against the united states his larger point is correct. but in the optics of the debates looked like romney got pasted there. >> and here was another moment where the two men agreed to disagree and that's on the auto bailout. >> when governor romney said we should let detroit go bankrupt, i said we're going to bet on american workers and american auto industry and it's come surging back. >> when you say i wanted to take the auto industry bankrupt you actually did and i think it's

important to know that was a process necessary to get the companies back on their feet so they could start hiring more people. that was precisely what i recommended and ultimately what happened. >> and as many remember, the governor wrote an opinion piece in the "new york times" in 2008 that was titled let detroit go bankrupt. glen, who was giving voters the real deal last night? >> the facts are more on obama's side here. romney did write that op-ed, you know, and he -- he was talking about managed bankruptcy. but he was talking about managed bankruptcy before the bush administration extended first bailout to the auto industry and just about every study that has looked at that said that if those companies went through bankruptcy at that point, they would have gone out of business. what you needed was a period of time, you needed bridge loans, government assistance and then they would go through a managed bankruptcy process. so if the route espoused by romney taken at the time the auto companies would probably not exist today. >> one of the most intense

moments over oil and energy. the president said this about production. >> with respect to this pipeline that governor romney keeps on talking about, we've created -- we've built enough pipeline to wrap around the entire earth once. >> so, when we look at this, what was missing? >> well, this is one of what i call a nonsense fact. sounds great, doesn't really mean a lot. you know, they have built enough pipelines it does yes equal the circumference around the earth but most are pipelines that goesgo into people's houses, natural gas pipelines the things that the federal government doesn't get around to approving and another way to put it, under president obama the number of pipelines has gone up 1% over two years. which doesn't sound as impressive as saying pipelines around the world and it's completely unrelated to the keystone pipeline that governor romney was talking about. >> sounds like you had a busy night last night. did you? >> yes. i was up to about 3:00 in the morning. >> you got a little shut eye.

"the washington post's" glen kessler with our fact check the day after the debate. thank you so much. >> you're sfwhoom that wraps up things for me. i'll see you at 11:00 eastern. joining me we have dana mill bank, jimmy williams and michele bernard, plus "the washington post's" ezra klein digging into the issues that matter. "now" with alex wagner is next live from the west coast and alex, you're out there where it's always shiny and never rains. >> it is true. palm trees, sunshine, i may not come back, richard. but the gloves are off. at the great debate. part two. and we are live in los angeles as we mentioned with full analysis. we will weigh in on president obama's wait for it 47% attack and governor romney's check the transcript moment. plus, other contest modifiers from last night including romney's w. ambush and, of course, binders full of women. we will go back inside the debate studio with the legendary james lipton to talk

interruptions, interactions and the romney gaze. also, the president is back on the trail. we'll bring you his remarks live in the hour when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with a low national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details.

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keep it clean with new listerine® ultraclean™. it's the only mouthwash with a new tartar control formula for a dentist clean feeling. ahhhhhhhh. [ male announcer ] new listerine® ultraclean™. power to your mouth™. the day after the second presidential debate and big o gets the big mo. while mitt romney gets a trapper keeper full of women's issues. it's wednesday, october 17th and this is "now" live from los angeles. joining me today, mark leibovich of the "new york times." casey hunt of the associated press. and msnbc contributor stam stein of "the huffington post." after spending the last two weeks on the ropes, president obama came out last night like a