on our broadcast tonight, from education nation in new york, drawing the line. the president today with a strong new warning to iran, plus what he had to say about the recent violence against americans. where they stand. a rare chance to hear from both candidates right here on one critical issue, education and how to fix american schools. our interviews with the president and governor romney here tonight. the replacement. the call that had football fans across the country howling at the nfl to bring back the professional referees. and tighten up. how little space could you live in? some folks in san francisco are about to find out. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening and tonight we're in midtown manhattan, high above the new york city public library, which for the past few days has been the headquarters of education nation, our annual summit on education where today we heard from both president obama and mitt romney, a rare and fascinating opportunity to hear them both out on one issue in the same day, something they say should be a big national priority. both men crisscrossed new york today, both made news during their travels. romney in what he told us, and his visit with bill clinton and president obama who stepped before the united nations general assembly talked about the recent violence against americans and explained a few things about our country to a global audience while putting some in the audience today on notice. we begin with our chief white house correspondent chuck todd. >> reporter: president obama and

mitt romney jams as many meeting as they could today. they draw a contrast on serious issues and even less serious issues. the centerpiece of the president's visit to new york, his speech to the u.n. general assembly, focusing on the unrest in libya and the middle east. at times emotional. >> the attacks on the civilians from benghazi were attacks on americans. there should be no doubt that we will be relentless in tracking down the killers and bringi ini them to justice. and on this we must agree. >> reporter: president obama also drew a line in the sand about iraq's nuclear weapons. >> america wants to resolve this issue through true diplomacy and we need the time and space to do so. a nuclear armed iran is not a

challenge that can be contained. >> reporter: but the president's strong words weren't enough to satisfy mitt romney. >> we can look at iran for the last four years, is iran closer to a nuclear weapon or not? and we know the answer, iraq is closer to a nuclear weapon. >> reporter: it was a media day for both president obama and mitt romney. whether physically in new york or on tv. and both trying to one up each other in praising bill clinton at the former president's annual conference on global giving. >> if there's one thing we have learned in this election season by the way, it is that a few words for bill clinton can do a man a lot of good. all i got to do now is wait a couple of days for that bounce to happen. >> president clinton, thank you for your very kind introduction, although i have to admit, i really did like the speech a few weeks ago a little bit better. >> reporter: romney is already back on the campaign trail and on his economic message.

in ohio late this afternoon with his running mate. >> what he did not do in his first four years he's said he's going to do in the next four years which is raising taxes. and is there anyone who thinks that raising taxes will rep grow the economy? >> no! >> reporter: that comment that mitt romney made about raising -- president obama follows mitt romney to ohio tomorrow. >> chuck todd back at the white house with all of it starting us off, thanks. now to our conversation with governor mitt romney who chose today's interview here at the public library today to stake out some of his major positions on education, including some differences with the president. >> in your view, should teachers about allowed to strike? >> i don't know that i would prevent teachers from being able

to strike. i just think the most important asset in being able to have a productive relationship between the teachers unions and the districts and the states that they're dealing with, is that the person sitting across the table from them should not have received the largest campaign contributions from the teachers union itself. we have a very unusual situation in this united states, it relates not just to the teachers unions, but more broadly. i don't mean to be terribly partisan but i am. in the case of democratic party, the largest contributors to the teachers unions are the democrats. allowing teachers to strike on matters such as their compensation, i think is a right that exists in this country. but i do believe we have to have a recognition of the person sitting across the table is representing the public and the students, not the teachers

union. >> another issue that came out of chicago, governor, what portion of the teachers' salaries should be connected to test stores. >> i think there should be some connection between the capacity of the teachers to move students from grade level to grade level to their compensation. there were some teachers that regularly moved virtually all of their students a full grade level or more. and there were other teacher s that were unable to do that. in my opinion, the teachers that are able to do that should be paid more. >> the cost of a full rise to tuition is $38,900, do you think we owe as a nation every pupil

in american the equivalent of a $38,900 education every year? >> i don't know that a dollar number always equates to how effective the teacher is. i was delighted to have a terrific education at a private institution, that's not going to be available for the entire narks but i know there are teachers in the public system that are every bit as good as those that are in the private system. i don't know that i place a dollar figure upon it, and as i look at my own experience in my state of massachusetts, dollar spending per pupil wasn't a very good determining factor of how well the student would do. at one point i looked at all the school districts in massachusetts, we have 351 cities and towns. i plotted spending per student against the achievement of the average student in each district. and there was no relationship at all, interestingly. in fact the district who spent the most per pupil and had the

smallest classrooms, those kids were in the bottom 10% of our state performers. i realized it was not just money, it was a focus on how you spend the money, attracting the best and brightest of the profession. measuring the very best. giving students the incentive to excel. but the key for me relates to great teachers and creating families that can support their child? education. >> part of our interview with governor prom any here in new york today. meanwhile the role of those teachers unions also figured prominently into the conversation we aired today with president obama. he sat down with nbc's savannah guthrie, who's here with us in the studio tonight. >> brian, good evening to you. we spoke with the president over the weekend in milwaukee. i asked him as you mentioned about the teachers strike in chicago which had him walking a fine line in a battle between two of his allies, his former chief of staff recall emanual and the teachers unions he

counts on for support. there was a leading advocate that shows this that the teachers unions are no longer -- >> i see all across the country, people want results. and i'm a strong believer that the way you get results is to get everybody involved. so it starts at home, parents have to parent and turn off the tv and video and make sure your kids are doing their home work. it means teachers striving for excellence in the classroom. it was very important for mayor emanuel to explain let's step up our game and it's porptd for the teachers unions to say let's make sure we're not blaming the teachers for all the wrongs out there. >> romney said he can't talk up reform while indulging in groups

that block it. >> you know, i think governor romney and a number of folks try to politicize the issue and do a lot of teacher bashing. when i meet teachers all across the country, they are so devo devoted, so dedicated to our kids. some think we haven't been popular of teachers unions, i'm a big proponent of charter schools for example. i get really frustrated when i hear teacher bashing as evidence of performance. what is actually true, if we have got a bad teacher, we should be able to train them to get better and if they can't get better, they should get fired. >> you thie u.s. spends just about as much money as any country per pupil. what are we spending our money on?

>> we have got a very diverse country, compared to those smaller countries where all the kids are coming to school pretty well prepared, they're not hungry, they're not poor. in our country, we have got poor kids, some kids that have deep troubles at home and that affects performance, but there's no doubt that we can step up our game, so what i have embraced moving forward is let's hire 100,000 new math and science teachers. let's continue to focus on early childhood education, makes a big difference particularly for kids who are low income. part of our race to the top, one of the dropout factories out there, a couple of thousand schools where we know they are really underperforming and let's transform those schools. >> in your state of the union, you said i'm putting you on notice, colleges, if you don't refuse this tuition, you're going to see your funding drop. do you see any indication of

change, that they have listened to that threat? >> the biggest problem we have with tuition, especially public universities is that state legislators have been shifting priorities. you've got to do your part and prioritize this, how well your state does is going to depend on how well your workforce is educated. but what we have also seen is schools starting to do something about costs. >> and one more note, governor romney mentioned to you, brian, that he supports pay for performance for teachers and he also supports income situations. >> all of this brings us to the woman who's been our own in house expert these past few days across the street here on education nation, our chief education correspondent rehema ellis is here with a closer look on where these two men really do differ on this position. >> we look at how the candidates

come down on some key education issues. on the kwhush of common core, president obama strongly supports it, governor romney calls it a mistake and objects to using federal money as obama has done to rewards states that have adopted a common core. governor romney has had sharp things to say about the union, he says they don't always work for students. president obama is in favor or subsidizing loans to low income students. >> rehema ellis with us the past couple of days. the supreme court is going to take up a case that's going to decide if a police officer can get a blood sample from a suspected drunk driver without having a warrant.

it's a case from new jersey where blood was drawn from the suspect without his consent, the trial ruled his right to illegal search and seizure, another court will decide next year. they have called it a catch, but which team and which ref, the bad call heard around the football league had people howling at the nfl. slightly larger than a ho toaster oven in a large american city. hello... so why are you doing hers? only your doctor can determine if your persistent heartburn is actually something more serious like acid reflux disease. over time, stomach acid can damage the lining of your esophagus. for many, prescription nexium not only provides 24-hour heartburn relief, but can also help heal acid-related erosions in

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last night at the end of the monday night game, it was almost as if you could run to the window and hear football fans screaming in anger and disgust over an appallingly bad call that decided the outcome of the game and focussed the attention on the world of the lockout of the nfl's regular professional refs and the hiring of replacements. our reports tonight of notre dame grad and long-ti dame. >> grad. >> it was a hail mary pass, but the call on the field was to many a mortal sin.

>> after three weeks of questionable calls, missed calls and disorganization, the touchdown it gave seattle over green bay -- grand larceny screamed one wisconsin paper. green bay nicknamed title town was just tirked off. >> jennings came down with that ball. >> it was really a bad loss because of a bad call. >> reporter: the nfl locked out the referee's union in june. the two sides are still hashing out issues. >> we're concerned about the players, we're concerned about the integrity of the game. it's time to get the regular officials back. >> reporter: wisconsin governor tweeted return the real reps. >> it is time to get the real refs. >> even the president posted on

twitter, nfl fans on both sides of the aisle hope the reck walkout is setted soon. >> one team is wanted soon, a big game, if the green bay packers missed the playoffs by one game, they have every right to point the finger at park avenue in new york. >> reporter: today in a statement the league said that golden state should have been flagged for pass interference, but as for that touchdown, the nfl says they reviewed the video and supports the decision not to overturn the on field ruling. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight, there's been trouble in space, but will we pay the price here on earth? world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common.

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finally tonight, san francisco has the high es housing prices in the country. now they're trying something new. apartments that are not a whole lot bigger than a ministorage unit. >> when wayne and terra got married, they knew they would be close. but when wayne moveded into her 280 square feet studio, they took shareded space to a whole new level. >> it's like living in a hotel room. >> this is their bedroom, living room, kitchen, closet, all carefully laid out. it has to be. >> it's a puzzle. we were able to pare down and rotate clothes. >> down the street, patrick

kennedy is putting in a building with 23 microapartments, 300 square feet each. >> just how big is 300 square feet? about the size of a full size parking spot. and the city is considering shrinking the minimum size to just 220 square feet, about the size of a small rv. opponents worry about overcrowding. but the trend is spreading. in new york city, the city is holding a design contest. >> there is a changing demographic, a need for a different kind of housing model. >> my tv's back here. >> beth hennessy downsized from a three bedroom house in. now living small and loving it. kristen dahlgren, nbc news, san

francisco. that's our broadcast on a tuesday night, thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams and we hope to see you back here tomorrow night. good night.