jim. >> axelrod: elaine, thank you. uhe abu hamza case was as high profile as it gets in great britain. the bbc reported last month even the queen wondered out loud why the radical cleric had not been laced in custody since in her view he must have surely broken some laws. her comments were made during the time abu hamza railed against britain from his mosque in north london. or a fourth stray of straight day, syria and turkey traded tre today. l 's the least sign syria's civil war is now expanding into a threat to regional security. correspondent holly williams is in istanbul. in il reporter: syria's civil war is spilling over its borders. today, the turkish village of guvecci was hurt by two mortar shells. nobody was hurt it & it's thought they were a mistake. the turkish military returns fire for the fourth day in a row. turkey has openly sided with the eebels in syria's conflict, confh so far, it hasn't intervened directly. now some fear that border skirmishes between the two countries could escalate into a regional

>> axelrod: tonight, the romney bounce. >> let's make it happen! thank you so much. >> axelrod: as they get ready for the second debate, new polls show the first one was fuel for mitt romney. nancy cordes joins us with the latest from both camps. also tonight, hope for malala. the pakistani school girl clinging to life after the taliban shot her at close range. doctors see some promising signs. elizabeth palmer reports from pakistan. lessons learned on the battle fields of iraq and afghanistan are saving lives here at home. bob orr with that story. >> it's awesome. it's so big, too. i can't believe it's going down the street. >> axelrod: and mission improbable-- a space shuttle inching along the streets of los angeles on its final mission. ben tracy takes us along for the ride. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> axelrod: good evening. i'm jim axelrod. in 24 days, americans will elect a president. according to the latest national gallup poll, mitt romney now leads barack obama by two points, 49 to 47, a statistical dead h

." >> axelrod: good evening. i'm jim axelrod. many americans saw gas prices go up a bit this week. californians saw them skyrocket. nationally, the average stand at $3.81 a gallon, up roughly $.supper 2, but in california prices exploded to a record high average of $4.61 a gallon, up d.n.a that's a $.47 in a week and makes it the most expensive gas in the country. as john blackstone reports, this could only happen in california. >> in the golden state, gas

axelrod, thank you. we'll be back in a minute with our political rounditably. >> schieffer: and we've added two people to the table, columnist michael gerson of the "washington post," and john fund of the "national review" who has written a book called, "who's counting-- how fraudsters and bureaucrats put your vete risk." john and norah are still with us, of course. let me start with you, michael. why do you think he didn't bring up the 47%? that seems to me the question everybody in washington is kicking around these days. >> i have a suspicion about the president's performance because i saw it myself in 2004, when i helped prepare george w. bush for his debate, the first big debate against john kerry. he had not debated in four years. he knew all the facts, but he hadn't been sharp fling the argumentes, youun the three points here, the three points here, the offense and the defense. i think something like that took place in this case. the president has not debated in four years. it was a wake-up call.

>> glor: jim axelrod, thank you, jim. the weather threat is also throwing presidential campaign plans off course. with nine days until the election, both candidates adjusted schedules. both canceling events in virginia to focus on other swing states. jan crawford reports. >> reporter: in washington, the president was briefed by fema officials working to coordinate the government's response to the storm. >> this is a serious and big storm. >> reporter: sandy has turned campaign schedules upside down, especially as senator mark warner said in his home state of virginia. >> the storm will throw a little havoc into the race. i was supposed to be with the president and president clinton on monday. that rally has been canceled. >> reporter: the latest polls shows virginia now a dead heat and an important state for romney if he's to win on november 6th. he canceled three campaign events today in the state and instead spent the day in ohio with running mate paul ryan. >> let's, today when we get home, put in our prayers the peopl

we'll talk with his campaign senior strategist, david axelrod.hen, governor romney tries to build on his first debate, and continue his surge in the polls. we'll ask senior advisor, ed gillespie, how romney hopes to keep the momentum going, axelrod and ed gillespie, only on fox news sunday and also, more questions about the deadly terror attack on americans in libya. we'll ask our sunday panel about warnings the obama administration ignored, about the security threat in benghazi. and, the candidates learn the heat is on in the kitchen and on the trail. all, right now, on fox news sunday. ♪ >> chris: and, hello, again, from fox news in washington. with two presidential debates, in the next 8 days, and the polls getting much tighter, we may be reaching the decisive moment in the long race for the white house. we have questions for both sides, today, starting with david axelrod, senior strategist for the obama campaign, who joined us from williamsburg, virginia where the and -- is getting ready for tuesday's debate, and, david, welcome back to fox n

here's david axelrod on cbs's "face the nation."aying that governor romney died or was dishonest? >> dishonest, absolutely. when he said he never proposed $5 trillion in tax cuts, that was dishonest. >> when senator obama said in 2008, i'm going to cut the deficit in half, close gitmo, people said that was unrealistic, but didn't say he wasn't telling the truth. there's a difference, isn't there? >> no. closing gitmo involved an act of congress, and he wasn't able to get congress to agree with him on that question. this is basic math. >> greta: joining us our political panel, abc news senior washington editor rick klein, casey huntington, and byron york. rick, first you. i thought it was executive order to close gitmo, just needed congress to place the people. am i right? >> they realized it was going to be harder than they wanted. the distinction he's making is in terms of campaign pledges versus actions that you can possibly have congress do later. it's a stretch obviously. one man's lie and dishonesty. >> greta: it's name-calling

axelrod to answer that question. i would hope that the new york times as they camped outside of scooter libby's house, are you camped outside of the scooter rice residence or anything? >> great we have another assign mint. >> we a dead ambassador and two navy seals dead and another security officer dead and the president answers this the next morning by flying to vegas for a fundraiser. i submit if this were a republican president and this went down this way you would have reporters camped outside of hillary's house and rice's house and demand that the president do a full-blown press conference on what happened. maybe it is a income pa tense and series of mistakes, when you attacks on benghazi and the red cross office and then postings on facebook we are coming after you on september 10? they don't have actionable intelligence? what? this is ridiculous. i think the press is partly culpable here. >> chris: jeff? >> people are raising this as a question and this was not the case three weeks ago when ambassador rice was

bill: david axelrod was on the same program. talked about this matter, it did not arise to the level, where the president, vice president would be told of this. white house, those are the maers handled at the state department. why don't you believe that flies? >> maybe this is because the president of the united states doesn't get his national security briefings. maybe because we haven't had a president in a year. flying off to nevada, traveling here. traveling there. gets only half of the national security briefings. we have a campaigner-in-chief, not a commander-in-chief. that is didn't rise to the level of president handling or finding out about it. four or five terrorist incidents that should have warned you. and september 11, excuse me, maybe you should be a little alert on september 11 and not getting ready for your trip to las vegas. bill: how is mitt romney handling this? >> i think mitt romney is handling it fiber-optic. at first he criticized for making a statement we shouldn't apologize for the mohammed film which tur

well i agreed with what i heard david axelrod was saying. that, you know, there are battleground states left and both sides think that they're all up for grabs and going to go for all of them and we're doing that. our message is the same that we can either go on the way we've been, or we can do things different over the next four years and governor romney's presenting his views about how to turn the economy around and get peace. >> senator jim talent, thank you, sir. thanks for being with us. now the debates are over what can we expect in the next 14 days? the strategy sessions. straight ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." >> time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. seth works boston area renna sauns fares, haunted houses and night clubs and hawks from his bone shop cart selling skulls and other items. he hooks and engages and sells through performance and mirroring customer temperaments. watch your business sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. >> [ metal rattling ] ♪ hello? boo! i am the ghost of meals past. when you don't use new p

gerri: we want to talk about axelrod. talk abou of how much the consut advirs over what was going on in lia. it is amazing to me that he just refused to answer the question, here is david axelrod. >> this is the first u.s. investor killed since 1979, came on this show d five others during t american people a story that came out not to be true and you say we shouldn't discuss this? >> that is not what i am saying. the difference from the manner in which he has conducted himself. it is not just me, he was criticizedrom people from right to left. gerri: so, rich, will this be an election issue at the end of the day that will play out over the next few weeks? will we be hearing from sources in the administration, the pentagon saying we knew the were problems,he administration wouldn't act? >> it is partly because they're trying to throw them under the s. this kind of dynamic gets going, you haveore backside. you can have people defending their institutions. somebody from the stat department saying last week i don't know why t

. >> the last nine days with obama campaign senior advisor david axelrod and republican national committee chairman reince priebus. and then bob mcdonald and former ohio democratic governor ted strickland. plus, who has a big mow. with republican polster, bill mack in tir, and pollster anna greenberg, and time magazine's michael duffy. i'm candy crowley. and this is "state of the union." >>> hurricane sandy has sidelined the presidential campaigns in some spots. both candidates have canceled events in critical swing states, and in more conventional political news, a surprise nonetheless, the des moines register endorsed mitt romney for president. the first time in 40 years the newspaper picked the republican nominee. while the editors praise president obama's early efforts to revitalize the economy through his stimulus plan, it concluded his record on the economy the past four years does not suggest he would lead in the direction the nation must go in the next four years. joining me now for the politics of weather and everything else is obama campaign senior advisor david axelrod. good mor

. >> reporter: on cnn senior obama advisory david axelrod was asked how the storm would impact the race. >> we have to focus on how to help people during the storm and hope it clears out and that by the next weekend we'll be free of it and people can focus on the election. >> reporter: now romney heads to the swing state of iowa on monday. he got a boost with the endorsement of the des moines register. the paper has not endorsed a republican since richard nixon. that was 40 years ago. the president was unable to revive the struggling economy. and no sign of four more years. jan crawford, cbs news, marion, ohio. >> coming up, calculating the cost of hurricane sandy. and insurance companies gear up for an onslaught of claims. this is the "cbs morning news". claims. this is the "cbs morning news". clusters of pustules, pimples. i had this shingle rash right next to my spine. the soreness was excruciating. it was impossible to even think about dancing. when you're dancing, your partner is holding you. so, his hand would have been right in the spot that i had the shingles. no tango. no rhumb

and jim axelrod with an executive who's found a formula for succeeding in a tough economy. it's another at-bat for "money ball." >> we essentially have to have players whose performance is better than what we're paying them. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, in ohio police are searching for victims of the meningitis outbreak. in tennessee, they're reaching out with a phone bank. today federal officials estimated 13,000 americans received steroid injections that may have been contaminated with a potentially lethal fung gas. 105 illnesses have been reported across nine states. eight people have died. the steroids were used to treat back pain and joint pain. those who received injections in their spinal columns are at risk for the brain and final infection known as meningitis. dr. jon lapook begins tonight with the state that has the largest number of cases. >> reporter: in tennessee, public health officials are searching to reach people injected with the contaminated vials. >> whether each and every vial was

and jim axelrod with a young soccer player who's replaced a missing leg with gallantry on the field. >> i just want to be seen as an equal. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, and we could add happy new year, because this is the first day of the federal government's new fiscal year. but there's not much to celebrate because the nation is headed toward what's being called the fiscal cliff and there are dire new warnings today about what will happen to american families unless congress and the president reach a budget deal by december 31. that is the day that a series of tax cuts will expire and big cuts in federal spend will take hold. tax experts said today 90% of american families are facing what they call unprecedented tax increases. how much? wyatt andrews is in washington tonight. wyat >> reporter: scott, according to the non-partisan tax policy center, the united states is now on the threshold of one of the largest tax increases in history-- a tax hike that could average $3,500 for every american household. witho

it required david axelrod to step in so how will the candidates do?emocratic strategist and justin stacy, republican strategist. start with you. what is going on that they got to bring in the big guns to get this under control? >> i wouldn't have had it any other way. david axelrod the best to prep joe biden for the debate so no shock he would be involved and come in to held. gerri: what do you see? obviously the vice president hasn't debated in a while. might be a little rusty. >> i'm not surprised. the obama campaign is in a tailspin. it is in freefall because the polls have all come out in a lot of swing states especially in florida showing romney picked up tremendous momentum after the debate performance so there's a lot of pressure on joe biden to stop the momentum the romney campaign has delivered. i am not surprised axelrod was brought in to do that. gerri: it is critical. when you think about it it is an interesting set up and candidates are sitting at a table rather than standing at a podium. what is your expectation for the tone of the debat

if you saw david axelrod with chris wallace yesterday where axelrod and company, they're trying to sayking this a campaign issue, not us. here is some of the exchange, then more from her. >> there is no doubt that he's working hard to exploit this issue and i would point to the fact that this morning in bloomberg news, chris stevens' dad said that he regretted that people were trying to exploit this issue and i think we ought to follow the lead of the ambassador's family and allow this investigation to run and get to the bottom of it and make the adjustments that are necessary. by the way -- >> wait, wait, wait, david, wait, wait. this is the first u.s. ambassador that has been killed since 1979, susan rice came on this show and five others and gave the american people a story that turned out to not be true and you're saying that we shouldn't discuss this? that we should wait for the investigation to be completed? >> no, no. >> that's what you just said. >> that's calm down. that's obviously not what i'm saying. >> steve: do you think axelrod had something to do with soup rice going ou

another thing that we heard david axelrod say this morning is that the president didn't want to have two candidates on stage insulting each other. that was part of the reasoning for why he didn't bring up bain capital or romney's tax returns or the 47 percent video. >>trace: "politico" had a quote that said there was no knockout punch but a thousand cuts that made obama plead. the question everyone is asking, how much did he bleed. how much did it cost? >>guest: it is hard to say because it will take a long-term, not a long-term, up to a week to she in the presidents. we don't know yet what it will look like in the battleground states. e obama campaign is moving very quickly to make that trust argument against mitt romney through some of their surrogates in states like ohio and virginia and others. they don't want this to take off for mitt romney. >>trace: it could take a few days or a week to find out how it polls. i will give you exams of how it is polling. this is cbs and cbs says that 56 percent say their opinion of mitt romney has changed, and 63 percent say romney cares about t

do you buy david axelrod saying that president obama labeled it terror the next day? >> well, it didn't sound from that context as if he labeled it as terrorism the next day, anderson. but it does seem credible to me that the white house is sharing with the public what it knows when it knows. it's very difficult to get good information immediately and as this issue becomes clearer, i think the white house has made a credible effort to tell the americans what it, in fact, knows about it. >> ari fleischer, what about that? david axelrod is also saying look, an investigation, you have to be prudent, you're president of the united states, you can't jump to conclusions. >> i have a fair amount of sympathy. i stood on that podium at the white house in the case of attacks on our country. you have to wait until you have all the facts to speak. and you're under pressure to speak immediately. but in this case, i think there was a willful pattern in this administration of downplaying terrorist attacks against our country. it was done with the underwear bomber on the airplane. it

we will play you the heated exchange between obama a's senior adviser david axelrod and fox' own chris wallace when mr. axelrod doubled down on the suggestion that these deaths are our ambassador and three others are being politicized by governor romney and congressman ryan. we'll take a closer look at the charge. one state's plan for equal education is raising serious concerns of racial profiling. we'll tell you about a proposal to use students race annette is in satisfactory tee to determine their academic goals. a man hit from 24 miles in the air and hit a speed of 833 miles an hour during his fall. can you imagine? how is it possible that this death defying jump did not break every skydiving record known to man? we'll take a look and tell you more about the man who just broke the speed of sound. >> when i was standing there on top of the world you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records any more. you do not think about gaining statistical date a. the only thing yodata. the only thing is you want to come back alive. any way you want. fully customize it for your tra

i said to david axelrod i don't have a better idea for how he could have done this. why didn't you break the rules in washington and david axelrod's answer is because it is washington, not america. there really are sort of a prisoner to the tyranny of 60 votes and obama really does believe were certainly did believe that if we get the policy right the policies will take care of themselves. he said that was blowing down from the top. they took this almost perverse pride that we will put our head down and do the right thing. the best example that i tell in the book, democrats your heads will explode when you read this, tax cuts -- you may remember in 2008 george bush this stimulus. it was $180 billion and sent everybody a check. love, george bush. here is the money. obama did the same thing except for the czech part. behavioral economics showed that when you get that check you are marginally more likely to put it in the bank instead of spending it and the whole deck of stimulus is to spend it the economists said. the right thing to do would be to decrease withholdings

axelrod doesn't have to wear a tie.on that piece. >> if i had miller's tie, i wouldn't wear one. >> nice. >> take that, miller. >> all right, axelrod, thank you. >>> ikea is getting criticism for some of its ads. there's something missing from them. we'll show you why these are different from the ones we see on "cbs this morning." can we talk about toilet paper? when it comes to toilet paper, there's no such thing as too soft. as long as it still gets the job done. i know what i like. i like feeling both clean and pampered. why should i compromise? not only is quilted northern ultra plush® the only bath tissue with plushquilts®, it has the innerlux layer. three levels of softness and the gentle clean you want. clean comes first. and really soft is really important. quilted northern ultra plush®. for a comfortable, confident clean, or your money back. ♪ i woke up to a feeling ♪ every little thing has meaning ♪ ♪ i woke up to a light bulb on ♪ every little thing is possible now ♪ [ female announcer ] we've added a touch o

rules in washington and axelrod's answer was the essentially because it is washington.it is not america. there really are sort of prisoner to the tyranny of 60 votes. obama really does believe or did believe that if we get the policy right the politics will take care of themselves. he said that was blowing down from the top. they took the perverse pride in we will put our heads down and do the right thing. for democrats your heads will explode when you read this, saying tax cuts, you may remember in 2008 george bush did a stimulus that was $180 billion and they send everybody a check, love george bush. here is the money. obama did the same thing except for the czech part because behavioral economics shows when you get that check you are marginally more likely to put it in the bank instead of spending it and the whole deck of stimulus is to spend it so the economists said the best thing to do with the decrease with holdings so everybody will get a couple extra dollars in their paycheck every week. they won't notice and that way they will be more likely to spend it. exit

axelrod's comments. >> i think now based on the investigation of intelligence, they made the decision, to conclude that 24-6s a terrorist a-- that this was a terrorist attack. in the day as after it was not clear. lou: a direct contradition of one another. bywo senior members of the president's campaign team. when is it? which raises the question why security officers were not the ones speaks to media. meanwhile, as they offer conflicting accounts of what president obama knew and when, the obama administration today rejected calls for u.n. ambassad suzanne rice to resign, rice was on sunday morning show circuit 5 days after the benghazi attacks, maintaining evidence that pointed then to a spantainous ac -- spontanious attack. statements proved false by sources in the intelligence community and state department, and reported by fox news. a spoke person for secretary of state clinton said that secretary believes rice has done 88 a suburb job as -- done a quote, suburb job as u.n. ambassador. contravened their statements to the american people. and congress. we'll take all that up he ton