now tonight's host, bill fitzgerald. >> tonig. >>> welcome to the people's debate. tonight, in the very close race for one of virginia's u.s. senate seats, the candidates will answer the questions about the issues the voters of virginia face. our moderator tonight is the managing principal of decide smart, political analyst for wtvr, and moderator of many debates across virginia, dr. bob holsworth. good evening, bob. >> thanks, bill. let's introduce the candidates vying to be virginia's next u.s. senator. joining us tonight are two former governors of the commonwealth, republican george allen and democrat tim kaine. both men know the stakes are high in this year's election, with key issues like jobs and the economy, the federal debt, and the future of medicare. tonight's debate is being broadcast on television stations throughout virginia and you can join live conversation about the debate on twitter, hashtag, people's debate. here is a look at the guidelines for tonight's debate. candidates will answer questions from me and our panel of four. for each question, eac

so let's go straight to virginia to bill fitzgerald. >> great to be here. >> i worked in charles lots vil, i have interviewed both these men's. virginians know both of them very well. it's so close, so late in the game. are there really any undecides left? >> that's a great question. as you say, they're very popular former governors. george allen fighting to get his senate seat back which he lost in 2006. they have had debates going back to 2006. it's razor thin. but one of the interesting aspects of that, for kaine he has always retained a greater distance. even as the presidential race tightened up here, kaine managed to keep himself afloat. so the two races are not really moving on parallel tracks. that's one of the interesting aspects of that. as you mentioned they could be separated by a few thousand votes. well, tim kaine says i'm expect to go get a few thousand voters from the split voters. >> well, bill you also know very well, outside money, cha ching, cha ching, it is pouring into swing states in record amounts, like virginia,

on behalf of everyone who brought this debate to you, i'm bill fitzgerald. good night. >> all this month and until election day, c-span is bringing you white house and senate debates around the country. on c-span television networks c-span radio and c-span.org. tomorrow we're in west virginia for the debate between democratic governor earl ray tomlin and republican challenger bill moloti. live coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern. wednesday, we move to massachusetts for the third debate between republican senator scott brown and his democratic challenger, elizabeth warren at 7:00 eastern. >> piquancy both of those debates on line -- you can see both of those debates online as well. and thursday the only debate between the vice presidential candidates. coming up, tonight's debate between the senator from montana and his republican challenger. then, and look at efforts to stop the online sale of the legal prescription drugs. later, the religion news writers association examines religious freedom and the first amendment. >> our campaign 2012 debate hubble web s

on behalf of everyone who brought this debate to you, i'm bill fitzgerald. good night. >> c-span is bringing you live house, senate and governor's debates between now and november 6th, including tonight, live from charleston, west virginia, the debate for the state's governor. mr. tomlin won a 2010 special election against mr. maloney. coverage from west virginia starting at 7:00 p.m. tonight here on c-span. and we will have live road to the white house coverage, president obama campaigning in ohio. he will be at ohio state university in columbus at 5:00. we will have that live on c-span and follow that with your phone calls and reactions. >> look at what president obama did on the budget, nothing, except ro and spend. as a result of the president's abdication supposed leadership's -- abdication of leadership, our credit rating was downgraded for the first time in our nation's history. >> we laid out a $4 trillion reduction. ladies and gentlemen, these guys vote against everything. no, i mean it. they say they do not like our plan. ok. i get that. what is yo

on behalf of everyone who brought this debate to you, i'm bill fitzgerald. good night. >> all this month and until election day, c-span is bringing you white house and senate debates around the country. on c-span television networks c-span radio and c-span.org. tomorrow we're in west virginia for the debate between democratic governor earl ray tomlin and republican challenger bill moloti. live coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern. wednesday, we move to massachusetts for the third debate between republican senator scott brown and his democratic challenger, elizabeth warren at 7:00 eastern. and thursday the only debate between the vice presidental candidates. vice president biden faces republican nominee paul ryan. our program starts at 7:00 eastern and debate at 9:00. all of those debates will be on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. looking back in the archives, here's an exchange from the 1984 vice presidental debate. >> let me help you with the difference, miss ferraro, between iran and embassy in lebanon. iran we were held by a foreign government. in le

bill clinton and bruce springsteen. tom fitzgerald is joins us now and we'll start with the numbers here. >> reporter: brian, the poll tracking site real clear politics tracks the major polls out there in the country right now. the judged to give you a better idea of exactly where we are in this campaign. what real clear politics is seeing tonight is that of the seven major polls they look at, seven of those polls, mitt romney is loading in four of them, ties in a fifth and trails the president in only two. even after a better second debate performance by president obama, mitt romney is now leading the rcp average. in ohio thursday, the obama campaign got a double dose of star power. >> was born in the usa and, unlike one of the candidates for president, i keep all of my money here. >> reporter: the former president was joined by the current boss. >> and if he would have brought the saxophone, i was going to -- [ laughter ] if he only brought that saxophone you would have seen a real jam up here right now. >> reporter: bruce springste

taking top billing on the trail today, here's tom fitzgerald with more. >> it is no mystery where both these candidates are. tonight, debate night, they are both in florida now for their third and final contest. and this comes on the heels of an important new poll average out tonight. you are looking right now at the real clear politics national average of polls that was released just today. this new national average finds mitt romney now ahead tonight 47.3% to president obama's 47.1%, but keep in mind this is well within that margin of error meaning tonight this race is still locked in a dead heat. we begin in florida. mitt romney agrees to flip a coin for a friendly touch football game between his staff and the traveling press corps. romney's advisors say they expect a strong performance. >> we have to have a strong national security structure, and i think you will see governor romney contrasting that with the economic failures of the last four years. >> in maryland, the president wrapped up his own debate preparation and headed to florida. his advisers say they are confident the pre