and all things catherine fenton were fair game. conservative publication free beacon printed this article, written anonymously, the article suggested catherine's twitter account revealed she liked to get wet at happy hour and that purple juice was her choice to get blackout drunk. >> i felt no need to even defend it or address it because they were inside jokes. i'm 24, yes. i drink, that's legal. yes, i have had boyfriends. all of that seems pretty normal to me. >> reporter: in regret in asking that question? >> zero. i would do it again if i had a chance. >> reporter: what angers her most is those attacking her don't know anything about her. she's a teacher. her parents are ultra conservative, she says. and she's a registered independent who voted for republican john mccain in 2008. this year she's having a hard time choosing a candidate because she wants more specifics. she likes obama care because it allowed her to stay on her parent's health insurance. but she also likes romney's business sense. at 24, she's focused more on soc

. >> reporter: an audience member catherine fenton gave both candidates the perfect opening. >> in what new ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace, specifically regarding females making only 72% of their what male counterparts earn? >> is this a great question. i was raised by a single mom who had put herself through school while looking after two kids. >> reporter: president obama pointed out that the first bill he signd when he took office gave -- signed when he took office gave women more leeway to shoe employers over unequal pay. >> i have two daughters, and i want to make sure they have the same opportunities anybody's sons have. >> reporter: romney argued he made hiring women a priority when he was elected governor of massachusetts in 2002. >> we took a concerted effort to go out and find women that had backgrounds qualified. they brought us whole binders full of women. >> reporter: today, someone said this in a conference call. >> to be perfectly clear, mitt romney did not request those resumes. after the election, our group approached the romney transiti

. >> catherine fenton has a question. >> in what new ways do you plan to rectify the inequalities of the workplace, with females making 74% of what their counterpars earn? >> it is a great question. i was raised by a single mom, who put herself through school while raising two kids, and who sacrificed to make sure we had what we needed. my grandmother was a secretary in a bank and never got acollege education. she worked to be a vice- president at a local bank but hit the glass ceiling. she trained people who became her bosses. this is why the first bill i signed was the lilly ledbetter bill. it was named after an amazing woman who had beneen doing the same job as a man for years, paidouound out she was being less, and the supreme court said she should have said something earlier. we changed that and this is what we need. the women are increasingly the breadwinners. there is a family issue, a middle class issue. this is why -- we have to make sure that young people are able to afford a college education. gov. romney wants to make pell grants accessible for young people. but that is w

we're keeping track i promise you and the next question is for you so stay standing and it's catherine fenton who has a question for you. >> in what new ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace? specifically regarding females making only 72% of what their male counterparts earn? >> well, catherine, this is a great question. and i was raised by a single mom who had to put herself through school while looking after two kids. and she worked hard everyday and made a lot of sacrifices to make sure we got everything we needed. my grandmother, she started off as a secretary in a bank she never got a college education even though she was smart as a whip and she worked her way up to become a vice president at the local bank but she hit the glass ceiling. she trained people who would end up becoming her bosses during the course of her career. she didn't complain, that's not what you did in that generation. and this is one of the reasons why one of the first -- the first bill i signed was something caled the lily ledbetter bill. and this is named after this amazing woman who had b