dana bash, thank you. want to take you live to davenport, iowa, where the president is beginning what one might call a blitzkrieg, six states, two days, and you can hear for yourself the message. let's listen in. >> if you talk about how much you love teachers during a debate, but just a few weeks ago you said we shouldn't hire anymore teachers because they won't grow the economy. you probably have romneyesia. if you sit on stage in a nationally televised debate, saying how much you love cars, you're a car guy. except you wrote an article and titled it, "let detroit go bankrupt." then you almost certainly have romneyesia. if you can't seem to remember the policies on your own website, or the promises you made over the last six years that you've been running for president, or the promises you made six days ago, you probably have romneyesia. but don't worry, obamacare covers preexisting conditions. we can pick you up. there's a cure. we can make you well. as long as you vote, iowa, we can cure folks of this

dana bash join us. john, you write that the vice president debate "no game changer but could shift momentum." how joe. >> reporter: look what happened since the first presidential debate. governor romney has momentum. moved ahead of the president by a smidgen in the national polls. caught up or gained ground in several key battleground states, ohio, virginia, florida, colorado, and a built of a breeze at his back and republicans think they have momentum. in this debate, americans pick presidents, not vice-presidents. not to downplay the stakes, but the presidential debates are more important. if joe biden can turn a strong performance maybe halt the republican momentum. if paul ryan can, republicans keep the momentum going into next week. >> john, playing sound bites leading into a lot of these debates. one that gets played over and over has been the famous sound bite where dan quayle essentially got his clock cleared. i knew jack kennedy and you're not jack kennedy, but that turned well for mr. quayle.

>> all right, dana bash down in boca. thanks so much.n senior cnn political analyst and editorial director for the national journal ron brownstein. >> good morning. >> so president obama described as confident and commanding. mitt romney, though, scoring points on people are saying he looked presidential. what do you make of it? >> well, no, i thought actually the president clearly drove this debate. he was much more confident. he was more commanding. mitt romney, you know, was a little bit of who was that masked man? this was the first debate when he moderated positions on domestic policy. he really went much further on foreign policy, and really throwing off the persona of the spring. which was much more of kind of a bristling, you know, i'll be tough on our enemies around the world and even tough on our allies around the world, kind of bend them to our will. last night you know, the lion -- i'm sorry the lamb devoured the lion. it was right from the first answer he was trying very much to blur differences rather than sharpen them, wit

dana bash, appreciate it. our cnn political activist david and gloria offered their expert analysis as soon as it was over, as did john king. >> most improved. that award goes to barack obama. i think he had a much stronger debate tonight. you can read social media, there are a lot of people out there, democrats are all fired up. but i must tell you, i think mitt romney has had two very good debates back to back. a solid performance tonight. >> both sides can leave thinking they want to do what they want to do. zero question, democratic intensity will come back. governor romney did a good job prosecuting against the incumbent's record. >> mitt romney's best moments were focusing on the economic record and saying the middle class has been buried many times, which we have heard before. for me, the president's best moments were romney versus romney. >> gloria borger said the president pointed out differences in mitt romney's positions at various points in his career as governor, primary candidate and now as repub

senior congressional correspondent dana bash is live from danville, kentucky this morning, and dana, this was a much more spirited debate this time around, a debate with a capital "d." >> reporter: oh, it sure was. i was in the hall last night, and it was rocking and rolling from the beginning. pretty much right through the entire 90 minutes. there was some grimacing and grinning, a lot of it actually on the left. there was some smirking on the right, but all in all it was quite a substantive debate on the central issues of the day. these were two men who both came ready to tangle. >> i don't know what world these guys are in. >> reporter: on taxes. >> you can cut tax rates by 20% and preserve important preferences for middle class taxpayers. >> not mathematically possible. >> it is mathematically possible. >> on medicare. >> if they just alou medicare to bargain for the cost of drugs like medicaid can't, that would save $156 billion right off the bat. >> and it would deny seniors choices. >> on the president's foreign poll. >> i when we look weak, our adversaries are much more willi

. >>> we are back with cnn correspondent dana bash correspondent dana bash, cathy mcmorris rogers andpost" political correspondent dan balz. i've got to at least move us a little bit toward the debate tomorrow night. foreign policy. this has not been a foreign policy election. certainly what's happened in libya has kind of put at least the headlines to the front. do you think tomorrow makes a difference and in what way? >> yes because any time that voters see the candidates on the same stage debating big issues, it matters. and my understanding from the romney camp is that he is going to try to make this about an issue that women care about and all americans but particularly women, which is leadership. can this guy be the commander in chief. not so much a tit for tat like we saw in the last election. i was looking up rutgers has a women in politics program. i was looking on the website that women historically tend to be the ones that don't want to be in war. want to get the troops out. that's been at the forefront of a lot of elections in recent years but it's not right now. the quest

frank, first of all, i had a conversation just before you came on the air with dana bash.e of us feel we've never seen anything like this before. we're not sure we loved what we saw. i'm curious to see if you feel viewers and votelers love what they saw. >> it was a very aggressive debate last night. i think there are two things at play here. number one, we're 20 days from the voting and it's a dead even election and you see the stakes involved there. neither man wants to back down or be perceived as backing down. the second thing is that there's been an evolution in the format of these debates over the years. you'll notice that last night there were no restraints on either man. they had a microphone, they could walk all around the stage, they could, as you said, invade the other person's space and they just went at it. people do seem to like the idea of a more robust candidate-to-candidate interaction. the old way of doing things would have been to have had both of them on opposite sides of the stage at lecterns and a panel of questioners where there is much less opportun

as dana bash reports, regardless of the outcome, both men had a specific game plan to further their case. >> mitt romney came wanting voters to see him as commander in chief. the commander in chief came determined to make sure that didn't happen. >> i know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you have offered an opinion, you have been wrong. >> time and time again the president's harsh criticism dripd with sarcasm. >> a few months ago when you were asked what is the geopolitical threat facing america, you should russia, not al qaeda. you should russia. in the 1980s or now calling the foreign policy bank because the cold war has been over for 20 years. >> our navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. the navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out the mission. we're down to 285. >> i think governor romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. you mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military h

. >> our senior congressional correspondent dana bash is in new york this morning. democrats say romney should denounce mourdock. will he? >> it's unclear if this will happen at this point. he certainly did distance himself from mourdock. i can show you a quote from the romney campaign. andrea saul says governor romney disagrees with richard mourdock a's comments and they do not reflect his views. they don't, because the governor does believe there should be an exception for rape when it comes to abortion. the other reason they put that out is women are pretty much the number one target of both campaigns in these couple of weeks and the last thing the romney campaign wants is distraction in a state that was like a gimme. when it comes to mourdock in particular, you remember what happened with todd ackin about rape and the republican party came down on him like a hammer and tried to push him out. that is not happening in this case. primarily because they are very different kinds of comments. that is a point i heard from republicans this morning. it is a point that th

you saw dana bash. this is what -- little show and tell partof the exclusive interview that dana scored and already in danville, kentucky, as well, where the debate as we mentioned is hours away. dana, all right. so you got this -- he has a huge briefcase. so i presume what he's saying there with all the study material is he's prepared. >> reporter: yes. he says that that's what he says with everything that he tackles in life. he prepares, prepares, prepares. what is he doing today in the hours before the face-off? if you look at a picture, he tweeted he's hanging out with his family. he has three young children and one -- a picture with his son. his only -- there you go. only official event to go in to the hall for a walk-through and a sense of the real stage feels before tonight. he's also, of course, this is his reputation, exercising and just relaxing before tonight because back to your original question, he effectively has been preparing for tonight, brooke, since he started. since he was picked as

dana bash joins me now by phone from washington. dana, he had overcome numerous serious illnesses over the past two decades but he continued to work and work hard. >> reporter: he sure did. i remember seeing him in the hallways of the capital when he was undergoing treatment for his cancer, and he clearly was looking frail. i remember sometimes him telling me, he still played squash that morning. he was so intent on keeping going and not letting what ailed him keep him down. it was incredible. you look at what happened at the end of his political career in the senate. it's similar similar. he passed the vote for the president's stimulus plan. he was one of three republicans to do that. that really cost him. i remember watching him go in and out of the democratic leader's office, seeing the kind of anguish on his face, knowing that he -- it was something he felt he needed to do for the smi and knew that it was going to be a very bad move politically. when he did decide to switch parties, he did it with his kind of typical candor that

here's dana bash. >> reporter: florida democrat the case was dispoliced mac court but it's one examplearply rising number of harassment and discrimination complaints by congressional employees. 142 people made claims in 2011 and settlements cost $461,366. >> why are my tax dollars going to settle cases of people who are not treating their employees well? >> well, in an ideal world members of congress wouldn't be discriminating against their workers. >> deborah cats is an attorney. two years ago he admitted to tickling his male stafferers. katz things the number of her cases is higher, but congressional aids are too intimidated to complain. >> it's young aspiring people who want political careers, who want to do great things, who believe in the parties. they don't want to be disloyal and they know that by filing a complaint against these very powerful people, it's the end of their careers, functionally. >> reporter: before a complaint is filed, the first step is a request for confidential counseling and often a person alleges more than one claim. in 2011, there were 196. that's up from

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dana bash is following the fight to the finish. good morning. >> what you're saying right now on the campaign trail is these candidates with their closing arguments trying to do something that's not so easy. appeal to the small sliver of undecided voters that are still out there. but also, rev up the base. and so you're seeing kind of a -- in some ways a contradictory message from each of them. but they're hoping that they reach their targets. listen to some examples. >> four more years like the last four years would continue to have a president playing hide and seek trying to find a plan to get the economy going. to create jobs. this is a president who's -- whose approach to croating jobs is another stimulus. 000 the first one work out? >> you can choose a foreign policy that's reckless and wrong, or you can choose one that is steady and strong. you can choose to turn back the clock 50 years for immigrants and gays and women, or in this election, you can decide we will remain an inclusive, generous country. >> now there is a prett

dana bash is live for us now on the campus of hofstra university. and, dana, i promise we'll talk about the debate here in a moment. but i do want to take a look at this poll that kind of made me rock my head back this morning. this is the usa today/gallup poll, even steven among women that is in 12 swing states. dana, we have seen the president running far ahead of mitt romney among female voters. in fact, different picture here, look at the nationwide polls and obama is still leading romney among women by seven points or more. what accounts for this jump toward romney among women in the 12 swing states, any clue? >> it is hard to answer that without getting what they say -- they call in the business cross tax, the inside numbers in gallup polls to be able to know why the women who said that they are more supportive of mitt romney said that, whether it is his economic positions, whether it was his performance on the debate or something else. but what i can tell you is that other polls also talking about -- or talking to voters in swing states are, y

it is a mouthful with dana bash following the fight to the finish. she is joining us live in the studio. dana, what is the map? what are the travels these candidates are doing over the next two, three, four, five days of the race? >> it tells the number of battleground states is relatively big. if you look at the polls in the states where they are going, ohio is the biggest, but also colorado, virginia, florida, beyond. they are just absolutely neck and neck. you cannot tell who is going to win any of these states. so they have been out, after the debates, really trying to make their closing arguments. let's listen to some of what both candidates have been saying. >> four more years like the last four years would continue to have a president playing hide-and-seek trying to find a plan to get the economy going to create jobs. this is a president who has approached creating jobs as another stimulus. how did the first one work out? >> the foreign policy was reckless, right and wrong or choose one that is steady and strong. you can choose to turn back the

dana bash is back us with.can strategist that worked with john mccain and now a cnn contributor. we're glad you're all with us this morning. richard, you know, we have you here this morning on a day -- >> so good to be here this morning. >> a challenging day for the democrats. you saw the debate. you saw what our polls are saying this morning. >> there was a debate last night? >> yeah. >> did the president lose this? >> you know, i think luckily for me this morning history tells us that we don't know really who won or lost in terms of where it moved -- if it moved any votes until many days later. these things have to set in. but clearly, as you have been reporting already this morning and as the pundits were saying last night, i think that romney had from a theatrical perspective a great night. >> we have to wait to see what history says about who won or lost. the polls are crystal clear. 60% think romney won. on the issues, romney way ahead of the president also. who would better handle the deficit. 16-point a

dana bash breaks it down starting in october of 1972. >> reporter: election year 1972. the raging unpopular war in vietnam consumed the bitter campaign battle between president nixon and george mcgovern. suddenly on october 26th, 12 days before the election, vietnam negotiator henry kissinger made a surprise declaration, believed to cement nixon's front-runner status. >> we believe that peace is at hand. >> reporter: it was the first so-called october surprise, a late in the game campaign event with a significant impact on the election. >> in order to win re-election for nixon in 1972, they needed to end the vietnam war, and this was sort of the definitive statement. >> reporter: the most famous october surprise was in 1980, and the surprise was what did not happen. 52 u.s. hostages held in iran were not released before the election, despite president carter's efforts. instead, they were freed as soon as ronald reagan was inaugurated, setting off democratic suspicion never proven that reagan emissaries back channeled with iran to delay freeing the hostages and deny the

dana bash, and ali velshi and gloria borger.ou say when it comes to the fiscal cliff, there is virtually nothing going on behind the scenes, not from the president or the speaker of the house or either of their staffs. >> i am told from a leadership that the house speaker hasn't talked to the president since july, three months ago. you would think, they are not communicating at the highest levels. they are both kind of busy, especially the president. maybe they are talking at a staff level. nope. that's not happening either. there have been some white house internal meetings, contingency plans. sources have been saying there is no point. no one thinks it is worth it before the election. the dynamic of the discussions will be determined by who wins, who has the most leverage. so that's the big reason why nobody is talking about it. >> ali, what does this mean, fiscal cliff? what does it mean for average americans. >> it is very serious. number one, the payroll tax credit gets eliminated and the bush tax credits get eliminated. ev

cnn's dana bash joins me now with more about the stats and the sound bites and to borrow a line from our friend and our colleague james carville, the president wanted a conversation, but mitt romney showed up with a chain saw. how are things going within the various xamps today and how is everybody breaking this down? the narrative today. >> the narrative today is simply that, you know, going into yesterday, there were republicans talking about maybe it's time to put resources towards getting the senate back in congress and, you know, some people leaving romney for political dead. that is not the narrative today. does the fact that mitt romney did exceptionally well last night, particularly up against president obama who just kind of not -- didn't seem like he was there? does that uh change voters minds? you knowthat is really unclear at this point. what is clear is when it comes to the fuel that keeps a campaign like mitt romney going, whether it's activists or grassroots voters, donors, those are the people who are excited and especially going into the last five weeks of the campai

this is a spirited show, dana bash. it was definitely fun to watch, but did they achieve what they wanted to achieve any come out looking like the could be a heartbeat away from the presidency? >> think it's fair to say the answer to that was yes. for the most part, both of them did what they told us that they wanted to do going in from the perspective of the democrats what joe biden's aides and especially those closest to the process of them preparing was make up for the bad debate that the obama campaign knows that the president had last week. he did that and most importantly reenergizing the democratic base. that was, you know, some would argue and republicans are arguing forcefully that he did it too much that he went overboard in his reaction in making sure not to nod like the president did and on the republican side, what they wanted to make sure was that -- excuse me, paul ryan could sit on the same stage in a legitimate way with the vice president. i think that there's no question he did that. the debate that is

dana bash, appreciate it. we'll be right back. eóoç=Ñp

because i have one of the best colleagues in the business, dana bash, she got the inside story. it is fascinating. one of the things i can't believe you're able to unearth is this anecdote about the 2008 campaign preps between mccain and obama. did rob portman -- is this true, did he get cyndi mccain to cry? >> he did. i don't think that was his intention, i know it wasn't, but he did. and the reason is because they were in debate prep, he was playing barack obama, and he was apparently so believable in his role as barack obama and more importantly so tough, hard hitting against his sparring partner, john mccain, that cindy mccain got very upset and ran crying out of the room. i talked to rob portman about that, he told me that story, and listen to what he said about why it is so important, to be so hard on his republican opponents in debate prep. >> part of your responsibility in these debates is to be tougher than your opponent. so that they -- the candidate you're helping is ready for the worst of it. so, you know, you have to be a little mean sometimes and kind of try to get