joining me now to discuss this are two foreign affairs columnists, david ignatius of the "washington post" and trudy rubin of the philadelphia inquirer. trudy, let me start with you. are you surprised first that foreign policy seems to be getting more attention now even before tonight's debate? >> well, i think the republicans and mitt romney have done a good job politically of revving up interest in this benghazi affair and making it look like a mini-scandal. unfortunately the whole way it has been handled blows it up entirely out of proportion. i do think politicizes it and avoids dealing with what might be real issues underlying benghazi. this was a mid-level bureaucratic issue in the state department, providing embassy security. it's not something that rises to the level of the white house. and the question of who knew what when is rather weird given that all our personnel were pulled out of benghazi. so there was no one to give information on the ground. it took several days for the intelligence agencies to really figure out the whole picture. so the focus has been totally distor

every day he is talking about foreign affairs is a day they are not talking about the economy. there is a real divide about what romney should do. >> we should point out the economy will be the topic at this debate, at least it will be domestic policy, for the most part. do we expect -- to mention romney might come out with more specifics. he spent four minutes on his specific plans for the economy during his speech. what do we expect this time around? >> we expect him to lay out more detail in this format, although whether it allows itself to an in-depth policy discussion is another matter. he is under a lot of pressure, especially under -- from conservative pundits, to put more meat on the bone and say what he would do differently on issues ranging from the economy to foreign affairs to everything else did you president obama -- he has a sunset of challenges going into the debate? >> -- his own set of challenges going into the debate? >> just putting the two of them together elevates romney and makes an equal to the president. that is something the president has not had to de

i'm a little bit more on the ron paul side on foreign affairs and i don't always agree with mitt romney on foreign affairs i disagree in the way that i think we do not want to be the world's policemen and we do not want to be a nation builder ok i'll wager what i mean is it a little different when a good honest let me know you've always on me ask you in a different way do you think romney is coherent on foreign policy let's do it that way yeah well let's put it this way george bush got us into some other warranted wars that helped to bankrupt the united states of america i think he made some very obvious mistakes barack obama's policies of appeasement apology have put the united states in a horrendous position that might lead to future wars and he's completely abandon israel and thrown her under the bus so where i agree with romney is our standing in the world was not helped by being nice and being naive and being apologetic and i'm very pro israel and i believe the united states of america must always be very pro israel and that's where i stand with mitt romney ok take a penny i

. >>> an expert on american foreign policy and east asian affairs says the u.s. government is deeply concerned about the hostility over the dispute between japan and china. jeffrey bader served as a senior adviser to president obama for two years. >> no one in the united states, you know, less in japan and i hope in china wants to see shots fired over three or four uninhabited rocks in the east china sea. as long as we're concentrating on the sovereignty issue, we're probably not going to get anywhere. on the other hand, the resource issues can be addressed separately, without regard to sovereignty. >> bader says the u.s. government doesn't intend to mediate. he called on both sides to refrain from any action that could be considered a provocation. he argued the violent protests in china against japan's nationalization of the islands were counterproductive, unwise, and damaging to china itself. >> it made china look like an aggrieved third-world country that was not acting like an international community. >> japanese leaders say their claim to the senkaku islands

that's not certain that the president of the company was minister of foreign affairs she doesn't have any knowledge of mental energy of course she is learning a lot quickly because she is smart when she left the aruban government. and another meter where the same to her. fellow. gorillas are active. so org. group of former paramilitaries was. finally the envy ghetto office is also in operation here it is a drug cartel founded after the death of powerful escobar by his men it is a war of all against all for territorial control the more territory controlled the more mines exploited this is seventeen gang members of the restaurant hearst's were killed today in the battle with foreign insulter province there it is said the battle was to claim areas in the mountains owner of the aren't you a municipality when i want you also i want to feel that he. goal is not evidence substance that it's legal. is that attracts illegal groups a lot of which he got his. leg out of the new one during money through gold is easy we. got you riskless. the illegals buy gold or minus two euro and and then they t

the economy not foreign affairs may be the main concern. it is enthusiasm and vigor that are under scrutiny. >> he cannot perform -- afford another performance like last time. that would be difficult to recover from. >> a lot of pressure on barack obama tonight. the one thing the candidates to agree on is the american economy needs a boost. there are different policies on how that should be done. a short time ago -- he joined the from newport beach, california. as voters watch this debate and make their decision about the american election, what will be the biggest decision under president obama or a president romney? >> they will hear that there will be lots of differences, but the reality is a difference. at this stage, each candidate is trying to -- themselves. they do this by raising doubt about the other. look for romney to claim that obama will raise taxes across the board. look for obama to claim that romney will destroy the social safety net. the reality is that whoever wins in november will have a very small set of policies they ca

mitt romney revealed little major difference between the two and their approaches to security in foreign affairs many quite. good will come to the. criticism who are cowards this month to move is the center of our universe the tides are forever while the sun's rays can be fickle innovative construction methods last cost as well as environmental damage brand new turbines boost efficiency with a simplified design and who needs the batteries lakes can store energy discover a new era of clean power driven by the moon technology update here on chief we've got the future cover. which brightened. someone from phones to impressions. whose phone starts on t.v. dot com. over a decade north of last terrorist attack. blunders into their lives after the tragedy. still gives try to cross out the past. because there's. a happens south of what's in there is and that's very close to the hot for us and the list family. you know yemenis paypal. is still important but not as important man. on the fifteenth of. the. morning. glad to come across from south from him you. are right across he. it was a black. and. shiny

he was grading right away. >> but especially in the foreign affairs area. >> yeah, i have no problem and saying i made a mistake a day later saying i screwed up. the interesting thing about the debate and sort of saw accuracy as substance on foreign policy in the debate i didn't see mitt romney make any distinction with the president of the united states. i thought his strategy was me too. for whatever the president just said, me too but i'll do slightly something different but i won't say what it is. he said exactly what the president said. >> okay, let's give the president a grade on accuracy. >> i'm going with a "b" minus. that's back to the status of forces agreement and just the same thing. it's just the nuance. i find myself on those foreign policy things and no one else in america is doing this but me. >> because you know it so well. >> it's those tiny things. >> your grade. >> a "b." for the same exact reason. there was no real debate on foreign policy. >> no solutions, nothing like that. who needs solutions, right? >> not that you thought it would change next year. >> did you

the secretary of foreign affairs rosario urged the countries to quickly agree on a legally binding code of conduct to ease tensions. >> to address this challenge and arrive at a resolution, we must rely on the rule of law and not the force of arms. we must rely on the body of rules that state that disputes must be resolved peacefully. >> vietnam's deputy minister of foreign affairs resisted china's demands that the disputes be resolved through bilateral negotiations and called on the countries to work together. >> we should recognize the increasingly important role of reaching the organizations. in east asia the association of southeast asian nations asan continues to play a central role in the regional architecture and promotes peace, stability, and security in the region. including the security in the south china sea. >> an important meeting in july broke up without a joint communication. the group failed to agree on how some member nations should resolve their disputes with china. cambodia's position was apparently influenced by the close economic relationship with china. insurgents

foreign affairs will be a big topic. how much traction is there in the libya question in? >> you'll see talk about libya. i will be surprised if it didn't come up this is a town hall format so it's much more of a conversation. the first two have been contentious, especially the vice presidential debate, especially with matters of foreign affairs. this one will be more about the candidates interacting with the audience. >> but they obviously will have talking points and things they want to fit into an answer and i wonder how much fact correction you would expect from governor romney and president obama based on the vice presidential debate and questions about getting any facts wrong? >> absolutely. you will see interaction. they'll try to fact check each other much like when biden interjected, facts matter. i don't think we'll see something as loud as that but they'll spar trying to say facts here and there and also the campaign aides themself, i see them in my in-box, the emails spew in, fact checking the other campaign constantly over the course of the debate. >> i'm pers

and now, let's go to andrea mitchell, our chief foreign affairs correspondent. andrea, as you know, foreign affairs is the topic of the third and final debate. but there's no law against it coming up tonight. and today, the secretary of state hillary clinton did something critical for the top of the ticket. >> she did. she talked about benghazi, she took the blame. republicans tell me if one of the questioners does not bring up benghazi tonight, mitt romney will find a way to work it in. on the eve of the debate, though, as you pointed out, the secretary of state in peru did interviews with all the networks, trying to let the president off the hook in advance of the debate. and take the blame for the administration. watch. >> look, i take responsibility. i'm in charge of the state department. 60,000 plus people all over the world, 275 posts. the president and the vice president certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. i don't think we want to get into any blame game. i think what we want to do is get t

joining me now, elliot engel a member of the house foreign affairs committee.his morning. before we get to the debate, i want to ask you about these documents released by chairman issa. aren't these documents showing there was really a major security concern before the attack? >> well, we don't really know and the investigation is going on, we should let the investigation continue. the republicans with chairman issa, with mitt romney statements trying to make political hay out of a national tragedy, quite frankly, the way governor romney acted after the ambassador was killed was despicable. at a time of such national tragedy, we should be pulling together and speaking with one voice, not trying to score cheap political points. president obama is no more responsible for what happened in benghazi than president bush was for 9/11 or president reagan was for the marines being killed in beirut. >> you say we don't know. i want to read you something from this document on friday. this is from ambassador chris stevens. he writes in a cable, what we have seen are not ra

mitt romney revealed little major difference between the two and their approaches to security in foreign affairs many claim. what will change when america picks its president amid muslim rage walking the iran tightrope pushing china and russia as occupy anger spreads the two parties still dictate will there be change this election a close guys have responded to them for fifty on r t. three cretaceous three times four charges free. range month three. three stooges free. download free bronco splitting video for your media projects free media oh don the hearty dot com . hello he would you know t. from moscow very good to have you company and kevin owen here tonight now he's helpful tentative candidates in the u.s. presidential election get their voices heard but broadcasting the debates let's then talk to rocky anderson he's a presidential candidate from the justice party and former mayor of salt lake city rocky thank you being on the program well as a candidate first of all outside of the two main political parties the only ones you can realistically expect let's face it to end up in the white hou

>> george, you watching, everybody at home. >> this is a foreign affairs one. particularly at the beginning of the debate where they're talking about america's role in the world. look for both men to go back to their core arguments about the economy. for the president to reinforce his advantage that jake talked about earlier focusing on the middle class and building the strengthening the economy and for mitt romney to say simply we can do better in the economy than we've done in the last four years so even though it's a foreign policy debate back to the big issues. >> introduce the economy and as many answers as they can, george, martha, you'll both be here tonight as george and i and the abc news political team watch the final showdown with you, the candidates debate 9:00 p.m. eastern, 6:00 pacific. >>> and now we move on to something at the top of minds for so many voters, the price of gasoline and tonight we see a dramatic drop in gas prices across the country. the new national average now $3.69 a gallon. that is a drop of 13 cents in one week. the largest t

a syrian coming up on syria coming up in about ten minutes time the head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee talks about his role in the conflicts but for now a quick preview. you can be direct or drag itself into this conflict you know that the war in syria. may have a lot of trips to turkey and it's not the turkey has refrained from crossing the border and sending its ground troops to syria because it's easier to go in it's difficult to get out and the story of all the conflicts there against iran whatever shows that you go in and the decision is taken a couple of days and then takes you years and years and years to get out so i don't think that the government is really willing to open a war with the syrian government. but. those two states are basically on the brink of war so it's really kind of not. it should be untied part by part so now i think it's high time to start to untie the syrian. stories for you from around the world this hour police in western kenya have planted down crowds of protesters into indignant over the murder of prominent a local politician several people a

. >> reporter: wile tonight's debate focuses on foreign affairs t is still the competent that remains the issue for floridians. >> the big issues have to be taxes and jobs. they have be to-- to be. just talking about the bank, the insurance industry, and all the businesses they seem to be doing so well, when everybody sells suffering. so i would le to see some moe regulation there. >> these florida voters are whom both residentialat campaigns in theswing statth are after. polls have florida leaning toward governor romney but most survey does to the give romney over 50%, illustrating just how close this race may be in one of the state's hardest hit by the recession. >> it's impossible. sends outside resumes and resume that is another thing. sends out resume, nobody reads them or calls you, it is not like you can walk in and ask for a job and they met you and you knew the people. you know, they saw you, they asked you questions. it is just a piece of paper and if you happy to pick it up are you lucky. >> i have two children, a 26-year-old in l.a., a 29-year-old in new york, and when the

she's our senior foreign affairs correspondent, former white house correspondent. and the two men have been preparing in marathon practice sessions, behind closed doors for days. 26 days now to go before americans get to the polls. your voice, your vote. and the race has been tighten g tightening. the pressure is on. and our team is right there on the ground in danville, kentucky, and abc's jake tapper is going to start us off tonight. >> reporter: good evening, diane. first, let's talk about the stage craft. vice president biden will be coming on stage from that side. congressman ryan from the other. the vice president cannot cede energy or desire to his challenger as the president seemed to do last week. their campaigns are relishing the spotlight. biden's team sent out these photos of him practicing on a mock set in a delaware hotel where congressman chris van hollen has played biden's opponent, congressman paul ryan in practice debates. ryan has been in debate camp with top republican lawyer, ted olson playing the vice president. and now, practice time is over.

romney revealed a little major difference between the two and their approaches to security in foreign affairsmany clearly. you're watching aussies great to have you with us let's continue now thousands of protesters have yet again park the streets of madrid and that message they come tumble anymore crippling austerity as comes as the government draws up its budget for next year and has already warned it's going to ports. protests like this one are becoming something of a regularity in spain in fact we're being told told by people here that there are over eighty protests. it's happening in madrid alone so there are hundreds happening all over the country now spaniards are highly dissatisfied with the way their government has been dealing with trying to solve the financial crisis in the country they're saying that their representatives who are sitting in the parliament are not representing the people who are standing here that their problems are not being even thought about in the parliament now what are these people worried about they're worried about the social programs first and foremost hea

influence of its neighbors coming up in about ten minutes the head of russia's parliamentary foreign affairs committee talks about turkey's role in the conflict and here's a quick. break you can be dragged or drag itself into this conflict you know that the war in syria. may have a lot of traps for turkey and it's the turkey has refrained from crossing the border and it's the ground troops of syria because it's easy to go in it's difficult to get out and the story of all the conflicts there against iraq whatever shows that you go in and the decisions taken a couple of days and then takes years and years and years to get out so i don't think that the government is willing to open a war with the syrian government. but. those two states are basically on the brink of war. people across the globe choose different ways to vent their anger at the economic crisis some resent the fact that some opt for direct action or a smith tells us on the story of one businessman who decided to spearhead changes to the system by declaring himself a financial institution. thank you to the number of thank you dave

the foreign affairs managing editor examines foreign policy issues that will be discussed in the political -- and the last political debate. then we will look at the 2012 races for the house and senate. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning, look into "washington journal." -- welcome to "washington journal." president obama and governor romney square off today in florida for the last debate of 2012. what would you like the moderator to ask the candidates? we would like to hear from you this morning, what are your foreign policy questions? here are the numbers to call -- host: you can also find as online. look for us on twitter, journal@c-span.org -- twitter, twitter.com/c-spanwj. we have a special hash tag set up. we are also on facebook, look for c-span. you can also reach us by e- mail, journal@c-span.org. what would you like to see the candidates asked tonight in the last debate of campaign 2012? "final debate, particularly big." host: looking at the washington -- "the washington times," obama leads as romney loses ground, but gop voters are more enthusiastic. "if the presi

. >> in terms of foreign policy, national policy, we have a moderator tonight who's a senior foreign affairs correspondent for abc news. martha raddatz is a well traveled foreign correspondent. she's reported from a lot of war zones, she's done actually excellent war reporting. the common wisdom, again, about the relationship between president obama and vice president biden is there may be some daylight between the two of them on the issue of counterinsurgency, the u.s. strategy in iraq and afghanistan. it's been reported that the vice president may be more skeptical of that as a military strategy than president obama is. is there daylight between them? and if there is, is that an asset or a liability for your campaign heading into this vice presidential debate tonight? >> well, no, there is no daylight between what the administration's policy is and the policy we're pursuing. that being said, the president doesn't surround himself with yes people, yes men and women. he wants everybody's piece of advice and wants it argued out and talked out then we make a decision. now, i think that the vic

. >>> the people responsible for foreign affairs in japan and britain have agreed to work together to respond to cyber attacks. japanese foreign minister met with his british counter part william hague in london. they agree their officials will cooperate in the event of online attacks. they promise to coordinate resources. many recent hacking attempts have come through computers in china. >>> u.n. and arab league envoy to syria is planning to visit the country and ask the government to agree to a cease-fire. brahimi will visit damascus on saturday. he has visited seven neighboring countries since last week to call for a cease-fire. the religious holiday begins. sources close to the opposition forces say rebels will support a cease-fire once government forces stop attacking. they are likely to explain a new mediation plan involving the dispatch. once the two sides achieve a truce. >>> tens of thousands of greeks join a nationwide strike with a common message. they want to tell their leaders that more wage and spending cuts would cripple their society. >>> public sector workers marched