so as gary nurenberg says earlier, we're still waiting for the details.ll get back to you in a minute. now back to anita in the studio. >> all right. we'll be hearing from you again through the night. we want to hear from both parties as well on this. okay. what about the tax cut issue. that big, not that big. it was clearly a point of contention. >> president kennedy cut tax rates, more revenue to the government, fact. president reagan cut tax rates, more money to the federal treasury. fact. that's the point you just heard. that's mitt romney's point. >> the problem, though, is independent tax analysts, including a tax center run by advisors to former president bush, has accepted those growth rates and said even with that, if you do the marginal tax cut that he wants, it's a $5 trillion tax cut. even if he gets a trillion of that under corporate tax revenue, that still leaves 4 trillion left. if you close every single loophole, every single one for high income earners, which he's not proposing doing, you would still have over a trillion dollars left even

>> gary nurenberg, thank you. it was contentious, it was heated, but was it the truth?e are fact checking here in the usa today news room with the political team joining me here now, political editor paul singer. one big claim on jobs that romney said again he will create 12 million new jobs in his first plan and has a five- point plan to do this. let's listen to that soundbite. >> the unemployment rate was 7.8% when he took office and is that now. but if you calculated taking back the people who dropped out of the work force, it would be 10.7%. we have not made the progress we need to make to put people back to work. that's why i put out a five- point plan that gets america 12 million new jobs in four years and rising take-home pay. >> so he says president obama's plan has not moved the economy forward fast enough and his will create these 12 million new jobs. is that true? >> probably not. the economic forecast already call for and anticipate the american economy creating 12 million new jobs. regardless of whether it's the president's plan or romney's plan. now, romne

gary nurenberg reports on the increasing number of small undecided voters that are the ones being targeted during tonight's debate. >> reporter: the romney and obama campaigns agree on this. >> it is about the 4%, 5% of people who really have not been paying much attention to the campaign who haven't made up their minds. >> reporter: american university professor. >> anything is possible but in order for it to have real impact, romney would have take some rinks and obama would have to make some mistakes. >> reporter: romney risking alienating the republican right. >> i don't think they would stay home but might give him less money. >> reporter: still important for the ongoing ad war. >> people say that romney should come in with some zingers and try to make obama lose his cool. >> reporter: zingers make debate history. '88 vice presidential when dan quail was comparing him to jack kennedy. >> senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> but here's the punch line of that. who won the election? bush and quayle. >> reporter: but staying cool under attack? >> there you go again. >> reporter: you get po

well, gary nurenberg knows. gary?reporter anita and derek, it seemed today for both candidates, last night's debate was just a ticket to punch and then move on. today each man returned to the message he wants to define the last days of the campaign. >> we have cut taxes in the middle class. we'll cut taxes for small business. we're going to make it easier for businesses to grow. >> reporter: for mitt romney, that message is the sluggish economy. >> four more years like the last four years will continue to have a president playing hide-and-seek, trying to find a plan to get the economy going and to create jobs. >> reporter: the obama campaign tuesday released a 20-page plan for manufacturing energy and education. >> my plan will actually move america forward. it's not just a sales job. >> reporter: but the main obama campaign message tuesday is that mitt romney is hiding his true beliefs for political purposes. >> you know what? that's not leadership that you can trust. >> there's no more serious issue in a presidentia

gary nurenberg was there and was struck by one story romney told the crowd of about 8,000. gary. >> reporter: well, anita, as you know, romney has been criticized for being a robotic campaigner who sometimes leaves audiences flat. but we saw a remarkable story. it's not what we usually put on newscasts because frankly it's long. we edited the story for time, and it ends our report. >> we're going to win virginia. >> reporter: it's on his list of critical swing states. the reason he was here a day after the most recent debate with the president. >> i love these debates we've been having. those have been a lot of fun. >> reporter: there was an unusual moment before romney took the stage when andy greg got applause when he said he knows what god romney prays to. the audience appears moved by romney's reaction to a story told by a scout master about a colorado boy scout troop and his special american flag. >> then they had it flown in unusual places, including above the capitol dome. and then when it came home, they said we would like to have it also go up on the space shuttle.

gary nurenberg will cover the debate tomorrow and is here now with some of what we can expect. o you think, gary? >> that first debate was a turning point anita, killing the president's post presidential momentum and reversing his lead in some polls. usa today now has mitt romney leading among likely voters in swing states, 51-46. the rest of the country, romney 49, obama 47. >> this has been an interesting ten days or so. i had a debate about a week ago. i enjoyed that a great deal. >> reporter: for him tuesday. >> i think for governor romney, just maintaining the status quo is a win. i think there's much more pressure on president obama. on one level the expectations are very low for the president. he just has to show up, act like he's interested and he'll be better than the first time around. >> reporter: the president's advisors are promising a more engaged debate, a more engaged candidate. >> he's watched the tape of the last debate. he has some strong views about what he wants to do in this next debate. and i can just tell you he's very, very eager to see governor romney a

gary nurenberg is here with what we can all expect. gary?reporter: the targets are the increasingly smaller number of voters who haven't made up their minds yet. they'll be hard to convince without alienating voters already committed. the romney and obama campaigns agree on this. >> it is about the four or five percent of people who haven't been paying much attention to the campaign who haven't made up their minds. >> reporter: american university professor bob lehman. >> anything is possible in a debate. but in order for it to have real impact, romney would have to take risks and obama make mistakes. >> reporter: the risks for romney moving to the center in order to appeal to centrist voters risking setting off the right. still for for the ongoing ad war. >> people say romney should come in with zingers and try to make obama lose his cool. >> reporter: zingers make debate history. dan quail was comparing himself to jack kennedy. >> senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> but here's the punch line of that. who won the election? bush and quail. >

gary nurenberg is here with both. >> reporter: they were both in the key swing state of ohio this eveningnd the numbers are different than a week ago, different than before the debate. the election is four weeks from today. >> four more weeks. four more weeks. >> reporter: mitt romney was upbeat in the tuesday evening rally in ohio and with good reason shall. since last week's debate and his widely perceived win, new polls have moved his way. he's 49 and obama 47 in the polls. in ohio, 48/47, romney. a new cnn poll has obama ahead. all those polls within the margin of error is close. romney's family reportedly won a fight with campaign handlers leading to a candidate telling more personal stories this week. tuesday night he spoke of inadvertently crashing a party and meeting a former navy seal. >> i just learned a few days ago that he was one of the two former navy seals killed in ben ghazi and it broke my heart. >> we've got some work to do. we've got an election to win. >> reporter: the president was also in ohio, his 17th rally there, touting new jobs numbers. >> this past friday we fo

there was a funny moment when president obama voted in chicago, and gary nurenberg has details. >> both sierdz trying to get voters to engage in early voting wherever they can. when the president tried to provide the example in chicago, the elections clerk appeared to catch him by surprise. >> you need some id. >> watch her. she checks. >> did you just look? >> she got an unexpected endorsement from a high-profile republican. >> the governor who was speaking on monday night at the debate was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier so i'm not quite sure which governor romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy. >> the doubts about governor romney's beliefs expressed in rolling stone. "you know kids have good instinct. they look at the other guy and say that's a [ bleep ] i can tell." the new poll gives the president a 50 to 45 edge in the crucial state of ohio. >> we're gonna win ohio! >> but six minutes before that -- >> it wod be easier to find people who voted for barack obama and change their minds. i need ohio. ohio is going to set the course

gary nurenberg met con in bethesda tonight and got him to at least take some responsibility. gary?> when kahn was a student at the university of maryland in 1956 this new american citizen thought it will be a good idea to have the presidential candidates appear there together to answer questions from students. hadn't been done before. yes, there were people at the time who said be careful what you wish for. '56 was a rematch, eisenhower against adlei stephenson. >> i had the idea, try to get them to debate. >> reporter: and fred kahn got responses when he wrote the political parties. eleanor roosevelt saying this might be something that would arouse the interest of young people all over the country. the national chairman acknowledging your idea of having the presidential candidates on the same platform. capp was a new -- kahn was a new citizen. he served in the u.s. army and took citizenship seriously. >> especially since i had no citizenship before i became an american. i was considered a stateless citizen by the nazis mind you. >> being an american became a very important thing t