they didn't support lilly ledbetter.sn't taken a position on the pending legislate for paycheck fairness. i think that the american people, women across the country, and i think that women at the debate understands it was a real difference in terms of the two candidates, the real choice in this election between who is committed to closing that gap and who is not. so i -- we're pleased with the results. i am sorry that she feels that way. i hope we can make it up. >> stephanie cutter. it's the first time you've played with bruce. pretty cool. >> yes. >> stephanie cutter and the e street band. thanks for joining us from ohio. >>> what do women want? hear from the romney campaign, their proposals. >>> time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. former model and analyst created a fashion marketplace that helps local boutiques that don't have their own e-commerce sites sell on line. she knows content sells and launched a companion online magazine as an ultimate source for what's in. watch "your business" sunday mor

lilly ledbetter and joy reid will join me next.rite, while letting only a tiny sliver of the voting public who cannot make up their mind about which candidate to vote for is actually very, very unfair to african-american voters. >>> i don't know if you were listening last night, but, see, we don't have to order up some binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women to learn and teach and thrive and start businesses. >> in the spotlight tonight, words that bind according to tivo. the segment of the debate that was rewound and watched more than once more than any other segment of the debate was this. >> we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and said could you help us find folks and they brought us whole binders full of women. >> earlier today paul ryan tried to explain what his running meant by binders full of women. >> all he simply meant was he went out of his way to try and recruit qualified wom

lilly ledbetter and joy reid will join me next.e rewrite, while letting only a tiny sliver of the voting public who cannot make up their mind about which candidate to vote for is actually very, very unfair to african-american voters. customer erin swenson bought from us online today. so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics. [ male announcer ] start with nothing, build a ground-breaking car. good. now build a time machine. go here, find someone who can build a futuristic dash board display. bring future guy back. watch him build a tft display like nothing you've ever seen. get him to explain exactly what that is. the thin film transistor display... [ male announcer ] mmm, maybe not. just show it. customize the dash, give i

that is really what the lilly ledbetter act ultimately meant. there are current laws on equal pay that have real force and meaning. i do agree that there is not enough understanding of how central and important it was to pass that law. and the second thing i will save is that there is misinformation that clouds the understanding and makes the job of informing people all the more important. >> the woman said to me that her husband pointed out a little detail in the lilly ledbetter act. do we have any other questions from the floor? >> what about the difficulty that college students are having in voting? especially if there are away from home and in school? >> there are things that can affect the ability of college students to vote. one is how easy it is for them to register, especially if you are in a different state or a different part -- your location is not home anymore and you'll be voted at school rather than at home. you have to register based on where you are living. now there had been a trend to make registration easier to do and to allow

>> i know you're giggling about lilly ledbetter as well, but a lot of women no who she is and what it stands for and equal pay is a huge issue. >> we have seen on this panel -- i mean, excuse me, semi hysteria over this issue. the feminists are running after this. mitt intended nothing wrong. he has a terrific record up there, he was given a binder. they said, well, they gave him the binder. the feminists are chasing this thing like some rabbit and you're losing losing -- >> no. retro, pat. >> he did populate husetts governor with women. okay. getting personal. >> any investments i have over the last eight years have been managed by a blind trust, and i understand they do include investments outside of the united states, including in chinese companies. mr. president, have you looked at your pension? have you looked at your pension? >> you know, i don't look at my pension. it's not as big as yours, so it doesn't take as long. >> let me give you some advice. look at your pensiohave investm chinese companies, you also have investments outside of the united states. >> question. why can pr

chamber of commerce probably is pushing for that because they sent in a lawyer to argue against lilly ledbetter the two times i testified in the house and the two times i testified in the senate. so they are not for the ledbetter bill. >> it makes sense he's getting pressure. >> he is. >> that doesn't show good faith with american women. american women vote. most of the voters, yet he'd rather go with the downtown group, with the u.s. chamber of commerce. why? that's got to be psychological. why does he feel more comfortable with a bunch of guys downtown with some money to spend when he has all the money in the world? >> well, because he's their candidate. he represents them. that is what he's going to restore to the white house, but i also think we have to say, he will not commit to being against it either. i mean, ed gillespie came out and said, well, it turns out he was against it in 2009, and then he had to come out and say, well, actually he didn't take a position. and then somebody came out and said, well, actually, he was against it. he just -- >> dare i say the obvious, candy crowley ga

not that he has binders but that he passed the lilly ledbetter act, he worked for health care reform and worked on the economic side of women's issues. in this case, president obama did it. he got the job done. and romney was just flailing the whole night when it came to women. >> the good news for big shots like mitt romney is that most people don't have careers, they have jobs. >> wage earners. >> they work for wages. the idea of wage inequality is maddening to people. the fact they go and put 50 hours of work in a week and work hard and they think and sweat and have the worries of the job and find out they're getting screwed, basically, i think that's more important than anything in the world. i don't know why the president doesn't ram it home. vicky as i call you now, and nia-malika henderson. thank you. >>> much more up on mitt romney and his binders of women. that line has taken off on the internet for a variety of reasons. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? yo

then, ed gillespie on the same lilly ledbetter act, the governor would not repeal the lilly lilly ledetter act. he was opposed to it at the time. he would not repeal it. and then he said, i was wrong when i said last night governor romney opposed the lilly ledbetter act. and then on and on. the contradictions when you're dealing with inequality of pay with women, whether he was with lilly ledbetter or not, we're going into other areas. i mean, he has a problem with women's issues. >> he absolutely does, reverend. i would say beyond the gaffe, the bigger issue is the fact that he cannot take a stand on really any issue and last night we saw that this pertained to women. he can't take a stand when it comes to women that are an important part of the voting population. he was making strides. we saw in the latest usa today poll that he was doing pretty well. i don't know that that is going to continue after last night's comment. we see how awkward it is for him to interact on a debate stage like that. >> how did you see him on last night's issues, irin? >> i think the most telling moment w

apparently a can didn't get the message he was asked a town hall meeting why he voted against the lilly ledbetter fair pay act which makes it easier for women to challenge on equal pay a control the crowd quote i believe in free enterprise i don't think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don't pay and quote other words congressman akin is indorsing the legalisation of discrimination in the workplace

is leaning on that. >> the governor would not repeal the lilly ledbetter act. he was opposed to it at time. the next day, he said i was wrong when i said last night governor opposed the lilly ledbetter act. he never weighed in on it. as president he would not seek to repeal it. the more things change, the more they stay the change. talking 20/20, not the race but vision. is president obama laying out a convincing blueprint for a second term? what he needs to present for the future just ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] finally, mom's oven-baked tastes straight from the microwave. like oven-roasted chicken in a creamy alfredo sauce. marie callender's new comfort bakes. it's time to savor. marie callender's new comfort bakes. you're not just looking for a by house. eyes you're looking for a place for your life to happen. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. springsteen are campai

>> i had a chance to meet lilly ledbetter.great woman who was really cheated out of a fair wage. and she fought and fought and ultimately the supreme court said she couldn't litigate her case, but it took congress to pass a law to make sure that he would get justice and people like her. and i thought romney had no answer for when the president said what about equal pay for equal work? that's a almost american principal, and i think that was one of the parts of the debate that sure showed the difference between the candidates. >> jennifer: i do too, especially since he didn't answer the question, and can't seem to answer the question. one of the points that i liked the most was when the president said that the buck stops here on that libya situation. you are an executive, and as you know as governor, you have stuff happening in your departments all the time, that you are not aware of. you may have a department somebody engaged in something that has wrongdoing but it's important for the chief executive to take full responsibilit

yesterday i spoke with lilly ledbetter. the lilly ledbetter pay act was the first act signed by mr. he question better. >> absolutely president obama talked about having the ledbetter bill being the first bill that he signed into the law when he first went into the white house and he's exactly right and he talked about that he wanted equal pay because his grandmother who worked all those many hours in the bank was by passed and he wanted to be sure that his daughters swrould a fair chance to be given the equal opportunity to work and be treated like anyone's son. and when he is so committed to the women's causes. like he said, it's not just families. when you're talking about a woman, you're talking about a family issue. >> let me ask you about another comment that governor romney made related to women. listen to this. >> we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become member of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks and they brought us whole binders full of women. >> of course, l

marco rubio was on over the weekend and he said that the lilly ledbetter act wasn't about helping women and i know you may be able to interpret this for me because i can't figure this out. let me play it to you and explain this to me. >> all right. >> just because they call it a piece of legislation, it doesn't make it so. much of this legislation is, in many respects, an effort to help trial lawyers collect their fees and file lawsuits which may not contribute whatsoever. >> two questions. one, how do you have a bill for equal pay for women but it's not for equal pay for women and how do you attract women voters saying things like that? >> well, he's just completely wrong and in terms of the political implications. the american people understand very clearly what the lilly ledbetter act is all about and the fact that the romney campaign has been unable repeatedly unable to articulate what governor romney's position is on the act, where he stands on it today and what he would do if he were president i think is a huge vulnerability and the microtargeting that they are doing in ohio aroun

women love the lilly ledbetter. >> it was preparation and planning.nt knew what he wanted to do. >> he had a game plan. >> he was so prepared. >> he went to contraception as you pointed, a women's issue. but he made careful. you look at the slippage. he's careful to trim that. let's look championing his own record on women. he was sure to point out the romney's campaign not wanting to take on lilly ledbetter. let's watch him go after him on womens rights. >> when governor romney's campaign was asked about the lilly ledbetter bill whether he supported it, he said i'll get back to you. and that's not the kind of advocacy that women need in any economy. now, there are some other issues that have a bearing on how women succeed in the workplace. for example, their health care. now, a major difference in this campaign is that governor romney feels comfortable having politicians in washington decide the health care choices that women are making. i think that's a mistake. in my health care bill, i said insurance companies need to provide contraceptive coverag

that is really what the lilly ledbetter act ultimately meant.on equal pay that have real force and meaning. i do agree that there is not enough understanding of how central and important it was to pass that law. and the second thing i will save is that there is misinformation that clouds the understanding and makes the job of informing people all the more important. >> the woman said to me that her husband pointed out a little detail in the lilly ledbetter act. three have any other questions from the florida? -- and do we have any other questions from the floor? >> what about the difficulty that college students are having in voting? especially if there are away from home and in school? >> there are things that can affect the ability of college students to vote. one is how easy it is for them to register, especially if you are in a different state or a different part -- your location is not home anymore and you'll be voted at school rather than at home. you have to register based on where you are living. now there had been a trend to make regist

when asked about the lilly ledbetter could only offer up a binder full of women that were apparently handed to him because his administration failed do a good job of recruiting effectively in the state. it's bizarre and sad for somebody who had been in business for 25 years in the state of ms chaets. massachusetts. >> what an admission. >> i want to bring in, speaking of women, i want to bring in the tireless and talented casey hunt on the road with romney and casey, you always have a very judicious and inciteful take on how romney land is dealing with this stuff. paul ryan trying to do some damage control. romney surrogates doing damage control. this is paul ryan on the "today" show talking about the tax question. let's take a listen. >> you don't go to congress and say here's all of our details, take it or leave it. you say this is my framework. >> where's the leadership. you're number's guy. >> right. and here's what i know, mat, if you say to congress take it or leave it my plan my way orts highway you don't get things done. >> casey, the numbers thing as mark leibovich points ou

the lilly ledbetter act was passed people can sue for unequal pay.nly 35 women, or something like that, have taken advantage of it. how does make its way into the debate? >> what are you or romney or obama going to do about equal pay for me? >> it was a very tragic situation that happened a lilly ledbetter. but most people don't know that. again, it is part of this idea that we are going to turn them into this monster that hates women. one who doesn't want women to have equal pay. that is the suggestion. i think the bigger question is how did this become a question when you only have 11 questions. certainly, this ground has been covered. megyn: or a 23 million people in the country and we devoted that much time. do not we are fighting for the life of the country here, and she spent all this time on lilly ledbetter. most voters don't know about or care about at this time in america's economic crisis. i think it is really critical to understand, i think the question was and because of a left-wing bias. a gun and whether it was written or raised by an a

talking about affordable health care lilly ledbetter equal pay, i really think the divide among singleen for the president is like 25 30 points and we have to have married women in that category as well, but i think it's really important. joe biden has been a champion when he served as chair of the judiciary committee, we was the author of the violence against women act, which paul ryan voted against. whether it's a women's right to choose, paul ryan is exactly like todd akin in terms of forcible rate, and no abortion even if the life of the mother is at steak. he is very extreme on those issues, and people have to know that. >> jennifer: that's interesting, because the gender gap closed in a few of these polls that we saw nationwide, and perhaps it was because that issue was not raised at all in the debate. this gives an opportunity for the vice president to really show their side for what they really. you actually were raised in the debate, as you were sitting there listening to mitt romney. i want to play just that sound bite. >> romney: first of all, i like the way we did it in mas

it has to do with all of his policies from lilly ledbetter to everything else. women have to make a decision about whether they'll be for romney or not. i think that's where it's being fought right now. >> i think it's strange we still talk in such broad strokes about women. imagine talking about what men voters want. women are more than one little set of social issues. women have huge concerns just like everybody else has them. >> and we were out in l.a. the past couple days, and everywhere we went, people in the business, all they talked about -- and i understand, abortion is a critical issue for those who are pro-life, for those who are pro-choice, i understand that. but you go around l.a., everybody, you go around manhattan, and they talk abortion, abortion, abortion. how could any woman vote for -- and these are people that aren't necessarily on the front lines of abortion. it's just this issue that they blow up so much. that you just sit there going, are you crazy? >> but it's not just abortion, joe. women are more liberal than men on a whole series of iss

joining me on the phone is lilly ledbetter, the lilly ledbetter fair pay act was the first piece of legislationlly, good morning. welcome. thanks for joining us. >> good morning, randi, thank you for having me. >> the candidates were asked about women's pay during the debate. i want you to listen to what they said and i want to ask you about it. >> okay. >> what we can do to help young women and women of all ages is to have a strong economy, so strong that employers are looking to find good employees and bringing them into their work force and adapting to a flexible work schedule that gives women the opportunities that they would otherwise not be able to afford. >> when we talk about childcare and the credits that we're providing, that makes a difference in terms of whether they can go out there and earn a living for their family. these are not just women's issues. these are family issues. these are economic issues. and one of the things that makes us grow as an economy is when everybody participates, and women are getting the same fair deal as men are. >> so the act with your name on it, lilly

and then his spokesperson said he wouldn't have signed lilly ledbetter -- i think -- >> lily tomlin'sined -- >> stephanie: thank you. right. okay. >> see what i'm saying. >> stephanie: you and your binders, mitt. [ laughter ] ♪ ♪ binder from the right ♪ ♪ brought up by a douche another blunder for the night ♪ ♪ and crowley getting colder she stripped the [ inaudible ] light down ♪ ♪ because they were binders from the right ♪ ♪ brought up by a douche ♪ ♪ binders on the right ♪ ♪ brought up by a douche ♪ >> wow. >> that took some production rocky mountain mike. [ applause ] >> it wasn't in stereo anyway. >> stephanie: jerome in new jersey. >> caller: good morning, i'm jerome, and i need for you to guys to listen and be a little parent with me today. the bottom line is that if barack obama looses this election, it's not because he let us down. it's because we're going to let him down. >> stephanie: that's right. >> i need for people to understand the type of businessman romney is. i'm the primary caretaker of my grandmother for ten years. she died last night, and now the insurance compan

let's talk about the lilly ledbetter fair pay act.l pa s e first piece of legislation president obama signed as president and an issue in the debate. coming up at 10:00 a.m. eastern lilly ledbetter will join us to talk more about the candidates and the critical women's vote. >>> how would you feel if your boss told you who to vote for, or more specifically who not to vote for? next, corporate ceos pressure employees not to vote for president obama or lose their jobs. is that legal? >>> hey, christine, what's coming up on your show this morning? >> randi, i'm going to show you six charts, three that mean you should vote for obama and three that mean you should vote for mitt romney, and i'm going to explain exactly what the economic case is for each of those candidates. i'm also going to talk about a new study that says it might be more of an excuse, the quiz d b conventional wisdom that you hear about not having skilled workers, and we'll talk about whether americans can take the high-skilled jobs being offered and we'll speak to a soc

. >> does governor romney think the president was right to sign the lilly ledbetter act into law? >> it was not an equal pay law. what lilly ledbetter did was open up the statute of limitations for lawsuits. >> the conversations were dominated by libya. ryan tried to explain romney's libya mistake. >> it was a passing comment in general. it was not a claim that this was a result of the terrorist attack. >> i don't think they should have sent their u.n. ambassador out saying that this was by a spontaneous mob. i don't think he should have mentioned it six times. >> the problem for romney is, it matters less than how he answered it in front of 65 million people. the white house has questions to answer on libya, particularly on the libya lapses, questions that biden tried to address this morning. >> i answered the question in my debate, were the president and i aware of the requests and we were not. secretary clinton has confirmed that never got to us. their strategy seems to be to try to make it appear that the president didn't care, didn't know, or was lying. the fact of the matter

women love the lilly ledbetter. >> it was preparation and planning. the president knew what he wanted to do. >> he had a game plan. >> he was so prepared. >> he went to contraception as you pointed, a women's issue. but he made careful. you look at the slippage. he's careful to trim that. let's look championing his own record on women. he was sure to point out the romney's campaign not wanting to take on lilly ledbetter. let's watch him go after him on womens rights. >> when governor romney's campaign was asked about the lilly ledbetter bill whether he supported it, he said i'll get back to you. and that's not the kind of advocacy that women need in any economy. now, there are some other issues that have a bearing on how women succeed in the workplace. for example, their health care. now, a major difference in this campaign is that governor romney feels comfortable having politicians in washington decide the health care choices that women are making. i think that's a mistake. in my health care bill, i said insurance companies need to provide contracep

the lilly ledbetter fair pay act, this was the first bill i signed into law. [applause] and i know you want the same thing for your daughters or sisters or moms or grandma's as i do. as i said in the debate, this is not just a women's issue, but a family issue, an economic issue. i also believe women should make their own health care decisions. >> president obama and romney were questioned about the lilly ledbetter fair pay act in their debate tuesday night. on thursday, the romney campaign attempted to walk back a statement from top romney advisor ed gillespie that romney had opposed the bill in 2009. elsewhere on the campaign trail, former president bill clinton rallied democrats in ohio, playing the role of warm-up act to the famed musician bruce springsteen. >> i had 20 something jobs before i got elected president, but this is the first, my life i ever got to be it the warm-up act for springsteen. >> i believe we are in the midst of those long days right now. i'm here because i believe president obama feels those days in his bones, for all 100% of us. >>

this goes back to his attitude about lilly ledbetter. back to the fact not one republican in the senate supported the paycheck fairness act. and mitt romney agrees with that. he was against it as well. this is an attitude about women in the workplace and not getting what it's like. >> jackie, building on what anita is saying here, the obama campaign quick to hit romney with a new ad titled romney's condescending views towards women. and romney told an anecdotal story but he didn't take a position on women. so will this comment, the emotion behind it, the negative reaction behind it, will it stick come november 6th? >> i think what'll happen is the truth will come out. this is a clear example as we've seen many times of rhetoric talking about binders of women or any of those versus reality. let's talk about reality. in obama's cabinet today, he has five of 14 positions of women. when romney was in governor he had six of 14. he had a better record than president. let's take the time and not think about rhetoric. that's what team obama love

he still won't say whether he would sign the lilly ledbetter fair pay act into law. women lose $431,000 over their professional life by not getting equal pay for equal work. it's real money and at the end of the day when women go cast their ballot in the ballot box, president obama will have a double-digit lead with women because of mitt romney's being so out of touch with women's issues. >> as you point out the democrats do continue to hammer governor romney by the comments made by richard mourdock, the obama campaign up with a clock counting the time since mourdock's comments without the governor withdrawing his endorsement, there's no question this issue is truly important. but to really sway women voters does the president need a stronger economic appeal to those women that are on the fence in these final 11 days? >> well, first of all, it has been three days now since senate candidate richard mourdock in indiana said that the -- that the resulting pregnancy from a rape is -- was intended by god and was a gift from god. and mitt romney hasn't even said himself th