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 under their skin and sometimes the candidate you're working with doesn't appreciate it and, you know -- >> now, in this case, ashleigh, the candidate he's working with does seem to appreciate it. mitt romney joked a few time

we're live in we'll be joined by rob portman helping to prepare governor romney for the debate will join us tonight. senator marco rubio will be here. one of the things initial thoughts is that you saw the president in a way you've never seen him before. never before hammered this way on a sustained basis. this went on throughout the night. mitt romney energized and was staring at him the whole time, meaning the president. the president would look down, and looking to bail him out in this debate. we've never seen this before in president obama. there is a lot of ground to cover tonight of we'll check in with our focus group. we're live with a lot of voters out there. frank, interested in their reaction tonight. >> and there is in denver that voted accurately and how many of you thought barack obama was a winner, how many of you thought mitt romney? understand this. 13 of the 24 people voted for obama in 2008. why did mitt romney do so well? >> i just respected his ability to speak to issues that he was on point. he looked like he was well prepared. i was very impressed. >> i agree. same

republican senators rob portman, ron johnson, senators warner and udal ll.ox news sunday has it all at 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern here on fox as we gear up for the final stretch. >> we better gear up for hurricane sandy because she, i believe this one is a she, is on a crash course for the jersey shore. we're ready with live team coverage bringing you the latest watches and warnings. there are new concerns about a woman's health during childbirth. serious complications are on the rise. "sunday house call" is straight ahead. the doctors are in. ely. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling. and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together. every room deserves to look us what our great.te color is? and every footstep should tell us we made the right decision. so when we can feel our way through the newest, softest, and most colorf

and later, ohio republican senator rob portman. romney's debate sparring partner. joining us live from the debate site. >>> plus, our roundtable weighs in. from "the new york times," columnist tom friedman. and white house correspondent helene cooper. and former white house press secretary for president clinton dee dee myers. >>> from nbc news in washington, it's "meet the press" with david gregory. >>> the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll for where this race stands, chuck todd has the numbers. this is significant. >> this is among likely voters, david. 47%, 47%. not all tied races are equal. the president sitting at 47% if this were the sunday before election day there would be a lot of concerns in chicago. they want to be at 48% or 49%. sitting at 47% is good for a challenger, not a good number for an incumbent. let's go inside the numbers a little bit. the gender gap. you brought it up. among men, romney, a 10-point lead. let's go to women. this is interesting. president, an eight-point lead here, this is his smallest lead among women that we've had al

obviously senator rob portman of ohio is playing a critical roll in the romney campaign. ically played the role of president obama in the many, many days of predebate preparation for governor remain knee and portman is the republican party's go-to man for this sort of thing. since 1996, he's been involved in all kinds of preparation of mock debates. let's listen in now. >> my grandfather bought it back in the 20s. he dropped out of college and took a big risk. there was a gas station right smear barber shop right there. but he put his heart into that because he believed that with my grandmother and this great land, they could create something of value. they restored the golden lamb and president obama? my grandmother, the team at the golden lamb and my grandfather, they built it. [ cheers and applause ] at the debate you'll hear president obama talking about the fact that he would like to continue doing what we've done the last four years. and folks, it hadn't worked very well, has it? but don't take my word for it. he'll say, my economic policies have worked because that'

i don't have the president obama, rob portman president obama for the debate prep.t goes. charles, final thought for debate? >> what a debate. one point a robot. the other a cold fish. for obama, the bar is low. he just has to string a few sentences together coherently to make eye contract a single human to show the slightest animation in his face. he can do that. he will be ahead of where he was and might win on that basis alone. >> bret: yes. we knew we could count on closing remark from charles. as always, thank you from washington. steve and kirsten that is it for the panel. stay tuned for some closing thoughts from here at hofstra. my insurance rates e probably gonna double. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands? ... >> finally tonight, a reminder to join megyn kelly and me for complete coverage of this evening's presidential debate from here at hofstra. we'll begin at 8:55 p.m. we hope you jo

>> well, rachel, i had a pretty long conversation with rob portman about this. only is he from ohio, a meticulous kind of guy, but he knows that ohio is what this is about when we're talking about the auto industry. and the obama people insist, and i think with good reason, that mitt romney was just flat outlying, not to put too fine a point on it, on the question of whether he, mitt romney, was willing to support direct federal help, the kind of help that the president put forth, for the auto industry. and in talking to rob portman, i went at him on this and he said, well, i'm going to send you the op ed again and i pressed him on it and he said, romney was willing to support backup guarantees. he was willing to have government support for for warranties and so forth. to me that was cutting it too fine by half and it sounded to me like rob portman was not only defensive about it but sort of trying to cut it very, very fine and this really matters, rachel, so we're down to the short strokes in ohio. the auto industry bailout and rescue is one of the president's

senator rob portman from ohio is with me. have you been prepping mitt romney for the past several weeks. what is your assessment of the night? did the preparation pay off? >> jim, a terrific night for mitt romney. for the undecided voter in ohio, they were looking for two things, one, a discussion about the record of the last four years, and why we can't afford it for the next four. and most importantly, talked about his own policies and set the record straight on some of the misleading ads that the obama campaign has put out about his tax plan, budget plan, health care plan, so on. he did exactly what he had to do for undecided voters, really pleased with his performance. >> what about the line from the president that mitt romney has not offered enough specifics? and if the specifics were so great, he would be revealing them? do you think the governor has to start revealing specifics, at least to the next debate? >> criticizing for knowing too many specifics, including sometimes by president obama and his campaign, with his

rob portman plays obama. >> john: you never see videotape of this? >> no.reason why, you don't want to show those vulnerable moments. we don't want to give any component in the prep. >> in a campaign, one of secretaries gave bush prep video? >> they went right to the f.b.i.. what happened. >> john: what is so secret. >> limited government. >> you say limited government. what kind are you talking about. can you be specific? >> yes, i can list cuts. >> would you cut defense? >> i would cut defense. >> so you are soft on defense? >> i know how i should answer the questions but under pressure it's hard. >> john: go back to the clinton days. my instinct is to answer the question that is asked but consultants to say don't. >> you are still answering my questions but most of the time you want to be delivering your message. >> they say sarah palin was good at that. >> governor palin answered the questions on her terms. >> that is not so. but because that is just a quick answer. i wanted to talk about, again, my lord on energy. >> she was able to pivot most of the q

it's been hard to figure out who is the running mate, paul ryan or rob portman.w much time they have been spending together. the other thing mitt romney has been doing, they have been preparing for a more aggressive president obama. you heard rob portman on one of the sunday talk shows saying they expect the president to come out swinging. the obama campaign earlier this afternoon came out with a new web video that essentially accuses mitt romney of being his own october surprise, saying that he's been changing his position on a whole host of issues to appear more moderate. so i think the romney campaign is taking all of that into consideration and then there's also this issue, and i think candy can talk to this, about whether or not there will be follow-up questions to the questions that are posed by audience members at the town hall debate tomorrow night. i talked to a senior romney advisor about this, and they said that while this has come up as an issue, they say they are ready for whatever comes, no matter who asks the question, anderson. >> candy, what abou

rob portman is very well respected. n, but what rob did to win the state by just huge numbers for the state of ohio when he ran for u.s. senate was he got out and touched and felt people. he listened. rob is an excellent listener, and i think the candidate going forward that listens to the voters of ohio is the one that's going to end up on top. >> let's look back to 2008 and the election. barack obama won the big counties with the big cities. he won the state by what, just four points, but how can mitt romney turn that around this time? >> well, i mean, i think you make a good point. there's two ohios. there's -- there's five or six large counties, and they tend to be urban voters with some suburban outreach. then there's the collar counties which are all the suburbs which tend to go republican, and then you have the dynamic between northeast ohio and southwest ohio, so the fact is at the end of the day i don't know that anybody needs to turn anything around. this is a very different election than four years ago. four y

and we'll also speak to ohio republican senator rob portman as well. it's all coming up this morning on "meet the press." be sure to stay tuned after the program for my conversation with ken burns on nbc 4. >> with so much going on in politics right now, "saturday night live" had more than enough material to work with. >> last week's heated debate with president obama and governor romney poking contend over the issues. >> governor romney keeps mentioning this five-point plan. do you want to see them, this is one, two, three, four, five right here, bam, that's my plan. >> i have a one point plan for you, do you want to see it? >> president obama, you know obviously we need to do everything we can to become energy independent. >> really, then why have you cut drilling permits on federal land by half. >> not true. >> you didn't cut anything, you're not going to cut anything? >> i'm about to cut you. >> the show also poked a little fun at people on long island where the debate happened, you can see it every saturday on nbc 4. and i can't think of someone w

massachusetts senator john kerry, who's romney will be in cooorado, r he'll be practicing with ohio senator rob portman playing president obaaa. athena jooes, cnn, washington. the university of denver iss hosting the debate, tomorrow. it begins at 9 o'clock. coming up in our 6 o'clock hhur... a glitch with the i-phhne 5 gives users a nasty surpriis. the ddta usage issue that's giving customers cause ffr conc. concern.aad... the oriolle deeense lets them down.see if they could overcome a big error by one of their star players.. nexttin sportss ((break 3))aú krystal conwell : we see a lot of problems with the... number of students that we have. resources. materials. things that the children need... on a day-to-day basis. anncr: question seven will help. the department of legislative services says question seven... will mean hundreds of millions of dollars... for schools...from gaming revenues that would have... gone to other states. and independent audits will guarantee the money... goes where it's supposed to. krystal conwell: i think people should vote for question... seven because i think it will be a

mitt romney in colorado we saw him briefly with senator rob portman his sparring partner for a quick break. president obama is still in nevada running through his own preparations with massachusetts senator john kerry his sparring partner they will head to colorado soon enough, though. both of them are in essence cramming for the big test tonight. number twos were duking it out on the trail and that got some unexpected attention yesterday vice vice presidemitt romney cae by the middle class. >> this is deadly earns, deadly earns. how they can justify how they can justify raising taxes on the middle class is buried the last four years. how in the lord's name can they justify? >> vice president biden just today said the middle class over the last four years have been quote buried. we agree. stop digging by electing mitt romney the next president of the united states. >>> and that exchange right there may be a pretty good preview of what we are going to hear tonight from the presidential candidates this is a debate that will focus entirely on domestic issues. that means a lot of talk ab

ohio ssnator rob portman is oncc again playing the &pppeeident...whill advisee peter flaaerty has the roleeof crowley.as portman indicated suuday, the campaiin is getting ready to rumble."i think president obama is going to come outtswinging. i think he's going to have to compensate for a poor first debate and iithink hat will be ccnsistent with what thhy've been doing this whole campaign."over at obamm debate time adviser anita dunn s g - playyng crowwey... while kerry ii once again staading pnnfor romney.the preeident' ttam vows he will ap up hhs performancc."i think he's going to be aggressive ii of wherr we should go as a ccuntty."that could be a risky move and perhaas alienate some in the aadience ii this debate's town hall style format... perhaps explaining why annobama aideenowwsays the president will be "firm but &pthey're prepared for all &pvarrables."the president can change his tactics. he can't change his reeord.""i think mitttromney's perrormance was indded, magiccl and the latest cnn poll of polls 3 showing the race is neck and in the three key swing states of florida...

you know rob portman. >> i know rob very well. but the fact is -- >> he's lying. >> the only way that the tax plan works, the only thing he can do that really has money in savings is the mortgage deduction. it's the charitable deduction. it's the education deduction. it's the health care deduction. and mitt romney does not have the courage to tell the american people what he's planning. but ed, if he were to take on those deductions, those deductions strike at the heart of the middle class and that's why he's unwilling to tell us the truth. and so that's why we're getting all of this fuzzy math. >> according to a keizer foundation study, a medicare voucher system would raise premiums. the romney campaign says it wasn't based on their plan but they don't provide details on it either. so how do the democrats keep up the fight against an opponent that lies and denies so often? >> well, we've got to tell the truth. the fact is, if we just look at this romney budget. paul ryan was chosen to be the vice presidential candidate in large p

romney - ii - took a lunch reak with ohho - senator rob portman - ii ddbate stand in for the presidenttmney didnn answwr any questions about the if he seizes on the economy, o'donnell says: "if he's able to pin blameefor the economy on the presideet, his governor romney's numbers will ptart to come p."davis says:: "a new quunnipiac poll finds that 86 perrent of likkly voters don't think thh candidates ill saa anything to chaage their mind - but 93 percent pooled till plan to watch the debates. in washington, jd, fn." 3 earlier we told you about how ravens matt biik and brendon ayanbadajo are weighing on difffrent sides of samm sex marriage issue. issue. and its our question of the day... do you think its appropriate for sports figgres to speak out oo political issue. issuee. brad writee on our facebook page..."they should keep their months shut as longg team." but korcorannwrrtes..." it's totally acceptable ffr any issue." to speak outton - 3 we areeseeing a lively debate on this issue go to fox-baltimore dot com and tell us what you think. facebook. send us a tweet...h text your nswer

nevada con el senador john kerry, actuando de rival y mitt romney en massachusetts con el senador rob portmanel de obama. ---todo el trabajo de la casa blanca ha quedado aplazado, asi como los mtines o cualquier otra actividad electoral. ---el primero de 3 debates presidenciales se llevar a cabo en la universidad de denver y se espera que el tema central sea la economa. ---desde esta maÑana, el presidente obama sigue liderando las encuestas en los 9 estados considerados claves para ganar la eleccion. takevo cesar ---mientras... obama sigue ganando terreno con los votantes, el candidato republicano mitt romney sigue haciendo declaraciones polemicas. ---en una entrevista con el diario "the denver post", romney dijo que las personas que han recibido un permiso de trabajo bajo la "accion diferida", deben saber que.... de ser elegido presidente, estos seguirn teniendo validez. ---romney agrega que no va a quitarles algo que han comprado y prometi que antes de que se venzan, instrumentar una amplia reforma migratoria. ---sin embargo, romney nunca declar si de ser elegido presidente, eliminara el pr

as for rob portman, he's a pretty effective guy. >> were you surprised by the president's performance actually thought he described pretty appropriately and pretty effectively his policies. i just happen to disagree with those policies. when we talked about the economy, he really is not proposing anything he hasn't talked about for the last four years, which is another stimulus, hiring more government workers, picking winners and losers in industries that he favors, raising taxes. these are ideas he's had for some time, and frankly we've tested those ideas over the last four years and they have not led to the kind of job growth americans want. but, you know, i think the challenge that he has is that his ideas are just not demonstrating the kind of results he would hope for and people recognize that. >> i've got one final question and i know you've got to go, governor. your wife, ann romney. she had a moving story she told our own gloer wra borger recently about your ritual as you go into a debate. let me play this clip for you because i want to see your reaction and i want to get your

earlier today he rehearsed for his next debate with president obama with ohio senator rob portman anding rally one hour from

. >> do you think democrats will hire rob portman for debate preparation? >> the ads in the campaign, so negative, and so nasty. i expected president obama to start bucking about bain capital, 47%. >> never debate on your anniversary, an important lesson. it just doesn't seem to work. the big change, president obama running ads in the swing states about this terrible person mitt romney who wants to eat babies and throw granny in the snow. just terrible. that guy didn't show up. america met a guy with very calm, presidential temperament. as a matter of fact, snis interchange with president obama on a lot of things. >> including his anniversary. >> very comfortable in your living room as president. >> it will be interesting to see, because we all believe that governor romney had a good night. interesting to see what the poll numbers do. >> i expect them to, if not, we have a real problem. second thing, we should not forget this, he literally threw his whole tax plan your honor the bus. the -- as a followup. there is another debate, everything tomorrow, there

straight ahead ohio republican senator rob portman has advice for both candidates to win ohio.r portman negotiation. i told him, sure. can't hurt, right? then i heard this news about a multivitamin study looking at long-term health benefits for men over 50. the one they used in that study... centrum silver. that's what i take. my doctor! he knows his stuff. [ male announcer ] centrum silver. the most recommended. most preferred. most studied. centrum, always your most complete. to start her own interior design business. she's got a growing list of clients she keeps in touch with using e-mail marketing from constantcontact.com. constantcontact is easy and affordable. it lets her send out updates and photos that showcase her expertise and inspire her customers for only $15 a month. [ dog barking ] her dream -- to be the area's hottest interior design office. [ children laughing ] right now, she just dreams of an office. get a free trial at constantcontact.com. introducing the new droid razr maxx hd by motorola. now more than ever droid does. >> it could all come down to ohio. chr