no journalist has gotten more inside the romney camp than cnbc contributor robert costa.omney keep his cool or lose his temper. and roger stone is a romney doubter. bob costa, let me begin with you, buddy. president obama before this night is over is going to call him bush, he's going to talk about the 47%, he's going to talk about bain capital. it could get ugly. will mitt romney hold his cool and keep his temper in check? >> well, larry, i've been hanging out with romney world all day. romney's goal is two-fold. heap needs to be aggressive on policy but stay presidential and be likable. >> if mitt military comes out aggressive and i hope he does, i want him to take charge of this debate from the get-go, will he do it -- will he still be the gentleman mitt or are we going to see something that we haven't seen before that was cooked up by all the brilliant guys in his campaign is. >> he wants to be gentleman mitt to an extent. he does not want to get bogged down on distractions. if obama starts to bring up bain capital and tax returns, romney wants to stay on the big them

but the shooting outside robert costa's home stopped that all. the shots happened outside around 1:30 saturday morning. darren was standing with this best friend, he was shot. >> it was bull crap, he was killed because of a mistaken identity. >> reporter: police arrested two men. charged with murder. morrow touched the community that was so willing to put out their hearts on saturday night. >> these people no respect for life and shoot at random people. >> we thank everyone for their support and we will never let him go. >> reporter: police have not mentioned a motive. but you heard the best friend say he believes it was a random shooting. the suspects are facing other charges. cheryl conner. >> definitely had perfect weather this weekend, but what are the odds for the work week? let's check in with mark masco. >> it was beautiful this evening, but it is going to change. here is what is going on right now: nothing. clear overhead but rain is coming and this has been big storms back around chicago. the shot downtown, or to grace we go, looks good

what do you think robert costa on this point? does mr. ice roberts move back into his natural majority of conservatives? or is he going to play some more interesting games as he did with obama care? >> i think chief justice roberts can sew a big question mark into his robes. i have no idea after that obama care decision. i'm watching justice kennedy, he's the guy that's been flip-flopping right or left. >> this is interesting, on affirmative action t university of texas now is allocating racial quotas to be a tiny point of affirmative action. >> but they have lowered the amount that they have given to this racial point. to me that is exactly right. i just think that's sensible, not conservative or liberal. how do you these the court's going to rule on the texas affirmative action? >> i think on the court, justice robert roberts is going to go back to his conservative position. i think his vote will preserve the credibility of the court based on the politics of each justice how they were going to vote. >> you think the court is going back t

joining us now from the debate site, ace reporter cnbc contributor robert costa, "national review." robert, what is team romney telling you about tonight? >> reporter: team romney is very optimistic about tonight, but they know it will be a break-even debate. this is president obama's best subject, foreign policy, romney is a governor and businessman, not his wheelhouse, but he's been well prepared for this debate and expect him to come out firing at the president's record, especially on libya. >> okay. let's pursue that. is he going to go right after benghazigate, go right after it picking up where he left off in the last debate? >> well, as you remember, larry, the romney campaign feels during the town hall romney didn't have a great answer on libya so they spent the last week on libya going hour by hour in how the administration failed to react to that tragedy in benghazi. >> hour by hour, is that what you're saying, heavy stuff hour by hour? >> romney wants to critique what happened in libya and of the administration's entire record and wants to use libya as something indicative

robert costa, i want you to challenge my friend keith boykins. you're saying there's a horse race in michigan, and wisconsin. the numbers in wisconsin look even up. and in iowa, where the liberal des moines register just endorsed romney. so there could be some real midwestern upsets, huh? >> the point in wisconsin is true. keith boykins is right. wisconsin was wisconsin was boston by four points. the milwaukee suburbs, they went very strong for scott walker in that recall election this past summer. if that republican ground game is pretty good in wisconsin, for romney, just as for was for walker, he has a shot. >> jonathan, the big banana here is ohio. so people are spinning yarn. maybe these yarns are going to come true. mitt romney can win without winning ohio. how do you see the ohio race, jonathan, and are your -- is your super pack putting dough, big dough into ohio? >> oh, absolutely. and the race is deadlocked there. the voters in the southeastern part of the state are completely hardened against obama because of the war on coal. we'll be

. >> robert costa, this is interesting, ryan attacking obama. is this going to be a big theme in the last 18, 19 days? >> it definitely will be, larry. talking to romney advisors, this is their closing strategy. coming out of the first two presidential debates they see a big opening on polity and on vision. if it turns out that the president doesn't have a good vision for -- >> it's partly a referendum on the economy and it's pointing out what romney's plan is, 20% across the board tax cut, but what romney's doing now is that the president could earn on rom hi he he he doesn't have a tax plan, romney wants to point out out to the voters. >> obama does have a tax plan, he wants to raise taxes on small business owners, raise taxes on business and raise taxes on entrepreneurs and raise taxes. >> the obama job plan is sitting in congress, it's inactive, nothing's happening on that front, the president's just going to let these tax cuts expire, so this really comes down to the ideological choice for voters as an alternative or is it more of the same.

keith boykin, nia-malika henderson, and robert costa. thanks for coming back, guys.ou. the supreme court will be affirmative action. what do you think is going to happen with the high court on this? >> my goodness. always dangerous to try to do tea leaf reading of the supreme court. we know last time it was 5-4, o'connor writing that decision. everyone is looking at justice kennedy, who descented la ee ee last decision. i think we just never know what happens with the supreme court and how this will come down. also, if it comes down before, you know, this campaign, if, in fact, it sort of injected this court watching into this election and people start to look at the different candidates and how they might shape the supreme court. the next president is going to have a mighty, mighty strong hand in appointing a new supreme court justice. >> robert, do you think jechief justice roberts will be looking to prove his conservative credentials after that health care ruling? >> i think nia had a great point. after the health care decision, it's hard to predict what chief jus

. >> i want to bring in perry bacon and robert costa. good morning, guys. >> good morning, chris. >> good morning. >> so, what do you think? does this poll give the obama campaign something to worry about? what do you think, perry? >> i think the debate performance gave them something to worry about. you have seen democrats very strongly critical of his debate performance. the poll itself shows the race tightening. that's no question the race from about four points to two points. that said, the president's still leads and i'll be curious to see the swing state polls because the swing states tell us who's going to within the election. >> not just the swing state but what these polls, what this poll doesn't show and we have a much better sense of it tomorrow whether the jobs numbers on friday moved people back in the president's direction. is this in a way about which side capitalizes better on in romney's case the debate in the president's case, the job numbers? >> i think that's a great point, chris. i think a lot of jobs data is baked i

let's go to robert costa from the national review online danville, cnbc contributor. the debate sunday way. bob costa as you talked to the romney/ryan people today, what phrases jump out? what do you think he wants to get across in at least a minimal way? >> they want to defend mitt romney's positions. they want to go after the obama economic record and reach out to new voters, especially view the voters who may find ryan appealing >> i keep talking about this youth thing. i think what ryan represents as a well-informed smart 42-year-old guy and does his body crunches and listens to music on his ipod and so forth, i think that's a tremendous plus for romney, i really do. there's his picture up there. i think, you know, the youth vote is shifting to romney. it's not going to be like it was in 2008. >> that's exactly right, larry. one thing the ryan camp has pushed hard for is to have this debate be a sit-down debate and once he sits down at table with biden he can present a contrast and reach out to youth voters on entitlement and talk about the frank issues facing the

also, robert costa.on is, we saw president obama say how much he liked it when he was getting off an airplane. somehow he found a way to watch it. oh, no. do i got to be like that? do i have to be in his face, smile with all those teeth? does he feel he has to match that show? >> i think, frankly, any debate you have to come with a level of aggressiveness. the problem for the president in the first debate, he was playing for a draw. he wanted to keep it cool. he wanted to maintain his likability. the american people want to see you come out with vigor. they want to see that fight. even if they don't agree with every point you're making, they want to see you're going to take the fight and try to win on every point. i think in general you have to come out and show that you really want the job. >> so will romney do the snarky stuff like, i know you're under duress, i know you're under pressure, mr. president. >> you could say biden raised the bar, but i think the president next week is going to have to be a

costa republican headquarters will hold three more watch parties. and the two remaining for the president of the united states. that's how things were in the republican side. let's go to the colleague, robertonda live with the democrats watching the debate in san jose. >> there's an upbeat mood here in the democratic headquarters in downtown sap jose. -- san jose. democrats crowded with the watch party, with items. and many said the perceived winner is the one best expressing the concerns on the middle crash with the best vision of moving the economy forward, especially in taxes, deficit and jobs. party leaders here said president obama did that best. >> he's willing to run on the record as president and on the campaign statements that he's made so far. and i contrast that with governor romney who i think is all over the place. >> what obama, is hold holding a little more water. he's not talking only the foot but the how's and the whys. i think i only hear from romney the what. >> both candidates seemed very prepared. it makes it hard to tell how they went over with undecided voters who may have heard many of the points before. ktvu channel 2 news. >>> how will you vote in this year's elec