senator. now that the candidates have made their opening statements, it is time for questions from our panel of journalists. we begin with fred with a question for senator kerrey. >> you are running to be not just a senator from nebraska, but a u.s. senator. if elected, how would you balance the economic interests of agriculture with those of the nation as a hole. should congress require the use of 15 billion gals a year for ethanol when critics say that raises food prices for everyone? >> the nation he is and agriculture is align. we have a surplus. the interests of agriculture and the united states are aligned. i am appalled that neither governor romney or president obama is talking about agriculture in this campaign. it is the foundation of the u.s. economy. i fought for ethanol since i was governor. it has been a great success. it has lowered the price of fuel, improved the quality of economy. it has created tens of thousands of jobs. it is a great example of bipartisan efforts. there is a

senator mccain? >> well, thank you, tom. thank you, belmont university. and senator obama, it's good to be with you at a town hall meeting. and, alan, thank you for your question. you go to the heart of america's worries tonight. americans are angry, they're upset, and they're a little fearful. it's our job to fix the problem. now, i have a plan to fix this problem, and it's got to do with energy independence. we've got to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't want us -- like us very much. we have to keep americans' taxes low. all americans' taxes low. let's not raise taxes on anybody today. we obviously have to stop this spending spree that's going on in washington. do you know that we've laid a $10 trillion debt on these young americans who are here with us tonight, $500 billion of it we owe to china? we've got to have a package of reforms and it has got to lead to reform prosperity and peace in the world. and i think that this problem has become so severe, as you know, that we'r

senate. he does not get to vote her often in the senate, but he made a special trip to come back and vote against a cost-of-living increase. when you talk about social security, the people who will protect it are the democrats that brought forth that program. i think it is very important that we not see these kinds of and runs by this administration when they talk about the fact that there will continue to cut this budget. i know too well with their track record is and should be concerned about that kind of an effort once again after the election is over. >> senator bentsen, you know that i did not vote to cut social security eight times. but what we have voted for it to delay the cost-of-living adjustments. senator bentsen two times in the united states senate voted to delay the cost of living adjustment to the governor of massachusetts supported a resolution to delay the cost of living adjustment. and john, you are right. the uses for political advantage. they tried to scare the old people

senate. [applause] >> your leader in the senate bob dole said that a better qualified person could have been chosen. other republicans have been far more critical in private. why do you think that you have not made a more substantial impression on some of these people who have been able to observe you up close? >> the question goes to whether i am qualified to be vice president, and in the case of a tragedy, whether i'm qualified to be president. qualifications for the office of vice president or president are not age alone. you must look at accomplishments, and you must look at experience. i have more experience than others that have sought the office of vice president. now let's look at qualifications, and let's look at the three biggest issues that are going to be confronting america in the next presidency. those three issues are national security and arms control; jobs and education; and the federal budget deficit. on each one of those issues i have more experience than does the governor

senator obama? >> well, oliver, first, let me tell you what's in the rescue package for you. right now, the credit markets are frozen up and what that means, as a practical matter, is that small businesses and some large businesses just can't get loans. if they can't get a loan, that means that they can't make payroll. if they can't make payroll, then they may end up having to shut their doors and lay people off. and if you imagine just one company trying to deal with that, now imagine a million companies all across the country. so it could end up having an adverse effect on everybody, and that's why we had to take action. but we shouldn't have been there in the first place. now, i've got to correct a little bit of senator mccain's history, not surprisingly. let's, first of all, understand that the biggest problem in this whole process was the deregulation of the financial system. senator mccain, as recently as march, bragged about the fact that he is a deregulator. on the other hand, two years ago,

locke senator? senator bentsen? bentsen: i have absolutely no quarrel with senator quayle's military record but i do strongly disagree with him on some of the issues. you've make great patriotic speeches and i enjoy them but i don't understand your phot on issues. senator quayle has one of the worst voting records in the united states senate on veterans issues and one of them that is particularly bothering me is sponsoring legislation to put a tax on combat pay and disability pay for veterans, for fighting men and women of america. a tax on disability pay when they are lying in the hospital. people who have sacrificed for our country. i think you ought to explain that to the people of america and you ought to explain it tonight. >> moderator: john, his question for senator bentsen. >> you are considered an orthodox conservative on fiscal matters meaning someone who would be very concerned about the budget deficit. with everybody in politics afraid even to mention taxes or social security cuts or very much restrains

i want to be virginia's senator. tim wants to be president obama's senator.e went around the country giving partisan speeches. instead of staying home and dealing with economic crisis, tim chose to leave. on every significant issue, he has been for the obama policies that have been hurting virginians. from the harmful energy policies that are devastating communities, to our electric bills skyrocketing. obamacare that is endangering the access of medicare to our seniors. now, this sequestration deal is threatening another 200,000 virginia jobs. in washington, you deserve a strong, independent voice. if i have the honor of serving as your united states senator, i will work hard to build a society where hard work is rewarded and every american has an opportunity to succeed. >> thank you for those opening statements. we want to get to the questions. you will receive 90 seconds to enter each section -- question. we have a lot of great questions from our viewers. we will be weaving that into these questions. neither candidate or campaign has knowledge or access to

i was -- you've gotten criticism from fellow republicans, including senator lindsay graham and senator john mccain on that sort of effort that you've launched, to speak a little bit about how you intend to move the party and if you think you're going to have the momentum going forward. >> i think if you ask people, i've told people, i think i can go to the kentucky democrat convention, stand in front of all democrats, and tell them, you know what? we don't have enough money to be sending money to pakistan and egypt and libya, countries that are more mobs or burning our flag, attacking our embassy. we've got problems at home. in my state, we have two bridges that are $2 billion projects, louisville and in northern kentucky. this is it fact. i think -- this is infrastructure. i think i can get 90% of democrats to agree with me. don't extent money overseas when we have problems at home that we can't take care of. we've wanted these bridges to be reand replaced for 20 years and yet we have money to send overseas and if you look and follow the trail of the money, you find that so much of it

i worked with senator why then, and senator -- senator wyden and senator udall and others. >> some have indicated they think you will run for president in 2016. any interest in seeking higher office? >> that depends on what happens next tuesday or a week from tuesday. i want to be involved in the national debate. i want to transform the republican party that is -- into a party that is competitive in all 50 states. from the west coast and new england, we give up 150 electoral votes to begin with. that why it comes down to we have to win florida and ohio. i would like to be competitive in california, oregon, and washington. one way to be competitive is to have a less aggressive foreign policy that does not always think war is the answer and be more tolerant when it comes to people who do not agree with us on every issue and be a fiscally conservative party that believes in balancing the budget. if you ran primarily on the message of balancing the budget and that was the primary message, even in california, there were democrats who would voted for you if the new york primary purpose was to

the senate decided to pass it. as america watches these things happen, was it the worst of washington or the worst of washington that we saw play out? >> let me thank you for hosting this. governor, it is a pleasure to meet you. it is evidence of the fact that the economic policies of the last eight years have been the worst economic policies we have ever had. as a consequence, you see what has happened on wall street. if you need any more proof positive on how bad economic theories have been, the excessive deregulation, the failure to oversee what was going on, letting wall street when and wild, but they needed more evidence than what you see now. so republicans and democrats were put in a very tough spot. but barack obama laid out four basic criteria for any kind of rescue plan. first of all, it has to be oversight. the second, you have to focus on homeowners and folks on main street. thirdly, he said, you have to treat the taxpayers like investors in this case. lastly, you have to make sure that the ceo's don't

senator...tainly, it is a legitimate issue to discuss before an election, when four americans were killed, and there are questions of intelligence failurefore and during the attack, is it not? >> it is a legitimate issue, but, every story leads to political commentary, and trying to point fingers. after 9/11, we came together, there were a lot of questions that had to be answered, let's operate in that same spirit and let's remember what ambassador stevens was riding to do and stand together. the middle east is crucial, we need to be tough there and smart and engaged. this discussion has been politicized, and it has not been helpful or helped us get to the bottom of what happened. >> chris: let me ask you a direct question. drones were flying over benghazi at the time of the attacks, during the hours when first the consulate and the annex, six or eight hours were under attacks, were the drones armed? >> we're going to find that out. as you have mentioned, i sit on the intelligence committee and

senators know, senator lugar. there are other people down there who can actually get things done. >> undecided. >> i have made it very clear. >> i would like to say two things. when senator brown talks here in massachusetts about how very bipartisan he is and how very independent he is, he is sure not say the same thing when it goes around the country raising money in the senate. [applause] he goes around this country and what he says to people around the country is that they should contribute to his campaign because if he is reelected, that increases the odds that the republicans will control the senate and he can block president obama's agenda [applause] let's just be honest about what is going on. >> given his vote, to believe his goal is to block and a stretch president obama's agenda? >> fought on economic issues, i absolutely do. in fact, i can do the examples. we had a quarter of a million people unemployed here in the commonwealth of massachusetts last fall. president obama put forward a jobs bill. the fir

senator cantwell?on with my colleague, susan collins, on two different pieces of legislation, one for adaptation. when there is one degree temperature change, it means something for our hydro system. it means an impact to the prices in the future. we need to plan, diversify. i work with susan collins on doing something much more comprehensive. this is an important issue for us. i want us to diversify off of fossil fuels. the level of co2 and the damage it causes is a problem. i don't want to drill off the coast of washington or drill in the arctic wildlife refuge, two things that i think my opponent supports. we need to start a process to protect consumers and the future, and not just from environmental impacts but the high cost of fossil fuel moving forward. i am confident that an energy economy of clean energy can help us create jobs, diversified, and protect our environment over the long run. >> corporations are people, money is speech, citizens united has opened the floodgates of virtually unlimite

>>neil: thank you, senator. this bipartisan man to get this under control and thwarts the efforts that paul ryan has taken, that if anything he and his dad have said that plan doesn't go far enough and we have to take a bigger bite out the deficits and overall debt than we are doing now and the most aggressive plan out there. when we talk about cuts this is an oxymoron in washington as it is, maybe every where but walk, we are talking about curtailing the growth. no one has talked about reversing those programs. we have a democrat from the fine state of south carolina, that is the reality, is it not, you would think that any effort to pull in the entitlements is like throwing granny off the cliff but we are talking about just slowing the growth. >>guest: thank you very much for having me. look, there are ways to get this done. the fact of the matter is we have to seek a balance. i don't understand why it is that every time we start talking about reforming so-called entitlements, something that people have paid i

-- senator kerrey? >> first of all, i signed a tort reform bill when i was governor and it had no impact on costs at all to the people of nebraska need to check her assertions about the medicare cuts. it is a decrease in payments to hospitals. you'll be eligible for medicare in four or five years. under her proposal, medicare will be insolvent in 2016. under current law, it will not be insolvent until 2024. still a big problem. i just heard senator fischer talk about the need to cut spending, and now she wants to spend another $700 billion on insurance companies and hospitals. i support affordable health care act. i like the idea that pre- existing conditions can no longer be cited as a reason not to underwrite insurance. seniors all across the state, nearly 300,000, have already gotten a benefit, are getting preventative care. but most importantly, there is 120,000 nebraskans who in 2014 will get about $300,000 each, and you know who they are, making about $10 an hour. they will be able to buy health i

senate debate.ant a quick rebuttal question to wrap up taxes and spending first, 30 seconds each, then we're moving to foreign policy. the average american according to the u.s. debt clock, each american, every citizen, owes $51,000 to pay off the debt tomorrow. $51,000. we collected $2.5 trillion in revenue last year. senator, why isn't that enough? why do we need taxes to go up from that? nelson: well, we don't. >> moderator: well, you want to close bush era tax breaks. talk about that. nelson: what you need is an overhaul of the entire tax code. there are $14 trillion of tax loopholes. there's more going out in loopholes for somebody's special interest than there is coming in to the treasury each year in individual income tax. >> moderator: how much in loopholes? nelson: $14 trillion over ten years in tax loopholes. it's grown from the last time i voted for tax reform under president reagan -- >> moderator: congressman mack, a brief 30, then we're moving to foreign policy. mack: thank you. well,

majority, that senate would presumably pick joe biden, right? if the senate is tied at 50/50, >>> it's national bologna day. it really is, and with 13 days to go, mitt romney says yes, he does want you to vote for a republican senator who thinks rape is something that god intended to happen. >> are you fired up? are you ready to go? >> the campaign enters the final stretch. >> 13 days of the race for the white house. >> if the schedules, events and remarks are any indication. >> you'll know where the race will be won. >> we'll win iowa again. >> we're going to win colorado. >> the president will hit four states just today. >> racking up the miles on air force one. >> 5300 miles. >> we know the thing is really close. >> how close is it? >> it's all about math versus momentum. >> our campaign is gaining. >> do they know something that we don't? >> this is a bluff. >> mitt romney still has an electoral math problem. >> our campaign is gaining. >> fake it until you make it. >> mitt romney talks out of all sides of his mouth. >> this fall i'm support

>>chris: senator you'd come you are on the senate armed services committee and the senate intelligence committee. how do you answer critics that say the obama administration has bungled this before, during, and after the attack? >>guest: well, chris, we share the grief that mr. woods exhibited in that segment. let me say this, we will get to the bottom of this. the intelligence committee will hold hearings, and the state department has their own investigation underway. but i have to say any observer would looks at what happened in benghazi would have to say this situation has been politicizeed. governor romney realizes his anxiouses and his reaction was unbecoming to potential commander in chief and backed off of those comments. in the debate last week, benghazi and libya was not raised when governor romney had a chance to discuss it. we ought to be asking in the spirit of ambassador stevens and pulling together. after 9/11, and --. >>chris:, wait, wait, wait, senator, it is a legitimate issue to discuss before an election when four americans were killed and there are questions of inte

john mccain and senator kennedy and i wrote it, got it passed in the senate. we don't have a patients' bill of rights because of one man today -- the president of the united states. they've gone back and forth. >> mr. vice president. >> well, gwen, i can think of a lot of words to describe senator kerry's position on iraq. consistent's not one of them. i think if you look at the record from voting for sending the troops, then voting against the resources they needed when they got there, then saying i actually voted for the $87 billion before i voted against it, saying in response to a question, knowing everything i know now, yes, i would have cast that same vote, then saying later wrong war, wrong time. consistency doesn't come to mind. the question of troops is an interesting and important one. we look to our commanders on the ground in iraq for guidance on what they think they need. if they need more troops, they'll ask us. but the key here is not to try to solve the problems in iraq by putting in more american troops. the key is to get the iraqis to take on

senate. i mean that's one of the real uphill battles that scott brown has been fighting. that's why you hear during the debates he'll say the word independent and bipartisan probably more than any other word. >> if you don't agree with my opponent, you know what she does? she attacks you >> ifill: we caught up with both campaigns this weekend >> i'm a republican from massachusetts so it's always an uphill battle to do it better, be more available, to be more accountable >> ifill: how much democratic support do you need to win? >> i don't know. we've had up to the, you know,... >> ifill: you don't know? 'm going to get a lot of democrats and a lot of independents and a lot of republicans >> ifill: what is it that you're saying to them that appeals? >> i don't have to say anything. i just have to show them my record of being the independent person that they sent down there, the guy that is not beholden to anybody >> ifill: there is concern that you're going to be a lock step democrat that you w

senator daschle.of them during their years of public life have made some of the same commitments to agriculture, to working families, to veterans. and we learned a lot from both of them. we benefited from their service. someone who came of age during that time and his own son served in our more modern wars, who i had the honor of learning from as an intern at his office. when i was a student at george pam university. georgetown university. a hero of mine, someone who has the same states men-like qualities as senator mcgovern, the humility that marks the type of leadership great people take. i would like to welcome senator johnson to share in remembrance. [applause] >> thank you, stephanie. tonight, we are here to celebrate the life of george mcgovern, a man many of us called friend, and a small group calls grandpa, dad, uncle, brother, or cousin. to all of the family members who loved him so deeply, thank you. yet shared hime with south dakota and the world, thank you. no that you are all in our g dkn

senate. senator kyrillos come you go first.yrillos: well, senator menendez mentioned the middle class, mention them tonight, does it fairly often. but bob, the middle class is not doing very well at all. we've got to do better. and so, you know, i read the press releases that she put out and i have heard your opening statement, but i don't hear any action items about how we are going to do a better. so i've got a plan. i know that if we do what we have been doing, more of the same, we will have the same outcome and that is unacceptable for the people of new jersey and unacceptable for america. so let's do some things differently. if your way works, we would have 43 straight months of a percent plus unemployment. let's get the job done. >> senator menendez. >> my opponent would take us back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place. that is the biggest disqualifier. when he had an opportunity committee voted against raising the minimum wage and then voted for tax rates for millionaires. when he had an opportu

senate?askill: well, as somebody who's spent a lot of time in a courtroom, i really look to judges who have actually had experience in a courtroom. i think it's important that you can relate to the cases that you hear in a real way. so whether you have spent time as a lawyer in the courtroom or a trial judge, that's important to me. i'll tell you the truth, too, and this may irritate the justices on the supreme court now, but i'd love us of to have a supreme court judge that didn't go to harvard or yale. i really think, um, having somebody on the supreme court that went to a really good state school, um, that maybe didn't go to one of the elite ivy schools would be good for the court. because they have to make a lot of difficult calls. and i know, i know, we don't want activist judges. i don't want activist judges either, but the irony is, we have a very conservative court this some ways, and they gave us the citizens united case. there was no precedent to call corporations people. activist j

senate? prosperity. >> from channel 3 eyewitness news, a special campaign 2012 senate debate. >> a very good sunday to you. welcome to the first debate in the race for the u.s. senate seat currently held by the retiring senator, joe lieberman. first, the rules -- each candidate will have 90 seconds. can it ask the question first will have 30 seconds to rebut his or her opponent after the answer to the question. welcome our panelists -- and now, let's bring our candidates, democrat chris murphy and republican linda mcmahon. a coin toss determined that ms. mcmahon will begin with a one minute opening statement. >> good morning, and thanks to channel 3 and our panelists and welcome to our studio audience. i am often asked why are you running for the united states senate? that angeles -- answer is simple -- some six grandchildren and future generations will be guarantee america's promise for prosperity. that promise is rapidly slipping away because our economy is on the wrong track. 170,000 peopl

as the republican leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell is most concerned with senate seats and that's what he's backstopping here when pitching to donors. but the pitch he's making to republican donors is amazing. he's pitching that republicans need to work hard and collect your hard-earned money to hold on to seats in the senate because the republicans will lose the house and incidentally saying that mitt romney will lose the race for the white house. it's like it goes without saying for these guys now. this is the guy more in charge of the republican message than anybody else in the country. and his pitch is mitt romney is going to lose. you need us so democrats don't control everything. everybody has been waiting to find out if mitt romney looks like such a losing prospect that republicans will be cut lose to essentially campaign on their own to campaign against them. but campaigning on the assumption that it mitt romney is going to lose? that's something new. and it's even weirder when voiced by scott brown tonight. that's coming up. >>> it seems to me first of all from what i und

>>moderater: senator hatch.ch: i am honored to be here with all of you. i wanted thank you for putting on this debate. i wanted thank you. look. our country is at a real crossroads. we are in real problems. there is no question about it. we know that there is too much spending, too much regulation. we are $16 trillion in debt. we are going to have well over 20 trillion. the average debt per family is $140,000. we can no longer live like that. now, everybody knows, i have been a conservative the whole time i have been there. i have 90 percent voting record. i represented utah and all of the problems that we have in utah from public lands to the air force base to getting business for utah, to bring people together on both sides of the floor in washington and also bringing congress, both congressional parts together, the house of representatives in the senate. i am known for that. i am grateful to be with you and hope to have a good time. >>moderater: questions for today's debate were submitted by members of the au

in the senate they would vote for a vice president in a straightforward way. one senate, one vote. we would be talking about the senate we would have after the election. if it's a republican majority in the senate, presumably that republican majority would pick paul ryan. if there is a democratic majority, that senate would presumably pick joe biden, right? if the senate is tied at 50/50, in that case the sitting vice president would break the vote. so then we would have a process dictated by the constitution of the united states. president mitt romney and vice president joe biden. together. at once.

a bumper crop of tight senate races. around after the senate races in the u.s. are expected to be won by three point ors less. some outlier races and a handful of wild card races, swing state races think, virginia, wisconsin, nevada. these are senate races in presidential battlegrounds. in nevada gene eler is trying to distance himself from paul ryan's remarks. pa the outliers are four races with their own dynamics. there's north dakota, a must-win for the gop. connecticut, where linda mcmahon and chris murphy are locked in an increasingly nasty battle. of course there's massachusetts, where republican scott brown and elizabeth warren are locked into win of the tightest, highest profile races in the country. then there's the wild cards like arizona, maine wrrks they could elect the state's first independent senator ever and of course there's missouri, featuring todd akin the senate candidate no one seemed to want until it became too late to get anyone else. all of these races with time and tempers seem to be running out.

>>chris: senator you'd come you are on the senate armed services committee and the senate intelligence committee. how do you answer critics that say the obama administration has bungled this before, during, and after the attack? >>guest: well, chris, we share the grief that mr. woods exhibited in that segment. let me say this, we will get to the bottom of this. the intelligence committee will hold hearings, and the state department has their own investigation underway. but i have to say any observer would looks at what happened in benghazi would have to say this situation has been politicizeed. governor romney realizes his anxiouses and his reaction was unbecoming to potential commander in chief and backed off of those comments. in the debate last week, benghazi and libya was not raised when governor romney had a chance to discuss it. we ought to be asking in the spirit of ambassador stevens and pulling together. after 9/11, and --. >>chris:, wait, wait, wait, senator, it is a legitimate issue to discuss before an election when four americans were killed and there are questions of inte

i thought since i was up for reelection for the senate, it would be better to get a senator who did not have to forfeit his seat in the senate, so suggested to mccarthy. >> the one thing he was concerned about was the establishment was one to pursue this war, nobody was quick to be there to make a case against the war the democratic convention. >> finally, i decided i would do it. i was right in the middle of a campaign for reelection to the senate. i was simply try to hold its kennedy delegates in the kennedy standard at the convention. i have always been glad i did that. >> i share with countless other americans a profound sense that the untimely deaths of john and robert kennedy and as well of martin luther king and medgar evers have left a painful void, unfulfilled dreams, that all of us must try to restore. it is for these purposes i declare myself a candidate for the presidential nomination. [applause] >> i think some of us really enraged eugene mccarthy with buttons that said "mcgovern is the real eugene mccarthy" but as yet had the record on the war that mccarthy had not. -- he

senator -- the senator was opposed by a tea party can it. -- candidate. the tea party candidate cannibalize lisa, defeated her in the primary. he came back -- lisa came back in an extraordinary move. do you know how hard it is to write in for passkey? if you spell it with a y, your ballot is thrown out. if you spell it with an zero, your ballot is thrown out. but she won. and i think the senator's experience shows that if you inform the public sufficiently, and motivate the public sufficiently, you can reinforce what is outside this building. we the people. the power is in the people. the power is there. it has to be exercised. you know how often you hear people say, one vote does not count. but that is replicated millions of times. the non-voters can throw the process. the extremists on each side control the elections. if you want to win the iowa primaries, you have to stay up until the middle of the night in -- to be in the caucus. a couple of final notes. the book has some lighter sides to it. i tell about an experience with y.nator kenned and in the s

senate. senator kyrillos, you can go first.rillos: well, senator menendez mentions the middle-class. he mentioned it tonight, does it fairly often. but up, the middle-class is not doing very well at all. we've got to do better. and so, you know, i read the press releases that you put out and i've heard your opening statement, but i don't hear any action items about how we are going to do it better. and so, i've got a plan. i know that if we do what we've been doing, more of the same, well, we will have the same outcome and that is unacceptable for the people of new jersey and unacceptable for americans. so let's do some things differently. if your way worked, well, we would have 43 straight months of 8% plus unemployment. let's get the job done. >> moderator: senator menendez. menendez: my opponent would take us back to the policies that got us in this mess in the first place. that's the biggest disqualifier. when he had an opportunity voted against him in the him in the wage and tax breaks when he had an opportunity, he ultima

but i wonder why the senator is a support of the trust act that senator amiano supported that tried to prevent the state from returning illegal aliens who commit serious crimes including gang violence from being deported from this country, that is a public safety issue that all of us who live in san francisco have to deal with every day. so i really question whether one can square one of those statements with the other. i believe in the natural law from john stewart mill and other philosophers that our rights do not flow from the government, the government's rights and the government's rights flow from the citizens. and so the government should have as limited a scope as possible, not and interfere with business and not interfere with our privacy and not spy on us and generally keep the public order and that is about it. >> thank you, so following up on that one of those things that the government is involved in right now is the educational system. and california used to have an education system that was the envy of the nation. how do you feel we get that back? >> well, it is a tragedy

the senate, presumely that republican majority would pick paul ryan. if there is a democratic majority, that senate would presumably pick joe biden, right? if the senate is tied at 50/50, in that case the sitting vice president would break the vote. so then we would have a process dictated by the constitution of the united states. president mitt romney and vice president joe biden. together. at once. that is a totally feasible prospect as an outcome for this election. isn't this a great country? now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. have a great night. >>> it's national bologna day. it really is, and with 13 days to go, mitt romney says yes, he does want you to vote for a republican senator who thinks rape is something that god intended to happen. >> are you fired up? are you ready to go? >> the campaign enters the final stretch. >> 13 days of the race for the white house. >> if if the schedules, events and remarks are any indication. >> you'll know where the race will be won. >> we'll win iowa again. >> we're going to win colorado

a minute, 15, senator.d again, to the question as you prioritize the single biggest person who presents the single biggest threat to the u.s. national security. mel nell notice, he walked all around your question. the greatest threat to the u.s. is a terrorist threat. we have just unbelievable young men and women both in uniform and not in uniform that you don't see in the cia collecting the information in order to keep us safe and to stop the terrorist before he acts in the first place. now, obviously, iran with a nuclear weapon would be a tremendously destabilizing situation, a threat to the united states, a threat to israel. the president has clearly said that he will not allow them to develop a nuclear weapon, and this is where i believe that you see the sharing, it's almost seamless of the intelligence between israel and the united states because we certainly have the common security concern here. there are other threats around the world, but what we need to do is to make sure we don't allow the radica

senate debate. my name is mike from ksdk newschannel4 life and i will be the moderator for this evening. first, we need to speak for the sponsor of posh blackwell and media sponsors, ksdk news channel five, and those public radio and st. louis business journal. we a televised and broadcast live through the ifill yet across missouri. ksa to be and k. why tv in springfield and komu and st. louis public radio is doing the same. the broadcast is also being streamed live on ksdk dhaka, and stlpublicradio.org. we also must take part in the social media. on twitter we are mosen. our appreciation to the city of clinton police as well as the school district roasting tonight's event. before we begin i would like to review the debate format. each candidate will give a three minute opening statement and a three minute closing statement. next the panel of media sponsors, chamber and school district representative will ask questions of the candidates. both candidates will respond to the same question and have one

i want to thank senator chris dodd and senator bob casey for joining us today.they were the inspiration for this effort. they've also been tireless champion of have our nation's children for years and years to senator dodd in his 36 years on the hill, and i'll talk a little bit about, more about him in a minute, but also them have been great champions for children over the years. i also want to thank our key partner on this, report, save the children and mark shriver for being strong partners in the creation of this whole effort and for everything related to the report. and also jennifer garner here today with us, and would really appreciate that. and for her fantastic work for save the children ever being such a strong advocate for children all our nation's children. across the country. first focus and save the children could not done this report also without the help of the america's report card advisory board, and with experts across many fields were instrumental in helping to highlight aspects of an american child's life that are so strong as indicators of t

congress women spears, speaker pelosi, senator feinstein and senator boxer you will well served in washington d c and the people will be well served by this project. thank you san francisco. >> secretary lahood. thank you very much for that wonderful news. >> [inaudible] >> it's a really truly a great day for san francisco. great cities need great public transportation systems, and you know what? you know what makes our city great with all these leaders? they listen. they listen to our communities. they understand -- because for years our communities pleaded we need better transportation systems what makes our leaders so great they listen and they act. that is so wonderful. that is what standard that we have for all of our public officials. secretary lahood if you could thank president obama from all of us. yes. [applause] because i know today we're going to spend a lot of precious moments thanking leader pelosi and congress women fine 79 and boxer and. >> >> we're going to thank all of our community members and from china town and all of them have worked very hard. these are not easy project