st. petersberg, florida and he has a debt clock behind him. >> it's like looking out across the prairie and seeing a fire in the distance. at a stage like that, you don't say, well, i'm going to go to bed and maybe someone else will take care of it. we need a president who will stop the this spending inferno and i will. >> the president's also been talking about this, it's a big problem and it's one that's right at the heart of the election campaign, along with one that's obviously jobs and the economy and the connection between the two has got to be played out. it's interesting that romney has identified this as being a problem in saying this is a wildfire. but his own policies throe a whole gallon or more of gas on this debt fire. this stuff has got to be played out. it's got to be played out in the lame duck and it's got to be played out in the election too. >> it's really about the strategy here, going back to john boehner, he wants spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. no tax increases, didn't republicans lose that one last time around? >> looks to me actually as thou