bush solicitor general ted olson. is not your average former bush administration official. he is the former bush administration official who's been leading the legal effort to overturn california's ban on gay marriage and maybe every state's ban on gay marriage. he is very, very, very, very conservative. but he is on the pro gay side of this marriage fight. today at nyu's law school i got a chance to interview ted olson and his co-counsel the celebrated democratic attorney david boyce. they fought against each other in bush v. gore in the 2000 election but they are fighting together on the side of marriage equality in this federal case. and ted olson is the one of course who sticks out like a sore thumb here. he's a straight, married guy. he does not have a gay family member who has driven him to this decision. he has decided as a small government republican stalwart that marriage equality for gay people is a really important issue for the country and therefore for him. despite the fact his republican party is not wit

what are the similarities between ted olson and joe biden? >> they are are about the same age and ted olson is one really good debater. i hope joe biden shows more than ted olson because he is one of the best litigators in america. he has studied joe biden's tapes and records and style and ted as you know is one of the best litigators in america and pretty good at adapting to that. >> chris: have you got lines already prepared? attack lines? >> i'm not the a line guy. you know me well. i don't try to be anybody other than who i am. i believe in what i believe and i do what i do and i really believe in the policies we are providing that we are pursuing. and at the end of the day i'm just going to go in there and be me. >> chris: i know you were hoping that joe biden makes one of his occasional gaffes. >> he doesn't do that in debaits. the gaffes he is kind of ledgentary for this. that is not in these situations. he is a disciplined person when speaks in these kind of situations and doesn't produce gaffes in these moments. those are when is off

ted olson, he's one of the best litigators in america but what ted has done is studied joe biden's tapes record and joe biden's, john style and said, as you know, one of the best litigators in america and is good at adapting to that. >> chris: have you got lines already prepared, attack lines. >> i'm not a "line" guy, i'm more of a gut guy. i'm more of a -- you know me well, i don't try to be anybody other than who i am. i believe in what i believe. i do what i do, and i really believe in the policies we're providing, we are pursuing. and, at the end of the day, i am just going to go in there and be me. >> chris: are you hoping joe biden makes one of his -- >> i don't think he will. he doesn't do that in debates, the gaffes, he's legendary for this, that is not in these kinds of situations, he's a very disciplined person when he speaks in these kind of situations and doesn't produce gaffes in these moments, those are when he's off the cuff, on the stump, out giving speeches. >> chris: you are not counting on one. >> no. >> chris: thank you so much for talking with us. >> thanks, chris, a

they have ted olson simulating biden in the debate prep with paul ryan.on't know how you simulate biden. you must have an unlit pilot room in the rehearsal space or unlit pilot light in the rehearsal space. that's how ted olson dumb it is down of the when they put that final hair plug into biden, they went in a little too deep with the ratchet, and i think they severed a discernment lobe up front. when he has to get out of the bubble, when he has to get out of the bubble at the end of this term and go back into the real world, he's going to be more screwed than jimmy witmore on the shahshank connection bagging groceries. he won't know how to be in the outside world. >> bill: you don't really like the vice president, do you, miller? >> i didn't like that in chains thing, billy. that's crap! listen, sometimes you get these people a wide birth, i can't do that. i think that was crap to debase racism with stupid crap like mitt romney wants to do that. racism is the great national shame. for him to co- opt it for crap like that, to be the cool guy in the room,

solicitor-general ted olson. they're going through a mock debate session and policy briefings.w he goes up to danville, kentucky. he has been ready for this and trying to remain relaxed over the past few days. took his kids out to a pumpkin patch and some reporters asked about the debate. oh, yeah, i should get ready for that. tamron. >> thank you very much, ron. for more on how the vice president is preparing, jokes and all for thus's debate, we go to the news campaign. what kind of scoop have you got for us other than maybe a joke pretending you forget the debate in two days. >> the vice president is in wilmington, delaware at his home. he's taking six full days off the campaign trail here to get ready. he's working with chris van holland, democrat on the house budget committee that worked extensively with ryan on issues like the deficit, medicare and social security. van holland understands ryan's policies but how he presents those. other senior staff is david axelrod as well as biden's former chief of staff and one time senator ted kaufmann. we're hearing about the book "th

. >> reporter: ted olson reportedly went back and forth in three mock debates in an indoor tennis court. in between, he worked in some r & r, picking pumpkins with his kids over the weekend. for his part, mr. biden has practiced with chris van hollen. ordering sandwiches from his favorite deli in wilmington, delaware, and lots of gatorade. he's also scouted ryan's speeches and poured into his book "young guns" written with a pair of fellow conservatives. >> i just want to make sure that when i say these things that i don't have the congressman saying, no, no, no, i don't have that position or that's not the governor's position. >> reporter: many political observers discount the importance of vp debates, arguing they rarely if ever have tipped the outcome of the presidential election. that doesn't mean these meetings have been meaningless or for gettable. in 2004, dick cheney was in a similar position, tasked with reversing momentum after john kerry was viewed as the winner in his first matchup with george w. bush. cheney attacked edwards as a sort of johnny-come-lately. >> the first tim

. >> reporter: ted olson reportedly went back and forth in three mock debates in an indoor tennis court. in between, he worked in some r & r, picking pumpkins with his kids over the weekend. for his part, mr. biden has practiced with chris van hollen. ordering sandwiches from his favorite deli in delaware. >> i just want to make sure that when i say these things that i don't have the congressman saying, no, no, no, i don't have that position or that's not the governor's position. >> reporter: many political observers discount the importance of vp debates, arguing they rarely if ever have tipped the outcome of the presidential election. that doesn't mean these meetings have been meaningless or unforgettable. >> reporter: cheney attacked john edwards as a sort of johnny-come-lately. >> the first time i ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight. >> reporter: there was lloyd benson's zinger against dan quayle. >> senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> who am i? why am i here? >> reporter: questions unlikely to surface thursday night, at least by these two. ron mott, nbc news, st. p

ryan has been in debate camp with top republican lawyer, ted olson playing the vice president. and now, practice time is over. >> the time to memorize your answers or practice a pivot and attack, or a punch and counter punch is over. by this point, you are trying to get to that happy place, the happy warrior. you are usually with the family. >> reporter: ryan tweeted this shot of him and his 7-year-old son sam, writing "great pep talk from one of my most trusted advisors." ryan's challenge? to be seen as credible and keep romney's momentum going. in most battleground states, the race is essentially tied, and obama's lead in ohio appears to be narrowing. ryan has only previously participated in around eight debates for his congressional seat. the vice president has run for president twice, debating 16 times, plus squaring off against sarah palin for the gig he has now. >> can i call you joe? >> reporter: biden has been cramming, studying ryan's positions and the book, "young guns," the book that the congressman co-wrote, looking for fodder. >> i just want to make sure when i say

ted olson is one good debater. >> i hope joe biden shows up more than ted olson because i'll tell youone of the best litigators in america. but what ted has done is he is studied joe biden's tapes, joe biden's record, joe biden style. and as you is one of the best litigators in america. is pretty good at adapting. >> have you got lines already prepared? >> i'm not a lying guy. i more of a get guy. i more, you know me well. i don't try to be anybody other than william. i believe in what i believe. i do what i do, and i really believe in the policies we are providing, that we are pursuing. and at the end of the day i'm just going to go in there and be me. >> are you hoping joe biden makes one of his -- >> he doesn't do that integrates. he's kind of legendary for this, that's not in these kind of situation. he's a very disciplined person when he speaks in these kind of situations. he doesn't produce gaps in these moments. those are when he's on the stump, giving speeches. >> so you're not counting on one of them. >> i'm not counting on one of them. >> jonathan martin come as you listen t

he has been doing those with ted olson who is the renowned solicitor general.litigator in the country. doing it in hotel rooms from oregon, to virginia, to florida, but i also asked him about whether or not his preparation included putting a phone call in to sarah palin to get some tips. >> the only other person to debate joe biden in a vice presidential debate is sarah palin. have you called her for advice? >> i haven't. only met her once about two years ago. >> would you? >> sure, sure. >> can i call you joe? >> you can call me joe. >> she famously, maybe infamously said that she wanted to call him joe, because she kept calling himoe o'biden in debate. >> i know him as joe. he knows me as paul. i know him as joe, i haven't give didn't thought. probably not, unless he wants to make it casual, but we know each other. actually, we've gone the along quite well over the years. i like joe personally quite a bit. i just disagree with his policies. >> reporter: i don't think that you can discount the fact that they do know each other, don. a very different dynamic th

ted olson and romney adviser is working with log cabin republicans to actually roll back doma but wed others do agree that as far as for the future of the country, for the good of the united states, it is governor romney that needs to be elected president in november. >> what about this then, clark? if you're not -- if you say you're not moving backwards, tell me this. there's reports that romney secured your endorsement of your group promising you or your group to support the passage of a major gay rights legislation, ending workplace discrimination. is that true? >> what is true is that we have had a lengthy conversation with the campaign and the governor. >> what did he say? >> we talked about as president he certainly wasn't going to walk away or roll back what's in place. there's certainly room and opportunities for workplace nondiscrimination as an employer, as a businessman, the governor cornually can appreciate from his time at bain capital and as governor that discrimination in the workplace is unacceptable and he said that. he was very clear about that discrimination in the

ted olson, who was the solicitor general during the bush -- last bush administration.e is a very well known litigator. tough as nails lit gaetor. he has been playing joe biden in these mock debates, and unlike the last debate, fred, they're going to be sitting at a table kind of sunday morning style, so they've been sitting around tables and hotel rooms, wherever they can, trying to game out this debate, and one other interesting tidbit, ted olson was picked not just because of his abilities when it comes to debating and litigating, but also because of the generational difference. he is about joe biden's age. paul ryan is a generation plus younger than joe biden, so that's another thing that is going to be an interesting dynamic to watch. >> all right. dana bash, thanks for that. sdoo thank you. >>> you'll hear a firsthand account of what it's like to square off against paul ryan in a debate. lidia spotswood lost to ryan when he first ran for congress in 1998, and says that you shouldn't underestimate him. she'll be joining for paul later on today live in the 3:00 p.m.

. >> i hope joe biden shows up more than ted olson, because this is one of the best litigators in america. he has studied joe biden's record and style, and ted, as you know, is one of the best litigators in america and is pretty good at adapting to that. >> have you got lines already prepared? >> i am not really a line guy. i'm a gut guy. i do not try to be anything other than what i am. i believe what i believe, and i do what i do, and i believe in the policies we are pursuing. at the end of the day, i am going to go in and be me. >> are you hoping joe biden makes one of his famous gas? >> i do not think he will. he is legendary for this, but that is not in this kind of situations. he is a very disciplined person when he speaks in these kind of situations. he does not produce gaffes in these moments. those are off the cuff, when he is out giving speeches. i am not counting on that. >> jonathan margin, as you listen to that, your thoughts about how preparations are going for both candidates -- jonathan martin. >> this has become a sort of autumnal right where each side tries to play up th

>> they did nine mock rehearsals with ted olson, the famous lawyer who argued so many cases in frontme court. also in a very talented prosecutor and attorney spent hours watching joe biden's former videotaped debate performances. he learned biden's gestures. he learned biden's ability to be very bomb pastic and loud on the stump and then suddenly go to a dramatic whisper. the romney campaign was constantly buffeting ryan with these types of examples of biden's debate skills trying to prep him for it. and one of the things that the romney campaign continues to say over and over again is that the format in which the candidates are seated next to each other isn't going to lend itself to the type of major league brawl that so many people have been talking about because it's so hard to call somebody a name when you're literally touching knees beneath the table (i don't have any problem doing that. >> yeah. joe biden, maybe -- >> there is a concern it won't happen. >> bill: you know that. if you're a pinhead, your a pinhead. if you're across the room or here, it's the way it is. henry, i w

he has been doing those mock debates with his sparring partner who is ted olson.ormer solicitor general. very good litigator. they've been doing it all over the country, suzanne, in moelgts hotel rooms from oregon to virginia to florida. today he is resting with his family, but he is working very hard to prepare for tonight. >> dana, tell us one of the things. i know he is a big p09x guy. he is not shy about it, and we've seen "time magazine" has come out with photos on newsstands tomorrow, and explain a little bit about this here because some might look at this and say he risks not really appearing presidential in some of these photos. explain how these photos came about, why "time magazine" put them out now and how the campaign is responding. >> if he looks like he is not presidential it's because when he took these photos, he wasn't even close to being on the presidential ticket. he took them about 11 months ago when "time magazine" was preparing for thurman of the year or the person of the year now, their issue, and he was one of the final contenders, and so t

let me tell you who you've seen, dana. >> the most interesting so far is ted olson.ld be the eyesight of paul ryan. the man who spent the past month flying around the country with paul ryan, doing mock debates, playing the role of joe biden and i'm told that he was very much in character, especially the last week or so. he didn't break character. he tried to be right down the line joe biden. the other person that is interesting who is down there is reince priebus the chairman of the republican committee. he's known paul ryan forever. they're from the same distribute in wisconsin and they're both young and grew up together in wisconsin politics. >> we've seen rand paul, as well and other elected officials. what are you watching for tonight? you've got roughly 25 minutes before this officially gets under way, the actual debate. >> the thing i love is you can say you're watching for something, but i feel like at the end of the night, whatever happens is nothing that we could have necessarily predicted. so that is the beauty of it. but right now what i'm looking for, i'm

ted olson up with of my favorite attorneys is the one who prepared ripe and they had nine different segmentsomes from ed henry. 90 minutes apiece preparing him across the country, different spots where they were. somebody is coming to play. people are really excited about it. the mood here in danville is very festive. >> greg: thank you, kimberly. we have to move on. where are you staying again? i forgot what hotel? never mind. >> kimberly: security is on notice already. you can't get past them. >> greg: stay tuned for more of k.g. she will join us later this hour for more on the debate. up next, obama campaign claims republican making terror attack a political issue. if you leave now you'll miss eric doing one-handed push-ups shirtless. really. ♪ ♪ i've worked hard to build my family. and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way of my busy lifestyle. that's why i take care, with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with sympts of f

. >> powerhouse attorney ted olson says this is mostly about books and movies and other so-called intellectual making sure producers of such works have exclusive rights to distribute them in the u.s. >> it's protecting the integrity of the copyright system in the united states, which was created by the constitution in order to create an innocentive for people to create work that make us all laugh or cry or educate us? >> toe truth to tell mike carol says it's the kind of case a supreme court might prefer politicians to resolve because the law is so murky. >> it would be best if congress really weighed many. the court is faced with a really difficult job here because the text of the statute really seems to be hard to reconcile. >> if any of this sounds familiar for you, it may be because the court recently tackled a similar case, but the opinion ended up a tie vote with justice kagin recusing herself due to the role she played mr. it when she was solicitor general. this time, though, she is expected to participate. brook. >> joe, thank you. joe johns for us in washington. >>> coming up here, ca

doing mock debates with lawyer ted olson, a former u.s. solicitor general under president george w. very skilled courtroom litigator, argued a lot of cases in front of the u.s. supreme court, so a good partner for paul ryan, being able to think on his feet in a moment's notice to challenge the responses. he's also reviewing joe biden's previous debates and speeches. joe biden's been an elected official for 40 years, so he has a lot of experience under his belt and he's memorized some stats and phrases that paul ryan might be able to use. obviously, in a debate like that, 90 minutes long, you want to give as much information in the shortest amount of time as possible and that's what paul ryan is doing. he has a beautiful day to prepare, but we believe he's in the hotel preparing for this debate in 48 hours, thomas. >> we'll be watching. ron mott traveling with congressman ryan. thank you so much, appreciate it. >>> so, what will it take to win the vp debate and the presidential debate one week from now? joining me is political science professor samuel popkin, author of "the candidate

rich: ryan has been practicing with ted olson playing the role of joe biden. olson told fox they had nine sessions of 90 minutes each. biden has also been practicing and delaware. he leaves here shortly. should be in danville, kentucky, sometime around 1:00 o'clock this afternoon. paul ryan is already here. connell: thank you, rich. dagen: make sure you tune in to fox business tonight to watch special coverage. neil cavuto started all at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. you do not want to miss anything. for the love of god, watch cavuto. connell: he is the best. back to nicole petallides. nicole: i wanted to follow up on sprint. in talks of a majority stake being taken up sprint. a deal worth more than $12.8 billion. now, sprint is confirming those discussions with the bank of japan on a possible transaction. with this, you see that sprint is moving up again here, surpassing its earlier highs. it is up $0.91. through yesterday's close, it was up 115% year to date. the action that we are seeing here tax onto a winning year 2012. they are in fact in discussion with softb

. >> stephanie: have gotten to know ted olson a little bit out here in california and he just believes marriage equality too. >> yeah, and that's one of the things that gets me about -- that it's for the children -- you should oppose this because it's for the children. and to me it just doesn't make sense because if you want children to grow up strong in a stable household, denying same-sex couples the same benefits others get that is not right. >> stephanie: i dated ufc football player in college, and now here i am [♪ magic wand ♪] >> stephanie: in politically in love with another one. >> stephanie: if i find somebody to marry i want you to give me away and punt the bouquet how does that sound? >> oh. >> you have got straight from gay to -- you skipped right over questioning. >> just saying. what is not hot about that? [ laughter ] >> stephanie: 45 minutes after the hour. right back on the "stephanie miller show." >> announcer: highbrow lowbrow, unibrow. it's the "stephanie miller show." ♪ think i would vote for him again if that does come to fruition. >> stephanie: dave, thank you. (

ted olson has played vice president joe biden, helping paul ryan prepare for this. nine different times, 90 minutes segments, they prepared for of the country. vice president joe biden has been preparing. his match has been chris van holland of the house budget committee who has sparked so much with paul ryan so they are ready to go and they are here in kentucky. listen to the pundits downplaying one vice-presidential debate is. doesn't matter that much but in this case republicans have nominated for vice president the author of what is their economic plan nationally. the house budget committee chairman has written the republican economic plan. you'll be there to defend it and medicare will be part of it. democrats salivating at the opportunity to hit him on that. paul ryan defending it. cheryl: he must be prepared for that. interesting to watch. with medicare as a top priority tonight my next guest says that he healthcare investors on edge. joining me is brian. thank you for joining us. medicare is going to the top of mind during the debate tonight. is there a trad

ryan did most of his preparation hold up in rural virginia with lawyer and former solicitor general ted olson standing in as biden. one challenge for the 42-year-old congressman is a generation gap. he's going head to head with a seasoned debate veteran 27 years his senior. but biden, with 17 national debates under his belt, is under pressure tonight to deliver, especially after the president's weak debate performance. >> 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 million people, you know? all debates are tough. i'm looking forward to it, i really am. >> reporter: biden's been out of site working in a delaware hotel working with david axelrod and acting as ryan, congressman chris van holland. hes been fueling up on gatorade and animal crackers and trying to better understand ryan's thinking by reading his book "young guns." >> can i call you joe? >> you sure can. >> reporter: four years ago biden's challenge was not to appear overly aggressive with sarah palin. this time around democrats want him to do the opposite, come out swinging but with a concise message. former michigan senator jennifer played the role of

paul ryan did at least nine mock debates, full 90-minute debates against ted olson who is playing joes debates. he spent three days in the mountains of virginia and elsewhere just doing prep. same with the vice president he was in delaware his home state prepping for debate. and we were told that representative chris vanholland played joe bide obama. bill: i have a note that says joe biden has not done a national interview since may. paul ryan has done 200-some interviews since he entered the race in august. you wonder what kind of an effect that could have. >> i don't know, bill, we do a lot of stories how a lot of folks in the mainstream media tend to give the people a pass when it comes to the interviews. would they have been hard hitting, would it be the same at paul ryan going after boyd den tonight. joe biden has done over 18 debates, which he eventually lost to sara sarah palin. waoes had a lot of experience. i think the conventional wisdom on him he has to watch it. he can't do any gaffes. they give joe biden a pass sometimes when he goes off the rails because he has a good ab

they are having ted olson, the former solicitor general, play joe biden as paul ryan prepares for tonight's debate. who played joe biden when you were getting ready to debate him, and was the real one or the fake one tougher to debate? >> i remember that randy signman played joe biden for at least one of our debate prep exercise exercises, and i remember staring him down going are you really going to be such a stinker in this debate prep? he hammered me left and right, but that is good prep. megyn, i think it's going to be very, very important for paul ryan to do what i attempted to do, and that's try to coax out of joe biden his rationale for all the flip-flops. he had just come out of a primary season where he was beating the heck out of barack obama and the positions barack obama had taken as a senator all those years, and then the minute he was chosen for the vp nomination on the democrat ticket, joe biden all of a sudden said that barack obama then was the smartest boy in the room and that he was walking on water. and i so wanted to understand what all the flip-flops were and the posit

ted olson, the former solicitor general. so both of them chose people to practice against that had the same kind of age disparity that they'll face onstage tonight. >> we also looked at the numbers of debate viewership and the 2008 vice presidential debate got more viewers on television than any of the series of presidential debates. 70 million, the highest of the presidential was 63 million. but in most years the numbers are lower for the vice presidential debates than they are for the presidential one. how has social media and viewing on the internet and mobile devices changed the whole scenario -- poll scenario this time around? >> it's really made the -- you know, the social media has sped up everything, right? it sped up the news cycle, for "u.s.a. today" and other news publications. it kind of started the debate cycle. if you want to look at twitter, you can see constant commentary, including from, you know, some of the best journalists around on what's going on in realtime. in a way it makes the spin room that's behin