sign legislation on fetal pain, which is probably the greatest challenge to roe in the legislature o-- >> but do you see on a broader issue, in the debate -- >> not a way that would close any kind of daylight between president obama and governor romney. i think that he was talking about his health care plan last week, and i don't believe it is an ideology shift, i believe they gift them the chance to be -- >> i mean on his health care plan he says pre-existing conditions are covered. when in fact by most people's defense, under his plan, pre-existing conditions are not covered. he is talking about health conditions, and if you lose your job, you can continue with coverage if you pay the premiums, that is not most people's position. >> and i read about that, he talked about that in the spin room after the debate and clarified. but i do want to say that the whole abortion and contraception, it has been talked to death this year, for the war on the women. and i noticed in his speech, president obama never talked about abortion. >> but on the health care thing we just talked about. i kno

that since roe v. wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it i sustain and support that law, and the right of a woman to make that choice. >> he lost that election. eight years later running for governor in massachusetts he said this. >> so when asked will i preserve a woman's right to choose, i make an unequivocal answer, yes. >> he said he would not make it more change, is that would "make it more difficult for a woman to make that choice herself." once elected, though, mr. romney changed his position and vetoed a bill expanding access to emergency contraception. fred thompson made an ad using that 1994 pro-choice clip against him. i asked the governor about that during a debate, here is what he said. >> i don't know how many times i could tell it i was wrong. i was effectively pro choice when i ran for office. if people in this country are looking for someone who never made a mistake or who is not willing to admit that they are ever wrong. they are going to have to find somebody else. on abortion, i was wrong, and i changed my mind as governor. this didn'

that he would support justices to the supreme court that would overturn roe vs. wade. and this is the last stopgap between the radical policies in the house and this becoming law for women in this country. >> but his position on abortion is different than mourdock's. he says in the case of rape, incest, or life of the mother that abortion should be allowed. >> if mr. mourdock's position would take hold, he would be delighted to sign a bill to ban all abortion. >> could he build up enough of an advantage that women voters are not as decisive here. >> right. well, that's their hope, anderson. recent polls everywhere show that there is a gender gap, where women are much more geared toward the president. you look at this poll. you put it up there, about ohio voters, and you see obama is plus 19 on women here, and romney is only plus 9 on men. so what he needs to do is to get his numbers up with men in a state like ohio, so that the gender gap with women is balanced out. it's not that he has to beat president obama when it comes to women. but he has to improve his numbers with women by a f

decades of progressivism. no, you won't overturn roe v wade. no, you won't make medicaid or medicare into a voucher system. on and on. in many ways, he's a custodian of the great society and new deal. the last of the line of a really major progressive president, if obama -- incidentally, he thinks it's great we call it obama care -- if that sticks, he will be seen as a giant achievement. if he loses, it will -- romney/ryan will go after it, as governor romney said, from day one they will try to undo obama care. >> but no he won't is more a reactive thing as opposed to a forward vision of what i want to do over the next four years. >> i think it is. you know, but we're dealing with unusual politics. in bill clinton's day you still had moderate republicans. i was with lowell weicher last night, a republican from connecticut. he's for obama now. colin powell. there's nobody in a lot of ways to do business with because the republican party's become very strong on the right so one of the arguments i think of bringing a base out in the last days is even if you're a little disappointed in m

, which uses a clip from a 2007 primary debate. >> roe v. wade was overturned and congress passed a ban on all abortions. if it came to your desk, would you sign it? >> i would be delighted to sign that bill. >> banning all abortions? >> i would be delighted to sign that bill. >> there is a big problem with the way the obama campaign uses that clip. we will show you that shortly. i want to quickly show you a portion of the romney campaign's reply. >> it turns out romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest or to save a mother's life. >> both ads, keeping them honest. the obama ad suggests that mr. romney would immediately sign a bill to end abortion and ignores the context in which he calls such a possibility unlikely. >> let me say it. i would be delighted to sign that bill. that's not where we are. that's not where america is today. where america is, is ready to overturn roe v. wade and return to states that authority. if the congress got there, we had that consensus in the country, terrific. >> so, the obama ad

fetal pain, which is the greatest challenge it roe. >> do you see a move toward the center on other broader issues in the debate? >> not in a way that would close any kind of daylight between president obama and governor romney. >> he's saying, on his health care plan, he says preexisting conditions are covered, but under most definitions, preexisting are not covered. if you have health insurance and you lose your job and have a preexisting condition, you can continue with coverage if you pay the premiums, that's not most people's definition. >> that is right. and i read that his senior adviser clarified after the debate. i want to say that the whole abortion has been talked to death. president obama never uttered abortion -- >> i know and there is a wider range of people? is that also a misstatement? >> i don't think there is any macnation machination in trying to misspeak? >> i think mitt romney is willing to do or say anything to become president. women's health care, immigration, on his embrace of a $5 trillion tax cut, those are the far right wing of the party. we'll hold his f

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he would appoint justices to the supreme court who would overturn roe v. wade. and his position is that he chose a vice presidential nominee who agrees with mr. mourdock and mr. mourdock is running for the senate, which has been the last stopgap between these radical policies in the house and these becoming law for women in this country. >> but just factually speaking, his position on abortion is different than mourdock's because he says in the case of rape or incest or life of the mother abortion should be allowed. >> he has said that. but he's also said that if mr. mourdock's position were to take hold he would be delighted to sign a bill that would ban access to all abortions. >> gloria, the gender gap, i mean, it does cut both ways here. romney's had a big advantage with men. could he build up enough of an advantage with them that women voters are not as decisive here? >> right. i mean, well, that's their hope, anderson. look, recent polls everywhere show that there is a gender gap, that where women are much more geared towards the president. you look at this poll you just put

hostile to women's rights, particularly to women's reproductive choice, than they have been since roe v. wade was decided. the gender gap is also now an animating feature, of course, of the presidential campaign. as we saw in the nbc marist poll that came out yesterday for iowa and wisconsin, the gender gap in both of those states where president obama is leading the gender gap in both those states is 18 points. the republican side knows it desperately needs to close the gender gap if they're going to win this race. the democrats know they are actually really dependent on that gender gap nape a. depend on that gender gap persisting. that as much as anything else in the race is driving what the candidates and campaigns are doing now 18 days out from the presidential election. today, here's how you could tell. >> mr. severely conservative wants you to think he was severely kidding about everything he said over the last year. i mean, he's changing up so much and backtracking and sidestepping. we've got to -- we've got to name this condition that he's going through. i think -- i think it'

court ruling called roe versus wade. right now the ideological balance of the court is such that if an outright challenge to roe versus wade were heard in this court, the vote, we think, would likely be a 5-4 decision to keep roe versus wade, to protect a woman's right to have an abortion. if the makeup of the court changes by one justice, though, it would be about five seconds before conservatives got a case challenging roe into the court, once they were sure that the ruling would be 4-5 instead of 5-4. with four supreme court justices over the age of 70, whoever becomes president is likely to be able to appoint at least one new supreme court justice. and if it is a republican president, he will appoint nominees who will definitely vote to overturn roe versus wade. and abortion will then, immediately become a criminal act at the state level and every state that's willing to do that. and we know republicans will immediately try to ban it federally as well. they have been trying that for a very along time, including multiple times in this congress. what the republican party is fighti

ryan broke new ground on saying how and why he and mitt romney would overturn roe v. wade and make abortion criminal. his issue on rape in particular has people going nuts today for obvious reasons. we'll be covering that in future shows. joe biden also dipped paul ryan in tar and rolled him in feathers on the issue of the stimulus. and mr. ryan's supposed principles on that issue. we talked about that moments ago with chris hayes. but there are two things that i think are hugely important to the presidential campaign that happened last night. two things that i, frankly, never thought we would get to. and that we got to and, boy, howdy, is this new territory. first was this. >> you asked, do i feel free? let me put it to you this way. i earned capital in the campaign, political capital and now i intend to spend it. it is my style. that's what happened in, after the 2000 election. i earned some capital. i've earned capital in this election, and i'm going to spend it for what i told the people i'd spend it on. which is you've heard the agenda. social security and -- >> social securit

right now is roe versus wade. what does he think of roe versus wade? >> do i believe the supreme court should overturn roe v. wade? yes, i do. >> clear, right? how about the largest abortion provider in the united states, which also happens to be the largest provider of women's health care in the united states, that's planned parenthood. what does mitt romney want to do there? >> planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. >> and on that one, the romney campaign sometimes tries to complain about that sound bite. going to get rid of planned parenthood, whenever anybody uses it. but on his campaign website, it says right there in black and white, he's going to get rid of planned parenthood. it has a priority of his. he told "the des moines register" that he has no specific legislation in mind at all that he would use to go after women's health rights or access to abortion. no specific legislation in mind at all. well, here's the pledge that he signed and put forth as an op-ed on the "national review" online last year. detailing specific named anti-abortion legislation that he wou

national policy as clearly as we know the policy of the entire ticket would be to overturn roe v. wade and make abortion illegal. >> if the ticket is elected should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried? >> we don't think that unelected judges should make this decision, that people, through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society for the democratic process

policy as clearly as we know the policy of the entire ticket would be to overturn roe v. wade and make abortion illegal. >> if the ticket is elected should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried? >> we don't think that unelected judges should make this decision, that people, through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society for the democratic process should make this determination. >> the court, the next president will get one or two supreme court nominees. that's how close roe v. wade is. just ask yourself with robert bork being the chief adviser on the court for mr. romney, who do you think he's likely to appoint? someone like scalia or someone else on the court far right that would outlaw abortion?