mr. romney pointed to the hiring process when he first became governor of massachusetts. let's listen. >> gosh, can't we find some women that are also qualified? we took a concerted effort to find women who had backgrounds to find women. they brought us whole binders full of women. >> that is a somewhat silly phrase. here is the totally serious context and why it's important to break it down. women may decide this election. look at this. president obama's formerly big advantage with female voters answers to be gone. whatever the size of it actually is, mitt romney can successfully narrow that gap, that would make the president's road to re-election very, very difficult. mr. romney said the president has failed american women and he claimed that "he went to a number of women groups and said can you help us find folks?" there's a problem with the timeline. we want to look at that tonight. the group in albuquerque a nonpartisan outfit, actually approached him, they put out a statement, and i quote "prior to the 2002 gubernatorial election, massgap approached the campaigns of

for mr. romney, that was then. now on that and a number of issues, he seems to be trying to downplay what he once described as his severely conservative record and recast himself as more centrist on some issues. the shift, you might have noticed, began moments after this handshake at the debate in denver. mr. romney struck centrist sounding positions on government regulation, education and most notably, health care. >> if obama care is repealed, how would you replace it? >> actually, it's a lengthy description but number one, pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan. >> pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan. keeping them honest, that assurance is misleading and a short time later, a top campaign adviser had to clarify what his boss actually meant. under mr. romney's plan, he said, pre-existing conditions would only be covered for people who already have insurance to begin with, but are changing jobs and therefore, health insurance plans. that's not who most people think of when it comes to pre-

romney won the debate. when asked who was more likeable, debate watchers gave the two candidates essentially equal marks. that's one piece of spin that doesn't quite pass the sniff test. decide for yourself if this one does from the campaign's ben lebold who suggested mitt romney last night was acting. >> it was performance art. he locked himself into some bad positions that he took during the republican primary, tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, refusing to ask the wealthiest for a dime to reduce the deficit and those give us big openings to talk about on the campaign trail in key states in the weeks ahead. >> vice president biden, meantime, said his boss did a good job during a bright line between his policies and mitt romney's. >> i think the president did a wonderful job in making it clear

for mr. romney, that was then. now on that, a number of issues, he seems to be trying to downplay what he once described as his severely conservative record and recast himself as more centrist on some issues. the shift began a moment after this handshake in denver. he was insistent on government regulation, education and health care. >> how would repeal it? >> it's a lengthy discussion, but number one, preexisting conditions are covered under my plan. >> that assurance is misleading, and later on an adviser had to clarify what mr. romney actually meant. under mr. romney's plan, he said, preexisting conditions would only be covered for people who already have insurance to begin with, but are changing jobs and, therefore, health insurance plans. that's not what most people think of when it comes to preexisting conditions. ironically, the health care law that mitt romney signed in massachusetts and remains in place, it does allow for preexisting conditions whether they have health insurance or not. we will be watching

romney pounced, latching on to mr. obama's rose garden statement. we're playing it at length so you can see the context. >> i think it's interesting the president just said something which is the day after the attack he went in the rose garden and said that this was an act of terror. >> that's what i said. >> you said in the rose garden, the day after the attack, it was an act of terror. it was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying? >> please proceed. please proceed, governor. >> i want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in benghazi an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> he did in fact say it was an act of terror. >> can you say that a little louder, candy. >> he did say it as an act of terror. it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. you're correct about that. >> the administration -- the administration indicated that this was a reaction to a video and was a spontaneous reaction

and later today mr. romney said what he would do as president. >> i think i said that time and again i'm a pro life candidate, i'll be a pro life president. the actions i will take immediately would be for a pro life budget. >> he supports 14th amendment protections for prebirth children. and was his statement to the des moines paper an attempt to tailor the message there? or was it simply a misstatement? his views have changed over time often it seems to coi coincide e and when he's running for office. in 1994 he was running against senator kennedy in the senate. >> i believe that since row v wade has been the law for 20 years that we should sustain and support it. >> 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, yes, i will. >> he promised during a debate not to make any changes which would make it more difficult for a woman to make that choice herself. once elected, though, mr. romney changed his

it mentions all the instances in which mr. romney does support the right to an abortion. it fails to mention that he outspokenly confirms overturning the right if in the first place. mitt believes that life begins at conception and believes that the right next step is for the supreme court to overturn roe v. wade. governor romney has taken different positions on roe v wade and different aportion rights. he is running against ted kennedy in 1974. >> i believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country. i have since my mom took that position in 1970 as a senate candidate. i believe that since roe v. wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it. i sustain and support the right of a woman to make that choice. >> in 1994 in his losing race against ted kennedy. in 2002, he also ran strongly as pro choice. years later, he talked about his prolive report. >> i have consistently been pro life. >> even though you were effective effectively pro choice. >> on all the bills that came to my desk, i came down on the side of life. >> this time, mr. romney b

and later today mr. romney said what he would do as president. >> i think i said that time and again i'm a pro life president. the actions i will take imimmediately would be for a pro life budget. >> he supported extending 14 at length protections. and he sawas his statement to se moines paper an attempt to tailor the message there? his views have changed over time and of ten coinciding where he is running for office. in 1994 he was running against senator kennedy in the senate. >> i believe that since row v wade has been the law for 20 years that we should sustain and support it. >> 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, yes, i will. >> once elected though, mr. romney vetoed a bill expanding emergency contraception. fred thompson made an add using that 1994 pro-choice clip. i asked him about that. >> i don't know how many times i could tell it i was wrong. i was pro-choice when i ran for offi

right now, mitt romney needs swing voters, especially women. which is why mr. romney seems to be sounding more moderate on a range of issues. just yesterday, comments he made about abortion were picked up by democrats as governor romney taking a more centrist position. now listen to this q & a with a reporter from "the des moines register." >> do you intend to pursue legislations specifically regarding abortion? >> there is no legislation with regard to abortion that would become part of my agenda. >> right after he said that, however, his spokeswoman said this to the national review. "governor romney would support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life." and later today mr. romney said what he would do as president. >> i think i said that time and again, i'm a pro-life candidate, i'll be a pro-life president. the actions i will take immediately would be to remove funning for planned parenthood it would not be part of my budget. >> that's consistent with his position throughout the primaries. in the past, he said he supports the 14th amendm

mr. romney pointed to his hiring process when he first became governor of massachusetts. listen. >> i said, gosh, can't we find some women that are also qualified? and so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's group and said can you help us find folks? they brought us binders full of women. >> that's somewhat silly phrase. here's the totally serious context and why it's important to break it down. women may decide this election as you probably know. president obama's formerly big advantage appears to be gone. the polling shows a bigger gender gap in president obama's favor. whatever size of it actually is, mitt romney can successful narrow that gap, that would make the president's road to re-election very, very difficult, nearly impossible. campaigning in virginia, romney said the president has failed america's women. he was touting his own record claiming he went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks? keeping them honest, th

romney uses in his own plan. in another study cited by mr. romney, princeton economist harvey rosen assumes the tax cuts would generate enough economic growth to offset the cost. but for many, that's a rather large assumption. one that's also by the way questioned by many conservative economists as well. bottom line, though, that word assume. every one of these authors in each of these studies or so-called studies is making assumptions. some may be solid assumptions, others dubious, but they are all just assumptions because neither mitt romney nor paul ryan nor any of their surrogates have yet come forward with specifics. instead, we asked the romney campaign if they would like the opportunity to respond to the program. they declined for us tonight. of course, the invitation stands. joining us is republican campaign consultant, alex castellanos and bill burton, senior strategist for the leading pro-obama super pac. alex, with all the criticism, wouldn't you expect the romney campaign to produce their own evidence to prove the numbers add up?

mr. romney is close but still in negative territory at 49%. he enjoys an edge on handling the deficit and joblessness, but trails on virtually every other big issue, including medicare, taxes and foreign policy. keeping them honest, when it comes to some of those issues, both candidates have come up short either on specifics or credibility. issues like cutting taxes without ballooning the deficit or burdening the middle class. the romney campaign has been asked again and again for specifics. here's running mate paul ryan just yesterday on fox news. >> there's been a traditional democrat and republican consensus lowering tax rates by broadening the tax base works. and you can -- >> i have to -- you haven't given me the math. >> well, i don't have -- it would take me too long to go through all of the math. >> chris wallace kept trying but came away empty-handed. he's not the only one. take a look. >> which of the deductions are you going to be willing to eliminate? which of the tax credits are you going to -- when are you going to be able to tel

governor romney's event on the right, mr. obama's on the left. we'll go live to our correspondents at both rallies shortly and jump in at any point in either candidate is making some news. >>> new polling as well. late numbers just coming in tonight and new endorsements including colin powell weighing in today. >>> also tonight, a very different look inside the campaign from presidential historian doug brinkley who got an opportunity to watch his tore being made as well as what president obama called mitt romney. it rhymes with, well, show-bidder. it's causing outrage tonight. this, on the other hand, there may be reason for the romney campaign to cheer. the breaking news. the abc news/"washington post" tracking poll now has mitt romney ahead by three points and more crucially, hitting the 50% mark for the first time. in our own cnn poll of polls, governor romney currently enjoys a one-point lead, 48-47. as you no doubt know, the race will boil down to a few key states and tonight, we also have new numbers from the nbc/"wall street journal" poll

whether you're making the comparison to 1917 as mr. romney now does in that ad, or 1916, which is by the way what he did previously, there were 342 ships in the fleet in 1917. right now there are 285 which is in fact lower than 342, obviously. however, it's been below 342 a lot of times before this, including seven years in the 1930s, every year since 2000, in fact. keeping them honest, we wanted to know why the romney campaign despite being called out on this time and time again decided to repeat the falsehood in this new ad. it's just not true. we invited them on the program to give their side. of course they declined. earlier this week we did manage to ask virginia governor bob mcdonnell about these dodgy numbers. take a look. you're well aware that under president bush, the navy was actually smaller and that surface warships under president obama have gone up 10%. >> the broader point is i don't know how many times we have dipped below 1916 but there is a broader point, anderson, and that is if the defense department says in the qu

romney was getting hammered in the polls. keeping them honest though, disputing or downplaying the obvious, that's what campaigns do on both sides. >> it's not going to be about the polls. i wouldn't put a lot of weight in any of these national polls for the next couple of days any way. >> in terms of mitt romney surging, just remember how much of a deficit he had to make up. he was in some cases double digits behind the president in all those attributes. >> pull back the reins. the media is focusing on one poll. >> that's reaction to the recent batch of polling, including that devastating pew poll that showed the republicans going ballistic showing romney eight points down. watch. >> these polls are just part and partial for the cam rain for barack obama to help him stay in this game as long as possible. >> if you believe what the polls are saying right now, you've got to believe there's something huge going on. >> i've said that all along and i'm willing to say that publicly and stick by it. and i know that poll of 15 point