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Candidates Gear Up for Debate Round Two; Clinton Claims Responsibility; Pakistani Teen Recovering in Britain; Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit Resigns; Frontline in a Battleground State

Aired October 16, 2012 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Morning, Soledad. Thank you.

Happening now, Hillary Clinton says she is to blame for the American deaths in Libya. Is it a lifeline for President Obama hours before the presidential debate?

And speaking of the debate, the stage is set for that second debate which will be moderated by CNN's Candy Crowley. Mitt Romney gets the first question. He won the big coin toss. Will President Obama try to be more aggressive?

Chris Kluwe, pro-football player and political activist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS KLUWE, PUNTER, MINNESOTA VIKINGS: To me that is -- that's flat out discrimination. That's the same as s segregation or suffrage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Kluwe on same-sex marriage and paying more taxes, and why he's so darn political.

NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining us. Twelve hours before the big debate tonight and Hillary Clinton throws the president a lifeline. The Secretary of State taking full responsibility for the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I take responsibility. I'm in charge of the State Department, 60,000 plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The president and the vice president certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Clinton made it very clear to CNN's Elise Labott she does not want to play the blame game, something that is sure to play out in tonight's presidential debate taking place at Hofstra University on Long Island.

Dan Lothian is there right now.

And, Dan, I suspect that Secretary Clinton's comments certainly will make it easier for the president tonight.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what it does is it plays into what the administration, the president and the White House have been saying now over the last few days. It started towards the end of last week when the message at the briefings was that the White House was not involved and did not know about these requests for additional security in Libya.

And of course, that was in reaction to what the vice president said during his debate, where he said that we, speaking about himself and the president, were not aware of this request. And so this is somewhat of a shield, if you will, against Republican criticism that the White House, in particular, has dropped the ball when it comes to Libya. A big criticism that, no doubt, will play out in this debate here tonight -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, and, you know, everybody is wondering just how aggressive the president will be because he's lagging in the polls right now. Can't be too aggressive. And I know he's been studying and preparing for a long time now for this debate.

LOTHIAN: He has been preparing over the last three days. He was in Virginia at a resort there with much of the team that he had around him going into the first debate. We did see Ben Rhodes, one of his national security advisers, he was participating in this one. But everything we're hearing from top campaign aides is that the president will come out swinging. He will be aggressive and he will challenge Mitt Romney on his positions.

Take a listen to what Robert Gibbs had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: You know, Mitt Romney, you know, said, look, we don't need more teachers. And then you watched him on that debate stage say, I love teachers, we need more of them. I don't have a $5 trillion tax cut even though Paul Ryan thought it would take too long in an interview to explain the math.

I mean, look, don't misunderstand it, Mitt Romney is trying to -- and Paul Ryan are doing this, they're trying to hide their positions. They want to go on national TV in debates with big audiences and pretend they haven't taken these stances. But I think the American people need to understand, you know, there is a man behind the curtain. And we do need to pay attention to that person because that's Mitt Romney.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LOTHIAN: Now Governor Romney's campaign says that the president might change his style, he may change his tactic, but he can't change his record. Now the big challenge for the two candidates tonight is that it is the format, much different than it was in the first one. Here you actually have real voters in the audience who will be asking questions.

There are some 80 undecided voters from that group. They'll be asking some of the questions. And so the challenge is to make a personal connection with the audience while at the same time score some points with the opponents.

COSTELLO: Dan Lothian, reporting live from Hofstra University.

Our CNN foreign affairs reporter Elise Labott broke the story about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking the responsibility for the U.S. diplomatic deaths in Libya. Elise joins us by phone from Lima, Peru, where she is traveling with the secretary.

Elise, what else did Hillary Clinton tell you?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER (via phone): Well, Carol, it was the first time when she spoke to network reporters last night. Her first time really talking about the night that the ambassador and those three other Americans died in that attack. She talked about what a harrowing night it was, waiting to see if they were alive. And, you know, she really talked a lot about this blame game in Washington going now. She wants to end the political firestorm and stop what she called political gotcha.

You know, Chris Stevens -- Ambassador Stevens' father had said in the past week he thought his son's death was being politicized. And I think in addition to try to take some of the heat off the White House in this election period, I think she's also trying to refocus the nation that four brave Americans died and, yes, it's important to find out what the breakdown in security or intelligence was, but also to just -- really just make sure that this doesn't happen again.

And she says she's going to stay out of the politics and be focused on making sure that U.S. diplomatic posts get the security and the resources that they need -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, Elise, the timing to some is suspect. I mean, Hillary Clinton throws herself under the bus for the Obama administration on the eve of this big presidential debate. What did she have to say about that?

LABOTT: Well, I mean, in fact, it was the White House, I'd say, that kind of threw the State Department over the bus over the last week. You heard Vice President Biden, as you mentioned in that debate saying, we didn't know about those security requests. Even the White House started calling around to reporters and saying listen, that's the State Department's function. And at the end of the day, yes, Carol, it is.

The State Department security professionals are in charge of, you know, finding out what adequate resources are needed for various posts. You know, the vice president or the president are not briefed on every little post. But, you know, Benghazi was a high-threat post. There was a growing threat of extremism and groups that are related to al Qaeda. There are activities in Libya.

So, you know, Republicans are saying, yes, you know, Senator McCain and Senator Graham and Senator Ayotte made statements last night after our interview and said, it's very nice for Secretary Clinton to take responsibility but ultimately the buck stops with the president, it's his administration.

And in a sense, that's true. So I think that while it may take a little bit of heat off the president tonight, I do think that, you know, we have to find out not just was the security of the consulate issue, but also where the intelligence breakdown was and that's an administration-wide problem -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Elise Labott reporting for us live from Peru.

Republicans on the Armed Services Committee are wasting no time at all firing back. Ranking member John McCain along with Senators Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte released a joint statement. And here it is. It says, quote, "If the president was truly not aware of this rising threat level in Benghazi, then we have lost confidence in his national security team. The security of Americans serving our nation everywhere in the world is ultimately the job of the commander in chief. The buck stops there." End quote.

As you might expect, President Obama and Governor Romney out of the spotlight today as they prepare for tonight's debate. But Mitt Romney's family is out on the campaign trail. Romney's youngest son, Craig, bragged about his dad to CNN's Piers Morgan and explained why Governor Romney wants to be president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S SON: You know, it's interesting. I ran into -- I've been touring around the country, had a chance to meet voters all over the place. I met a woman in Nevada who owns a small beauty salon. And she came up to me and said, I've been in business for 30 years. These last four years have been the hardest I've ever gone through and I'm struggling to keep my business going. She said, I need your dad to win or I think I'm going to lose my business.

That's really what this is about. That's why my dad is in this race. He's out there for the small business owners, who are struggling for the 23 million Americans who are unemployed. He knows how to create jobs. He knows how to get those people back to work and that's why he's in the race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, is also busy on the campaign trail. On Thursday she's scheduled to sit down with the ladies of "The View" without her husband, Mitt, who due to a scheduling conflict had to cancel. As you know, that secretly recorded video, Romney said an interview with the ladies of "The View" was a high-risk move.

Former presidential candidate, George McGovern is now getting hospice care. The former senator from South Dakota has been admitted to a hospice in Sioux Falls. His condition not been made public. McGovern's defeat to Richard Nixon in 1972 was one of the most lopsided presidential losses in history. He won only two states, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

A Pakistani teenager is now being treated in a British hospital a week after being shot in the head by the Taliban. Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai was airlifted to a Birmingham, England hospital. It's a hospital that treats wounded soldiers. Her recovery is expected to take several months.

Dan Rivers was at a news conference where police talked about some unwanted visitors trying to visit the teenaged activist.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're told that Malala spent a comfortable night here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. She's being seen by a team of about six specialists, we're told, including neurotherapy, radiology, intensive care pediatrics, and so on, who was still doing their initial assessment on her condition and they are pleased with her progress so far. Her condition is said to be stable.

Not much more information on her medical condition other than that really. With no suggestion so far that they have done anything more than an initial assessment. We have to wait and see when they're going to attempt any further operations. We were told that one of the first things they would do would be to build a 3-D image of her head from a CT scan, an MRI scan. Just to work out the extent of the damage to her brain.

Meanwhile, the clinical director here, Dr. David Rosser, told reporters that overnight here there had been some incidents with people trying to get into her room.

DR. DAVE ROSSER, HOSPITAL MEDICAL DIRECTOR: I understand that a number of people turned up claiming to be members of Malala's family, which we don't believe to be true and have been arrested. We don't believe that there's any sort of threat to her personal security. We think it's probably people being over curious.

RIVERS: West Middleton's police, though, are playing this down, saying it was simply well-wishers who were turned away from trying to give her their best wishes. Overall, the message here from the doctors is that she's not out of the woods yet but they are optimistic that things are going in the right direction.

Dan Rivers, CNN, Birmingham, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: A man the U.S. government says carried out the biggest military computer hacking of all time will not face trial in the United States. Gary McKinnon has been fighting extradition from London for 10 years and today the British government said it would no extradite him, citing concerns about his health. His lawyers say McKinnon he suffers from Asperger's syndrome and sending him to the United States would be a breach of his human rights. McKinnon admits to breaking into NASA and Pentagon computers to do research on UFOs.

A day after Citigroup stock price rally more than 4 percent its CEO is stepping down and he's already been replaced.

Christine Romans joins us now.

This is sort of a mystery because it's not only him stepping down.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: He is stepping down, the president and CEO of the company is stepping down in kind of a career long executive there named Michael Corbett is taking over.

Vikram Pandit is the person we're talking about. He has been the CEO of Citigroup since 2007. So imagine Citigroup in 2007, Carol. It was a huge bank, it led the world. It was right before the financial crisis. And then it all came tumbling down and Vikram Pandit had just taken over.

Take a look at the stock over the past five years. You can see just how brutal the ride has been for shareholders. Citigroup stocks over the past five years down 89 percent and many people have said that Citigroup is among the weakest players in the financial crisis and very carefully and gingerly trying to recover from it since then.

It had a decent earnings report yesterday. So the timing today catching a lot of people on Wall Street by surprise. But Vikram Pandit saying he's concluded that now is the right time for someone else to take the lead at Citigroup and he says he is leaving -- he is leaving the company in a better position.

A strong quarter yesterday. But something that I want to put in perspective here. And "The Wall Street Journal" has an amazing analysis of this. Citigroup is one of four banks, Carol, that control some 60 percent of the nation's assets. Just recently, Sandy Wile, who created this behemoth was on television quoted as saying that maybe, maybe some of these big banks like this should be broken up.

COSTELLO: Haven't we been down that road before?

ROMANS: Make this big, and there was Vikram Pandit at the top of this bank. So he was a hedge fund guy, very well respected in 2007. A lot of people who know him and worked with him on Wall Street say he's very, very smarts as a hedge fund guy but that the banking crisis, Citigroup so big, so unwieldy, now it's time for someone else to take over and the timing is now.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: I'm sure you'll continue to follow this story.

ROMANS: Oh, yes.

COSTELLO: With the elections just three weeks away, Stark County, Ohio, my hometown. My home county, rather. Finds itself on the front line of the battleground state. We'll find out what voters in Ohio are talking about ahead of tonight's critical presidential debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We know Ohio is a key swing state in the election. And CNN's latest poll of polls shows how close the race is in Ohio. The president holding a three percentage-point lead.

For a clue as to how Ohio will go in November, look to Stark County. Voters have chosen the White House winner six of the last seven times.

CNN's Miguel Marquez went there to get the lay of the land.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Stark County, Ohio, a frontline in this battleground state. It's so closely tracked state in national voting patterns, this place puts the bell in bellwether.

(voice-over): Kay Vaughan has farmed in Hartville, Ohio, his whole life. Today, he's (INAUDIBLE). Like most people here, he takes voting very seriously,

(on camera): May I ask you who you're voting for?

KAY VAUGHAN, MAIZE VALLEY FARMS: Yes.

MARQUEZ: Who are you voting for?

VAUGHAN: I won't tell you.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Like many, Vaughan is sick of political gridlock. He says the country's problem so serious it makes voting more important and tougher than ever.

VAUGHAN: A lot of people are hurting big. A lot of people need relief. And I'm not too sure the election is going to give it, no matter who gets elected. That's the problem.

MARQUEZ: Stark County has seen the worst of the recession and the best of the recovery. Unemployment shot up to 13 percent at the height of the Great Recession. It's now plummeted to less than 7 percent.

Vaughan like Stark County, Ohio, has survived by changing, turning the business over to his kids and son-in-law Bill Bakan.

Bakan made some changes to the old family farm. Boy, did he ever. A fourth of the family's income now comes a few weeks in the fall where the farm, now a market and winery, is transformed into a country fun kids and son-in-law, what Bakan calls agri-team (ph).

BILL BAKAN, MAIZE VALLEY MARKET AND WINERY: You have to be diversified enough to weather the storm but you can't dilute yourself so down you're not effective.

MARQUEZ: A delicate balance that makes Ohio Ohio.

BAKAN: Ohio is number one at practically nothing but exceedingly above average at many, many things.

MARQUEZ (on camera): How quickly can one shred a car?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 30 seconds.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Slesnick Steel has been in the recycling business for 100 years. It is a state-of-the-art scrap yard.

The boss here, Ed Slesnick, a lifelong Democrat, voted Obama in 2008. He says this year, it's a tougher choice.

ED SLESNICK, PRESIDENT, SLESNICK STEEL: This year, I am truly an independent voter. And looking at the first debate and very keen on looking at the next two debates.

MARQUEZ: A year ago, his yard could barely keep up with demand. Two months ago, he saw orders plummet.

(on camera): Is it a matter of hearing what they want to do or how they're going to accomplish it?

SLESNICK: I would say both in that question. But more importantly, how are they going to accomplish it with a $16 trillion deficit?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Miguel Marquez is in Hartville, Ohio. Welcome, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Good to be here.

COSTELLO: I'm from that part of the world. I'm from Canton, Ohio, which is in Stark County. You know, I'm wondering --

MARQUEZ: I've already heard that this morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I know, I'm proud of my people. I can't help it. But I'm wondering, who do they give credit for the economy in Ohio? I mean, who gets credit? Is it the Republican governor or is it the Democratic president?

MARQUEZ: Well, it's a little bit of both. I mean, they certainly credit the president with saving the auto industry and a lot of jobs in this area. But they also have Shell Oil in this area, the governor has been very aggressive in getting after. You have a lot of companies in this area of northeastern Ohio that are making money off that.

So, a lot of that has had to do with at least regionally the unemployment number coming down so quickly here, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, any idea which way Ohio will go? Because just a couple of weeks ago, it was firmly in President Obama's camp, but now it's not.

MARQUEZ: Yes. It certainly is tightening here. I suppose they expected that and both campaigns are making a big push here.

I can tell you, in Stark County and across the state, both campaigns have made a big effort to get early voters out. They started October 2nd early voting. In Stark County, 35,000 early vote votes went out, 15,000 of them were Democrat, 12,000 were Republican. And about 10,000 are independent. Those are usually split 50/50.

Across the state, you have the same thing occurring. So, it looks like the Democrats may be out there early voting much more but both campaigns are in it for the ground war. They're trying to get to every single voter's door. They are calling them constantly. And the rides will begin very soon as the election gets going, Carol. This is going to come down to who can get people out to vote on Election Day.

COSTELLO: Miguel Marquez, live from Hartville, Ohio, this morning.

That brings us to our talk back question. Since President Obama is the underdog, what does the president need to do in tonight's debate?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back to one of your big stories of the day. The question for you this morning: What does President Obama need to do in tonight's debate?

The stakes couldn't be higher for the president. After his last debate performance, Obama saw a drop in the polls and is now running behind Romney, 47 percent to 48 percent, in CNN's latest poll of polls. Romney is making inroads in the swing states. And according to Gallup/"USA Today," it's now tied with Obama among women voters, a group once considered a slam dunk for the president.

Still, Obama adviser Robert Gibbs says -- oh, no worries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIBBS: We're going to have a chance to talk about Governor Romney's economic theories that we tried, quite frankly, for eight years and they didn't work too well. They ended up crushing us and leaving us with this economic disaster that we've been trying to dig our way out of for the last four years.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Yet to dig himself out of this slump, the president will have to score big in tonight's town hall format and connect with the audience. In other words, take a page from the Bill Clinton playbook.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: If the question -- if you're -- maybe I will get it wrong -- are you suggesting if somebody has means that the national debt doesn't affect them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What I'm saying --

BUSH: I'm not sure I get -- help me with the question and I'll try to answer it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have friends that have been laid off from jobs. I know people who cannot afford to pay the mortgage on their homes, their car payments. I have personal problems with national debt.

BUSH: Thank you. Glad you clarified.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Tell me how it's affected you again. You know people who have lost their jobs and lost their homes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

B. CLINTON: In my state, when people lose their jobs, there's a good chance I'll know them by their names.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes, Mr. Clinton really felt your pain.

Although the race is considered a statistical dead heat, many Democrats are worried that Romney is winning over those independent voters who waited till now before deciding. The challenge for the president: how to win them back.

So, the talk back question for you this morning, what does President Obama need to do in tonight's debate? Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Your responses, later this hour.

A huge discovery. Amateur astronomers have found a planet in a system with four suns. It's like a scene out of Star Wars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. Thank you so much for watching us. I'm Carol Costello. It's 30 minutes past the hour.

Stories we're watching right now in THE NEWSROOM:

The opening bell on Wall Street rung just seconds ago. Stock futures looking higher this morning. Investors are watching corporate earnings. Ringing the bell, executives and guests of the American International Group, also known as AIG.

Malala Yousufzai is recovering in a Birmingham, England hospital, one week after the Taliban tried to assassinate her. Doctors say the 14- year-old has a long way to go, but her family will be by her bedside soon.

The shooting of the Pakistani school girl has sparked outrage and anti-Taliban feelings in Pakistan.

Amateur astronomers have discovered a new planet in a solar system with four suns. The planet orbits two of those suns and it's orbited by two more sun and it's a little bigger than Neptune, and about six times bigger than Earth. Scientists say this is the first-known quadruple sun system.

About 11 1/2 hours to go until round two, when President Obama and Republican challenger Governor Mitt Romney face of in their second presidential debate which, of course, is moderated by Candy Crowley.

This debate will be a town hall format where the questions come from undecided voters. Mitt Romney will get the first question and, after his last debate performance, many analysts say President Obama will come out swinging.

Joining me now, CNN contributor Maria Cardona, who leans left and is a Democratic strategist, and CNN contributor Ana Navarro, who is a Republican strategist.

Good morning, ladies.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, Carol.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So, the first question. Tonight, both candidates need to connect with the audience. They both had, shall we say, trouble with that in past town hall style debates. So, let's take a look at a few examples.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You had your turn, madam. Let me have mine. Let me have mine. Listen, I'll give you the microphone in a moment but let me complete.

I'm sorry. It's my turn. You had yours. Now it's my turn. Would you please hold on a minute and let me finish?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for and deeply disappointed with where we are right now.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My goal here is not to try to convince you that everything is where it needs to be. It's not. That's why I ran for president. But what I am saying is that we're moving in the right direction. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So that answer from President Obama went on for four minutes. So you can see both men have some problems in a town hall format.

So, Maria, I'll start with you. President Obama is not the warmest man. So what will he have to do to connect to those voters who were asking him questions tonight?

CARDONA: Well, clearly, even in the example that you just showed, President Obama had at least the cordial connection with the voter. So, I think that is where his strength lies. We've seen poll after poll that President Obama is the one that is seen as the candidate who understands the problems of middle class voters much more so than Romney.

And I think tonight is his absolute critical opportunity to continue to underscore that, to demonstrate that. He needs to do, I think, three things, Carol. He needs to continue to underscore how his policies have put us on the path to prosperity, from the disastrous economic principles that he was handed from the Republicans, point out that Romney wants to institute those exact same economic principles that will put us back in the hole.

And the third thing he needs to do is talk about what he will do for the next four years to bring us out completely from that economic hole that he was handed. He needs to feel voters' pains and he needs to inflict a little pain on Romney by doing those three things.

COSTELLO: I feel your pain. So, Ana, we saw that clip from Governor Romney. And he probably won't be that aggressive. But does he really need to connect to those voters in a warm kind of way or should he just be the businessman that he is?

NAVARRO: No. He needs to connect with them. I think he's getting better at this. You know, it was something -- the Obama campaign spent a lot of money trying to portray him as a very flat, very businessman, kind of inhuman guy early on. And it worked for a while. But lately, we've seen him on the campaign trail tell the human side of Mitt Romney, tell personal stories, talk about emotional anecdotes, show some emotion. And I think he needs to do the same thing.

I wouldn't be surprised, Carol, if a question similar to the clip you showed with President Bush 41 came up today, where a regular average American asks either of these two guys who are both well off and live in a bubble of having a lot of means, if they get the pain of the regular America.

I think both of them would be well served to be prepared for such a question. I think they need to remember that they're going to be on camera the entire time. Being on split screen was a lethal blow for Obama in the first debate. And we saw how it was -- how they caught President Bush 41 looking at his clock, at his watch back then. You know, I think they need to connect with the questioners. Let me tell you the other thing they need to do. If Candy Crowley asks follow-up questions, they cannot whine during the debate. No whining in politics.

COSTELLO: No, they have to answer the question, darn it. I want to talk about women's issues a little bit, because they were noticeably absent from the first debate when Obama led Romney by double digits with the favorability among women. A new Gallup/"USA Today" poll, it shows that gap tightening. So, women seem to be moving -- well, they are moving towards Romney's side.

So what does President Obama have to do to get women back on his side? I guess I'll start with you, Ana, because I'd be interested in hearing your answer.

NAVARRO: Carol, I think he needs to -- I can encapsulate it in one word. He needs to do better than he did in the first debate. He needs to show up and put his heart and soul in this debate and show the American public -- women, men, children, dogs, that he is fighting with everything he has got to keep this job.

He did not portray that image. He did not have that hunger in the first debate. He needs to show it. I was amazed by how the lead with women, which looked like an insurmountable, double-digit lead a couple of weeks ago, has evaporated.

COSTELLO: Maria, why do you think it has evaporated?

CARDONA: Well, I actually don't think that it has evaporated, Carol. Has Romney done better? Yes. But I don't believe that that Gallup poll is even with women.

Having said that, President Obama needs to go in there, thinking that it is and thinking that he's behind. And Ana is absolutely right. He needs to show passion. He needs to show that fire in the belly. He needs to talk about his mother. He should talk about Michelle's upbringing. He needs to connect his policies, the policies that he has for women's health issues, for example. And talk about how they deeply connected to women's economics.

So, for example, taking away Obamacare would take away a lot of women's abilities to have free pre-screenings for cancer, free breast exams, free wellness exams for grandmothers and women seniors. Those are critical issues when it comes to women.

And, yes, birth control and abortion rights are absolutely important, but he needs to make the connection about women's health issues and their economic fortunes, because they are one in the same. And he has had a tremendous ability to do that. And I suspect that he will do that tonight as well.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll see.

Maria Cardona, Ana Navarro, thanks so much for the discussion this morning.

CARDONA: Thank you, Carol.

NAVARRO: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

CNN's live coverage for tonight's debate begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Forty-one minutes past the hour.

Checking our top stories now:

Former Senator Arlen Specter will be laid to rest today. The Republican-turned-Democrat died Sunday following a long battle with cancer. Vice President Joe Biden will attend today's service. Specter represented Pennsylvania for 30 years. He was 82 years old.

At least two more drugs could be linked to the growing outbreak of meningitis. So far, 214 people have the rare fungal disease, 15 have died. Now, the FDA says anyone who has received drugs made at the Massachusetts compounding pharmacy could also be at risk.

In money news, Social Security benefits are going up slightly starting next year. The average increase is less than 20 bucks a month. More than 56 million people are on Social Security.

And medical marijuana advocates hope they can sway a three-judge panel over how the government classifies the drug. Today, the group Americans for Safe Access wants the U.S. Court of Appeals to change the classification of marijuana from a schedule I drug like heroin and LSD. The DEA considers those drugs to have high rates of abuse and no acceptable medical use.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Tonight, undecided voters for the most part will be in control of tonight's presidential debate. The town hall style debate will be held here at Hofstra University in Long Island, 80 voters have already submitted questions. Governor Romney has won the coin toss. So he will get the first question.

CNN's Candy Crowley will be moderating tonight's debate. And that means Candy will follow up on voter questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm trying to just know what the facts are, what the positions are so that when something comes up that maybe could use a little further explanation might be as simple as, but the question, sir, was oranges and you said apples, could you answer oranges? Or it might be as simple as, but, gee, how does that fit with the following thing?

So you try to know and study up on as much as there is out there, knowing that, you know, hopefully you're getting close to, you know, 90 percent of the knowledge you need, knowing that you're only going to use one percent. But you don't know which one percent you're going to need.

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COSTELLO: But like everything else, this political season, that sort of moderating has stirred some controversy. To talk about that and more, the co-chair of the commission on presidential debates, Frank Fahrenkopf. Good morning, Frank.

FRANK FAHRENKOPF, CO-CHAIR OF THE COMMISSION ON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks for coming back. Is everything ready to go?

FAHRENKOPF: We are ready to go. We are ready to go, we've got the -- the citizens are arriving at an undisclosed location now, checking in. And Candy will be meeting with them shortly to prep them and to get their questions which she will then decide which one of those questions gets asked tonight.

COSTELLO: So how many questions have these undecided voters submitted to the commission and to Candy?

FAHRENKOPF: Well first of all, they don't submit them to the commission. The only person who will see those questions is Candy. We have no control over it. We do not see them. And she'll -- as many as they are submitted, they've been told if they want to ask a question to write it down on two cards. One card they'll keep with them so that if they are called on by Candy, they could go have their question ready for her.

And she gets the other she'll divide them into two stacks, foreign policy and domestic policy and then she makes the determination. Now as you know the rules call for each of the candidates to speak to that question for two minutes, and then there's a two-minute facilitation, further discussion.

So it's six minutes max on each of those questions. So you can divide that by 90 minutes and taking some off the front for the introductions and off the back for the closing. So we normally get in, hopefully, around 15 to 20 questions.

COSTELLO: Frank, we -- we've heard both the Romney and Obama camps are concerned that Candy will do more than just moderate. Did you talk with Candy about that?

FAHRENKOPF: Well, we've -- we've talked to Candy. She understands when she accepted the position that the rules that are set down by the -- by the commission, not by the -- not by the campaigns -- you know there's been a lot circulating about this document that's been entered into.

We're not a party to that document. The commission isn't. Candy isn't. None of our moderators are. Our format calls for her to facilitate during that two minutes, additional discussions on the subject asked by the question.

So we're coming down to the very end of a -- of a tough campaign. And I think both of the campaign apparatus get a little nervous and I think it's normal there are these concerns.

COSTELLO: Well you know of course if you want someone to just sit there like a stump you don't choose a journalist like Candy Crowley. When she says she's going to follow up on questions, what does that mean, in your mind?

FAHRENKOPF: Well it means that whenever the question comes from the citizen -- it got a little windy here Carol I'm not blown away yet but she has the right during that two minute period to facilitate further discussion on that subject matter. That doesn't mean that she can ask a question about something totally unrelated to the question.

So, you know, we've met with her, she understands her role and I think she'll do a great job.

COSTELLO: OK. So -- and I'm going to -- I'm going to ask you this. I've heard from more than one woman that female moderators are criticized much more than male moderators. Gwen Ifill the last time around, Martha Raddatz and now Candy. Why do you think that is?

FAHRENKOPF: I'm not sure I believe that. I think Martha did a great job. And 90 percent of the comments that I've seen, you know, concerning the job she did in the vice presidential debates were -- was very, very good. So I'm not sure that that's the case. I just don't accept that.

I mean what normally happens in these debates, and this will be my 25th debate in the last 25 years here, is the people who feel that perhaps their candidate didn't perform up to snuff blame the moderator. I mean that's just kind of par for the course. There is no way to do a perfect job and satisfy everybody. And that's why we get professionals who know what they're doing to sit in the seat of the moderator during these debates.

COSTELLO: Frank Fahrenkopf thank you so much for joining us this morning. All of America is awaiting the debate. Thank you so much.

And that brings us to today's "Talk Back" question. Since President Obama is the underdog tonight, what does he need to do tonight? Your response is next.

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"Talk Back" question this morning. "Since President Obama is the underdog, what does the President need to do in tonight's debate?"

This from Scott. "Be himself, focus on his plan; how he'll get congressional cooperation and present a vision of where he sees us domestically and internationally in four years."

This from Chris, "Stop being so nice and get nasty just like Romney and Ryan. I do not vote for Mr. Nice Guy. I know he has it in him." And this from Ed. "He needs to just give up and throw in the towel. Next question?"

Keep the conversation going, Facebook.com/CarolCNN, thanks as always for your comments.

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COSTELLO: If the San Francisco Giants need any more reason to get up for game two of the NLCS, they got it when their second baseman went down. Top of the first inning, the Cardinals Allen Craig simply hits to shortstop Brandon Crawford who then tosses to Marco Scutaro for the force-out. Matt Holliday comes in hard on Scutaro to break up a possible double play. You can see there, Scutaro goes down. The replay shows Holliday went into his slide after he passed second base.

Scutaro would stay in the game to deliver this two-run single in the Giants' 7-1 victory. But he was pulled after the fifth inning with an injured hip. Scutaro will get an MRI today, his manager talked about the slide.

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BRUCE BOCHY, SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS MANAGER: I really think they got away with an illegal slide there. The rule was changed a while back and he really didn't hit dirt until he was passed the bag. And Marco was behind the bag and got smoked. And it's a shame somebody got hurt because of this.

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COSTELLO: Holliday said, quote, "In hind sight, I wish I would have started the slide a little earlier, but it just happened so fast" end quote.

The Denver Broncos have been making second-half come backs all season long. Last night was their best yet. San Diego led the Broncos 24-0 when Peyton Manning and the Broncos' defense took over the game. Manning completed 13 of 14 second-half passes, including three -- three touchdown tosses, and Denver scored on two turnovers by Chargers' quarterback Phillip Rivers. Broncos win 35-24.

Minnesota Vikings' punter Chris Kluwe doesn't want to run for political office, but he is speaking out on issues that mean something to him. He supports same-sex marriage and has issued a challenge to any Minnesota politician to debate him on that issue. Kluwe also told CNN's Poppy Harlow he would take a bigger tax hit.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Would you pay higher taxes as a way to help balance the budget?

KLUWE: I would. Without question. As long as I have my couch and my video games, I'm good to go.