Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Debate 2 Recap; Candidates Court Undecided Vote; The Role of Government and Gas Prices; Questions Not Answered by Candidates

Aired October 17, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good advice.

I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me today.

"CNN Newsroom" continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Thank you, Carol Costello.

Hi, everybody. Nice to see you this morning. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It's 11:00 here on the East Coast. It's 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast and good morning to you.

Same players, same issues, slightly different format, whole new ball game. What a show at Hofstra University as President Obama faced off with Mitt Romney for what you might call 90 minutes of political fireworks last night.

You can be forgiven if you thought you were watching a throw-down because the second presidential debate was worlds away from the first one two weeks ago. This time the president and the Governor brought intensity and energy unlike the first time around.

The exchanges were bruising, both candidates taking every opportunity to go on the attack. President Obama, more aggressive, out to make up ground after a flat first performance and Mitt Romney, standing his ground, hoping to keep his momentum going. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I don't think anyone really believes that you're a person who's going to be pushing for oil and gas and coal. You'll get your chance in a moment. I'm still speaking. And the answer is I don't believe think that's the case because ...

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you're asking me a question ...

ROMNEY: That wasn't a question.

OBAMA: OK.

ROMNEY: That was a statement.

OBAMA: And the suggestion that anybody on my team, whether the secretary of state, our U.N. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, Governor, is offensive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So there you have it and Dana Bash had it all, too. She was there to see it all firsthand. She's here live with me now.

I have followed your career. I know you have covered dozens of debates, at least a dozen presidential debates, and, everybody that I work with, we were trying to establish whether we'd ever seen anything as contentious as this.

How about you?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. The answer is no. In fact, if you look back to people who are few years older than you and me, George Will, he even said -- he was at the very first debate in 1960. He said, since then, this was immeasurably the best.

And, whether it's best or worst, it was by far the most fiery, especially for a town hall, Ashleigh. Going in, talking to the strategists inside both camps and then people outside who've prepped presidential candidates for this kind of town hall format, what they all say the name of the game is not to do anything that will be abrupt or that will be disconcerting to the voter or viewer back home.

And that's what both candidates did, big time.

BANFIELD: Yeah, I mean, I heard a lot of people say awkward, uncomfortable, exciting, great television. I'm not quite sure what to make of this for voters, though.

Did the messages that these candidates needed to bring into this hall actually get out of that hall and through the TV tubes?

BASH: You know what? We'll see whether or not it actually sunk in with the people that these candidates are trying to get at.

I think for the most part, though, both candidates were pretty effective at what they were trying to do, big picture. Mitt Romney, his whole message and his whole goal was to put this on the President. The past four years of the economy has been bad.

He did that from the very first answer from the student who asked how he's going to get a job and how he's going to pay for things. And he continued to do that throughout the debate.

The president got back to where the Democrats really wanted them to be, which is hitting him, hitting Romney as somebody who's out of touch, somebody who has offshore bank accounts, somebody who is going to make sure that the wealthiest in this country are going to be the beneficiaries of his economic policies and not others.

BANFIELD: We have landmark moments in all debates. Almost all debates, I should say. I'm thinking of the make-up moment for Nixon, Nixon-Kennedy. I thinking about President Reagan bringing in humor, but making a stinging point.

Is there a moment that we can identify here where the game has changed? Presidential debates going forward are going to be different?

BASH: You know, I think that there might be a series of moments in this one. That's why it was so extraordinary, whether it was Mitt Romney trying to address the issue of inequality or equality and pay for women and talked about "binders of women."

That's kind of a bumper sticker that people will instantly -- I think it's going to instantly become part of the political lexicon.

BANFIELD: Like Big Bird.

BASH: Like Big Bird.

BANFIELD: Like Big Bird.

BASH: You have ...

BANFIELD: Really, I need more the dynamic.

BASH: Yeah ...

BANFIELD: This to me -- I didn't know what I was watching. I didn't think I was watching a presidential debate like I've watched for so many years. I thought I was watching cable news.

BASH: You were. You were watching CNN.

BANFIELD: Yeah. I'm not sure it's such a good thing.

BASH: But I know what you're saying. It was. I was in the hall. I was watching, you know, in person and I was really surprised, especially watching Mitt Romney at the beginning when they were debating over energy, of all things, really approaching him, physically approaching the President, physically, and then later they were both doing the same thing. They were kind of circling each other.

It did feel very, very different. There's no question about it. But it's because both of them came really, really determined to do this and there's one important reason I just want to put a pin in it and that is that there are those very, very small number of undecided voters, but both of them realize they have got to get their bases excited and that's what this is about.

BANFIELD: That's a great point. We're going to dig into that a little bit later on in the show.

Dana Bash, I'm sure this was fun to watch and fun to cover. Maybe they'll become even more fun to continue covering as we move forward. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Listen, what a difference two weeks and a second debate can make, as we just talked about, but the big question now is how is this going to translate into votes for either of these men?

Look at them, fingers up, getting into each other's grill. Each party says its candidate won this. Shock about that. A lot of pundits and analysts are saying this was a draw.

But what do the voters think because they're really all that matter at this point? Let's break this down. Here are the latest CNN/ORC poll numbers based on calls that we made last night to 457 registered voters.

President Obama was the winner, according to those who were called, but it's important to keep in mind that the President narrowly beat out Mr. Romney. This is well within the margin of error when you actually extrapolate the math. And, truthfully, the poll numbers are a bit of a mixed bag for both of these candidates, too.

So, if you need a little more context as to why that is the issue, Mr. Romney came out the victor on the key issues, the economy, healthcare, taxes, deficit. He had the lead there. In fact, more than half of the debate watchers said they felt that Mr. Romney would, quote, "better handle the economy and the deficit."

And this is important because check out this number. Get who the debate watchers picked as the, quote, "stronger leader." There you go. By a narrow win, again, he beat out Mr. Obama by 3 points, but Mr. Romney came out the victor in that question.

Polls are one thing. Social media, now, it's a big part of your life, isn't it? And they are telling, too, what people were doing on social media last night.

Clearly, a lot of you were tweeting, posting, Googling away last night as you were watching this debate. These are the top Google searches -- "who's winning the debate," we just showed you those numbers; "fact check," we're going to be doing a whole lot of that on this program, as well.

But look at number three. It went viral almost instantly all over social media. You heard Dana Bash refer to it, "binders full of women." Weird, I know. There was definitely a point to it. You'll hear about that in a moment.

Part of Romney's response when explaining how he hired qualified women when he was governor of Massachusetts was bring me the "binders full of women" to choose from and it just might have sounded odd to some, but, bam, it was out there.

And then you just know that Big Bird was going to work its way in there, Big Bird, out tweeting, saying, quote, "Injustice, binders full of women sold for 77 cents at Staples, binders full of men selling for $1, #bindersfullofwomen." I could go on and on and I'm not going to.

You know, you could just say that the catchphrase may be the new Big Bird of this second presidential debate. Who knows what it will be for the third one? Our chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin with so much of this in her head from last night, as well, and moving on, even now, to where we go from here.

Clearly, some of those numbers that I just put up on the board are good news for the President. Some of those numbers are not such good news for the President. So, where do these candidates take what happened last night, how it's being chewed up and spat out today and move on to next week?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're looking ahead to the next polling that will come out to see how it really is digested by voters, Ashleigh, and here is a sneak peek at what's to come.

Out of this debate, here's what can you expect from the Romney campaign. They will continue to go after President Obama on changing statements on Libya and what sparked those attacks. They believe that while President Obama won the skirmish, may have won the skirmish last night on the exact phrasing he used in the Rose Garden, there's still many more questions to be answered about the White House's reaction, so expect that to continue as a battle and then expect the Romney campaign to also press on the President's pension.

That came up last night. You know, the President said I don't check mine very often. It's not as big as yours. But the Romney campaign, expect them to press the point that the President has one and ask, where is it invested? His is invested by the Illinois State Board of Investment, obviously, a way to defend against attacks on Romney.

And then, on the other side of the aisle, expect President Obama to carry forward this discussion on contraception because, last night, Governor Romney said that, you know, he is very supportive of women getting access to contraception at their own discretion.

But Governor Romney supported the Blunt Amendment which said employers can choose not to carry coverage that includes contraception, so the Obama campaign will press on that, that that's a flip-flop, they'll say, and then also the fair-pay message because they want to really woo more women voters.

So, that's a glimpse into the future, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All right, OK, good, thank, Jessica Yellin, chief White House correspondent. Thank you for that.

Both the President and Mitt Romney are back on the campaign trail again today. President Obama will go to Ohio and Mitt Romney will be in Virginia. Paul Ryan will be on the campaign trail today with Condoleezza Rice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: So, for instance, when he says yours is a $5 trillion cut, well, no, it's not because I'm offsetting some of the deductions, withholding some of the deductions.

OBAMA: Candy?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Governor, I've got to -- actually, I need to have you both -- and I understand the stakes here. I understand both of you, but I will get run out of town if I don't allow ...

ROMNEY: And I just described to you, Mr. President, I just described to you precisely how I'd do it, with a single number that people can put and they can put their deductions and credits.

CROWLEY: Mr. President, we're keeping track. I promise you. And, Mr. President ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Did you catch that? Did you see what happened there? That's something we saw a lot of last night, a lot of like, what? What the heck was going on there?

President Obama and Mitt Romney talking over each other, talking over the moderator, Candy Crowley. None of us could hear a thing.

It turns out people don't really like that. Big surprise. You know those squiggly lines that you see on the bottom of the screen during the debate that show voters reacting in real-time to what they're hearing? In those moments last night, those guys were flat-lining. In their effort to be heard and to make those points heard, the exact opposite was happening.

And we want to bring in someone who knows a thing or two about strategy for debates and how to prep for debates, Frank Donatelli who helped prep President Reagan back in 1984, Bob Dole in 1996, currently the GOPAC chairman.

Frank, I -- first of all, I had a conversation just before you came on the air with Dana Bash who knows a thing or two about covering debates. Many of us feel like we've never seen anything like this before. We're not entirely sure that we loved what we saw. I'm curious as to feel -- as to find out if you feel that viewers and voters will love what they saw.

FRANK DONATELLI, CHAIRMAN OF GOPAC: Ashleigh, it was a very aggressive debate last night and I think there are two things at play here.

Number one, we're 20 days from the voting and it's a dead-even election and you see the stakes involved there. Neither man wants to back down or be perceived as backing down.

The second thing is that there's been an evolution in the format of these debates over the years. You'll notice that last night there were no restraints on either man. They had a microphone. They could walk all around the stage. They could, as you said, invade the other person's space and they just went at it. People do seem to like the idea of a more robust candidate-to- candidate interaction. The old way of doing things would have been to have had both of them on opposite sides of the stage at lecterns and a panel of questioners where there is much less opportunity for interaction. So, that's just the other side of it.

BANFIELD: It just feels like we've come full circle in cable news and in debates, as well. Once upon a time, everybody liked their news from Cronkite and now they seem to like Glenn Beck.

But let me show you something from last night. I referred to those squiggly lines and that's the voter meter, the instance response that voters have.

I want our viewers now to look at some of the material that they were watching last night, but I want to draw everyone's attention to those lines and what happens when things get ugly. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: In the last four years, you cut permits on federal lands and waters in half.

OBAMA: Not true, Governor Romney.

ROMNEY: So, how much did you cut them by then?

OBAMA: Not true.

ROMNEY: By how much did you cut them by then?

OBAMA: Governor, we have actually produced more oil on ...

ROMNEY: No, no, how much did you cut licenses and permits on federal lands and federal waters?

OBAMA: Governor Romney, here's what we did. There were a whole bunch of oil companies ...

ROMNEY: No, I had a question and the question was, how much did you cut them by?

OBAMA: You want me to answer ...

ROMNEY: How much did you cut them by?

OBAMA: I'm happy to answer the question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I think could you see it as well as I could see it. That's what you call flat-line and that, in hospital-speak, is not healthy.

If you were prepping debate candidates now, Frank, would you recommend that this works because you can fire up your base this way and get out the vote or would you say, you know, I think we can take a different tack and even get maybe some of those undecideds that we might need?

DONATELLI: Well, debates should be about trying to get undecideds because you have such an enormous audience and a lot of these viewers are occasional voters at best and this is your best opportunity to reach them.

So, you always say that you want to do whatever you can to appeal to the independent voters and those lines that you see and the concepts that are tested constantly by both campaigns are designed to appeal primarily to independents.

That being said, again, what you don't want to appear to be is not aggressive and not defending your viewpoint and be perceived as backing down because if there's one thing that you don't want to lose in these debates is this idea of leadership.

The American public values leadership above all, so sometimes you wind up having some voters say, well, I'm turned of by this, because you don't want to appear to be backing down.

BANFIELD: Well, Frank, you must have been a teenager when you were prepping President Reagan. Thank you very much for your time today and your perspective. I appreciate it.

I want to let our viewers know, as well. Remember, if you thought these clips that you've been watching are good, I have a veritable cornucopia for you. The second presidential debate in its entirety is going to run uninterrupted at the top of the hour. It's CNN's special encore presentation.

Meantime, we're back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: When the President ran for office, he said that he'd put in place in his first year a piece of legislation, he'd file a bill in his first year, that would reform our immigration system, protect legal immigration, stop illegal immigration. He didn't do it.

OBAMA: When we make this into a divisive political issue and when we don't have bipartisan support -- I can deliver, Governor, a whole bunch of Democrats to get comprehensive immigration reform done and we can't ...

ROMNEY: I'll get in done. I'll get it done, first year.

OBAMA: We can't -- we have not seen Republicans ...

CROWLEY: Mr. President, let me move you on here, please.

OBAMA: ... serious about this issue, at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BANFIELD: So, a lot of claims and counterclaims last night between the Republican challenger and the President on the issue of immigration reform.

Listen, make no mistake. There is a rapidly increasing Latino vote on the line for both of these men and that was not lost on Mr. Tom Foreman, my colleague here at CNN, who has some of the best bells-and- whistles to cut through all the garbage and get through all the rhetoric and get right to the facts. So, have a look and have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Republicans have been going after President Obama for months saying he has not engaged the issue of illegal immigration.

Listen to how Mitt Romney attacked him and how the President responded.

ROMNEY: Why did he fail to even promote legislation that would have provided an answer for those that want to come here legally and for those that are here illegally today?

OBAMA: We put more border patrol on than any time in history and the flow of undocumented workers across the border is actually lower than it's been in 40 years.

FOREMAN: This basic claim that President Obama produced no immigration reform goes hand-in-glove with a bigger Republican narrative which is that the President has been so concerned about getting Latino votes he hasn't really wanted to secure the border, he hasn't wanted to deal with illegal immigration

Republicans like to point to figures like this from Homeland Security showing how many people have been arrested from being in the country illegally. Look, back in 2000, 1.8 million. That's a lot. It meanders around through the Bush years, but then when you get to the Obama years, down here, it drops pretty steadily down.

That's evidence, they say, he doesn't want to engage the issue, but there's more to that story. Let's look at another graphic over here. Deportations, what's happened to the people who have been arrested?

Those were pretty low in 2000 and they started steadily moving up and, in the Obama years, look, they reached the highest level that we've ever seen under any president.

President Obama embraced the policies of George Bush when it came to securing the border down there. He continued a program to increase funding, to put more guards down there and more motion detectors and cameras, more drones, more helicopters, more airplanes, so many so that now we also have the help of an economic change where there aren't so many jobs here that are attractive.

The Pew Hispanic Center says the net illegal immigration is about zero. So, President Obama can say he really did something on that front.

On the more narrow question, though, the idea that he promised comprehensive immigration reform, Mitt Romney is correct. He did not deliver. That is true.

The president did push the Dream Act at one point. He came through with some administrative action to protect the children of people who came here illegally, but in terms of the bigger package, he says that's something he'll have to deal with in a second administration if he can get reelected.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: All right, thank you, Tom Foreman. Excellent work, as usual, from Tom.

And according to the Pew Hispanic Center, this is a big number, folks. The number of new eligible Latino voters in the United States is up nearly 23 percent from only four years ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: It is hard to believe, after hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign ads and hundreds of campaign stops and seemingly infinite cable news appearances, some folks are still out there stuck between these two candidates, just can't decide how they're going to vote come November 6th.

It's apparently estimated that between three-and-eight percent of you don't know what you're going to do on that day. One of them, Joe Stoltz, joined us before the debate yesterday and he's back again today after watching that rousing 90 minutes of sparring.

Joe's live with us from Reno. Nice to see you again, Joe. Did it do anything for you? Did the debate help you? Have you made up your mind?

JOE STOLTZ, UNDECIDED VOTER: I have made up my mind. It has crystallized my opinion already.

BANFIELD: You want to let that out on national television?

STOLTZ: Sure. No problem. I liked what Obama had to say yesterday. I saw some fire in him that I've been waiting to see. I liked what he had to say about manufacturing and renewable energy, seeing as how I'm going to school for renewable energies.

BANFIELD: All right, so, I'm interested that you said that. I want to play something for you that you mentioned on the show yesterday as I asked you about your -- the reasons for being undecided and what specifically might help tip your decision-making and it had to do with the cost of your education and how that could affect how you vote.

Have a listen and I want to ask you on the other side about something.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STOLTZ: Well, seeing how I just started college again at the Truckee Meadows Community College here, I -- education is on the top of the list right now because, right now, Pell Grants are what's keeping me in school right now.

I know at one point I'm going to have to pay for my own school, but it's really given me the boost and the start that I needed to get going and on track with my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: All right, so here is how the candidates both addressed that topic of education and Pell Grants last night, Joe. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I want to make sure we keep our Pell Grant program growing. We're also going to have our loan program so that people are able to afford school. But the key thing is to make sure you can get a job when you get out of school.

OBAMA: I want everybody to get a great education. We worked hard to make sure student loans are available for folks like you but I also want to make sure community colleges are offering slots for workers to get retrained for the jobs that are out there right now and the jobs of the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Joe, was it the answers they gave on Pell Grants and education or was it the fire and brimstone that many of us are trying to figure out if it was effective, if it appealed to you.

STOLTZ: What appeared was the renewable energy part of it. It's going to be available when I'm done with school.

BANFIELD: What about the aggressive nature of how these candidates came out last night. This is not your grandfather's presidential debate. Why you affected by the aggressive nature?

STOLTZ: Yes, I was. I liked the fire I saw in the President. I think that shows me what kind of a leader he is.

BANFIELD: You liked it, OK. That is not something I was expecting to hear. One last question. There's another debate, it's not even a week away. Are you going to watch it and can you still be persuaded otherwise or are you set, you might even go get your ballot today?

STOLTZ: I still think I can be persuaded but I'm pretty set right now. We'll just see what happens.

BANFIELD: I'm going to mark you off a decided, but maybe undecided voter then.

Joe, nice to see you. Hey, thanks for doing this for us yesterday and today. We appreciate your input and we appreciate your service to telling us how this works when it comes right down to the voter.

STOLTZ: Thank you.

BANFIELD: If you are still undecided and you think you may have decided or missed the amazing television last night, stay tuned because we're going to replay the entire presidential debate. It's going to start in about 28 minutes from now. Can you decide which candidate best represents you.

Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We've got potentially 600,000 jobs and a hundred years worth of energy right beneath our feet with natural gas. We can do it in an environmentally sound way, but we've also got to continue to figure out how we have efficient energy because ultimately that's how we're going to reduce demand and keep gas prices lower.

ROMNEY: If we do what I'm planning on doing, which is getting us energy independent, north American energy independence within eight years, you're going to see manufacturing jobs come back because our energy is low cost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Some pretty big promises from both candidates. But I think everybody was waiting for an answer to the actual question that was asked. It was about whether the Department of Energy is supposed to be doing something to chip away at gas prices and if the President actually has that kind of power.

I know somebody who can answer that question and her name is Christine Romans.

I watched and thought Christine was awake and throwing popcorn at the screen.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I was watching for each of them to give a gas price promise and you only got bickering about drilling on federal lands, bickering about who has the best overall energy strategy and you didn't get a promise on gas prices and I'll tell you why. Because presidents can't give those promises. They can take gas out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that we don't go to war anyplace --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Before you go beyond that, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, for anyone who doesn't know, these are massive salt caverns. It's a giant gas tank -- (CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Where we have emergency gas and oil.

BANFIELD: It's not just a little. We're at three quarters of a billion barrels, right?

ROMANS: That's something a president can do but they were careful not to make a specific promise on gas prices. Remember, Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann -- let's look at where gas prices are today. Gas prices are above $3 a gallon. Look where it has been when the President took office. It's because we were in the middle of a financial crisis.

I asked Ken Rogoff about this whole conversation about gas prices in the debate and whether presidents can control gas prices and make promises on gas prices. and this is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN ROGOFF, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: This just isn't something that the President of the United States controls no more than cans of soup or something. I can understand energy policy is really important, but the price of gas is just not something where the buck stops at the President's desk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Christine, we're hear so much about just oil and gas drilling, if we just did more here in the United States, we could offset all sorts of problems, become more energy dependent. How much do we really have here compared to how much is out there and what OPEC would do to us?

ROMANS: What these guys were arguing about last night is how to get more of what we've already got and they're arguing about drilling and drilling on federal lands. No question the United States is a huge energy resource. Would just drilling lower gas prices? Would drilling and higher efficiency standards lower gas prices? Would a lot of things? It's a big global market, right? And sometimes when you push the lever here, there's another lever like OPEC moving someplace else. And that's what Ken Rogoff was pointing out. Sometimes it can be just demand from China --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: It's not just the President who has the magic wand.

ROMANS: It's not just the President.

BANFIELD: Mitt Romney, President Obama.

ROMANS: But you need smart energy policies for the long term. These two men just have different philosophies on that.

BANFIELD: Different philosophies. ROMANS: That's what an election is for.

BANFIELD: Christine, thank you very much.

If you want to watch the whole debate, including those comments on oil prices, energy, coal energy and the great debate over the philosophies, stay tuned because in about 21 minutes CNN will offer you a special encore presentation to the second presidential debate at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the drum major for matching Mizzou, the University of Missouri's famed marching band, Paul Heddings is living his dream.

(MUSIC)

GUPTA: Because his original dream of playing professional baseball was disappearing.

(MUSIC)

PAUL HEDDINGS, STUDENT: September 7, 2007, just barely into my junior year of high school.

GUPTA: The 17-year-old woke up and his world was changing.

HEDDINGS: Everything was a little blurry. It didn't seem like anything was wrong.

GUPTA: But something was terribly wrong. His retinas had detached.

HEDDINGS: I didn't know what I would be able to do. I could potentially go completely blind.

GUPTA: This was not caused by disease or trauma but by genetics.

HEDDINGS: This happened to my mom, my grandma, a couple uncles and even my little sister.

GUPTA: They didn't lose much vision. Paul, on the other hand, is legally blind. Sight in his best eye can't be corrected above 20-200.

HEDDINGS: My left eye has blind spots and my peripheral vision is great. That's why I'm high functioning. My right eye is blind.

GUPTA: He can read but not well by digitally scanning books in a computer that has screen modification software.

He says family, friends and music saved his life. He joined his high school drum line taking the music home, magnifying it, memorizing it. HEDDINGS: Here we go, B flat.

I just strapped up my boots and went to work.

(MUSIC)

GUPTA: He made the drum line first playing cymbals and then clinched the coveted drum major spot. Most in the band didn't know he was legal live blind. He suffered three detachments and cataracts in both eyes. One has now been removed. So far he has had ten operations and countless laser procedures.

HEDDINGS: I could wake up tomorrow and have lost significantly more vision. I could walk away from here today and something could happen and I could lose vision.

GUPTA: Heddings hopes his time on the ladder will change the perception of visually impaired people.

HEDDINGS: I want to be able to say when I leave here that I did something special and that I didn't let this hold me back.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: T-minus about 13 minutes until you get to relive history. We're counting down to an encore of last night's presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

Wolf Blitzer was anchoring our coverage. He joins me now with thoughts of what we were all watching and what we may see again.

I want to do something different in terms of how to look at what we saw last night. There were several questions that just did not get specific answers from these candidates. I want to throw at least four up that our team identified who denied extra security for Libya's diplomatic mission? Romney's tax deduction, the specifics on that, how would we pay for those? Number three, should the Energy Department have in its policy a way to chip away at gas prices? And what would you do to create jobs? The first one, the answer to President Obama's question who needed the extra security in Benghazi?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Let me first talk about our diplomats. They serve all around the world and do an incredible job in a very dangerous situation. These aren't just representatives of the United States, they're my representatives. I send them there, often times in harm's way. I know these folks and I know their families. So nobody's more concerned about their safety and security than I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BANFIELD: OK. Here's my question for you, Wolf. We did not get the answer to that question. We did not get a challenge from the Governor as to why the President did not answer that question and instead the entire dialogue last night and today has been all about when the attack, the murders, let's just say them as they are, the murders were labeled a terrorist attack. What's more important to me as a voter, when the label came out as to when this was a terrorist attack or how we're going to make sure our men and women are safe?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: I think that's critically important. Mitt Romney missed a huge, huge opportunity when the President in terms of State Department security personnel. They wanted to beef up security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Why was it not beefed up? That was pair phrasing the specific question. The president didn't answer that question. He went on to speak movingly about the four Americans who were killed, but he didn't answer that question.

Romney made a major blunder. He should have said, Mr. President, you never answered that question. There's sworn testimony from State Department diplomatic security personnel before Congress saying X, Y, and Z. You don't have an answer, whatever, he should have said. Instead, Romney compounded that blunder by pointing out -- by not pointing out that the President didn't answer the question. Then he raised the whole issue, what the President did or didn't say in the Rose Garden the day after the incident when he did use the phrase acts of terror. Romney said he never said act of terror, and then he get into this whole back and forth, what did the President mean and all of that, but that was a huge missed opportunity for Mitt Romney.

BANFIELD: Mitt Romney had two cracks at this. Number one, the bad labeling, and number two, the question not being answered. And both of these men ended up coming out the loser on that one.

Let me take to you question number two. The tax cuts that Mitt Romney has questioned about frequently. That came up again last night, and our big question is what tax deductions will be cut to pay for the Romney tax plan? Nobody really felt like there was a solid answer to that either. Where does the voter go to get this kind of information, or do we just have to wait for round three in the big debate next week to see if there's going to be an answer there?

BLITZER: Well, there hasn't been a really precise answer from neither Mitt Romney nor Paul Ryan. They've been asked repeatedly. You want to have this 20 percent across the board tax cuts for everyone -- rich, middle class, poor. Everyone gets a 20 percent tax cut. You want another 10 percent cut in corporate tax rates and all of that. How are you going pay for it? Then there's just a generic discussion about, well, there will be a reduction in deductions, in tax credits, in loopholes, exemptions, but they don't get specific on that. At one point, Mitt Romney said maybe there would be a cap on deductions, $25,000 a year or $50,000 a year. You put it al on a bucket. Whether home mortgage, charitable contribution, child tax credits, university tax credits or whatever, health care, and he said $25,000 to $50,000. Romney said $25,000. But he isn't really giving a specific answer. And they both make the point, well, this is going to be subject to negotiations with the Democrats in Congress if they're elected, and they don't want to put all their cards on the table right now. They want to work on a deal, so leave it for the negotiators.

BANFIELD: OK. It would be nice to see a list, whether it's mortgage interest deduction, charitable deductions, education deductions, or carried interest or perhaps capital gains. Maybe we'll get some answers as we move along 21 days to Election Day.

Wolf, stay put. When you come back, I want to ask you about the gas prices and whose job is it to give us a break, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Want to get you to some live pictures. This is a great live event taking place right now. At the podium you can see Senator Rob Portman, and soon to take the stage in Ohio is Paul Ryan, who is going to be campaigning in Ohio. This is the Baldwin Wallace University, a liberal arts college, Methodist-related college. And this is, I believe, the first event for Paul Ryan post-presidential debate, so it will be really interesting to see what he has to say about his colleague and running mate's performance last night.

Wolf Blitzer is still live with me.

And those four questions that we had asked before the break, I want to get back to question three, and it had to do with gas prices. Should the Energy Department's policy be to lower gas prices? Candy Crowley had to ask this question four times, Wolf Blitzer, and neither one of these candidates could really come out with a good straight answer on this. Is that effective to try to evade when you can't actually give a straight answer that's going to appeal to the entire voting block? Is this something we just forget?

BLITZER: Well, there's a simple answer. The policy of the United States government is to reduce America's dependence on imported foreign oil to increase domestic production, including from all of the United States and North America, for that matter, from Canada, from Mexico, or whatever, and the less you need to import the more you can produce here in the United States, presumably the price will go down, but having said that, the price of gases lean is based on the world market. There's a huge demand. It's the marketplace that determine ifs it's $3 a gallon, $4 a gallon or whatever, and there are various laws and taxes around the country. Buying a gallon of gasoline, for example, might be much more expensive in New Jersey -- there's a lot of variables that go into the price of a gallon of gas, but in general I think the answer should be simple, yes, the Department of Energy should try to work to reduce the cost of energy for the American people.

BANFIELD: And some pundits thought it was pretty political that the President -- I believe it was back in June -- tapped into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I asked Christine Romans if that -- that's not a full scale way to attack that problem. It's a temporary thing, and it's mostly --

(CROSSTALK) BLITZER: It's awe very short-term solution. You have to have longer term solutions. And, look, they have various proposals. The president had some ideas, green energy, for example. Romney had some other ideas, you know, opening up land for greater exploration. All these are long-term efforts to reduces America's energy dependence on foreign sources and also reduce the price, but it's not by any means a simple solution.

BANFIELD: Fourth question we felt we didn't really get full answers from either candidate, and that was what will you do to create jobs. There was Jeremy. I think he was the 20-year-old college student who stood up to ask that question, but we didn't get the specifics other than I agree with Pell Grants and I agree with creating jobs. How did he feel both candidates came off on the question?

BLITZER: You know, I thought it was a little -- one part of it was a bit strange when Jeremy asked that question. He was a college student, and he obviously wants a job, and then the President came back and said, you know, his goal was to create manufacturing jobs, and I was saying to myself, you know, does Jeremy really want a manufacturing job? Does he want to work in a factory -- in a plastic factory after he finishes college? I assume he doesn't. I assume he wants a better job, a higher paying job, a job suited to his skills or whatever. So that was a little weird. You know, creating jobs is issue number one. And the President has a record over the past for years. Romney has promises of what he can do over the next four years. The American people are going to have to decide who will do a better job over the next four years creating jobs and strengthening this economy. And that is what this election is going to be all about.