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Obama Launches New Ad Blitz; Scoring the Final Presidential Debate; Fact-Checking the Debate; Apple Expected to Debut Mini Ipad; Apple Expected to Debut Mini iPad; Obama & Romney Clash in Final Debate; Dow Drops 150-Plus Points;"Never Say Die" Giants Advance; Dow Drops 150-plus Points

Aired October 23, 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: Hi Soledad. Good morning.

Stories we're watching right now.

The final presidential debate. Who won, who lost, and who twisted the truth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This has been probably the biggest whopper that's been told during the course of this campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Our fact-checkers are hard at work this morning after.

Monster investigation. The FDA looking at whether the energy drink is responsible for the deaths of five people.

Apple's next big thing could be something small. The computer giant tries to increase its stranglehold on the tablet market.

And three hits in one at-bat. Hunter Pence and the Giants make magic. Their next trick? Make the Detroit Tigers disappear in the World Series.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning to you. Thank you so much for joining u us. I'm Carol Costello.

Just hours after millions of Americans watched the final presidential debate, the Obama campaign wants to reach millions more. Just in to CNN, we're learning President Obama is rolling out a brand new advertising campaign over the airwaves, on the Internet and in glossy pamphlets.

Why? CNN chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin joins us from the president's first stop today, Delray Beach, Florida. Jessica, tell us about this new effort.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, fresh off the debate, the president is doing a tour of the battleground states. And he's delivering a message that he is fighting for the middle class and that he has a plan for his second term, answering critics who say he's not giving enough specifics.

I guess they figured if you write it down, it looks specific. So they have a 19-page glossy new plan for jobs and middle class security that really details a lot of what we've heard from him before on education, manufacturing, energy, getting the U.S. out of Afghanistan over time and tax reform.

I've looked through it. The specifics in this really have to do with his past accomplishments on health care, on the jobs and the economy. When it comes to plans for the future, they're broader and they're more of what we've heard in the past, a million new manufacturing jobs, for example, which he talked about at the Democratic convention.

The message they're trying to convey is, look, he has a plan. He's willing to commit to it in paper. And so the president has a vision going forward. Of course, the theme of the campaign being forward -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, and a lot of critics say that they weren't clear in what President Obama was going to do exactly in a second term, how he was going to make things better, and I'm guessing that this pamphlet, at least President Obama hopes, will help.

Jessica Yellin, we'll talk more about this later. Thanks so much.

Now let's turn to last night's presidential debate. Today marks just two weeks until the election. And both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are hitting the campaign trail with new urgency. Romney has been riding a wave of momentum after his commanding performance in the first debate. By most accounts, Obama got the edge in the second debate. But some would say not a dominating win, though, but enough to raise the stakes for last night's all-important final showdown. Last chance for the two men to go nose-to-nose in a race that's now too close to call.

CNN's senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash joins us also from Boca Raton, Florida, the site of last night's face-off.

Dana, how was this debate different from the previous two?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think it was a flip of what you just described about the first debate. President Obama was incredibly aggressive, snarky at times. Mitt Romney almost it looked like he was biting his tongue, trying not to be like that.

Both men understood it was clear that foreign policy is not high on the minds of voters and they wanted to really make it about leadership. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Mitt Romney came wanting voters to see him as commander-in-chief. The commander-in-chief came determined to make sure that didn't happen.

OBAMA: And I know you haven't been in a position of -- to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you've offered an opinion, you've been wrong.

BASH: Time and time again, the president's harsh criticism dripped with sarcasm.

OBAMA: A few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America you said Russia, not al Qaeda. You said Russia. In the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War has been over for 20 years.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now down to 285.

OBAMA: I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916.

Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go under water, nuclear submarines.

BASH: Before the debate, Romney advisors told CNN he would not be the scrappy candidate we saw in the last one. Instead stay solid and steady. Not take the president's bait.

ROMNEY: And attacking me is not an agenda.

BASH: Romney repeatedly blamed the president for failing to lead on global hot spots.

ROMNEY: If you look at the record of the last four years and say, is Iran closer to a bomb? Yes. Is the Middle East in tumult? Yes. Is al Qaeda on the run, on its heels? No. Is -- are Israel and the Palestinians closer to reaching a peace agreement? No.

BASH: But for the most part, Romney was calm in demeanor and remarkably agreeable on policy, from Syria to Egypt to Afghanistan.

ROMNEY: Well, we're going to be finished by 2014. And when I'm president, we'll make sure we bring our troops out by the end of 2014.

BASH: In fact, the Republican who Democrats try to paint as a warmonger used the opening minutes to position himself as a peacemaker. ROMNEY: I congratulate him on taking out Osama bin Laden and going after the leadership in al Qaeda. But we can't kill our way out of this mess.

BASH: Romney successfully got under the president's skin by repeating this allegation.

ROMNEY: And then the president began what I've called an apology tour, of going to various nations in the Middle East and criticizing America. I think they looked at that and saw weakness.

OBAMA: Nothing Governor Romney just said is true. Starting with this notion of me apologizing. This has been probably the biggest whopper that's been told during the course of this campaign.

BASH: One of the most fiery exchanges was not about foreign policy but rather something decidedly American. The U.S. auto industry.

OBAMA: If we had taken your advice, Governor Romney, about our auto industry, we'd be buying cars from China instead of selling cars to China.

ROMNEY: I'm a son of Detroit. I was born in Detroit. My dad was head of a car company. I like American cars. And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry. I said they need -- these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy.

OBAMA: Governor Romney, that's not what you said.

ROMNEY: Fortunately, the president -- of course -- you can take -- you can take a look at the op-ed.

OBAMA: Governor Romney, you did not -- You did not say you would provide, Governor, help.

ROMNEY: You know I'm still speaking. I said that we would provide guarantees and that was what was able to allow these companies to go through bankruptcy, to come out of bankruptcy.

OBAMA: Let's check the record.

ROMNEY: That's the height of silliness.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: OK. We're going to parse that out a little later. But, Dana, I wanted to ask you about two things that people were really talking about online last night. That was Obama's snarkiness and Romney's sweating.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: You know, it was an agreed upon 65 degrees, I believe, in the hall. But you know it's Florida. And it gets hot. He actually was in the sun so maybe that was part of it or maybe it was the fact that you could almost see him biting his tongue, trying to remember that his advisers warned him time and time again in debate prep -- and we were told about this beforehand, Carol, don't take the bait.

He's going to be aggressive. You want to look like a commander-in- chief. Steady as she goes. So maybe that was part of it.

And on the flipside it really was remarkable to see the president go from being so reserved in the first debate, because he didn't want to not look like a commander-in-chief, he wanted to preserve looking presidential to last night where he was just -- he had enough bumper sticker lines to fill an entire box, to put on cars all across -- all across Florida.

I mean he was so ready with his snarky one-liners. And, you know, that is what fires up the base. And we have talked about this before. That there are so few undecideds that at this point it is really making sure that the true believers get out there and vote and get other people to go out and vote for him.

COSTELLO: All right. Dana Bash, reporting live for us this morning.

As I said, we're doing our best to keep both candidates honest. As you heard from Dana's report, one particularly tense exchange was over the government's bailout of the auto industry. So let's put those claims through a CNN fact check.

CNN business correspondent Christine Romans is here with with a closer look.

So, Christine, what's true and what's not?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, you heard that really tense moment where the president was saying check the op-ed, check the op-ed. Now the president's claim here is that Governor Mitt Romney did not want any government help for the automakers.

And this, Carol, is misleading. Mitt Romney did not want a bailout of the automakers as they stood. He wanted a managed bankruptcy and government guarantees for the companies after they went through bankruptcy to reorganize without expensive labor contracts and burdensome debt.

Romney says sharply to the president in this debate, I have never said I wanted to liquidate this industry. Romney told the president, quote, "Take a look at the op-ed." This is what he meant, this op-ed titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" in the "New York Times" in 2008. That was a headline, by the way, written by the "New York Times."

In it, Romney writes Carol, "A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk. In a managed bankruptcy the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers rather than seal their fate with a bailout check."

Romney said, Carol, he wanted new management, he wanted new labor agreements, he wanted investments in fuel efficiency, he wanted to keep the best dealers and make the sales force strong so on the other end of reorganization, that you would have a viable industry. Nowhere there does he endorse liquidating the American automobile industry.

Now the White House has said the industry would not survive, Carol, the bankruptcy process without a massive bailout and a managed bankruptcy.

And another reminder, Carol, that the first check to Detroit came not under the Obama administration, but under the Bush administration.

You can see why they're still fighting about this, right? Because this is a topic that really plays in the swing states.

COSTELLO: But under -- if you have a managed bankruptcy, don't you still need help from the private sector as far as borrowing money, et cetera, et cetera? And that was almost impossible to do at that particular time.

ROMANS: And that's a very good point. There were many who were saying, look, what Mitt Romney envisioned no bailout and then federal guarantees on the backend of a managed bankruptcy was just not possible because, frankly, of the scope of the problems of the auto industry. But you hear mostly from progressives that this is a man who wanted no auto industry left in the United States, who want to liquidate it.

He wanted Chinese cars on American roads, not American cars, clearly the truth is somewhere in the middle of that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, thanks for parsing it out for us. We appreciate it.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Candidates may face off on the political stage but it's the cyber verse that goes all a-Twitter. We decided to give you a quick recap of some of the things that sent debate watchers running for the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: You mentioned the Navy, for example. And that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916.

Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets.

ROMNEY: We see in -- with Mali now as we've watched this tumult with Syria -- this is a region in tumult.

OBAMA: Syria, leadership.

ROMNEY: We see Syria in drone strikes. Syria is an opportunity for us. Drones are being used. Rising tide of tumult and confusion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So all of those things you heard trended very high on Google.

CNN political reporter Peter Hamby crunched the numbers. Here are the top five Google searches during the debate. Obama's memorable horses and bayonets line, followed by Syria, Mali, drones and the often repeated Romney word, tumult.

We have plenty more debate coverage over the next couple of hours.

President Obama holding a rally in Delray Beach, Florida. Next hour, we'll bring it to you live.

As for last night, one op-ed says Governor Romney sounded like a beautify queen while another called President Obama nitpicky and overly aggressive. In just a few minutes, strategists from both sides will respond.

Elephants, donkeys, lions, tigers, bears and cardinals. TV was chockfull of interesting animals but the Giants dominated the night in San Francisco. San Francisco moving on to the World Series after beating St. Louis to win the National League title. Game seven of the NLCS was no contest. The Giants winning 9-0. Series MVP, the amazing Marco Scutaro, squeezed the final out in the rain, setting off a frenzy on the field.

The Giants will host game one of the fall classic against the Detroit Tigers. That will happen tomorrow night. Wow. At least they were already wet when they went in to spray each other with champagne, right?

Monday night's football was a bruising game literally. The Detroit Lions' Ndamukong Suh sacked Chicago Bears' quarterback Jay Cutler -- painful. It sent Cutler to the sidelines with bruised ribs, but Cutler would return to the game. And the Bears would dish out punishment to the Lions' quarterback Matthew Stafford -- pretty much summed up the Lions' play, didn't it? Yes, real full of turf. Bears won 13-7. They improved a 5-1 on the year and at least Detroit fans have the Tigers to cheer.

Today, the widely popular iPad is expected to get a younger, smaller sibling just in time for the holidays. Apple's unveiling happens a few hours from now.

Alison Kosik is following that story from the New York Stock Exchange.

I'm ready for details.

KOSIK: OK. This is typical for Apple, isn't it? Everybody has been whispering about this smaller iPad. It's considered the worst kept secret. And yes, finally, drum roll, please, in about four hours Apple is expected to unveil this mini iPad, possibly calling it the iPad Mini. Now rumor has it, it's going to have a 7.8 inch screen. Compare that to the 10 inches on the traditional iPad. It's expected to begin or to start with the eight gigs of memory and go up to 64.

And it's also going to have a new smaller lightning connector port. And that means if you've got an iPhone 4S, you'll have to get a new plug in to charge it. But if you have the new iPhone 5, it actually matches that.

Now here's what makes this interesting. The late -- Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs was famously known to be against these small tablets, calling them dead on arrival. This was a couple of years ago. But an internal e-mail that came out during the Apple/Samsung trial shows that he eventually warmed up to the idea.

And here we are, talking about it today. You know what, Carol, it also doesn't hurt that there's this whole tablet war going on with Amazon's Kindle and Google's Nexus. You know, it's created this nice market for these small tablets -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, the big question is, is what will Apple's new mini iPad -- what will it cost?

KOSIK: And that really is the big question mark. You know, guesses have been all over the map. The general consensus is that it will be anywhere between $249 to $349. But one -- some analysts say if Apple prices it closer to $200, it's going to be a game changer and here's why. It would make it extremely competitive with similarly price in size tablets from Google and Samsung, along with the Kindle Fire and could force Amazon to even drop its Kindle prices even more to compete.

It would really show, I don't know -- a true display of Apple's power in the market, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, it would. Alison Kosik, thank you.

Stripped of his titles and asked for the return of millions of dollars, we have the latest on Armstrong's crash to Earth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Eighteen minutes past the hour.

A question: Did the final presidential debate enlighten you, change your mind or did you find yourself switching over to Monday night football? Be honest now.

If you did change the channel, a couple of lines describing the candidates' demeanor for you. This is from a "New York Times" op-ed. Quote, "At his worst, Mr. Romney sounded like a beauty pageant contestant groping for an answer to the final question." And this from "Politico's" John Harris on President Obama, quote, "What was communicated was sort of a nitpicky, overly aggressive strategy that had the effect of diminishing the presidency." An example --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: With us now, CNN contributors Maria Cardona, who is a Democratic strategist, and Ana Navarro, who is a Republican strategist and also a CNN contributor.

Thank you for joining us this morning.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, Carol.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

OK. So, let's talk tune. And, Maria, I'm just going to throw you a softball this morning. Did Mr. Romney's foreign policy boil down to we want people to be able to enjoy their lives and know they're going to have a bright and prosperous future and not be at war, as "The New York Times" said this morning?

CARDONA: Pretty much, Carol. But I will also add that his foreign policy also became what he said, meaning everything that President Obama said, Mitt Romney seemed to agree with, which is as we know, a big change from the last two years where Mitt Romney has been very blustery in terms of his foreign policy criticism of President Obama.

But I think he went in there last night really understanding that he didn't have anywhere to go with that because he couldn't really find anything to really criticize, never really talking about specifics of what he would do differently.

So, what did he decide to do? I guess chameleon Mitt Romney came out and decided to turn himself, instead of a bellicose hawk, into a peacenik dove, which was interesting to me. We'll so if it resonates with voters. I think what they're going to see last night is that this president is the one who actually has the experience, the temperament and the leadership to continue to be our commander-in- chief for the next four years.

COSTELLO: Ana, we must talk horses and bayonets, because the president zinged Mitt Romney for his antiquated view of what our military needs. Republicans like Congressman Eric Cantor tweet fired, quote, this is his tweet, "Mr. President, for the thousands of Virginians in the Navy family, cutting our naval force isn't a game of battleship."

So, how does that bayonets and horses thing really resonate?

NAVARRO: Well, I think we're going to see it play out today and tomorrow, we're going to see if it becomes an issue in some of these battleground states like Virginia, like Florida, where there are big naval operations, big military bases, where it's a very local political issues. As we know, all politics is local.

You know, I don't think Mitt Romney with his a chameleon yesterday. Well, you know, give the guy -- that was channeling John Lennon. Let's just give peace a chance. I thought it was -- I thought it was rather strategic, Carol, because in the morning, we saw the Obama campaign come out with an ad that talked about the clear choice in foreign policy, in trying to portray Mitt Romney as the warmonger with a twitchy finger who wants to kill everybody out there in the world. Instead we saw a Mitt Romney who was incredibly agreeable with President Obama and I think it got under Mr. Obama's skin. I know it got under mine some and maybe under some other conservatives.

But I think it was a strategic approach he was using, even though I will tell you I saw President Obama win that debate last night. I think he -- both men came in incredibly well prepared. Romney had some solid responses and for a few of the questions. But President Obama was well-prepared with good rebuttals as well.

COSTELLO: And, Maria, many analysts say Mr. Romney -- it was a smart strategy. He needed only to appear presidential. He needed not to make a huge gaffe or say something like, you know, off the reservation, accomplished all of those things.

CARDONA: Well, except you know, when this is a race that's so tight -- do you really just want to be acceptable? I don't think so, Carol. I think what a lot of viewers saw last night is a Romney on the defense, who seemed uncomfortable in his own skin, speaking about these issues versus President Obama, who clearly looked presidential because he's been playing this role for the past four years, and somebody who had a tremendous command of the issues.

And I think what's important about last night is that I think it was still -- it was about three things: trust, leadership and Ohio.

(LAUGHTER)

CARDONA: You saw in the final moments President Obama really turn this to the bailout and really focusing on how Mitt Romney, during the campaign was focused on letting Ohio -- letting Detroit go bankrupt. And I think that that focus really speaks to how important Ohio has become in this presidential election.

COSTELLO: My favorite topic like away from foreign policy was the teacher exchange, because as expected both candidates kind of veered off foreign policy and they started talking about education and teachers. The moderator, Bob Schieffer, got a little frustrated at one point. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The federal government didn't hire our teachers, but I love teachers. I want to get our private sector growing and I know how to do it.

BOB SCHIEFFER, MODERATOR: I think we all love teachers.

Gentlemen, thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: I think we all love teachers. They talked about domestic policy. But I think -- I don't know. I was communicating with my friends on Facebook during the entire debate. They did not seem as passionate in their comments watching this particular debate. They seemed kind of burnt out or bored.

Ana, what did you think? Just to button this segment up.

NAVARRO: Oh, Carol, you know, I'll confess, count me in that number. I was fading away there for -- I think I faded away for a few minutes a couple of times. I do give props to Bob Schieffer. It was a heroic effort for him to bring it back to foreign policy. It took all of 25 minutes for them to start going into domestic policy.

Now we know that my nominee, Governor Romney, loves Big Bird, Jim Lehrer and he loves teachers. It's all about the love.

CARDONA: And Obama wants to talk about bayonets, which, by the way, you know, (INAUDIBLE) should be happy, this could give Colonial Williamsburg a huge boost.

COSTELLO: Maria Cardona, Ana Navarro, it's been fun as usual. Thank you.

CARDONA: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: And if you didn't catch the debate last night and there were exciting moments, I swear. You can see the debate again at noon Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: I cannot imagine how exhausting being on the campaign trail is. After last night's debate, there's Governor Romney getting ready to board a plane. He's on his way to Henderson, Nevada. Then he's off to Florence, Colorado. Two important swing states and he'll continue his campaigning.

Mr. Obama is also campaigning. He claims to pull what he calls an all-nighter in many of the swing states.

And, as you can see, Mr. Romney surrounded by people and handshakes. We'll keep you posted when he lands in Henderson, Nevada.

Now your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. The question for you this morning: do zingers win debates? What's trending this morning? Oh, you guessed it, bayonets and horses. Those words are today's lightning rod.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: You mentioned the Navy, for example. And that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: The presidential smackdown thrilled Democrats. Republicans, not so much. But they were definitely aware that bayonets and horses thing could skewer them.

From CNN contributor Erick Erickson who tweeted, "I'm proud of Obama for treating the Navy so dismissively. That only helps Romney in Virginia, Florida, et cetera."

And from Congressman Eric Cantor, quote, "Mr. President, for the thousands of Virginians in the navy family, cutting our naval forces isn't a game of battleship."

The fact is these debates -- heck, this whole election have become a weird sort of Internet sport, a compilation of catch phrases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

OBAMA: You didn't build that.

ROMNEY: I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.

OBAMA: The private sector is doing fine.

ROMNEY: I love Big Bird.

OBAMA: It's Romney hood.

ROMNEY: If I were to coin a term, it would be Obama-loney.

OBAMA: I think it's called Romnesia.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

COSTELLO: Funny, right? You remember the zinger, but maybe not exactly what it means. Prove me wrong.

What did President Obama mean when he says bayonets and horses? Here is the answer, he is saying Governor Romney has antiquated views when it comes to the military. Got it?

Perhaps only the zingers resonate because we keep hearing the same old stuff and who are really board now. So, are we clinging to our zingers because, frankly, they're the only things keeping us awake?

Talk back question of the day, do zingers win debates? Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Your responses later this hour.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: It is just after 9:30 Eastern Time.

Stories we're watching right now in THE NEWSROOM:

The bell rang at the New York Stock Exchange rung seconds ago. Stocks are pointing to a much lower open, with even more disappointing earnings report. In fact, the Dow is down 142 points right now.

Beyond corporate America, many investors may also be feeling jittery about ratings downgrades in Spain.

Ringing the bell, by the way, are Yale economics professor Robert Shiller and executives of Barclays.

We'll tell you what that dive on Wall Street means with Alison Kosik a little later on in THE NEWSROOM.

An ex-CIA officer is expected to plead guilty today. John Kiriakou seen on the right is accused of identifying a convert intelligence officer and analyst to reporters. He's also accused of lying to a CIA review board about material in a book he wrote.

More bad news for Lance Armstrong may have to pay back millions of dollars to the French Cycling Federation and a Texas insurance company. The money is linked to the Tour de France win. Armstrong was stripped of his seven tour titles yesterday.

Presidential election just 14 days away now. But the campaigning continues. Just this morning, both campaigns released brand new ads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

OBAMA: There's just no quit in America. You're seeing that right now. Over 5 million new jobs. Exports up 41 percent. Home values rising. Our auto industry, back. And our heroes are coming home.

We're not there yet. But we've made real progress. And the last thing we should do is turn back now.

ROMNEY: The president began with an apology tour of going to various nations and criticizing America. I think they look at that and saw weakness.

The reason I call it an apology tour, you went to the Middle East and you flew to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to Turkey and Iraq and you skipped Israel, our closest friend in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

COSTELLO: These new ads come on the heels of the final presidential debate where both candidates did pretty good. And, of course, stumbled, too.

Chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin joins us live from Delray Beach, Florida, where President Obama attends a campaign rally next hour and CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser is live in Boca Raton, Florida, the site of last night's debate.

But let's start with you, Jessica, and what you think the president did well.

YELLIN: Well, Carol, his strengths -- turned out a crowd today, noisy crowd. His strengths included he was on the offense, defining his accomplishments, getting troops out of Iraq, drawing down, setting a timeline for Afghanistan. That was one of his goals going in. So, he accomplished that.

Second, he drove the narrative largely for the night about he -- defining he has a clear vision, his vision for Iran, for the withdrawal -- fighting al Qaeda, even Iraq and Afghanistan, again, we're very clear, in arguing that Romney has flip flopped and changed positions, been all over the map. Also saying he is about the future and Romney is about the past. He played that clip about the Navy versus the horses and that's part of that.

And then he had a strong -- number of strong moments on Israel when Governor Romney tried to attack him for not visiting Israel during his presidency. The president had a very emotional comeback, talking about visiting a Holocaust Memorial there, which hit a deeply emotional core. Key words he needed to hit and use to appeal to Israeli supporters. And he was the first to bring up Israel. So defended himself against those attacks, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's go to Paul. What did the governor do right?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: A little quieter here, Carol, than where Jessica is a few miles. I can ask people to yell and scream but basically we're packing up and getting ready to get out of here as the debate site.

But, yes, I think the first thing. He played it safe, he did no harm. That's probably the strategy from the Romney campaign and that's the way governor played it in the debate last night.

Did it work? It seems to have worked. Look at our post debate poll of watchers. And the key questions, you know, are you more likely to vote for the president or for Mitt Romney after watching this debate, among debate watchers, it was a draw. So, I guess that play it safe, do no harm approach worked.

He also passed the commander in chief test, it appears. That's very important, especially going up against the incumbent president. Our poll indicates that basically the president and Mitt Romney were pretty close to each other when debate watchers were asked if Romney was able to serve as commander-in-chief. So, that is, I guess, another strength as well.

One more strength, he seemed to get under President Obama's skin on the apologies, when he went after the president for what he said was the president apologizing for the United States. That seemed to be the one moment in the debate where Mitt Romney really get under the president's skin. And it's no surprise that they came out with that ad this morning, which you just played of the Romney campaign. That was one of the highlights for Mitt Romney from debate last night, Carol.

COSTELLO: They're quick on the draw.

So, Jessica, where did President Obama slip up? YELLIN: So some of his weaknesses, Carol, one he was glib at times. He said Mitt Romney, the 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back. Some voters could see it as too low brow or two glib for a commander-in-chief.

He didn't disqualify Romney, number two. Paul just made the point that he passed the commander-in-chief test, Governor Romney did.

In order to have a decisive win last night, President Obama would have had to force Governor Romney into a gaffe, into some huge mistake. That didn't happen.

And then, finally, there is a comeback that Governor Romney had about a slip-up the president made about Russia, saying he will have more flexibility after the election to work with Russia on something. Governor Romney had a very strong comeback saying that the Russians will have more backbone and that he doesn't view Russia through rose- colored glasses. That was both a hit on President Obama and George Bush. So a twofer for Romney -- a win to Romney on that one.

COSTELLO: OK.

YELLIN: Overall, a good debate for president but it did not a knockout, Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you.

OK. Back to Paul. So, Mr. Romney slip-ups?

STEINHAUSER: I think the first strength is also the first weakness. He played it safe.

And, look, who won the debate? Our poll indicates the president won the debate as do some other post debate polls. The president definitely won the narrative. Mitt Romney did not.

The second thing that comes to my mind is missed opportunities. I think a lot of us were expecting maybe Mitt Romney to be more aggressive going after the president on Libya, and that Benghazi attack, on Syria. But he was much more of a "me, too" candidate last night in the debate, agreeing with the president on a lot of foreign issues.

And, finally, the gender gap. We've seen the gender gap with women. Our poll, our post-debate poll of debate watchers indicates that the president did much better with women, women thinking that the president won the debate by double digits -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Paul Steinhauser, Jessica Yellin, thanks so much.

So, how did the average rate each candidate's performance? Did it change their mind?

In an hour, we'll talk to someone from Ohio and Pennsylvania. Yes, it's middle-class talk back time. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: As promised, what exactly is happening on Wall Street? The Dow is down 200 points.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.

What's going on?

KOSIK: We are in the thick of third quarter earning season and Wall Street does not like the reports that are coming out. Three Dow components came out with earnings today. They cut their outlooks. That is the reason you're seeing the sell-off now.

Just out of the gate, the market has been opened by 10 minutes. The Dow down 190 points. We heard from DuPont, 3M, United Technologies. They didn't come out with good earning.

You know, in some way, it's really not a major surprise because these companies are dealing with these worries about the fiscal cliff here in the U.S., obviously, the continuing debt crisis and the recession overseas.

But here's the thing -- just as important as it is that these companies come out with these numbers, it's what they see what's going to be coming. When we talk about third quarter earning seasons, we're talking about the months from July to September.

So, Wall Street wants to know, OK, what does this mean for the future? And these companies are lowering their outlooks. For one, look at DuPont. DuPont reported lower than expected sales, way down slowing demand in Europe and Asia. And that, by the way, seems to be a common theme. This third quarter earning season, a lot of these companies are being weighed down by the slowdown globally, especially in Europe and Asia.

Also, DuPont announced it's going to be laying off 1,500 workers to try to cut some costs that it needs to fight this slowing global demand. We are seeing DuPont right now fall more than 7 percent. It's a Dow component that is weighing down the Dow.

3M came out with poor results as well, shares falling more than 3 percent. All 30 Dow components, Carol, right now are in the red -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I knew you'd have the answer, even though we might not like it. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

Quick break. We'll be back.

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COSTELLO: It is 45 minutes past the hour. Time to check our "Top Stories". Brian Jones will not go to prison for the hazing death of Florida A & M University band member Robert Champion. A judge sentenced Jones to 200 hours of community service, two years of supervised probation and six months of community control. Jones is the first defendant in that case to be sentenced.

Six scientists and a government official are given six years in prison. An Italian court said the group did not accurately communicate the risk of a 2009 earthquake that killed more than 300 people. The trial centered on a meeting the scientists held a week before that earthquake struck. At the meeting the experts determined it was unlikely, but not impossible that a major quake would take place. Now they'll go to prison for that.

To space now, where an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are on their way to the International Space Station. The three-man Soyuz space craft launched just a few hours ago on a two-day trip and is expected to arrive and dock on Thursday morning.

So many homes in Everett, Washington, are sliding down hills and collapsing that people are calling this neighborhood Armageddon creek. That house there it slipped off a steep incline. Three others have been labeled by the city as unsafe to occupy. Homeowners think is a storm drain is to blame but city officials say there is no evidence to link the drains to erosion.

The question on one of the story -- the question on one of today's big stories -- that's what I'm talking about, our "Talk Back" question. Do zingers win debates? Your responses, next.

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COSTELLO: I am so enjoying your answers this is morning. The "Talk Back" question this morning, "Do zingers win debates?"

This from Janine, "Yes, unfortunately we have been diluted to a bumper sticker society."

This from Mark, "Zingers are great, they give fodder to comedians Bill Maher and SNL. It's even better when your candidate is giving them out and not on the receiving end."

This from Kathy, "No, but it keeps us talking about the debate and thinking about what they said."

And from Jim, "We're a nation afflicted with ADD. If you can't fit your point into a sound bite, you've lost us."

Keep the conversation going -- Facebook.com/CarolCNN. More of your responses in the next hour of the NEWSROOM.

College football coach calls in campus police. Now you will see the police officers coming in. He's going to serve papers on two players. Normally you would say, oh, my gosh. Oh we'll tell you the end of the story. It's amazing.

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COSTELLO: Oh, the World Series is set. The San Francisco Giants will host the Detroit Tigers in game one tomorrow night. The Giants broke up in the deciding game at the NLCS by scoring five runs of the Cardinals in the third inning. Hunter Pence was the hero, he had a key hit, a broken bat, a two-run double. Isn't that weird? His bat brakes and he kind of hits the ball twice, wacky. He ended up hitting the ball three times and then put the crazy spin on it.

The Giants went on to beat St. Louis 9-0. It was the team's sixth elimination win this postseason tying a Major League record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE BOCY, GIANTS' MANAGER: The bats woke up and, yes, we're loading up right now to be honest, you know, with our backs to the wall as long as they have been and to do this. This is a special group. They got never say die attitude. They didn't want to go home and found a way to get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: No one more special than the Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro, He's the National League Championship Series MVP, he tied an NLCS record with 14 hits.

Monday night football. Must we? I guess so. Lions and Bears in Chicago, quarterback Jay Cutler rolls out and hits Brandon Marshall for the Bears only touchdown. Chicago's defense was mighty stingy, four takeaways and Detroit was kept off the scoreboard until the last minute of the game. Chicago wins 13-7. They improve to 5-1 on the season. The Lions fall to 2-4.

The UMass Minutemen have not won a game this football season but their coach is scoring points with this video. See, this is a prank. He pranked a couple of his players. He got the campus police to come into the room and serve two of the players, papers.

They have no idea what is in the yellow envelopes. They thought they might be in trouble. Instead, they opened it up and found they were being rewarded with full scholarships for their hard work. After the players caught onto the prank they got a big hug from their coach and many hugs from their teammates and a big old cheer. Congratulations.

And that's a look at sports this morning.

All right. Let's talk about the Dow just a little bit because, as you know, it's fallen as much as 200 points this morning. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. Is it stabilizing at all?

KOSIK: It is, I was just going to say that. The losses are big but the good news is that they are holding steady, the Dow down 176 points. We did see it down much more earlier. This is all happening because the big multinational companies reported their third quarter earnings today. DuPont and 3M in particular and they reported disappointing earnings. And in one respect it is really not a huge surprise. These companies are dealing with the fiscal cliff. They're dealing with the debt crisis and the recession overseas. But there is this common thread going through these companies. They're experiencing these lower sales because of the global slowdown happening.

DuPont in particular saying it has to cut jobs just to offset those lower sales, the slowing global economy. And so you're seeing the worry reflected right there in red. The Dow down 177 points -- Carol?

COSTELLO: Ok. We'll check back with you in the next hour. Thanks, Alison Kosik. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a quick break.

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