Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Final Election Arguments; Romney and Gay Rights
Aired November 05, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here. Welcome back to CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Huge week just into the NEWSROOM, word that Mitt Romney will be stumping tomorrow, will be stumping, no rest from the trail and no doubt everyone is wondering if the president will match his challenger's move.
I want to go straight to Jim Acosta. He's en route to Fairfax, Virginia. He's been following the Republican's campaign.
Looks like you're on the bus, Jim Acosta.
And we thought Mitt Romney was supposed to be in Massachusetts tomorrow.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
BALDWIN: And now game plan change. Where will he be?
ACOSTA: Well, Brooke, let me tell you, he's still going to be in Massachusetts tomorrow morning. The campaign has confirmed he and his wife, Ann Romney, will be voting near their home in Belmont, Massachusetts, around 8:30.
But then after that, they are getting back on the plane, they're getting back on the campaign plane and they're heading to two more stops on Election Day.
BALDWIN: And it froze and will go away.
Point being I can tell you Mitt Romney is going to be in both Pennsylvania -- guys, remind me -- it's Pennsylvania and he's going to be in Ohio tomorrow. This we just learned now tomorrow in addition to as Jim Acosta mentioned, voting in his home state of Massachusetts. We will try to get back to Jim here.
OK, Jim Acosta, we have you on the phone now?
ACOSTA: Yes. I'm on the phone.
BALDWIN: Where did we leave off?
ACOSTA: Let me turn this volume down in my ear because I will be hearing myself twice here, Brooke. But, yes, you were just summing it up here. That's right, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
BALDWIN: Cleveland. ACOSTA: Obviously, Ohio is the ultimate battleground state. But Pennsylvania is a state they're starting to see moving in their direction. He made a stop there last night in the suburbs of Philadelphia. They played the theme music from "Rocky" as he was coming out on stage. He's the underdog in the state, but they're seeing it as moving in their direction.
I talked to a senior Romney adviser about the stops tomorrow. He said they will not be big rallies, these will not be rallies at all. What will happen is we will see Mitt Romney out on the campaign trail in both those states thanking what they call get-out-the-vote volunteers. He is going to be helping and thanking those volunteers, essentially really just getting his face on TV in local TV markets in both of those states tomorrow. And they say they just want to keep the energy going. That's why they're doing this.
They don't want to waste a minute and in the words of one campaign official I talked to over the weekend, they still have money to spend. That is part of the rationale as to why he's making these stops. And at this point, they have got nothing left to lose.
We should point out, though, Brooke, John McCain tried this back in 2008. He, after voting in Arizona, went to two stops in Colorado. So, obviously, that didn't work out for him. But this race is much tighter. So it might make sense to do it and they're going to go for it.
BALDWIN: OK, Jim Acosta, we will look for him tomorrow, not just then in Massachusetts, but also Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Let me go straight to Washington now, to our nation's capital, because, John King, we have you here, of course, our CNN chief national correspondent.
And, John, I want to talk electoral vote vs. popular in just a moment. But, first, I know you're the magic wall man. But I have my own magic wall. Let me just run through the possible scenario for our viewers. We're at our electoral map, which you can find, just go to CNN.com.
We have Mitt Romney. He's campaigning today in Florida, he's in Virginia, he's in New Hampshire, and he's in Ohio. So just roll with me because just for argument's sake, let's make Ohio go blue for Obama. Let's just say if that happens.
If that turns out to be the case, does Mitt Romney, maybe made his best path to victory, I will turn Florida red four Mitt Romney, I will turn Virginia red for Romney, let's say Pennsylvania goes Republican and let's say the four electoral votes in New Hampshire, where he will be beginning his night, let's say that's all Romney territory.
If, John King, if he wins those states, plus the states that are, you know, reliably red here on our electrical map, that would put him, my magic number I have is 272, and we know he needs 270 to win. Could that scenario, could this play out? Could that be his best path to the presidency? KING: Could have, would have, should have. Isn't the Monday before the election the best time where we can all play our dream maps, Brooke?
BALDWIN: Let's do it.
KING: Could it play out that way? Yes. But as Jim just noted, I remember when George W. Bush twice in two campaigns, he said I'm going to get Pennsylvania. For Bill Clinton, the Democratic president, it was North Carolina. Then Governor and then President in reelection said I'm going to get North Carolina.
Every candidate has a dream state. For Mitt Romney, it is Pennsylvania. It makes some sense, in part because as Jim noted, they still have money to spend. Pennsylvania has not been swamped with all the ads. When you come in late and you start airing the ads, you might actually move people.
I will also make this point. He's going to Pittsburgh tomorrow. When you're on TV local news in Pittsburgh, you're also getting coverage in eastern Ohio which happens to be kind of an important state. If Mitt Romney wins the state of Pennsylvania, I would bet my career that he will be the next president of the United States. It is a blue state.
If he suddenly turns the state with such deep blue DNA red in presidential politics, then guess what? He's winning a lot of other states too. You're not winning Pennsylvania and losing other states. If he can swing that one, he's going to win.
But let's see if he can swing that one. That's a big challenge.
BALDWIN: So I hear you betting your career here on Pennsylvania. Let me ask you, is there any other state that might possibly defy expectations as we look at this electoral map here?
KING: Look, just watch what the campaigns have done in the final days and you know where they're a little bit nervous.
The Democrat sent Bill Clinton into Minnesota. Is Minnesota going to topple over into the red? Probably not. Like Pennsylvania, if Minnesota turns red tomorrow night, then we have got a Romney blowout. There is no reason to believe -- my assumption heading into tomorrow, Brooke, is we're going to have a very, very close race either way.
The president -- the odds are -- I think if you're a betting person, the odds are slightly in the president's favor to win a narrow reelection, but it is not out of the realm at all that Governor Romney wins a narrow victory either. You could have Governor Romney win the popular vote and the president win reelection in the Electoral College. It is that close of an election.
If states like Minnesota are suddenly voting red, if a state like Pennsylvania is suddenly voting red, then we have got a late mini- wave, if you will, and you would have a Romney blowout. I just don't see that happening. BALDWIN: OK. Let me jump on sort of this point you just made in doing so. We have this very, very tight poll. It is the 49 percent for the president, 49 percent for Mitt Romney. Here you go. So talk about a dead heat, this is what you have.
We're hearing a lot of talk with, say, let's say Mitt Romney wins the popular vote, but President Obama is reelected simply on the electoral votes here. The president's senior adviser, David Axelrod, he said this about that just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: They're saying it is possible the president, even if he wins the electoral vote, could lose the popular vote. How much do you think that's a possibility?
DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: We're going to win the electoral vote and we're going to win the popular vote. It is going to be a close election, as we have always said, but I think this is -- this is the season for sort of weird theories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: No huge surprise, a senior Obama campaign adviser saying, of course, the president is going to win the electoral and the popular votes.
But what are the chances that we could see this is one of those maybe weird bizarre scenarios, as Axelrod put it?
KING: Can we get Al Gore on the phone?
BALDWIN: Yikes. Do we have to go there?
KING: I go there only because to say it can happen.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: It has only happened four times in the history of the republic, but it did happen 12 years ago.
David Axelrod is right. It is most likely, almost certain that the winner of the Electoral College will also win the popular vote. It might be very close, it might be very narrow, but that tends to be how it goes. I do think it is more of a possibility this time because of how close it is. And for those who say, oh, come on, go away, I would just give you 2000. It can happen. Al Gore won the popular vote by about a half a million votes nationwide. And George W. Bush was sworn in as president.
If that happens, either way, one candidate wins the popular vote, other one wins the Electoral College, they win. The one who wins the Electoral College becomes the next president of the United States. There will be a lot of hemming and hawing. There might be some legal challenges, but the person who wins the Electoral College becomes the next president of the United States. The question then is how does it affect the governing environment? But let's get through tomorrow before we worry about that.
BALDWIN: Exactly. Let's get to 270 hopefully for one of these gentlemen and then we will go there later. John King, we appreciate it. Thank you very much.
KING: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And, Gloria Borger, I just want to bring you in now, chief political analyst.
We're looking at this very real possibility that after Election Day, possibly, absolutely nothing changes, President Obama wins reelection, the Democrats get to keep control of the U.S. Senate, Republicans keep control of the House. Status quo? What are the chances of that?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think there is a very good chance of that, if President Obama were to be reelected. And you talk to all the people on the campaign committees, and they will tell you that there is a very good chance of that, you know, James Madison's revenge. We elect different branches of government.
And, you know, so here we are, in the middle of a very nasty, very angry campaign, with a very, very divided country and we could end up in the same spot. I have been talking to a lot of people asking about that and sort of where would that get us in the next step? And some people are saying, look, we spent about, what, $6 billion total in all of these..
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Can you believe that number?
BORGER: Yes. I mean, it is hard to believe, but, yes, and so we have spent $6 billion. The president and Mitt Romney's favorabilities are about the same. The enthusiasm of Democrats and Republicans now is about the same.
And we could wind up with a government that is in the same situation and the question is, when these people return, if the president's reelected, are they going to be any more willing to deal with each other than they were....
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Than they were four years ago. Let's see what the candidates are saying. Let's roll this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president promised change, but he couldn't deliver change. I not only promised change. I have a record of achieving it.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's trying to convince you that these bad old ideas are change. Listen, we know what change looks like, Madison. And what he selling ain't it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Closing argument time, Gloria Borger. Give me, what is the final pitch here for both the guys?
BORGER: Well, here what he is interesting to me.
Normally, at the end of a campaign you kind of have the uplifting final pitches. And we're seeing that in the political advertising certainly from both of the candidates.
But what we are also seeing is that this is such a close race that the closing arguments are more negative because what they're trying to do is make sure that their base voters turn out to vote. And the way to do that is not by being uplifting, the way to do that is to say this other guy is going to really get you in trouble if he's elected. So it is a very different kind of closing argument, I think, that we're hearing this time around. And, honestly, it sort of fits the entire campaign, which has been disappointing.
BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, I hope you get a good night's sleep tonight, because we will be watching you into the wee hours tomorrow night.
BORGER: Should be interesting.
BALDWIN: Thanks, Gloria. We will be watching.
CNN Election Day, our special coverage, I should point out, begins tomorrow night, 6:00 Eastern, and goes and goes and goes. We will be watching.
A huge, huge hour of live events. Let me just tee this up for you. We continue our special coverage here in the final hours of campaigning. Both Mitt Romney and President Obama expected to speak live very soon. That, of course, includes their surrogates, everyone from Bill Clinton to Paul Ryan to Jay-Z. Yes, Jay-Z, we're going there.
Plus, we're about to go on a swing state blitz. Look at this, correspondents everywhere for what is happening on the ground here this day before the Election Day. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Just in, brand-new polls. CNN poll of polls shows President Obama with one point, one-point lead nationally here. This just really shows how absolutely close this race is.
Last night's CNN poll of polls, that was the horse was, dead heat, 49- 49. This is poll of polls, multiple polls here, all averaged together, polls of likely viewers tracking eight national surveys there.
Voters in the battleground states have been absolutely bombarded with more than 700,000 airings of campaign ads and that's just from April until this past month of October. Tomorrow, the people will finally have their say. We have correspondents, check them out, all throughout the country here, spanning the swing states to get a bead on what they're thinking, the voters.
Want to begin with Miguel Marquez in Las Vegas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here in Nevada, it's all eyes on those few votes remaining. In clearly voting, record numbers turned out across the state. Democrats asked for the most ballots, 44 percent for Democrats, 37 percent for Republicans, and 19 percent for other parties.
Both parties are getting out there to get the vote out. The Republicans have a lot of energy for Mitt Romney. But the Democrats seem to have a lot more organization for President Obama and it appears to be paying off in the polls. In a couple of the latest polls, "USA Today" has the president up by seven points in Nevada, and that's broadened his lead quite a bit.
And "The Las Vegas Review Journal," which endorsed Governor Romney, has the president up by four points here in this state. But it is all down now to what happens on Election Day. And both campaigns now fighting for every last vote.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ted Rowlands in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Republicans on the ground in this state know that they have the work cut out for them. Polling shows that the president is up in this state significantly, as much as 8 percent in one poll.
But Republicans say they can make that ground up and the reason is they have a very strong ground game here in Wisconsin as a result of the gubernatorial recall election of Governor Scott Walker earlier this year. They say they're in place to make a difference in terms of getting out the vote. They're confident they can do it tomorrow.
Democrats are not taking any chances here. They are rewarding any volunteer that comes to help canvas and help get-out-the-vote from neighboring Illinois with a ticket to the Obama party on Tuesday night in Chicago. The president spoke here today. Paul Ryan will finish his day after a long day of campaigning here in his home state at an event in Milwaukee.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kyung Lah in Denver.
You can definitely tell it is the day before Election Day. What you're seeing here is the ballot prep. These are the early votes. And this is where the ballots are pulled out of the envelopes. Again, early voting has been going on here in Colorado for two weeks. I'm walking down the actual path of a ballot and what is happening here now is that the counting has just begun.
What you're seeing over here are the machines that count the ballots, they're sticking them in, they run through, and they count them. But the ballots won't actually be tabulated until 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. That's when voting ends here in the state of Colorado. The secretary of state's office says 1.7 million people have already voted. They estimate that will be about two million by tomorrow; 85 percent of all voting in Colorado happens before Election Day, smooth so far.
They expect it may be smooth on Election Day -- Brooke.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Kyung Lah, thank you so much to you and all our correspondents there across the country.
You know, John McCain, he says he's never seen veterans so angry as they are over the administration's handling of the attack in Benghazi. And the senator says their anger could affect the election. Two guys standing by with a little something to say about that squaring off next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We are now hours before polls open, and people start voting. So what are the last-minute talking points?
Let me bring in CNN political analyst Roland Martin, who is live for me in Washington, and CNN contributor Reihan Salam in New York.
Gentlemen, welcome to both of you.
Before we start, I want to play a little sound. We're going to hear from House Speaker John Boehner actually sitting in Ohio over the weekend, talked to CNN exclusively, and we asked him about the auto bailout and what it means in his, as we have been calling it, the mother of all swing states here, when it comes to picking a president. Here he was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The auto bailout may help the president a little. But when you look at polling, it wouldn't indicate that is having much of a factor at all. There are a lot of people who were opposed the auto bailout on the other side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: OK. Roland Martin, I want you to begin.
Here's Speaker Boehner, he says the auto bailout may help the president a little, but the polls are so close, what hasn't the president really proven to folks in Ohio, you think?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: OK. Nice try there, Speaker Boehner. He knows doggone well the auto bailout has been a huge issue in Ohio. And frankly that is the critical reason where you have such separation between President Obama and Mitt Romney. It would be even tighter.
Also, if Mitt Romney did nothing, if his position on the auto bailout wasn't so critical, you would not have seen him double down on that Jeep ad and he made a fool out of himself because so many papers across Ohio was blasting him for those frankly wrong insinuations about moving jobs over to China. And so, sorry, Speaker Boehner, nice try, but you know doggone well the bailout matters.
BALDWIN: You say nice try.
Reihan, what do you say? Do you agree with Speaker Boehner or disagree?
Reihan Salam, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think that he basically had the right take on it. I think the auto bailout definitely mattered for workers in the UAW and that's a big constituency in Ohio.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Paul Ryan supported it.
SALAM: Well, you know, it is actually very complicated.
When you really look at the politics of the auto bailout, the things that folks on the right and the left disagreed about were really about the way the bailout was carried out. Yet we have mainly fixated on other issues.
So, you know, basically Romney's argument has been that, hey, he favored a managed bankruptcy as well. So, frankly, it is a very nuanced discussion and the Democrats have played well off the idea that Mitt Romney opposed doing anything, that he favored a complete laissez-faire solution, which is not quite true.
But I would think agree that Democrats have played the issue more effectively than Republicans. And I think that will cost Romney some votes. But I think ultimately voters in Ohio, like voters across the country, care about a broader spectrum of issues and like any other state...
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: They care about jobs, Reihan.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Let's just throw the nuance out the window for a minute, because we all speak the language.
SALAM: Well, we have been doing that throughout the campaign.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: We speak the same language, and that's jobs. Right. When you look just at the sheer numbers, right, in Ohio specifically, it was at 7 percent unemployment rate in September and 8.6 in January of '09.
It has improved clearly just when you look at the sheer figures. So, Reihan, what about Mitt Romney would pave a better path?
SALAM: That's a great question, because if you look at states like Iowa and Ohio, there are a lot of these Midwestern states that are very export-oriented that have fared relatively well that also happen to be swing states. That's obviously going to be a challenge for a challenger in this kind of a cycle.
So I think that what -- you know, my own view is that the reset that Romney engaged in early October, they should have engaged in it much earlier on. Had they done a better job in the summer months, for example, of framing a more middle-class-friendly message and reframing the Romney campaign around reaching out to kind of hard-pressed blue- collar workers in states like Ohio and Iowa, I think that he would have been in a much stronger position at this point.
But I still think that he's in a position to do quite, quite well and to surprise a lot of folks who are dismissing his chances.
(CROSSTALK)
SALAM: I think that the Republicans have good reason to be excited.
BALDWIN: Let me move to Senator John McCain.
Roland, you were on "STARTING POINT" this morning. You were listening to this.
MARTIN: Yes.
BALDWIN: Let me play this. This is John McCain speaking to Soledad O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: But I think of greater impact is the effect of Benghazi on our veterans. I have been traveling all over the country, and veterans are angry. They're angry, they're upset. They don't trust Barack Obama.
There is 1.6 million of them in Florida, for example. I think they could have an impact on this election. I know it is all about jobs and the economy, but I have never seen veterans as upset and angry as they are over Benghazi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Never before, Roland Martin. What is your take on that? Are you talking to veterans? What are they saying?
MARTIN: Two words, oh, please.
BALDWIN: Oh, please?
MARTIN: Senator John McCain has been trying to spin this whole deal about trying to say, oh, Benghazi is what has veterans all upset. I will tell you what has veterans even more upset, when the United States Senate, including Senator John McCain, when they voted down that jobs bill that directly impacted veterans. I have had veterans groups on my TV One Sunday show and, trust me, this is one issue they have been talking about.
Also, I have heard veterans talk about the fact that they love the fact of the Iraq war is over, and the president also wants to pull us out of Afghanistan by 2014. And so, look, Senator McCain wants the focus to stay on this, and he clearly wants to help Mitt Romney as much as he can, but, trust me, the vets out there are talking about veteran unemployment, veterans getting jobs when they come back to this country, not just what took place in Libya. So, I'm sorry, he's wrong.
BALDWIN: I will tell you, I have a very, very dear friend who went to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and is very much so involved. And he's just frustrated in talking to his own buddies that neither of these men have any kind of military experience.
Reihan, I'm going to give you the final word. What do you make of Senator McCain's comments?
SALAM: I think it's certainly true that there are a lot of folks who have a lot of questions about Benghazi, but I do agree that fundamentally this election is going to be about core economic issues and that while Benghazi has really been problematic, and we will continue to see a drip, drip, drip for months to come, I don't think it will be the issue that is going to decide this election.
BALDWIN: Roland Martin, Reihan Salam, gentlemen, my thanks to you.
MARTIN: All right, thanks a lot.
SALAM: Thank you.
BALDWIN: The Mormon Church has some pretty strict rules when it comes to homosexuality. So how would Mitt Romney -- how would a Mitt Romney presidency handle this particular issue?
Gary Tuchman investigates next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Should Mitt Romney win the presidency, it will mark a first a Mormon couple moving into the White House and one issue he is likely to encounter, his stance on homosexuality versus the views of the Mormon church.
CNN's Gary Tuchman traveled to Salt Lake City and asked a group of members and former members what it is like to be Mormon and gay.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Thank you. GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mitt Romney finds himself in a potentially tricky spot regarding his views on same-sex relationships an his Mormon faith.
He's against same sex marriage, but listen to what he says about the rights of same-sex couples.
ROMNEY: If two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship and even want to adopt a child in my state, individuals of the same sex were able it adopt children.
In my view, that's something which people have the right to do.
TUCHMAN: Romney's statement is notable because the typical gay-loving relationship goes against the beliefs of his religion.
Michael Otterson is the managing director of public affairs for the church.
MICHAEL OTTERSON, CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS: For those who feel accountable to God, the only acceptable sexual relationships are between a man and a woman who are legally married and so that's our position as a church.
TUCHMAN: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is based here in Salt Lake City, but has nearly 15 million members across the globe.
It is not known how many of those members are homosexual, but in order for them to stay in the Mormon church in good standing, they must be celibate.
Or they might not tell the truth about being celibate. These five people are gay Mormons and gay former Mormons.
Kim Mack is a mother of three, formerly married to a man.
KIM MACK, EXCOMMUNICATED MORMON: I'm an excommunicated Mormon.
TUCHMAN: And why were you excommunicated?
MACK: I had acted on my gay feelings.
TUCHMAN: Kim's partner is Kelly Hill. She has kept quiet about her gay relationship so she hasn't been excommunicated, yet.
Your bishop doesn't know yet, but he could find out anytime especially because you'll be on TV now.
KELLY HILL, MACK'S PARTNER: Yes.
TUCHMAN: And you could be excommunicated at any time.
HILL: I'm sure I will be.
TUCHMAN: And that must be very traumatizing, but you feel strongly. That's why you're talking. But how do you feel about the possibility of being excommunicated at any time?
HILL: Terrified.
TUCHMAN: Kendall Wilcox doesn't want to risk excommunication. He's decided to be celibate.
KENDALL WILCOX: No holding hands, no forms of any physical intimacy and also controlling of my thoughts even. I can't sort of entertain thoughts of romantic or erotic connection.
TUCHMAN: Mark Packer also loves his faith, but feels much differently.
MARK PARKER: I'm not going to be celibate. I have no interest in being celibate. So, by my own principles, I really can't go back to the church.
TUCHMAN: How many of you have been despondent over the years because you've been considered an outsider by your own church?
CANDY METZLER: I went through a lot of suicide attempts, if you will, throughout my younger years, as a result of feeling that shame.
TUCHMAN: There is no move ahead to make it easier for people who are gay and are in a gay relationship to stay in the church?
OTTERSON: There is no softening of that doctrinal position, no change in our doctrinal position. There is certainly a lot of effort to help people understand the need to be warm and embracing and inclusive of all people, no matter what issues they're dealing with.
TUCHMAN: Jason Conner says he didn't see that effort.
JASON CONNER: We're taught that, you know, family is everything on this earth and you are in your family so that you can one day be in heaven with your family.
And so it is very painful to stay in the church and be told, yeah, that's for everyone. That's for everyone but you.
TUCHMAN: Conner, who lives with his male partner, is also out of the church. He's one of the leaders of a group called Soul Force which met with leaders in Salt Lake City to ask for changes.
One was for the church to denounce this group, Evergreen, a Mormon organization that states it helps people overcome homosexual behavior, in some cases by arranging so-called homosexual cure therapies, which are roundly criticized by most psychologists.
CONNER: The church has a relationship with it that is harmful and damaging.
TUCHMAN: The church tells us Evergreen is not an official entity of the LDS church. but Evergreen has worked in close cooperation with the church throughout the years, so we wanted to find out more about Evergreen. I was in touch with Evergreen's executive director for about two weeks via e-mail. At first, David Pruden said he wasn't interested in being interviewed. Then in the next e-mail, he warmed up to the possibility. Then I received a third mail, once again, he said he did not want to be interviewed.
So, he came out of his office, wanted to give it one last chance. When I came in, I saw his office manager, she talked to him and he told her he didn't want to see me.
The LDS church says it does not specifically recommend which counseling techniques are appropriate for homosexuals, but in a written statement, told us, "For those who seek to diminish or control unwanted attractions to the same sex, counseling has sometimes been helpful."
This Mormon man, Ty Mansfield, says he used to only be attracted to men. He underwent counseling after receiving advice from church leaders and is now married to this woman, and has a one-year-old son.
TY MANSFIELD: Do I feel the same kind of sexual attraction or -- to women generally, that I have felt toward men generally in the past? No, I don't.
But I do feel that toward my wife, which has been what's most important.
TUCHMAN: So, if Mitt Romney was OK with gay relationships, particularly gay Mormon relationships, how would that affect his relations with his church? We aren't being told specifically.
OTTERSON: The church is politically neutral and we've tried very hard to keep out of the political campaign, so we don't discuss the candidates and we don't discuss the campaign.
TUCHMAN: But, more generally, the church does tell us in writing, members are entitled to their private opinions, but members also understand obligations of membership do not include publicly campaigning for beliefs and practices contrary to church teachings.
And in the Mormon faith, anything other than a monogamous sexual relationship between a married man and woman is contrary to church teachings.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Gary Tuchman, thank you.
Coming up next, why Republican Haley Barbour, one of Romney's biggest supporters, says Romney may have lost momentum.
I'll speak live with a Republican congresswoman about what Republican insiders are saying about that very comment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Joining me now from Nashville, Tennessee, Congresswoman Diane Black. She's a Republican sent to Washington two years ago by the good people of Tennessee's 6th congressional district, just east of Nashville.
So, Congresswoman, welcome.
REPRESENTATIVE DIANE BLACK (R), TENNESSEE: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: And before we chat, I just want to play a little sound. This is Republican Haley Barbour speaking yesterday here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY BARBOUR, FORMER REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN: The hurricane is what broke Romney's momentum.
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": You think that, as well?
BARBOUR: I don't think there is any question about it. Any day that the news media is not talking about jobs and the economy, taxes and spending, deficit and debt, ObamaCare and energy is a good day for Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Broke Romney's momentum, the hurricane.
Congresswoman Black, Haley Barbour, he's saying, you know, Romney had the momentum going. The storm obviously took it away. Do you also believe that to be the case?
BLACK: Well, Brooke, first of all, I want to say that we all are sending our hearts out to those who have been devastated by the storm. We still see on television that they're dealing with really tough situations and it is only appropriate that we should turn and make sure that our fellow Americans are taken care of during these really tough times.
But, listen, this momentum is definitely on Governor Romney's side. We see that we're up by 7 percent in the enthusiastic factor. We also see we're up by 7 percent in those who are undecided.
So, there is no doubt in my mind that we've got that momentum going. We're within the margin of error. I've been in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. I've seen it myself.
BALDWIN: But Congresswoman Black, you know, to some folks what Haley Barbour is saying sounds a bit like an early post-mortem coming from the ranks of the Republicans of your own party.
Do you hear any Republicans -- you mentioned all these states you've been through, traveling, here. Do you hear any of the Republicans giving up the fight? BLACK: No, actually I think that there is even more enthusiasm right now because we're hearing about those battleground states such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania where, obviously, the president won by double digits and we see now that we're within the margin of error.
And it is definitely an enthusiasm up there and a momentum that I believe that we're going to be victorious tomorrow evening.
BALDWIN: I want you to listen to President Obama speaking just this morning in Madison, Wisconsin.
BLACK: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Our fight goes on because we know America's always done best, we have always prospered, when everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share, everybody is playing by the same rules.
That's what we believe, that's why you elected me in 2008 and that is why I'm running for a second term as president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Again, that was the president speaking this morning. Diane Black, I'm going to give you 60 seconds. I did this to someone last hour. Sixty seconds, tell our viewers -- give me two good reasons why not to vote for President Obama?
BLACK: Well, I think that it is very obvious. We have failed policies and broken promises. We have unemployment rates that are still very high, 23 million Americans who are looking for and struggling for work.
We see a deficit that has just continued to grow, a debt that's $5 trillion greater than when this president came into office.
The people -- the American people are suffering and they want someone who can show them a bright future and a plan, a true plan, to move us ahead and make us a prosperous nation once again.
BALDWIN: Congresswoman Diane Black, live in Nashville, Tennessee, thank you. Speaking of Mitt Romney ...
BLACK: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: He is in Virginia. He is surrounded by a crowd. There's his wife, Ann Romney, to his left. We're going to dip into that here in just a moment.
You're watching "CNN Newsroom."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Closing arguments time. Here he is about to speak, Mitt Romney. There is his wife Ann Romney, packed crowd, Fairfax, Virginia, one of the battleground states. Let's listen, shall we?
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY, R-MA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You guys, I want to thank you.
You know, if anyone wants to know where the energy is, if anyone out there that is following American politics wants to know where the energy is, just come right here in this room and you'll see it.
I want to thank your governor, Governor Bob McDonnell, the most popular governor in America. And the first lady, Maureen McDonnell, as well, and thank you to the next United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, George Allen.
Thanks also to Congressman Frank Wolf for introducing us here and welcoming us here.
And thank you for that welcome. I -- I'm overwhelmed. That's really something special. Thank you.
And I'm looking around, I'm looking around to see if we have The Beatles here or something to have brought you, but it looks like you came just for the campaign and I appreciate it.
Your voices and your energy and your passion are being heard all over the nation and we -- Ann and I hear them in our hearts, as well. And I want to thank you for being here and showing us that kind of welcome.
And thank you for the work that so many of you have been doing, going across the neighborhood, knocking on doors, making phone calls for us at victory centers, putting up signs in your yard and in your neighbor's yards.
And thanks for convincing co-workers to join our team and to recognize how important this election is for the entire nation and now let's make sure that we get everybody out to vote on Tuesday. Everybody you know, bring them to the polls.
You know, what's really inspiring about this gathering today is that you came here because you care about America and this is a campaign about America and about the future that we're going to leave to our children and to their children.
We thank you and we ask you to stay with it all the way until we win tomorrow night. We've got to have your help.
Now, perhaps there are a few members of your family or your friends that haven't decided who they're going to vote for yet and so, when you talk to them -- and I'm going to talk to them here, as well -- ask them to look beyond the speeches and the attacks and the ads and look at the record. Look at the record because talk is cheap, but a record is real and it's earned with effort.
You know, when the president promised change, you actually look and see what happened because change can't be measured in speeches. It's measured in achievements and, four years ago, then candidate Obama promised to do so very much, but he's done so very little.
I mean, he promised to be, as you recall, a post-partisan president, but he was most partisan and he has attacked and blamed and divided. And it's not only Republicans he's refused to listen to. It's also independent voices.
He said he was going to focus on job creation. Instead, he focused on ObamaCare that killed jobs. He said he was going to cut the federal deficit. He was going to cut the deficit in half. Instead, he doubled it.
He said that by now, unemployment would be at 5.2 percent and you saw on Friday it's 7.9 percent. They may sound like small percentage differences, but, you know, that's 9 million American jobs short of what he promised. Those are real people. Unemployment is today higher than when Barack Obama took office.
And, you know, he promised that he would propose a plan to save Medicare and Social Security from insolvency, but he didn't. And, in fact, he raided Medicare, $716 billion to pay for his vaunted ObamaCare plan.
He said that he would lower health insurance premiums for the average American family by now by $2,500 a family. And have you seen your health insurance go down by that amount? I keep looking.
Actually what we've seen is that premiums are up for the average family by $3,000 a year. And you think about that. With a median income of $50,000 a year, he's off by $5,500. This is tough for America's families.
And, by the way, gasoline, that now costs $2,000 a family more than it did when he was elected.
There's a record to look at. He said he'd work across the aisle on the most important issues. Did you know that he has not met on the economy or on jobs or on the budget with either the Republican leader of the House or the Senate since July?
Think of that. This is November. Since July. Instead of bridging the divide, he's made the divide wider.
And when you -- so many of you look at the big debates in this country not as a Republican or a Democrat, but as an independent thinker, as an American, and you watch what's happened in this country over the last four years with an independent voice, you hoped that President Obama would live up to his promise to bring people together, to solve big problems.
He hasn't. I will.
Let me tell you why he fell so far short of what he promised. It's because he cared more about the liberal agenda he was pursuing than he did about repairing the economy.
I mean, did ObamaCare create new jobs? Did his war on coal and gas and oil create new jobs? Did those Dodd-Frank regulations make it easier for banks to make loans to people? Does raising taxes put people to work?
How about his avalanche of new regulations? Does that help small businesses? How about his plan to require companies to have unions whether the employees want to vote for them or not? Card check, does that create jobs? You passed the test.
Almost every measure he took, almost everything he did hurt the economy and that means it hurt our fellow Americans. Twenty-three million of our fellow Americans are struggling to find a good job. One in six of our fellow Americans are in poverty.
And the middle class, those that aren't poor, those that have a job, they're still struggling. They've been squeezed over the last four years by incomes that have been coming down, now $4,300 a year less in income per year than when he took office.
And at the same time, prices are up for health insurance, as I mentioned, and for gasoline and for food and for electricity. These have been tough times to be middle class in America under this president.
This weekend, I spoke with a man -- excuse me. I spoke with the wife of a man. He's 60-years old in the prime earning years of his life. Sixty-years old is just fine, by the way.
I remember being young like that. This guy had worked for 40 years as a welder, but he just got laid off. And she asked me on the phone, she said, what can I do to help her husband?
And she made it very clear. She wasn't talking about getting a government check. He wants a job. The president thinks that more government is the answer. It is not. More good jobs, that's the answer for America.
I actually think the question of this election comes down to this -- do you want four more years like the last four years? Or do you want real change?
Look, the president promised change, but he just couldn't deliver it. I not only promise change, I have a record of achieving it. I actually built a business and turned around another one. I helped turn around the Olympics back when they were in trouble.
And, by the way, with a Democrat legislature, I helped turn my state from deficit to surplus and from job losses to job growth and from higher taxes to higher take-home pay.
That's why I'm running for president. I know how to change the course the nation is on.
I know. I may not -- I've balanced budgets. You have to do that in business or you'll go bankrupt. And I balanced budgets in my state and in the Olympics. I'm going to use that skill to help balance our federal budget and to help build jobs and get rising take-home pay. Because accomplishing real change is not just something I talk about. It's something I have done and I will do as the next president of the United States.
If you believe we can do better and if you believe America should be on a better course and if you're tired of being tired, then I ask you to vote and work for real change.
Paul Ryan and I will bring real change from day one because, when I'm elected, I understand the American economy and the jobs situation is still going to be struggling, stagnant. I won't waste any time complaining about my predecessor.
I won't spend my effort trying to pass partisan legislation that's unrelated to job growth. From day one, I'm going to go to work to help Americans get to work.
And people across the country are responding to our five-part plan to create jobs. You've heard about it. Part one is taking full advantage of our energy resources. On day one, I'm going to act to increase the number of leases and permits on federal lands so we can ...
BALDWIN: For months, we have seen the ads and the attacks and the counterattacks, $2 billion in spending from both these campaigns. Folks, it is coming down to tomorrow.
Let me let you know. We did find out from the Romney camp that Mitt Romney will be voting tomorrow morning, of course, in Massachusetts, his home state, but then they have added two stops.
They'll be in Cleveland and he will be in Pittsburgh, two swing states in which we will see Mitt Romney.
Of course, we'll be following both Mitt Romney and the president.
Big, big day for us here at CNN tomorrow, but for now, let's go to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf?