♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs statn fr viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: tough new rhetoric dominated the presidential campaign during the last 24 hours. it was the latest evidence that the battle for the white house will be no holds barred. the pre-convention presidential campaign has become increasingly defined by acrimony and accusation. >> this is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. >> they are just throwing everything at the wall to see if it sticks. >> ifill: a w waof wor was launched tuesday, as vice president biden went after republican mitt romney in danville, virginia. >> romney wants to let-- he said in the first hundred days, he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. unchain wall street. they're gog to put y'all back in chains. >> ifill: republicans expressed immediate outrage. later in the day, the vice president said he'd meant to say "unshackled." but he did not apologize. >> i got a message for them. if you want to know what's outrageous, it's their policies and the effects of their policies on middle class america. that's what's outrageous. >> ifill: by the time he arrived in chillicothe, ohio last night, romney had a new speech ready, angrily rejecting the vice president's response. he called them. >> his campaign and his reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency. another outrageous charge in virginia and the white house sinks a little lower. so mr. president, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting america. >> ifill: obama campaign spokesman ben labolt, responding overnight, said romney's comments: back and forth it went, with romney, on "cbs this morning," saying it's the obama campaign that's acting unhinged. >> the comments of the vice president as i heard them, i thought were one more example of a divisive effort to... to keep from talking about the real issues. i think the american people had the same reaction, which is they listened to the vice president and they thought again a-- an unfounded charge and a metaphor which is not uplifting, not uniting, but one which is once again a divisive attack. >> ifill: the fight quickly escalated from the stump to the air. a new romney campaign commercial chargethe president with raiding e medicare trust fund. >> you pay in medicare for years, every paycheck, now when you need it, obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. >> ifill: a charge the president said today is simply dishonest. >> here's what you need to know. i have strengthened medicare. i have made reforms that have saved millions of seniors with medicare hundreds of dollars on their prescription drugs. i've proposed reforms that will save medicare money by getting rid of wasteful spending in the health care system, reforms that will not touch your medicare benefits, not by a dime. >> ifill: the obama campaign's web response said romney and ryan would end medicare as we know it. but this is far from the first time campaign rhetoric has run hot in a national campaign. in 1988, bob dole accused felloe republican george h.w. bush of twisting his words. >> stop lying about my record! >> ifill: but today's broadsides between the romney and obama camps are landing especially early with nearly three months still left before election day. so, has the campaign really gotten meaner? and will the tough talk affect how voters decide in november? we turn to two experienced political strategists: mo elleithee, who worked for democrat hillary clinton's 2008 presidential bid, and rick tyler, who worked on republican newt gingrich's campaign this year. ck ter, is itpy imagination or has this gotten uglier, dan balz of the "washington post" wrote the guardrails have disappeared. >> this is not new in politics, campaigns have been nasty before. lyndon johnson ran the famous daisy ad, that was about as low as a you can get, where he accused barry goldwater that he wanted to blow us all up. >> ifill: it ran one time, though. >> the media picked it up. people did see it. the incumbent runs for the office and the challenger runs against the incumbent. i think the prident has decided th he n't run against his record, he's clearly running against mitt romney. but having said that, i think romney's a loser in this. because he is totally off message. you just saw that interview on cbs news. he's not talking about his plan for increased jobs, saving health care, reform. he's talking about what a nasty mean campaign the president has. and that doesn't serve his purposes. >> ifill: let's get back to that in a moment. i'm curious about what mo el thee thinks about whether this is the nastiest campaign you've ever seen. >> every campaign seems to be the nastiest campaign. i agree with rick. this goes back earliethan lynd johnson. thomas jefferson and john adams were calling each other crooks and liars and grover cleveland's opponents attacked him for having children out of wedlock. this goes back from since the beginning of the reap. republic. what i think is different this time is it's all happenin happen realtime. the media landscape has changed enough that we're no longer in a daily news cycle, we are in a minute-by-minute news cycle. campaigns are being waged on twitter in 140 characters or less. anso... a it's really difficult to have a thoughtful discussion on issues in 140 characters or less. and i think that's import a challenge for the cam pains. it's also also in part a challenge for the media that cover the campaigns is nay get sucked into this. >> ifill: what is driving this particular spate? the last 48 hours. is it the selection of the vice presidential candidates who are supposed to be attack dogs? is that what sped everything up? >> i think it's interesting. because it... as you notice, the president and the vice president have both been fairly generous in their characterization of paul ryan in character. so that probably isn't it. romney has accused of of being hateful and hatred maybe there's some polling that suggests people are beginning to think that. i'm not sure. i think it's driven by a couple things. one is most strategists-- no offense to my friends here-- but most strategists in this town think that negative campaigning works so they talk about negative campaigning. two, lacking an overarching broad vision, if you have an idea or broad vision that people generally like, people will generally say "yeah, i know that's te abt what you say about my opponent, about this particular campaign, but i want that. whatever that is." and that just seems to be lacking. obama and romney seem to be sort of rhetorical twins here. the reason exactly mo is right is because we are fighting this on minute-to-minute hour-by hour because there is a lacking overvision so tactics are winning the day. it's win or lose every single day. >> ifill: is he right, snow does it work? are you one of the strategists who thinks it does work? if it doesn't-- or if it does-- are you running the risk of alienating voters? >> yeah, i guesst's l in the definition of what a negative campaign is, right? i mean, i actually am one of those people that believe talking about your record and talking about your opponent's record is... it works, it's necessary and it's good for the process. >> pelley: "liar," "unhinged"? >> but when it gets past the difference in vision, when it gets past the difference in policy and it starts get to personal character assassination that's when the rails come off and you run the risk of hurting your own candidate and alienating voters. >> ifill: what was vice president biden doing last night with that unchanged comment? what was the point of that have? he was clearly off script at that point. >> yeah, well i think what he was trying to do-- and it may have been a poor word choice-- was make a playoff of the republicans who have been arguing that they need to unshackle wall street. instead of using the work unshackle he said unchain. that's what the obama campaign is saying in response and that is a plausible explanation. i think it was probably a poor word choice. what happened in the immediate afteath, i thi, ishere things got a little out of control. when both campaigns started hurling negativity at one another. now, look, i believe that both sides, both parties not just both campaigns, both parties, are responsible for the tone. and both parties need to take responsibility for the tone. i am partisan, i do believe one side has been worse than the other. president obama has been under relentless attack since the beginning of 2011 when the campaign-- when the republican primary campaign began. the reblican primaryampan. i think rick would attest to this from his particular vantage point at the time that was particularly brutal as the republicans turned fire on one another. but i would urge-- and i think most americans would urge-- move past the personal stuff and keep it focused on your records and your visions. >> ifill: go ahead. >> mo is right about that. he's right. it is important that we as campaign professionals articulate things that are our poepbt voted for. voters find that helpful. so for instance we know obama cut $700 billion from medicare. that point of fact in law. w, this defense, he's saying that's part of the affordable health care act and i'm going to use that and seniors will be better off. that's his argument, i don't agree with that. but look what the what they say about paul ryan, he cuts the same amount from medicare, but he wants to use it for premium support. so basically you have a fundamental difference of an idea, one is the president would like to spend it on a government-centered program and ryan would like to use it on a private-sector program to promote competition to drive down cost. that's what we should be talking about is those two fundamental differens in ideas. instead we're hurling invectives at each other. take this one ad that the... it wasn't... to be fair it wasn't an obama ad but somehow romney was responsible for a woman getting cancer and dying? >> ifill: a democratic super pac from last week. >> that's absurd, i don't think people will believe that. >> ifill: the republican national committee chairman was saying the president had blood on his hands when it came to medicare. >> that kind of invective is what is the problem. but rick brings up the problem which are super pacs and other third party groups. some of the worst offenders are not super pacs, they are the 501c 4 organizations where there is no accountability because the do no more toes are completely secret and there's no accountability. so when the media tries to call them out for being untrue, for example, some of these groups that are out there now attacking the president for the $700 billion in cuts without recognizing the fact that the ryan... that the republican plan is the same exact thing, the media calls them out on it. but because of the here is amount of money that is now in the system i think a lot o the people running ese tsid grou wit no accountability feel like they can just drown out those fact checkers. >> ifill: and if it turns out in tend it drives the polls one way or the other someone will declare these things work and we'll spend the rest of this campaign on the ledge. waiting to see what happens next. rick tyler, mo el thee, thank you both very much. >> woodruff: online, i've offered tips on surviving the ad blitz if you live in or near a swing state. and coming up on the "newshour", we visit the hottest territory in one of those battlegrounds northern virginia. plus, an update on the war in syria. and a 100th birthday celebration of julia child. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the obama campaign today asked a federal court in ohio to overturn restrictions on early voting. a new state law ends early voting on the friday before election day, except for members of the military and people living overseas. the president's side argued the law could suppress democratic voter turnout. meanwhile in pennsylvania, a state judge upheld a new mandate that voters show a valid photo i.d. at the polls. republicans saidt will cut down on fraud. democrats said it will discourage the elderly, poor and disabled from voting. they plan to appeal to the state's supreme court. republicans picked senate and house nominees in several states on tuesday. in wisconsin, former governor tommy thompson beat three challengers in his comeback bid for a senate seat at age 70. and in connecticut, former wrestling executive linda mcmahon defeated former congressman christopher shays. she's hoping to replace retiring senator joe lieberman. >> the issue is going to decide this election is who is best able to address the economic crisis that threatens our future and who best understands how to create jobs. folks, there is so much at stake in this election, perhaps more than ever before. washington is out of control. and it's not too much to say that america's future is on the line. >> sreenivasan: the night's big upset came in florida, where tea party challenger ted yoho beat 12-term republican congressman cliff stearns by about 800 votes. but another longtime florida congressman john mica turned ck freman congressman sandy adams, also a tea party favorite, in a redrawn district. this was the first day that young, illegal immigrants could apply to live and work legally in the u.s. it's a major policy change announced by president obama in june. under the new rules, applicants must be under 30, and they have to prove they came to the country before they were 16. the change could mean that some one million people will not be deported. the mayor of dallas, texas declared a state of emergency today over an outbreak of west nile virus. it clears the way for aerial spraying to kill mosquitoes in the city, for the first time in more than 45 years. dallas county has already taken that step. there've been nearly 400 cases of west nile virus in texas this year and 16 deaths. in economic news, industrial production rose in july for the fourth straight month. and consumer prices were unchanged for the third time in four months. on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost seven points to close at 13,164. the nasdaq rose nearly 14 points to close just under 3,031. about four million bumbo baby seats are being recalled because infants can fall out of them. the consumer production safety commission said today there've been at least 50 such incidents and 21 reports of skull fractures. the seats have been sold across the u.s. since august of 2003. the anti-abortion movement in the u.s. today mourned the loss of one of its leaders. nellie gray was found dead in her washington home on monday. she organized the annual march for life, starting in 1974. it's held every january on the anniversary of the supreme court decision that legalized abortion. nellie grawas 88 yea o. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: and we come back to the presidential race. the old dominion is one of the most critical battleground states this fall, and nowhere is it tighter than in northern virginia. the campaign firepower isn't as loud, or lethal, as these cannons used to commemorate the infamous bloody battle of bull run 151 years ago. but the presidential showdown here in northern virginia-- across the river from the nation's capital-- could be even more decisive than that early civil war skirmish. by a convincing six point margin, president obama swept this former stronghold of the confederacy in 2008-- the first win for a democrat here since lyndon johnson in the 1960s. northern virginia is a special focus for both campaigns because of the rapidly changing nature of who votes here. jobs and a steady, healthy economy have attracted hundreds of thousands of commuting newcomers like these of different political stripes. and with priorities that may not necessarily match those of longtime virginia residents. >> well, in many ways, northern virginia has undergone a real transformation. >> woodruff: professor stephen farnsworth teaches political science at the university of mary washington in fredericksburg. >> one of the real powerful factors drawing people to northern v.a. is the fact that there is a lot of government employment not only working for the federaagencies in washington, but also a lot of military bases, as well as defense contractors and otherwise, so what you see in virginia is an extraordinary growth. >> woodruff: so much growth that one-third of the old dominion's" population now lives within about an hour's drive of washington, d.c. not only that, the new virginia is far more diverse than the old. >> you have a large number of latino voters in northern virginia. you have a large number of african-american voters in northern virginia, and you have a growing number of other immigrant groups as well, particularly asians are very fought over in virginia politics. >> woodruff: it adds up to conventional wisdom that as goes northern virginia, so goes the entire state. that's why both candidates are regular visitors to the area and why romney brought his new running mate here over the weekend. >> you'll make the difference. >> we won loudon county last timend if we win loudon county this time, we will win virginia, and if we win virginia, we will win this election. >> woodruff: local democrats like u.s. representative gerry connolly say they hope the president's right, and point to the area's many government connections, giving it an economic cushion-- an unemployment rate of 5.7%, one of the lowest in the nation-- in the aftermath of the financial crash and the recession. >> i represent f exale the highest median household income in the united states, in terms of congressional districts. very high education achievement levels. very high performing school systems. an economy and jobs that were created with the unique partnership between the federal government and the private sector. >> reporter: but republicans like governor bob mcdonnell, say not so fast; that even with a healthy jobs picture, residents here know the president's policies haven't worked. >> we're $5 trillion more in debt. we havno energy policy that is working. so it's time for a change. >> woodruff: just one year after these suburban counties turned blue for obama, an emphasis on jobs helped mcdonnell to a double digit victory winning them back. but a deeply conservative state legislature that made national news pushing mandatory trans- vaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions has since hurt republicans with moderate voters. and, with romney's pick of wisconsin congressman paul ryan as his running mate-- a new dynamic has been added to both campaigns' efforts to appeal to female voters. an avowed catholic, ryan is strongly anti-abortion, as is romney. women made up 54% of the vote four years ago, and favored obama slightly more than men did. the obama team sees another opening this year. >> i don't think the government, you know, should, should be in my bedroom, should be in my doctor's office, should be determining who i'm allowed to marry. >> woodruff: we caught up with mary mclean and a trio of other mothers of young children taking an exercise class in loudon county. three had voted for obama last time; and all shared her view on abortion. >> you shouldn't be able to dictate morality to people. i think it should be a choice, and i think everybody should be able to choose for themselves. >> woodruff: but the main issue these ex-urban moms say is on their minds is the economy. and two of the three who supported obama in '08 say they still aren't decided this me. >> one thing that interests me from the romney side was he seems to have an interesting way of thinking about letting people savings and investments. but i don't know that i can solely place the blame on obama. i think he's done some good things. and i think he's done some not good things, and i don't know that romney will do any better or any worse. >> reporter: every day, every few minutes, in fact, if they go online or watch tv, voters here are reminded of all this by the well-funded romney campaign. the obama campaign-- acknowledging it has a tougher job this time around-- has fired back with ads criticizing romney's business record. >> president romney's first 100 days: creating thousands of new jobs for virginians. but would he? the "washington post" has just revealed that romney's companies were pioneers in shipping u.s. jobs overseas. >> woodruff: the owner of mommy boot camp, kathy corbey, expressed a view many women can relate to. >> i feel like half the time i'm folding laundry and kind of listening in to what's going on. but i also feel like i take everything with a grain of salt, because they say it, and then it just, you don't know what's going to happen. >> woodruff: the one self- described republican in the group, who's not yet sold on romney, said she still hasn't heard a persuasive plan for the economy. >> i feel like no matter if you like everyone has great ideas, but as soon as they get elected, you go back and revert to what the previous president has done. i haven't seen anyone really step outside the box. >> reporter: the economy is also uppermost on the mind of debbie meighan of leesburg. her horseback riding business took a hit with the recession. >> it definitely affected us, because not only did i have a dropoff in my clients, but also my supplies costs were going up. the cost for hay, the cost for feed; veterinary costs. so i was really caught in a squeeze, and i had to cut back on, you know, i had to cut back on our own discretionary spending. we always live a pretty frugal life. we always watch our spending, but we had to watch it that much more. >> woodruff: meighan says she also doesn't know enough about what either candidate would do for the economy. and as someone who often votes republican, she has more questions for governor romney. >> i know he has a business background. i feel like that could help him. but i feel also like he seems to be kind of hanging back and hoping people are just going to vote against obama and not really have to say anything that he might have to be held accountable for later. >> woodruff: not far away, in middleburg, lisa patterson, who usually votes democratic says she leans toward obama but believes neither candidate understands small business, like the sandwich shop she used to run. >> neither of them, you know, i'm talking about a restaurant that grossed $250,000 a year. we're talking small. but i emoyed ten people. and that's important. they weren't high paying jobs, but those are jobs and in a community of 700, those are really important jobs. and i don't think either of them have got a grasp on that at all. i wish they'd come out and work >> woodruff: to try to sway these fence-sitters, both campaigns have upped their ground game. obama got the earlier start but both have now opened offices all across northern virginia-- by phone, via social media and in person. while it tries to overcome what some recent polls show is a double-digit lead for president obama among women here, the romney camp is separately making a big push for voters with ties to northern virginia's defense industry. >> and when you look at issues like sequestration they have a crippling effect on the economy here in northern virginia that would actually make unemployment soar. >> reporter: entrepreneur and investor pete snyder, who chairs the romney campaign in virginia, argues the potential cuts in pentagon spending that could result since congress and the white house didn't agree on a budget plan, are the fault of the president. >> virginia does not believe it's a failure on both sides; there is only one person that can really step in and change this right now. and that's the highest office that's in the land. >> woodruff: democrats including congressman gerry connolly emphatically reject the charge. >> it was republicans who refused a clean debt ceiling vote. they were the ones who walked away from the super committee, remember that? >> woodruff: connolly and others say what matters most-- despite the prosperity that blesses this part of the state-- is the economy: who connects with those middle-class, swing voters especially moms. >> cutting taxes across the board sounds great, everybody would love to have their taxes lowered. but what are you going to cut in order to allow that to happen? >> i think the hard part is, well, if he's not delivering, what are you going to do that is delivering? what would you do so differently? >> woodruff: the choice of ryan as his running mate energizes republican and democratic voters in virginia, but for governor romney and president obama, questions like these continue to hang in the air. so, just what does each campaign need to do to win virginia? we asked professor farnsworth his answers are on our website. >> ifill: next to syria, where in damascus, a bomb attached to a fuel truck exploded near a hotel used by united nations monitors stationed in the capil. at least three people were hurt. u.n. human rights investigators are also accusing forces loyal to president bashar al-assad of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. they said the opposition was guilty of war crimes as well, but not to the same extent. meanwhile, in the northern rebel-held border town of azaz, an air strike by a government jet flattened buildings. reports of the dead ranged from eight to 30, with even more wounded. we have a report narrated by jonathon miller of "independent television news." the blue, the blast cloud indicating the bombs just dropped. in the town of azaz near syria's board we are turkey it seems an entire neighborhood has been flattened. two brothers call out for an ambulance. "it's my sister," says one. she's alive, clinging on for dear life. it must be very hard to take in what's just happened. a little face-- terrified and trapped-- in a prison of reinforced steel and concrete. "keep still" they urge him as they try to figure out how to rescue him. crowds gather. they saw away at the rubble, call into holes. this is no act of god. this was the work of bashar al-assad's air force on the very day the u.n. accused the regime of crimes against humanity and war crimes. a father beckon it is camera over. "my children requests" he says. later pictures show him carrying the children from his home. the town of azaz sits in a large enclave carved out by the rebels in northern syria, but the regime still holds the town's military airport and it's from there they've launched deadly air strikes. one hit a hospital yesterday. the residents of azaz claim the mig fighters which bombed them weren't targeting rebel fighters. they attacked civilians, they insist. more than 18,000 have now been killed since the uprising started. >> woodruff: there were reports of shelling and clashes in another northern city today. those were in aleppo, syria's largest city and commercial center. assad's forces and the rebels have been fighting there for the past several weeks. now, there's a new tool in the arsenal, not a deadly one but rather one that provides key information. margaret warner has our story. >> warner: the fighting in aleppo is now being monitored by a human rights organization using commercially available satellite imaging. amnesty international recently commission digital globe, which operates three private satellites out of this control room in denver, to take images of aleppo and the surrounding area. it's part of a small but growing trend over the past decade to document suspected human rights abuses on the ground in places like sudan nonprofits are buying high-resolution satellite imagery. now this time eye in the sky technology is being employed to document the syria conflict. to explain and analyze this satellite imaging project in syria we turn tocott edwards, managing director for crisis prevention and response at amnesty international u.s.a. and susan wolfenpwarger the analyst for the association of advancement of science. she's with its geospatial technology and human rights program. welcome to you both. scott edwards, beginning with you. why are you trying to accomplish here. what are you looking for? >> we had heard all of these reports in syrian media about a forth come tkeg icive battle and as we've done in the past and documented in the past we often have tdealith the fog of war when you're dealin dealing withl conflict situations and something incredibly valuable when you have high-risk security environments where it's difficult to get researchers on the ground to corroborate reports of human rights violations is to rely on essentially ways to circumvent those information blackouts, such as satellite imagery. so in the case of aleppo, we were very curious exactly what the state of play was with regard to military hardware, positions of particular units, pro-assad units and oth units, bothidesnd to take a baseline of what the city looked like in order to assess risk. >> warner: both sides have been accused of human rights violations in this conflict. the syrian military much more than the rebels what are you looking for in that regard? >> we're looking to make sure all actors protect civilians, to minimize civilian casualties and non-"commitment 2012" bat tonights and that includes those who have been captured on either side who a no lonr taking part in hostilities. >> warner: let's take a look at the satellite images you released and susan i would like you to tell us what we're seeing. the first one is not from aleppo but from a town calledanadan, ten miles outside of aleppo and is already reported to be almost cleared of all of its inhabitants because it's withstood an assault. what do you see in this shot? >> it's from july 31. in this image you can see in the central and southern part is the actual town of aadan and the yellow dots you see surrounding the city are the probably impact craters that were identified by digital globe in the analysis they conducted. >> warner: soa artillery impact craters, that's the yellow dots. >> yes. >> warner: then we have a closeup here. how do you know the black areas area artillery impact craters. >> this is a subset of the larger image and you can see a variety of these black dots that are located across t image. each of these areas are about three to four meters in diameters. >> pelley: three to four meters? so nine feet, ten feet, 12 feet. >> pelley: . >> they can be quite large. i've done previous analysis at impact craters in other conflict situations and so these are very consistent with the type of craters that we've seen in other situations. and the large number of them can also help us to conclude that these aren't something that's occurring due to chance. there is room for interpretation on the part of the analyst but wean feel confident saying that these are impact craters from mortars. >> warner: so, scott, what analysis or conclusion did amnesty tkprau theseanadan and civilians. >> there's grave risk. the fact that the analysts were able to identify over 600 probable impact craters, of course, makes it very cheer heavy weaponry is very much present in and around syria's largest city. >> warner: now, here we have aleppo where the assault is gathering but hasn't fully exploded yet. what do you see here in this very wide shot of aleppo? >> in digital globe's analysis they've already begun to identify some clustering of different types of military installations, artillery, things of that nature. >> warner: so the little red ones are military activity? >> and the orange are roadblocks that they've identified. but you can tell more from the second image. you can see in this image collected on july 23 a number of dierent rdblocks in vehicles that you would find just out in the city. so buses, trucks parked horizontally across the roadways instead of alongside the roadways and in addition you can also see there is one that is over on the left side of the image that there's a large black cloud of smoke coming from it so it's likely been set on fire. >> warner: scott edwards, what do do the photos say to you? >> our image is to do a biasline assessment of where it's possible we'll see violations of manirian law and the rules of war should the conflict escalate in aleppo. the second is to make it clear to actors on the ground that we are watching and it's conceivable that we can construct which units are operating where when large scale human rights violations occur and that should give pause to the actors on the ground who might carry out illegal orders. >> warner: and there are limitations to this, right? -rpblgt you can't, for example, see inside of buildings and the resolution of the satellite prevents you from seeing very small interpersonal violenc >> and what i'd also say is tellite imagery and imaging is just one way that amnesty works to document grave human rights violations. but we've already put out a lot of researchers on the ground and that will continue and we'll use every resource we can and every technological advancement we can to build the case. >> warner: scott edwards from amnesty international u.s.a. and susan wolfenbarger thank you very much. >> ifill: you can take a closer look at the satellite images we just showed you on our website. >> woodruff: we'll be back shortly with the 100th anniversary of julia child's birth. but first: this is pledge week on pbs. >> ifill: finally tonight, the continuing influence of julia child on cooking and american tastes. today would have been the famous french chef's 100th birthday. the tributes have already begun for one of the original pioneers in the pbs family. we have our own look and jeffrey brown is our guide. >> the chicken sisters! ms. boiler, ms. fryer... >> brown: a little confidence, julia child taught several generations of americans, is all you need to cook french cuisine. oh, and a lot of butter. >> if you that then the butter won't burn. >> brown: in fact, it wasn't until her 30s that child even began cooking. she was born in pasadena in 1912, and during world war two, worked for the o.s.s., the precursor to the c.i.a. then in 1949, while her husband was stationed in paris as a foreign service officer, she enrolled at the famed cordon bleu school of cooking. in 1961, she published the first of 18 books and the one that made her a national name. "mastering the art of french cooking" not only launched child as an author. it led to her first t.v. show, which debuted nationally on public television in 1963. >> welcome to "the french chef." i'm julia child. >> brown: in short order, she became a smash hit. there was no one else quite like her. >> you just have to have the courage of your convictions, particularly if its a loose mass. well, that didn't go very but you can always pick it up if you are alone in the kitchen. who is gng to see? >> brown: she was famous enough to be parodied on "saturday night live" >> welcome. i'm julia child and today we're going to make a holiday feast or les fetes d'holidaes. >> brown: even after child's death in 2004, meryl streep introduced her to a younger generation in the film "julie and julia." >> you should have seen the way those men looked at me. and then they discovered i was fearless!" >> brown: now, marking child's 100th birthday, pbs digital studios has released a musical remix of her years on the air... >> you can't define these in a recipe, you can only know them by knowing how the food should taste. >> brown: and today the national museum of american history celebrated julia child, unveiling a new showing of her t.v. kitchen. some thoughts on julia child's impact all these years later. it comes from her great nephew, alex prudhomme. he co-wrote with child the book "my life in france" which, among other things, documents her early years, her passion for french cooking and her struggle to get published. alex, welcome. >> thanks. >> brown: i wanted to start with those years in france that you and she wrote about because that's really where she discovered herself, right? >> it's true. before paul took her to france in 1948, julia hadn't traveled much at all. she'd been to mexico. and although she studied french her whole academic career, she said to me she could never really speak french until she arrived november 3, 1948. paul was in the diplomatic service. he brought her over to france and they stepped off the boat and drove to paris and along the way they stopped at the famous medieval town and had lunch at ruon ander first french meal was a seoul and she described it to me as an opening of the soul. it's where she discovered true passion and the male that changed her life and arguably american cooking. >> brown: now, you you knew her. this exuberance we see, the style, the way of talking, of describing things. that was her? for real? >> well, the julia you saw on television was the real julia i knew as a flesh-and-blood person. i think on television it gets amped up a little bit. you know, she could sometimes get wild and crazy with her blowtorcheand he giant knives and having fun with umbrellas on t.v. she wasn't like that at home but she was really fun. very smart, inquisitive, somewhat mischievous and a very hard worker. so the julia... the essence of the julia you saw on television was the real julia. >> brown: i don't know if you want to call it a philosophy, but this cooking as a social endeavor, cooking as something you talk to people about on the television and that you sort of do for people. that was... that was real? >> that was real. i mean, julia was a great communicator. she was a natural at this new medium at the time, television. and, you know, she had spent years working in obscurity, very hard, preparing her technique and learning about food and when it came time for her to go on television and talk about it to the american public she made it look easy. and one of the things she always said was "it really is easy. don't get disturbed by these long recipes, it's easy." and people followed her tune and, in fact, were really inspired by her to try things th never would have otheise. >> brown: and when she became such a celebrity, she clearly was aware of it. did it change her? change anything? >> not a bit. you know, julia enjoyed the trappings of celebrity hood but she really thought of herself as a teacher and as a student and was in a life long pursuit of knowledge and experience and so the celebrity thing was fun for her because she was a bit of a ham, she enjoyed being on television and having fun with it but really her message was quitserious whicis that we ght to enjoy our foo we ought to take time and care and prepare it directly and we ought to have fun doing it and make it a communal event. >> brown: so she thought of herself first and foremost as a teacher, not as a cook or chef or television personality? >> well, a teacher of cookery. and as a student. she just loved to learn and so i think this celebrity things was a nice side benefit for her. >> brown: we were talking earlier before this started that she was not a high faluting eater herself. she was an aoert, but she would eat the crackers and anything. >> one of her firstor tko +*efrs was the orange goldfish. and she liked a good hamburger and french fry but she knew her sauces and loved elaborate french meals and fine wines. so she was a very democratic in her tastes yeah. or tkefrb. >> how do you see her influence snowed. >> you see it everywhere, of course. she wasn't the first chef on television but she was the one who really brought, i think, cooking on television to a large audience. and you look at what has happened now and there's... it's just exploded. it's amazing. but aside from that there's a seriousness about food in this country that i think she helped to inspire and to spur onward. and there is a real interest in cook books as a genre. and her influence extends in many ways. one of the things that i always like to point out is that she had a sort of life philosophy that she applied to cooking but that one can apply to any aspect of life. it was a very optimistic view of the world, a very positive. she would always say "work hard, take risks. if you make a mistake, don't apologize and above all have fun." and, you know, she would sum it up by saying bon appetit. and i think that was something that is part of her legacy. it's very optimistic can-do risk-taking fun-loving approach to life. >> brown: no doubt why we're still here talking about. >> exactly. >> brown: alex prudhomme, thank you very much. >> merci. >> woodruff: the celebration of julia child's 100th birthday continues on our website. watch the julia child remix made by pbs, take a quiz about the french chef, plus find recipes, full episodes and clips from her programs and much more. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day: there was more tough talk in the presidential race. republican mitt romney accused president obama of waging a campaign of anger and hate. the president accused romney of dishonest claims about the his record on welfare and medicare. and in syria, rebels claimed a government air strike killed at least eight people and wounded dozensore. >> ifill: many of you have followed our stories online about the ins and outs of social security. now there's more. hari sreenevasan explains. >> sreenivasan: the latest installment: a debate on reforming the program. is it too complicated or not so hard to fix? economist larry kotlikoff takes one side. peter diamond, a former national adviser on social security and nobel laureate has the other. that's on our making sense page. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at the warm spring and deep freeze that killed off most of michigan's cherry crop, and the economic fallout. i'm gwen ifill >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online... and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these instutions and foundaons. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org