focusing on parsing that is necessarily what voters are going to be concerned about. i think the bigger issue for me in that moment was governor romney s failure to take something that pretty much 100,000 conservative pundits and activists and politicians could have taken the moment to make a macro point about the way the administration has handled what happened in benghazi to speak to larger themes about the president s leadership they want to project to voters and governor romney almost failed on that. you won t find many republicans tell you anything other than governor romney failed on that answer. now, both to both chris and mark, we look at where they are today. and clearly ohio and virginia, those are the important state right now. mark, first to you, the battleground as you now see it post-debate, shaping up in this next three weeks? it s great fun to play with the map and pretend we live in a country with 50 states but, in
though mark is right in his broad analysis. if mitt romney can t win ohio, his paths to 270 electoral votes while not impossible become close to implausible. that it does wind up having him having to run a set of states that include places like iowa, nevada, colorado, new hampshire which he could do but it s not likely he would do. i just think there s a reason no republican has been elected president without winning the state of ohio. i just think that s the place mitt romney has to find a way and we ve seen the last two weeks his numbers have bounced back there some, but he s still behind. he has to find a way to turn that state. it s 18 electoral votes. you know, that makes up for a lot of problems in colorado or nevada or new hampshire or iowa. it s a big electoral treasure trove and i just think without that, he doesn t get there. now with thank you very much to chris cizilla and to mark halperin. everybody needs to get some sleep, i think this has been what a stretch we r
culture, for people to process it and come out of watching it or reading the coverage of it with an opinion. so i think the tightening in pennsylvania, there s tightening in ohio, florida, there s polls that show mitt romney ahead. you mentioned new hampshire. polling in colorado, virginia. what we re seeing broadly is what we ve seen in states at the national level. barack obama mid to high single digit lead at the national level is a tie. i think in most battle ground states he s lost a few points. it s why this debate is critically important for had him. he knows and his team knows he can not put in a performance like he did 13 days ago if he does that, the momentum that is on mitt romney s side will continue to build and my expectation you would see more erosion in the obama numbers both nationally and in swing states. and chris, as you can see right now we re rolling some video which is the president
confident, mitt s got a good presence about him. look at you for encouragement? you know, i can never tell, but i m always primed just in case he is, so i m perched looking at had him, smiling giving a thumb s up if he can see it. and good day. i m andrea mitchell live at hofstra university in new york. we have a big crowd here. a thumb s up to them and let s play 20 questions. president obama and mitt romney come face to face with real people tonight, 80 undecided but likely voters chosen by gallup from this community be around hofstra. moderator candy crowley of cnn will choose which 20 will get to a ask those questions if they get to all 20. joining me for our daily fix chris cizilla, msnbc contributor and managing edito of post politics.com. hey, chris. hey there, andrea. love that lively crowd.
madden plus tom brocade, chris cizilla, michael gerson, john heilemann and senator callie hyattp. all that plus secretary of state hillary clinton responds to tough attacks on libya from the republicans about benghazi. we ll talk to kelly ayotte about that as well. join me live from hofstra, debate day, coming up next. ah. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter too? what? this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier sure does who are you? [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing home-cooked meals. ambiance [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. your head-start to home cooked.