advantage. that is the nature of the foreign policy debates. now about turnout and early voting. sure and look, i actually think a lot of talk about momentum in this race where the momentum is and isn t. the race has returned to where it with you before the conventions. i agree with that. i told some of my democratic friends after the conventions ended and the president opened up a slight lead, don t believe it we have to run this race. you had no idea he was going to blow the first debate? the president has talked about his performance in the first debate. regardless, i think the race has tightened and it s even and i think any talk about momentum is a i think both campaigns are fooling themselves if they think momentum is a factor. dead even and sitting here with michael and reflecting back on 2000 i think people understand what dead even means and both sides know every vote counts. even though the romney campaign is gi giving the air that how momentum will carry them thr
reaching women voters especially in ohio. what we ve done is reformed education, working with governors, 46 states. let me get back to foreign policy. listen can i get back i need to speak a moment if you ll let me, bob. i was a governor the federal government didn t hire our teachers. but i love teachers. but i want to get our private sector growing and i know how to do it. i think we all love teachers. we all do love teachers. joining me michael feldman, democratic strategist and former adviser to al gore and washington post columnist michael gerson former adviser to george bush. you ve dundee bait you ve done debate prep even against each other. thanks for pointing that out. what did you see last night that surprised you or, you know, confirmed your feelings about where we stand two weeks out? i think both candidates
battleground states getting people to the polls early and states where you can vote early, turning out their voters on election day. that s what matters. i think what the president did last night, aggressively holding governor romney s feet to the fire was sending a message to those voters hey, you know, we don t know what candidate showed up tonight for the debate but we also don t know what candidate will show up in the oval office if elected president. that s why you need to do your job on election day. michael feldman and michael gerson, thank you very much. by the way, i don t know about you but i don t want to revisit 2000. we agree on that. i agree. no ties. and coming up next, the commander in chief test. first letterman takes on foreign policy. you think benghazis is that guy who played gandhi. number nine, always refer to the un as u.n. promise on day one you ll stand up to general so. number seven you praise madagascar s talking animals.
beginning of the afghan war right after 9/11. and bayonets are still marines system get bayonet training as many republicans reminded me and everyone on twitter last night 37 it was clearly a prepackaged line like the 1980s called they want their foreign policy back. always or almost always with those lines, it sounds better in the moment than it might upon going back at it. but most people only watch it in the moment. they don t reanalyze these things. and replay as we showed today. right. thank you so much. thank you. the day after. chris cizilla. and roll reversal who was that republican foreign policy moderate on stage with the president on stage last night? former missouri senator jim talent. and still ahead more on the debate and battleground matchup from two people who have been there, michael gerson and michael feldman. this is andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. with a low national plan premium.
not very steady on his feet on some of these issues. he held his own. didn t make any major gaffes and that was an objective of his. the president was lot more confident. i think the president looked relaxed even when delivering, you know, his points and making sure he was holding governor romney s feet to the fire on some of the positions he had taken earlier in the campaign. but i agree with michael, governor romney s strategy was to get out of there without making a mistake and again, try to neutralize or be vague or wrap himself in president obama s foreign policy. i think somebody said last night it looked like he was auditioning to be secretary of state, not commander in chief. and look, if that was his objective he probably achieved it. michael, you wrote in your column in the washington post about liberalism shrinking agenda and the marginally greater society with the sort of moderated tone coming from the obama camp. but isn t that really what bill clinton did in his re-el