unrest that has spread now beyond the middle east. for more on that and some new polls i'm joined by washington bureau chief for "usa today" susan page and editor in chief of -- reid wilson. >> susan, i'll begin with you. how are these protests and attacks playing out politically for both the president and mitt romney? >> i think they've got the potential to be pretty troublesome for both of them. mitt romney's gotten some criticism this week for speaking as the crisis was still unfolding, seeming opportunistic in talk about it. for president obama, there are risks as well as the focus turns to this unrest which is spreading across the middle east and elsewhere. questions about whether u.s. policy toward iran will be enough to stop it from obtaining nuclear capability. these are issues that we haven't heard much about in the campaign so far. and i think risky maybe for both sides. >> well, reid, both the president and governor romney have made some apparent missteps since this whole thing erupted.