twitter, debate one brought us 10.3 million tweets. debate number 2, the number fell to 7.2. last night it fell further to 6.5 million tweets which is still a lot of people. right after it was over we had a chance to do more normal polling and we asked debate watchers who won and here are the numbers. 48% gave the victory to president obama. 40% said governor romney got the best of it. as dana bash reports, regardless of the outcome, both men had a specific game plan to further their case. >> mitt romney came wanting voters to see him as commander in chief. the commander in chief came determined to make sure that didn't happen. >> i know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you have offered an opinion, you have been wrong. >> time and time again the president's harsh criticism dripd with sarcasm. >> a few months ago when you were asked what is the geopolitical threat facing america, you should russia, not al qaeda. you should russia. in the 1980s or now calling the foreign policy bank because the cold war has been over for 20 years. >> our navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. the navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out the mission. we're down to 285. >> i think governor romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. you mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. we have these things called aircraft carries that planes land on and ship that is go under water, nuclear submarines. >> before the debate romney advisers told cnn he would not the scrappy candidate from the last one. instead, stay solid and steady and not take the president's bait. >> attacking me is not an agenda. >> he recently blamed the president for failing to lead on global hot spots. >> you look at the record of the last four years and say is iran closer to a bomb? yes. is the middle east in tu multi-yes. is al qaeda on the run, on its heels, no. are israel and the palestinians closer to reaching a peace agreement, no. >> for the most part romney was calm in demeanor and remarkably agreeable on policy from syria to egypt to afghanistan. >> we're going to be finished by 2014. when i am president we will make sure we bring our troops out by the end of 2014. >> in fact, the republican who democrats try to paint as a war amonger used the opening minutes to position himself as a peace maker. >> i congratulate them on taking out osama bin laden and going after the leadership in al qaeda, but we can't kill our way out of this mess. >> romney successfulry got under the president's skin by repeating this allegation. >> then the president began what i call an apology tour of going to various nations in the middle east and criticizing america. i think they looked at that and saw weakness. >> nothing governor romney just said is true. starting with this notion of me apologizing. this has been probably t the biggest whopper told during the course of this campaign. >> one of the most fiery exchanges was not about foreign policy but rather something decidedly american, the u.s. auto industry. >> if we had taken your advice about the auto industry, we would be buying car from china instead of selling cars to china. >> i am a son of detroit. i was born in detroit. my dad was head of a car company. i like american cars. i would do nothing to hurt the u.s. auto industry. i said the companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy. fortunately the president -- >> that's not what you said. >> you can take a look at the op-ed. >> you did not say that you would provide help. >> i said we would provide guarantees and that was what was able to allow the companies to go through bankruptcy and come out of bankruptcy. >> check the record. >> that's the height of silliness. >> let me bring dana bash in live from boca. this was supposed to be a foreign policy debate and seemed to frequently stray back to domestic policy and we think that was part of the plan. >> you would be right. especially for mitt romney who thinks that that is really his wheelhouse in terms of his own experience but also because that's what americans care most about. they care most about reviving the bad economy in this country and so it wasn't an accident that both he and the president at various points turned the conversation back to the economy and at sometimes it was much to the chagrin of the moderator bob sheaffer because he was trying to keep it on track on foreign policy. the argument that romney especially made, the president to some degree as well, is that they're all connected. you can't talk about foreign policy without talking about the economy because the global economy is what we're in now. they're one in the same. >> dana, real quickly, it was no -- you didn't need a rocket scientist. there was general consensus after the first debate obama lost and even the liberal networks were saying he lost and he lost badly. is there any consensus after this debate, the polls say he won. what are people saying? >> you know, there is want a clear consensus like the first one, but it seems as though most of the snapshot polls including cnn's show that the president did win. what the romney campaign argues is that he might not have actually won the debate so to speak but he went in and accomplished what he wanted to which is to sit on the same stage with the commander in chief and come across as somebody who voters can see as commander in chief. that was the goal. that's why i think that there were moments where you can almost see, ashley, mitt romney biting his tongue trying not to take the bait because that was his goal going in calm, steady, cool, and that was the way he decided that he wanted to be the entire time. >> all right, dana bash, have to leave sunny florida and come back to d.c. nice to have you. appreciate it. now that the debate is behind all of us and the candidates are back out on the road, mitt romney left florida a short while ago and headed for a campaign rally in nevada, bigs to-up state. president obama staying in florida and firing up the crowd taking aim at his opponent. >> if you have come down with a case of romnesia, if you can't seem to remember the policies on your website, or the promises that you have been making over the six years you have been running for president, if you can't even remember what you said last week, don't worry. obama care covers preexisting conditions. we can fix you up. we can cure the disease. >> so that was had this morning in delray, florida, and by the way, the early voting in that state starts on saturday, but early voting opened up in two more states just today, hawaii and louisiana. so at our count that makes 31 states where people can already go to the polls. they may have already done it. they still have their chance. for millions of people who have already voted, last night's debate was kind of window dressing. for a lot of voters in the states yet to do so, they can watch last night's debate and just go right on out today and cast the ballot. then there are the millions of uncommitted voter who is are still out there, about 10% of other electorate in the u.s. could still change their minds before election day. 14 days to go, lots of minds to change. for them going into this debate last night was a virtual toss up. paul steinhauser joins me live and our poll right off the top done late into the nature, paul, said that president obama won the debate. it is really only part of the story as it always is. you start breaking the numbers apart and see a very rich picture. can you draw that for me today? >> the numbers behind the numbers i guess you could say. as you mentioned earlier 48% said the president won the debate. 40% said mitt romney, a slight advantage for the president. let's go beyond the numbers and how did the president get that? among debate watchers mitt romney had a slight advantage on who won among men. look at that, the president with a large double-digit lead among women when it comes to who won want debate. that's one of the reasons. also, the other reason expectations. look at this. the president 59% said the president performed better than expected. that is 15 points higher than the 44% who said mitt romney performed better than expected, so expectations, another reason why, ashley. >> and just quickly, the very important issue for mitt romney going into this foreign policy debate was whether he seemed presidential. what did our polling tell us? >> you were touching on that. it seems mitt romney came out where he wanted to. take a look at that. we asked in the poll of debate watchers can both of these guys perform as commander in chief and handle the job? look at mitt romney, right there, competitive with the president, 63% said the president and of course he has already been in the white house for four years and the bigger challenge for mitt romney and 60% say he can handle the duties and i think the most important number of all d this debate change minds at least among the people that watched the final face off and the answer appears to be no. they said it did not change their mind or more likely to vote for either and of the remaining half, basically a draw. one other inning about this poll, slightly more republicans and i question it than a national average so skews slightly republican. overall, very interesting numbers, two weeks to go, ashley. >> fascinating, especially the 50%. thank you so much. we have a lot more on the debate particulars. if you want to see the final presidential debate from stem to stern, and we have it all for you, just stay right here. we're going to replay the whole thing, whole ka boolgds next hour. copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. with have these things calmed aircraft carriers where planes land on them. we have ships that go under water and nuclear submarines. >> attacking me is not an age a agenda. attacking me is not talking about how we're going to deal with the challenges in the middle east. i want to take one of those points again, attacking me is not talking about an agenda forgetting more trade and opening up for jobs in this country. >> ouch. you know, what we knew going into last night's presidential debate was the substance, foreign policy, but what we didn't know is what the style was going to be and how the two were going to behave. let's rewind a little and take a look back. at times they seem to agree to agree. >> well, first of all, i want to underscore the same point the president made. >> governor romney, i am glad that you agree that we have been successful in going after al qaeda. i am glad that governor romney agrees with the step that is we're taking. >> i couldn't agree more about going forward. >> it sounded like you thought that you do the same things we did, but you would say them louder and somehow that would make it different. >> there were also the moments where there were several interruptions. have a listen. >> i am sorry -- >> there was an effort on the part of the president to have a -- >> it is not our opinion. >> here is one thing i have learned as commander in chief. you have to be clear. >> that's -- >> let's see. >> can we come back? >> stop the insanity. then of course there were the moments where there were flat out zingers and attacks. pay close attention to the lines moving on the bottom of the screen, the yellow and the green lines. this is clear evidence of how our focus group of undecided florida voters were responding to the attacks. to get perspective, amy holmes, the anchor of the real news and john stanton join me live to talk about this. i saw serious dips when the attacks started and, amy, i want your reaction first. they definitely flat lined when people got testy and dipped below when it got testier. generally speaking, don't voters sort of respond to the attacks? >> well, clearly the romney campaign as well as the obama campaign to a certain extent decided trying to get tangled up in zingers and fire and heat and spice was not good for them, particularly for romney. listen, ashley, as a conservative, as a political junkie, i love my politics raw. i love it when they go after each other. mitt romney made a tactical decision that trying to land those punches, throw those zingers at the president of the united states was a bad way to reach independents, moderates, swing voters and particularly women and as you saw on the dials, voters, they don't like it. they don't respond well when it looks like the candidates are going after each other and not after the issues. >> it is the immediate thing we were measuring. they were truly responding in realtime twisting their dial as they were listening to the debate live. so, john, i want you to get in on this because our national correspondent john king had something very interesting to say about all of this and made an interesting point about the affect, not the immediate effect, but the affect. have a listen. >> people hate the negative ads and you ask them on the way out of the polling place why did you make your choice and they recite the last two negative ads. i am not insulting voters. one of the things about traveling, people do say they're sick of them, but they can't escape them. >> john, is it a little like a car crash, we hate the idea it is there, but we stare and remember it. the attack ads, you may not like them, but they stick. >> they absolutely do stick. i think john is right. if you look at happened this summer for instance with mitt romney with his tax returns and some of those issues, initially people sort of frowned on senator harry reid when he made attacks like that, but they stuck and it became part of the way people view mitt romney, similar things happened with president obama with the apology tour that came up last night. you know, i think people do respond to them negatively in the beginning, but they sink in and become part of how they view the candidate, how they view the election, and that's why no one is willing to ever give them up. even politicians say they don't like them and yet they turn around and beat on each other constantly. >> ashley, that's the thing. the negative ads against mitt romney all summer long have evaporated after mitt romney's performance in denver, and that's precisely the gamble that mitt romney was making last night, that he wants to carry that momentum forward and not allow the negative attacks to stick if he is boisterous or rambunctious. >> 30 seconds left and, amy, you will start. the likability factor among our polling dipped for president obama with all of that attacking that may stick, so quick line from you, amy, and quick line from john. was it worth it on a foreign policy debate that might not have been watched by that many people to go for the gust owe and yet perhaps lose likability? >> when you attack your opponent, you may bring his negatives down but you also bring your own negatives down. i think last night you saw mitt romney was playing for the center, the undecideds. when he talked about bipartisan ship, president obama was playing to the base. those zingers were went to get up the base. it is a get out the vote effort at this point. >> obama can lose a little in the likability, but i agree. i think it is a little dangerous game to play. you start to see yourself go down even if you bring your opponent down. >> good to have both of you, amy holmes and john stanton. thanks very much. reminder, you can watch and rewatch if you already did president obama and governor romney on their style and their substance complete with that little dial today at noon eastern we'll reair the final presidential debate on cnn. now, that's what i call a test drive. silverado! the most dependable, longest lasting, full-size pickups on the road. so, what do you think? 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[music: artist: willy moon ♪ everybody well don't you know it's me now? ♪ ♪ yeah who's it, who's it huh? ♪ ♪ willy's back with a brand new beat now, ♪ ♪ yeah doin' it doin' it up! ♪ heyyy yeah, tryin' to bite my style! ♪ ♪ heyyy yeah, how you like me now? ♪ ♪ na na na na na na na na ♪ and everybody go uh! >> one of the big zinger from the debate, getting a lot of traction today as well. a big disagreement over defense spending, how and why and how much to the tune of $2 trillion difference. governor romney wants to beef up spending over the next ten years. while the president wants cuts, essentially wants to keep spending where it is now. horses and bayonets, the line is trending online, and it is all over tv today as well. conservatives like virginia governor bob mcdonnell are attacking the president for dismissing or insulting the military. liberals thought this is one of the better jabs from the night. cnn contributor spooider marks, you may say this is his wheelhouse. did i say general? live with me from virginia. was this dismiss civil? should i take the conservatives at their word this was dismiss active? you're the military man. >> i would say it was very flip. i can't wait for the "saturday night live" skit that will demonstrate horses and irrelevant to horses and bayonets. i think he missed an opportunity to say, look, our military is incredibly adaptable and let's not forget very arcane point that when our special operations forces first went into afghanistan and linked up with partisans in afghanistan, post 9/11, they did that by horse back. that's just a small fact. my point is of course the military adapts. the navy is incredibly adaptive and needs to maintain a very robust presence if the economy and if our debt is the number one national security challenge, i would suggest that it is, then we must be able to export and trade internationally and our sea lanes have to be protected and that is the mission of our neighbor. >> i understood what the president was saying when he said horses and bayonets are out of use as well, and it did make sense to me, but it also was -- i had a question when governor romney suggested that 313 ships are required for fully operational navy. it is my understanding that's from an out dated assessment. isn't that true? >> i would not -- no, i would not suggest that for a second. i would say that you look at all the global comments, those areas that the united states navy must -- >> i am only suggesting that because i have research that the navy secretary said that the navy could carry out its mission with 300 ships. he did this based on just a very recent study. he had the criticism was incomplete and inaccurate from mitt romney. that was just right there liftin