answering questions about her views on sexual orientation, sway bit strange, because the congresswoman has never been shy on the issue before. as a state senator, she sponsored an amendment to minnesota's constitution banning same-sex marriage. she spoke out sharply against homosexuality. she even spoke out about againsting the adjective "gay" in connection with same-sex orientation. that's how outspoken she was. >> it's part of satan i think to say it's gay. it's anything but gay. if you're involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it is bondage. it is personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement. >> claiming that millions of gays and lesbian americans are living in personal bondage or personal despair, personal enslavement, claiming that the very use of the word gay is satanic sounds like personal and judgment, certainly not a fact. she also refers to the gay and lesbian lifestyle by which one can only assume she means it's a choice. bachmann went on to describe it as a mental illness. >> we need to have profound compassion for people who dealing with sexual identity disorders. >> apparently miss bachmann believes it's a lifestyle choice and a disorder. the american psychiatric association does not consider it any kind of disorder or mental illness. ms. bachmann is entitled to her opinion, but what is interesting she is no long willing to share that opinion of hers publicly. for week news she has been deflecting statements about her past statements by calling the question irrelevant or frivolous. this is the response she has given when asked about it. >> i am running for the presidency of the united states. i am not running to be anyone's judge. >> and i am more than happy to stand for questions on running for presidency of the united states. >> you know, all these kind of questions really aren't about what people are concerned about right now. >> i am running to be the president of the united states. i am not running to be any person's judge. >> well, i'm running for the presidency of the united states. and i'm here today to talk about job creation. >> she is running for president, which is very possibly the reason why she is not answering this question about her past statements. when asked about the statements by new hampshire's concord monitor, congresswoman bachmann said, quote, i'm not involved in light, frivolous matter, i'm involved in serious issues. yet the light frivolous matters were once serious enough to advocate changing her state's constitution. by the way, we invited ms. bachmann on tonight as we do on many nights our invitation was declined. dana bash, also cornell belcher, who served as a pollster in the 2008 obama campaign. so cornel, obviously folks in the media don't like it when folks dodge their questions. does it have any repercussions on the campaign trail? >> it actually does, anderson. i'm a little shocked by this. it's one thing voters dislike more than a candidate who doesn't agree with them on the issues is a candidate they feel will flip-flop on the issue or change on the issue when they feel it's politically inconvenient because they fundamentally then cannot trust the candidate. if you can't trust a candidate, i don't care what your position is on education, health care, gays and lesbians, if they can't trust you, they're not going give you the benefit of the doubt in any of the areas. the other real quick point about this is as a woman candidate, there are stereotypes that she has to deal with that male candidates don't. minorities have to deal with it as well. this has also become problematic if it looks like you're ducking the issue or you're not certain about the issue. it also feeds into a stereotype that is harmful to women candidates. >> dana, from your perspective, why do you think she is ducking this question? or do you think she is ducking it? >> well, i don't necessarily know. i don't necessarily agree that she is ducking the question. i think that she has answered it over and over again. and my assumption is that if she is now running, she is now running for the presidency, maybe she feels that this question isn't relevant at a time when we're dealing with 9.2% unemployment, and it's all about the economy right now. i really think that it could be just very easy for her to just say look, on this issue, with the exception of "don't ask, don't tell," i feel the exact same way about this as president obama. i feel the same way about this with most people of most faiths. >> that's not true, though. you mentioned "don't ask, don't tell." but also president obama is not defending the defense of marriage act, which she is. president obama hasn't called this satanic or people living this disorder. >> i'm talking about the issue of gay marriage and the president has said well, my opinion is evolving. so if we're going to talk about statements that michele bachmann has made and statements that she has made in 2004 and all of, that i think it's equally fair if we're going to do this, then we need to make sure we give the exact same due diligence to the president's own religious beliefs and the churches that she has gone to. if we really want to put all of this on the line, then let's put it all on the line. this is the exact same thing that george bush also had to deal with when he was running for president. he was asked by the media -- and i think a lot of the questions that comes to social conservatives are ways for people to perhaps maybe show that these candidates are somehow not as valid as other candidates who don't have as strong as religious beliefs during the campaign. >> so cornell, dana is essentially saying that this is in some ways kind of the media trying to show her to be a fringe candidate. >> well, i think her statement sort of speak for themselves. i think what is interesting here is that, you know, and thing is a fundamentally a good thing, is when you look at how the american public is shifting on their viewpoint about gay and lesbian marriage and gays and lesbians in the military, you know, you have to seek sort of candidates move in. as michele bachmann becomes less of a fringe candidate, and dana, i think she is your front-runner, she is trying to mainstream herself. and frankly, you're looking at sort of where the public is taking the american people on this. the american people have moved on, particularly with that younger crowd of voters, the new vote was disproportionately younger voters. they don't even understand the gay and lesbian issue as a political issue. to win those voters, she has to move from where she has been. >> dana, i want to branch off to talk about rick perry. he entered the race this weekend. how do you see him from your perspective? how strong a candidate is he? >> i think he is a very strong candidate. and i think he sort of fills a vacuum that has been created by -- you have mitt romney, which grassroots voters absolutely reject mitt romney. he has a very moderate record. he has a very inconsistent record. and he can say he is business-friendly all he wants to, but his record speaks otherwise. when he was governor of massachusetts. and then you have michele bachmann who is very, very conservative. she has a history of voting against a lot of big ticket, big government items during her time in the house of representatives. and then you have rick perry who is right in the middle of both of these candidates. so i think he has the potential to really appeal to grassroots while at the same time i think maybe kind of attracting independents and some more moderates. so i think he is a huge threat initially i think to mitt romney, and that's why we're also seeing them going right off the bat and trading barbs at each other. >> right. >> but at the same time, perry may want to ignore bachmann's candidacy as a way to push her to the outside and make it appear as though it's just him and romney. it's a really interesting triangle. >> cornell, from the white house perspective, who do you think they would be most worried about or concerned about? >> in the end, from the white house -- by the way, i don't think i could attack mitt romney and michele bachmann more effectively than dana just did. we're going to look at this and say look, you know what? either of these candidates are so in the pocket with the tea party. and if you're looking at sort of how the tea party's ratings have dropped over the last couple of months, especially with independent voters, look, if you like what the tea party is doing in congress, wait until they have a governing partner in the white house, and they're going to have that either with either perry or michele bachmann. and the way mitt romney is running, even with mitt romney. >> dana bash, cornell belcher, i appreciate having you on. follow us on twitter. it's been a busy night so far. up next, president obama just wrapped up tone hall meeting in iowa. part of a three-day swing through iowa, minnesota and illinois. republicans have launched an ad against the trip, calling it taxpayer-funded campaigning. it is? we'll play play some of it so you can decide for yourself. and later, the tragedy at the indiana state fair. the video is just unbelievable. you'll see what happened as it happened. get the latest on investigators trying to figure out how to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. so many lives lost. anderson, you may have seen the video. an 11-year-old boy's amazing shot at a hockey game. the crowd went wild. the boy won $50,000. but now he may not be able to keep the money. we'll tell you when "ac 360" continues. anananananannouncer ] this...is the network. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪ to help move business... it's true.rd. you never forget your first subaru. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. helping strengthen our bones. caltrate delivers 1200 milligrams of calcium and 800 iu of vitamin d plus minerals. women need caltrate. caltrate helps women keep moving because women move the world. in servicing clients that serve our country. my name is marjorie reyes. i'm a chief warrant officer. i am very grateful and appreciative that quicken loans can offer service members va loans. it was very important for me to be able to close and refinance my home quickly. i wanted to lower my mortgage payment. quicken loans guided me through every step of the process. the whole experience was amazing! 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[ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!! i want to talk now about president obama's swing through the midwest. a bus tour. the question is it an official visit or campaign trip? politics or policy? the president arriving earlier this evening in iowa for a town hall meeting at a local barn. he was in minnesota earlier today. all that two days after the political universe was focused on the iowa straw polls and a candidate from minnesota. coincidence? probably not. the barn done up in red, white and blue bunting, dressed up like the side of a campaign rally. what the president said here and in minnesota, you could argue it was harder to pin down there. was this moment that certainly sounded like a campaign call to action. >> i am enlisting you in this fight. if you're making your voices heard, if you're letting people know that enough is enough, it is time to move forward. >> the president also promised to put forward a detailed jobs plan next month. and here he is distancing himself from congress and any partnersh partisanship. >> there is no shortage of ideas to put people to work right now. what is needed is action on the part of congress, a willingness to put the partisan games aside and say we're going to do what is right for the country, not what we think is going to score some political points for the next election. >> so is bad-mouthing politics actually campaign politics in disguise? gop candidate mitt romney weighed in today. listen. >> the president has set about a bus tour today, going to swing states. and frankly, i think the american people would rather see him in washington working on getting this economy going again. he seems to be more intent on trying to save his job than to try and create jobs for the american people. i saw this morning that his approval ratings are at an all-time low for him that is not because he is not campaigning. it's because he is not leading. >> well, the republican party is running a campaign ad slamming the trip. watch. >> the road ahead darkens, and as he drives into the horizon, angry skies greet us. this man is barack obama. welcome to his taxpayer-funded dead-end tour. >> that's the gop's view. this is the president's fifth trip in three days or more. taxpayers do pay for presidential trips. but political parties and campaign organizations reimburse the government for the political portions of the agenda for overt campaigning and fundraising. it's a old tradition for presidents in both parties and a tradition as well for the outparty to complain about it. as for the polling, president obama's approval rating is at 39%, the first time below 40% in the poll. with us is john king and david gergen. what exactly does this mean that they pay for the political portion? how do you decide what the political portion of a trip like this is? >> welcome to washington. if he had a fundraising, that's a political portion of the trip. if he went to a democratic party headquarters, that would be the political portion of the trip. when you're the president of the united states and you say i need your help, join the fight, the white house would make the argument he means when he pushes a jobs bill. he means when he is arguing about the next round of deficit reduction. look, he is campaigning with a lower case c in the eyes of the law. the republicans will complain about this. and if it was back in the bush administration, it would be the democrats complaining about this. if it was the clinton administration, it would be the republicans complaining about it. it happens all the time. it is a fine line. the white house will make the argument he is arguing about policy. he is not criticizing anybody by name. he didn't say the republican congress even. he said the congress. all presidents do this. but watch where the president goes, anderson, as president when the taxpayers are paying for it. and guess what? they're key electoral states. that's the way it is. >> no coincidence. last week you said you thought the president should cansle this bus tour, that that would have been the right move for him. why? and why do you think he didn't? >> well, he clearly has politics on his mind. one has a sense that the campaign really officially launched this weekend. we moved offspring training and we have gotten the official campaign with the ames poll and the president coming out and answering his critics, slamming back, and clearly campaigning. john is right. and other presidents have done this. there was a brookings study just a few years ago listing the times that both george w. bush and bill clinton went on tours like this. and charged it off to the government as official. so it is done all the time. but it's an opening for the republicans now. on the larger point, though, i must tell you, anderson, i hope that we haven't sort of switched off the lyings on the concern about the economy because, you know, the truth is the economy is getting worse. i've just been in europe, back in europe this weekend. and there is a deepening concern there about lost jobs being lost here in the future. that they may move into a double-dip. and i do think the american people would prefer to see the president at work trying to create jobs back in washington right now before he goes on a well-deserved vacation. >> we did hear some strong words from the president about republicans today, john. i want to play that for our viewers. oh, we don't have that. do you think, john, you know, romney said that the president's more interested in saving his own job than creating jobs for americans. that's not really fair. an incumbent does have to campaign at some point. >> of course he does. and as david noted, the republicans are out there. iowa is a textbook example. george w. bush carried iowa after al gore carried iowa, then barack obama carried iowa. it is a small state. it doesn't matter much in electoral college politics unless you're in a 50-50 presidential election. then little states like iowa, new mexico, and nevada become a huge deal. iowa is a huge deal. the president's support among white voters, especially in rural america has dropped. these town halls today he is having outside, a lot of liberals are standing up and saying why didn't you fight for single-pair health care? remember, in a close election, politics is about the margins. if he down among whites, down among independents, that's why his rating is at a historic low, a few liberals stay home, then you're talking about a very dicey dynamic for a president who already knows he is in a very steep domestic ditch because heading into the reelection campaign. look, governor romney is going to say what governor romney says. the president is fighting for his job every single day. and everything he does as president from this point forward is for better or worse political. that's just the nature of the beast. >> and david, we heard some strong words from the president about republicans. i do want to play the sound we didn't have. >> we just went through this debacle with the debt ceiling. an entirely self-inflicted wound. it wasn't something that was necessary. we had put forward a plan that would have stabilized our debt and our deficits for years to come. but because the politics in which some folks in congress, not the folks who are here, but some in congress would rather see their opponents lose than america win -- >> david, do you anticipate seeing president obama -- i mean do you think he is kind of honing his campaign talk at this point, starting to toughen up? >> absolutely, anderson. he is moving from conciliation with republicans to confrontation. look, he is getting slugged regularly from republicans, and he doesn't want to become a punching bag. so naturally enough, he is going to slug back. the question i think becomes, as both sides go at each other, are they going to make it even more difficult to reach some sort of agreement on the debt here in the next few weeks if the atmosphere in washington becomes as partisan as the campaign trail is right now, that's going to make it a lot more difficult. and can he get an agreement on jobs? it's not clear to me, and i'd be curious about john's view on this, because it's not clear to me that if we go at each other this way whether that's really going to