Dman bash and dan balz. Im candy crawley and this is the state of the union. Al qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama Bin Laden is dead. Up against criticism the president s approach has been too hard on friends and too conciliatory to enemy sfwls the president s policies throughout the middle east began with an apology tour. Tomorrows debate the last before the election will focus solely on Foreign Policy. Its certain to include the specific, including the who knew what when questions surrounding the murders of four americans in benghazi to the big picture debate over americas role in the village. Joining me to the debate is Bill Richardson and newt gingrich. I want to get to that. But first i want to get just your remembrances of senator George Mcgovern who died today at the age of 90. In some ways he played a pivotal role in the democratic candidate in 72 in the midst of a war. He was a great statesman. I knew him quite well and im very saddened. I think he will be remembered obviously for his stance in the war in vietnam, for his bomber missions, but also for his christians on agriculture, on hunger. And then the democratic party, he transformed the party, the primary system, getting minorities involved. He was a giant figure and a classy, good, good guy. You probably had nothing in common with senator mcgovern politically. George was a complicated person. He served as a bomber pilot in world war ii. He was not a pass vis. I remember being with him at the u. S. Embassy in rome for dinner one night and talking about he and goldwater. He said one thing about losing so badly is you dont have regrets. He ran a Small Business, bed and breakfast and wrote a great a that he heaped up on Small Business through the regulations he sponsored. A great guy. I think he was far more complicated than just dove would lead you to believe as is the case with most everybody we talk about. Far more complicated. I want to move on to Foreign Policy and this big and final debate and ask you, one of the questions i hear all the time, is there a fundamental difference between these two men that you have di certained over the totality of Foreign Policy . There is a big difference. Im concerned about governor romney becoming commander in chief. I told newt when we served in the house together he knew Foreign Policy and he rose above partisanship on issues like the peso crisis, nafta. We worked together. Governor romney just seems to be bluster, blunder, cowboy on Foreign Policy and im troubled at this time when we had the benghazi crisis he is trying to make political gain and im troubled in the house of representatives with the House Oversight committee releasing information about some libyan nationals that we are exposing to danger. I think the president has a strong record in Foreign Policy. He went after bin laden. He decimated al qaeda. Hes restored our alliances. I think hes going to be hardly an advantage when it comes to Foreign Policy. Mr. Speaker, you are unusually quiet. I respect him. Congressman, embassy, secretary of energy. But we obviously have a very different view of this. First of all, governor romney lived overseas several years as a missionary, worked in International Business for many years, as the governor of massachusetts dealt with International Relations as a governor and dealt with the entire world in helping rebuild the Winter Olympics and had virtually every count in the world in that instance. He is a man that understands the world. The bigger difference is a different between self deception and realism. If you look at the obama approach in the middle east it is all falling apart. Look at libya, where you have a country where even today we are in arguments over benghazi which ought to leave every person to worry about our intelligence capabilities. If we cant figure out what wenting on in a relatively open city, in a country we helped liberate, why do we think we know what is going on with the Iranian Nuclear program . And i think you can go country by country and see the fraying at the edges of the obama policy and the fact apologizing to islam and worrying about this and mentioning, for example, the stupid film six times in the United Nations speech is not a strategy that is getting us anywhere in the region. I want to inform the audience here, this is our latest Pew Research Center poll. The question is who could do a better job making wise Foreign Policy decisions and it shows september to october the president has dropped six points in this. The former governor has picked up five points. Whats happened in that time has been benghazi. So the answer to the question, if we dont know what happened in a relatively open city, that by the way the United States least helped to keep free, how can we possibly stake what the u. S. Does next on what we think is happening in iran with the building of a Nuclear Weapon . First, candy, when i was the u. N. Embassy, i get a daily intelligence assessment but those intelligence assessments change with more information coming in. But when the president found out about what happened in benghazi, the next day he called it an act of terror twice in washington and in nevada. He ordered an investigation. He increased Embassy Security and he said he was going to bring those individuals responsible to justice. Now, our libya policy worked. Nato came in. We assisted nato. We came in on humanitarian grounds. I think have been on the right side let me ask you, do you know what happened in benghazi . Ive seen the press reports. Im not privy to whats happened. But i do think it is a strong al qaeda effort. More than a month later we are now toldle that ambassador rice was, in fact, acting on what the Intelligence Community supposedly told her on sunday after this attack. What they told her on sunday f that is correct, was factually false. We still dont know in detail. We dont know who the people in charge were. You have over 100 people in a fivehour running battle. This is not a temporary mob or a shortterm thing. They now say at least four al qaeda members are involved. Let me give you a Bigger Picture for a second. The way we handled libya as it collapsed, over 10,000 weapons moved in. The reason that is relevant, syria has one of the largest if not the largest chemical weapons stockpiles in the world. If that dictatorship falls in such a way that those chemical weapons get in to terrorist hands, we have an enormous threat everywhere in the civilized world in my judgment. I want to play something that president obama said at tuesday nights debate. The question to him which never got answered, was whose decision was it not to beef up security after so many folks we are now learning through the cables to the state department had asked for it. This is part of what he had to say. The suggestion that anybody in my team or the secretary of state, u. N. Ambassador, anyone on my team would play politics or mislead when we have lost four of our own, governor is offensive. First to you, mr. Speaker, how does mitt romney avoid that sdmarch they are playing politics because you hear it on the campaign trail. This is politics, it is politics. It is offensive for the president of the United States to prethaend being asked a serious question about a serious topic in a president ial campaign is some personality game. The fact is the president of the United States, he says he was responsibility. He was asked. He said hillary is not responsible. She works for me. Im responsible. If he is responsible why this is his quote. He felt like the taliban was inside the state department. He faelt felt his major enemies were in the state department. This is the man in charge of security for the middle east who talked painfully about being turned down and told dont you even ask for security. You are not going to get it. Candy, what troubles me is that governor romney, before we knew that four americans had died was already taking political pot shots over this incident. I think that is fundamentally wrong. Foreign policy he was actually, in fact, responding to something that came out of the embassy in cairo. Well, at the same time, candy, 0 and then in subsequent debates. Wait a second. This is a typical. No, no. Romney was not responding to benghazi. Romney was responding to the embassy in cairo apologizing over the movie at a time when nonetheless at a time when our people were attacked, he was he made several political statements that morning. I think thats whats wrong. What i want to stress, again, is that theres a difference between Embassy Security. Diplomate security takes care of the ambassador. Marines take care of the embassy. There was a statement that paul ryan made that confused the two. So it was trying to make political hay before the facts were in. I went friday night to see argo which is an interesting film about the rescue of six americans from the embassy in iran. I was reminded it runs 444 days. Should ronald reay that gan not have talked about it 444 days. The mess keeps involving. There continue to be dintss an you gave a good example. I dont care whether it is the diplomate Security Service or the marine corps they failed to respond and rejected demands they get help. The ambassador was personally worried not only about hoiz own life and violence and the Obama Administration did nothing. If that offends the president that is his problem and he ought to get over it. I felt like we have had a predebate debachlt thank you for coming here. Thank you for being here. Next up, this red state turned blue in 2008 and help put president obama in the white house. Four years later it is up for fwrabs again. Battleground virginia is next. S again. Battleground virginia is next. Gs again. Battleground virginia is next. G. Battleground virginia is next. A. Battleground virginia is next. B. Battleground virginia is next. [ female announcer ] born from the naturally sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature. Now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. The only 100 natural, nocalorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. The rich, sweet taste of sugar. Nothing artificial. Its all that sweet ever needs to be. New nectresse. Sweetness naturally. I have a cold. I took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesnt work on runny noses. What . [ male announcer ] it doesnt have an antihistamine. Really . [ male announcer ] really. Alkaseltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast acting antihistamine to relieve your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you [ male announcer ] youre welcome. Thats the cold truth [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus. Oh what a relief it is [ male announcer ] try new alkaseltzer plus severe allergy to treat allergy symptoms, plus sinus congestion, and pain. Bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollarse allergy to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. See life in the best light. [music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. So you see everything the way its meant to be seen. Experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. Handcarved on the side of a cliff is the guoliang tunnel. Hat . youve got to be kidding me. [ derek ] ive never seen a road like this. Theres jagged rock all the way around. This is really gonna test the ats on all levels. [ derek ] this road is the most uneven surface, and it gets very narrow. Magnetic ride control is going to be working hard. The shock absorbers react to the road 1,000 times a second. It keeps you firmly in control. Whoa [ male announcer ] the allnew cadillac ats. Among the battlegrounds, virginia is new turf. Reliably republican through ten state president ial elections, until president obama won there in 2008. This year, its seen as a tilting point. Virginia, you have heard of the new deal. You have heard of the square deal, the fair deal. Mitt romney is trying to give you a sketchy deal. It is up to you guys in virginia. You can make the difference. Reporter four years ago, the Northern Virginia suburbs of washington, d. C. And the states africanamerican voters were key to the president s historic win. But virginias conservative roots are deeply embedded in the rural regions. Norfolk naval base, large number of military retirees and civilian defense workers also keep the state competitive for republicans. Mitt romney is clearly counting on the latter group to help him carry he state. He has been hammering the president over defense cuts he says will increase virginias current 5. 9 unemployment rate. 16 days from the election, the race is tight. An arg poll of likely voters found romney with a onepoint edge over the president. Showdown virginia is next with the states democratic senator and former governor mark warner and tom davis. Es arent always made for people with diabetes. Thats why theres glucerna hunger smart shakes. They have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. And they have six grams of sugars. With fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger. Look whos getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. A smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. See life in the best light. [music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. So you see everything the way its meant to be seen. Experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. In less than three weeks, voters in ohio, florida and virginia will decide this incredibly important election, which begs the question, what are we doing here . [ laughter ] president obama joking thursday night at the alfred e. Smith Memorial Dinner in new york. And virginia is a jump ball. Joining me is mark warner and republican congressman tom davis. Thank you, both. You have a barn burner in virginia this time. Give me your best analyst look at the state of play right now. Ill start. I think romneys on an upward tra vek toir. We think he has passed it. The rasmussen poll shows him up three. It is close but obamas turnout model will be down from 2008. The kids are not coming out for him like before. We think minority turnout will be slightly because you can never beat the first time and in Northern Virginia we will do better than last time. It is a battleground state and that means it will be close. Polls showed the president up two. I think he will be successful. I think he has done a great job for veterans and i think he can pick up where we were four years ago against mccain and the split on womens vote in virginia is bigger than the national trend. Last year the legislature controlled by the republicans made virginia the brunt of latenight jokes with the socalled invasive ultrasounds. Most recently a week ago our state Health Director resigned instead of having restrictive abortion rights put in place. The Virginia Republican party is not the tom davis Virginia Republican party and i think the women in virginia see that and unfortunately the Romney Ryan Campaign has adopted that out of the main stream approach. Since the senator brought it up, we do have two ads that are playing now. Im sure you have seen them several times. Both from the Romney Campaign and the Obama Campaign, both on abortion. Take a listen. Those ads say mitt romney would ban all abortions and contraceptions seemed a bit extreme. So i looked in to it. Turns out romney doesnt oppose contraception at all. In fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest or to save womans life. Delighted to sign the bill. Trying to mislead us. Thats wrong. But then all abortions . Only if you vote for him. So, obviously, somebody thinks this is a great way to turn out female voters. Well, it has worked for democrats in virginia traditionally with doug wilders election on that issue. Romney wasnt anywhere near richmond when what mark talked about was going on. I add obama doesnt have the benefit of warner on the ticket with him. That could hurt him as well. When the democrats talk about it and they are behind. They hit me and john warner on the same issues and anyone with the label. It doesnt fit mitt romney. Frankly it is still a conservative state in so many places and the abortion issue splits both ways. Absolute sli splits both ways but virginia is a main stream state and virginians dont like either Political Party when they get too far off the main stream. The mitt romney that campaigned for republican nomination, was way out of the main stream. Hes trying to its getting close to halloween and he is trying to change clothes and get back to a moderate view. At the end of the day people are not going to respond to that and on top of that tom is an expert on plil politics, virginia and elsewhere. But i think at the end of the day the ground game the president has built will make sure they come out. He congressman says the ground game is not as muscular four years ago and that the tum at this point seems to be governor romney. Would you agree with that assessment . I would say this state has gotten closer as the election has gott