with just 27 days to go until the presidential election, we begin with mitt romney's bumpy day out there on the campaign trail. first, his campaign had to clarify something romney said earlier about abortion later. they said romney will stop telling a new story apparently designed to show his softer side. cnn's national political correspondent jim acosta is in ohio right now on the road with the romney campaign. >> reporter: wolf, mitt romney's been trying to open up to voters in recent days telling stories of friends who have died, even service members who have died in combat. but the mother of one falling navy s.e.a.l.s. says she's offended as democrats accuse romney of trying to hide his true beliefs. it's been a staple of the stump speeches, the gop nominee talking about the deaths of friends, even soldier who is have inspired him. >> i've met some wonderful people. one was a former navy s.e.a.l.s. glen dougherty. and we chatted for a while. >> reporter: at three events in the last two days romney has gotten choked up. >> it touched me, obviously, as i recognized this young man that i thought was so impressive had lost his life. >> reporter: as he hailed the bravery of navy s.e.a.l.s. glen dougherty who died in last month's attack in libya. >> when they heard that the consulate was under attack, they went to the attack. they didn't hunker down and hide themselves. no, they went there. that's what americans do. >> reporter: but within hour of romney's last telling of the story, his aides confirmed to cnn the gop nominee is dropping the anecdote after what the navy s.e.a.l.s. mother told boston tv station whdh. she said "i don't trust romney, he shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda. it's wrong to use these brave young men who wanted freedom for all to degrade obama. governor romney was inspired by the memory of meeting glenn dougherty and shared his story in that memory. but we respect the wishes of mrs. doherty. he started telling the tales last week. >> chris died for them to be able to protest. >> reporter: jawhoton said one the last things my husband said to me when he was killed, i would ask him what do you need over there, he said i need a new president. the heart wrenching stories have been a departure from romney's focus on the economy. >> my whole passion is about helping the american people who are struggling right now. >> i thought, wow, here's old moderate mitt. where you been, boy? >> reporter: but democrats including bill clinton say romney has been trying to shift back to the center ever since last week's debate. the obama campaign is pointing to what romney said to "the des moines register" on the issue of abortion. >> there's no legislation with regards to abortion that i'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda. >> reporter: contrast that with what he said at a town hall last year. >> what i would like to see happen would be for the supreme court to say, look, we're going to overturn rowe v. wade and return to the states whether they want to have abortion or not. >> severely conservative positions that got him through the gop primary are still there. now he's trying to cover them up. >> reporter: asked about those comments on abortion, a romney campaign spokeswoman released a statement to cnn saying the gop nominee will be a pro-life president. >> jim acosta in ohio traveling with romney. in just a few minutes we'll have some of my interview with mitt romney. also, we had an exclusive interview, we at cnn, with the republican running mate paul ryan. he's getting ready for thursday night's debate against the vice president joe biden. you can watch extensive coverage all starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow night. here in washington this afternoon the investigation into the september 11th attack on the u.s. diplomatic consulate in benghazi, libya, turned sharply political. even as we learn new details about what happened before and after the deadly attack. let's go to cnn's foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty. she's got the latest information. how did it go, jill? >> reporter: wolf, i can tell you it was extremely vi tri alic. we heard this exchange extraordinary between dennis ross, congressman from florida, republican, directly asking the ambassador, patrick kennedy, whether or not there was any political pressure. ambassador kennedy said, on my honor after 39 years of serving i can guarantee you there was no political pressure applied. and ross countered that by saying then it was professional protocol malpractice. that is the level of discussion that we heard this afternoon. >> will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> reporter: within minutes the congressional hearing on the attack in benghazi turned into a partisan fire fight. >> sir, there were seven. and their job was also to hook up with the -- >> point of order. point of order. >> the gentleman stays point of order. >> again, i would renew my deep concern that we're getting into an area that is classified and should be classified. >> this whole hearing is responding to allegations that there were not enough people on the ground at the benghazi facility. those accusations that youade publicly so that now i'm trying to get an answer to how many people were there and all of a sudden that's off the record? that's classified information? you got to be kidding me. >> reporter: republicans on the committee accuse the obama administration of ignoring the growing danger in benghazi. >> to start off by saying you had the correct number and our ambassador and three other individuals are dead and people in the hospital recovering because it only took moments to breach that facility somehow doesn't seem to ring true to the american people. >> reporter: democrats accused republicans of slashing funding for diplomatic security. >> the fact is that since 2011 the house has cut embassy security by hundreds of millions of dollars below the amounts requested by the president. >> reporter: at one point a member of the committee even accused state department officials of showing an aerial photograph of the benghazi compound that he thought should be classified. >> mr. chairman, i'm concerned that we're getting into classified issues that deal with sources and methods that would be totally inappropriate in open forum such as this. >> this information is available, sir, for public dissemination, yes, sir. >> reporter: one of the witnesses continued to insist the state department didn't do enough. >> when i asked assets, instead of supporting those assets, i was criticized. and somehow it was my responsibility to come up with a plan on the ground and not the responsibility for d.s. i raised that specific point in a meeting with the d.s. director in march that 60 days there was no plan. and it was hope that everything would get better. >> reporter: so, did this hearing actually uncover any really new facts? it really doesn't appear so. in fact, the top state department official cautioned the committee that until those three investigations that are underway, state department, fbi and the congressional investigation conclude, that actually you're dealing with an incomplete picture, wolf. >> and the state department now believes, jill, that the 14-minute anti-muslim trailer out there on youtube, that had absolutely nothing to do with the attack on the diplomatic consulate in benghazi despite what the administration was saying in the days that followed. >> reporter: it appears that way, wolf. although i don't think i would put it quite as specifically and concretely as you are. what they're saying is it doesn't appear. that evening they say at the benghazi mission it was quiet. and by implication they're saying there was nothing going on that would lead them to believe there was going to be an attack. again, we're going to have to get the final investigation. but, yes, it appears that they're stepping back from that original explanation. >> jill, thanks very much. jill dougherty at the state department. there's plenty of political bickering going on when it comes to taxes. up next, you're going to hear what mitt romney has to say about his plan, what it could mean for you. also, lance armstrong is linked to what one group calls the most sophisticated doping program in cycling history. e 70,000 trades. ♪ reach one customer at a time? 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[ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. so what's going to happen to your taxes will most certainly be one of the topics paul ryan and joe biden debate thursday night. during my exclusive interview here in "the situation room," mitt romney went into more detail about his own plans for your taxes. >> well, i've made it pretty clear that my principles are number one, simplify the code, number two, create incentives for small businesses and large businesses to grow, number three, don't reduce the burden on high income taxpayers. and number four, remove the burden somewhat from middle income people. so i don't want to raise taxes on any group of americans. those are the principles. the same time how we carry them out would be lowering the rate -- the tax rate, across the board. and then making up for that both with additional growth and with putting a limit on deductions and exemptions particularlyor people at the high end. those are principles that form the basis of what i would do with our tax proposal. what i want to do is to make it simpler, fairer. i want to encourage the economy to grow again. it's pretty clear that the economy is not growing at the rate it should under the president. and i can tell you with regards to the deductions you describe, home mortgage interest deduction and charitable contradictions will of course continue to be preferences for those types of expenses. >> so even wealthy people, would you put a cap on how much they could deduct, for example, as far as charitable contributions are concerned? because i've heard you mention the $17,000 cap, if you will, for some folks out there. i'd like you to elaborate, if you don't mind. >> well, i'm not going to lay out a piece of legislation here because i intend to work together with republicans and democrats in congress, but there are a number of ways one could approach this. one would be to have a total cap number. it could be $25,000, $50,000. and people could put whatever deduction in that total cap they'd like. orinstead you can take the posture that boll simpson did which is going after specific deductions and limiting them in various ways. there are a number of ways we can accomplish the principles that i have, lowering rates middle income people, making sure high income people don't pay a smaller share and simplifying the code and encouraging growth. so as to how we approach the various deduction limits and -- what i do know is we're going to have to reduce the deductions pretty substantially for people at the high end because i don't want to make the code less progressive. i want high income people to continue to pay the same share they do today. >> and soy that will pay exactly the same even though you're going to lower the income tax rates for people making let's say more than $250,000 a year. but you're going to eliminate some loopholes and deductions, exemptions, tax credits, is that what i'm hearing? >> that's right. i' bring the rate down across the board, but eliminate or limit rather deductions or credits and exemptions so forth particularly for people at the high end because you have to do that to make sure that distributionly we continue to have the high income people still pay the same share, the high share they pay today. >> would that add up to the $4.8 -- or $5 trillion your comprehensive tax reductions would cost? >> well, actually, the president's charge of $5 trillion tax cut is obviously inaccurate and wrong because what he says is, all right, let's look at all the rates you're lowering. and then ignores the fact i say we're going to limit deductions and credits and exemptions. he ignores that part. obviously that was corrected by his deputy campaign manager who said sh stipulated in fact the $5 trillion number was wrong. it's completely wrong. the combination of limiting deductions and credits and exemptions as well as growth of our economy will make up for the reduction in rate. the reason for loring the rate, by the way, let's make it very clear, the reason for lowering the rate both for individuals as well as for corporations and the president's plan also lowers the rate for corporations, the reason for doing so is to make sure that america is a more attractive place for small business and for large business to invest and to add jobs. this is about economic growth. this is about getting more jobs. we're not seeing the kind of job creation america ought to see following a recession. and we're not going to see that growth unless we have a tax policy which encourages businesses, small and large, to make investments and to hire people. that's why i want to put in place the plan i've described. by the way, it's been scored by people at rice university as creating about 7 million new jobs. the president's plan on the other hand cuts 700,000 jobs. >> mitt romney speaking with me. he made some news during that interview including his mention of capping tax deductions, potentially a $25,000 or $50,000. those are higher numbers than he's mentioned before. let's assess what's going on. our chief polical analyst, gloria borger, is here in "the situation room." he's under a lot of pressure to be more specific. but there's a potential downside politically if he gets a lot more specific in terms of how he wants to pay for those across the board tax cuts. >> right. it's clearly going to push mitt romney for more specifics. and the reason is he's talking about tax cuts and deficit reduction at the same time. and the pew poll that came out earlier this week, wolf, said six in ten voters believe that romney is promising more than he can deliver. one reason bill clinton's speech was so popular at the democratic convention was he said the arithmetic doesn't add up. so you can push is this just rhetoric during a campaign, or is this real? if you want to close tax loopholes, okay, fine. what loopholes would you close? he's got to answer that. and so far hasn't done it. >> his argument is i don't want to put all that out right now. because if he's president, he's going to have to negotiate all those issues with democrats. and why put your own position out right now. >> sure. >> i don't know if his argument's going to necessarily hold. that's another matter. a lot of folks have seen romney over these past couple weeks at the debate, in the interview with me, moving more towards the center. do you see that? >> i did. i saw that particularly in your interview when he talked about the wealthy and how his tax plan would affect the wealthy. because of course the obama team is saying, you know, mitt romney is for reducing taxes for the wealthy, doesn't care about the middle class. he wants to keep the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. and what he said to you in that little clip you showed, let me just say this again, he said that wealthy would "continue to pay the same share of taxes they do today." so what he's saying is that even though you're going to reform the tax code and you may take away some of their deductions, he is saying the wealthiest final tax bill even if you lower their rates, their final tax bill is going to remain unchanged while the middle class will have a reduction in their taxes. so now he's on the record, wolf, saying that. and i think one of the reasons is that the obama campaign has made a lot of headway with voters who believe that mitt romney favors the wealthy. and among swing voters in this pew poll there was an absolute tie on who would be better on the issue of taxes. so that's clearly something that each campaign is going to be using in the future in trying to get some advantage on it. >> i think it will be a huge issue at tomorrow night's debate among the vice presidential contenders. >> absolutely. >> and next week the second presidential debate. gloria, thanks very much. >> sure. much more on the political world coming up. also other news we're following. two men under arrest in a terror case involving syria and one of the busiest airports in the world. 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[ female announcer ] with cisco at the center, then don't miss sleep train's wbest rest event.st ever? you'll find sleep train's very best mattresses at the guaranteed lowest price. plus, pay no interest for 3 years on beautyrest black, stearns & foster, serta icomfort, even tempur-pedic. and rest even better with sleep train's risk-free 100-day money back guarantee. get your best rest ever from sleep train. superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ lisa sylvester's monitoring some of the other top stories here in "the situation room." including the arrest of two british citizens in a terror investigation involving syria. what happened here? >> that's right, wolf. there are only a few details that we know about right now. but here's what we do know. two 26-year-old suspects were arrested last night at london's heathrow airport after arriving on a flight from egypt. it isn't clear if they were headed to syria or if they had already been there. police are now searching two homes in britain as part of that investigation. and affirmative actions days may be numbered after oral arguments today at the u.s. supreme court. the conservative majority questioned how raised conscious admissions are event effective. high school student abigail fisher sued the university of texas claiming she wasn't admitted because she's white. a decision isn't expected before early next year. and we've tamed the dragon. those are the words of an astronaut on the international space station after linking up with a capsule sent by the company spacex. the capsule is filled with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the space station. spacex is trying to figure out why one of nine engines on its rocket malfunctioned during takeoff. and take a look at this. you've got to watch this cheerleader as she keeps going and going and going and going. and she keeps going until she sets a guinness world record by doing 35 consecutive back flips. 16-year-old miranda ferguson is a 16-year-old out of dallas. she broke the record by three flips. she admitted she was tiring near the end but had enough pep to set the new record. >> good for her. >> that's amazing stuff. somehow or another -- >> i wonder how dizzy she gets doing that. >> she might end up in some kind of commercial or some sort. >> can you do even one? >> not even one. wo