on a rebel-held town and margaret warner reports on the use of satellite imagery to document human rights abuses. >> ifill: and we close with a 100th birthday celebration for the late julia child, the french chef, who taught a generation of food lovers how to cook. >> you just have to have the courage of your convictions, particularly if it's a loose mass. well, that didn't go very well, but you can always pick it up if you are alone in the kitchen. who is going to see? >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: tough new rhetoric dominated the presidential campaign during the last 24 hours. it was the latest evidence that the battle for the white house will be no holds barred. the pre-convention presidential campaign has become increasingly defined by acrimony and accusation. >> this is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like. >> they are just throwing everything at the wall to see if it sticks. >> ifill: a new war of words was launched tuesday, as vice president biden went after republican mitt romney in danville, virginia. >> romney wants to let-- he said in the first hundred days, he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. unchain wall street. they're going to put y'all back in chains. >> ifill: republicans expressed immediate outrage. later in the day, the vice president said he'd meant to say "unshackled." but he did not apologize. >> i got a message for them. if you want to know what's outrageous, it's their policies and the effects of their policies on middle class america. that's what's outrageous. >> ifill: by the time he arrived in chillicothe, ohio last night, romney had a new speech ready, angrily rejecting the vice president's response. he called them. >> his campaign and his reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the presidency. another outrageous charge in virginia and the white house sinks a little lower. so mr. president, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting america. >> ifill: obama campaign spokesman ben labolt, responding overnight, said romney's comments: back and forth it went, with romney, on "cbs this morning," saying it's the obama campaign that's acting unhinged. >> the comments of the vice president as i heard them, i thought were one more example of a divisive effort to... to keep from talking about the real issues. i think the american people had the same reaction, which is they listened to the vice president and they thought again a-- an unfounded charge and a metaphor which is not uplifting, not uniting, but one which is once again a divisive attack. >> ifill: the fight quickly escalated from the stump to the air. a new romney campaign commercial charged the president with raiding the medicare trust fund. >> you pay in medicare for years, every paycheck, now when you need it, obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. >> ifill: a charge the president said today is simply dishonest. >> here's what you need to know. i have strengthened medicare. i have made reforms that have saved millions of seniors with medicare hundreds of dollars on their prescription drugs. i've proposed reforms that will save medicare money by getting rid of wasteful spending in the health care system, reforms that will not touch your medicare benefits, not by a dime. >> ifill: the obama campaign's web response said romney and ryan would end medicare as we know it. but this is far from the first time campaign rhetoric has run hot in a national campaign. in 1988, bob dole accused felloe republican george h.w. bush of twisting his words. >> stop lying about my record! >> ifill: but today's broadsides between the romney and obama camps are landing especially early with nearly three months still left before election day. so, has the campaign really gotten meaner? and will the tough talk affect how voters decide in november? we turn to two experienced political strategists: mo elleithee, who worked for democrat hillary clinton's 2008 presidential bid, and rick tyler, who worked on republican newt gingrich's campaign this year. rick tyler, is itpy imagination or has this gotten uglier, dan balz of the "washington post" wrote the guardrails have disappeared. >> this is not new in politics, campaigns have been nasty before. lyndon johnson ran the famous daisy ad, that was about as low as a you can get, where he accused barry goldwater that he wanted to blow us all up. >> ifill: it ran one time, though. >> the media picked it up. people did see it. the incumbent runs for the office and the challenger runs against the incumbent. i think the president has decided that he can't run against his record, he's clearly running against mitt romney. but having said that, i think romney's a loser in this. because he is totally off message. you just saw that interview on cbs news. he's not talking about his plan for increased jobs, saving health care, reform. he's talking about what a nasty mean campaign the president has. and that doesn't serve his purposes. >> ifill: let's get back to that in a moment. i'm curious about what mo el thee thinks about whether this is the nastiest campaign you've ever seen. >> every campaign seems to be the nastiest campaign. i agree with rick. this goes back earlier than lyndon johnson. thomas jefferson and john adams were calling each other crooks and liars and grover cleveland's opponents attacked him for having children out of wedlock. this goes back from since the beginning of the reap. republic. what i think is different this time is it's all happenin happen realtime. the media landscape has changed enough that we're no longer in a daily news cycle, we are in a minute-by-minute news cycle. campaigns are being waged on twitter in 140 characters or less. and so... and it's really difficult to have a thoughtful discussion on issues in 140 characters or less. and i think that's import a challenge for the cam pains. it's also also in part a challenge for the media that cover the campaigns is nay get sucked into this. >> ifill: what is driving this particular spate? the last 48 hours. is it the selection of the vice presidential candidates who are supposed to be attack dogs? is that what sped everything up? >> i think it's interesting. because it... as you notice, the president and the vice president have both been fairly generous in their characterization of paul ryan in character. so that probably isn't it. romney has accused of of being hateful and hatred maybe there's some polling that suggests people are beginning to think that. i'm not sure. i think it's driven by a couple things. one is most strategists-- no offense to my friends here-- but most strategists in this town think that negative campaigning works so they talk about negative campaigning. two, lacking an overarching broad vision, if you have an idea or broad vision that people generally like, people will generally say "yeah, i know that's true about what you say about my opponent, about this particular campaign, but i want that. whatever that is." and that just seems to be lacking. obama and romney seem to be sort of rhetorical twins here. the reason exactly mo is right is because we are fighting this on minute-to-minute hour-by hour because there is a lacking overvision so tactics are winning the day. it's win or lose every single day. >> ifill: is he right, snow does it work? are you one of the strategists who thinks it does work? if it doesn't-- or if it does-- are you running the risk of alienating voters? >> yeah, i guess it's all in the definition of what a negative campaign is, right? i mean, i actually am one of those people that believe talking about your record and talking about your opponent's record is... it works, it's necessary and it's good for the process. >> pelley: "liar," "unhinged"? >> but when it gets past the difference in vision, when it gets past the difference in policy and it starts get to personal character assassination that's when the rails come off and you run the risk of hurting your own candidate and alienating voters. >> ifill: what was vice president biden doing last night with that unchanged comment? what was the point of that have? he was clearly off script at that point. >> yeah, well i think what he was trying to do-- and it may have been a poor word choice-- was make a playoff of the republicans who have been arguing that they need to unshackle wall street. instead of using the work unshackle he said unchain. that's what the obama campaign is saying in response and that is a plausible explanation. i think it was probably a poor word choice. what happened in the immediate aftermath, i think, is where things got a little out of control. when both campaigns started hurling negativity at one another. now, look, i believe that both sides, both parties not just both campaigns, both parties, are responsible for the tone. and both parties need to take responsibility for the tone. i am partisan, i do believe one side has been worse than the other. president obama has been under relentless attack since the beginning of 2011 when the campaign-- when the republican primary campaign began. the republican primary campaign. i think rick would attest to this from his particular vantage point at the time that was particularly brutal as the republicans turned fire on one another. but i would urge-- and i think most americans would urge-- move past the personal stuff and keep it focused on your records and your visions. >> ifill: go ahead. >> mo is right about that. he's right. it is important that we as campaign professionals articulate things that are our poepbt voted for. voters find that helpful. so for instance we know obama cut $700 billion from medicare. that's point of fact in law. now, to his defense, he's saying that's part of the affordable health care act and i'm going to use that and seniors will be better off. that's his argument, i don't agree with that. but look what the what they say about paul ryan, he cuts the same amount from medicare, but he wants to use it for premium support. so basically you have a fundamental difference of an idea, one is the president would like to spend it on a government-centered program and ryan would like to use it on a private-sector program to promote competition to drive down cost. that's what we should be talking about is those two fundamental differences in ideas. instead we're hurling invectives at each other. take this one ad that the... it wasn't... to be fair it wasn't an obama ad but somehow romney was responsible for a woman getting cancer and dying? >> ifill: a democratic super pac from last week. >> that's absurd, i don't think people will believe that. >> ifill: the republican national committee chairman was saying the president had blood on his hands when it came to medicare. >> that kind of invective is what is the problem. but rick brings up the problem which are super pacs and other third party groups. some of the worst offenders are not super pacs, they are the 501c 4 organizations where there is no accountability because the do no more toes are completely secret and there's no accountability. so when the media tries to call them out for being untrue, for example, some of these groups that are out there now attacking the president for the $700 billion in cuts without recognizing the fact that the ryan... that the republican plan is the same exact thing, the media calls them out on it. but because of the here is amount of money that is now in the system i think a lot of the people running these outside groups with no accountability feel like they can just drown out those fact checkers. >> ifill: and if it turns out in tend it drives the polls one way or the other someone will declare these things work and we'll spend the rest of this campaign on the ledge. waiting to see what happens next. rick tyler, mo el thee, thank you both very much. >> woodruff: online, i've offered tips on surviving the ad blitz if you live in or near a swing state. and coming up on the "newshour", we visit the hottest territory in one of those battlegrounds northern virginia. plus, an update on the war in syria. and a 100th birthday celebration of julia child. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the obama campaign today asked a federal court in ohio to overturn restrictions on early voting. a new state law ends early voting on the friday before election day, except for members of the military and people living overseas. the president's side argued the law could suppress democratic voter turnout. meanwhile in pennsylvania, a state judge upheld a new mandate that voters show a valid photo i.d. at the polls. republicans said it will cut down on fraud. democrats said it will discourage the elderly, poor and disabled from voting. they plan to appeal to the state's supreme court. republicans picked senate and house nominees in several states on tuesday. in wisconsin, former governor tommy thompson beat three challengers in his comeback bid for a senate seat at age 70. and in connecticut, former wrestling executive linda mcmahon defeated former congressman christopher shays. she's hoping to replace retiring senator joe lieberman. >> the issue is going to decide this election is who is best able to address the economic crisis that threatens our future and who best understands how to create jobs. folks, there is so much at stake in this election, perhaps more than ever before. washington is out of control. and it's not too much to say that america's future is on the line. >> sreenivasan: the night's big upset came in florida, where tea party challenger ted yoho beat 12-term republican congressman cliff stearns by about 800 votes. but another longtime florida congressman john mica turned back freshman congressman sandy adams, also a tea party favorite, in a redrawn district. this was the first day that young, illegal immigrants could apply to live and work legally in the u.s. it's a major policy change announced by president obama in june. under the new rules, applicants must be under 30, and they have to prove they came to the country before they were 16. the change could mean that some one million people will not be deported. the mayor of dallas, texas declared a state of emergency today over an outbreak of west nile virus. it clears the way for aerial spraying to kill mosquitoes in the city, for the first time in more than 45 years. dallas county has already taken that step. there've been nearly 400 cases of west nile virus in texas this year and 16 deaths. in economic news, industrial production rose in july for the fourth straight month. and consumer prices were unchanged for the third time in four months. on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost seven points to close at 13,164. the nasdaq rose nearly 14 points to close just under 3,031. about four million bumbo baby seats are being recalled because infants can fall out of them. the consumer production safety commission said today there've been at least 50 such incidents and 21 reports of skull fractures. the seats have been sold across the u.s. since august of 2003. the anti-abortion movement in the u.s. today mourned the loss of one of its leaders. nellie gray was found dead in her washington home on monday. she organized the annual march for life, starting in 1974. it's held every january on the anniversary of the supreme court decision that legalized abortion. nellie gray was 88 years old. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: and we come back to the presidential race. the old dominion is one of the most critical battleground states this fall, and nowhere is it tighter than in northern virginia. the campaign firepower isn't as loud, or lethal, as these cannons used to commemorate the infamous bloody battle of bull run 151 years ago. but the presidential showdown here in northern virginia-- across the river from the nation's capital-- could be even more decisive than that early civil war skirmish. by a convincing six point margin, president obama swept this former stronghold of the confederacy in 2008-- the first win for a democrat here since lyndon johnson in the 1960s. northern virginia is a special focus for both campaigns because of the rapidly changing nature of who votes here. jobs and a steady, healthy economy have attracted hundreds of thousands of commuting newcomers like these of different political stripes. and with priorities that may not necessarily match those of longtime virginia residents. >> well, in many ways, northern virginia has undergone a real transformation. >> woodruff: professor stephen farnsworth teaches political science at the university of mary washington in fredericksburg. >> one of the real powerful factors drawing people to northern v.a. is the fact that there is a lot of government employment not only working for the federal agencies in washington, but also a lot of military bases, as well as defense contractors and otherwise, so what you see in virginia is an extraordinary growth. >> woodruff: so much growth that one-third of the old dominion's" population now lives within about an hour's drive of washington, d.c. not only that, the new virginia is far more diverse than the old. >> you have a large number of latino voters in northern virginia. you have a large number of african-american voters in northern virginia, and you have a growing number of other immigrant groups as well, particularly asians are very fought over in virginia politics. >> woodruff: it adds up to conventional wisdom that as goes northern virginia, so goes the entire state. that's why both candidates are regular visitors to the area and why romney brought his new running mate here over the weekend. >> you'll make the difference. >> we won loudon county last time and if we win loudon county this time, we will win virginia, and if we win virginia, we will win this election. >> woodruff: local democrats like u.s. representative gerry connolly say they hope the president's right, and point to the area's many government connections, giving it an economic cushion-- an unemployment rate of 5.7%, one of the lowest in the nation-- in the aftermath of the financial crash and the recession. >> i represent for example the highest median household income in the united states, in terms of congressional districts. very high education achievement levels. very high performing school systems. an economy and jobs that were created with the unique partnership between the federal government and the private sector. >> reporter: but republicans like governor bob mcdonnell, say not so fast; that even with a healthy jobs picture, residents here know the president's policies haven't worked. >> we're $5 trillion more in debt. we have no energy policy that is working. so it's time for a change. >> woodruff: just one year after these suburban counties turned blue for obama, an emphasis on jobs helped mcdonnell to a double digit victory winning them back. but a deeply conservative state legislature that made national news pushing mandatory trans- vaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions has since hurt republicans with moderate voters. and, with romney's pick of wisconsin congressman paul ryan as his running mate-- a new dynamic has been added to both campaigns' efforts to appeal to female voters. an avowed catholic, ryan is strongly anti-abortion, as is romney. women made up 54% of the vote four years ago, and favored obama slightly more than men did. the