right now mitt romney is here on the hofstra campus for his walk-through. the president has done his and is finishing debate prep. for now hofstra university still belongs to the students, and they are excited. i talked to a few on campus, and i asked what they wanted to hear from the candidates tonight. one female obama supporter, who is eligible to vote in this presidential election for the first time, is a music education major. she wants to hear the president talk about arts education. she wanted to hear more on social issues like gay marriage and abortion. another obama supporter simply said, more passion, please. as for romney, spoke to a group of students representing jews for romney, and students for romney, and they wanted to hear about libya, and the economy and the failure to lower the debt and thoeped for a denver repeat. one student said more of the same. from more passion please to more of the same, thesee at hofstra they replaced me with the at the fable in 30 rock. >> this is the best week of my life. i'm happy to listen and smile. i believe the term is gloating. >> no, not the fake s.e. is it some novice, someone no one has heard of? let's take a look. >> hi, folks. >> yes, the only person they could come up with is the great legendary newsman tom brokaw. i'll take it. tom, welcome. >> well, the is that i've been mocked as much as you have. i was listening to you talk about hunting yesterday, and there's something else we have in common. >> well, great. >> we have a lot going on to get started today. i was a moderator four years ago. >> let me take you back to 2008. what's it like to do it? >> well, the closest equivalent i guess is that you're in a referee and umpire in a very hotly contested game. nobody is cheering for you. they're cheering for the two candidates and the people asking the questions. the candidates have elaborate rules about how long the question should be, how they'll respond within a given time to the first question, and then how much time they have to respond tobreah the rules. so the first that will happen tonight is candy crowley will begin to lose control of what's going on on the stage. the stakes are so high they will seize the ground for their own benefit and uses. i do think in the final analysis, however, that these s reengaged in this campaign as a result of what happened in the first debate when romney made an unexpectedly strong appearance, and the president made by even his strongest supporters made a very, very weak appearance in that first debate. so now folks are looking at a second time at president obama and taking a first look at governor romney. >> as the race stands, there's on no doubt it's tight and romney made up ground. two state polls caught my eye today. new hampshire according to the suffolk university, it's dead even, and quinn pack says it's he closing since the denver rate? are the debates all that influential? >> ni think they are in this case. i'm having some discussions with the obama cam pags, in which i think a lot of voter support out there is pretty soft on both sides. in other words, people for governor romney or for president obama at this point can, in fact, be moved depending on what happens in this debate and the one again next week. we saw that last week. people who were kind of drifting toward obama then woke up and said, wait a minute. romney is a lot better than i thought he was. the president couldn't have been less impressive. >> if we could go back to your role as a moderator, you moderated the last town hall debate in 2008. what's your own sort of personal yardstick for your performance after the fact, and while you're there in the moment, john mccain was taken to task by "snl" for his wandering around the stage, and it was one of the enduring moments from the debate. do you recognize that when you're there in the chair, that that's going to be a take-away. >> yeah. this is not just because i did it. i talked to others that participated in the town hall format as well. you have a lot more to worry about than jim lehrer did last week or bob schieffer will next week. we both talked before and after the debates four years ago, and again this time. you have to worry about the people, and what happens -- i'll take you tlhrough it. if the format stays the same, candy was given a whole stack of questions submitted by the selected respondents to a gallup poll. she picks out the one most relevant and goes into a room and meets the people face to face for the first time to ask that question on camera. we had a wonderful question from a woman that said we don't want to be on camera. you have to sort that out. you have to look at whether people can ask the question in an energetic coherent way that you want to get before the audience. four years ago i had online questions as well. they were mostly loaded up for special interest groups. now you sit down on the stage and surrounded by people to ask the questions. you have the two candidates and the stakes can't be higher for them. you keep track of the clock because you want to make sure the people that ask the question and the audience gets enough time to understand what these candidates are all about. you're juggling a lot of things. having been doing it for a long time, i was fully aware that john mccain was walking around a lot. the now president barack obama was leaning against his chair very cool very early, because i think he thought he had a leg up and was doing well. mccain became more and more anxious during the debate and he was not happy at the end. we had as many questions they normally have in a town hall debate. i said to the commission before hand, if a follow-up is required or there is something that we can expand on the answer, i'll ask that question. i can't be alex trebek or bob barker out there. >> right, right. >> tom, i want to ask you about the psychology of the question askers at an event like this. the idea of the town hall concept in '92 when clinton insisted on it to get the voice of the average citizen in the on the debate. i wonder about this potential of a reality tv effect. it shows average people living their everyday lives and they're conscious they're on camera and their behavior changes. you give a group of undecided voters to question presidential candidates, does their behavior change and do we get questions from them that they want asked or maybe questions that should be asked or seen asking? >> you get the questions in stra advance, so you can match the questions up with the person that's the inkwis fquititor. they're very relevant. >> did you think they're better to the questions -- >> it's a mix. it's hard to know. there was a great question at the end last year that came online. the question was from a woman in new hampshire in which she said what is it that you don't know, and how does that affect your life and how do you improve yourself? that's a great question for a presidential candidate. you could see the wheels turning. that one they didn't expect. most of them are why can't we be more cooperative in washington between president and the congress. >> also a great question. >> it's very broadly-based. then there's a question i'm sure tonight about medicare benefits, for example. there's another question about taxes. there probably will be a question about are we going to stay in afghanistan or get out of afghanistan at some point? that's on the minds of a lot of families that have someone in the military, obviously. >> i want to step away from the debate discussion for a second, mr. brokaw. it's an honor to have you here. >> you'll get over there. >> we come out here every day as pundits or political analysts, whatever you want to call it. some people that do this are destructive to the american conversation and some are more productive or valuable to the discussion. what do we need to do when we come out here to be valuable to the discussion and not destructive to the discussion? >> try not to make it just about you. try to make it about the facts. you'll know what the people are concerned about if you just read the papers on a daily base without looking at the polls or listen to your friends. what do they have to say? try to get outside of the new york chorus line. you know, what you want to do is hear what the rest of the country thinks as well. it's a big country, and a lot of interests are represented in a presidential debate and campaign. i got into the business because at the age of 20 i watched all night long the 1960 election returns come in between kennedy and nixon. i'd been a political junkie since the time i was 10, and i was a political science major. i thought that's what i wanted to do with my life. >> sounds like steve kornacki. >> this complex country, nation of immigrants will make a decision about who will lead them for the next four years, and we won't have tanks in the street. we we won't have the white house barricaded in some fashion. >> it's far more toxic, right? >> it's much more polarized, and that's in part because the instrumentation makes it possible to do that. information technology and the internet. you can divide and conquer this country in a keystroke. times are tough. people didn't see the downturn coming nor did they think it would last as long as it has. the world has changed. we used to be the dominant economy. we are still number one but we see china coming up fast. people can go to the factory and get a job at an assembly line because they have good hands and a strong back, they can't get those jobs anymore. more than any time families come to me and parents and dprand parents say i'm worried my kids won't have the life i have. to some degree they probably won't have as much disposable income and they won't live in homes that aren't mcmahon shnsi. i grew up on an army base and my moraisther raced three boys thee of this table. >> sounds like my apartment. >> i think the country is eager to do that. to kind of have a reset of values. what counts. one of my friends says we have to get up every morning and say, what do i need to do and not what do i want today? that's a good guide. >> tom, you mentioned when we tha about how we cover the presidential election, what are the issues that matter to voters and covering a broad range of topics. how do you think the debates have done thus far in covering the gamut of issues? >> i thought the first debate was pretty good. i don't think that president obama pinned down mitt romney on what he was going to do to get to that $5 trillion deficit he'll make up with the tax reformation plan. it was a wonky debate. it has oxford and cambridge rules to it. jim lehrer said at the outset he would put out a big question. he couldn't control them when it came to time again. that's an issue. people were able it to match them up. tonight we'll have greater variety. tonight we hear more about medicare and hear more about social security and age eligibility, my guess is. how are you going to get those 12 million jobs that you have promised the american people specifically? i think the vice presidential debate is another wonky, pretty od debate. they went at each other. >> it's a fun one. >> these are two practice guys, two irish catholic political warriors. they got into the game because they love it a lot. they have more in common personally than differences, but it played out i agree with him more than i do with him. >> tom, one final question. what are the pit fafalls for ea candidate in tonight's debate? >> my guess is there will be a surprise of some kind tonight. they're probably planning something to startle the audience or catch them off-guard or catch the opponent off-guard. the pitfalls are always the same. george bush 41 on stage with ross perot and bill clinton. our director said take a close up of george bush 41. he looked at his watch right then. that's a moment. al gore stepping in to george bush 43's space in the debate and giving a wonky commentary about job creation that i remember. there are a lot of pitfalls. it's mostly about demeanor than answers. one of the startling moments in the debate was when michael duke ki do you kak kiss was running. bernie shaw in an entirely question, you're opposed to the death penalty. if your wife was raped and murders, would be be opposed. >> why is that an appropriate question? it forces him to mix the personal with the political. i can be pro-killing a man that rapes my wife and against the death penalty. he made them smush those together, but you think that was appropriate? >> he didn't answer it correctly. he could have said i want want to track that man with my own hands and beat him into the inch of his life. i don't think a state should take the life of another person. then you get at the complexity of that issue and the complexity of the personal decisions that have to be made when it comes to capital punishment. what dukakis did was never mentioned his wife in the course of the answer. that tells you about chakt. he was the one that said i was the guy that delivered the newspapers on time and was always in school on time. that didn't come through. the public makes a decision on the candidates based not just on the flat form or resume or what the specifics are on the debates. at the end of the night i always say that the couple i'd like to be with are undecided, and there's sitting in their living room in ohio or in virginia or in wisconsin or any of the battleground states. one turns to the other and says, i could live with him. what do you think? most couples decide not to cancel each other's vote. so that's a big test. >> all right. >> tom brokaw, thanks again for taking a spin on "the cycle." you look good at that table, man. hope to see you again soon. up next, an honest question. what do voters actually get out of these debates? we've seen a variety of formats already, but is there an even better way? we'll explore the possibilities as "the cycle" rolls on life from hofstra university for tuesday, october 16th. why should our wallets tell us what our favorite color is? every room deserves to look great. and every footstep should tell us we made the right decision. so when we can feel our way through the newest, softest, and most colorful options... ...across every possible price range... ...our budgets won't be picking the style. we will. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now get $37 basic installation on all special order carpet. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. that makes watching tv even better. if your tv were a hot dog zeebox would be some sort of fancy, french mustard. when they magically unite, people would think, "woah, this two dollar hot dog tastes like a fancy eight dollar hot dog." download zeebox free, and say "woah" every time you watch tv. . we are hours from the next presidential debate. on that front secretary clinton has now taken full responsibility for the embassy attack in benghazi deflecting blame from the president. >> i take responsibility. i'm in charge of the state department. 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. the president and the vice president certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. they're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision. >> those very candid comments is where we start off in the spin cycle. s.e., you've been following these developments very closely. >> a quick note on hillary. it was nice to take the wrap for libya, but i wonder if the supporters will appreciate that. as for tonight, i don't let romney let the president off the hook. i bet romney will find a way to question the president on his level of responsibility for libya. it could be a fireworks moment as poboth try to accuse the oth of politicizing the events. will romney look strang or will the president make romney look silly and like he's in over his head on a serious foreign policy issue. >> on that clinton point, i think two times now in the last 24 hours where the clintons in a high profile way came to the defense of barack obama. you have hillary clinton with a statement and a new video bill clinton did critiquing the romney tax plan. this is something i don't think there's any risk of that not going over well with clinton supporters in the democratic party. this is why hillary is on popular in the democratic party. >> i don't think there's a huge divide about what happened in '08 between clinton and obama. >> as a hillary supporter, i don't feel any of that. libya is likely to come up tonight, but one of the things we're talking about is what voters are taking away from the debates and what are they looking for? tom said something interesting in the last segment. he likes to think about undecided voters who say after the debate, would i want to live with a guest? is this someone i want to see in my living room every night. although we like to focus on the policy, it's important and we want a broad range of topics covered. if you think about the first debate between president obama and mitt romney, the big take-away was personality traits. romney seemed feisty and aggressive and the president seemed passive like he didn't really want to be there. i think mother anything voters are looking for how do i feel about these people? how are they when they're caught off-balance? i like to see questions that force them to get off their talking points and be a little bill off-balance. >> i totally agree. we were getting at that in the last segment when toure asked about the famous rape question to michael dukakis. trying to take mare of a candidate as a man or woman versus the issues. i think there's some value. here's a question i would like to see asked. i love a moderator to step in and make mitt romney grapple with something he hasn't been forced to grapple with publicly. to prove he was pro-choice in massachusetts, he didn't just say it. he told a wrenching personal story about it, which quickly play that clip right here. this is what he said 18 years ago. >> many, many years ago i had a dear, close family relative that was very close to me who passed away from an illegal abortion. it is since that time that my mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. you will not see me wavering on that. >> he just did the opposite there of what we're talking about dukakis doing, which is to completely separate the personal from the political. romney leaned on the personal there. he changed his position when he wanted to run for president in the republican party. he has never really been forced to grapple publicly how you get from making a statement like that to saying that our pro-life. i'd love to see somebody press him on that. >> i want to note there's a way in which the debates don't serve the american people in terms of the bifurcation. the first debate was about the economy and the third debate is about foreign policy. those two are linked. one example, iraq, that cost us $824 billion. that's a major reason we're in the recession we're in. would you like to invade iran and syria? a lot of americans might say yeah, sure, let's flex our power. also, we will be in a recession for five years and you and your family might lose their job if we do that. whoa, whoa. that completely changes the equation. we can't have the economy debate and then the foreign policy debate. they're all linked. >> all int