that's the message from nick christoph. he sits down with the celebrities from the film. they're back. on the field, that is. as millions of fans cheer the return of nfl refs, we break down the fallout for roger goodell and the league. and good morning, everyone. i'm deborah feyerick. we begin with a surprising admission from the intelligence community. they're now saying that the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya, was indeed an organized terrorist attack. the original statement after the september 11 attack was that it was a violent end to a spontaneous protest over an anti-muslim film. but an investigation found evidence to the contrary. that investigation is still going on. president obama spoke with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu over the phone for about 20 minutes yesterday. the white house says the president reaffirmed his commitment to israel's security and agreed they must prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon. the president has been criticized for not meeting with netanyahu in person. netanyahu has expressed frustration with the u.s. for not taking a more aggressive stance on iran. the u.s. instead relying on diplomacy and sanctions. later, mitt romney also spoke to netanyahu by phone. well there are only 38 days left until election day. early voting has already started in a few states and even more kick it up next week. also next week, the first presidential debate. that's on wednesday. but the candidates are already warming up for that. >> change is going to take more than one term or one president or one party. it's not going to happen if you write off half the nation. election day, 47% of people did not vote for me, but i said i may not have your vote, but i hear your voices, i need your help and i will be your president, too. >> and to the battleground state of new hampshire where the republican vice presidential nominee paul ryan is speaking right now at a cam ppaign rallyn derry. paul ryan firing up the crowd. what's he saying? >> he is talking about the economy, talking about the deficit, talking about four years of president obama would be detrimental to the country. it's pretty plain and simple. president obama and republican nominee mitt romney are laying low today because they're getting ready to prepare for the debate, so it's the number 2s on the campaign trail. right behind me here, here's paul ryan stumping here in new hampshire, a crucial battleground state. when he's done here, he goes to ohio later today. another very big important battleground state. and that's the whole idea here, as the president and mitt romney get ready for the debate. paul ryan and vice president joe biden are on the campaign trail. specific new hampshire. the race here is kind of close. the most recent poll shows president obama with a five-point advantage over mitt romney. definitely a very close contest here in new hampshire. this is a state that may not know paul ryan very well, but knows mitt romney very well, who was governor of neighboring massachusetts. he owns a vacation home here in new hampshire. spends a lot of time in this state. >> thanks so much. we're going to keep an eye on it. certainly get ready to hear those debates. thanks so much. ann romney has been a pretty constant presence on the campaign trail. now she's opening up about a big concern. >> i think my biggest concern, obviously, would just be for the -- his mental well-being. i have all the confidence in the world in his ability, in his decisiveness, in his leadership skills, in his understanding of the economy, in his understanding of what's missing right now in the economy, peeies that are missing to get this jump started. i think for me it would be the emotional part of it. >> by the way, mitt romney is 65 years old. he would be the second-oldest president in the past 150 years. a consultant for congressman todd akin is comparing him to cult leader david koresh from the waco, texas, incident. this week akin refused to drop out of the missouri senate race. he came under fire for comments he made saying that women can biological prevent pregnancy after a rape. consultant kelly ann conaway told the washington watch weekly that akin was successful in his holdout. >> the first day or two, it was like waco with david koresh. and then here comes day two and you realize the guy's coming in. todd has shown his principles to the voters. social issues in the presidential campaign. so which ones could move the needle on election day? maria cardona and amy holmes are coming up and they are going to sort it out for you. 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[ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro. fdr the first to use radio. remarkable. there are only 38 days left until election day. this morning, we're focusing on social issues and how they could affect the outcome and here's what we're talking about. 48% of you think health care is the top social issue. 33% say it's education. but there's also guns, abortion, same-sex marriage. we all know that the economy is actually issue number one with most voters, but social issues still play a big part for voters in making their final decision. joining me now to talk about the potential impact of these issues, cnn contributor maria cardona and amy holmes, anchor of "real news on the blaze." good to see both of you. maria, what's number one in your book in terms of social issues? >> well, it's interesting, because while you mentioned health care, i think a lot of voters also see health care as an economic issue, because that's the number one concern when they look at health care is costs, and what that is going to mean for their family. so i think health care is a big issue. and in some respects, if it's looked at as a social issue, i think it actually helps the president because he's the one who was seen as putting health care out there and even though the health care act itself is not incredibly popular, pieces of it -- the fact that those pieces have actually helped families do what they need in terms of taking care of their families, are very, very popular. and frankly, have made romney basically say that there are pieces of the health care act that he would keep in place. abortion is another one. >> and of course, with health care when you think about it. many people say well, it's not too unlike the plan that governor romney put forth. amy, what do you think voters are thinking about in terms of the health care debate? >> i think mitt romney has it right in the sense that obama care is unpopular. pieces of it might be popular, but mitt romney's been campaigning that he would repeal obama care and replace it with pieces that are popular, but this whole idea about social issues i think is so fascinating and underreported that really it's the obama campaign and the democratic party that has tried to make this a social issues election. even turning questions of taxation into a question of fairness, not one of fiscal responsibility or sobriety because at the president himself said, you don't raise taxes in a recession, and we're still certainly struggling along in this economy. so taxation has been turned into a social issue. we saw in the mid-term election that 31% of gay men and women actually voted for the gop so. what did you see at the democratic convention? gay marriage being touted. finally, on women's issues. if you were to listen to the democratic party, apparently there's some deficit, some sortage sort a -- shortage of condoms, but women care most about the economy. democrats tried to focus female voters on issues of reproduction rather than jobs and the economy. >> what they're trying to do is they're basically taking the economy, tying it to social issues, so everything goes into one big pot with. the economy the way it is, with foreign policy so critical, you know, are social issues going to be the deciders as they have in past elections, or do you think voters are basically going to wipe the slate clean and say no, no, no, we've got to focus on getting the economy, the economy, the economy, social issues can go by the wayside. maria? >> well, that's such an interesting question, deb, because this is something that i've actually written about. this is where i think republicans have really gotten it wrong. yes, the economy is the number one issue, but guess what, mitt romney has now lost his edge on the economy. and president obama is now outpolling him on who is trusted more with the economy. so with that, what will happen when voters go into the voting booth, they will look at the economy and how both candidates will deal with economic issues, but they will always -- and this is even including when romney had an edge on the economy, they will always look at other issues because american voters are not monolithic. so if you're a latino and you go into the voting booth, you're going look at how these candidates deal with immigration. if you're a woman going into the voting booth, you're going look at how these candidates have treated women's issues. by the way, it wasn't the democrats that put abortion on the front line. it wasn't the democrats who have talked about legitimate rape. so that was republicans that put it front and center. >> let me have amy jump in on this, because you're really the one who said the economy equals social issues, equals how people are going to vote effectively, if i understand you correctly. do you think for women, for example, is there more of a tendency for women to merge economic and social issues compared to men who may see just sort of economic issues as the key indicator of how they're going to vote? >> well, it really depends on which women you're talking about. so again, going back to those mid-term elections, which i think is really driving the democratic campaign, that they don't want that again. they don't want this gop wipeout, as what happened in 2010. and in 2010, the women's vote split evenly between democrats and the gop. however, if you were to look at it generationally, young women voted overwhelmingly for democratic candidates, whereas women between 30 and 64 narrowed that game, 64 and over overwhelmingly republican. so even among women, there are different issues that are a different importance. if you were to listen to the democratic party, you would think that contraception and reproductive rights is the number one women's issue, when it clearly isn't, and the mid-term election beared that out. i would point you to a memo wrin written last fall in november, where they explicitly said to inject abortion into the presidential election to try to get those women defectors -- women who voted for obama in 2008 who did not intend to vote for him again. and the way the reach them was through these reproductive rights issues. >> basically to talk about reproductive rights. maria, amy, do not go anywhere. with the first presidential debate a few days away, we're going to get a little help from you in terms of what the debate prep is scheduled to look like. but first, a question for all of you political junkies as you think that coffee or tea or whatever you drink in the morning. when was the very first presidential debate? the answer coming up straight ahead. 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[ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! before the break, i asked you if you knew the question to when was the very first presidential debate? the answer 1960 and the famous kennedy-nixon debate. there won't be another one until gerald ford and jimmy carter until 1976. the first presidential debate coming up wednesday. as always, both sides playing the expectations game. tamping down a little bit. let me bring back maria cardona and amy holmes. amy, as you see it, who's got the advantage, president obama who's done so many, or mitt romney who frankly had to do it just to get the nomination? >> exactly. well, the president obviously has the incumbent advantage and he's been president the last four years and dealt with these issues on the front lines at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. as you mentioned, mitt romney as the gop nominee, he had to go through quite a gauntlet. i'm not sure that one person has the edge over the other. i think the question will be, you know, who gets off the best line and who's able to address the voters' concerns most directly and most pervasively. >> maria, same question. who do you think has the edge? a lot of people have been saying, mitt, where are the details? who do you think that is advantage right now? >> well, it's interesting, because going into it on issues and substance, i think that president obama has the advantage, because he's the one who has been a lot more clear and has offered a lot more specifics on what he would do to continue to grow the middle class, to grow this economy from the middle class out, from the 99% out, if you will, and mitt romney's going into this with a deficit, and obviously will have to answer his 47% comment because that's what voters are left with. but i will say this. mitt romney has certainly had a lot more practice in the last couple of years, as amy pointed out, and he is the one who has the greatest expectations, because even republicans are saying that if he does not have a game-changing night, that the trajectory of this campaign will not change, and that's going to be bad for romney campaign. >> right. each of them have really sort of gotten their practice in, one could argue. we talked wins and losses, expectations. both sides basically trying to play it down a little buiit. it's better to manage expectations than to not accomplish expectations. what do you think the voters are expecting? are they expecting something civilized? are they expecting attacks from each separate candidate, amy? >> i think they're expecting their issues to be addressed and to be addressed thoroughly and convincingly. but i love debates, because you have these completely unexpected moments, like when al gore, in his debates in 2000 with george bush, was sighing and rolling his eyes and walked out onstage with this crazy clown face, and that ended up sort of overwhelming the debate, another debate, where with hillary clinton, when her competitor was running for the senate, crossed the stage in a physical image of intimidation. i think the viewers will be looking at the two candidates of who they are, who they are as men. are they comfortable in their own skin? are they commanding? do they project leadership and confidence? all of these things play. people who listen to the nixon-kennedy debate, they thought nixon won. people who watched it on tv, they thought it went to jfk. >> obviously those famous mom t moments -- maria wlamaria, what think? >> you pointed to a famous moment that didn't do anything to fix the outcome of the campaign, so while there could be those moments onstage, it's really up to the voters whether those moments are going to become game-changing for the campaign itself. and let's be honest here. both candidates are going to be very well prepared. both candidates have tremendous strengths going into this. both candidates are going to be well-versed on the other's record. they've had tremendous policy briefings. they're going to be holed up for two or three days. so we're going to see two very prepared men going into these debates and i think amy is right. it's going to be the unscripted moments that are really going to give us a clue into -- at least for those three people who are undecided out there. >> to see whether those moments define or distract. maria cardona, amy holmes, thanks so much as always. appreciate your insight. >> thank you, deb. each week we shine a spotlight on the top ten cnn heroes of 2012. this week's honoree is from kabul, afghanistan. razia fearlessly opens her school to girls each day while terrorists do their best to prevent those same girls from getting an education. here's her story. >> in afghanistan, most of the girls have no voice. they are used as property of a family. the picture is very grim. my name is razia jan, and i'm the founder of a girls school in afghanistan. when we opened the school in 2008, 90% of them could not write their name. today, 100% of them are educated. they can read, they can write. i lived in the u.s. for over 38 years. but i was really affected by 9/11. i really wanted to prove that muslims are not terrorists. i came back here in 2002. girls have been the most oppressed. i thought "i have to do something." it was a struggle in the beginning. i would sit with these men and i would tell them don't marry them when they're 14 years old, they want to learn. >> how do you write your father's name? >> after five years now, the men, they are proud of their girls. when they themselves can't write their name. >> very good. >> still, we have to take these precautions. some people are so much against girls getting educated. we provide free education to over 350 girls. i think it's like a fire that will grow. every year, my hope becomes more. i think i can see the future. >> and you can help us decide who will be our cnn hero of the year. if you'd like to vote for razia jan, go to cnnheroes.com and cast your vote. you can vote up to ten times a day every day. an award-winning jourmist joins me next. she was arrested for spray painting a controversial subway ad. was she right or was she wrong? and would she do it all over again? her side of the story on the other side. so, we all set? i've got two tickets to paradise! pack your bags, we'll leave tonight. uhh, it's next month, actually... eddie continues singing: to tickets to... paradiiiiiise! no four. remember? whoooa whooaa whooo! you know ronny, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? 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[ female announcer ] my money map from wells fargo is a free online tool that helps you track your spending. so instead of having to deal with a tight budget, you could have a tighter family. ♪ wells fargo. together we'll go far. and welcome back, everyone. i'm deborah feyerick in for randi kaye. here are some stories we're watching this morning. the u.s. has warned iran to top providing arms to syrian president bashar al assad. hillary clinton also asked syria's neighboring countries to prevent iran from using their land or air space to transport those weapons. the warning comes as the u.s. has announced $15 million in nonlethal support for syrian opposition forces. staying in iran, the country's farz news agency getting by folks at the onion. it published and took credit for a satirical story that claims a gallup poll found th