Hi there. Im brooke baldwin. Good to be with you on this monday. Lets get right to it. Third and final debate, seven hours away. And here is just about the past half hour or so, president obama has arrived in southern florida. We should tell you that mitt romney is already there. The scene of tonights debate is boca raton. And the subject is Foreign Policy. And the format will be this, barack obama and mitt romney, seated, theyre going to be seated around a table with Bob Schieffer of cbs news. Thats a hall youre looking at, obviously, it is a rehearsal. As you can see, they will be pretty cozy sitting around that table there. And now just in time for tonights big debate, a very big story concerning Foreign Policy. Possible, possible talks between the United States and iran after the election. One on one talks about Irans Nuclear program and that would be a major shift in washingtons policy toward tehran. Keep in mind, though, the Obama Administration and iran both denight the talks have been agreed to. Jim acosta, to you, hes at the scene for us of tonights big debate, our coverage by the way begins tonight at 7 00 eastern. Curious timing here, the story about potential talks between the u. S. And iran. Im guessing that could take center stage tonight. Reporter i think thats right, brooke. You know, we tried to ask mitt romney that question yesterday when his staff came out for a Football Game with the reporters who cover his campaign. One of the report tleers tried ask mitt romney about the story in the New York Times as to whether or not he would support the face to face talks between the United States and iran. He didnt really answer the question. He wanted to focus on football during that afternoon. And so i think it will come up tonight. I think youre also going to perhaps see a return to that libya discussion that we saw flare up at the last weeks debate in new york. I think the Romney Campaign is also signaling theyll be going after the president on, say, his comments about vladimir putin. Remember those comments he made to Dmitry Medvedev when he have more flexibility and then med d medvedev said ill transmit that to vladimir. The Romney Campaign put out a web video poking fun at the president for that. We might see mitt romney bring that up. Ive had several conversations with some top romney advisers in the last hour or so, and it is interesting to see what may be coming tonight, brooke. We may be seeing another round, another feisty round in these debates between the president and mitt romney. I talked to a senior romney strategist leading the hotel where mitt romney has been doing his debate prep about an hour ago and asked about this possibility. They said that they are preparing for a president who will not come out like a lamb. And even though that this debate setting tonight is going to be around a round table discussion, i just talked to a democratic source a few moments ago, brooke, who said if you look at how theyre going to be seated at the table tonight, it is going to be very interesting. Bob schieffer will be across from them, but then mitt romney and president obama will be seated very close to one another. So unlike last week, at the town hall debate, where they were crossing the stage to invade each others personal space, they will already be in each others personal space. Like the Vice President ial debate. Reporter right. Back and forth and back and forth, right. Reporter thats right. So you may see i was talking to a democratic source about this and they said, they dont have to walk up to each other, they may be kicking each other under the table. I think thats probably taking it too far, but i do think both sides are preparing for this possibility that unlike what you would imagine that would happen at a round table discussion, sort of a subdued conversation about Foreign Policy issues this could get testy tonight. Lets hope not for bruised shins in the morning for either of these gentlemen. But i do think that a debate when youre seated is more conducive to that back and forth and possible interruptions back and forth. Before i let you go, though, m jim, youve been covering this campaign so closely, what are you listening for tonight . Reporter you know, one of the things i think well be listening for is the discussion on libya. It came up at last weeks debate. You saw mitt romney in the eyes of some viewers have a misstep when he challenged the pdehat rose garden it seems like such an obvious opening for mitt romney. Reporter thats right. But recall in the post debate events and speeches romney had after the debate, he did not bring that up. It is curious as to whether or not mitt romney will bring that up tonight. Thats one ill be looking for. The other thing ill be looking for is who will bring up Osama Bin Laden first. Obviously that is something the president will want to bring up tonight. But might it be in mitt romneys interest to bring it up first . And basically congratulate the president on taking out bin laden and sort of removing that issue from the table, moving forward. That might be a smart debate tactic. I brought it up with a Romney Campaign insider from debate prep and he wouldnt bite on that. Good question. Reporter an interesting tactic that we might see play out tonight. Well look for it. Jim acosta, well be watching. We absolutely will be watching. Thank you so much for us from florida. With me from washington our chief National Correspondent john king. What is the most important thing for each candidate to accomplish tonight and, john, lets begin with mitt romney. Reporter mitt romney is the challenger, brooke. He immediates to convince the American People hes an incredible commander in chief. Hes in the state of florida, a couple of thousand jewish votes in state of florida could help him there. Hell be tough on the president suggesting there is too much distance between the United States and israel. He has to be careful as he prosecutes that case. He wants to say in his view he wants to make the case the president has been soft on several National Security issues, wants to make the case that the president is not on top of things, the president is not driving the discussions, but is following, leading from behind is a term youll hear from governor romney tonight. He also has to convince people, look this is an election about the economy, the economy, the economy. He has to show people that he has the gravitas and the temperament to be commander in chief. We watch him to pivot toward the economy, even though is a Foreign Policy debate. What about the president . Reporter the president will pivot toward the economy on several occasions as well. Talking about the china challenge, thats a security test and an economic test. Whether youre talking about the european financial crisis, the management of that, that san economic test. The president will say tonight, i promise to end the war in iraq, i promise to begin the end of the war in afghanistan, ive kept that promise. The president will argue there is a peace dividend, my term, not his, you have money that you can bring home to the United States. The biggest test for the president , though, brooke, is to prove hes on top of it. Governor romney will say look at libya, look at egypt, look at syria. This is the United States of america is not driving the worlds discussion, it is following. It is reacting and the president has to make the case and the benghazi discussion, the libya discussion will be i think first biggest centerpiece of this, the carry over from the last debate, that yes, it is a tough world, yes, things happen, you cant control everything, but he has to make the case hes on top of it. All of a sudden were within two weeks of the election. I want to talk big picture with you again. Let me pose this question to you. It seems mitt romney made major inroads in florida, and could very well could very well win that important state come november 6th. That said, we have polls today, ill show you numbers here, showing president obama still leading ohio, leading wisconsin, leading iowa. Is the Obama Campaign starting to build this firefirewall, if will, around those three states and think that that may be the election right there . Reporter the Romney Campaign says those states are closer than the poll suggests. But there is zero question that is the key to the president s strategy. You put up ohio, wisconsin and iowa. If the president wins those three states, brooke, and nothing else changes from how we have the map now if the president wins those three states, you see them there, that would give him hes at 237 now, there are 237 Electoral College votes, tossups if you add those three in, thats 34 more, thats 271. If nothing else changed in the map, the president wins those three there, hes the next president of the United States. Even if mitt romney won Everything Else that we listed as a battleground now, Everything Else, nevada, colorado, virginia, north carolina, new hampshire, and florida, that would get mitt romney to 267, close, but close doesnt count. He would have to change Something Else on the map, take away pennsylvania, take away michigan, if the president can win ohio, wisconsin and oiowa. These guys will be camping out in midwest, paying income tax there. Well watch for you and everyone else talking about the debate. Our coverage on cnn and cnn. Com begins at 7 00 eastern this evening. Coming up next, dan rather joins me live on todays Political Climate and the questions he would love to ask both the president and mitt romney tonight. Do not miss this conversation here. Plus, the titles that made Lance Armstrong a legend are now gone. Stripped away in todays bombshell here, his breaking point. [ man ] in hong kong, on my way to the Board Meeting. Annes tablet called my phone. Annes tablet was chatting with a tablet in sydney. A desktop in zurich. And a telepresence room in brazil. The secure cloud helped us get some numbers from my assistants pc in new york. And before i reached the top, the Board Meeting became a congrats we sold the company party. Wait til my wifes phone hears about this. [ cellphone vibrating ] [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center, working together has never worked so well. Home of the legendary grand prix circuit. The perect place to bring the allnew cadillac ats to test the 2. 0liter turbo engine. [ engine revs ] [ derek ] 272 horsepower. The lightest in its class. The cadillac ats outmatches the bmw 3 series. I cannot believe i have ended the day not scraping some red paint off on these barriers. [ male announcer ] the allnew cadillac ats. Once again, Foreign Policy debate tonight, 9 00 p. M. Eastern. Our cnn coverage begins at 7 00. And joining me now new york, so pleased to have you with us, veteran news correspondent dan rather. Good to see you, sir. Good to see you again, brooke. I believe in early happy birthday is in order. What is this, the tenth anniversary of 70 . 71 . How about that . Thank you very much. Youre welcome. Lets switch gears, i want to talk about Foreign Policy taking center stage tonight in boca raton, i found myself with my producer here, thinking about Foreign Policy, thinking back to 1968, way back when. President nixon, lets show our viewers, a muc younger dan rather squaring off with president Richard Nixon. There he is standing, dan rather on the left, this is 1968, you have candidate Richard Nixon, ran on what was called a secret plan to end the vietnam war. And as we all know, Richard Nixon was elected, relekelected but did not end the war in vietnam. My question is about voters today in 2012. Do you think they would be willing to vote for a candidate who makes a promise and lets be honest that both these candidates have been criticized for, you know, not exactly offering up clear agendas, do you think they would vote for that person without the spe specifics. The record shows they probably would, unfortunately. One can argue they shouldnt, but i think they would. Even today. Even today. For example, as you pointed out, in this campaign already, president obama has made promises that he hasnt been specific about. One can argue and i think rightly so that perhaps governor romney has laid out some promises that hes been even less specific about. But to answer your question, yes. Voters dont pay nearly as close attention to the campaigns as reporters and political operatives do. It is not only possible, but probable, but candidates can make promises and not settle on specifics and say ill handle it later. What is just fastforward to tonight here, if you were there, in boca raton, what is the one Foreign Policy question you are absolutely dying to ask of the president . Well, i would think of the president or both candidates . Lets say the president. For the president , it is one thing, what is in your opinion the single biggest threat to world peace and our own National Security . And in a second term, if youre reelected, what would you do to alleviate that threat. What about to governor romney . It would be exactly the same question to him, if elected, what do you now consider the single biggest threat to world peace and our National Security . And if elected, what would you do to diminish that threat. I have some sound. I want to play some sound, mitt romney, last week, the last debate. I have a feeling we might hear some version of that this evening. Here he was. The president s policy throughout the middle east began with an apology tour and pursue a strategy of leading from behind, and this strategy is unraveling before our very eyes. Unraveling before our very eyes. We have heard it from romney. We heard it from paul ryan. Would you, dan rather, would you press romney for specifics on that . I ask that question because it doesnt seem to be that much difference either in terms of specifics or in terms of obama and romney when it comes to syria, iran, afghanistan and iraq as well. What to do . Well, the question for governor romney and equally tough questions of other varieties for president obama, but the question to governor romney is that he has talked tough about russia, calling it in effect our number one enemy and opponent. Hes talked tough about china. Hes talked tough and threateningly about iran, talked tougher about syria. So the question is, third, do you think even though were the worlds ranking economic and military superpower that we can afford to have confrontations with all of those countries with our military already stretched thin and our economy shaky, does it make sense to be in effect threatening russia, china, iran and syria to name just two, north korea would be another. So that would be a go ask him. I think governor romney has been hes seen some benefit of being on the offensive saying president obama is weak. But it also leaves him vulnerable on, wow, is this a guy to keep the peace. Right. The tough talk kind of makes you wonder what that then could lead to. But, you know, we talked about politics being blood sport today. I want to go back to 1968, Democratic Convention, in chicago. Roll it. Take your hands off of me. Unless you intend to arrest me, dont push me, please. Dont push me. Take your hands off of me unless you plan to arrest me. Dan rather, getting roughed up. This is the floor of the dnc. I cant see you. But do you miss those days when politics there is the smile, when politics was really rough . Well, politics is still rough. It is still very much a blood sport. I do miss the conventions where things were decided as you know so well, brooke, that the modern political conventions of both parties, nothing is decided there. Pep rallies. All prescripted. In 1968, things were actually decided at the republican and Democratic Convention, i do miss that. I dont miss the punch in the stomach i got. Get your hands off me, you say. Dan rather reports, this is your show, on access tv. Tell me about your Facebook Page and your invitation there to all your followers. Well, our program this week on access tv, we try to do one hour a week on deep digging investigative reports, International Coverage and political coverage. This week i think it is timely, we have the last days of moammar gadhafi, what happened in the last days and hours of Moammar Gadhafis demise and eventual death . And what that tells us about what is going on in libya today. One expects libya to be front and center at tonights president ial debate. If libya does not come up into tonights president ial debate, i think youre more likely to see ice on the equator than you not to see that happen. So we think our program is timely about what happened to gadhafi, what really happened to him and what that tells us about today. Yeah. How could it not . Libya has to come up. Dan rather, thank you. Thank you for allowing us to pull some vintage dan rather as well. Just in time for the busiest travel season of the year, gas prices are on the way down. So the question is, how low will they go . Alison kosik has the answer next. [music artist willy moon song yeah yeah label universal] everybody well dont you know its me now . Yeah whos it, whos it huh . Willys back