we begin tonight with new details about president obama's personal evolution on a potent political issue, same-sex marriage. >> i have just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> with that in that oval office vint with abc news, the president officially switched his position. in 2008, he ran as i acandidate who opposed same-sex marriage. cnn is told he is ready to support it and green light those that want to add language to the 2012 campaign platform. >> why the switch? >> i had hesitated on gay marriage in part because i thought civil unions would be sufficient. that that was something that would give people hospital visitation rights and other elements that we take for granted. and, i was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that o evokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs. over the course of several years, as i talked to friends and family and neighbors, when i this i about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed, mon og must relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when i think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailers who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained even now that don't ask, don't tell us gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage. >> the president at length explaining his change of heart. the political fall. how the president and his divided political team decided to change his position and how they decided to announce it now? jessica yellin is working her sources. jess, says the white house was always the plan. >> reporter: it is interesting. depends on who you talk to. several senior administration officials emphasized to me that the president always planned to come out in support of same-sex marriage prior to the democratic convention. it was once vice president biden made those remarks on sunday that it sort of forced his hand and made them decide to do it today, this week, as opposed to at another time. but, you know, another senior administration official tells me that, in fact, there was division within the white house this week about whether he should come out in favor of same-sex marriage at all. the reason i find that plausible, is because i know there are democratic officials who were very worried about the fact that some in the party were pushing for a plank at the convention in support of gay marriage and the president hadn't supported gay marriage. if the president was always planning to come out in support of gay marriage, that wouldn't have been an issue. in any case, the one thing i can tell you, is all officials emphasized that the president in his heart believed in gay marriage, supported same-sex marriage. it was a question of whether he should come out in favor of it before the election or not. now, that decision has been made. >> it is front and center. how do they expect it to play politically? >> they say they haven't played it out fully and they are not sure. they are convinced that people who were planning to vote for the president were not those that opposed gay marriage to begin with. they do not believe they will lose votes because of this. it is not going to be a corner stone of the campaign. he is not pushing legislation. he believes this is a state's rights issue. he has made it a personal issue. he has emphasized it was his wife and children who helped him come to this. young voters support it. they were quite clear, as well, that they believe mitt romney has a, quote, more extreme position than the president. mitt romney has come out in support of an amendment to the constitution supporting banning gay marriage. in other words, warning to the romney campaign. if they want to challenge the president on this issue, they will face a lot of attacks from the obama campaign coming right back at them. >> the white house team's position from day one. it is a fascinating question. this gallup data goes back to 1976. 27%, 1 in 4, supported same-sex marriage. that's back then. look now. have to. those are national numbers. we picked presidents, state by state, because of the electoral college. that's the big question. how might this decision impact what we know is a very close race for president? this is the map for 2008. blue states won by president obama. red states won by the republican nominee, senator john mccain. here is what some people say. not this issue alone. this is going to be a bit of an exaggeration. this could impact the president in states he carried like iowa, indiana, ohio, like virginia and north carolina. some say even among latino voters, turnout is down a little bit. conservative democrats in the state of florida. look at those states. this is a bit of a hypothetical. a slight exaggeration to see how it plays out. let's switch to the electoral map and go to those states. this is what happened in 2008. if you take iowa out, indiana and ohio out, remember, the president has issues this these states already, the same-sex marriage debate would be a complicating factor in the debate. virginia and north carolina, evangelical voters and conservative african-americans could go away. florida. some say pennsylvania. others say michigan and wisconsin. let me focus on these. if you take these states out of play for the president, same-sex marriage wouldn't be the only issue. if you take those states out and if mitt romney were able to turn them all red, mitt romney is the next president of the united states. again. i am not saying this one issue will change those states from blue to red. in a close presidential election, when you are playing on the margins, there are some that think it could, could be an impact. that's just a half dozen states i showed you there. we will watch how this plays in the weeks ahead. if you look at this down the line, working class voters, they narrowly oppose same-sex marriage, working class white voters, as do older voters. they narrowly oppose same-sex marriage. so do rural voters. they oppose it by a much wider margin. it tends to hurt the president where he has issues. on the flip side, suburban voters narrowly favor it. suburban voters are critical in close presidential. urban voters back same-sex marriage by a wide margin. it depends on where you are looking. let's talk it over with gloria borger. to be clear up front, we don't know. the president thinks it helps with young voters and suburban voters. they are very important. sort of a generational issue. we know those where he already struggles, white, working class voters, rural voters, older voters. >> evangelical voters. catholics. >> that's the flip side. for evangelical voters that have a doubt about mitt romney, a reason to be for it. when you talk to people at the white house as jessica was saying, they say, look, it could come down either way. one thing i was looking at, where do women voters come out on this. women voters approve of same-sex marriage 56%. men, 42%. women are more approving. state by state that you just pointed out on the electoral map, there are places that it could really hurt president obama. take the state of iowa. mitt romney had a very difficult time with evangelical voters, very conservative voters in the state of iowa. this could rally them around mitt romney and against president obama. >> president bush used it before. the polling suggests more voters have come in terms of favoring it, or at least not opposing it. i will show you a national map with the same-sex marriage debate. 28 states have constitutional provisions defining marriages between a man and woman. ten by law, statutory provisions. in five states, there are no statutory or constitutional provisions at all. seven states allow same-sex marriages and three more have the laws that have yet to take effect. the polling shows a bear majority support. wlfr it is on the ballot, 28 states. when this is on the ballot, the bans win. >> when it is on the ballot, same-sex marriage goes away. it has only been approved, by the way, six state legislatures and also the district of columbia. there is an awful long way to go. this is an issue because of proposition eight in california that could eventually wind its way to the supreme court. so it would be another one of those issues before the supreme court. like health care. and immigration, which president obama has already stated his position on. >> here is the question. why is it when president obama changes his position, it is an evolution. when governor romney changes his, it is a flip-flop. >> funny you should ask that. that's exactly what mitt romney was saying today. it is very clear, the obama campaign is going to go after mitt romney as somebody who has no core and is a flip-flopper. today, mitt romney flung it right back to him. this is a president who took a very different position in 2008 when he ran to the presidency. now, he sees public opinion shifting and, guess what, he has changed his view? both of these men have had opinions on this issue that have evolved. except they have evolved in completely different directions, john. >> we will have much more including what gloria was just talking about, mitt romney's own evolution on same-sex marriage. republican senate nominee, richard murdoch, who knocked off six-term incumbent, senator richard lugar. 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>> he is certainly right on one point. i will not compromise on my principles. there is a lot of discussion about bipartisanship. when the term is usually invoked, it is about having republicans join democrats to get something done. one of the things we have spoken of a great deal is my desire to help build a republican party into the majority so that the word bipartisanship means maybe some democrats will come my way. >> in the meantime, we have divided leadership. maybe we will have a republican president and republican senate. if you were here today, i know you believe the deficit is a big crisis facing the country, correct? >> i absolutely do. >> if there was a deal that had $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases and the math said it is wa a credible deal to reduce the deficit, could you vote for that if it was the only way to get enough democrats to support it and get a president to sign it? >> i have said many times we need to make sure we are not continuing to raise the debt without serious reductions. if the bill is crafted in such a way we can get the deficit narrowing and we are not going to be significantly adding to the debt, that would have to be considered. the big issue is whether we will have people that stand on their principles. the modern definition of by party tan ship is the democrats saying, let's spend $10 billion and the republicans saying let's spend $5 billion we don't have and instead, they compromise and spend $7.5 billion they are out of control. we have a government out of control. it has to be realed back in. >> your definition of bipartisanship, is it only whether democrats are willing to come your way or if they are willing to come your way, you are willing to give up a piece to give up the agreement? >> sure. if it is not about the principle, there is an important part of negotiating to get things done. we have this unusual time in our history where the republican party, the leaders of that party and the democratic party are so polarized, they have two totally different goals. one is to reduce government. one is to make government bigger. when those are the principles, it makes the negotiations meaningless. one side wants the opposite of the other. it will be very difficult environment for several years to come. >> you won the election and you were speaking of your supporters. you spoke not only of the race in indiana and the conditions facing the country but you took a global view. let's listen. >> france elected a socialist. there are those in the administration and left side of the party that were cheering that. we north going to stand for that in indiana. >> i just want to follow up on that point there. france did just elect a socialist president. you are connecting that to what the democrats might want. are you saying the president is a socialist? >> i am not saying that but i am certainly saying that there is a sense that we seem to be moving in this direction of the western european government. that's what hoosiers are opposed to. we believe in free markets, not massive stimulus programs and bailouts. that's the difference between the republican and democratic party. it's why i think the republican party offers the best hope to get our economy going again. for all of their populism and modernism and what they seem to be offering in europe. how well are they doing right now? their recovery is at a much slower rate than ours. >> the president surprised a lot of people by carrying your state in 2008. most believe it would be very difficult already. how will his announcement today that he personally supports same-sex marriage, how will that impact the state of indiana in the presidential race? >> i heard your analysis before. i think the comments made are exactly right. he can forget about winning indiana for a lot of reasons. that will just be one more. >> richard mourdoch is the republican who just knocked off richard lugar. reaction from some of president obama's supporters. next, the fbi adds a murder and kidnapping suspect to the ten most-wanted list and there is a big reward. that we were o. that we were o. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. 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[ dad ] i choose great taste. i choose boost. welcome back. kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know now. >> hello, everyone. a mississippi man-made the fbi's ten most wanted list today. a $175,000 record for adam mayes. a picture of him right there. he and his wife, who is actually in custody, are charged with kidnapping a tennessee woman and her three daughters, then killing the mother and the oldest girl. mayes is on the run possibly with the two younger girls if they are still alive. witnesses at the john edwards trial today included his one time communication's adviser, jennifer palmieri who was close to elizabeth. she recounted elizabeth's concern that there wouldn't be a man around that loved her and the meeting of the affair with the campaign worker. hundreds of people protested outside of bank of america's corporate headquarters. most were linked to the group called the 99% power coalition pushing back against the bank's foreclosure processes. five people were arrested. the group has also held similar protests outside shareholders meetings for wells fargo and g.e. nasa, predicting another massive solar storm heading our way much the giant sun spots you are seeing here are more than 60,000 miles wide and appeared this weekend. they are likely to ignite huge flares from the sun's surface and bombard earth with tiny particles. sounds a little scary. solar storms can disrupt power and knock out your gps system. hopefully, that will be the only extent of your damage. i can look at these pictures forever. >> it is always the nasa photos. it is really beautiful to see. >> you don't use gps, anyway? >> oh, yes. >> i am going to leave the great driver thing right there. in a moment, we will turn to this hour's big breaking story, president obama's decision to support same-sex marriage. we will watch and listen to his personal evolution on this issue. >> the truth about last night's election results. the voters sent an important message to democrats and republicans. we have product x and we have product y. we are going to start with product x. the only thing i'll let you know is that it is an, affordable product. oh, i like that. let's move on to product y, which is a far more expensive product. whoaaa. i don't care for that at all. yuck. you picked x and it was geico car insurance and y was the competitor. is that something you would pay for year after year? i, i like soda a lot but for a change of pace... this half hour, president obama says he supports same-sex marriage. hear his voice. your job is not safe. the truth about why this election year is loose looking so different. michele bachmann, now eligible to run for office 4,000 miles away. what she says about possibly running on a swiss ticket. back to tonight's breaking news. president obama says he now supports same-sex marriage. the president says his position on this issue has evolved. here i