Schieffer the president said he thinks romney has come downa a mysterious illness. If you come down with a case of romnesia, and you cant seem to remember the policies that are still on your web site, or the promises youve made over the six years youve been running for president , heres the good news obamacare covers can preexisting conditions. Schieffer for the final debate set here tomorrow in boca raton, well talk to Florida Republican marco rubio. And well hear from two top campaign strategistes, Obama Deputy Campaign manager stephanie cutter, and Romney Adviser kevin madden. Then well get analysis from an allstar panel, including peggy noonan of the wall street journal. David sanger of the New York Times. Joe klein of time magazine. And our own john dickerson. Its getting hot and heavy, but this is face the nation. Captioning sponsored by cbs and now from Lynn University in boca raton, florida, the site of mondays president ial debate, face the nation with bob schieffer. Schieffer good morning, again, and welcome to face the nation. From boca raton, behind me this morning on the Lynn University campus, you see what is known as remembrance plaza. Its a memorial to two professors and four students here who were killed in the Haiti Earthquake in january of 2011 while on a College Service trip. And joining me now the home state senator from florida, senator marco rubio who i heard supports mitt romney. Now, more than ever. Welcome back to florida. Schieffer thank you, senator. How high are the stakes for tomorrows debate . I think theyre important. All the debates matter. Peggy noonan had a great writeup. Perhaps the debates matter more than ever before. I think the president created a false image i of mitt romney in the minds of some voters that was knocked down. And i think what is obvious is the president has no plan for the next four years. He has failed to laid out how he will govern in the next four years. I think tomorrow is the last chance to tell us what hes going to do over the next four years. Schieffer it is interesting that tomorrows debate comes 50 years to the day when john kennedy went on American Television and announced that the soviet union had put nucleartipped missiles 90 miles from the coast of the florida in cuba. We also know that fidel castro, the dictator of cuba then, still the dictator, i guess in name, but still the dictator, is very near death we are told. Im wondering, senator, what do you think will be the course of u. S. Relations with cuba if castro does go . Well, it wont be the direction the president has taken it over the last four years. They have these things called peopletopeople trips to cuba which ostensibly is for americans to be able to travel to cuba. Theyre really tourism trips. People go over there for salsa dancing and cigar rolling lessons and all it is is a source of hard currency for the castro regime. You talk about fidel cast trow beak dead but ill tell you whats near death in cuba is democracy. The cause of freedom in cuba has been hurt by the additional trips to cube and remittances providing hard currency for that regime. Schieffer are there lessons to be learned for todays politicians from what happened during the cuban missile crisis . We did avert, and probably came as close as well ever come, or had come to that point, to nuclear war. Are there lessons to be taken away from that . You read the accounts after the fact it was even more chilling in terms of some of the advice the president was getting for his military officials at the time. You look back in hindsight and maybe are glad he didnt take that advice in terms of some of the issues. Look, i think war and Armed Conflict is always the last of all the options you have on the table. I think you try to avoid that at all costs. Sometimes its unavoidable. Thats the lesson of world war ii. I think the other lesson of the last 50, 60 years, however, the strongest the u. S. Military, the stronger our defense capability, the stronger the chance for peace are and thats the lesson of the cold war and thereafter. I think and i believe and mitt romney bees strongly, at that time world is a safer and better place that the United States is the Strongest Military power on earth. The stronger you are, the less likelihood you will ever have to use it. Schieffer most elections are about the economy, but usually, probably within the first year of any president s term, there is some unanticipated foreign crisis, like the cuban missile crisis. Right now we have this this awful thing that happened in libya, an american ambassador. Youre aaware of the finger pointing bark and forth, it was the work of terrorists, it wasnt the work of terrorists. What have you been able to find out . From the early days of that attack it was apparent this was not just a Popular Uprising. In libya, there was no record of Popular Uprising against the United States. In fact, the United States is highly regarded in most of libya, and particularly in benghazi, this ambassador was incredibly popular in benghazi. Secondly, they were wellarmed and wellexecuted attack. It all the markings of a militarystyle attack. Whats most troubling is one of narratives the Obama Campaign has laid out is bin laden is dead. They bragged about that forever and al qaeda is in retreat. And you start to wonder, did they basically say do not allow any story to emerge that counters that narrative . Is that why for two weeks they total us the libyan incident in benghazi was a Popular Uprising and not a terrorist attack teak because it ran counter to their campaign narrative. I hope thats not true. You said early on in any presidency theres a moment truth. This president had one in iran. After the false elections there, the people took to the streets, and the president refused to line up with the green revolution there. He said he wasnt going to get involved in iran sovereignty. The result has been disastrous. There is now no wellorganized in iran for the rebellion because of the president s lack of engagement. Schieffer in the beginning the administration said it appeared it was the result of a spontaneous demonstration. And the president said no he called it an act of terrorism. There are some newspapers, the it Los Angeles Times quoting say it may have been inspired by a spontaneous demonstration. Well, thats not the evidence youre seeing. These effects were well armed. It was a wellexecuted attack. The truth slets find out the truth. Lets put all the facts on the table to see how it developed and we can know. I can tell you the markings of it, the weapons they were carrying and the way it was carried out in multiple stages had all the markings of a terroristtype attack and for 14 days this administration did everything in its power, including on this show and others that sunday after the attack, to say that it was a Popular Uprising, that it was a spontaneous uprising linked to a Youtube Video which we now know not to be the case. Even the administration now admits that. Schieffer governor romney has made quite a point saying in his first day in office he will declare china to be a currency manipulator. I understand you told some reporters from bloomberg that you dont agree with the president , that you dont think thats a wise thing to do. I agree with mitt romney that china is a currency manipulator. The believe a trade war is not the right way to approach it. I think if you label him a currency manipulator, it would hurt american businesses. But i understand his frustration, and we may have to do what governor romney is saying. We may have to label them a currency manipulator, but the ideal way to deal with it we both have a lot to lose here. China has a lot to lose nay trade war. It would be for neither one of our comeps hopefully we can avoid that. It may come to that, but i hope we can avoid that. Schieffer let me just ask you this question, what do you think what do you want to hear from the candidates as to what they see as americas rol in the world . Well, i think thats a great question. The answer, i think for governor romney hed laid that out pretty clearly. Hed used americas role in the world as a catalyst for peace, prosperity and freedom. He understands america cant solve every problem in the world unilaterally. Increasingly is takes global coalitions but they have to be put together and led. And only the United States has the capability to do that. The current president , on the other hand, is a very different vision of the world and part of the failure that this president has had is his failure to outline broad goals, real goals, a real view of what americas role in the world should be. We have never got than from this president , just like for much of this campaign, we havent gotten from this president his plans for the future. I hope tomorrow night eye dont know who the moderator is but i hope that the president will be pressed on what his plans are for the next four years on Foreign Policy and, if possible, on the economy. I know thats not the topic. But they are related. Schieffer well, lets just talk about the economy for a minute. Before the year is out, unless the congress does something, and the president would have to sign into law whatever they do, were facing what people are calling the fiscal crisis because of these automatic tax hikes that go in for everybody, and these draconian cuts in both social and defense programs that will be enacted, again, automatically. Do you think congress is going to be able to solve this . What should whoever is elected president because even if mitt romney is elected and hes not in office yet, wont he have to do something to encourage the congress to solve this . Let me say on that issue i agree with what barack obama said in december of 2010. And that is in the middle of an economic downturn, in the middle of a bad economy, its not a good time to raise taxes on anybody. I hope he remembers that and says that again and does that again because without president ial leadership, were not going to be able to confront this issue. I think the longterm solution to this problem, of is the combination of pro Growth Strategies on tax reform and Regulatory Reform and repealing obamacare, combined with fiscal spending discipline so we dont keep digging a hole. I think if we can get growth going in our economy and hold the line on spending, we can recover fairly quickly. I think thats what governor romney is promising. Sadly we dont know what president obamas plan is on the fiscal cliff or anything for that matter. Glefd just one more Foreign Policy question. Do you take seriously these reports that iran now want wants to make a deal on some kind of nuclear thing . Well, the white house has denied that, and so i dont think i need to further comment on that story upon. I do say i think governor romney would agree. Force is the last option. Its the least desirable one. It has to be on the table and the candidates agree on that. I am concerned that iran has used negotiations quote, unquote newscast as a way t to buy time for thur nuclear program. Schieffer senator, its always a pleasure to have you. Well be back in one minute. Because it matters. At hp we dont just believe in the power of technology. We believe in the power of people when Technology Works for you. To dream. To create. To work. If youre going to do something. Make it matter. The economy needs manufacturing. Machines, tools, people making stuff. Companies have to invest in making things. Infrastructure, construction, production. We need it now more than ever. Chevrons putting more than 8 billion dollars back in the u. S. Economy this year. In pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. We need to get the wheels turning. Im proud of that. Making real things. For real. That make a real difference. Schieffer were back here in boca raton, the site of the final president ial debate tomorrow night. Weve got both sides here now. Stephanie cutter, the president s Deputy Campaign manager, kevin madden, who is an adviser to governor mitt romney. I want to talk to both of you about what marco rubio said. First, id like to get both of your takes on where pou think the race stands here in florida because as we all know, it could all be decided on how florida goes. What do you think . I think that the race here is very close, but were increasingly encouraged by the state of our campaign here. I think governor romney focusing on the economy, focusing on what he would do to help get more jobs for the people of florida and people across the country. Also, focusing on debt, focusing on deficits, focusing on the gas prices that so many floridians are seeing every single day at the gas pump and how thats affecting their bottom line. I think right now theres a lot of anxiety amongst the American People, particularly people here in florida, about the state of the economy. And as governor romney has focused on that, and hes focused on what he would do better over the next four years, versus the failed policies that weve seen over these past four years from president obama, our campaign has done very well here. And we feel very good about where were positioned here right now. Well, i agree with kevin that it is very close. You know, some polls have the president five up, some have the some polls have the governor five up. But weve invested in this state. We have more than 100 Campaign Offices across this state. We believe in our ground operations. Weve closed the gap normally republicans have an advantage with absentee ballots. In florida, weve close closed that gap in this election in terms of the Academy Going forwardof agenda, we have made progress here in florida. The housing industry is on the rebound. We created jobs in florida, we created new energy, the solar and wind energy, because of the investments the president has made. I think people in florida agree with most people across this country, they want to build this economy, rebuild this economy in a way meant to last which means you center to do this from middle out with a strong middle class and that is what mitt romney is not doing. His singular economic spls a tax cut that gives 250,000 tax cut to those at the top forcing the middle class to pay for it. Thats not the way to move this economy forward and i think the people of florida know that. Schieffer what mitt romney is telling people is the president is not telling people what he plans to do during his second term. Mitt romney ought to come on the trail with us and come to some of the rallies and listen to what the president is the saying. I think millions of americans heard it on convention night. He wants to build continue rebuilding this economy as i said in a way thats meant to last, build on the progress weve made. Invest in manufacturing and Small Businesses by closing those loopholes that send jobs overseas and bring jobs back home, invest in education so we have a skilled workforce. There are job all over this country that cant be filled because we dont have enough highskilled workers. New math and science teachers, investing in Community Colleges to train new workers, cut our dependence on foreign oil in half and were wol our way to do that. Cut our deficits. Theres a detailed deficit Reduction Plan on the table that the president put forth. And finally, end the war in afghanistan and use those savings to rebuild america back after a decade of war its time to rebuild here at home and the president has a plan to do that. Schieffer let me just ask kevin what about the charge the president he has diagnosed governor romney as having rom nearbyia, he cant remember the positions hes taken, that hes changed. Look, the very fact that the president of the United Stateses had to utter a term like that is a glaring example of how small the campaign has been. This has not been a campaign its Obama Campaign has not been one about the future. It hasnt been talking about what they would do the next four years to rebuild the economy. Instead theyve reduced themselveses to very small attacks. You say romnesia, which is silly for want president of the United States, the leader of the free world to gip uttering. Talk about binders, talk about big bird. All of that is indicative of a candidate that doesnt have a vision for the future. Governor romney on the other hand schieffer its governor romney who brought up binders and big bird. Theyre trying to make that the central argument in the last 16 days is really very small for their campaign and theyve conducted themselves like this over the last six months. I think a lot of people right now, we have 23 Million People struggling to find work. We have a National Debt thats over 16 trillion. 4 trillion this president has added trilliondollar deficits every year for the last four years, and this is the president s closing argument. I think one of the condition tafts that has emerged in these deterioration one that has worked to governor romneys favor is governor romney has plans for the future on everything from bringing down energy lies lowering health care costs, rejuvenating the economy, putting people back to work. And that contrast has worked in our favor because governor romney has a plan for the future. Whereas over the next four years, we dont know what president obama would do. And the American People right now i think are judging the president very harshly because they know we simply cannot afford another four years like the last four years. Schieffer too much, big bird . Youre right, bob. We are not the one who brought up big bird. Big bird is important because thats the only thing mitt