He cant talk about it because it involves polygamy. Controversy. Hes the first Nobel Peace Prize winner with a kill list. Mitt romney doesnt have an ideological bone in his body, as far as i can tell. And destiny. What unites both of these characters is this sense that there was a place that they were going, a destiny that they had. Tonight ofrontline, the choice 2012. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major funding is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. And by the frontline journalism fund. In massachusetts, in a political fight that ted kennedy probably never imagined. Kennedys seventh campaign has become a desperate struggle for survival. This year he in his toughest race ever against a political newcomer. Its youth versus age, the senates leading liberal against a wildly successful Venture Capitalist. We get a call from the boston police. And they say, its a mad scene down here. chanting we want ted narrator it was the night of their first debate. Were going to have to get you an escort to get into the building. They had eight or ten Motorcycle Police officers there to guide us through the mobs of people at the site. Narrator it was 47yearold mitt romneys First Campaign. And mitt just has this big smile on his face, and he looks at me and goes, boy, however this turns out, this really makes it worth it. Narrator the race had been close. Romney needed a great performance. I dont think he had any idea what it was going to be like, because he had never done debates under that pressure. Narrator hed gotten into the race because kennedy looked weak, beatable. At the time ted kennedy seemed vulnerable. It was a weak period for kennedy. He looked bad, he sounded bad, and in that way he was vulnerable. Narrator he was dramatically overweight. There had been trouble with alcohol and women. Hed mortgaged his house to stay in the race. Romney was everything ted kennedy was not. You know, he had this clean family life. He was a really good speaker. He was really athletic and he had a good kind of campaign visage. People knew that he had gone to Harvard Business school, had made a lot of money, been a registered independent up until not too long before he ran. He ran as a liberaltomoderate politician. He opposed Newt Gingrichs contract with america. He supported abortion rights. He said he was to the left of ted kennedy on gay rights. The expectation was that romney would do very well. Mitt romney, the republican candidate. I ran into someone who was not so friendly to us who said, did you come to see your guy destroyed . I paced in the back of faneuil hall during the entire debate. Good evening and welcome. Narrator romney directly confronted edward kennedy. Senator kennedy, my impression has been that you have followed a campaign, as soon as the primary was over, of trying to divert the voters attention from the issues at hand, and instead making personal attacks on me which are unfounded, unfair and sleazy. Narrator kennedy had unleashed negative tv ads. Romney. Its not just what he did to his workers and business thats the problem. Its what he might do to us in the senate. Kennedy was a master politician and what he did was he used a series of filmed ads to its maximal effect. Mitt romney says he helped create 10,000 jobs. The former workers at scm in marion, indiana, Say Something else. Id like to say to the people of massachusetts, if you think it cant happen to you, think again, because we thought it wouldnt happen here either. I want to know why you spent millions of dollars showing advertisements of strikers in a company i had nothing to do with. Narrator but kennedy, the veteran, ignored romneys charge. Mr. Romney, lets put the ads aside and talk about health care. Lets talk about education. Lets talk about training. Lets talk about new jobs. Lets talk about infrastructure. Lets talk about our different vision for massachusetts. Thats what the people of massachusetts want to talk about. And thats what i think they ought to hear about. I think about 10 or 15 minutes in, romney began to realize this was not the easy exercise he thought it was going to be. Narrator then romney faltered. The issue was health care. I have a plan. I have a position paper on health care. Im happy to show it to you, senator, any time youd like. Mr. Romney, it isnt a question of showing me your paper. Its a question of showing all of the people in here that are watching this program the paper. They ought to have an opportunity to know. What is the cost of your program . I dont have a cost of my program. You dont have a cost . No, im sorry, i dont have. What would be the impact of that on the budget . Well, the impact, i do not know the specific number. So you dont have a cost. The impact of that on the budget, senator kennedy. And i think its a wonderful idea to take it through, piece by piece, and. Thats what you do as a legislator. Thats exactly what you have to do as a legislator. applause and cheering we all sort of understood what had happened that night. The debate was watched by over three million people, as many people as watched a super bowl in massachusetts. Romney had these expectations that he was going to win up to here. And suddenly kennedy is up to here, romneys here. The race is over. applause after you lose to ted kennedy, Everything Else comes up short. You have learned from that, you have been through the storm. Youve served time on the front lines. History is a great teacher. He may have lost but he acquired mitt doesnt like to lose so. It was very painful for him. It was, i believe, probably the first public failure he had ever experienced, and i think at a deep level that was a painful experience for him. choir singing gospel music narrator the year is 2000. The place is chicagos south side. For nearly a decade, barack obama had been working to make this neighborhood his home. For the last three years, hed been a state senator, but he was growing impatient. He had his eye on a congressional seat. He wants to do something bigger. Hes got a pretty big ego, right. He believes in himself, believes hes bigger than the illinois senate. You know, he convinces himself its a really good idea to take on one of the lions of the black chicago democratic establishment. Narrator it was the legendary incumbent congressman and former black Panther Bobby rush. Bobby rush has real strong roots in the community. Bobby rush was, you know, a panther. Then he matured as a congressman into a guy that took that toughness and broadly applied that. So bobby rush had very real strength in the community. Narrator even after having lived here for years, obama was vulnerable to a charge bobby rush would surely make he didnt really know these streets, and hes not really an africanamerican. Bobby rush called him an educated fool, again trying to sort of cast obama as this overeducated halfwhite guy from hawaii with this multicultural background. He was not one of us. You can have more degrees than a thermometer, but if you aint got some power, you aint got some seniority, if you aint got what it takes to be a congressman. Thats always been a subtext of the opposition to him from other black politicians. How dedicated is he to the black struggle . Despite all our differences, we can live together as one people. Theres a long article about the race in tchicago reader, the local alternative paper in chicago, where one of obamas opponents, he says, obama is viewed as the white man in blackface in our community. It got bad. It was real bad. A number of black nationalists in the africanamerican community, you know, made all sorts of allegations about barack being a tool of, you know, hyde park and the university of chicago, which are both code words for both whites and jews. Narrator bobby rushs strategy worked. On election day, the voters embraced the incumbent. Obama knew what was going to happen. In the end, voters decided to stick with bobby rush by a huge, huge, huge margin. So it was a very bruising loss for him. Narrator obama lost by 30 points. It was the first time in his life where people didnt just really accept him immediately, where things didnt really go perfectly for him. Narrator the loss seemed like it might be the end of obamas political career. People who saw him afterward say he was as low as theyve ever seen him. One person who was close to him said he got the sense that senator obama really wondered if he would be able to continue in politics. Narrator and it raised real problems with his wife michelle. The bobby rush race was the nadir of the obama marriage. Her feeling was, why are you doing this . This is the moment when they want two totally different things. You know, barack obama wants political success, and his wife wants a normal life. I asked the president and first lady how long it had taken them to recover from that period, and they said two to three years. So this is a serious toll on their relationship. Narrator for mitt romney, growing up in this affluent suburban detroit neighborhood was just about perfect. Mitt romney did have this rather elite upbringing. A very wealthy community. He is, you know, very well taken care of. Narrator mitt was the youngest of four children. These are people who just adored their children. And you could see that mitt and his dad had a very special bond. The dad stuff just cant be underestimated. George romney comes up again and again and again as a motif in mitt romneys life. Narrator at home, George Romney ruled the roost. His children lived in his reflected glory. When he walked in the room, you knew he was there. He had a lot of, a lot of power to him, and it was, he was a lot of fun. I mean, he was our hero. Narrator george had made a fortune in the Auto Industry the oldfashioned way he earned it. George romney was, in many ways, a figure from another time. Whats more fitting than that detroit. Narrator at a time when the american car was king. Should hold the Worlds Largest automobile show . Narrator George Romney was president of the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the nation. His great triumph was to come up with an idea that all of the big Detroit Companies had missed, which was that a small car could sell. Narrator they called the car the rambler, and to young mitt, it was swell. Whats the best car on the road . Rambler they built a little gokart together and they did things together. Just doing fun things and having a great time. Narrator just down the street was mitts school. Cranbrook, a school where the young are nurtured on beauty. Narrator it was one of michigans most exclusive private schools. You had to wear a coat and tie, except on fridays. We were very fortunate to have a beautiful surroundings, but the real focus was academic. Narrator mitt wasnt much for the academics. The School Yearbook shows where he put his energy. Romney at cranbrook was a belonger. He wasnt a good athlete, but he was the manager of the hockey team, he was on the Cross Country team, he was a cheerleader. He was very active in everything he could be. He was part of the place very deeply. Narrator during that time, mitts dad decided to leave business and head into politics. Michigan was a powerful democratic stronghold, but George Romney had a maverick streak. He ran as a liberaltomoderate republican. And mitt watched as he won. Michigan can light the authentic path to a fuller and higher expression of freedom in america. Thank you very much. crowd cheers its a little bit striking how involved he is in georges Political Activities from a fairly young age. Narrator his dad thought civil rights were worth fighting for. As a teenager, mitt was less interested in the issues than being with his dad. The word from his family is that he was not necessarily interested in politics as ideology. But there was always something about his father and his fathers power and his fathers profession that kept him around and kept him close in a way that it didnt do that for other members of his family. newsreel music plays the eyes of the nation are on San Francisco as the Republican Party convenes to nominate its choice for president. Narrator and in 1964, mitt traveled with his dad to watch him take on conservative republican senator barry goldwater. The Republican Party should unequivocally repudiate extremists of the right and the left, and reject their efforts to infiltrate or attach themselves to our party or its candidates. Mitt is absorbing all of this. He sees his father basically taking a stand and admires his father greatly for this. Narrator but it was Barry Goldwaters convention. I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. crowd cheers narrator and when goldwater received the nomination, mitt saw his father angrily storm out. I think that my father was always willing to live according to his principles. He didnt shy away from any challenge. He was a very strong person in doing that. And we learned that you have to live up to what you believe in. Narrator one thing George Romney believed in was the vietnam war. And one year later, when mitt showed up at stanford university, he would adopt his fathers position. So, he is very much on his fathers side for the vietnam war at that time. He is really out of his element where the whole campus is being roiled by this antiwar and antiestablishment protest. Narrator mitt took on the protestors. Mitt romney is a fairly rulebound person. He actually protested the protestors. He held up a big sign that said, go back to your studies. And we see the mitt romney who cares about rules and institutions and following orders. And that causes him to take a very dim view, i think, of the protest movement. hawaiian music plays welcome to paradise. Narrator barack obama began his life on an island. Our sunfilled, funfilled, 50th state. Narrator his birth certificate reveals his history born in hawaii, the son of an african man and a white 18year old from kansas. Stanley ann dunham was really a thoroughly unconventional mother in almost every way. She fell in love with and conceived a child with an african man at a time when nearly two dozen states had laws against interracial marriage. Narrator he would not see his son for ten years. Barry obama had a pretty unsettling childhood. I mean, he didnt ow his father. His mother was very loving and protective, but she was also finding herself. Basically, he and she grew up together. She then became involved with an indonesian and married him and had a child with him. So she had two biracial children from different cultures who she raised largely by herself. Narrator they lived in jakarta. He was now called barry soetoro. His stepfather lolo was troubled. Hes drinking quite a lot. Theres evidence of at least one act of Domestic Violence against her. Narrator stanley ann taught english. While she worked, barry had to learn how to cope. Imagine what it would be like at age six to be thrown into the chaotic, swirling environment of a dense neighborhood in jakarta, indonesia, not knowing the language, not knowing anything, looking a little different. He had to fend for himself. Every step along the way, there was some aspect, deep aspect of him where he was alone. Narrator then, when he was ten, his mother sent him to hawaii to live with his grandparents. I think its natural to assume that your father be absent, then form a relationship with your stepfather, and then be separated from him and be separated from your mother and go live with your grandparents who at that point you dont really know that well. It must have been profoundly unsettling. His early life is a constant stream of people leaving, of him being left. His mother, his father, his grandparents constantly moving. His whole life is really a, sort of a classic search for home. Narrator they lived in a small twobedroom highrise apartment in honolulu. His grandfather was a heavy drinker. What surprised me as i was researching my book was actually the president himself telling me that his grandmother was an alcoholic, too. Narrator but barry had gotten lucky. Hawaiis most Prestigious School needed students with diverse backgrounds. I can picture him as this slightly, not. Chubby is too strong, but rounded, short little guy, barry obama. And he told us that his father was an indonesian king and that he was a prince. And after he finished school he was going to go back and he would be a ruler in indonesia. And i absolutely believed him. I understand that he told his fifthgrade class that he was kenyan royalty. But i never heard that story until, you know, years later. Narrator at punahou, they prided themselves on multicultural attitudes, and barry joined in. But it wasnt always easy. The junior tennis tournaments in hawaii, when the draw was posted, everyone would go over to see, okay, who do i play in the first round . Where am i in the draw . And we were all looking for our names on the draw, and barry included. And the tennis pro came over and he said to barry, dont touch that, youll get it dirty. And there was something in his tone that horrified me, because it wasnt. It was clear that he didnt mean, oh, your hands are grubby, which he would have ragged at any of us for that. It was clear that he meant, youre black. It stopped me in my tracks. And it made me more aware of a certain ugliness, i guess, that i hadnt really felt or lived with before. Narrator being half black was adding to the complications of young barrys life. Here he was half black, half white, living with white grandparents. Many of his friends assumed that they were his parents who had adopted him, because theyre white, hes black. A lot of friends never knew his mother. Honestly, i dont have any recollection of barrys biological mother. It just seemed to be like a missing person, for me, and i never asked about it. Narrator his mother had been absent for much of his childhood. Hed met his father only once, for a few weeks, when he was ten. Barack has had to deal with dueling identities all of his life, nurtured by a white family and identifying with that family, but at the same time, when hes out, when he go