Illness. he appeared on meet the press nine times over the course of his career, including the day after he announced his candidacy for his first bid for president in 1968. my judgment is that the democratic party does not draw its strength now, nor has it ever drawn its strength, from trying to paper over honest differences that exist. now there are differences among democrats. there are differences in the country over how we ought to approach our problems in our own society and over how best to either conduct or end this war. my candidacy doesn t introduce those differences. the differences are there. and the great strength of the democratic party comes from the fact that we ve been willing to face up to those differences, to lay them out on the table, to thrash them out among ourselves. according to a statement released this morning, mcgovern passed away peacefully this morning in south dakota surrounded by his family. he was 90 years old. our thoughts and prayers are
Little out of touch. he doesn t understand what s happening today. he comes across that way, and i bet your wife wishes you cooked dinner sometimes, david. maybe not. that s a different story. i think he has the tendency when he talks about women to some, maybe he s been watching mad men but he does sound very 1950s. the idea of women rushing home to cook dinner is something that just didn t i don t think that sounded quite the way he would want to appear because that s a battle that i think women feel they fought years ago. women have gone so far we ve come so far now that the idea of women, you know, should be able to go into the workplace and should be able to leave at a certain time. for women to be litigating that now just seems like makes him seem as if he s out of touch. are we focused too narrowly on some of the wedge issues and not getting the argument that romney makes, which is ultimately women and men are going to be driven by the state of our economy, and what opportunity they have? david, i felt from the very beginning the most dangerous thing for barack obama is this attitude. barack obama, nice guy, so glad
Now in place by the administration are things he d like to see continued. so not a tremendous amount of difference there. no. let me move on. the president on the campaign trail says there s a new condition out there called romnesia, which is governor romney is walking away from previous positions. the issue of contraception and abortion seems to be one in the fight for women voters. i was in ohio this week, and you can t miss the campaign ads there. and this is a part of one that the romney campaign is running. i want to play a portion of it and then discuss it with you. romney doesn t oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother s life. two issues there, contraception, access to contraception, and abortion. let s separate the two for a moment. first of all othe issue of contraception, we know that governor romney supported that measure in congress that would have said to employers, look, you don t have to provide access to contraception if it violates your own moral code or religious code, to any employer.
We elected our first african-american. he really tried hard. but i just want to try something new. i think that s always been the most dangerous thing for him. and what romney has done in the two debates is hit that button directly. i think what obama has to do in the last debate is really come out with some real energy, excitement, and imagination about why he is going to create more jobs in the next four years. and i would just take every issue on foreign policy back to this fact. we can only be strong in the world, we can only have leverage in the world, if we are strong and resilient at home. and if i m obama, my message would be i have all of these plans, race to the top, innovation, entrepreneurship will make us strong at home to be strong abroad. beyond the women s vote, mike, take a moment and talk about state of the race and strategy on both sides. what does it come down to, and what do you make of 47%, 47%? unreal. i think it s moving toward romney right now. the debates are very good. romney will use it as a charm and motive offensive to get people comfortable with him
Political roundtable weighs in. we ll preview this important debate about foreign policy and issues we ve been talking about this morning. also a look at the strategy for both sides in light of that polling and what you heard from david axelrod in the closing weeks of this campaign. democratic strategist dee dee myers. republican strategist mike murphy. new york times columnist helene cooper. and we ll hear from rob portman, a top adviser to governor romney and his sparring partner for debate prep.