. >> joe biden, by nature, a very passionate person. he overwhelms almost everybody in conversation. he just flows. and he doesn't quite -- there are those qualities. >> and biden says that's irish and martha raddatz was trying to figure out malarkey and some of the other stuff. that's irish. the conversation around thanksgiving dinner or in a pub. he dominated, in contrast to his boss. he would not yield on anything. wanted to jump in on every point. see the split, draw, who won? what will this do? liberals, energized. conservatives, energized. maybe both will go up a little in the sense have you energy and activity until tuesday night. one other footnote, historically, a candidate for vice president who bombs one of these, destroys their future credibility as a presidential candidate. paul ryan did not do that. >> what people look for in a president is not always passion. they like calmer demeanor, a little bit more deliberate. paul ryan i think did do very well for his future tonight. but not quite there as a president. got the makin

joe biden, those that thought joe biden did better. conversation very heated. let's start with claudia. you thought biden did better than ryan. why? >> he seemed to have a better command of the facts and more prepared with specifics. where i think ryan was more -- again, several people said he avoided giving specific information. biden seemed well informed. >> let's pass this back to arthur. why do you think joe biden did better? >> compared to what obama's performance, i thought he just didn't allow the facts to be blown out of proportion without the other side giving factual basis. >> these are some of the people that thought joe biden did better. a third of the people thought paul ryan was a winner. women tended to rate paul ryan more highly in our fork he is occupy. why you thought that paul ryan won. >> i thought paul ryan had aa better idea of the tax figures, educating us, is he until biden would try to dissort things by overriding him, talking, being a buffoon in general and very disappointed in the vice president acting that way. it gives good credence

of joe biden, i do in the think >> and the age of joe biden. not easy to debate your father. >> for a vice presidential nominee the bar is to prove you could be president if you had to. any doubt that paul ryan met that? >> yeah, i doubt it. i don't want him to be president. i'd be scared if he was president. >> i think you're in the mine or -- a lot this morning are saying he looked like he could handle it. >> you know, when it came to foreign policy he looked very robotic, i thought. i thought that, you know, he looked like he had a good training. >> when you listen to his answers, he splay looked robotic, but when you listen to the substance of his answers. >> i think there were a lot of questions he didn't answer. i think there were a lot of moments where he just kind of, you know, shrugged his shoulders. >> ana, let me ask you, martha, pushed paul ryan very hard on the specifics of the tax plan, the 20% tax rates, how do they pay for it. ryan really did not fill in the blanks there. will he have to at some point? did he satisfy you? will h

i think it was joe biden being joe biden. he didn't swallow his foot but the line people are going to take away from this is that he really contradicted so far what we learned on libya, saying it was the intelligence community, but then said we could trust those same people on iran. seemed to be a big disconnect to me. >> a big disconnect for others, on the other side of the aisle from you would be about paul ryan and taxes and trying to get some specifics about that. this is a conversation that's been going on for a long time, trying to pin him down to exactly what the tax plan would be. i'm going to run a little chunk for you on that. >> what we're saying is deny those loopholes and deductions to higher income tax payers so that more of their income is taxed, which has a broader base of taxation. >> may i translate? >> so we can lower tax rates across the board. here is why i'm saying that. >> i hope i'm getting time to respond to this. >> you'll get time. >> we want to work with congress on how best to achieve this. that m

>> i think joe biden won the debate. his mission was to go in, energize democrats, defend the president's record and challenge congressman ryan on some of the misrepresentations that they've made about obama/biden record and frankly, ask him for specifics about what they would do, this mystery tax plan and whose budget are they actually running on. i think he did all of that last night and did it really well. >> kristen, do you agree with that? >> no, but i think it's possible for republicans to really think their guy won and for democrats to really think their guy won. i don't think this is partisan spinning because both men went in with different objectives. joe biden went in with his objective being i'm going to heckle the republicans, and fire up my base. he did that. i think paul ryan said i have to go in and prove i can be vice president or president of the united states. i think there are no republicans out there complaining about his performance. i think he did a good job, he did exactly what he needed to. >> i d

it's going to be joe biden, vice president joe biden and paul ryan debating. they're both going to try to appeal to the working class, and i laugh. i enjoyed that when i said, america still has a working class? i don't think so. everybody is gone. >> this is nice. this week the obama's dog bo turned 4 years old. he spent the day, as he always does, digging holes, chasing squirrels and coaching obama for the debates. >> election watchers are always poised this late in the campaign season for what they refer to as an october surprise. it appears that time is upon us as evidenced by the recent presidential debate where barack obama unveiled his explosive october surprise, that he has given up! given up. surprise! >> proof that the obama team wants a different story coming out of tonight. >> "early start" continues right now. >>> no sideshow, not anymore if high stakes as the two candidates for vice president get ready to take the stage for tonight's debate. we will take you inside. >> and against all odds. rescuers on the scene of a deadly parking garage collapse

>> look, joe biden is going to be joe biden. that would have been true whether he was doing this after a different debate last week or not. you know joe biden and the american people have gotten to know him. he's a fighter for the middle class. he feels it in his gut and even more importantly, the policies that he and the president stand for are ones that will help the middle class, which is in stark contrast to the romney/ryan plan. so, i think the nation is in for a really good discussion tonight. >> i think you're very right. a very serious, strong discussion. you know paul ryan now probably better than anyone you studied and studied him getting ready for these debate preparations. where do you believe the wisconsin congressman is most vulnerable? >> well, paul ryan is very quick on his feet. we've debated his budget many times in the house. but i think he's most vulnerable when it comes to translating his budget into the impact that it has on real people. when you actually begin to crunch the numbers and do the math, you fin

joe biden's very energetic. out there on the road campaigning and hanging out at dairy queen and comes off younger than he is and paul ryan is a serious man coming across as older and the age difference thing might be a little bit overblown, brooke. >> i was talking to his first real congressional major opponent in 1998 and she pointed out saying to him i could be your mother and we know how well that race ended up for paul ryan. paul and peter, guys, enjoy the debate tonight. i'll be watching. thank you so, so much. just to remind all of you, the big debate, the only vice presidential debate tonight live right here on cnn and cnn.com. our coverage, please join us, two hours in advance, 7:00 eastern. >>> the romney campaign got a big lift from the first debate last week. so, what are the expectations for paul ryan tonight? congressman jeb hinserling tells me next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. now covering 3000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. rethink possi

joe biden said he is excited. he sat down with other own dana bash to talk about his prep for the debate, and dana asked about biden's last debate opponent. >> the only other person to debate joe biden in a vice president debate is sarah palin. have you called her for advice? >> i have her. i only pet meth her once, and that was about two years ago. >> would you? >> sure, sure. >> can i call you joe? >> she famously or maybe infamously said that she wanted to call him joe because she kept calling him joe o'biden in debate prep. >> he knows me as paul, and i know him as swroe. i don't know. i haven't given much thought to that, to be honest with you. probably not unless he wants to make a case of it, but we know each other. actually we've gotten along quite well over the years. i like joe personally quite a bit. i just disagree with his policies. >> all right. dana is in danville, and, you know, we've all been trying not to say o'biden because it gets kind of cooky sometimes when you're mixing up all of the names h

somebody said something, who was an aide to joe biden, and i like joe biden personally a lot. but he said joe biden is a little like a box of cracker jacks. you never know what prize is going to come out. >> you worked in the white house for republicans and democrats. who has that conversation with the vice president when they're not happy with something? >> well, i would imagine the word was passed not by the president but one -- >> i think after that interview joe biden went to the president. that's a conversation the president has with joe biden. but i think what's delicious about tonight, as just a viewer, is that the president didn't have a great debate, and the president had to come out today and say let joe be joe, which he probably doesn't mean. and then joe biden has to have a great debate to really stop the bleeding. >> we should rename this delicious debate night. gloria, david, thank you very much. let's check in with soledad at the debate hall. >> you know, the program officially is under way. right at the half hour, there's this hush that fell over the whole. and

paul ryan things they have something in common, joe biden not so sure. the republican candidate invoked a camelot era comparison. this time, the issue taxes. >> you can cut tax rates by 20% and preserve important preferences for middle class taxpayers. >> not mathematically possible. >> it's been done before. >> it's never been done before. >> a couple of times. >> never been done before. >> ronald reagan. >> now you're jack kennedy. >> ronald reagan. >> twitter was atwitter about that. that comment got a noticeable reaction from the group of undecided voters i watched during the debate last night. see it blown up there in the bottom of the screen. here is the problem, both kennedy and reagan working in a different time and place. to start, when both kennedy and reagan took office, individual tax rates not even in the ballpark of what we have now. kennedy's plan, enacted after his death, took the top marginal tax rate from 91% to 71% over a two-year period. lots of loopholes, but the growth argument, gdp rose by barely a percent during that time. isn't m

vice president joe biden will talk instead. and that has some people thinking that the president is giving black leaders the cold shoulder. moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ >>> we've been telling you about that penn state investigationive report. 200 pages of a complete investigation conducted by the former fbi guy, louis freeh, posted online now. and susan candiotti has been poring through it. what have you found out, susan? >> reporter: just barely scratching the surface, but i can tell you, the headline, this is blistering. it talks abo

>> this is not my friend, joe biden, give me some green pork. that's over lunch. now, this is simply a bureaucratic navigation, but writing a secretary of energy asking for these green jobs and stimulus money. the very stuff he hits on the campaign trial a lot. he's hitting it on the campaign trial. attacking the stimulus. attacking green jobs but in these letters clearly asking for his own share of green pk when he had the opportunity. >> and what's your bottom line verdict? you think this is understandable for voters? >> i think they need to understand this is part of the congressman's job, but if he's going it never benefits small businesses, talking about green pork, green jobs, how the stimulus was a failure, he had to know these letters were out there. that opens him up to accusations of hypocrisy or ideological inconsistency. >>> friend might have been the most annoying word of the debate last night. just my take. >>> "outfront" next, he's only 12 years old but already caught the eye of apple. apple, which by the way tonight seems to be very afraid. for you

democrats certainly like how joe biden did as well. let's take a closer look at focus group of undecided virginia voters. how they responded. we measured reaction. the green line represents men. the yellow line is women. biden's best moment of the night. happened around 9:25 p.m. eastern. the question, if it's possible to get unemployment below 6%. listen to the vice president talk about taxes and the economy. >> they should be pledging to the middle class, we're going to level the playing feel. we'll give you a fair shot again. we're not going to repeat the mistakes we've done in the past by having a different set of rules for wall street and main street, making sure we continue to hemorrhage these tax cuts for the superwealthy. >> now let's take a look at paul ryan's best moment. he peaked at 9:27 p.m. eastern, answering the same question that biden peaked at. >> we need real reforms for real recovery. exactly what mitt romney and i are positive proposing. help people get the skills for the jobs they want. make trade work for america

biden, hasn't been in the game as long as joe biden. so does biden walk into that stage with a tougher challenge? >> yes i think biden has the tougher challenge tonight. he does have an advantage, though. as you've shown in your own poll there. people expect biden to lose, and ryan to do better. that's because of their view of joe biden. i think they might be surprised by biden, just it's a they were surprised by mitt romney's performance in denver. but, yeah. ryan simply has to maintain the momentum that was generated by his running mate, mitt romney. if he does reasonably well, if he holds his own, if he even tie, i think that will be a plus for the romney/ryan ticket. so the greater burden is on biden. he does have longer experience at this. certainly has done many more high profile debates and he'll need all the experience to do well. >> all right. again, i'm going to be watching. i know you will, and i would venture a guess this one may be rated higher than the presidential debate. thank you very much, larry. appreciate it. >> than

joe biden did. let's listen for a second. >> we did not pull them out. >> the calendar works the same every year. >> it does work the same every year. >> the eyebrows come together and the eyes narrow and that is classic anger. >> so, in their closing statements both candidates, you think, were very interesting. >> yeah. >> let's watch joe biden's expressions during his close. he's looking down, not smiling. >> it looks genuine and he softened it. he has been up here for most of the debate and now he's taken the energy level down here and then i think this is really interesting. >> like the pledge of allegiance. >> he put his hands on his heart and that is i feel you. i feel you, i'm with you. >> now, paul ryan's close was much different than joe biden's tell me how. >> this seems more scripted than he was for the rest of the debate. what you see, you know, he's looking right into the camera. you, again, though, see the eyebrows raised and you see the furrowed brow. i think he's showing surprise whe

, becomes the personality of joe biden. not necessarily in real life. >> makes you wonder if joe biden's going to invoke the old reagan line, i'm not going to exploit the youth and inexperience of my opponent for political gain. dana bash, you have a great assignment today pap great piece on dotcom. thanks so much. senior correspondent joining us, live where all the action is. take care. >>> and joe biden versus paul ryan, the vice presidential debate. watch it like right here on cnn. also coverage begins, gets under way with our crack team of reporters, correspondents, analysts and puntd it, 7:00 p.m., live on cnn. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. align. align naturally helps maintain digestive balance. ♪ ooh, ba

i mean, joe biden -- we spent today listening to the white house say everything joe biden said about benghazi, he wasn't speaking for the administration. he was speaking for joe biden. >> do voters -- i think we can criticize the administration quite a bit on how this has been handled and the confusion and maybe dishonesty. do voters care about their reaction to benghazi in this election? because i'm not sure that that's an issue that voters care. they should. they absolutely should. but i'm not sure that's something -- >> we're not through flushing out this issue. this issue is continuing to get more complicated. >> and republicans -- >> this is not about republicans. come on, guys. there's four dead americans. >> it's an evolving security situation. one can expect one thing true in the beginning is different in the end. i think we have to take the politics out of this. what voters care about, they may not care about benghazi, but they care about bin laden. >> yesterday obama had a six-point advantage on handling foreign policy and a four-point advantage on handling terrorism. that'

>> well, we heard it from joe bid biden, but not just joe biden. these are observers, xerts w ex have gone to syria, a bigger country, more populated. the syrian military is stronger, no split between east and west as there was in libya going in. and air support alone probably wouldn't do it. that said, something needs to be done, many people say, what will it be? that's a big question because people are dying. >> final presidential debate on foreign policy specifically, hala gorani, thank you very much. >>> now, joe biden, heads up, we're watching and waiting this will be first time we will have heard from him since the debate last night. speaking for the first time in, here we go, live pictures, don't see him yet, in paul ryan's territory, lacrosse, wisconsin. waiting for him, watching. be right back. customer erin swenson bought from us online today. so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her pack

there is so much pressure on him to beat joe biden, that if joe biden comes out, he kind of wins. >> joe biden became a senator when paul ryan was three years old, i read. isn't that amazing? and let's play a clip from bill clinton, this was from last night. i thought he hit the nail on the head on how the democrats are perceiving the transformation to mitt romney. >> i had a different reaction from the last debate than a lot of other people did. i mean, i thought wow, here is old moderate mitt. where you been, boy? i missed you all of these last two years. >> it is fascinating, i mean when you watch this row today again over the abortion comments that mitt romney made, if you chart just his history of statements about abortion, flopping all over the place. >> your head could spin like you're in "the exorcist," i mean, bill clinton is having so much fun. the candidates are not -- >> does it help clinton that he is so brilliant? it could almost work against him, people watch him being aggressive, all the things we didn't see from the president in the other night? could it hurt him? >>

joe biden was on his game. he's trending on twitter in a good way, in a bad way, he clearly was in command of the stage last night. >> both of them performed well. paul ryan was much more confident and assured than he was in his speech, acceptance speech in august. i think he handled himself very well. i think biden delivered more of what his side needed. look at the polling. cnn poll had ryan winning, cbs poll had biden winning. biden was effective when he got back to framing this as a choice of who is on your side. ryan, in the answer on libya was effective when he could get back to whether the past four years justify another four years. those are each strong arguments for those remaining undecided voters, which is why i think the debate, above all, shows we may be headed for the third photo finish presidential election out of the last four. >> jessica, if you listen to the reaction, it appears from joe biden's performance, i think people are saying, you know, joe biden, after that phone call with president o

>> i think obviously joe biden is 69 years old. paul ryan is 42 years old. 27-year difference, but on all of these issues the two went at it, and i thought paul ryan -- he went toe to toe on national security foreign policy issues with the vice president who has way more experience in all of these areas than ryan did, but ryan obviously has studied a lot. certainly over the last few weeks getting ready for this debate. he didn't fumble, and the vice president, there were no gaffs by joe biden during this dae bait. people can dmran about some stylistic maneuvers and the hands and the smiles and the smirks and all that kind of stuff, but there were no major verbal gaffs or anything by either of these candidates. i think it was a pretty good substantive debate. >> okay. so now i want to jump to something that's sort of unusual. i don't often hear pundits discuss this part of the debate. it was the very end, the stuff you're not usually supposed to be watching. it was when the families came up on the stage. i don't know about you, but

maybe joe biden needs to get him in the first few seasons. -- maybe joe biden needs to get the first few seasons of "will & grace" on video for the president. let's talk more about this with lz granderson and will cain. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> lz, do you think joe biden meant to say what he said that he is okay with gay marriage? >> well, yeah. i don't see any reason -- >> well, that part. >> i think he is okay with it. >> but when the vice president says something like that, you sort of thing he is talking about policy as in obama policy. did he mean to say it quite that way as it concerned the policy of the obama administration? >> well, i think that there is a separation between joe biden, the person, and joe biden the politician. i think what you heard on sunday is joe biden, the person. i think if you had president obama, the person, he would probably voice the exact same thing. what we are seeing here is the politicians also having a different sort of stance on it, a nuance stance so it won't upset voters. but there's no reason to belie

joe biden did. let's listen for a second. >> we did not pull them out. >> the calendar works the same every year. >> it does work the same every year. >> the eyebrows come together and the eyes narrow and that is classic anger. >> so in their closing statements, both candidates, you think, were very interesting. >> yeah. >> let's watch joe biden's expressions during his close. he's looking down, he's not looking at the camera. not smiling. >> it looks genuine and he softened it. he's been up here for most of the debate and now he's taken the energy level down here, and then i think this is really interesting. >> like the pledge of allegiance. >> he puts his hand on his heart. that's sort of i feel you. that's a way of saying i feel you, i'm with you. >> paul ryan's close was much different than joe biden's. tell me how. >> this seems a little bit more scripted than he was for the rest of the debate. so what you see is that he's looking right into the camera. you again, though, see the eyebrows raise

they're talking about joe biden, right? and there are people who thought he was sort of a caricature of himself. but i think that most people -- i want you to listen. >> the fact of the matter is, he dominated him. people can talk about joe biden. but what i think people like ant him, he's authentic. you believe what he was telling you. the only thing we really know about mitt romney is that he wants to be president of the united states of america. >> and he said after that, what i thought was funny, he offered ryan an internship, that biden did. but that's what people came away saying at least it was authentic, it wasn't canned. and the people criticizing him are on the right, the people who like it are on the left. did he do his job, lz? >> i definitely think he did his job, because he put more fight back on the ticket. and besides just rolling his eyes and the laughter, and i thought there were moments he was rude, he introduced parts of the conversation that the president didn't do. he talked about the 47% and the flaws

oftentimes joe biden says entertaining things. and it can be written off as simply putting his mouth in motion before putting his brain in gear. but the comment about putting people back in chains is loaded with racial overtones. and it's a long way from being cute. it should have been embarrassing for the nation's first black president. apparently it wasn't. here's the question. should the white house apologize for the vice president's remarks about putting people back in chains? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. post a comment on my blog. or go to our post on the "the situation room" facebook page. i'll bet if he had to say it over again he'd use different words. >> yeah. i'm sure he would. and as john king reported here in "the situation room," a lot of senior obama officials privately are not very happy with what joe biden had to say. one more thing, jack, wait until you hear what former democratic representative archer davis says to me about what joe biden said before that group in virginia. we're going to have the interview at the

joe biden knows that story. he's lived it. our vice president joe biden. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the vice president of the united states, joe biden. [ cheers and applause ] >> hello, my fellow democrats! and my favorite democrat. jilly, i want you to know that beau and hunt and ashley and i, we're so incredibly proud of you. you know, we admire the way -- with every single solitary young person -- and they're not all young, walk into your classroom, you not only teach them, you give them confidence. you give me confidence. and the passion. the passion she brings to try to ease the burden on the families of our warriors. jilly, they know you understand them. and that makes a gigantic difference. and, folks, i tell you what, it was worth the trip. to hear my wife say what i've never heard her say before. she's always loved me. if that's the case, why in the heck did it take five times of asking you? and that's true. five times. i don't know what i would have done, kiddo, had you on that fifth time said no. i love

i don't know if it's biden or -- people seem to be running late for joe biden today. i think that might explain some of the delay. there's a lot of empty chairs in that room right now. >> well, ladies, i am going to please ask you to stand by while those seats do get filled and they obviously get the lights ready for joe biden to step up to the mikes there at the naacp. donna, ana, stay with me. we will join the speech and we'll talk about it afterwards. in >>> meanwhile, it's damming, it's scathing, and it's what a lot of people already suspected. we're talking about louis freeh and his investigation into the jerry sandusky case. his report just issued a short while ago reveals that penn state officials completely disregarded signs pointing to sandusky's abuse of children and totally failed to protect the victims. take a listen. >> our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at penn state. the most powerful men at penn state failed to take any steps for 14 years to pr

they're talking about joe biden. and they're people that thought he was a caricature of himself but i think that most people kind of think the way -- he offered the best defense of joe biden that i've heard. i want you to listen. >> the fact of the matter is, he dominated him. people can talk about joe biden but what i think people like about him is he's authentic. the one thing about joe biden is you believe what he was telling you. the only thing we really know about mitt romney is it's unl changing is that he wants to be president of the united states of america. >> when the criticism of this guy, when you say he's rude i don't understand that. >> really? >> he didn't cuss, talk about their mother, that's what people do when they're having a conversation, whether it's somebody on the right or the left. mitt romney was very aggressive in the presidential debate and some pooirm were saying that they were bordering on rude. but guess what? he won the debate. you may think joe biden is rude but that's part of it when

they are talking about joe biden. right? and there are people who thought he was sort of a caricature of himself, but i think that most people kind of think the way -- he offered the best defense of joe biden that i've heard. listen. >> the fact of the matter is he dominated him. people can talk about joe biden, but what i think people like about him is he's authentic. the one thing about joe biden is you believed what he was telling you. the only thing we really now now about mitt romney that's unchanging is that he wants to be president of the united states of america. >> the criticism of this guy, when you said he was rude. i don't understand that. as long as he didn't talk about -- >> really? >> he didn't call them out of their name, call them a cuss word, talk about their mother. that's what people do when they are having a conversation whether it's someone on the right or left. mitt romney was very aggressive in the presidential debate and some people said it was bordering on rude. but guess what, he won that debate. y

and joe biden understands it. i nt to tell you this. i know joe biden. i know there isn't a racist bone in joe biden. but there's a lot of outrageous stuff that comes out of joe biden's mouth. let's remember that this is the guy who, four years ago, described barack obama as -- i'm going to read it. i want to make sure people know i'm quoting. the first mainstream african-american who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. this is the same joe biden who earlier this year was taking on an indian accent and pretending to be a guy from a call center. same joe biden who told an indian group, oh, you know, you can hardly go into a seven-11 or dunkin donuts these days if you don't have a slight indian accent. these things are racist. he is no longer a senator. he's the vice president of the united states. he has to behave that way. >> help me out here. >> yeah. >> i'm confused. let's say joe biden didn't say chains but he said wants to keep you in shackles. the previous comment dealt with unshackled. i think the point there is people get th

they call him smilin' joe biden. he's quite the pin-up for women of a certain age you'd be surprised to know. >> thanks for the breaking news. on the tax cut where they challenged biden. on med i karks frankly i have to ask where is the press on that. there's been some substantive coverage but it hasn't been the main theme. >> you're right about that and i think biden in that sense made a mistake because he gave his opponent as chance to focus on the theatrics and not the substance. take one very good example where he skewer ryan on the question of the stimulus where ryan as a congressional representative from gainesville had twice asked for money from the constituencies. that kind of story has gotten buried in all of the talk about the theatrics. so the democrats are cheering biden, but he made a mistake by giving his opponent a chance to focus on the theatrics. >> is there so much media attention on his smiling and smurking aside in part because prot did so poorly in that first debate. >> yes. and of the particular

and joe biden understands it. i want to tell you this. i know joe biden. i know there isn't a racist bone in joe biden. but there's a lot of outrageous stuff that comes out of joe biden's mouth. let's remember that this is the guy who, four years ago, described barack obama as, i'm going to read because i want to make sure people know i'm quoting. the first mainstream african-american who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. this is the same joe biden who earlier this year was taking on an indian accent and pretending to be a guy from a call center. same joe biden who told an indian group, oh, you know, you can hardly go into a 7-eleven or dunkin' donuts these days if you don't have a slight indian accent. he is no longer a senator. he's the vice president of the united states. he has to behave that way. >> help me out here. >> yeah. >> i'm confused. let's say joe biden didn't say chains but he said wants to keep you in shackles. the previous comment dealt with unshackled. i think the point there is people get that. so look, we -- loo

>> joe biden -- little nervousness there. >> shirtless joe biden on the podium. >> my eyes are burned, i believe. >> if he has a good night he will walk off and tell the president, yeah, you owe me for that one. >> sparkling. >> of course. >> you should drink every time they mention scranton. you will be drinking. >> what about middle class? i think you would not even make it through the debate if you drink every time they say middle class. >> you want to be sober, they won't say poor. you will not hear poverty. >> how about every time they mention their parents? >> you're drinking. no question. >> middle class and parents. two big ones. >> live look at tonight's debate hall in danville, kentucky. we talked a little bit about the democratic take, how it's going to go. we'll get a republican reaction to the debate. >>> he's tall, yellow and ruffled feathers. >> leave him alone. >> in the election season. i'm talking about big bird, roland. there's an impact -- can i finish? may i finish? there's an impact on what's happening, all the conversation with big bird in the election and debat

well, joe biden had voted for the iraq war. he had advocated for partitions of iraq. and then senator obama was not asked aggressive questions about whether or not he agreed with these policy position. >> let me play sound for you. it's not just commentators at fox making the charge. a number of romney surrogates in interviews in cnn and elsewhere seem to be trying to brand or label correspondents who ask skeptical questions as being in the tank for obama. here's john sununu, former governor, top romney spokesman, talking to soledad o'brien. >> stop this! all you're doing is mimicking stuff that comes out of the white house and gets repeated on the democratic -- blog boards out there. if you're going to mouth what -- >> i'm telling you what factcheck.com tells you. what the cbo tells you. what cnn's independent analysis does -- >> she had been asking about ryan's budget plan, medicare. and newt gingrich on another show also said you're in the tank for obama, almost sounds like a talking point. >> john sununu sounds like somebody who hasn't taken his medication and can

joe biden will face off with paul ryan. cnn's political editor, paul steinhauser, joins me now from danville, kentucky. paul, set the stage for us. it's red, white and blue. i have to say, though, i'm looking forward to this one more than the other one because you never know what joe biden is going to say, and that makes for some great television. >> reporter: joe biden often speaks from his heart, no doubt about that. i think this could be maybe a more entertaining debate than last week in denver. those live pictures -- i saw you try to do them at the top of the hour, but you have them now. that building right there, that's what you were looking at inside. here's how it's going to work. first of all, the congressman from wisconsin, paul ryan, in one corner. he will be here later today, don. he arrives later today here in danville. vice president biden coming in tomorrow. both men, as you know, you haven't seen them on the campaign trail much. why? they've been locked down on debate prep. it's a 90-minute debate. martha rad

but he's not joe biden. and that's what's going to be -- joe biden we have seen him now for however many years, joe biden is smashing the opposition. i don't think that the is the attack dog number two. >> newt gingrich the former house speaker, former presidential candidate is joining us on the phone right now. mr. speaker, thanks very much. give us your immediate reaction to the romney/ryan ticket. >> well, we're very, very happy. my wife has known paul ryan, his work on the budget is extraordinary. it is a real decision by governor romney that this is going to be a very substantive fall campaign, going to be an enormous choice for the american people. and i think ryan is going to be very effective. he represents a midwestern industrial district. he's gotten re-elected by big margins explaining his policies. he knows how to campaign in places like michigan, ohio, indiana. i think he's going to be a very, very big asset. >> you know, i know it got a lot of buzz when you were running for the republican presi

>> of course, joe biden, again, knows how to communicate very, very well. i think when people talk about last week, expectations for president obama are always exceedingly high and it was relatively easy for mr. romney who had an 11th hour conversion. we recall that he is the etch-a-sketch guy that has transformed himself and quite frankly, we always have to wonder which mitt is going to show up. so if you just lay out lie after lie after lie about your own plan as well as what the president has been talking about, of course, you can look good. vice president biden will do very, very well. he knows what has been going on. he is in touch with the american public, and i'm just hopeful mr. ryan will tell the truth. whether it's about medicare and that it's a voucher program, that mr. romney and mr. ryan, their health care plan will lead to many uninsured and put people back out. if they have preexisting conditions. >> let me just step back just a minute here about your defense of the president's performance. what is your theory? i mean, it was widely panned, a

and joe biden understands it. i want to tell you this. i know joe biden. i know there isn't a racist bone in joe biden. but there's a lot of outrageous stuff that comes out of joe biden's mouth. let's remember that this is the guy who, four years ago, described barack obama as, i'm going to read because i want to make sure people know i'm quoting. the first mainstream african-american who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. this is the same joe biden who earlier this year was taking on an indian accent and pretending to be a guy from a call center. same joe biden who told an same joe biden who told an indian group, oh, you know, you can hardly go into a /11 or dunkin' donuts these days if you can hardly go into a 7/11 or dunkin' donuts these days if you don't have a slight indian accent. he is no longer a senator. he's the vice president of the united states. he has to behave that way. >> help me out here. >> yeah. >> i'm confused. let's say joe biden didn't say chains but he said wants to keep you in shackles. the previous comment d

. >> people like joe biden. >> they do. >> america likes joe biden. >> i like joe biden. >> by the way, joe six-pack white dudes who watch football like joe biden. >> even my dad likes joe biden. we're out of time. thanks so much. another brilliant conversation. i want to thank wolf blitzer for letting us hang out in his "the situation room." now back to wolf. >> excellent unsolicited advice pete and company. thanks very much. >>> the republican vice presidential hopeful paul ryan sat down exclusively with cnn. up next, how his hunting routine might help him in tomorrow night's debate. and new allegations about lance armstrong's links to doping. c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ]

biden. >> well, look, i respect joe biden. but those of us who were in congress knew joe biden. we knew joe biden as a person who is a very nice guy, by the way. he is very likeable. but tends to be wrong on the major policy issues. he was wrong frankly on just about every major policy issue. he is even wrong when he disagrees with president obama. so, you know, those of us that knew him were always kind of shocked as to how he is portrayed as this great expert on foreign policy. don't get me wrong. he was the chairman of the committee, but he was always wrong on the policy. that does not take away, however, from the fact that joe biden is a very good debater and a very likeable individual. he is a wonderful guy. the kind of guy that you want to go and have a cup of coffee with. but not the kind of person you want dictating the policies of the united states. >> at least that's what republicans would say. we have to be fair here. i was just wondering something about mitt romney. he is not out campaigning. he's been holed up in

they are talking about joe biden. there are people who thought he was sort of a characterture of himself. listen. >> the fact of the matter is he dominated him. people can talk about joe biden, but what i think people like about him is he's authentic. the one thing about joe biden is you believed what he was telling you. the only thing we really now about mitt romney is unchanging is he wants to be president of the united states of america. >> the criticism of this guy, when you said he was rude. i don't understand that. as long as he didn't talk about -- >> really? >> he didn't call them out of their name, talk about that mother. that's what people do when they are having a conversation whether it's someone on the right or left. mitt romney was very aggressive in the presidential debate and some people said it was bordering on rude. he won that debate. you may think that joe biden was rude but that's all part of the process. what's wrong with that when you're in a debate? >> people are rude. you drew a correlation of