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Candidates Final Push; Sandy Outages May Disrupt Voting; Early Voting Extended in Parts of Florida; Obama Campaigns Hard in New Hampshire; Romney and Ryan Hit Ohio

Aired November 04, 2012 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are making their final push in these last two days before Election Day. The president campaigned with former President Bill Clinton in New Hampshire this morning. Obama also has Florida, Ohio and Colorado on his schedule. And this morning Mitt Romney was in Des Moines and just spoke in Cleveland, Ohio, to supporters. Later today he will be rallying in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Stay with CNN. We'll have live coverage of all the action from the campaign trail. We have a team of reporters in the battleground states covering all the angles.

Meanwhile, President Obama is also making his final push for votes today. This hour he is expected in the battleground state of Florida where he is expected to speak shortly in Hollywood, Florida.

White House correspondent Brianna Keilar is already there.

Brianna, what is the message that the president is expected to deliver there?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This, Fredricka, is going to be his closing message. He is going to be telling voters you may not agree with everything that I've done, you may be impatient with the pace of change, but stick with me, my economic policies are working and we're heading in the right direction.

As Mitt Romney has tried to frame himself as the candidate of real change, Barack Obama has kind of gone, no, not so fast, that is not Mitt Romney, and he's trying to frame himself as someone that voters know and that they can trust and that Mitt Romney is not. He's all but called Mitt Romney a liar, in fact, Fred, and in recent days, I was at one Ohio rally where his supporters were actually yelling liar.

So he hasn't said that outright, but he's been accusing Mitt Romney of being dishonest and kind of packaging something that really isn't there.

He's focused obviously here in Florida today, but when you look at all of the places that President Obama is going to in these last few days before the election, this is the only visit to Florida. He'll be spending a lot of his time in Ohio, for sure, but also in Wisconsin and Iowa, focusing more on that Midwestern firewall. Because although Florida is important and has a lot of electoral votes, Fred, the Obama campaign really sees Ohio as essential, and that if they can keep it in President Obama's column, that that's really keeping them keeping the presidency out of the hands of Mitt Romney -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Meantime, while you're waiting the rival of the president in Florida has also seen a new legal battle that was just launched this morning over early voting. Tell me more about that.

KEILAR: Yes, very early this morning, the Democratic Party of Florida filing suit to try and get early voting extended. This is why. Early voting was supposed to wrap up yesterday, and there were people waiting in line for hours. In the urban parts of southern Florida but also in Orlando, in central Florida, which is key for President Obama, he has a lot of supporters who aren't necessarily reliable voters on Election Day. African-American voters, Latino voters, young voters, and so early voting works to his advantage to give them more time to vote.

In 2008, early voting here in Florida lasted for eight -- or, pardon me, 14 days, two weeks. This time it's been limited to eight days by the legislature which is controlled by Republicans, and also today, which is Sunday, Fred, this would have been a big day for the Obama campaign, the Sunday before Election Day back in 2008. They would organize for a lot of African-American voters to go straight from church to the polls to early vote.

Obviously not the case this time, but you do have a lot of election officials who have found a loophole in this law, and what they point out is that you can go in person today, Sunday, for your absentee ballot, you can request it in person and then turn it back around. So even though an absentee ballot is processed differently than an early vote, it's essentially kind of the same thing, and that's what Democrats are pressing for here in Florida -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brianna Keilar. Thanks so much. The president to arrive or at least to begin speaking, he's scheduled to at least, at 3:40 Eastern Time. We'll take that live when it happens.

All right. Meantime, no Republican candidate has ever won the White House without winning Ohio. Mitt Romney doesn't plan on being the exception. Last hour he spoke with voters in the Democratic stronghold of Cleveland, arguing it's time for a change at the top.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Put aside all the speeches and all the ads and all the attacks, and look at the record. Because, you see, talk is cheap. But a record, it's real, and it's earned with real effort. Change is not measured in words and speeches. Change is measured in achievements. So let's look at that record. That's how to decide.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: This was the second of four events Romney has scheduled for today. Next step for the Republican candidate? Pennsylvania.

And a programming note, be sure to join Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer as they take a close look at the candidates' final push before the election in "AMERICA'S CHOICE 2012, COUNTDOWN TO ELECTION DAY." That's tonight, 8:00 Eastern Time right here on CNN.

On to New Jersey now. People who were displaced by the storm will be able to vote electronically. Governor Chris Christie says voters can e-mail or fax in their vote.

Also in New Jersey, four more rail lines are up and running, and in New York, 80 percent of the subway service has been restored, but more than two million remain without power in 15 states and the District of Columbia as a result of the super storm named Sandy.

So now a major concern is the weather. Forecasters say temperatures are expected to drop below freezing tonight and tomorrow evening. The American Red Cross is moving 80,000 blankets into the region ahead of the cold weather. And on top of dealing with the cold and no power, some survivors of the storm are in desperate need of a place to live.

In New York City alone, Governor Andrew Cuomo estimates between 30 to 40,000 people could need housing.

Some voters in New Jersey may face challenges Election Day because of super storm Sandy, but now Governor Chris Christie says voters can e- mail or fax in their vote. So how will that work?

Joining me right now on the phone is the president of the New Jersey Association of Election, Dennis Kobitz.

All right, Dennis, good to have you with us. How will this work? A lot of people have been displaced. How do you know their votes are legitimate or that the ones that will be faxed or e-mailed in are legitimate votes?

DENNIS KOBITZ, PRESIDENT, NEW JERSEY ASSOCIATION OF ELECTIONS: They'll be checking by the signatures. They need to apply first through the county clerk. And they can e-mail the county clerk of their county and request an overseas ballot and they'll be able to vote for the top of the ticket and e-mail it or fax it back, but they will have to sign a waiver giving up their right to a secrecy ballot, though.

WHITFIELD: OK. So now give me an idea realistically, how do you believe a lot of people who are displaced, who are in duress, who have been through so much over the last few days, they'll be able to follow all these steps that you just outlined, requesting that overseas ballot, applying through the county clerk, and actually exercising their right to vote?

KOBITZ: Lots of people that aren't displaced are in places that do have power, so we're getting calls from all over the place telling us, you know, we're here in New York or I'm here in Florida and that we want to vote, and this is our home address and this is where we're registered from. We give them the procedure and they seem to be doing it. We're getting quite a few hundred faxed or e-mailed ballots.

WHITFIELD: And you feel like the message is being conveyed pretty clearly? People are able to take advantage of these new measures put in place?

KOBITZ: I think they are since that, again, most of the people that are displaced are displaced to places that have power. And that's why they're getting out of their houses because they have no power, so they're going somewhere where there is, and they're seeing it on TV, (INAUDIBLE), and they're reading it in the paper and all over online, and so a lot more are being -- we're also just getting calls out of the blue of people. I had this woman this morning from California, and say, how can I still get my vote in? I thought I'd be home, I can't get back home now.

And we're giving them the same procedure and it seems to be working really well. Along with the mail-in ballot that people can get. There are hundreds of people that have been voting every day. Again, we're open 8:30 to 4:30 today and tomorrow for anybody to go to the county clerk and vote right there.

WHITFIELD: Is there an explanation that you all have come with as to how many people you think will not be able to vote, who will not take advantage or not be able to take advantage of these new measures as a result of the storm?

KOBITZ: No, no one has figured out exactly how many. Everybody is out there trying to get as many polling places open as possible, and the ones that we can't get open, we're moving them to another location that does have power and making sure that there are signs, and people are trying to notify them through reverse 911. Wherever we can, we're notifying as many people as possible where their new polling location is if we have to shut theirs down.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like you're pretty optimistic that all those who might have intended to vote will have that opportunity because of these measures?

KOBITZ: Hello? Hello?

WHITFIELD: All right. Dennis, can you hear me now? All right.

KOBITZ: Must have lost you.

WHITFIELD: OK. It looks like Dennis can't hear us, but we can hear him clearly. Dennis Kobitz, president of the New Jersey Association of Elections. Thanks so much.

All right, two days away now, and that may not be enough time for New York to overcome some major voting obstacles. We'll talk to an election official there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Some New York voters could get an extra day of voting because of super storm Sandy. Right now polling station managers are working to make sure the voting goes as smoothly as possible.

Joining me to explain what they're doing in Long Island, New York, is William Biamonte, Nassau County Democratic Elections commissioner. Thanks for being with us.

So what kind of measures are being put in place to make sure that all those who wanted to vote can?

WILLIAM BIAMONTE, NASSAU COUNTY DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS COMMISSIONER: Good evening. Well, the best thing to do is that we're working on is getting our sites operational. That's been -- what we've been doing for the past seven days, and it's been a slow, torturous process. We've had almost -- we started out with almost two-thirds of our 375 polling sites down. We have 375 polling sites that service 900,000 voters.

As we stand today, with the help of Long Island Power Authority and Governor Cuomo, pushing them to get these sites operational, we think we have a manageable situation where we're going to have probably about 40 sites consolidated and generated, and we're going to have another 30 sites plus that will be using off-site generation, and the rest will be fully electrified by the grid, we're told by Long Island power authorities.

So if they deliver what they promised, we're gong to have a workable day. It's not going to be an optimal day, but it'll be workable.

WHITFIELD: OK. So workable, but it also means that some of these sites are going to be new to voters, right? So how do you get that message out, especially to so many that were displaced there on Long Island?

BIAMONTE: Well, they're going to be new to the degree that they're going to be in the same community. And it's not going to be a situation where anybody is going to be unable to get to their polls. That's what we're insisting upon. If we cannot move a site to an area that is -- that it's walkable or easy to reach, we're going to electrify that site with on-site generation. And the best way to keep people voting is to keep them in their communities, and not make it an inconvenience for them to vote.

WHITFIELD: And what about for those people who are displaced? They picked up, they left, you know, they are in a completely different geographical area but they still want to vote. How do they do that?

BIAMONTE: Well, I mean, we've been -- we've made this -- since the storm hit, we had kept our office hours open at the National County Board of Elections, the main offices, in many or all of them, 7:00 a.m. 10:00 p.m. every night. Our front counter has been besieged with people coming in and voting by absentee. So I think that word has gotten out and we've had a really good result.

We've gone out and worked with different -- in the city of Long Beach, we worked with displaced people getting their absentee ballots. And it's a question of -- a lot of people that are displaced, they're worried about getting their lives back and whether they're going to go back to an area where they've lost power, where their home has been lost rather than take care of what their immediate needs are, that's a good question.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BIAMONTE: And the weather is not going to be a friend on Tuesday. We're going to get very cold weather with a nor'easter coming our way again on Wednesday. So there's a lot of variables here, and I think we could see some significant drop-off in turnout.

WHITFIELD: William Biamonte, Nassau County Democratic elections commissioner, thanks so much for your time and all the best.

BIAMONTE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Which I know will be a very challenging week.

All right, we all know that Ohio is one of the key states President Obama and Mitt Romney are battling to win. And voting rights advocates there are already raising a few concerns. The worry started after a report in the "Columbus Free Press" that Ohio secretary of state, Jon Husted, had said, quote, "Experimental software patches were installed in voting machines in 39 counties."

But voting rights activists say the software could potentially impact more than four million votes. The "Free Press" also says the software was never independently certified or tested.

CNN's Don Lemon spoke to the secretary of state last night and gave him a chance to respond to those allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON HUSTED (R), OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE: We have a new election night reporting system. All we have is an ability for them to load the data into that election reporting system, and actually, it's so -- and so the reporting system and the actual counting system are not connected in any way, and the results that anybody can get in their home on the computer, they're going to get them the same time I do on election night. So we have a very transparent system that's brand new and will help people across this country, and across the world, frankly, look right at our Web site and find out what's going on.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: So nothing fishy going on.

HUSTED: Nothing fishy going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Husted also said that 1.6 million early votes have already been cast in Ohio. That tops the 1.4 million who voted early in 2008. Early voting in Ohio continues through Monday. All right, now to Florida where heavy turnout is leading some counties to extend the deadline for early voting. But even with the extension, a lawsuit has been filed over the wait times.

CNN's crime and justice correspondent Joe Johns is with us now to explain what's going on in that crucial battleground state.

So if the counties, Joe, have extended early voting, then why have the Democrats filed that lawsuit this morning?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Fred, I got to tell you, there is a lot of confusion right now. Florida's election 2012.

Here's the latest. We've got real confusion going on in Miami-Dade. At first they announced they would be open to accept absentee ballots today. Then according to multiple reports, including our affiliates and the "Miami Herald," they said that they were not going to do it because they didn't have the resources to pull it off. And then just about five minutes ago, I got a text from the Miami-Dade elections office, and they say that if you are in line at 5:00 p.m. in Miami- Dade, you can go ahead and vote, meaning you can file an absentee ballot.

So confusion abounds right now. Meanwhile, there is also litigation. The Florida Democratic Party has filed a request for a temporary restraining order and an injunction against the Florida secretary of state and the three county election supervisors. They want an order saying it's OK to allow absentee voting to continue because the lines in South Florida were so incredibly long. We saw pictures of that yesterday. It was supposed to be the last day of early voting.

But here's the thing. Democratic sources told us that several counties, including Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange, Pinellas and Leon County along with Broward already said they were going to allow absentee ballots to be dropped off. It looks like they were basically trying to get the court to step in and give them legal authority for what they were already doing, anyway -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very complicated. But here we go again with Florida, Florida, Florida.

JOHNS: That's for sure. I know.

WHITFIELD: It's always something, isn't it? My goodness.

JOHNS: We knew it would be that way. A lot of people knew it would be that way.

WHITFIELD: I know. But how it would be that way, that part was still -- you know, had a question mark. All right. Thanks so much.

All right, meantime, in Florida, President Obama is likely to make his last campaign stop there just two days before Election Day in Florida. He'll be in Hollywood, you could see the crowd right there awaiting his arrival. He's expected to speak at 3:40. Just 20 minutes or so from now. And of course when he does, we'll take that live. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's the final stretch of campaigning leading up to Election Day, and CNN reporters are stationed all across the map in preparation for Tuesday's vote.

Our David Mattingly is in the battleground state of New Hampshire, and unlike much of the rest of the country, the economy in New Hampshire is humming right along, unemployment is just under 6 percent.

So, David, President Obama and Mitt Romney have both promised to create even more jobs in New Hampshire. So why are so many business people skeptical about that?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, when you look at New Hampshire and their success at keeping a relatively low unemployment rate, it's because of their reliance on small businesses. This state is known for the high number of small business startups and for the innovation that comes along with those small businesses.

When we went to talk to some of these people who work at these businesses about the campaign promises, about creating jobs, they told us, leave job creation to the professionals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Two New Hampshire small businesses that found a way to beat the recession. One is a free-wheeling tech company, producing code that makes e-mail and the Internet work better. The other has been in business for five generations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: High carbon steel phonograph needles.

MATTINGLY: Manufacturing metal pins for everything from antique phonographs to the military.

ADRIA BAGSHAW, VP, WH BAGSHAW: And these are pins that go in the hinge of the ammunition boxes for the U.S. government.

MATTINGLY: In tough times, they both found ways to create new jobs. What every candidate talks about, they do.

(On camera): Is there anything missing in what they're saying about creating jobs?

JEREMY HITCHCOCK, CEO: And I don't want to be cynical, but people don't, as politicians, create jobs. It's organizations and it's people that create different ideas and they go and they service customers.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): CEO Jeremy Hitchcock more than tripled his work force in the last three years, going from 53 employees in 2010 to 170 today. Surprisingly, I find campaign promises of job growth falling short among some employees. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government doesn't create jobs, right, and I think that's why trying to think too much about, well, hey, we're going to pick a businessperson, we're going to pick someone who has lots of job creation experience, that doesn't really tell me much.

MATTINGLY: Rebounding from layoffs in 2008, this family-owned business now employs 36 people, adding six in just the last two months. Smarter, more skilled workers. Those are the promises these New Hampshire voters want to hear most.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard for us to find new help. We have plenty of work, you know, tons of hours. And it's hard to get new, young people in here.

MATTINGLY: And after almost a year of non-stop campaigning on job creation plans, there is no complete agreement on which candidate can deliver.

(On camera): Just a show of hands. How many are voting for Romney? How many are voting for Obama? And one undecided?

(Voice-over): One vote apart and one undecided.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And you see how close that unscientific polling was. It's just indicative of what's going on here in New Hampshire right now, Fredricka. This race way too close to call.

WHITFIELD: Well, indeed it is, but, David, you know, one would think that Romney would have the advantage because this is kind of a home away from home state, but not the case. Especially by your kind of unscientific poll there.

MATTINGLY: Well, that's true. There's all sorts of factors. New Hampshire is a very complicated state. Voters looking for a lot of different things out of their candidates. And remember, President Obama did carry New Hampshire four years ago. He won every single county here so he got a good base to start with.

It's been very hard fought. And we've seen both candidates here. They were both making appearances in the final 40 -- 48 hours before the election. That shows you how important this state is and how much they need to energize the voters they do have here.

WHITFIELD: Right. President Obama there earlier this morning, and then we've seen Mitt Romney as well, as Paul Ryan spent a lot of time there in the last couple of days as well.

All right, thanks so much, David Mattingly. Appreciate that.

All right, Florida, another big swing state and has quite the prize. Both Obama and Mitt Romney want it.

You're looking at live pictures right now of a great crowd that's assembled there in Hollywood, Florida, awaiting President Barack Obama's arrival. It will be his last stop in Florida before bit Election Day two days away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, with just two days to go until the presidential election, a poll out just this morning from NBC and "The Wall Street Journal" shows President Obama and Mitt Romney in a dead heat nationally. The president has a slight edge, 48 percent to Romney's 47 percent, but that's well within the sampling error. Another new national poll, this one from ABC and "The Washington Post" has the candidates locked in a tie at 48 percent. That's also within the margin of error. NBC poll also find Romney's national favorability at 53 percent, just shy of Obama's 54 percent rating.

So how close are President Obama and Mitt Romney in the electoral race? We have an interactive way for you to keep track and to see your ballot before you actually cast a vote. Josh Levs is here with more on that. Josh?

JOHS LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Fred, you know, obviously they both want to win the popular vote. And that's what we're seeing in those polls. That said, as we know also, this is an electoral race. And folks, sometimes you tease me online about how I move things all over on the screen -- I'm here to show you one that you can do that's full of hard facts.

Actually, a couple of them. The first one I want you to see is where things stand in the electoral race to the presidency, to that magic number of 270. We have this up for you at CNN.com/election. You can go through each state, see how many electorals there are in each state and also do some calculations and figure out how you think it could ultimately play out and as the results start to come in, you'll put that together.

Now, something brand new, incredible map here I want to show you. Take a look at this. This is CNN.com/explorer. And we have a lot of hard facts for you here that'll help you get a sense of how massive this race has been in terms of the money. This first screen you're seeing here shows you the ad spending from the different candidates, but I'm going to do something brand new here. Never done that on the air. Let's see if it works.

All right, yes, you can se how much money has been raised for each candidate in every state in the country. How much money each candidate got in your state, and look what you can do. This is pretty incredible. Our folks dreamed this up. Zoom in over to this side. I don't want to bombard you with too much information. I was curious how much money Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, President Obama have raised in New York and California, two of the biggest states. So I just typed in New York and California. It automatically generated the figures for me, and with one click, I can capture this snapshot, share it on Facebook and Twitter, which I will right after this, and get any other information I want about any state in the country.

Another thing that fascinates me, if we get away from the numbers and that kind of talk, a lot of Americans don't vote. And I am always interested to hear the stories of people who are voting, no matter how you're voting. What's inspiring you and makes you different from people who are apathetic or too busy or can't vote? What is it that's inspiring you? Well, we have this new app that's been up on my Facebook page, at JoshLevsCNN, called the "I'm Voting" app. You can go there, you can click on it, you can share it with all your friends. Social media has been shown to work to get people to vote.

And we have questions there. I got a screen for you here with the questions they've now posted for me that's going on on my Facebook page. We're asking you what is inspiring you to vote? What's getting you out to the polls, if you've already done it or if you plan to do it? What is it that's inspiring you to go out there and join in on this national event, this essence of democracy voting? Give us some answers on Facebook and I will join you with those in the 5:00 hour.

Finally, one more thing to show you right here that is pretty amazing, you can see your ballot. right now before you go to the polls if you haven't gone yet. Let's zoom in a little bit right here. This is CNN.com/VIT. All you need to do is type in your address. It will show you all of the races that are on your ballot. I used my hometown, a little suburb outside Albany, New York, just to see what would pop up right there and it shows you all the different things you're going to be asked to vote on -- and the Facebook and Twitter and various other pages for all the candidates in all the races. We went all out for you here. It's all linked up on my page.

Fred, I just got to tell you, this is the most interactive election ever and I've never seen anything like this.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's really good because so often, you know, people will get into the voting booth and they're a little overwhelmed with the screen, all the information. So that's nice to give you a little purview beforehand, an when you get in there you know what to do.

LEVS: So you know about the local races so you can make a choice in advance. Yes, spend some time in advance so you're not worried about it when you get there, exactly.

WHITEFIELD: OK. Thanks so much, Josh. Appreciate it.

OK, so Americans, we're not the only ones anxious to see who will win Tuesday. We'll look at what people think about our election around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

All right, Paul Ryan was in his element today campaigning in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The GOP vice presidential candidate tailgated with Packer fans outside the not quite so frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, but it's not likely Ryan will find time to enjoy football today. He has three events on his campaign schedule in Ohio, Minnesota and Colorado.

And here's one way to win over the youth vote, perhaps. Soccer teams arrived to a rally. Well, Vice President Biden did just that in Lakwood, Ohio, at my friend's cafe. He needed two high school seniors, Biden asked the pair if they would like a ride to the rally in his limo. He also chatted with voters and future voters, telling a 7-year-old, quote, "no dates till you're 30 years old," end quote.

So how is the U.S. presidential campaign playing around the world? And how will things change, perhaps, if President Obama is defeated? I asked John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of "The Economist" how closely the international community might be paying attention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN MICKLETHWAIT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "THE ECONOMIST": I think the world is now watching the race extremely closely. That always happens with American elections because the person who gets elected to the White House is the most powerful person in the world, and so everybody else has to pay attention.

But in this particular race, I think up to that first debate, there was an assumption in the rest of the world, perhaps as there was in America, that Obama was going to win. But now there's also the horse race element. Not only does it affect the rest of the world, but it's actually very exciting as well. It's one of the great shows in the world.

WHITFIELD: So your newspaper points out that this president was saddled with the biggest economic burden since 1933 and, contrary to so much public opinion, that Obama's handling of the auto industry, of the bank crisis, were actually, in "The Economist"s' view, quote, unquote, "impressive". Why?

MICKLETHWAIT: I think they were reasonably impressive. It's very hard to defend yourself if you're Obama on the basic question of economic policy because he took all these decisions and the thing we don't know is the counterfactual. How much worse would it have been if he hadn't put money into the economy? We think it would have been quite a lot worse if he hadn't done all these things. That's a reason to give him at least a kind of a decent grade on economics. There are lots of other issues where we disagree with him, but on the basic core issue of has he run the economy reasonably well, given what he took in, he hasn't done too badly.

WHITFIELD: So when Candidate Romney says he sees the U.S. maybe heading in the direction of Greece, is that a real probability?

MICKLETHWAIT: I think there's still something of a gap between the U.S. and Greece. We have been, for a long, long time, we have been very, very worried about the deficit, about the buildup of debt in America. But I think to compare it to Greece is quite an extraordinary one. If you go to Greece, you wander around Athens, you see shuttered shops, you have the threat of ethnic violence. I think all presidential candidates are allowed a degree of hyperbole, but on that particular question I think he's going quite a long way.

WHITFIELD: Other nations are looking toward to this election because they're thinking about the trade opportunities, they're looking about the promotion of peace, they're looking for opportunities of diplomacy -- but is there more at stake in this election, 2012, that we didn't see in 2008?

MICKLETHWAIT: I think there probably is to this extent: one, it's very close. Two, you do have this element where by, particularly Romney, we don't know exactly what sort of foreign policy he really would follow. The Romney of the most recent debate was saying very different things to what was being said before.

And if you want one example of something that, you know, really could bubble up almost from day one is Romney has said that if he becomes president, he would declare China a currency manipulator on that very first day. Now, that might have been okay ten years ago or five years ago when China didn't see itself as a much bigger sort of superpower to rival America. If he comes out and does it this time, I don't think China are in the mood to take ultimatums from an American president. And so you could almost immediately have a very rocky path there, perhaps including a broader and not very nice trade spat. But there is a big difference between the candidates on quite a lot of this stuff.

WHITFIELD: Is there a way in which to gauge which candidate the world or the majority of foreign nations would prefer to win that White House race?

MICKLETHWAIT: I think on the whole, if you look at most of the polls which have done on people outside America, they tend to favor Obama. I wouldn't read too much into that. I think, again and again, the Europeans in particular tend to favor the Democratic candidate for the very simple reason that America, whether we like it or not, is a much more conservative place than any other country. If you look at Barack Obama, who is supposedly left of center, American against, say, David Cameron, the right of center British Prime Minister, on any normal definition of who's to the right and who's the left, who believes in a smaller state, who believes in a more aggressive foreign policy, who believes in a tougher crime and punishment, Obama on the whole is more right wing than the right wing British Prime Minister who is considerably more right wing than most people all of Europe.

So there is a gulf in attitudes between America and the rest of the world in that way.

WHITFIELD: John Mickelthwaite, editor-in-chief of "The Economist". Thanks so much for your time.

MICKLETHWAIT: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So, since that interview, "The Economist" newspaper endorsed Barack Obama for president this way, saying, quote, "For all his shortcomings, Mr. Obama has dragged America's economy back from the brink of disaster, so this newspaper will stick with the devil it knows and reelect him," end quote. You can read the entire endorsement at economist.com.

So when he was running the Clinton campaign 20 years ago, James Carville coined the now famous phrase, "It's the economy, stupid." As we found out in our CNN Election Express travels, the economy is again is the major issue, especially for voters in some critical swing states.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's still a lot of depressed areas, a lot of joblessness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Finding a job next year, but just looking around at the unemployment rate, it's so scary to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last four years has not been very good for our small business.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, Florida was hit hard and people are disenchanted, but I still have that optimism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get back to getting the jobs going, getting people happy again, getting people spending money again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's always light at the end of the tunnel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's one of the more higher unemployment states.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My big issue right now would be jobs, unemployment rates. I really hope that there's a career out here instead of just a job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And last year, two, three years, I see businesses opening up, people getting jobs. I see our town really thriving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really blessed I have a great job, so we're doing good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe people understand that unemployment is not necessarily the president's fault. We understand it's the big issue right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kind of gotten to the point where it's like triage. It's like, OK, economy is most important to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not realizing the crisis we experienced in 2009. Almost all economists agree that stimulus spending was necessary and it prevented a sort of colossal collapse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People have to go out and get jobs and somebody has to create these jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Manufacturing's coming back. We compete with anybody. I mean, we'll kick all their asses if we work straight up, we can win.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very hard for me to talk to the younger generation or the generation at my age when you say you went to college and you owe $60,000 in loans and you're not making any more than that the person that's working at McDonald's.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to start booming here in a little bit, and I think we're on the right track.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter who is going to be in the White House tomorrow, the day after the election, look, you still have to go to work. You still have to take care of your family, you still have to take care of yourself and do what you need to do to be a good citizen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And is it entertainment or a political stunt? Conservatives are up in arms over the airing of a movie just two days before the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A new movie about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden airs tonight on National Geographic Channel. But critics say the timing is political, designed to help the president just two days before the election. Our Brian Todd takes a deeper look at the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be the team that takes out Osama.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's got the real life plot that can certainly draw viewers, the Navy SEAL's raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But can it also draw voters and is it designed to?

"SEAL Team sIX", a new TV drama about the bin Laden mission, is set to air on the National Geographic Channel just two nights before the election. It's got some real news clips of President Obama in it, depicting the president in the days surrounding the raid. And the film is backed by Hollywood mogul, Harvey Winestein, a big time Democratic donor. All those factors have conservatives saying the movie is a political stunt.

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Any time you have a movie coming out two nights before the election and being made by Harvey Winestein, who is a prominent Democrat and a huge supporter of President Obama's, of course it raises eyebrows.

TODD (voice-over): Director John Stockwell says it was Winestein who suggested adding more actual news footage, including footage from the White House, after he saw an early version of the movie.

(on camera): It was not done to, I guess play up the president's role or make it look particularly good?

JOHN STOCKWELL, DIRECTOR, "SEAL TEAM SIX": No, not at all. We don't pretend to sort of get inside the president's head. Harvey Winestein came into the editing room very early on and his only questions to me were "How did you know this? Are you sure this happeend?" He was really attempting to get to the veracity of the story. TODD (voice-over): Stockwell also says there's less footage of the president in the finished cut than there was in an earlier version. Contacted by CNN, Harvey Winestein rejected the idea that the film has a political agenda, saying it's about history.

Ken Robinson has been in both worlds. A former special forces officer, he was creator and writer of "E-ring", an NBC drama about the inner workings of the Pentagon.

TODD (on camera): In the production of movies like this, is there often pressure to maybe put in a political stunt? Subtle, maybe?

KEN ROBINSON, CREATOR/WRITER, NBC'S "E-RING": I've never seen that and I've been on the Fox lot, the Warner lot, the Paramount lot. I've not seen that. The creative process is pretty prized.

TODD (voice-over): But the timing of the film's release still rankles some conservatives like media critic Brent Bozell, who has this suggestion.

BRENT BOZELL, MEDIA RESEARCHC ENTER: If it doesn't have a political agenda, as they say it doesn't, and if there aren't any political purposes behind this, as they say there aren't, then simply put it off for two days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Brian Todd reporting. A spokesperson for National Geographic says they have to air the film today because they have to give it to Netflix by November 5. Both National Geographic, which is partnered with conservative mogul group Murdock's Fox Cable Networks, and director John Stockwell deny any political motivations in releasing the film two days before the election.

So while the presidential race remains incredibly tight, so are several Senate races and that could tip the balance of power for whoever wins the White House. Athena Jones has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDNET: In the Republican wave of 2010, Democrats lost control of the House, but they kept the Senate. Democrats control 53 seats in the 100-member chamber. Republicans need four to take over if President Obama wins re-election, three if Governor Mitt Romney wins, since the Vice President Paul Ryan would serve as the tie-breaker. Thirty-three seats are up for grabs.

SHIRA TOEPLITZ, ROLL CALL: It's possible, although it's looking increasingly unlikely, that Republicans will be able to gain control of the Senate.

JONES: Why is that? For one thing, there's Maine Republican Olympia Snow's unexpected retirement from a body she describes as hopelessly partisan. Republicans will likely lose that seat.

Then there's the inflicted wounds like this comment from Republican Todd Akin, who's running Missouri.

REP. TODD AKIN, (R) MISSOURI: If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

JONES: Those words sparked an outcry, putting a victory over Democrat Claire McCaskill, a top GOP target, in doubt.

TOEPLITZ: That one was kind of the "gimme". That was the one they thought they could win no matter what. Because he said those comments, that race is very much in play.

JONES: And then there was this remark by Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock explaining why he opposes abortion even in cases of rape.

RICHARD MOURDOCK, (R) U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE, INDIANA: If life is a gift from God, and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.

JONES: GOP operatives say that statement, while inarticulate, is in line with the feelings of many conservative voters. Still, it may have opened the door for his Democratic opponent, Joe Donnelly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now, again, a misstatement, a misstep and suddenly his election is really in doubt.

JONES: It's too close to call in Massachusetts where liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren, the former Obama administration consumer advocate, is trying to win back the seat Republican Scott Brown won in 2010. Polls show Warren up by four.

And polls in Virginia have the Democrat, former governor Tim Kaine, leading former Republican Senator George Allen by just two points.

With races all tied up in places like Nevada, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Connecticut, it could be a nail biter on Tuesday night.

Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And in our next hour, the race for the White House appears to be really tight. What happens if the vote is all tied up? We'll show you what could happen if there's an Electoral College tie.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. Top of the hour, I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

No rest for the weary on this presidential election last weekend. With only two days left, the candidates are squeezing in a flurry of events in swing states. President Barack Obama began in Concord, New Hampshire, a state he won four years ago. Well, today, at this hour, at least, he's in Florida right now heading to Ohio next and then ending the day in Colorado.