Obama hopes to blunt Romney post-debate bounce with record fundraising haul

>>> obama campaign armed with new ammunition to counter mitt romney 's post-debate bounce. they raked in $181 million. the romney campaign hasn't released the numbers but you will see more ads in coming weeks, like this back an forth on tax plans.

>> why was romney so dishonest about his plan? the new massive tax cut for millionaires is more taxes on the middle class . america doesn't need a poll sirn that plays one.

>> distorting the economic plan. the latest? not telling the truth about mitt romney 's tax plan. the a.p. says doesn't add up. even the obama campaign admitted it wasn't true.

>> stipulated. it won't be near a trillion dollars.

>> let's bring in byron dorgan and david winston . good morning.

>> good morning.

>> good morning.

>> senator, i watch the ads and first thing that comes to mind and you would think i'd be immune but those are tough. do you think they help either side or just turn voters off?

>> well, i don't know. this ad war is relentless, expensive. they're 30-second bombshells. all of us heard candidate romney talk about a 20% cut in all tax rates , a 20% cut. you know? we're swimming in debt. you know, so he says now, well that's not really a 20% cut but a revenue neutral tax. doesn't make sense and hard to pin down a guy that doesn't have core beliefs.

>> david , what a lot of voters do, undecided voters , they say, well, who am i supposed to believe here?

>> yeah, no. that's clearly what the debate did and i would suggest this is one of the reasons why you see governor romney improve in terms of polls is got the discussion back on the economy and the central issues of taxes and seeing clearly both sides have a different view in terms of what the governor proposing. watching that play out and ultimately i would suggest this is a good conversation for governor romney to be involved in.

>> let me just make the point that, you know, governor romney pays a 14% income tax rate which is less than most working families pay in this country and ought to be the first question to him. if we all believe and i think we should that we need to reform the tax code the demonstration of that is the fact there's wealthy man that pays a 14% tax rate , much less than most americans.

>> we didn't hear that from the president and one of the reasons even democrats obviously very concerned about the debate performance. but david , an obama fund-raiser in new york summed it up this way. the jobs numbers and the campaign-finance numbers which we just saw will take democrats out of group therapy and keep them focused on the urgent task ahead of re-elected the president. is he right? do they balance each other out?

>> well, it's sbresing to use that phrase. clearly, there's consternation on the democratic side after the debate performance. i have to say i don't expect him to perform like that at the next debate. that was an example of him being one question deep after four years of being in the white house . but look. the jobs numbers just good for the country. below 8%. but the question is, do people feel there's a real recovery on the way and with economic growth as pathetic as it's been people are assessing and you have had surveys since the numbers were released and seen the governor pull even with the president and right now it's a toss-up race.

>> one of the things i saw like over the weekend if you're watching football, there were a lot -- at least here in new york, a lot of obama campaign ads. and the romney super- pacs have a money advantage but outside groups pay more for tv ads than candidates. president obama and his allies spent $45 million for 93,000 spots while almost the same amount of money only bought romney and allies 69,000 spots. how significant, senator, could that be, especially in these crucial remaining weeks?

>> well, there's a difference in the cost of spots bought by a candidate or a super-pac. we have not talked about it but what's going on is disgusting and shameful. this is a money pit in which the -- some very, very wealthy people have -- billionaires trying to buy a government. first time in history seeing the full flower of the supreme court decision in citizens united . it's disgusting and this country can't continue down this road. we have to find a way to fix that and repair the damage done by the citizens united decision from the supreme court .

>> when we do the postmortem, david , do you think we'll say that ads made a difference, super- pac money made the difference?

>> money is a resource and not an outcome. it's what you say and do with it. races of candidates with a ton of money and nothing to say with the money and so i think that ultimately campaigns have got to figure out what's the compelling reason that the candidate should be elected. the amount of money is a result of the campaign reform bill and the associated decisions after that. you have a situation where i would suggest that candidate voice has been diminished of super- pacs . you hear more from the super- pacs than the candidates themselves.

>> one of the things that both of these candidates have said is they feel like they have to spend too much time fund raising and senator dorgan, the president in california today, yesterday. five fund-raisers for $10 million but this close to an election, would that time do you think be better spent on the campaign trail in a battle ground state ?

>> i think all candidates sooner be on the trail an the fund raising trail.

>> it's a choice they can make.

>> i understand that but you need the money. you need the money to put the ads on television. let's make a final point here. i think the american people sensing things are better in this country. that's good news. i was here in the senate when president obama took over. we were in an unbelievable deep hole and i think things are beginning to improve. we have put some millions of new jobs out there in the last couple of years, three years so, you know, i think that's what's dispositive when people go to the election -- when they go to the polling booth i think they ask the question, are things better? yes, they are. slowly but surely.

>> terrific conversation, gentlemen. thank you so much.

>> thank you.