Obama campaign hammers Romney over shifting position on abortion

>> candidate and i'll be a pro-life president. the actions i'll take immediately are it remove funding for planned parent hood .

>> governor romney has made clear that if a bill comes to his desk that overturns roe vs. wade, that he will be fully soopt differen supportive of it and he will have justices that willover current it and now he's trying to cloud the question when it comes to women 's rights to control their own health care decisions.

>> i'm joined thousand by former arkansas center blanche lincoln and tom davis . good morning. congressman davis , the obama campaign says mitt romney has flip flopped on his views on women 's health. are they right?

>> i think it shows 50/50 women and men in terms of the presidential race , so they're bringing back abortion. no question the governor's views have evolved over time . when he ran the first time no office in massachusetts, he was pro-choice, but he evolved while he was governor, actually vetoing abortion legislation while still governor. so he's evolved over time as has dozens of members of congress that i've served with.

>> is he evolving, senator, and is this being emphasized by democrats who see their poll numbers with women , that gender gap , closing?

>> well, you know, i don't think it should come as any surprise. the campaign made the comment about the etch a sketch and wiping it clean. and i think the real question voters will be asking is if i'm going to vote for this man and if he were to be president, is he going to be the president with the views and on the issues like he was when he was governor or when he was running for the primary or in the last 20 something days of the election. he's been a very different person on issues in all of these areas. and i think it creates confusion for voters.

>> this conversation is bringing back what democrats call the war on women and it did get a lot of traction particularly after congressman akin uttered the phrase legitimate rape. now claire mccaskill has new ads that feature rape victims.

>> i'm a republican and a pro-life mother and a rape survivor. in the hospital, i was offered emergency contraception becausebelieved i declined. no woman should be denied that choice. i've never voted for claire mccass still, but because of todd akin , i will now.

>> congressman davis , is this a losing issue with republicans not just with independent women but with some republican women , as well?

>> let me just say governor romney repudiated todd akin right away, so bringing it back into the presidential campaign , i think really is not the appropriate place. the governor repudiated akin from the get go saying he repudiated that. the republican establishment threw him under the bus after those comments. i heard that president obama saying that governor romney would sign legislation overturning row v. wade . he can't overturn a constitutional ruling leak that with mere legislation. it would take a constitutional amendment in many cases. so i think they are hyping this at this point because they find losing the women 's vote and they're going back to an issue that has always worked. i think the issue continues to be employment and that's the issue most people are concerned about. and i think it shows they've fallen behind the polls that they're bringing this back up.

>> is he right about that, senator, and we all know that in every race, but particularly in a tight race, ard shal race, it's all about getting out the vote and that enthusiasm. on both sides potentially is this an issue that could get people spurred to go to the polls on november 6th ?

>> this is a very -- if you're talking about women 's reprocecee e's reproductive health , it's a very sensitive issue for everyone. but for men and women , you know, they don't want to be backed in to a corner on on this issue. i think the most important thing is to know what candidates are saying and whether or not women are going to have a choice. the woman on the ad clearly made a choice. and people can make those choices. but to be denied the opportunity to have that choice is a whole different ball game. and i think women understand that, that everybody has a different perspective and belief on some of these issues. but making sure that everyone can be respectful of that and has the opportunity to make a choice like that is something that's important for everybody's health. because everybody's different. everybody's circumstances are different. so i think it's an issue for people to look at and particularly for undecided voters who want to make sure they know where someone stands on something. and jobs is the biggest issue. tom is right. tom is great, does he a great job on polls and other things and he knows that at the heart of this election it is about jobs. but people are not going to forget about other issues that are important to them.

>> sthor lincoln, congressman davis , great conversation --

>> let me just say it's important to note that the governor does not agree with todd akin on this issue. tromping him out there as representing romney is just wrong.