Fact-checking the final debate

>>> it was another late night for fact checkers to sift through the heated exchanges like this one in last night's final presidential debate .

>> i said they need these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy and in that process they can get government help and government guarantees.

>> that's not what you said.

>> he can take a look -- you can take a look at the op-ed.

>> you did not say to provide government help.

>> let's bring in laurie robertson, the managing editor of factcheck.org. good morning.

>> good morning.

>> who was right in that exchange over the auto bailout?

>> romney was right. obama was wrong. indeed, if you look back at romney 's 2008 op-ed, he argued against the bailout but he argued for a managed bankruptcy with federal guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing so a federal loan guarantee for the post-financing bankruptcy is government help.

>> they tangled over test scores . governor romney said this before. first and fourth graders were first in math and english when he was governor.

>> republicans and democrats came together on a bipartisan basis to put in education principles that focused on great teachers in the classroom.

>> ten years earlier.

>> that was what allowed us to become the number one state in the nation.

>> but that was ten years before you took office.

>> absolutely.

>> and then you cut education coming in to office.

>> was it before he took office and did he cut education spending?

>> yes. actually, the law that's largely credited with those great test scores for fourth and eighth graders is 1993 education law that emphasized test scores and increased funding. and those fourth and eighth graders scoring at or near the top of the nation before romney took office and they remained there since. as for cutting the education budget, romney did do that when he came in to office but it is worth noting that the nate faced a budget gap and the democratic legislature also proposed cuts to close that gap.

>> of course, famously now, mitt romney blasted the president over the size of our navy.

>> our navy is smaller now than any time since 1917 . the navy said they needed 313 ships for the mission. we're now down to 285. we are headed down to the low 200 nz a sequestration. that's unacceptable to me. i want to have the ships required by the navy.

>> and led to horses and bayonets and most tweeted moment of the night. did governor romney get the numbers right?

>> no. he was wrong. we are at 282 ships in 2012 . that's a slight increase of 2007 and we're not at the lowest point since 1917 . in 1917 , we had 342 ships but, you know, comparing those older ships to today's ships just isn't the same thing. the navy's secretary remarked earlier this year that comparing today's ships to those in year's passed was like comparing the telegraph to the smartphone.

>> we look for zingers in these debates so here last night.

>> governor romney , i'm glad you recognize that al qaeda 's a threat because a few months ago asked what's the biggest threat facing america you said russia . not lake. you said russia . in the 1980s are now calling and asking for the foreign policy back because, you know, the cold war 's been over for 20 years.

>> give us the fact check on that one.

>> sure. obama's wrng on this one. what romney said, he called russia the number one geo-political foe and in the same interview said the greatest threat which is the president's word is a nuclear iran.

>> lori robertson, good to see you. thank you so much. thank you for staying up late and putting it together for us.