Romney touts Massachussets health care as proof of empathy

>> join meg now is florida congressman debbie wasserman schultz chair. congresswoman, it's great to see you this morning. the latest polling is show that president obama is ahead, anywhere from five to eight points in virginia. that's where the two candidates will be today. romney is writing off all the battleground polling putting the president in the lead. he did so specifically yesterday on abc. take a listen.

>> i'm very please wtd some polls. less so with other polls. but frankly at this early stage, polls go up, polls go down. i don't expect to get 100% of the vote. i know i'm not going to bet 100%. i hope to get 50 plus percent and make sure that i become the next president.

>> as we look at this realistically, 40 days to go, we have gallup daily tracking putting romney within four points of the margin of error. the romney campaign and the republican super pacs have only just begun unleashing its mass massive campaign cash. can romney use the debates, use all of that money in reserve to reverse his fortunes going forward?

>> well, we don't put much stock in polls, good or bad, at this point, particularly 40 days out. we are coming in to the debater isries in which we know that americans really start to focus more in a more laser like way on the choice that they have in front of them, mr. romney is an experienced debater, particularly with more recent experience. and what we are focused on, thomas, though, are things like the fact that early voting starts in iowa today and that there's still an opportunity to get registered to vote and we encourage people to go to gottoregister.com so that they can get themselves signed up to register to vote and make sure that they can weigh in on this very clear choice that we have in front of us 40 days from now.

>> you make a great point. iowa is the first swing state . . started at 9:00 a.m . eastern. i know that president obama spoke to the des moines register , saying, there isn't a state that is better informed about politics, talking about iowa specifically. mitt romney though finally touting his massachusetts health care law as he tries to make the case that he is a compassionate, conservative, just like george w. bush . take a listen to this interview he gave to nbc's ron allen yesterday.

>> throughout this campaign, as well, we've talked about my record in massachusetts . don't forget, i got everybody in my state insured. 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance . i don't think there's anything that shows more i'm pat think and care about the people of this country than that kind of record.

>> as chuck todd point i'd out this morning the question really wasn't specifically about health care , it was about compassion and empathy and he interjected his record for massachusetts and health care and what they were able to accomplish there. can mitt romney turn his health care plan into an advantage now especially since they've been trying to distance themselves from that all along?

>> well, i think there's some irony in the fact that mitt romney briefly mentions his role in passing health care reform in massachusetts when the first thing he pledged to do if he were to become president of the united states is repeal obama care and roll back all of those same provisions for americans . there are millions of americans who have benefited and now have health insurance who didn't before, thanks to obama care. the young adults who can stay on their parents insurance until they're 26, seniors who are saving an average of $600 on their prescription drugs thanks to obama care, closing the doughnut hole. and the first thing that mitt romney would do is the incredibly compassionate thing of repealing all of those reforms and leaving seniors and children and young adults in a situation where their health care is prohibitively expensive and if you have a pre-existing condition you can be dropped by insurance companies once again.

>> it is a little bit of a whiplash factor to figure out, is it an advantage or disadvantage, talking about it or not talk about it. i do want to speak though and get your, pert background about the two big factors in your home state, senior vote and jewish vote. when it comes to medicare, the fight is not even close. in all of these states, the voters favor the president's approach on this. but on the question of israel , prime minister benjamin netanyahu addressing the u.n. today an he's been very hard on the president. "the new york times" also today saying the republicans are planning to make a big play for the jewish vote. would the angst of jewish voter on the question of iran put the jewish vote into play?

>> if you look at the gallop poll of jewish voters, president obama is about 70% in the question of which candidate jewish voters are likely to vote for in the election were to the t and that's ahead of what they were in the election in 2008 . that's because, thomas, one thing is that on domestic issues, whether it's making investments in education, health care , research, head start , civil work, standing up for people who have no voice. sh a very important season for jus and a time in which we focus on the importance to repairing the world, mitt romney and the republicans are wrong on every issue that matters to jus domestically and we are making sure that jewish voters understand that president obama has a stellar record on israel . an, in fact, i would just push back a little bit and say that p.m. netanyahu and president obama have a very close working relationship, that they meet and talk regularly and they have on k consistently said that he stood by president obama . i think the record is very clear and there are israeli leaders across the political spectrum in israel who has consistently said that israel has no greater friend than president obama .

>> they would take any vulnerability.

>> i think what they're doing --

>> obama was able to take 78% of that vote.

>> it was more like 74% of the vote, but i believe strongly. i'm confident that jewish voters will overwhelmingly support the president because of the issues that are important to jewish voter s do mess tickically and because of his incredibly strong record in israel . as first jewish woman to represent florida in congress i take my love of israel to work with me every single day and i'm very proud to support this president because of his incredible record on israel and consistently having israel 's back and i think my constituents in south florida as well as jus across the country will be there for president obama as well for both of those reasons.

>> congresswoman, thanks so much. we always support fellow around here. i tell you happy birthday. we do support libras.

>> thank you.