Presidential Debate, Medicare in 2012 Election, Early Voting

The second presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is tonight at Hofstra University in New York. Obama is likely looking to recover after what was generally considered to be a poor performance in the first debate a couple weeks. The Romney campaign is undoubtedly going to be looking to keep the momentum the last debate seems to have put him on. Unlike last time, however, this debate will be town hall style, with questions from the audience. We talk to Kyle Kondik, Political Analyst of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

The debate over Medicare had continued between Obama and Romney in the run-up to the presidential election on November 6. The Romney campaign has accused the White House of gutting Medicare in favor the Affordable Care Act, reducing Medicare by $716 billion. The president has responded that those cuts are merely eliminating waste and are designed to preserve Medicare for future generations. The Obama campaign also have argued that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system will ultimately hurt seniors. A recent report by Kaiser Health News suggests that services will be severely reduced under the Romney/Ryan plan. We talk to Allison Szot of the The Medicare News Group.

Early voting is up this year, with some analysts saying that more than one-third of the electorate maybe actually vote before the election day on November 6. With early voting likely to benefit the incumbent president, Republicans have even attempted to stop early voting in the key critical state of Ohio. However, the Supreme Court today rejected the challenge there. How will early voting affect this already unique election? We talk to Dr. Michael P. McDonald, Professor of Government at George Mason University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.