[Lemon:] Boy, it is really getting down to the wire here. There's only 17 days to go, and Barack Obama and John McCain are spending virtually all of their time in those battleground states. We're talking about the six tossup states you see here on the map, plus a handful of others that the campaigns believe are still within their reach. John McCain campaigned in North Carolina and Virginia today, trying to hold on to a pair of states that are usually safe for Republicans. And before he hit the stage, he used a radio address to compare Barack Obama's tax plans to those used in Europe.
[Sen. John Mccain , Presidential Candidate:] At least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are up front about their objectives. They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Senator Obama. Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut. It's just another government give-away.
[Lemon:] Meantime, Barack Obama is concentrating on the swing state of Missouri. He drew a massive crowd to St. Louis today, estimated at 100,000 people. He also took a moment to respond to a comment John McCain made at this week's debate.
[Sen. Barack Obama , Presidential Candidate:] In the debate this week, my opponent felt the need to inform me that he's not President Bush. Now, in fairness, I I know John McCain's not Bush. Bush has that Texas accent. But I know they're not the same people. And in fairness, I don't blame Senator McCain for all of President Bush's mistakes. After all, John McCain only voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. So I just blame him for 90 percent of George Bush's policies.
[Lemon:] All right. Well, you heard him talk about the debates there. Well, the unofficial star of this week's third and final debate was, of course, you know the name, Joe the plumber. Last night in Florida, John McCain revealed that he has called and spoken with Joe the plumber. McCain has a rally tomorrow in Ohio and there is speculation that Joe will be there to join him in person. As you probably know by now, Joe is the one voter who confronted Barack Obama about taxes during a campaign stop just last weekend. Well, a week ago, Joe the plumber was a complete unknown. Now, he's being haled by the McCain campaign. The CNN truth squad is looking into Joe's role as a political symbol. Let's bring in CNN's Josh Levs now. Josh, I said if I heard Joe the plumber one more time, I was going to scream. What about Bob the carpenter or Ann the stockbroker. You know, what about those folks?
[Josh Levs, Cnn Correspondent:] I know, it didn't take America very long to get sick of the term Joe the plumber. There are some terms that have been thrown around a lot in this election, but that one people got tired of really fast. The whole reason that McCain used him at all was to make a point. I'm going to show you McCain's point. Along the way, you'll see the truth squad ruling on it.
[Mccain:] Look, I've been working all my life, ten, 12 hours. I want to buy the business that I'm in. But you're going to raise my taxes. And you know what Senator Obama had to say to Joe? He wanted to spread his wealth around. He wanted to spread his wealth around.
[Levs:] We saw the verdict appear on the screen there, misleading. Here's how the truth squad arrived at that verdict. Let's just go through some facts here. Obama met Samuel Joe Wurzelbacker while he was campaigning in the Toledo, Ohio area. Joe asked Obama about his tax plan, and at one point during their five-minute conversation you've got to listen carefully for it. It's easy to miss. But Obama said this.
[Obama:] Right now, everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody. And I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody. But, listen, I respect what you do and I respect your question.
[Levs:] So folks of the truth squad pieced through the whole five minutes. When you look at the full context of what Obama said, McCain's line is misleading. You can see the truth squad ruling up at CNN.com. We've got a few seconds. I transferred it onto a Word document so you can see it in pretty big letters here. I'll show it to you. "Misleading. McCain's remark was an over-simplification of a five-minute long conversation. Obama replied in great detail about his tax plan and the spread the wealth remark was one small part of that conversation." Don?
[Lemon:] Josh, the truth squad has also ruled on an attack by Obama over the cost of college. Talk to us about that. What did you find?
[Levs:] This is interesting one too, going the other way, Obama attacking McCain on this. Let's do the same thing. Let's take a look at what Obama said. You'll see the ruling.
[Obama:] Senator McCain's top economic adviser said the other day, they have no plans to invest in college affordability because we can't have a give away to every special interest.
[Levs:] All right. Here's how the truth squad arrived at a verdict there of true, but incomplete. There are a couple of news reports from the McCain camp talking about college. I'll show you one right here. It's the Associated Press quoting one of his spokesmen, his economic policy adviser, Douglass Holtz-Eakin. Let's go in here. Again, I'm taking the key quote for you so you and putting it on a document here so you can see what he said. He said, quote, "we don't have any new college proposals in terms of massive expansions of funding. There's a budgetary reality. We have enormous spending pressures already. It would be irresponsible to go to every interest group and promise them lots of money." But that doesn't mean he's not doing anything for college. Let's zoom in the board one more time. John McCain, on his own website, does talk about higher education. He calls for lowering the tax burden on families in general. He said that could help them then send their children to college. So, Don, that's why when the Truth Squad ruled on this one, they decided true, but incomplete. While McCain has no plans directly addressing college cost, his campaign maintains that his tax plans and improving student loan programs will make it easier for families to pay for college. Hence, true but incomplete. Let me mention, you can see dozens of these at CNN.com. It's great. Millions of clicks every day. We're glad. People are getting the facts behind the rhetoric.
[Lemon:] I'm glad you mentioned that, because we love people to reach out to CNN.com. I-Report, you can get us on Twitter or MySpace, Facebook as well. We get great suggestions and questions from our viewers. We'll read some of them just a little bit later in the broadcast. Josh, we appreciate it. Thank you. Pay attention to this next story. You are going to love it. She is 106 years young and she is making sure that her vote counts.
[Ann Cooper, 106 Years Old:] I haven't got time to die because I've got to see a black president.
[Lemon:] You want to see a black president?
[Cooper:] Yes.
[Lemon:] Oh, she is a cutie. Her name is Ann Cooper and she can say whatever she wants because she deserves it. She's 106 years old. She is waiting to see what she thinks will be history. Her amazing story seconds away.