'This Week' Transcript: Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Marco Rubio

NEW YORK, OCT. 21, 2012— -- STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to "This Week."

Two weeks to go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MITT ROMNEY, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I become president --

STEPHANOPOULOS: After that ferocious second debate.

OBAMA: Not true, Governor Romney. Not true.

Governor, you're the last person who's going to get tough on China.

ROMNEY: You'll get your chance in a moment, I'm still speaking.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The race is close, combative, completely up for grabs.

And now as the candidates make closing arguments, their biggest guns out in force.

CLINTON: The president has your back.

RICE: This is a pivotal time.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Our big questions. Did Obama's comeback debate put him back in control of this race? Or can Romney knock him back down in tomorrow's face-off? What will be the final twist that determines this race? Our headliners, Chicago Mayor and former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. And top Romney ally, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

Plus, insight and analysis from our powerhouse roundtable. With Matthew Dowd, Ralph Reed, Van Jones, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Greta Van Susteren of Fox News.

And we say farewell to George McGovern.

MCGOVERN: The Democratic Party will be a better party because of the reforms that we have carried out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hello again. Early this morning, we learned that George McGovern, the first senator to oppose the Vietnam War, Democratic nominee for president in 1972, has passed away at the age of 90. We'll remember him later in the show.

But we begin with the race for the White House. Just 16 days to go and more signs this morning that Mitt Romney's first debate bounce has staying power ahead of tomorrow's third and final debate.

So let's get right to our headliners, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who as you know, also served as chief of staff to President Obama.

And Mayor, let me begin with you. You're down in Florida this morning. Polls now show Mitt Romney ahead in Florida. Even the race in Ohio now has tightened dramatically. I want to show you this RealClearPolitics electoral map. It shows that Mitt Romney has gone ahead for the first time right now. Are you worried that this race is slipping away?

EMANUEL: No, I think that it's a very tight race, it's a competitive race. We always knew it was going to be in this place. In the sense that it's coming down to a few states and a few votes, and it's a clear choice between the candidates. One candidates who wants to take us back to the policies that led to the economic near-collapse of the great recession, who turned his back on the auto industry, and the president, who believes by investing in the American people, investing in the middle class, that that's the best way to grow the economy.

And, George, everybody always knew this was a tight race and that it was going to come down to a few states. And I think that that's where we are today, and that's why every vote counts in these key battleground states.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You talked about the choice right there. Since the second debate, Governor Romney has been out on the stump saying that President Obama has no agenda for a second term. Take a look.

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