Political gender gap exacerbates Akin controversy

>>> that brings us to our political director chief white house correspondent chuck todd . chuck, just to repeat here, why did this get so much bigger so quickly than just a senate race in missouri?

>> well, two quick reasons. sense of urgency, 5:00 deadline tomorrow afternoon that if congressman akin gets out on his own republicans can replace the candidate but this has to do with that last poll question andrea put in her spot and that is this gender gap particully in battleground states in virginia and colorado. brian, president obama has been running ads attacking romney on issues of access to contraception, the funding of planned parenthood . there is already a wide gender gap . they didn't want it to get worse.

>> back to your day job covering that building behind you you were in the briefing room today. the president walked in. a surprise appearance. takes some questions. we heard a little bit earlier but in another portion he took on his opponent directly. let's listen.

>> i'm not asking to, you know, disclose every detail of, you know, his medical records . i mean, this is -- this isn't sort of overly personal here, guys. the one year's of tax returns that he disclosed indicated he used swiss bank accounts , for example. well, that may be perfectly legal, but i suspect if you ask the average american do you have one, and is that how you manage your tax obligations, they would say no.

>> so, chuck todd , from swiss bank accounts to even something like health records , what's required of presidents, those running for the job, the president went there.

>> reporter: he did. he was trying to defend. he was peppered with questions from a bunch of us on the tone and tenor of his campaign saying is it really necessary that you -- why are you so focused simply on governor romney's tax returns ? that's what he was defending saying, hey, his tax returns are essentially a values question about how he would govern. that's the point he was trying to make today, brian. i'm sure we'll hear it more on the campaign trail.

>> chuck todd from the north lawn of the white house