[♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply. that does it for this edition of "360." thank you for watching. erin burn net "out front" up next. the gop primary is getting hairy. we cannot resist asking herman cain about it. he is leading the polls but is he for real. we hear from him in our interview tonight. let's go "out front". presidential herman cain. another good day for the former

godfather's ceo. he leads in key swing and must win florida. cain beat romney 34-28. this comes on the heels of a national poll yesterday that put cain in the lead. cnn's poll's a poll show that cain is behind romney. 23 to 20. whatever the case, it's no question that herman cain's popularity is surging. the national poll has you at number one. now poll has you leading in south carolina and florida. what's your family thinking and why do you think this happened that you surged to the top? >> my family, they are not surprised because they mow me because of my business career because i have always done some challenging things. this happened for two reasons, first it was evident with the straw poll. it demonstrates the voice of the people is more important than the voice of the media, with all due respect. because for a while, as you

know, some people in the media tried to paint this as a two-man, governor on governor race. the second key message is more powerful than money. i have not spent nor have i been able to raise the kind of money my major come pet toirs have had bau we have been strong because of the solution i put on the table. >> let's talk about 9-9-9. >> all right. >> i know you are ready for this one with. i have a strike team, we have 20 ceos, sberp nurs and toward. they voted on which republican candidate would be best for the economy the day, just yesterday. they had some blackberry issues. we didn't get full votes but close it to, 15. none voted for you and then i asked about the 9-9-9 plan. but this was interesting, nine said it was a gimmick. six said your plan is serious

and i want to ask you this, 9-9-9 is a goal, right, you are not going to wake up to it. how long does it take, in your vision, to have 9-9-9 in full effect? >> the first 90 days of my administration as president of the united states of america because this economy, which season life support, it can't wait. let me oez address those that thought it was a gimmick and explain quickly how we came up with this. this economy is on life support. we took five revenue sources that are currently collected through taxes that cost us $430 million a year collectively for filing compliance. we looked at corporate, personal income taxes, capital gains, payroll taxes and the death tax. we said we want a structure where we can expand the base. the only way to expand the base is to bring in retail sales. and what's the lowest rate that would be simple, fair, efficient, transparent and

revenue neutral? this is how we came up with the 9% rate on corporate tax, flat rate, personal income tax flat rate and 9% retail sales tax. so we derived this by using existing revenue numbers. ntz it's not a gym and we have had it scored and it will boost the economy and create 6 million new jobs. >> i know you are going to be coming out with that scoring report soon. can you tell us when? >> yes. we have already had the scoring done. we are just trying to clean it up so that when we present it to the public it won't raise a lot of questions. we will have that done in the next week and make it available. >> we just talked about the poll that came out this afternoon where you are leading in florida with a significant margin over romney and within a margin of error, but in an early vote state of south carolina. i took new hampshire, iowa, south carolina, florida. if you look at the sales tax,

new hampshire is at zero. the others at 6% primarily. voters in those states see that and -- let's look at new hampshire. they say i'm paying zero now. even though he gives me a cut on the payroll tax i'm getting 9% sales tax and income tax rate. a lot 0 poov of people will say it will cause an increase at the bottom of the level of the country. >> this is how i respond. this is something to new to the public that you want to pay a sales tax on retail sales of 9% but at least you know what it is. the problem with our current system is there are embedded taxes and sneak taxes in the current tax code. >> the fundamental question, that a sales tax that applies to clothes and to food, as i believe yours would, hits the people that spend the majority of people who spent their money on clothes and food that being the poorest people in america.

>> the reason people say it is regressingive is that is the way they think relative to the current paradigm and tax code. if i can quickly. let's take a family of $50,000 a year. if you want to use $25,000 a year, just cut the numbers in half. a family making $50,000 a year, which is around median income, under the current system they are going to pay $10,200 in taxes under the 9-9-9 they will pay $4500 for that middle nine and that leaves them $5700 to apply to sales taxes that they would pay on the third nine on food, shelter and then if they buy goods, no taxes on used goods. so the actual purchase behavior we can't predict, but it is not regressive. in fact it empowers those that make the least amount of money because you don't pay the sales tax on used goods.

>> all right so the payroll tax that you would get rid of to fund social security now. if you goth get rid of it are you getting rid of social security? what's your goal for social security? >> no, we are collecting the social security fica dollars a different way. social security i have a another solution for that. it is called an optional personal retirement account. we are still going to collect the revenue for those programs, but then we are going to solve that problem totally different, because it's a totally different problem that we need to work on. >> individual retirement accounts. >> yes. >> you have been given what some say is tough love and some say insensitive message to the unemployed saying don't blame banks, blame yourselves. what's the message here? >> first of all, the message was directed at the people demonstrating on wall street. it wasn't directed at the 14 million people that are unemployed or the millions of people that are under employed. one of the reasons i'm fighting so hard for this 9-9-9 plan, i

want to put people back to work. according to the scoring from my 9-9-9 plan this economy would grow at approximately 5% rate and would create 6 million new jobs. i'm out here fighting for the unemployed. what i'm saying those people who are protesting wall street, i don't feel any sympathy for you because wall street did not create these bad economic policies. this administration did. this administration spent a trillion dollars and it didn't work. this administration wants to spend another $450 billion and it will not work. so my comment was directed at the wall street demonstrators. what are they looking for? another entitlement program. i can tell you in a cain administration there will not be a new entitlement program. our programs will be designed to empower people to help themselves. that was the intent of my message. >> do you believe, sir, that the bailout of the banks was

successful? >> i believe the bailout of the banks was partially successful. what i didn't like the bailout is that it was administered in a discretionary fashion. those dollars were never intended to bail out a car company. it wasn't intended. the american people weren't told the administration was going to pick and choose who the winners and losers were going to be. that's the problem i had with the program, even though some banks may have benefitted. government's role is not to pick winners and losers. that was the biggest problem i had with the whole bailout program. >> all right. outfront next, what does herman cain think of china? >> we won't have to look back at china. we will leave them in the dust. >> and then michael jackson's death trial. doctor doctors and sleep experts say his care was beyond comprehension today in court. we talk to a comedian diagnosed with cancer who makes it his life work to perform on letterman. ♪

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number tonight, 28. that's roughly how many employees google every day during the third quarter. worldwide that was 25 a 585 workers. they reported a profit of $2.75 billion earlier today. god to see someone hiring but it

doesn't put a dent in the 14 million unemployed in the country. herman cain is rising in the polls and the 9-9-9 plan is getting all of the attention but if he is going to win he cannot just run on a tax plan. let me ask you about a social question that links in to the unemployment. bob johnson was on cnn this morning. obviously the founder of bet. he was talking about african-american unemployment, and he says he has a plan that will fix unemployment among african-americans in america. here he is. >> companies who are seeking to hire vps or above or to issue contracts to businesses would voluntarily and i stress voluntarily agree to interview at least two african-american qualified candidates. >> america still need affirmative action? >> well, let's talk about how i would address that same problem. i believe in a parliament zones. most of the unemployed black americans in this country are in

these mostly economically depressed areas. it could be, and i'm only using this as an example because we haven't finish ed establishing the parameters yet. instead of in a designated empowerment company it being 9-9-9 it could be, as an example only, 3-3-3. what this does, because you have a lot of african-americans located in cities like detroit, disproportionately, it would encourage businesses to stay in business there or to move there. it would encourage people to work there because if you live in an empowerment zone you will pay a smaller percentage in taxes. >> as an overall concept, outside of those zones, do you think there is a place for an idea like that that you would make sure you interview two african-american candidates if every higher level position as a form of affirmative action? >> i don't think you need to make it in to a mandate or anything like that. the problem with things that

start off voluntary you get an over zealous liberal that say it ought to be required. i served 0 then board of directors for several well known corporations and i know that corporations are already voluntarily making sure they fill the pipeline with people from all ethnic groups. >> so no mandatory affirmative action. >> no. >> now you are number one in the polls it can't be all 9-9-9. it is catchy enough that spirit airlines launched a campaign today. i know you saw that and said you didn't endorse it but you know where they got the idea. but foreign policy matters if the front runner. two wars the alleged terror plot by iran in the united states, what's the cain doctrine? >> i'm glad you asked. the cain doctrine is an extension of the reagan doctrine, it was peace through strength and cain is peace through strength and clarity. we need to clarify who our

friends are, clarify our enemies, stop giving money to enemies and let the world know who our friends are. i happen to believe this attempted assassination that iran has its fingerprints all over, based upon the reports we have seen, was because this president is perceived as weak. and this president is perceived as not standing with its friends in the world. this is why we want to clarify it. for example, i have been very outspoken about under a cain presidency we will stand with israel. i've said if you mess with israel, you are messing with the united states of america. secondly, i believe that there are some things we can do this administration is not doing in order to show strength, instead of weakness as far as upgrading some of our ballistic missile defense systems that we have, which we have a great advantage in the world, i think we ought to make that advantage bigger. >> what's the biggest foreign threat to america? what country or region right

now? >> the biggest threat to the united states of america is the unknown. not what we know, but what we don't know. in terms of a specific country, i would have to say iran and north korea. they are very volatile and very unpredictable, which gets back to the unknown. and relative to iran, what i would do, we already know that iran is not going to do what we want them to do. so, my approach is quite simple. these ballistic missile defense systems that i talked about earlier, i believe we need to invest and upgrade those systems so they can detect ballistic missiles from launch to impact and that gives us more time to be able to detect and destroy them, if they fire at our friends like israel and if they fire at the united states of america. >> modern star wars? >> that's not as far -- that's not totally modern star wars.

that's enhancing capabilities we already have. phase two would be to have star wars-type missile defense capabilities that are located in outer space which is one of the reasons i want to relaunch our space program and get away from this dependent upon russia in order to be able to get in to outer space. >> what about china? i know you recently visited there. you spoke about it. do you think china is on balance a friend of america or a foe? i think they are between being a friend and a foe. they want to keep a relationship with the united states for economic reasons. they want to learn as much as they can from us militarily. here's how i plan to deal with china. outgrow china. once again, we're not going to be able to dictate to china what they do about currency. we're not going to be able to convince them not to develop a

nuclear weapons program or their military. let's outgrow china. here's how we do it. when this economy is growing with my 9-9-9 plan, we will be growing at a robust rate, rather than this anemic rate we are growing at today. while china is growing at 9, 10, sometimes 11%. once we grow at that rate on a $14 trillion base even though they are growing at 10% on a $6 trillion base we don't have to look back. here's another sweetener in my 9-9-9 plan. i know you get tired of me coming back to it but guess what, they are some sweeteners in here on the first 9% of corporate profits you are allowed as a corporation to deduct purchases, as long as you purchase those ingredients or components from u.s. companies. so if we are growing at a robust rate and our products are more competitive we won't have to look back at china. we will leave them in the dust.

>> still "outfront," the one question i could not resist asking herman cain. and trust me this one wasn't easy. . >> yesterday we spoke, i have to get through the question, all right. and the republican response to the failed obama jobs bill. will it be more successful or will the president win out? ♪ and the flowers and the trees ♪ ♪ all laugh when you walk by ♪ and the neighbors' kids run and hide ♪ deep inside you, there's a person who refuses to be kept deep inside you. ♪ but you're not ♪ you're the one be true to yourself. what's healthier than that?

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now a story we can't resist.

on monday you may remember we ran a story about herman cain's rise in the polls. herman cain won the florida straw poll and is leading in a number of other states, and yet a recent "washington post" headline called him the republican flavor of the month. "time" magazine asked, herman cain, flash in the pan or serious candidate? we couldn't resist asking the question, what is it about herman cain herman cain that some people seem to not like? that's when we realized, unlike the other candidates, herman cain has a mustache. if elected mr. cain would be the first president with facial hair since william howard taft and when we spoke to herman cain today we couldn't reassist asking hill about it. the american mustache institute has officially endorsed your campaign. they told us you are up for a robert goullet award. >> erin. >> i have to get through the

question. we spoke to the chairman of the institute and he had this to say to you. >> without question we have seen an up tick in his popularity and it is no doubt related to the support of the mustache of america people and i would recommend that mr. cain reach out in the mustache of america community and to define how his 9-9-9 plan would encompass the $250 tax defrl the we have been seeking from the u.s. >> let me answer the second question first. no deferrals no, loopholes no special credits. that's the beauty of the 9-9-9 plan. i have bad news for them. we're not going to use the old tax code so they don't need the defrl. relative to the mustache, i have had this mustache so long, i don't remember when i started to wear this mustache. i can assure them that i'm going

to continue with my mustache because just like the glasses on my face, it is a part of what makes me who i look like. i'm sticking with the mustache. >> sorry. we just couldn't resist. >> fyi, the american mustache institute did not stop there. they threw their support behind somebody else. >> there's no question that all of the mustached american people always have their mustaches out front, particularly the american mustache institute. >> thanks for your support, guys. we have a stash of stories about facial hair ready to go. coming up the gop jobs bill. does it spell the end of obama's health care bill and of financial reform? and more of our interview with herman cain. he's leading in the polls. tells us he's for real. we bring in our experts. and the latest from the conrad murray trial. medical experts shocked by what they heard about michael jackson's care today. "outfront" returns. [ humming ]

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the second half of our show, stories we care about. focus on our own reporting, find the out front five. first up, joshua komisarjevsky will face the death penalty for the 2007 deadly home invasion in new haven, connecticut. our producer says joshua komisarjevsky showed no emotion while staring a the jury. he was found guilty of all 17 counts. steven hayes has already been

sentenced to death for the deaths. the only survivor, william petit called the verdict a relief. number two, an 11-year-old boy missing tonight. his step father has been charged with first-degree murder after the boy's mother was found dead in her home on wednesday night. "outfront" has been in contact with maryland authorities all day. they tell us curtis lopez who was estranged from his wife was arrested in charlotte, north carolina after he gave inconsistent statement to police. the 11-year-old has not been seen since september 30th. police are asking anyone with information to come forward. research in motion, maker of the blackberry says service has been fully restored after the largest outage ever. executives say it was caused by a hardware failure followed by the failure of a backup system. the outage spread around the world like a plague. toward shrugged off the news. the stocks down 18 cents and our blackberries are working again rg thank god.

john mccain and rand paul laid out the alternative to obama's jobs plan. they say it will simplify the tax code by eliminating loopholes and reductions and reduce the rate. something the president has seen in line with before. it includes the repeal of president obama's health care bill and the dodds frank reform act. something he will not go along with obviously. it has been 69 days since the u.s. lost the top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? fitch placed morgan stanley gold sax on review for a downgrade. when i talked to herman cain earlier i asked about the plan to get a healthy economy, the 9-9-9 plan and i asked whether he could go the distance in the race. >> i'm for real. people who know me, and this is what people will learn in that book, this is herman cain. they will know i'm in this to win it. i'm not in it to raise my

profile or get a tv show. >> all right. here's what two new state polls tell us in florida, crucial state to win for the nomination, herman cain ahead of mirm. in south carolina an early test for conservative christians, cain a tick ahead with 26 to 25 for romney. i'm joined by the senior columnist for daily beast. thank you to both of you. gloria, the polls seem to say he's for real, is he? >> he's for real now. i think the question is how long will he be for real? herman cain and you showed it in the interview tonight really will undergo an awful lot of scrutiny, not only on the 9-9-9 plan, which we have heard enough about but also on everything related to his career and his life. i mean this is what happens to presidential candidates. he has to start backing things up. he has done a bunch of interviews in which he said

things like i don't have the facts to back this up. well, he can't say that anymore. he needs a campaign infrastructure. he needs to start raising money. he raised only $2.5 million in the last quarter. he says he's going to raise more this quarter but we have to see, and he has to convince people he's the person to beat barack obama. to be continued. >> john avalon, what's your take? >> there's no question that herman cain has the big mo right now. he has momentum. jumping 20 months in one month the pole. the same time that rick perry drops 20 points but there is another point, money and herman cain doesn't have a lot of it. he said he only had a couple hundred thousand dollars cash on hand right now. >> yeah, he did. here he is on that front about how much money he had. >> for the quarter we will report, first of all, no debt. you see i run this very tight like a start up business because that's my nature as a businessman. we are going to have, we will

report at the end of the quarter several hundred thousand dollars of cash on hand. within the last week or so, our fund-raising has really picked up a lot because of the response of the public. so i don't know what that number is. i just know it will be very, very respectable. >> so basically, john, what he was saying is since the quarter ended and i popped in the polls i have more money and i will put out a separate press release because the third isn't going to look so good. >> but the third quarter, rick perry raised 17, romney 17. money can't compensate for lack of message. last time around it was rudy giuliani and they didn't win. but money matters in the long marathon to get the nomination, especially on super tuesday. you wrote about the purity problem in politics, gloria. you were talking about the tea party and whether they could get behind, let's say mitt romney. >> they so far they haven't.

he's stuck at 25%. they have been looking for someone else to date and maybe marry because they don't want this arranged marriage with mitt romney, but the problem is, it's difficult when you are a purist to find a candidate pure enough to carry your torch. i think that's really the issue here for them. this is going to be a test of the maturity of the tea party. will you remain pure, or will you, in the end, decide to support someone who you believe can beat barack obama? that's really the test for the longevity of the party. they have given issues in this campaign. they have given a lot of energy in the mid-term elections in particular, but will they hang in with the republican party or go off on their own? remains to be seen. >> that's the big question. does ideology trump electability. that's the biggest question con fronting the republican party all that alternative romney

energy circling around herman cain and it shows he has a problem connecting with his base. >> one other thing, this will go up and down, up and down, again and again. i don't think that rick perry, you can't count rick perry out here. herman cain will be around. so i think this race is going to continue to be reflective of a very fickle republican electorate. >> that's fun for us. >> thank you so both of you. republicans put a jobs proposal on the table today. the gop plan calls for tax reform and they included a balanced budget amendment. also called for the repeal of broem barack obama's health care law and repeal of dodd frank. james carville, stratic strategist from new orleans. thank you to you. david, let me start with you. the democratic, the president's plan had the popular millionaire tax. it polled very well among republicans and democrats. what part of the republican plan today could rival that?

>> i think the boost to energy exploration will be popular. it makes a lot of sense. it may not produce the job pop that people would like to see but it is a good idea. the president's millionaire tax is ir rel vanlt to job creation. he inserted that in to the plan as a way to get to know. the president dwaunt his plan to pass. he wants it to fail in ways that can blame the republicans. >> i have to say he would pay for his plan with the tax which did include a payroll tax cut. that was the argument that it would create jobs. >> that's not why it is there. that's the excuse, not the reason. >> which i guess -- >> james carville, what's your view on the republican plan? >> well, first of all, i was going to cause a pop in the deficit if it passes. it's not because it calls for repeal of health care reform. i don't like the plan but i like the fact they put out one. i like the fact that romney has something out there. hopefully we will have an

election that is a clash and can bring clarity to this. i think that as this -- as this comes out as romney plans comes out and republican plan does, president's plan, anything else, it is good to get out out there because we need some kind of decision from the voters come november of 2012. with all of this i think we can interpret as positive. romney said he will dedegrees spending and cut taxes. good luck trying to sell people on that but at least he is out this saying it. >> david, what do you think of john mccain being put out as the face of this? at least it would seem that was a nod to the fact that people want compromise and someone in the center which john mccain relative to a lot of people that could be put out is more centrist perceived wise. >> right. this is an attempt to say with rand paul and john mccain seen as a republican consensus and it is pretty broad. i worry the ideas although broad

are not powerful enough. the country's job crisis is so desperate. a lot of this does look like rummaging through yesterday's leftovers rather than coming up with a big response the country needs and having rand paul ciggingny fis one other problem, which is the thing the country needs above all is the creation of money and credit on an unalmost unprecedented scale and especially if we have a euro crisis and to have somebody who is associated with the monetary economics that rand paul is associated with tells you it will be very hard for the party to get behind what it most needs which is money and credit creation. >> james carville, you said the republican field is a dream come true for the president. cain is number one in the polls. what's your i argument? >> my argument is compared to the 1980 field. if you look at the fact that i was listening to rush limbaugh, listening to something on the computer. poor man, he doesn't know what to do. he can't endorse anyone.

almost contemptuous of romney. i was listening to gloria and john, it is evident they are looking for someone else and there is no one else there. one point about the plans which i find surprising, neither one addresses the problem of housing, which strikes me as amateur sitting out here is a pretty big hole in the economy and nobody has much of an idea what to do about it seems like. >> david? >> choose me, choose me. i know what to do about it. >> go ahead, please then. >> what we have is an american household sector burdened by more debt than it can pay. what we need is a rapid, across the board reduction in the burden of indebtedness on american households. there is a word for that. it's called inflation. we need 4 or 5% inflation it will make everyone's debt easier to play. we don't have to have a complex administrative plan that says

this is a real this is house how old holder. inflation does not are have to be like the '70s but we are in danger of a deflation. get the burden of debt on the household sector down and watch the economy take off. >> i can make you feel better because ben bernanke is trying to make that come true and keep the big inflation in the bottle. >> there is no demand in the economy. >> thank you so both. appreciate it. see you soon. upfront next, paris, prosecutors drop charges against dominique straus-kahn. we find out why in tonight's "outer circle" and disturbing testimony about the care michael jackson received before his death. and standup comedian steve mason, five years to live and he made it his goal to perform on letterman. fore!

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[♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply. we do this at the time seem time every evening. our outer circle where we reach out to sources an the world. first to libya where gadhafi is on the run. his loyalists are fighting fiercely in sirte, his hometown. rebels are capturing prisoners but there are disturbing reports of abuse and torture. dan is there for us. have you seen any evidence of this? >> erin, i haven't seen any

evidence of prisoners being badly mistreated in the way amnesty international has been talking about, but we have seen people being roughly treated as they are marched away. i think the ntc is very keen to try to improve the way it deals with prisoners. claerly, this is going to be bad for its reputation, this amnesty international report and something they will want to act on immediately. >> erin? >> thank you very much. next to syria where security forces have raided a northern town amid explosions, gun fires. we have a report from beirut tonight. >> cnn spoke to an opposition activist that managed to flee as the military was advancing. he said he snuck through the olive grove and he reported hearing gun fire and seeing plumes of smoke rising. it seems to be because over the past few months dozens of defactors were hiding out there.

we have seen an increase in violence where these are concentrated. now to paris where prosecutors dropped the rape charges against joshua komisarjevsky -- against dominique straus-kahn saying there was enough evidence to pursue it. becky anderson is reporting from london. the did the prosecutor explain? >>. >> erin, this all dates back to 2003 when a writer alleged that dominique straus-kahn tried to rape her when she went to interview him at an apartment in paris. the prosecutors say that dominique straus-kahn admitted sexual aggression at the time, but the problem from was the sexual aggression has a three-year statute of limitations. attempted rape has a ten-year statute of limitations. the prosecutors, they said they just -- this just wasn't the evidence. >> thank you very much. behind comprehension and disturbing is how one medical

expert described the care that michael jackson received from dr. conrad murray. prosecutors continue to try to show that dr. murray was grossly negligent as witnesses testified that he gave jackson a combination of drugs that killed him. >> i think this was the perfect storm that i described that ultimately culminated in his demise. >> ted rowlands has been in the courtroom every day. was the testimony as damaging as it appears? >> the defense would argue they scored some point on cross-examination with the experts. they were able to bring up demerol and other doctors but it was very good week for prosecutors because of these witnesses. >> the prosecution could be on their last witness. any sense when the jury will get the case. >> they are on the last week. we are dark tomorrow because of scheduling issues. they will be back in session on monday. we will have the final prosecution witness there. it is expected the jury could get this case by the end of next

week. it is going much faster than they first anticipated. >> what does the defense have to do to save dr. murray at this point? >> well, they have to focus attention on michael jackson and focus it away from dr. murray. michael jackson was the one that delivered that fatal dose. michael jackson was the one that set the table for disaster. right now murray is in the hot seat. the prosecution's done a great job of putting murray at the center of this chaotic environment in that house. they have to shift the focus to jackson. it will be a tough road, though. >> final question, we have been reporting exclusively that jackson's oldest son prince said that dr. murray lied in a police interview when he said that he comforted prince and his sister. do you think he will take the stand? >> there is a chance now. the conventional wisdom is you never put a child on a stand because it puts an uncomfortable feeling for the jurors and could backfire for you. this is a case where they might consider it because he'll get on the stand and directly refute

something that murray told police and they will get him on and off quickly. we will wait and see. if it does happen it will be in the rebuttal case just before closing arguments late next week. >> any other people that you think may testify that would surprise you or any other surprises. you said we are getting close to this going to the jury. >> no, it looks like everything is wrapped up in terms of the witnesses. the only potential surprise would be prince jacksoning his oldest son. the rest of the way we think the defense will have their own propofol witness and other witnesses we don't expect any surprises but we will wait and see. >> we are glad you are there and enjoy the fact it went dark tomorrow. >> yeah, thanks. >> silver lining to everything. steve mazan was diagnosed with cancer and given five years to live. there was a terrible diagnosis but there was something that kept him alive. i thought we'd be on location for 3 days,

it's been 3 weeks. so, i used my citi simplicity card to pick up a few things. and i don't have to worry about a late fee. which is good... no! bigger! bigger! [ monica ] ...because i don't think we're going anywhere for a while. [ male announcer ] write your story with the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. get started at citisimplicity.com.

our guest now is a comedian. he was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer in 2005 and given five years to live but he had a plan. >> i got in to comedy for one reason and one reason only. to live a dream i have had since i was 12 years old. perform standup comedy on david letterman's show. >> the next four years he worked to make that dream come true. chronicling his effort in a new book "dying to do letterman" a documentary by the same name

debuts this week. steve steve mazan great to have you with us. >> sounds like a good resume when you say it all together. author, film maker. >> you received a terrible diagnosis. how much did the goal of letterman keep you alive. >> listen, it's six years later so i have outlived the worse-case scenario. you can only look back and say it has helped. having something to look forward to every day or something to work on kept my focus away from the diagnosis. it was great. it is something i always said would happen. i knew i would be on letterman someday. >> believed in yourself. >> what i realize what if someday doesn't happen and i think we are all guilty of that saying someday i am going to do something. >> you have a film where you do letterman's top ten. look at that. >> tonight's list, the top ten benefits of catching cancer.

number ten, only tour de frances away from being just like lance armstrong. number two, two words, sympathy sex. and the number one benefit of catching cancer, convince close friends to do work for free. >> what is it about david letterman you like so much? >> i like that he's different. his old show came out at a time when my parents loved johnny carson and i did as well but he was on after johnny and i was like oh, my god this guy's funny and doing something different and he didn't see like a typical guy you would see on tv. i grew up in the midwest and he would be a guy that was in the midwest working at a hardware store. he didn't look like a star and i related to him. >> they thought you were asking for sympathy.

>> they thought i was making a make a wish thing. if they didn't think i was good enough to be on, i didn't want to be on. >> it took a long time. >> 2009 is when i finally made it on. it was incredible. some things don't live up to what you want them to be and this exceeded it on every level. >> here you are and you have exceeded the years you were given and you are doing well and met with your oncologist and doing well now. >> and my new dream is to get on the erin burnett show. >> you make my year with that sort of thing. >> i have been on your australia show, too, erin burnett, outback. that one was fun. >> what was your goal now. >> to spend whatever time i had to make my family and my wife sacrifice to allow me to do this dream, but the nice thing is with the book and people who have seen the movie so far people have been inspired to chase their