going to do in the political arena. how many times has a candidate appeared before the cameras with their spouse to acknowledge everything that had happened and you think, wow, the poor spouse and other times when the candidate has appeared without the spouse and that candidate is really dead. but for herman cain to appear here today with gloria presented a united front and loving couple and saying they've talked with each or and very much in love off 40 years of marriage, that was something that helped put a coat on herman cain to allow him to survive in the future. had she not been there, it probably would have been difficult for him to go ahead and if she had been there sort of as the suffering spouse, that also would not have looked very good for him, but, i think that the way that they portrayed this was about as good as you could possibly get it in a political arena given the allegations that have been leveled toward herman cain. >> patti ann: all right, john roberts, again, live for us down in atlanta, where herman

cain announces, the suspension of his presidential campaign. thanks again, stick around, we'll be coming back to you. >> kelly: and we will be coming back with a lot more news that's been going on throughout the world today. for example, what's going on with iran? we'll talk about that and more after the break. [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain... two pills can last all day. ♪ fiber one. h, forgot jack cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, ts is pretty good. [ male announcer ]alf a day's worth of fiber. fiber one.

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>> a fox news alert. republican presidential candidate herman cain suspends his white house bid, here he is speaking at an event in atlanta just a short time ago. >> so as of today, with a lot of prayer and soul searching, i am suspending my presidential campaign. i am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distraction,

the continued hurt caused on me and my family, not because we're not fighters, not because i'm not a fighter. >> kelly: his announcement allegations of sexual harassment and 13-year extramarital affair and cain says he'll endorse one of the republican presidential candidates in the near future and start a website to continue his work. >> patti ann: meanwhile, g.o.p. presidential candidate mitt romney is hitting the campaign trail hard in new hampshire, taking his message straight out to the voters with an all out venture called earn it with mitt. molly line is in new hampshire. i understand mitt romney spoke with you one-on-one. what is his reaction to the announcement from herman cain? >> we haven't gotten the

official word from his campaign since herman cain made his announcement. earlier in the morning, we asked him to weigh in what it would mean if he left the race, stayed in the race and what specifically it meant for romney and his run for the white house. >> he made the point he didn't focus on what he was doing step by step, but where he's going in his campaign. he did wish herman cain luck should there be the case and he's facing serious allegations. he kind of was hands off when it was what herman cain did or did not do and we're waiting. >> patti ann: and i understand that he took on president obama and the attorney general herri eric holder? >> yes, he ripped into president obama because he's scheduled to vacation, mitt romney says it's not time for a 17 day vacation over the christmas holiday when america is it in a difficult position and should be focused on work. and when it comes to attorney

general eric holder, romney believes he husband resign or the president should fire him during to everything that happened in the course of the fast and furious investigation and doesn't believe that holder has been honest with congress. patti ann. >> patti ann: back to the g.o.p. presidential field there's a debate later this month to be moderated by donald trump. did romney say he was going to be preparing. >> he danced around that and didn't say yes or no. it will be interesting to find out what happened. and newt gingrich weighed in and would like to participate. let's listen to what mitt romney had to say about it. >> i think we've got now some 14 or 15 debate invitations and i'm not sure which ones we're going to sign up for, two in december and haven't put together the january calendar yet, but people will have plenty of opportunities to see us and my guess they'll be screaming at their tv and please, return to the regularly scheduled programming. >> you can see there, he sort of hedged around what he would

be doing on december 27th when that debate was scheduled. and it will be a white. newt gingrich promoting his own leadership qualities at an event in staten island and speaking to tea party supporters down there and it will be interesting to see as the day develops how else he'll be weighing in as the race continues. patly ann. >> patti ann: molly line reporting live for us from new hampshire, thank you. >> kelly: we're learning that france is removing some much its diplomatic staff in iran after protesters there stormed the british embassy in tehran earlier this week. and the encouraging in iran the most serious diplomately fallout since the takeover of the u.s. manisy. is the nation trying to push the west towards war. joining us middle east and terrorist analyst walid phares. it's always good to of you and share your perspectives what's

happening in the middle east, as relates right now to iran. what's going on there and why would france begin to withdraw its diplomatic force? >> well, kelly shall the french saw what happened to the british and both european nations have seen what happened to the u.s. mission decades ago. they know that the iranian regime now is on a path of at least diplomatic war against the diplomatic missions of the the west and they understand that when the elements attack the embassies, there's no way that the regime is not supporting them, because we saw when the regime wanted to block a demonstration back in june of 2009 what they've done to them. so the regime is sending the signals to the west, they're not happy with sanctions and going to do more against them. >> kelly: anytime you start seeing foreign governments in iran pull or withdraw their diplomatic corps, you've got to wonder why iran would be doing this yet you mentioned they're showing aggression. why now? why show the aggression

towards them. >> the eiranian regime feels on one hand they're hurt by sanctions, that's not the real reason. they feel they'll be stronger. let's look at the big map of the middle east, we're leaving iraq, they'll become ins lens of the iranian regime and on the other hand, they see that our administration or the west in general did not support of the opposition, so, all of these are indicators shall that while we're doing sanctions, we're not doing other stuff to hurt the regime and the regime feels empowered. >> kelly: we've talked so much about iran and its penchant for building up its nuclear appetite, is there a possibility we could be surprised by just how far along they've developed that? >> you know, that's a great question. actually, those who are following up very closely on what the iranian regime is doing in terms of not just the nukes, but the missiles. the latest that we're getting right now. that they are performing

exercises with those missiles, they are deplayings bases and potential bases, and the latest from the red sea that the iranians are asking the government there to maybe store some of the missiles. so the iranians are on an expansion program while we're seeing that the tensions are going to get the change of behavior. >> kelly: what should we do, step up militarily? >> i think many things to do before any military option that we should do. number one, absolutely partner with the iranian opposition, wondering why washington or brussels for that matter, not supporting the arab kind of spring for iran and iranian spring, that would help us a lot and of course coordinate sanctions not just with the europeans, but the arab countries very concerned about the iranian-- >> a very good point, but people have done uprising there for overthrowing the iranian government in tehran and been met with such brutal force, and an arab spring

there would be almost nearly impossible to do there right now, wouldn't it. >> that's not what the iranian leadership of the opposition are telling us or posting all over the world. if we had the right word at the right time as we did for egypt, libya, maybe and knowing that the naunl community is with them. >> kelly: always good to have you share your insights and one country we'll be watching very closely is our greatest ally over there, israel in the middle east, watching the developments in iran very closely. walid phares, thank you. >> thank you. >> patti ann: a major shake-up on the campaign trail. herman cain suspending his campaign for the presidency. what this all means for the g.o.p. field. and defense secretary leon panetta tells israel it needs to get back to peace talks with the palestinians, why he's warning this needs to be done now. we'll have a live report from washington next.

>> some very strong words for one of america's close allies

from a top white house initial. panetta telling israel it's time to get back to the table. molly henneberg live from washington with more. >> reporter: kelly, specifically, senator panetta urged israel to mend fraying ties with egypt and jordan and press forward with discussions with palestinians, talks the secretary says have essentially been, quote, on hold. >> with full confidence that the united states is willing and capable of ensuring that israel can safeguard its security, as it takes the risk needed to pursue peace, now is the time for israel to take bold action and to move towards a negotiated two state solution. >> reporter: palestinians say they're ready to resume talks if israel stops building settlements in the west bank as they want as part of a homeland. a spokesman says, quote,

there's a contradiction between israel's willingness to negotiate between territories and assistance in determining the future of the territories through illegal settlement activity. but israel, which has already given up the gaza strip and other parts of its country says the palestinians are not serious negotiators, here you see panetta meeting with benjamin netanyahu last month. a spokesman for netanyahu said today that the palestinians are quote, playing diplomatic games to try to cover their position, which is to boycott israel and to refuse to enter negotiations. secretary panetta contends that the first step is to get the israelis to the negotiating table which he says they have not been willing to do. kelly? >> all right, molly henneberg reporting from d.c., thank you. >> new questions after the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest point in more than two years, some economists say the numbers might be misleading. we'll look behind the statistics at the americans who have given up looking for work and more coming up.

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>> the unemployment rate this week hit its lowest points in more than two years. some economists warn the numbers don't tell the whole story. rate dropping to 8.6%, but the drop largely due to some

300,000 people giving up even looking for work and here now to discuss, managing partner for chapwood investments, ed, thank you for joining us. >> absolutely, thanks for having me. >> patti ann: the number not as rosy not as good as it may seem to some. >> we had 300,000 plus stop looking. 8.6%, press is going to play it up and saying it's looking better. it's not looking better it's the way they calculate inflation -- excuse me the way they calculate unemployment. things aren't looking better, we've got to make changes in the country. >> patti ann: unemployment doesn't count underemployment, a lot of people working part-time that want to work full-time or a much lower pay grade? >> absolutely right. a number u-6 every single month. shows unemployed and underemployed. if you're sitting around and there's five people there about one of those people fall

in that category of being underemployed or unemployed. that, again, cannot continue in this country. >> patti ann: what needs to change? >> we need to, it's very simple, we need to fuel the economy. that's where growth comes from, the way you fuel the economy, you take things off of it that prohibit that. that's regulation, corporate taxes, and you know, the whole definition, not an old definition, but a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. we need to change what we're doing and need to cut the corporate taxes and when that happens, the economy will pick up, we hope it will. that's the only thing that's going to save it, patti ann. >> patti ann: we're hearing the mantra tax the rich and take it from the millionaires and you say that won't work? >> of course, now, in fact if you confiscated and took 100% of the money that people make, $250,000 or more, it would only fund our government for six months. wouldn't pay down the debt, wouldn't do anything. we've got to cut spending and corporate taxes, make me president i'll take care of

this in a couple of weeks. >> patti ann: are you running? ed from chapwood investments, take care. >> absolutely, thank you. >> kelly: got to love ed's sense of humor, good guy. that's going to do it for us, major news taking police in the presidential campaign. herman cain suspending his white house bid, followed by allegations of sexual harassment and a 13-year extramarital affair keep it right here on fox news for the latest. >> patti ann: i'm patti ann browne and this is kelly wright and don't forget his cd "believe" if you're looking for holiday gifts. coming up the journal editorial report. have a great day. all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment.

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