once she gets there, we'll take you there live. meantime, let's turn to politics and 2012. with chris christie out of the republican race, it looks like it could be mitt romney's moment to shine. maybe. >> so, new jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. >> so is the republican field now set? >> romney walked into this race as the punitive front-runner. so the question became, who was going to be the anti-romney. and that's what the whole last few months has been. >> reporter: new polls do show romney on top. quinnipiac puts him at 22%, five points ahead of rising star herman cain and eight points ahead of texas governor, rick perry. another poll shows romney and cain neck and neck at 17%. but analysts say don't count perry out yet. his campaign raised just over $17 million in the third quarter, which is expected to be more than romney, who hasn't officially released his numbers. and romney still hasn't faced the same scrutiny perry has. >> what does mitt romney look

like as a republican candidate after millions of dollars are spent attacking him, saying he's not a conservative? >> this year you've got the tea party. they are not playing with a full deck. i mean, they could go off the rails here. >> well, msnbc analyst david corn is washington bureau chief for mother jones and matt lewis is senior contributor for the daily collar. hello to both of you. thanks for joining me. >> sure thing, alex. >> so, guys, we have christie out, romney on top at the moment, but is there anyone else waiting in the wings, david? >> oh, i guess there's sarah palin, if you want to really, you know, create another prairie fire. i mean, we're getting very close. as you know, a lot of states are trying to move up their primaries earlier, which is cutting down on the time that candidates need to prepare, and is actually presenting some real deadlines. if you want to run in these prima primaries, you have to file mooa month or two or three ahead of time. so pretty soon, this is going to

be a done deal, and this will probably be the republican field that republicans are stuck with. >> not surprisingly, we were just looking at mitt romney, rick perry, herman cain, and let's look at how the poll numbers have changed in the last two weeks relative to these guys. we ary is raising big bucks, cain is doubling, though, double digits, in fact. how does cain build on this momentum and what does rick perry need to do to get some of this back, matt? because is it from rick perry that herman cain is making his significant draw? >> it is. it is. but, look, i think that herman ca cain, what he shouldn't do is go on a book tour. and that's exactly what he is doing. he's doing the opposite of what he ought to be doing. here he is surging, and instead of going to iowa and new hampshire and places that he could maybe, you know, give it a run, especially iowa, he's going to be in like kansas city and other places like that. i think that's a mistake. >> matt, what does that say about his fund-raising? if the guy's got to run some money, book selling -- >> no, it says something about his book promotion.

he's running for president to sell books. he's not selling books to become president. he got into this, i think, as a pr stunt. he's doing well because all the other pr stunts have fallen to the wayside, michele bachmann and donald trump. and there is a tea party urge to have somebody up there who's saying anything and just sort of being a kick-ass candidate. >> i think it does speak to cain's sort of organizational ability, his strategy. i mean, he has gotten this far by being exciting. actually, alex, i think that i'm finally starting to sort of get a feel for this race and i'm starting to think that herman cain is mike huckabee. in other words, he's going to do really well, i just don't think he can win. ultimately, i think it's going to be a rick perry/mitt romney campaign. but keep in mind, last time, mike huckabee actually helped john mccain beat mitt romney. it could be the opposite this time, where the herman cain plays the role of blocking perry. >> look, one thing we know that whomever it is is going to be up

fwe against the president. let's check out how the top three are faring against president obama. given what we were hearing a few minutes ago from chuck todd and howard dean, how hard is it going to be for mitt romney to hold on to this lead? i'll give that to you, david. >> i think he is going to continue to be the front-runner, and it will probably be a long slog, though. the republicans have changed their rules this year, so that the early primaries are not winner-take-all, as was usually the case in the republican race. it's going to be proportional allotment of delegates. so you're going to have two candidates, mitt romney and rick perry, who both are going to have a lot of money or at least enough money to stay alive and be like, you know, like a rocky fight, going around 10, 12, 20, with them taking punches, maybe coming in first or second and trading off to those races. i think it's going to be a very long, bloody republican primary, which the obama people have to be happy about. >> and what i want to wonder very quickly, matt, with you, is

what is it going to take for people to figure out whom they're going to support? if you look at this new quinnipiac poll, you've got romney first, but coming in second is, hmm, i have no idea. >> right. i think mitt romney's problem is, he has a ceiling of around 30%. i just don't know if he can extend nap he's been very consistent, he's been very polished. he consistently gets 25 to 30%. i just don't know if he can get above that. so he benefits, if there are a lot of candidates, if herman cain and rick perry and michele bachmann are splitting up the conservative base, that's how romney wins. but i think if michele bachmann drops out, if mccain commits a gaffe, somehow if conservatives coalesce around a rick perry, that's ultimately how romney loses. >> all right. david corn and matt lewis, guys, thanks so much. >> sure thing, alex. well, the president has turned prize fighter when it comes to defending his jobs bill. during an event outside dallas, the president had a message for

the man who earlier this week called the plan dead. >> the republican majority leader in congress, eric cantor, said that right now he won't even let this jobs bill have a vote in the house of representatives. won't even give it a chance to be debated on the floor of the house of representatives. i'd like mr. cantor to come down here to dallas and explain what exactly in this jobs bill does he not believe in. what exactly is he opposed to? >> joining us to talk about that plan, senator jeanne shaheen, democrat of new hampshire, thank you so much for being here. >> nice to be with you. >> we had the congressman cantor tweeting after this event saying that the president is just in full campaign mode. what is the status of the jobs package at this point? is it dead? >> well, the senate is going to be voting on the jobs package. i think it's important for us to have as many options on the

table as we can, for how to grow this economy, how to create jobs and put people back to work. and so i do think we will have a vote in the senate on what the president has proposed. >> although, will it be in the fashion in which the president proposed it, or are you rewriting it? >> you know, i haven't seen it, so it's not clear to me exactly what we're going to have, but, obviously, it will contain many of the provisions that the president has proposed, because they're ideas that we've been talking about in the senate, a number of which have strong bipartisan support. the idea that we need to invest in our infrastructure, that we need to rebuild our roads and bridges that are crumbling is a good idea because we've got to invest in the future of this country. but also it's important because it puts people back to work. so i think that's an idea that has some support. i think making sure that there are tax cuts that put more money in middle class people's pockets so they can go out and pay their bills is an important element

that we ought to be talking about. >> okay. let's talk about the gridlock there in washington, as the government delayed that shutdown by a valid six weeks. we were worrying about it a couple weeks ago when the house passed its spending bill. now, you've said you want to end these budget showdowns with a two-year budget. how would that work and what kind of opposition would you have to it? >> well, there's actually growing support in the senate for a biannual budget proposal. it had a hearing yesterday before the budget committee and it's got -- had very strong support in that budget committee hearing. you know, the budget process in washington is not working. only twice in the last 30 years has a budget been produced on time given the current process. every president since ronald reagan has said, we ought to go to biannual budgeting. it will give congress a chance in the first year of the budget to put together the budget and the second year, to provide oversight and accountability. it will free up some of our federal agencies so that they can do more oversight and

accountability on what their programs are and what they're doing. so i think it's an idea that makes sense. >> but given the contentious nature of this congress right now, given that you'll figure out some sort of a budget deal for, i don't know, six weeks at a time, do you really think you'd be able to get anything passed that would stick for two years? >> well, look, one of the challenges that we have is this short-term budgeting. it's not efficient. it doesn't give businesses and those who depend on federal contracts the opportunity to plan. one of the things that i hear from businesspeople in new hampshire all the time is they need certainty. if they have contracts with the federal government, they want to know how long they can plan for. it's important in order to keep people working and it's important for them as they're thinking about how they're going to add jobs. this is not a good way to run the government. we need to get those people who have been trying to shut

government down to recognize that we need to do a better job of providing certainty to people. the biannual budget process would do that. >> all right. ma'am, thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. >> senator shaheen. the fbi has joined the search for a missing 10-month-old in kansas city, missouri. lisa irwin just disappeared from her crib monday night after her mother says she put her to bed. police are investigating whether an intruder may have taken the child. joining me right now on the phone is captain steve young of the kansas city police department. captain young, thank you so much for joining me. i read that you called this situation unique. what's going on? what makes this unique? >> well, we get missing child calls not infrequently. and usually when we respond to the scene, either, you know, a, we're able to punch a hole in the story really quickly and find out it was a parental kidnapping kind of thing or develop information that the kid wond wandered off. obviously, a 10-month-old isn't

going to wander off. but here we are 30 hours later, and we haven't been able to develop any suspect information or move the case forward. >> this was a baby that was reported missing at 4:00 in the morning. what are the circumstances around 4:00 a.m.? what was happening? >> well, the information we have is that the mother was home, asleep, and when the father of the child came home from work at 4:00 in the morning, he noticed that the child was missing and called 911 right away. >> any leads whatsoever, particularly, sir, relevant to a report from a neighbor that around 2:00 a.m., a man, a strange man to that neighborhood, was seen holding a baby to his chest? >> that's right. a neighbor notified us early that morning, as soon as she saw the coverage on the local news. we have explored that lead, and unfortunately, it's led to nothing. and we've been getting a lot of phone calls from our tips hotline and we're following up on everything, but nothing is panning out. >> we have a report about investigators going into that home with hazmat suits. what's that about?

>> what that is, there's a large wooded area behind the house that we searched with over 100 law enforcement officials yesterday. we sent dogs in there twice yesterday and we're going to send dogs in again, just a new set of dogs, might as well give it a try. and what that is, that's standard procedure to help the dogs get on an original scent and then go from there. that's why the hazmat suit, to prevent the officers and crime scene people from contaminating the scene with their own smell. >> captain young, i know that the first 24 hours in any abduction case is critical. how frustrated are you that you guys don't have a lot of leads at this point? >> well, it is frustrating. our crimes against children unit detectives are very dedicated. they do what most people wouldn't really care to do for a day. it's a tough job. they take on these cases personally. i'm sure they're frustrated. but we have no plans to shut down our command post or stop this investigation anytime soon. >> captain steve young, best of luck, sir. thanks so much. >> thank you, ma'am. after four years in an

italian prison, amanda knox woke up today at home in seattle. it was an emotional scene at her homecoming last night where she was moved to tears. >> i'm really overwhelmed right now. i was looking down from the airplane and it seemed like everything wasn't real. what's important for me to say is just thank you to everyone who has believed in me, who has defended me, who has supported my family. >> nbc's stephanie gosk is joining me now live from seattle. with a good morning to you your time there, stephanie. i know you were at that press conference last night. how does amanda seem to be doing, as you watch her from beyond what we see on the cameras? >> reporter: well, alex, she looked shaky last night, for sure, when she walked in front of those cameras. it's worth pointing out, and you don't see it in these shots when you hear her speaking, there was a throng of media waiting for her to come out. dozens of cameras snapping. there were people that had been waiting for her, as well as

reporters that were clapping and cheering. and she has had, at that point had had an unbelievable 24 hours. 24 hours before that, she was standing in front of that italian court. they had her life in their hands. she was waiting to hear what their decision was, and then she was whisked away. she was put in cars and trains and airports and then finds herself at home in seattle four years after she left, just a college kid going off for a school year abroad. it's understandable that she is shaky. upon hearing the crowd cheer, she broke down in tears. but i was surprised, quite frankly, that she was able to hold it together as well as she did, to make the statement that she did, given all the circumstances. alex? >> stephanie, where is she now? and what's next for her? >> reporter: we don't know where she is. she's in an undisclosed location, but we know that she's with friends and family and there was something of a celebration last night. you know, her father, curt knox, spoke a bit about what's going to happen with her over the next

few weeks or so. she's going to get acclimated, take some time to spend time with her family and her friends. he also mentioned that one of her priorities, you know, she spent four years in that cement prison. she wants grass. she just wants to lie around in the grass. and you can't really blame her. it's a luxury we take for granted, but that's also something she wants to do. we also know from her journals that she wrote in prison that she's thinking about helping convicts that have been wrongly accused. and that she has dreams of being a mother. obviously, those are a little ways down the road. alex? >> all right, stephanie gosk in seattle, many thanks for that. self-described girlfriends of dr. conrad murray testify about their conversations with him right before michael jackson died. we're going to tell you what the jury's going to hear in just a few minutes. plus, new details about the passengers on that helicopter that crashed here in new york. but first, let's take a look at what's happening right now on wall street. that's the way we like it. things looking up right now on the dow. 38 and change, up about 6 1/2 on the s&p 500, a little bit over

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in los angeles, day seven of the michael jackson death trial. and on the stand right now, sally herschberg, an account rep for a medical supply company. sally is testifying about orders dr. conrad murray made with her company. on tuesday, a bevy of women took the stand. all these ladies here testified to having some form of a relationship with murray. >> that first meeting with conrad murray, did he give you his telephone number? >> yes. >> did the two of you spend time together? >> yes. >> when conrad murray told you that he was michael jackson's physician, were you interested in that information? >> absolutely.

>> and why is that? >> it's michael jackson. >> joining me here in studio, former prosecutor, john q. kelly, a attorney who successfully represented the brown family in their case against michael jackson. so the prosecution wanted to show that murray wasn't keeping his eye on the medical ball. instead, he was juggling all these women. how effectively did they do that? >> very effectively. that he was calling girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, texting people about his lucrative monthly contract with michael jackson. he was doing everything but watching his patient. >> so is this more to a character assassination for a guy who has three concurrent relationships, or is this more speaking to his ability to not administer proper medical care to michael -- or both? >> judge pastor has kept a very tight window on this, in limiting it to the circumstances surrounding michael's death and the time immediately before it. it has nothing to do with his character. it has to do with his attention

or lack of attention to mj immediately prior to his death. >> but budoesn't character and likability or a sympathetic nature to a defendant, doesn't that carry a lot of wait with the jury? >> sure it does. the jury brings a lot of baggage into the courtroom. they know about michael jackson's molestation trial, they know about his prior drug use, they know about his money problems. and i think that alone is going to make dr. murray a sympathetic figure. that, you know, when you lay down with dogs, you get fleas. michael had chosen this doctor because he was going to administer him, you know, outside the boundaries. and i think the jury's going to realize that too. >> and the fact that he had, what was it, four gallons of this propofol, i mean, sent to one of the three girlfriends, i believe in santa monica, an apartment, and having said to this company, supply company, oh, this is my office address, when it was not. i mean, how does that weigh? >> well, that weighs heavily, that he was getting it surreptitiously. and also, you've got to

remember, michael ultimately died from the respiratory failure, and before you go into failure, there's distress. and whether it's light breathing or heavy snoring, there are other signs. and if the doctor had just kept a cursory eye on him, just visually, in the 10, 15 minutes before he went to failure, he could have picked it up and called for assistance. >> today we expect to hear the entire recording of michael jackson, perhaps two hours where he's just that slow mumbling. very disturbing. >> those are the signs i'm talking about, respiratory distress before you go into -- >> so that's how that's playing in? >> sure. it's going to be interesting. the prosecution has a very strong case on the facts. they're in los angeles. very sympathetic jury, though, towards defendants, and they know the flip side of michael jackson's past history. so it's a tough case for the prosecution, even though it's factually strong. >> okay. no stranger to high-profile cases, that's you, john q. kelly. good seeing you. >> you too. a blinding dust storm causes

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within just the last hour, the ntsb said the pilot of the chor helicopter that crashed into new york's east river told them he encountered a problem soon after takeoff. the pilot and three passengers were pulled from the water, but another passenger, a tourist from australia, drowned. she'd come to new york to celebrate her 40th birthday with family and friends. amazing video of a dust storm in arizona which caused three pileups involving 30 cars. one person was killed, 18 others hurt yesterday when the blinding winds in the desert reduced visibility to just about nothing. a special election victory for the democrats. earl ray tomblin beat bill

maloney in the west virginia governors race yesterday. tomblin became the acting governor after former governor joe manchin vacated his seat after being elected to the u.s. senate. tomblin's win comes after the embarrassing special election loss to bob turner in new york's ninth district. attorney general ericholder is on the hot seat about what he knew about the fast and furious program and when he knew it. the congressman overseeing the investigation, darrell issa, joins me next. plus, the protesters occupying wall street are getting some company. ♪ we're not going to take it [ male announcer ] this...is jet's pizza -- sterling heights, michigan. in here, food is inspected, perfected and occasionally rejected. with a customized mobile app developed with at&t, jet's food inspectors can share data in real time -- so what used to take two weeks, now takes two hours. faster feedback means better food and happy people. it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better.

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[ tires screech ] [ crying ] [ applause ] [ laughs ] [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] your life will have to flash by even faster. autodrive brakes on the cadillac srx activate after rain is detected to help improve braking performance. we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs. welcome back to msnbc. i'm alex witt and we're back with that breaking news out of cupertino, california, where a massive manhunt for a man suspected of killing at least two people and injuring six is underway. george sampson is news director for kliv radio and george joins me right now on the phone.

with a good day to you, george, what do you know? do they have a shooter in custody yet, because they've certainly released an identity. >> yes, they have released an identity. the suspect they're looking for, al alex, is a fellow named shareef allman. and the late word we're getting is police believe they have the suspect contained in an area not too far from the site of the shooting. conflicting reports. one report says he's holed up in a car, another says he's holed up in a home in the area. but they do not have him in custody as of yet, according to the latest reports. >> okay, george, what's his relationship with the lehigh permanent cement company? >> he was an employee there, a heavy equipment operator, and he had worked there, apparently, for some time. interestingly enough, he is also the producer of a television show on the community access station in san jose, a program called real-to-real. he's also written a book called "amazing grace" that talks about

his struggles as a single father. so it's not quite clear how this relates, if at all, to today's events at the lehigh cement plant, but he was a heavy equipment operator at the plant. >> george, we understand that three people, at least, have been transported to the hospital. one taken to stanford university medical center and one a bit closer to the valley medical center in san jose. do you have any status update on their conditions? >> well, the word we're getting is six people have been injured, two taken to valley medical, a couple of others to stanford and that four of the people are listed in critical condition. >> and so -- how many scenes do we have here? because i know, certainly, that the lehigh permanent cement company is one location, but what's this about a parking lot? >> yeah, the way this thing came down is the shooting originally happened about 4:00 a.m. this morning. mr. allman is said to have gone into a company safety meeting that was regularly scheduled.

this is a 24-hour operation occupy there. it's a quarry. and he came in armed with a handgun and an ak-47 and just shot a bunch of people. he then left the area in a car, drove a short distance to an area where he apparently tried to carjack a woman's car and a woman was shot in the leg. that's one of the other injuries that we've been talking about. and it's not clear if he was successful in that carjacking, but as we said earlier, the police now say they believe they have him contained, not too far from the area of the carjacking. >> okay. well, tense times certainly continuing there in northern california. george samson there with kliv. thanks so much, george, for weighing in. . >> my pleasure, thank you. here's a look at the other stories we're keeping our eyes on. at least 18 people have died from eating listeria-tainted cantaloupe and at least 100 others have gotten sick. a team of cadaver dogs searching for the remains of robyn gardner now in aruba. it's been two months since she was reported missing. the washington national

cathedral suffered at least $25 million in damage in august's earthquake. it is expected to take years to fix. and the dalai lama canceled his trip to south africa because a decision was not made on his visa application. he wanted to attend desmond tutu's 80th birthday celebration. the protests against wall street are gaining ground around this country. thousands are expected to march in new york city today as the protests show no signs at all of losing steam. nbc's mara schiavocampo is live now with the very latest from the location. mara, with a good morning -- or rather, good afternoon, now. lots of people have gathered. what's the scene there? >> reporter: good afternoon, alex. i want to just pan off and show you a little bit of what's happening right now. because the big events aren't scheduled until the afternoon. so right now people are just gathering here in zuccotti park. this has been base camp for some three weeks, and it's all very casual in nature. people are having lunch, playing music, some logistical

preparations going on, but it's all in preparation for what's happening this afternoon. where there's two separate events that will merge into one larger event. at 3:00 p.m., labor unions are holding a large rally at foley square, just a couple of blocks away. and of course, any of the occupy wall street protesters who want to attend that are welcome to and they are invited. and then that group will be marching here to zuccotti park, where they will join forces with the occupy wall street group, and they will be holding one large rally, that will, of course, involve speakers. they're expecting thousands to attend, and they're thinking today could be their biggest day yet. i want to show you something else here. there's been a lot of discussion since this started about the fact that the organization doesn't really have a mission statement or any demands or anything like that. they have been publishing this periodic newspaper. they're calling it the "occupied wall street journal," they've been handing it out over few days. and today inside of it, they have a declaration of the occupation. this is not a list of demands, rather, it's a list of

grievances towards corporations. it says things like, they have taken our houses through illegal bankruptcy procedures, and at the end, they have a call to arms. exercise your right to peaceably assemble. it certainly seems that's what they're going to be doing here today. >> i know they are. moveon.org has joined the fray today and they're clearly well organized. mara schiavocampo, many thanks for that. you can expect a special edition of news nation with tamron hall, live from the occupy wall street protests right here at 2:00 p.m. congressional lawmakers are demanding answers about whether eric holder told the truth in testimony about a failed government tracking program called fast and furious. the justice department program put guns in the hands of drug cartels. but they were supposed to be kept a close eye on and more than 1,000 went missing and the secret program became quite an embarrassment after at least two of those guns were linked to the murder of an atf agent last year. joining us now, congressman

darrell issa, republican of california. representative issa, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on, alex, and thanks for covering this important issue. >> it is. and we're going to play a little bit of your q&a with general holder about what he knew and when he knew it. so let's listen to this together. >> thank you. >> when did you first know about the program, officially i believe called fast and furious, to the best of your knowledge, what date? >> not sure of the exact date, but i probably heard about fast and furious for the first time over the last few weeks. >> now, i know you take issue with that, because there are these memos indicating that the attorney general may have actually known about it nine months earlier. so what was happening on the stand there? did he tell you the truth or was there perhaps some confusion in the way you posed the question? >> well, alex, i wasn't the only one to pose the question. jason chaffetz followed up for another five minutes. very clearly the attorney general failed in his duty of candor. you know, we ask people to solemnly swear to tell us the

truth, the whole truth. in this case, they're defending and saying, well, he thought the question was slightly deferent. well, first of all, the question was pretty straightforward. he knew about a program called fast and furious. whether he knew all the details or not something we're going to find out in follow-up questioning of the attorney general, but he clearly knew enough to say, well, i was somewhat familiar, or i knew, but i didn't know. he failed to give us that. he failed to give us the nuance of what he did know when, clearly, we wanted to know if he knew at all. so he did mislead congress. the chairman of the judiciary committee, which, obviously, i also serve on, has asked him to explain it, to come before the committee, and we expect him to do that. there may be an explanation that partially vindicates him. in other words, he may not have committed perjury, but he certainly failed in his duty of candor. because he did know the name a year before that and could have answered partially and chose not to. and alex, this has been what the administration's been doing is

not giving us the information we've asked for month after month. senator grassley asked for information and was denied it until i came in and actually issued subpoenas. that shouldn't be the way congress deals, whether you're a republican or a democrat. the american people deserve to know where over 2,000 weapons walked have killed hundreds of people in mexico, will kill many more on both sides of the border. >> okay. what went so wrong in this? i mean, was it the volume of guns that were supposed to be looked after? were there not enough agents on the patrol? i mean, what happened here to allow these guns to slip through? >> alex, they didn't slip through. they were designed to be let walk. these 2000-plus weapons, even if it was only one, would have been too many -- >> but representative issa, i know you say they're designed to let walk, and in an effort to try to catch the big fish, if you will, the heads of these cartels, have these rather little fish that are just kind of trafficking these things. but if that's the end result of

the program, you'd think that they'd be looking at where all these guns were going. i mean, what happened that they weren't able to find them all? >> alex, i don't want to talk down to your audience, because you have a very sophisticated audience, so let's just say guns don't talk when you let them walk. the fact is, these guns were able to go and be unaccounted for. when you find a weapon at the scene of a crime and you may or may not find a dead shooter, you really don't learn a lot about all the places it's been. there were no tracking devices, there was no ability to find out all the various bread crumb places it had been. this was a felony, stupid, ill-conceived plan. these guns do not tell a sufficient story to make them worth let them walk. and this has been what's been told to us by atf, fbi, secret service, everybody who wasn't stupid enough to run this program has told us this program made no sense and never should have happened. and, in fact, we had the justice department representative swear to us that they never let guns

walk, and now we have actual memos in which they're concerned about so many guns walking. they can't square that circle for us, and that concerns us, because the american people, and to a certain extent, more importantly, our partners in mexico. the attorney general, they don't want to deal with us, because we have been disingenuous with them in a war in which we're asking them to give their lives to stop drugs from coming to our country. this is a partnership with mexico in which we have to renew confidence with the mexican people if we want to have help stopping the flow of drugs from mexico. >> all right. california republican representative, darrell issa, many thanks for your time. >> thanks, alex. herman cain is rising to the top of the polls in the republican race for president. so is he the real deal? plus, they say dogs are a man's best friend, but could they also help decide an election for one of this country's biggest cities? details in three. p [ elevator bell dings ]

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while the number of people who smoke continues to go down in the u.s., overall, experts say, certain professions have higher smoking rates than others. a new report from the cdc reveals people who work in the mining and food service industries are the most likely to smoke along with construction workers, while educators are the least likely. hi, i'm andrea mitchell, coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," what does $17 million buy rick perry? how about r-e-s-p-e-c-t? "the washington post's" chris slcillizza will be talking abou campaign dollars. and eric cantor calls out president obama for stalling the

jobs bill. and is the republican party waiting for palin? those stories and a lot more coming up next, 15 minutes from now on "andrea mitchell reports"? >> we'll be watching. meantime, there's been a lot of biting comments on the presidential campaign trail. and in san francisco, the mayoral race could literally go to the dogs. canines actually outnumber children in that city. and dog owners are getting together and they're forming a pac, a political action committee, that is. it's called dogpac. bruce wolf is president of dogpac. and with a good day to you. bruce, what are you trying to do with this dogpac. what's the goal? >> we're trying to make a difference. we're trying to make this a game changer in a race that is kind of flat. but we have some notable candidates that we think will help carry out the needs and concerns and the issues of the dog community in san francisco. >> bruce, i'm wondering if janet reece is one of them. she happens to be running for mayor. let's have our viewers take a listen to what she said. >> dog owners are passionate,

there's many of them, and dogs can't speak to the mayor in terms of what the critical issues are, but i think it's really important that we open up lines of communication between dog owners and city hall. >> and a lot of this centers around, is it golden gate park, and that's an area where dogs are able to run and that may be shut down for environmental reasons. >> actually, it's the golden gate national recreation area. they cover 85,000 acres of property -- shoreline property from marin county to san mateo county, of which 1% is open for dog play areas. the ggra wants to now reduce or close completely 90% of that 1% to dogs and their companions. all access. >> so is this the -- would you be casting your vote for janet rees?

>> we have made our endorsements for john number one. >> why is it that san francisco has so many dog lovers, dog owners? i mean, more than there are children in this city? >> well, i can't tell you the answer to that. you'd probably have to ask some of them yourself, but we know that we are a very open city. we want to make sure that dogs are a member of our family and they are members of many nuclear families with children. and we'd like to see it stay that way. >> bruce wolfe, dogpac president, many thanks for your time. >> thank you. if you're wondering what to wear for halloween, wonder no longer. a shop in new york is now selling anthony weiner halloween masks, no kidding. it's going to cost you about 25 bucks. and for an extra $20, you can get anthony weiner boxer shorts that leave nothing to the imagination. wow, i so don't want to see those out on the street, but we'll be right back.

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starting to get a little crowded. most polls have him in second place, one in first, which is a far cry from the single digits he was polling just a month ago. but is he a viable candidate? and can he take this momentum all the way to the 2012 convention in tampa? joining us to discuss it, karen finney and host of "roll call" tv, robert traynham. good to see you two. >> hey, alex. >> what is it about herman cain, karen, that is the appeal? i mean, is it his businessman, because that's how people know him. do people get a sense, this is a guy who understands business in this time of economic woe? >> you know what i think it is? particularly if you think about what's going on with the occupy wall street movement, it's the simplicity, i think, of the 999. and when you hear him talk about economic issues at the debates, actually, aside from some of the odd things he'll say about who can or can't work in his administration in terms of loyalty tests, he makes it very simple, it sounds

straightforward, it sounds fair, and he's very kind of candid about it. i think people like that about him, frankly. >> okay. robert, i just want to tell you, and you probably noticed, we have a little bit of a delay with you, but here's the deal with most of these polls. they put mitt romney in front, all but this one, should he be worried about herman cain, or is it more rick perry who needs to be worried about herman cain, because it's his group from which he's drawing support from now? >> you're exactly right, alex. this really is about rick perry and herman cain kind of out-flanking him, if you will, on the right. if i'm mitt romney now and we have herman cain rising in the polls, this is a good thing for me, because it takes the heat off of me and the perceived flip-flopping we may or may not have in republican voters' minds. so i think the real enemy here is herman cain to the right of rick perry. if i'm rick perry, i'm concerned right about now, not only from a financial standpoint, because obviously rick perry will do well when the numbers come out,

but it's an enthusiasm gap for my candidate. if the enthusiasm is more on herman cain, that's a problem for rick perry. >> i want to pick up on the money angle with you, karen, we're expecting to hear the rick perry numbers. we know mitt romney's done a great job raising million. how much is it going to come down to that? that may be very much a contributing factor into how far herman cain gets. >> it's an important factor, particularly because we're seeing so much movement within the calendar. that means candidates and campaigns are having to make decisions about where to spend money, where to put people on the ground, and particularly in what media marks. florida has very expensive media markets. so as these states shift around, that means campaigns are having to shift their strategies. so he or she who has the money will likely be the one who is left standing. >> okay. and with these third quarter campaign numbers coming out, rick perry raising $17 million, $15 million on hand already. i mean, how does that compare to what herman cain's got, robert,

and can herman cain potentially play catch-up? >> well, i don't know if herman cain can play catch-up or not, but raising $17 million in 39 days, i did the numbers, that's $350,000 on average every single day. i mean, say whatever you want about rick perry and whether or not he has the horsepower to compete in some of these debates. he certainly is a prolific fund-raiser, and that tells me something, alex. it tells me this washington chatter class that we all belong to here in d.c. may have this one perception of herman cain -- excuse me, of rick perry, but others out there, the flyover country that i call it in kansas, in minnesota, and mississippi, and so forth, they clearly think that rick perry is someone to be reckoned with. no question about it. >> all right. i want to make note that your algebra teacher did well. you figured that out pretty well. karen finney, impressed with you, as always, too. thank you, guys. i'm alex witt. thanks so much for watching. you can always catch me on weekends with alex witt, saturdays starting at 9:00, sundays starting at 10:00.

but up next we have "andrea mitchell reports". >> hi, alex, good to see you on a weekday. thanks so much. up next, are the protests on wall street a sign of bigger things to come? who's leading the charge? plus, romney makes a big play for florida voters by going after rick perry on social security. and i talk with sarah jessica parker about the struggle of balancing work and home. "andrea mitchell reports" up next right here on msnbc. the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. that's what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the other guy's flake is more processed. mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal.

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports", no more mr. nice guy. president obama calls out eric cantor for trying to block his jobs bill. >> i'd like mr. cantor to come down here to dallas and explain what exactly in this jobs bill does he not believe in. >> is this the obama democrats have been waiting for? >> he is on fire. look at the guy. i haven't seen him put four weeks together like this.