chris christie is out, mitt romney's got the polls, but rick perry's got the cash. and raising cain. does herman cain's new surge in popularity put the former pizza king into the top tier? and mad as hell and gaining strengths. the protests that started on wall street are stretching from coast to coast. but what is their game plan? good day. i'm andrea mitchell, live in washington. so far, it is either feast or famine for rick perry. the texas governor brings in $17 million in the third quarter, but his poll numbers are sliding in the opposite direction. at the same time, all of the republican candidates are hammering away at president obama while he is picking a fight with the republicans in congress. >> 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. >> msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com, chris cillizza joins us with the daily fix. hey, chris. the president seems to be pointedly ignoring the republican charllengers in the presidential race, but going by name after these house leaders. he really is taking them on. >> no question, andrea. i think it's part of a broader, fire up the base strategy. most people don't know who eric cantor is, but many people in the democratic base, activist types, do know who he is. and look, the president is smart. his job approval numbers in the recent "washington post"/abc news poll, 42%. it's the lowest we've measured him during his presidency, but 28 points below that, 14% congressional approval. so this is smart short-term politics, andrea. he's doing everything he can to run against an institution that is decidedly unpopular and say, look, this is broken. it isn't working, and it's republicans' fault, not my

fault. >> and of course, it is eric cantor that many on the inside say really blew up the budget talks. it was he who held the speaker, john boehner's feet to the fire. cantor has hit back at president obama on twitter, tweeting out, "while the president seems to be in full campaign mode, we in the house are going to try and find areas of commonality to work for the people." of course, "commonality" is a subjective phrase. one person's commonality is another person's obstructionism, as far as the white house is concerned. and rick perry really produced some big numbers, the third quarter fund-raising, $17 million. that shows that even though he can't seem to get through the debates and has become sort of a target of comedians on "snl" and elsewhere, "the daily show," he has produced dollars that are deadly serious. >> yes. andrea, what i think this gets rick perry is a second look. $17 million, we expect, and i think we strongly suspect, that

this is going to be the most that anyone raises. mitt romney, a lot of numbers out there, somewhere between $11 million and $14 million, but not going to get to $17 million. i think what this says is, rick perry is one of only two candidates who have demonstrated an ability to raise the kind of money you're going to need to run that five-state gauntlet that we expect to begin in early january and end at the end of january. it's going to begin with iowa, new hampshire, nevada, south carolina, and end with florida. those are five states where you'll see huge amounts of money being spent. and only today, only mitt romney and rick perry have demonstrated an ability to raise that money. you mentioned herman cain in the opening. he's not yet shown an ability to do much more than rise up in polls. that's more than a lot of these candidates have done, but sustainability requires money. organization requires money. communicating with voters requires money. and we now know rick perry's going to have it. >> and speaking of polls, the quinnipiac poll that came out today, we're talking about some really bad numbers for rick perry. he's down in the quinnipiac, i

think about 13 points, so it's mitt romney, herman cain coming in second, rick perry third with 14%. and that's similar to what "the washington post" -- >> yeah, i was going to say, that mirrors exactly what we found, tandrea. excuse me, he was at 29%, rick perry, that is. september 1st in "the washington post"/abc poll, 16%. october 2nd in t"the washington pos post"/abc poll. so that is not the trend line you want to see if you're rick perry. he needs a second look. i think the money gets him a second look. he started off like a ball of fire. everybody was interested in him. he immediately got to the top of polls, but that has faded badly. the debate performances don't help, some of the negative stories about him out there don't help. the question of, is he ready for prime-time? this money, for people who doubt and are skeptical, people will think, look, if we don't want romney, perry's our best alternative, but he's got to show improvement. he's got to go out and do things well as a candidate, and that

starts with debates. >> and that starts with a debate. the next debate is the bloomberg/"washington post" debate. next tuesday, hanover, new hampshire, the dartmouth debate. and that's really a make-or-break moment for him. because perry has to show that he can debate. he needs two good debates, but has got to the at least do this one well. >> hugely important, andrea, because all of the focus will be on him. the debate is focused singularly on the economy, which will be the main issue of the election. rick perry has to show his doubters, yes, i can stand on the stage with mitt romney and hold my own. yes, i can talk intelligently, not just about the texas economy, but what the texas economy means for the u.s. economy. all this money that he raised, all $17 million of it, won't matter all that much if he cannot execute the basics of campaigning. and that's the base. he has to look presidential, he has to look up to the job, he has to look electable. because that's ultimately what republican primary voters are looking for, and it's why mitt romney has reemerged as the

front-runner in a lot of ways, because he so steady and you can imagine him on a debate stage with president obama. >> and, in fact, mitt romney going after rick perry in florida on the social security question. that's clearly a vulnerability, particularly with so many retired folks in florida. >> and we've talked a lot about this, andrea, social security, rick perry standing by his phrase that it's a ponzi scheme. he's walked that back to say, look, if you're currently getting social security, we're not going to take that away from you, but the program needs to be reformed. mitt romney wants to make sure that the nuance is lost in that rick perry response. because while getting rid of social security or calling it a ponzi scheme is popular among an element of the republican primary base who doesn't want with government involved, who thinks it was a bad idea from the start, seniors, especially in florida, seniors vote. seniors like social security. they do not want to see it go away. they don't want to see anyone talking about it going away. so that's the wedge mitt romney is trying to drive, andrea.

you can expect lots and lots more of it, because i do think florida, january 31st, circle it on your calendar, i think that may be the deciding contest, like it was in 2008, where we figure out whether it's romney or perry to face barack obama. >> and briefly, the democrats dodged a bullet. they were very concerned about west virginia, that's the governor's race to seceucceed s joe manchin. >> he got elected to the senate to fill bob bird's seat. this was, i think you put it exactly right, they dodged a bullet here. had they lost, coming on the heels of that new york nine special election, lost a few weeks ago, it would have been a big story line as, is obama dragging down democrats, is 2012 going to be a cataclysmic event for the party. they dodged that bullet. we're talking about it at the end of this segment rather than the start of this segment, and that tells you all you need to know about why winning is

important for the democrats. >> winning! chris cillizza. >> thank you. >> thank you. and the monthly jobs report is not a joke. it's just two days away. president obama is getting nowhere fast on his campaign to pass a jobs bill. >> at least put this jobs bill up for a vote so that the entire country knows exactly where members of congress stand. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us now from capitol hill. well, first of all, according to the senate democrats today, the president is not going to get the plan that he initially submitted in terms of paying for it. they've come up with their own version, according to harry reid, and i guess, chuck schumer. >> reporter: well, we've been listening to the president, andrea, for almost a month, talking about his plan, selling it hard, insisting, demanding that congress pass his bill. the trouble is, democrats here do not like the bill in its entirety. we know republicans have a lot they don't like about it. so one of the big ideas that came out today is majority

leader harry reid, who controls the calendar, what gets on the floor, what comes up for a vote says that there needs to be a different way to pay for the programs in the president's bill, the idea he has for stimulating the economy, creating jobs. the president's idea was higher taxes on a broader ranger of earners, and democrats in the senate say they cannot get enough votes to support that. so they're offering an alternative, which would be a surtax for people who earn in excess of $1 million a year, and after they pay all of their taxes, at a point above $1 million earned, they pay an additional 5% surtax. democrats tell us that would pay for all of the programs in this, but could it really go anywhere? it's an alternative that would attract democrats, but would it get any republican support? and that certainly seems doubtful. now, you've heard the president talking about, please, vote on this, pass this bill. well mitch mcconnell had tried to give the president what he wanted in a rather theatrical

mo move, asking that they take the vote yesterday, that went nowhere. and we're hearing from republicans in the house that there are pieces of the president's plan that they do believe have value and merit consideration and should be voted on, kind of as mini chunks of it, but not in total. the president's got a lot of work to do here to change any minds, especially among fellow democrats who already say it needs to be retooled before it would have any real chance of moving here. andrea? >> and kelly, while we've been talking about all of the problems that the president has had and his approval rating, those "washington post" poll numbers, the abc/"washington approval rating. chris cillizza and i were just talking about that a moment ago. but that is just devastating. so congress has really got to be worried about their own elections. >> absolutely. and especially those members on the house side, who are up every two years. a third of the senate up next year. and there's great concern among democrats in the senate, could they lose the majority? could enough republicans be

swept into office in the senate to switch power and give both presumably the house and the senate to republicans. that's part of the, kind of the strategy over these next many months, to see what would happen. so when you see the numbers dipping, they're all trying to come up with some way to gain ground on the issue of jobs, but there isn't a lot of movement. a lot of talk, a lot of ideas being thrown around, but we have to wait on progress. we do expect that they will bring -- senator reid will bring this president's jobs bill with its variations to the floor some time next week. andrea? >> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. and the anti-wall street protesters spreading nationwide. what is their message? plus, attorney general eric holder, republicans are accusing him of lying to congress. is that politics or was there a cover-up? send me your thoughts on twitter @mitchellreports and follow the show online at #mitchellreports. this is "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. male an] and common tissue can make it burn even more.

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the largest protests yet are expected in new york city today, as unions, liberal organizations, and community groups are joining demonstrators. a march to city hall is scheduled for this afternoon. in boston, hundreds of city nurses are expected to join protesters today. demonstrators have built a tent city near the federal reserve bank there. and in los angeles, demonstrators have been going out in front of city hall for at least four days. organizers are also hoping for a big response to calls for a nationwide walkout by college students about 45 minutes from now. matthew bishop is u.s. business editor for "the economist" and joins us from new york. matthew, there's a feel here, as we see the coverage, of what happened with the globalization, the anti-globalization protests in the '90s that became so large

and were in some ways diffuse in terms of their focus. what is your sense of it and have you been able to -- can you characterize what the specific protest is, other than people are mad as hell, angry that unemployment is not coming down, and people are feeling, you know, the great pressure of this continuing slow-moving economy. >> well, i think that's right. i think there's definite momentum building behind these protests. i first started getting references to them on any twitter account two or three weeks ago and there was this initial sense that people were saying, well, it's not happening, these protests aren't gathering momentum, but now they seem to be. and they certainly have the potential to be as important as those anti-globalization protests were back in the '90s. where, they certainly didn't change the debate, fundamentally, but they irritated the powers that be enough to make them start to think about, how do you have growth that's more inclusive? how do you make sure that some attention is paid to public

opinion. and i think there is the potential for this to happen this time. and the only real to surprise to me has been why this has taken so long to happen. because, you know, we've seen the economy mired in high unemployment rates and we've seen wall street benefiting in a way that the rest of the public hasn't done for three years now. and it's only just really, finally, taking to the streets. >> it's interesting that just a week or more a ago, mike bloomberg, the mayor of new york, was on the radio, his radio show, saying if you keep having people graduating from school without the ability to get jobs you're going to have protests. he used the term, riots in the streets, and he seems to be anticipating this. we've certainly seen it all over europe. there's protests and walkouts in greece today. but here in the united states, what we're seeing is profits, record-breaking profits. but companies sitting on their profits, they're not spending their money, they're not hiring. they say it's because of uncertainty, but you can sense the growing anger that people are feeling about the growing

disparity in income levels. >> well, i think that's right. it remains to be seen exactly what this movement is about and how broad its support is, but i've been saying that since the bailouts of the banking system, the social contract has fundamentally changed. yet, prior to september 2008, you could work on wall street and say, i am getting rich by making society better, ambiguously. i'm spreading risk around with reducing the volatility of the system. when it's exposed that the game is essentially, heads we win, tails you lose, and the public basically takes all the risk and the wall street guys get all the upside, that's a very different game. and it seems to me wall with street's leadership fundamentally failed to address the public's concerns about the fact that this was a rigged game. and i think they became complacent after there wasn't a real public backlash, that maybe they could get away with it. and there haven't been prosecutions and profits have got bigger. and i think there's not been enough done by wall street to

actually say to the public, actually, you saved our hides back in 2008, we owe you something. >> and ben bernanke, yesterday, his testimony, here's what he had to say, which was a pretty sober warning about what's going on here. >> market uncertainty about the resolution of the greek situation, about the broader resolution of both the sovereign debt issues and the european banking issues has created an enormous amount of uncertainty and volatility in financial markets. and it's through that volatility and in direct effects, i think, we're being affected now. i believe that one of the reasons that our recovery has been slower this year than it was last year is that we've faced a lot of financial volatility. >> that was not a very upbeat assessment, to say the least. >> no, and i think the fed is in a very difficult position, because they are being attacked in congress by the conservatives who are saying, well, you know, we want to remain committed to sound money, and we don't want

you doing another round of quantitative easing. and on the other hand, there's a sense that if the fed doesn't act and push more demand into the economy, certainly, there's no way it's going to come from any other source. and meanwhile, across the atlantic, you know, i do think the process of dealing with greece and the other endebted european economies is going on and will finally reach a resolution. but it's going to be the most painful and slow process that's going to linger for months before anyone feels that that corner has been turned. meanwhile, that has a very depressing effect on everybody in the business world, and means everyone that could be investing is actually hanging on to their money and being measure cautious. so the unemployment rate stays high and the economy stays la lackluster. >> matthew bishop, to be continued. thank you very much for your assessment today. and back to politics. has sarah palin worn out her party's patience? the politico briefing up next, right here. but first, former defense secretary donald rumsfeld got a

little testing with al jazeera's english bureau chief about mistakes being made in iraq. >> why should i do everything you want and you won't do a thing i want? >> because -- oh, really? that gives you the privilege to be the way our. >> secretary, seriously -- >> what do you mean, serious? i'm being serious. this is worthless. this is not an interview. time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. mobile medical international, a builder of mobile surgical units hit hard times in his first years of operations. owner rick copran asked owners to work without pay. soon, business boomed and the company was named the spa's 2011 small business of the year. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc.

in today's political briefing, is sarah palin running out of time? with chris christie out of the race, will palin beat the clock and turn her half-hearted flirtation into a real campaign? she seems to be signaling no. >> does a title shackle a person? are they, someone like me, who's a maverick, you know, i do go rogue and call it like i see it, and i don't mind stirring it up. is a title and a campaign too shackling? does that prohibit me from being out there, out of a box? >> ben smith is a senior

political reporter for politico. well, ben, i think that the speculation about sarah palin at this stage, she's got to do something by october 28th. isn't that the real deadline now for filing? >> if she wants to, she can be in the florida primary, she has to make a decision soon. she said she'd make a decision last month, so who knows. >> what is your sense as to what she's doing? we wouldn't want her to be shackly. >> my sense is that it matters less andless. she's an unpredictable character and certainly could get in. but the same that's true of her now which has been true of her for more than a year. republican activists love her, are excited to have her on the stage, but also don't want her to be shackled into a job like the presidency. >> 31% of "the washington post" poll said she should run. 66% said she shouldn't.

>> a lot of people love jesse jackson, but don't want him to run for president. there's a role for activists, who are out there hammering the issue, but are not running for the white house. >> one quick footnote there, there was a report in politico, i think maggie hayburne was reporting that a law firm with ties to palin, a law firm tied to her pac, had made inquiries about her filing deadlines. >> there's semi-formal draft groups. someone was certainly calling around, checking to see if she could get in. and the answer is, yes, she could, and i certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility. >> she's the only one that would really have the money right up-front, indeed. thank you very much. thanks, ben. >> thank you. >> good to see you. coming up, rick perry with a texas-sized balance sheet. we'll talk lone star politics with texas monthly's paul burka. plus, a new poll out today shows one in three veterans who have served since 9/11 say that the wars with in iraq and afghanistan are not worth fighting. the pew research poll also shows that a majority of post-9/11

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we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. breaking news right now on msnbc. police are searching door to door with guns drawn in northern california. they're looking for a mine worker who they say opened fire on fellow employees today at the lehigh cement plant. the shooter has been identified as shareef allman. two people are dead, six are injured. the suspect is still on the run. according to local media reports, he tried to carjack a woman and shot her in the leg as he made his getaway. cupertino schools are locked down as the search continues. also today, tragedy in new york city. the ntsb is looking into an east river helicopter crash yesterday that left one woman dead. in a dramatic rescue, emergency crews were able to save the pilot and three other passengers, but they found sonya mara dead after being trapped

for an hour and a half underwater. it was her 40th birthday. two of the passengers are in critical condition. in california, the conrad murray trial is entering the next stage with testimony from investigators and detectives. parts of murray's police interview conducted two days after michael jackson's death will be played in court as well. and home at last. amanda knox back in seattle after her four years in an italian jail. a tearful knox was fwregreeted applause from supporters as she arrived back home. >> thank you to everyone who has believed in me, who has defended me, who has supported my family. the chairman of the house oversight committee, darrell issa, says attorney general eric holder failed to tell the whole truth when he testified back in may that he only just learned about a controversial program, a program that ended up putting guns in the hands of the mexican drug cartel. that program was called fast and

furious. here's what issa had to say on msnbc about a few minutes ago. >> 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 cantor. because he did know the name a year before that and could have answered partially and chose not to. >> pete williams is msnbc's justice correspondent. well, darrell issa using the "p" word, perjury. strong words about the attorney general of the united states. and this is serious stuff, because we've seen in the past, white house officials and others who have actually been convicted of charges for lying to congress. >> the question is, you know, what did the attorney general know about this atf program that went off the rails, that allowed guns to go into new mexico with really absolutely no follow-through. now, the attorney general, when he testified before this committee in may was asked by issa what he knew about fast and furious, how long he'd known about it, and he said, well,

i've known about it for the past several weeks. this week, the committee released two memos that were weekly summaries of all the events of the justice department that showed last year there were two mentions of fast and furious. now, what the justice department is saying is two things. number one, how can you expect the attorney general to remember the name of every single operation that's going on all the time. a lot of these law enforcement operations do have names. and secondly, they say what holder meant was, that he became aware of the problems, the thing everyone's interested in about fast and furious, that it went off the rails. that it was seriously a problem, a mistake. they also say that holder, since then, has said there'll be no more gun walking across the border, and because of his actions, the u.s. attorney in arizona, who was in charge of this program, has left his position and two atf people out there have been reassigned. nonetheless, the committee says, you know, we asked him a question, he didn't appear to answer it accurately, and we want to know what's going on.

one other thing, andrea, the chairman of the house judiciary committee has written a letter to the white house saying he wants them to appoint a special counsel as to whether eric holder broke any laws. >> here we go again. what issa was saying to alex witt about an hour ago, the question was very, very clear. there was no ambiguity in the questions, and he was asked the question repeatedly. what you point out and the justice department points out, he inferred a different issue, number one. and number two, there are hundreds of programs that he gets weekly briefings on, presumably. >> exactly. and, you know, i've seen the memos. they were released by the committee. it's in the course of hundreds of issues that the attorney general has briefed on, everything that happened at the justice department that week. and those memos don't say anything about the gun running or gun walking part of this. they don't say anything about how they had gone wrong. they simply mention, we've got an organized crime task force and it's called fast and furious and there may be events on it

this week. and they're very short mentions. and the suggestion here is that the attorneys either didn't remember him, or if he did, he certainly didn't know there was any problem with them. >> something tells me this is not the end of this story. pete williams, thank you very much. and on the campaign trail today, mitt romney is in florida, stepping up his attacks on rick perry. nbc news campaign embed garrett hake is traveling with the romney campaign. hey, garrett. florida, obviously, all-important to any presidential race and the key is the january 31st primary. what is romney up to today? is it, again, social security and going after rick perry? >> reporter: hey, andrea. today was actually a much more traditional retail campaign stop. governor romney was in tallahassee picking up a handful of legislative endorsements and stopped by a restaurant here. very old school, greet all the patrons, go through the kitchen, leave a big tip.

his next stop will be south carolina, where he'll go into much more detail on what his foreign policy will be. >> has he had any reaction or has his people had any reaction to those numbers, those fund-raising numbers that rick perry posted, which is $17 million, third quarter, which clearly is leading the field? >> yeah, the campaign issued a statement this morning saying, basically, you know, that governor perry's numbers were what they were, but they weren't as much as governor romney's first quarter numbers when he got in the race. not exactly apples to apples, since perry was only in about half of the last quarter, but they feel very confident about their own fund-raising numbers and their team, which they say is growing, but have not released their own totals just yet. >> what's the mood music among the campaign after what we saw yesterday with chris christie getting out of the race? >> well, you've read all the headlines, andrea. there seems to be this sort of feeling that they're trying to tie up some kind of nes

inevitability here. we're seeing the campaign schedule pick up again pretty substantially in terms of, you know, appearances in new hampshire, these the big policy speeches. they're really, i think, trying to build a sense of momentum at this point. >> garrett hake, thank you very much from tallahassee. and in texas, governor rick perry has plunged in several national polls this week, but today he has delivered the cash. as we've said, the third quarter fund-raising numbers that led the field, $17 million, paul burka is the senior executive editor of "texas monthly" and an old rick perry watcher. well, not really surprising in that he's got deep roots with republican big money figures, but this is an antidote to his poor debate performance and it does give him the ability to keep going for the distance. >> that's right. it's going to have two effects. one is is that he's going to have the money, it now appears, to get through the debate season and into the primary season. so that's a big deal for him. and then, second, it just has to

be a morale booster for a campaign that is really in need of it. and this is something that rick perry does exceptionally well. he has been the most prolific fund-raiser in texas history and his ties, when he was at the finance chairman at the republican governors' association, gave him ties into the whole fund-raising base of the republican party. >> paul, we've seen that rick perry has plummeted 13 points in major polls this week, though. so that's clearly a response to his poor debate performance. he's got to do better next tuesday in hanover, new hampshire. >> i think it's now or never. in other words, if he can't handle romney in a -- on a subject that's in his wheelhouse, the economy and jobs and other economic issues, then he just is -- then he's not going to be president. he has to do well in this debate. i don't think he has to necessarily beat mitt romney,

but he must perform in a way that looks presidential and knowledgeable on policy. >> you've been following him for a long time. you know him well. rick perry and the whole issue of the racial slur on the rock of the leased hunting ranch, he's got a record of having appointed more african-americans to high posts in the state as governor. at the same time, some are suggesting that this is a casual attitude towards bigotry that persists in that part of texas and that is part of the culture. and that that is a campaign problem in a general election. >> well, this issue is part mountain and part molehill. and the mountain is that we all know what the name was, and it's intensely embarrassing and raises questions. but at the same time, governor perry has never had racist

attitudes in the state, and again, if you look at his hires, as i've written, and as others have two, he's had african-american chief of staff, an african-american general counc counsel, he appointed wallace jefferson, a respected african-american attorney as chief justice of the texas supreme court. and those things should not be overlooked. there's something that other texas governors have not done. >> what about the response to president obama, who was campaigning at fund-raisers in dallas last night? how was he received and is there any chance at all that the democrats would be able to carry texas? >> he was well received, and no, no, no. a thousand times no. >> a thousand times no. they ain't going to happen, no matter who is the republican nominee. >> no. >> thank you very much, paul burka, "texas monthly," thanks for the perspective. >> thank you. and on wall street, protests are starting to spread like wildfire. up next, we'll be live in new

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intriguing as the setup that you have here. and andrea, you've got to keep in mind, you've had people who very literally been sleeping the in this area since september 17th, when this movement was started by a company based in vancouver. the mood is festive. i've heard them singing songs of peace, songs of love. they're really getting, i guess, revved up, if you will. the unions will meet up with them around 4:00. the union stage ground, if you will, about a few miles north of here, and they're going to meet here and they're expecting, police say, around 15,000 people, possibly, in this one location. we know over the weekend, 700 arrests were made. these protesters also had a huge clash with police about two weeks ago. we don't know what to expect as far as the tone here. we also don't know what these people actually want. they don't have, if you will, a manifesto, a list of things. they don't have ideas as far as legislation they would like to see affected by this movement. they have a vision, they say, for this country, and it is not

what we're seeing now. some people, andrea, have said that this is the counter to the tea party movement. i'm not sure if it's at that point. i cannot assess that, but these people want a voice at the table and they are getting the attention at this point. >> they're getting the attention. they've also had a very difficult relationship with the police, and it seemed to me that some real restrictions on their freedom of speech, the no bull horns and all the rest, those kind of restrictions that they were trying to work around. so there was a lot of good humor in the way they organized themselves. but it seems as though the authorities are really keeping them very contained. >> reporter: right. you know this area, andrea. we're in the middle of wall street. we're right outside of ground zero. the sensitivities are high here. just with that setup alone. and then you have a number of people who want to sleep here. they want to take a stand. but what i saw was interesting. one of the things, you had a line of officers in their uniforms and there's this barricade and a guy walking alongside of them saying, with

his sign saying, no more layoffs. no more layoffs of teachers and of police officers. so, a lot of about what these people are standing for is what they see is a war against unions, a war against the middle class and working americans, and this visual that i had were these officers standing there, enforcing the law, and this protester with a sign. he says, you know, really is meant to protect them and keep, maybe, some of those same police officers in a job one day. so it's a very intriguing dynamic here. we'll see what happens at 4:00. as i said, the tone is pretty mellow. you've got people singing gospel music and songs of peace. certainly hope it stays that way. but what these people want, i think they'll have to be clear about it. and coming up on "news nation," we've got a people with us, ezra klein, as well as one of the leaders, if you will, of this movement. and we really want some answers. one last thing, andrea, they've been getting donations from across -- all over the world. i believe it's around $30,000 plus in small donations from people coming in, who really

identify with this cause, even though they don't have this stated motive or stated outcome they would like to see. >> tamron hall in the middle of it all. we'll be watching. don't miss a special edition of "news nation" with tamron hall live from the occupy wall street protests today at 2:00. and what is wall street saying about all of this? for more on that, i'm joined by cnbc's ron insana. has it gotten their attention, ron? >> andrea, i don't really think so. from wall street's perspective, the bigger issues they're dealing with right now is whether or not europe will, in fact, coalesce around some sort of plan to finally put this sovereign debt crisis to bed. whether or not greece will default. whether or not a key belgium bank is in serious trouble. whether that mean there's more contagion and risk of a systemic problem in the financial world. they're more world. they are more geared up about economic data and abroad. and cameron -- tamron, pardon me, described them as the

counterpart to the tea party movement. it strikes me they are very much like a little different than the groups that protested in prague, and where they were anti-capitalist and globization, and it seems to be their more sentiment, but if you go on the website, it's haurds to tell what everybody likes because there are people that support ron paul, shockingly enough in the group. >> it's quite a mixture of people. thank you for joining us today. what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? that's right here on "andrea mitchell reports." spiriva helps control my copd symptoms... by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms.

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breaking news from california where there is a door to door search under way right now, and police are hunting for a gunman that killed two people and wounded six others earlier this morning. the suspect, a 45-year-old.

which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? chris rejoins us. we have happy news tomorrow? >> yes, a lot of negative tea in politics, but a nice moment. mark kelly, former nasa commander, and his wife, arizona congressman, represent giffords, will be at the white house for mr. kelly's military retirement ceremony. should be a nice moment. i think gabrielle giffords has been in our thoughts and prayers, and she will inbound washington tomorrow at her husband's side. >> mark kelly will be awarded in

the merit for fly with nasa. that does it for us for "andrea mitchell reports." tamron is next. >> reporter: we are downtown in the thick of it, and in a couple of hours we may see the largest protestest for the people that want to take on wall street. they will be joined by a number of union officials and union members, and we are live with leadership of the movement. i have also with me, dylan ratig ratigan, and what do they want and have they accomplished anything at this point. shazi: seven years ago, i had this idea.

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i amtamron hall. we are where protesters have been railing against what they say is corporate greed in the country for nearly three weeks. thank you so much for joining us. since the protest have started, quite honestly we have seen it spread from the camp you see behind me to across the country. i am getting tweets from people in boston and even in arizona where they say they stand in their home state in solidarity with people here, and we are watching people in greece, for example, and this mve