we try to tell you -- when in doubt, buzz lightyear. >> i've got a spider girl and a superman. 2-year-old with built-in muscles. >> oh, stop it. if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." happy halloween. we'll see you tomorrow. stick around for chuck. herman cain in damage control after reports surface that two women accused him of inappropriate behavior and then were paid to go away. so far the campaign says these are thinly sourced allegations, but haven't yet explicitly denied them. we talk live with cain's chief of staff in minutes. president obama's campaign team believes they found their groove with a series of executive actions and a new political slogan, we can't wait. it may be good politics, but is it good for everyday americans? and governor rick perry may be down in the polls but he's loose and giddy in front of a friendly crowd in new hampshire.

>> this is such a cool state. i mean come on, live free or die? it's like live free or die, victory or death, bring it. >> bring it. it's monday, october 31st, 2011, halloween. the most important holiday in my household, apparently. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. let's get to our first reads. just as he had vaulted into the lead in yet another early state poll, statistically tied with mitt romney in the des moines register's well-regarded iowa poll with 23% of the vote, herman cain faces the type of a story alleging inappropriate workplace behavior toward women which could derail his campaign. of all the places cain could be today, he is in washington kicking off to be what is meant to be his d.c. establishment rollout of sorts. politico reports that two women who worked with cain while he was president of the national restaurant association from late 1996 to 1999 complained of sexually suggestive behavior and

took five-figure payouts before leaving the association and signing nondisclosure agreements. nbc news has not independently confirmed the politico report. when reached for comment, the cain told nbc in a quote, dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from mr. cain's tenure as chief executive officer at the national restaurant association, they are casting apersians on his character. asked to deny the substance last night, cain spokesman j.d. gordon had a six and a half minute nondenial. >> was there or was there not a cash settlement to two female employees of the national restaurant association. >> all i've got to tell you is that this is a typical attack on a conservative that's doing well. he's number one in the polls. >> j.d., what you are saying and what you're doing right now is a recipe for disaster, mate. are you denying that there was a

cash settlement to two female employees of the national restaurant association, yes or no? >> i would say you have to get that from the national restaurant association. >> politico asked cain about the charges outside his cbs morning show interview yesterday. according to their reporting, quote, after the question was repeated three times cain responded by asking the reporter, quote, have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? look, how the cain campaign gets in front of this story or tries to get in front of this story the next 24 hours will dictate where this goes from here. we'll hear from herman cain this morning. he's going to be speaking at the american enterprise institute, later the national press club. we've got mark block, the chief of staff, just minutes away and he says mr. cain will address the allegation and this story today. so who would benefit if the cain bubble bursts? well, of course it's rick perry who hopes he does and he has the most to gain. he is intensifying his ad campaign in iowa, heading back

to the state twice this week in an effort to bring up his single-digit poll numbers. perry goes up with his second tv ad in iowa today. somewhat unslickish. >> if you're looking for a slick politician or a guy with great teleprompter skills, we already have that and he's destroying our economy. i'm a doer, not a talker. in texas we created 40% of the new jobs in the entire country since june of 2009. they say we can't do that in washington. well, they're wrong, and they need to go. >> perry also references less than stellar debating skills on his first sunday show appearance of the cycle. >> as many debates as we've got coming up, i may end up being a pretty good debater before it's all said and done. 18 debates i think is way too many debates frankly. that's just an incredible amount of time and preparation and what have you. >> that said, just three days after suggesting he might skip at least some of the upcoming

debates, his campaign completely backed off, confirming he will participate in at least five upcoming debates in november and early december. of course the next one is on cnbc on november 9th. finally, the white house apparently has decided to begin the 2012 campaign now after senior adviser's appearance on "meet the press." the white house has lost all plausible deny ability that they are in campaign mode. >> he has no core. you get the sense with mitt romney if he thought it was good to say the sky was green and the grass was blue to win an election, he'd say. >> it if the attacks sounded familiar, it's because they are. from a primary campaign already in full swing. check out this montage. >> he's been for pro-abortion. >> he was an ix treextremely pro-choice governor.

>> he was to the left of ted kennedy on gay rights issues. now he wants to amend the constitution for gay marriage. >> we are very, very different from the standpoint of consistency. >> what you need in that office is conviction. you need to have a true compass and you've got to be willing to make tough calls. >> well, did plouffe go too far? here's republican strategist mike murphy, a former adviser to romney's previous campaigns. he took offense. >> mr. plouffe for a direct personal character assault on mitt romney. here's a white house staffer saying the opponent has no core? that's harsh character attack politics and i think he owes romney a bit of an apology on that. i thought that was a step too far. >> well, some in the democratic community not happy that plouffe went that extra step yesterday at a time when the white house has been trying to say they're not yet in campaign mode, that they want to wait to engage the republicans on the campaign trail at least sometime until february or march, that was not

the case yesterday with a very senior adviser doing just that. well, he's become the most famous campaign operative of the cycle. >> we need you to get involved because together we can do this. we can take this country back. >> mark block, the chief of staff for the herman cain campaign and the guy running the show there. his candidate planned to focus on his economic today but it's a new -- yesterday the -- last night the spokesman j.d. gordon didn't deny the specific allegation that somehow these two women left the national restaurant association after a financial settlement. >> first of all, chuck, let me tell you that herman cain has never sexually harassed anybody,

period, end of story. the only people who spoke publicly about the story in that article are the ones that were in the best position to know. they were the chair, vice chair and immediate past chair of the national restaurant association during herman cain's tenure. yet all three -- and all three said that he was a man of total integrity. every negative word and accusation in the article is sourced to a series of unnamed or anonymous sources, and this is questionable at best. i am not personally aware of any cash settlement relating to sexual harassment charges to mr. cain. >> have you asked mr. cain that question? >> yes, i have. and he said to me emphatically, when there is facts, bring them to me. let me face my accusers and

we'll deal with it then. >> i can tell you, i have my own sourcing on this that talks about a cash settlement from somebody who was familiar and was working at the national restaurant association. i understand there are nondisclosure agreements on this and that's part of the reason why you're going to get sometime some of this tougher sourcing on this because in order to get the money you had to sign this. but there's a lot of string here. is he issuing a flat -- even to you that doesn't sound like he's giving you a flat-out denial. >> i would suggest that you contact the national restaurant association and ask them about any settlement. i am not personally aware of any settlement dealing with mr. cain. >> you understand how that sounds? >> yes, i do. it's very serious. >> no. the fact that you cannot say it and you're telling us that we have to go to the association. >> that's the place to get the answer on if there was a settlement. >> how concerned are you that this story, because you can't -- you can't and the campaign

cannot be the ones to stop this, that you're saying we have to go there. >> i think mr. cain will be addressing it today. and again, mr. cain has never sexually harassed anyone, period. >> did you ask him about the allegations? >> yes, i did. >> not just about the financial part but about the allegations? >> absolutely. >> and you're comfortable -- was is a miscommunication between he and the women. >> he said emphatically the story is not true. bring me some facts, bring me my accuser and that's the way we should handle this in today's society, shouldn't we? >> well, it's a new world order. >> kid of like the cigarette. >> well, you brought up the cigarette thing. i want to play yesterday on "face the nation" herman cain was asked specifically about this now famous viral video that's made you an internet star and frankly tv star. let's go to the back and forth here. >> was it meant to be funny? >> it was meant to be

informative. if they listen to the message where he said america has never seen a candidate like herman cain. that was the main point of it. ignored or whatever the case may be. >> it's not funny to me. i am a cancer survivor like you. i had cancer that's smoking related. i don't think it serves the country well, and this is an editorial opinion here, to be showing someone smoking a cigarette. you're the front runner now. i would suggest that perhaps as the front runner you'd want to raise the level of the campaign. >> do you -- you were saying before, you said you had had a conversation with the cbs folks. >> yes. >> tell me about it. >> and i have been on the record that i do not condone anybody smoking. i would not encourage anybody to smoke. i by choice smoke. and as we have said in the campaign many times, one of the reasons that we're in the first place in polling and whether it be texas and iowa or nationally

is we let herman be herman and mr. cain lets block be block. i smoke, it's a fact. now, we never anticipated that this message to our supporters, which is really what it was, that we were excited about the campai campaign, we were excited about the poll numbers. everybody knows that we're running this as a different type of campaign from a bottoms up instead of a top down. never anticipated that it would go viral the way it did. i mean, chuck -- >> so you're not longer -- are you going to make sure you're not filmed smoking a cigarette anymore? >> if i'm standing outside of a hotel having a cup of coffee on my iphone and i have a cigarette and somebody films it, there's nothing i can do about that. >> i understand. but you're not going to be having your campaign filming you. >> absolutely not. >> i want to go back one more time to the politico story. if the facts come out and mr. cain wasn't clear with you, how disturbing is that to you?

>> i have complete confidence that what mr. cain told me is absolute factual and true, chuck. >> what gives you that confidence? >> i've known him. >> but you're confidence, 100% confident that all parts of this story are inaccurate. >> yes. >> 100%? >> yes, sir. how many times do i have to say it. >> there may not have been a miscommunication between mr. cain an those staffers. >> right. >> and did he leave under normal circumstances? >> yes, he did. >> you've asked him all of these questions? >> yes, sir. >> i want to go to the campaign strategy that you've done. >> yes. >> uf spent a lot of time in alabama, a state whose primary is far away. you and mitt romney are leading in iowa and have spent the least amount of time in iowa. what are we missing here? what is the old school political world missing here? >> couple of things. one is the internet, the new media or digital media, and our ability to communicate with people that way.

the fact that a video goes viral like it did and i'm being told there's over 20 million people that have seen that. but more importantly we have been in iowa -- there's only one candidate that's been there more than us. we have been in iowa early, we have built an organization in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, florida, nevada, and we're opening up other states. our campaign, and this is a very difficult thing to understand, is really a bottoms up campaign, as a by-product of what happened on april 15th of 2009 with the explosion of the tea party movement or the citizens movement, as mr. cain calls it. you don't need this very structured top down organization to be able to deliver a message. >> now we're showing live pictures. your candidate, your boss has taken a seat at the american enterprise institute. you think he could say something at top.

>> we would ask everyone to remain seated for security purposes and at 10:05 we'll begin a round table conversation with lots of geeky nerd types who study taxes. we're going to talk about the details of 9-9-9. welcome. it's very great to have you here. >> it's my pleasure, happy to be here. boy, this is -- turn it down -- pull it down just a smidgeon. >> you didn't turn it on? >> because i tend to project. so pull it down just a smidgeon. i'll blow this thing to smitherines. >> we didn't hit the power when they miked me up. you're loud and clear. >> i'm happy to be here. thank you very much. i want to thank all of you all for being here. >> thank you very much, mr. cain. to get rolling right away, it's halloween, so if you're going to go as one of your political opponents and you really want to

square people tonight, who would you dress up as? >> it has to be one of my political opponents? >> let's say one of your republican opponents because president obama would be a layup sglo for that. >> that is a trick question. i believe i would go as ron paul. >> okay. so mr. cain, you've talked a lot in the debates about how business experience is different from political experience and may be preferable now. i wonder if you could talk a little bit about how you think your business experience has influenced the design of 9-9-9. >> all right, mr. block, i know we'll be talking about the economy and we'll be monitoring this and turning it around. let me ask you one other question about -- you talked about april 15th, 2009. >> yes. >> you got your start, i believe, at americans for prosperity? >> correct. >> what is your relationship

with the koch brothers, and what is it that their interests in which you've been doing and what is their interest in the cain campaign? >> you know, it's interesting we get tied to the koch brothers quite a bit. in fact i was doing an interview over the weekend where i had stated that when i was a director of americans for prosperity, not once, not once were we ever given the directive on how to take a stand on a policy based upon what the koch brothers, koch industries felt or said. we were really given the autonomy to run our state organizations the way we thought -- >> how many times have you met them? >> probably about four times. >> when was the last time you've talked to them? >> probably about a year ago. >> so are they donors to the cain campaign? >> no, they have not. >> have you asked them to be? >> every time it is suggested in the media that we're fronts for the koch family, i would suggest that if they are donating to us, their payments are past due.

>> tomorrow you're going to be holding -- mr. cain is holding sort of an open house, if you will, for congressional republicans to come, a meet and greet. >> yes. >> do you expect some endorsements tomorrow? >> don't know if we are going to get endorsements tomorrow. the number one reason we're in washington this week besides the typical doing the tv shows and stuff is for the congressional and senate delegations to get to know mr. cain, to get to know what his platform is, his bold ideas on things like 9-9-9 and some of the other policy things we're going to be rolling out. they really want to understand how this campaign is structured. what are we doing in iowa, what are we doing in new hampshire. >> are you giving a presentation? >> i'll be with mr. cain. i'll let him answer the questions. the way that we've run this thing, and you have to admit that not many people understand why are we first in the polls. >> right. >> why are we first in iowa. why are we statistically head-to-head with governor perry

in texas. and i think the majority of it has to do with the cain's message of leadership that really is resonating. >> his message or the resume, the fact that he's never held elective office? >> i think both. i think both. >> are you concerned that what's -- you know, this story. >> yes. >> one of those feeding frenzy moments that could be 24 hours it could go away or it could last all week, how this is happening at this time that could really undercut your ability to sort of get the republican party around you? >> chuck, we went into this knowing full well that this is a tough, tough business. okay? this is not and will not be the first. i have no idea what the other crises, as we call them, will be. but we have a long road to hoe. it's a long way between now and november, 2012. i think that we will handle them all professionally and we're not going to change our campaign

strategy. everything that we've done up to this point has worked beyond our expectations and we're just going to -- as i usually say to my staff, keep your head down and sell tickets. >> how much money did you raise this month? >> we're over $5 million. >> so more than a million a week. >> average $1.25 million a week. >> and how many more staffers have you added in the early states? >> we went from 32 staffers the day of the florida straw poll to 63 today. so we've doubled in the last 30 days. >> mark block, chief of staff to herman cain, thanks for coming in this morning. >> thanks for having me. i look forward to being back. >> we'll be in touch and we'll have you back. up next, our congressional insiders, frost and davis, will be here. we'll get their take on the republican race so far. plus the gloomy halloween forecast on capitol hill. weren't those automatic triggers supposed to spook both sides into a deal? we're monitoring herman cain's remarks at the american

enterprise institute at this point. he'll either say something now or at noon today at the national press club. still to come, presidential power play as the white house gets ready to roll out another piece of the we can't wait campaign today. we'll get a reality check on whether the new strategy actually does anything for the american people. first a look ahead at the president's schedule. as you know, he signs that executive order. meets with tony blair today. the blair witch project, halloween. i'm half kidding. you're watching "daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up

to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details. ♪ let's go ♪ ♪ cruise like a norwegian ♪

♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

how spooky will the dow be today? it opens at 12,000 in what is the market's best showing since 1987. but could this be a spooky monday halloween? what's the history of halloween trading, by the way? >> well, i think it's a mixed bag, but i don't think you're going to be too spooked here,

chuck, although i'm dressed up as a -- posing as a financial journalist, although my brian from "family guy" outfit is back home. i do actually have the dog so you can see through the nose. but listen, this could be the month of october ever for the dow. 12% for the dow, 13.5 for the s&p. really some historic context making up for pretty steep losses in the summer. stock futures are to the downside by triple digits, but it would have to do a lot more that that to really put an impact on the negative side of what this month has been. we're watching a huge week, so the focus a little more off europe and more on the u.s. we have a two-day fed meeting. we'll see what ben bernanke has to say on wednesday. we have a jobs report on friday, which is another important thing and how that's digested from the obama administration. one other thing we're watching is mf global, john corzine, former governor of new jersey, former senator, runs mf global. we are suspecting a bankruptcy and potentially a sale of the company. the reports are, chuck, that he

made some bets on sovereign debt in europe and they did not work out well. >> that's for sure. pretty high profile bankruptcy there. all right, brian, thank you very much. all right. in honor of halloween, by the way, we've got our first ever photo challenge trivia question. take a look at this picture. who are these people and what are they dressed as? if you need to take another look at the picture, check out our

twitter feed @dailyrundown. yet another debt deadline is looming and as the super committee ramps up efforts to come to an agreement, that seems as grim as ever with both sides digging in and partisan gridlock taking over. so will we get a deal? frost and davis, martin frost and tom davis. tom davis, i want to start with your reaction to the cain campaign initially. you heard mark block a few minutes ago, how are they handling this so far? >> terribly at this point. they raise more questions than they're answering at this point. this campaign, i don't think is suited for the long term anyway. they hadn't built the infrastructure, but i think this may hasten the downfall. >> it is tough for the most sophisticated campaigns to handle a story like this when it

hits. what -- how should they be getting in front of this? like i said, we have our own reporting on this, our own sourcing on this. this doesn't appear to be some sort of internet gossip page 6 story. >> i want to follow on what tom said. when you play in the majors, you have to be able in washington.

so i don't think this could run right up to the deadline. whatever they get will be modest, more like keeping the lights on. >> but there is an incentive not t.o. a stalemate, is there not? >> absolutely. >> for both sides. >> i think what's going to happen, you'll have a continuing resolution that will extend probably tuntil december 23rd,

the last day of the session, and i think you'll get a deal. i think it will be a $1.2 trillion deal. >> the automatic? >> no, no, i think there's going to be a deal. it's crazy for there not to be a deal because both parties suffer. if there is no deal and if you go to the automatic cuts, then the public says, well, let's throw all these guys out of office. these guys are incompetent. >> tom, i want to go to the republican deal. so the democratic deal, the most viable of the democratic deals calls for some revenue increases. the republican deal basically says, look, we can't deal with that now but we've got $1.5 trillion in cuts we're willing to do now. what i don't understand is why didn't they offer what the republicans immediately could not counter with their own version of a $3 trillion deal because they can't come up with anything that doesn't hit the tax cut? >> they tried to do this in the ryan budget and lost a congressional seat over it. >> right. but it's fascinating that their opening bid is $1.5 trillion. >> chuck, they can't come up with tax increases, that's their

problem. they could never go to $3 trillion. >> if you get into the entitlements in this atmosphere, you're making yourself radio active. the institution is on trial. congress has a 9% approval rating and the institution has to deliver something. 1.5 i think is within the doable still. >> martin frost, what did you think of david plouffe going nuke clclear on mitt romney? >> i think he can do whatever he wants to. >> you don't think it's too early to be doing this? because there are some that have been whispering to me, hmm, saying basically, well, we're trying not to start the campaign too directly in the white house yet. i mean obviously it's -- you know it's a margin of error. >> this is a very tough race for president obama. he knows that. everybody around him knows that. if they're going to win, they're going to have to run hard and run early. >> tom, what did you think? >> he's designated hatchet man at this point. it's going to be a down and

dirty race. >> was it the right thing to do, wrong thing. >> you hit them hard, hit them early and i think it's going to come from all sides. when you're defending an unemployment rate of 9% -- >> you've got to make it about the other person. >> exactly. >> i think obama can win but it's going to be very hard and it's very uphill. >> frost and davis, davis and frost, quite the monday morning. it is halloween, maybe there's a full moon tonight or something. anyway, thank you both. well, president obama will bypass congress today when he signs new rules dealing with prescription drug shortages. officials say the plan will order the fda to take steps to protect americans by preventing price gouging. it's another one of his we can't wait initiatives, supposed to spur the economy and create jobs, but will these things really make a difference? lisa myers, senior investigative correspondent. lisa, you've been looking into this and we have all sorts of definitions we have about executive orders versus executive actions, take 8 way. >> reporter: well, chuck, president obama is hardly the

first president to resort to these small bore initiatives to show that he's trying to make a difference. but some analysts say when it comes to the actual impact on jobs and the economy, to call some of these small is an exaggeration. in the last week, the president has rolled out a new political slogan. >> we can't wait. we can't wait for congress to do its job. we're not going to wait. >> reporter: and a series of executive actions to help homeowners under water on their mortgages, jobless veterans, and those crushed by debt from student loans. the republican reaction, dismissive. >> this idea that you're just gonna go around the congress is just -- it's almost laughable. >> reporter: independent voices say the president's new strategy is mostly, well, politics. >> it's, you know, symbolic politics at its best and there's not much substance there. i'd say that the slogan should really be we can't wait, but we can't do much either.

>> reporter: take housing. the administration says it's helping as many as four million under water homeowners refinance their mortgages. private estimates are about a third of that. and the changes do nothing for the most desperate. six million americans in or facing foreclosure. the obama program is supposed to save up to four million of their homes, has produced only 700,000 permanent mortgage modifications. >> you seem to vent -- >> reporter: this is what a democrat says about the latest initiative. >> these proposals are just fiddling around the edges. he's got to get off the dime and get something done for the american people he represents. >> reporter: student loans. here the president is accelerating parts of a law enacted last year to help 1.6 million americans cut their payments about $100 a month. millions also could consolidate their loans. that, according to one analysis the white house doesn't dispute, would save the average borrower less than $10 a month.

jobless veterans. there are 916,000 unemployed veterans. the president encouraged health centers to hire 8,000 of them and provided no new money. add it all up -- >> the white house can put whatever spin they want on it, but it's not going to make much of a difference and the public would be wrong to assume that it will. >> reporter: white house officials say that while some of these measures may be small, they will create jobs and help struggling americans, chuck. >> you know, lisa, what was interesting about this is one year ago, former clinton chief of staff outlined exactly this strategy, saying right after the 2010 elections this is where president obama has got to go. it took him a year, though, to take that advice. >> reporter: well, it's right out of the clinton playbook. as you say, whether it's an executive order or executive action or the lowest on the totem pole, a presidential

memorandum, which they use to create a website, which may be a first, they are trying to leave the impression on a daily basis that despite the stalemate with congress, he is trying to do something to address problems. >> and today we will see him sign that order. they are, of course, bringing in the press to make sure we can film him signing that order today. lisa myers, as always, thank you, my friend. >> reporter: thank you. well, despite spending little time in iowa, a new poll out from the "des moines register" shows herman cane and mitt romney with a healthy lead. anthony terrell follows the action for us in iowa and of course does some part-time duty covering the ron paul campaign when he's there as well. so, anthony, conventional wisdom says the two candidates that spend the most time in iowa, that do all of the organizing, have the best shot at winning and right now it's name recognition that has taken the cake here, cain and romney. you don't see them a lot out

there, do you? >> that's right, i don't. herman cain has been here once since the straw poll, mitt romney has only been in the state three times. last saturday when herman cain was at the iowa state football game he was swarmed by supporters, so herman cain is getting some love here. if you look back at the june polls, romney hasn't budged, his support hasn't budged. herman cain it looks like jumped up in the polls. he took the bachmann swing, she's down at 8%. she was at 22% in june. ron paul has went up 5%. his campaign told me last night that that survey doesn't take into account independents and democrats in iowa. iowa is a same-day registration state, so they're looking at getting a boost from independents and democrats who are going to sign as republicans or convert to republicans on january 3rd. >> that was something the obama campaign counted on was getting independents to register that day and do that. let me ask you this, digging into the poll, the most troubling sign in there if you're mitt romney, and again we do all this, it's all taken

before this bombshell of sorts that's hitting the cain campaign. depending on how that goes, it can have an effect or may not have an effect. the deeper you go in the polls, the more likely you are to show up, similar to what we see nationally, the more you pay attention to the race, the less likely you're for mitt romney. >> right. it seems like they're looking for the anti-romney candidate. what else in the poll that's interesting is 59% can change their vote and 15% don't have a first choice. so that's 74% up for grabs for all the other candidates. >> and the one guy who has spent the most time in iowa, done it the old school way, is rick santorum. i believe he's going to have visited his 99th county this week. it's an impressive feat. normally that gets rewarded. we're not seeing a lot of evidence yet, though. >> right. he will be in his 99th county wednesday night in jackson county. santorum said yesterday, i was covering an event, and he

pointed out that in 2007 mike huckabee was also 17 points behind the leader, who was mitt romney then, and so he points out that he doesn't care of polls in october, it matters what happens on january 3rd. he points to mike huckabee, 17 points back in october, 2007, poll and mike huckabee ended up winning in january. >> well, believe it or not, it is 65 days until the caucuses, my friend. anthony, i will see you soon. thanks for coming on. >> bring your long johns. >> i know. hey, you need them here. trust me, you need them here. >> right, i know. thanks, chuck. well, we're kicking off the week with the powerhouse monday political panel. we'll have more on the accusations dogging herman cain and then the perry speech everyone is talking about. live free or die, brother. remember to catch the premiere of "rock center with brian williams" tonight at 10:00, 9:00 central on your local nbc station. a triumph for nbc news, more primetime real estate. watch out. but first, the white house soup

of the day. perfect monday halloween soup, new england clam chowder. chowder. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] from the moment we arrive... we don't want anything to slow us down so it's surprising that most women aren't getting enough calcium. with over 25 flavors, yoplait original gives you 50% of the daily value of calcium in every cup.

i was just gonna say that! about this flat haircolor! [ gigi ] try nice 'n easy anti-flat, always dimensional. in one simple step, get tones and highlights built into every shade with nice 'n easy. you wouldn't want your doctor doing your job.e so why are you doing hers? only your doctor can determine if your persistent heartburn is actually something more serious... like acid reflux disease. over time, stomach acid can damage the lining of your esophagus. for many, prescription nexium not only provides 24-hour heartburn relief, but can also help heal acid related erosions in the lining of your esophagus. talk to your doctor about the risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels with long-term use of nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea and abdominal pain.

other serious stomach conditions may still exist. let your doctor do her job, and you do yours. ask if nexium is right for you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. we are deeply shocked and deeply regretful about the results of last night's broadcast and it seems it came to us at a great price. >> see, daily flashback to this day in 1938 when the media created news stories. when actor orson welles found himself apologizing that his halloween radio broadcast of "war of the worlds" had caused such a problem. the realistic radio dramaization caused a nationwide panic. tens of thousands of people believed new jersey was invaded by martians. i would argue, maybe he was

right. have you been to new jersey lately? i'm kidding! sor sorry. mark block told me herman cain has never sexually harassed anyone, period. more of a denial than cain was willing to make when asked about it yesterday. >> two people and you won't tell me who they are, okay? that's like negotiating -- i'm not going -- i'm not going -- i'm not going to comment on that. >> have you ever been accused, sir? have you? have you, sir? >> that was the last question, thanks. last question, thanks. >> have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? >> the washington post chief correspondent and jackie combs and clarence page, columnist for the chicago tribune. this feels like a powerhouse panel. clarence page, let me start with

you. you just heard the mark block interview earlier today, you saw mr. cain yesterday. how's the campaign doing here? >> well, it's day one of a scandal here. it's hard to say how well founded it is. but these things tend to go through stages. and for now -- actually it's day two because on day one yesterday, cain wasn't giving a flat-out denial and sounded evasive with his answers and that just makes the thing live for another day. he sounds a little more definite today. >> well, i was going to say let's play what mark block said to me, jackie, about how the denial sounds. here's what he said. >> herman cain has never sexually harassed anybody, period, end of story. i would suggest that you contact the national restaurant association and ask them about any settlement. i am not personally aware of any

settlement dealing with mr. cain. >> you understand how that sounds? >> yes, i do. >> jackie combs. >> well, i don't think a campaign manager's assurance ever assured anybody if they had any doubts that the story was true. it's going to have to have a better answer than that. >> dan, this is coming at a week when the des moines register poll saturday confirming what all. other polls are showing, that cain is becoming the romney alternative, this week his big d.c. rollout, establishment institution, not the anti-establishment, doing that meet and greet with members of congress tomorrow. all this sort of blows it up. >> absolutely. i think he biwill now spend the week defending himself against these accusations. i think what's interesting is when you look at the difference of what he said yesterday, the difference is the question is different. what mark block is saying is that herman cain says he has never sexually harassed anybody. but when asked by jonathan martin have you ever been

accused of sexual harassment, he wouldn't answer that. so there's a lot that they yet have to answer. it's clear that more is going to come out on this and they're going to have to do a better job of explaining exactly what happened and why. >> you know, jackie calmes, watching one of these stories unfold, it's tough for campaigns that have the best of political operations. they sort of brag about the fact they're not the sophisticated washington machine. >> it's the worst possible one because the people who are working for the candidate don't themselves know what the answer is. >> and that's the impression i got, is that he -- >> absolutely. >> he got appen answer and he's decided i'm going to accept it. >> you can go back through the whole prolonged monica lewinsky scandal. >> and john edwards, where it was clear the candidate was lying to the staffers. >> exactly. there's hardly a worse kind of scandal for staff to have to deal with. >> clarence page, if there is one aspect to this that could help him, right, you have the conservatives out there who just

don't believe anything that the media reports. >> right. >> and use it as a badge of honor, which in their initial response yesterday, the cain campaign was trying to issue the rallying cry of going look at what the establishment media is doing to our man, herman cain. >> right, we've seen that before with arnold schwarzenegger's run for governor. we saw it happen -- well, there's echos of the clarence thomas hearings, thomas hill hearings here too where the right still feels resentful for what they feel was an ambush or as clarence thomas called it a high-tech lynching. so even though the question of guilt is still hanging out there, politically it's worked in favor of thomas, you could say, and that could happen with cain. >> after the break we've got to talk about rick perry and his lively trip to new hampshire. dan balz was an eyewitness. we'll ask you about that after the break. trivia time and in honor of halloween we ask our first ever photo challenge question. what are these people and what are they dressed as? the answer, it's al and tipper

gore, 1999, dressed as the cartoon characters underdog and polly purebred. a lot of you guys got this quickly. i was impressed. we'll be right back. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. to brind medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details. sweet & salty nut bars... they're made from whole roasted nuts and dipped in creamy peanut butter, making your craving for a sweet & salty bar irresistible, by nature valley.

we're kind of into those slogans, man. live free or die. victory or death. bring it. they printed more money over there in washington, the gold's going to be good. 20% flat tax. put it on there. take your deductions off. send it in. the good news is that little plan that i just shared with you doesn't force the granite state to expand your tax footprint. if you know what i mean. like 9% expansion. >> i tell you, if i didn't smoke you'd almost feel like you have to have a cigarette after that. after watching that.

let's bring back the panel. it was not a herman cain video. that was not a rick perry video. not a mitt romney video. that was rick perry -- >> not a made-up video. >> that was rick perry on the stump. loosey goosy. were you as taken aback in person? >> i think everybody in the room was taken aback by it. i know everybody in the back of the room who's followed him even a short amount of time was taken aback by it. i mean, it was just -- i don't think i've ever seen rick perry quite like that. >> what did the staff say? >> the staff didn't say -- >> what time was it? >> 8:30 on a friday night. >> 8:30 on a friday night. >> right. this was the group's cornerstone as a social conservative group in new hampshire. this was their annual banquet. he had been invited months ago before he was a candidate and he was the final speaker. >> whoa. >> i had the feeling that he was so comfortable with this -- >> crowd? >> -- group of people that he just kind of, you know.

>> how many times do you hear this, jackie holmes. you heard mark block say when i'm smoking on tv, that's block being block. herman cain let obama be obama. let clinton be clinton. this was rick perry being rick perry. this is the first time i've seen rick perry the way people in texas talk about, for good or for bad. >> was there alcohol served at this function? >> now, now. >> just asking. if this is let perry be perry i think he should wait for that until he's introduced himself a little bit more at the republican electorate. he hasn't established the gravitas yet to do that, a comedy routine. >> is that what you took it as, a comedy routine? >> it reminds me of the poor sap who's the last guy at the comedy contest. the crowd is getting kind of tired now. he's got to liven them up.

or mick jagger following james brown. 1965 tammy concert. >> you're pulling a chris matthews on me. pulling something out of 40 years ago. >> it's true. there's a dvd. you can see it. that's when mick jagger started dancing. he was following james brown. he couldn't just stand there and sing. he had to dance across the stage. he's been doing that thing ever since. that's what rick perry was reminding me of here. >> you know what? i was going to force one more -- >> i think that's it. >> shameless plugs. >> the post election blog, election 2012. >> you are on message. third straight "washington post" reporter that's done that in less than a week. >> we're fighting for our share. >> jackie calmes. >> new york times. >> she came unprepared. >> shout out to the economic policy institute, liberal think tank, 25th anniversary this week. they've helped to shift the conversation a bit from the conservative heritage

foundation, kato, hoover, all the rest. >> you ended up with two. now we're all going to go check out the dvd of james brown and mick jagger. >> you'll love it. >> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." see you right back here tomorrow. another show coming up next. don't miss andrea mitchell reports. she's speak with secretary kathle kathleen sebelius. we'll hear from herman cain on this later today. they specifically just said at the speech he will not talk about these allegations until he gets to the press club. bye-bye. here's a look at your business travel forecast on this monday. still waiting for the power to go on for millions of people in the northeast. the power crews are going to have decent weather this week. a little chilly out there this morning. cool air is around. that's pretty much the worst of

it. temperatures thereupon up there england in the 40s today. have a great halloween. ♪ ♪ let's go ♪ ♪ ♪ come with me, let's go ♪ ♪ come with me, let's go ♪ ♪ cruise like a norwegian ♪

but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus. rewards with no blackout dates so you can redeem anytime. and it's easy to redeem your points online. already a gold member ? just select gold plus rewards in your profile and start rewarding yourself now. just go to hertzgoldplusrewards.com to join. hertz gold plus rewards. journey on.

good morning. i'm chris jansing. just moments ago republican presidential front-runner herman cain said he would not take questions about allegations of sexual harassment. but he'll save some comments for later. a new politico reporter alleges at least two female employees complained of sexually suggestive behavior by cain while he was head of the national restaurant association back in the 1990s. now,