to mak a comeback from what many are calling a disaster of a speech. and will dr. conrad murray take the stand in his own defense? that's the big question that could be decided when trial gets under way just 45 minutes from now. i'm veronica de la cruz in for thomas roberts. we begin with the evolution of herman cain and his ever-changing response to the sexual harassment claims threatening to implode his once surging campaign. today, get ready for more potential whip lash as we wait to see exactly what the presidential candidate is doing today. we know what he's not doing this hour. he's one of the candidates not attending a gop presidential forum in the primary state of iowa. mitt romney is also skipping out on that event. we also know cain will no longer address the fulton county republican party dinner in atlanta. the campaign says it canceled that event before the allegations broke. what he is doing, another round of interviews which the campaign hopes will unfold better than his series of answers yesterday.

>> have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? have you? >> that was the last question, thank you. >> have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? >> i have never sexually harassed anyone? while at the restaurant association, i was accused of sexual harassment. falsely accused, i might add. i was falsely accused of sexual harassment. ♪ amazing grace will always be my song of praise ♪ as far as a settlement, i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i know that there was an agreement. whether it was a settlement, agreement or whether it was termination paper -- i don't remember what it was called. i know that the restaurant

association had an agreement with this lady. >> yes, that was some sort of settlement or termination, and i don't even know what the contents of that was. >> we ended up settling for what would have been a termination settlement three months salary or something like that. >> senior political writer for politico maggie haberman joins us now. nice to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> all right. let's take a listen to the latest from cain this morning. >> i was falsely accused, and secondly, the word settlement suggested to me some sort of legal settlement. and as i recalled what happened 12 years ago, i recalled an agreement. i wasn't thinking legal settlement. and so the words have been fly spect and i do recall an agreement. i have never committed sexual harassment in my entire career. i absolutely believe that this

is an intended smear campaign using these two cases. >> all right. so that was earlier this morning. some mixed wording there. also a quote, a smear campaign. are you surprised by this morning's comments? >> i am not to the extent that he has something of a bit of an evolving comment from this starting yesterday when this was false to acknowledging that there had been accusations during his time at the nra and there had been some kind of agreement, despite what the language is being used, a separation agreement involving two women and their complaints about his behavior. i do think that he is really, really going to have to come up with a more consistent answer or else there are going to continue to be questions about exactly what happened. >> you know, we're already seeing the national restaurant association, the nra backing away from him. they were expected to endorse him, maggie. so what is the next shoe to drop here? >> well, look. as you just noted, my colleagues, ken vogel and anna palmer reported that the nra was indeed looking to back their

former head. and now they are sort of circling wagons, trying to keep people from talking about this. current and former employees. i think that mr. cain is going to continue to get asked about this until he can explain exactly what happened. he says he never committed sexual harassment. he's been very clear about that since yesterday. we tried getting answers before that. i think until he gives a full version of events that does not sort of change as we go, this is going to continue to dog him going forward. >> maggie, you are someone who worked on this story for at least ten days, maybe more. a lot oaf. >> more. >> a lot of people have been questioning, asking, was this story leaked by another republican candidate? where did this story come from? >> no reporter ever talks about where they come about information or how they come about information. but the story was very, very thoroughly reported, as you saw. four of us were bylined on it. we talked to a number of different sources. canvassed former board members, staffers, people with knowledge of what happened around that time. and as we've seen, mr. cain has

acknowledged these allegations at the time were made. >> politico's maggie haberman, we always appreciate it. some staunch supporters are rushing to defend herman cain painting this latest scandal in terms of race. >> look at how quickly what is known as the mainstream media goes for the ugliest, racial stereotypes they can to attack a black conservative. >> it's outrageous the way liberals treat a black conservative. this is another high-tech lynching. even the allegations -- >> the words of clarence thomas, the supreme court justice. >> that's right. there's nothing liberals fear more than a black conservative. >> joining me is wendy schiller from brown university. wend eit's always nice to see you. thanks for coming on today. >> good morning, veronica. >> you know, attacks like that bring to mind justice clarence thomas, his sexual harassment

scandal. we just heard ann coulter mention it right there. back then, thomas referred to it as a high-tech lynching. do you see similarities here? >> well, i think that there are similarities in that the story ark parentally came out of nowhere. i mean, we've just discussed the baseline for the reporting of the story. but it seems as though, well, where did this come from? how come this is about herman cain and not about anybody else. and so i think that that becomes sort of a question. why is anybody going after herman cain. but i think we've got to be really careful about the term lynching. lynching refers historically to an horrific act, which is basically murder. this isn't even close to lynching. herman cain is not being lynched. what he did was deny, obstruct and possibly lie about it. and that is nobody's fault but herman cain's fault. so i don't think that the conservative arguments about lynching or using that kind of terminology and sort of the unfairness of the accusations against cain really will stick. and the question is, will this stick not just with the elite media but with the core primary

voters in the republican party. what are they thinking? what are they saying? and that's the audience herman cain has to worry about. >> are we missing something here? is this getting away from the whole point of the story that the women he may have harassed are the real victims here? are we forgetting about them? >> i don't think we're forgetting about them. but i think to their credit, the reporters at politico have been very quiet about any more information about these women. and unlike cairns thomas where he had an african-american woman acution an african-american man of unacceptable behavior, we don't know the race of the women. and unfortunately in today's american political environment, i think that would have an effect possibly on primary voters. i absolutely respect the privacy of the women who to whom this actually might have occurred. on the other hand, politically, i think it might make a difference in our discussion of race or discussion of men and women, our discussion of herman cain himself to know more about these women, particularly their race and see if that makes a difference, particularly to some of the core primary voters in the republican party. >> let's talk about history and

your expertise, obviously. wendy why do you think politicians keep repeating this mistake where the handling of the scandal is worse than the scandal itself. we saw how herman cain and his campaign handled this yesterday. it wasn't exactly smooth sailing. >> no, it's not. and you look at this and you've got to think that each and every one of the people that has done this through history. we can go back to lyndon johnson and richard nixon and bill clinton. you go to these people who are incredibly powerful and experienced and they frankly think they can get away with it. there's no other explanation for why people who want to seek the highest office in the land can't tell the truth. the american people can smell a liar. they always know when someone is lying. but they're also very forgiving. you simply say imade a mistake, i apologized and paid for my behavior and i'm willing to move on. somebody who is not willing to trust the american people that way probably doesn't merit serving as, you know, president of the united states. >> wendy schiller with brown university. it is always nice see you, wendy. thank you.

>> thank you. we are keeping our eyes on the markets. right now the dow opened up with a triple-digit loss. stocks are still getting hammered. taking a look at the numbers right now. the dow is down about 225 points. 11,729. obviously, markets are fluctuating. let's get you to cnbc's brian sullivan. overall we had this terrific october. the best month in, what, nine years? what are we looking at right now? >> we're looking at fears out of europe again. we thought we had a greek bond deal done, but then last night, the greek prime minister basically called for a new vote. let the greek people vote on whether they want to accept the terms of this european union bailout. imagine if the american people individually could go to the polls separately to vote on whether or not they wanted t.a.r.p., right? that's essentially where we are right now. and there's fear that the greek people who are annoyed by all the austerity measures and income cuts and higher taxes might vote it down.

now if the vote happens. there's a chance the prime minister, you know, might lose his own job. that's still out there as well. but if they vote it down, what does that mean for the greek bond market? listen. i know this sounds incredibly wonky and incredibly boring. the reality is that it's very simple. the new fears of europe, they were gone a couple of days ago. they are back in full force today. it's got investors spooked. you have gold moving, u.s. bonds moving and stocks are moving down. it's groundhog day courtesy of greece. >> all right. cnbc's brian sullivan. brian, we always appreciate it. thanks for keeping an eye on those numbers. developing news from southern france where thousands of people are protesting the g-20 summit later this week. right now in nice, demonstrators are holding a march titled people first, not finance. several groups are urging g-20 leaders to focus international money on issues like environmental protection and labor laws. saying too much attention is given to financial markets. well, president obama will

fly to the g-20 summit tomorrow. meanwhile, today, he's kicking off the next phase of his pr blitz to push his series of executive actions to boost the economy. starting this hour, the president grants a round-robin of interviews to nearly a dozen local tv stations from tampa to houston, minneapolis and denver. then house democratic leaders will huddle with the president and vice president in the oval office to plot strategy and get his jobs proposals through the very congress he hopes to circumvent. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house. >> how are you? >> these interviews are the latest in his media blitz. what can we expect to see from the president in the coming days? >> well, the short answer is really more of the same. the white house thinks this we can't wait initiative is really working. so they are going to continue with it. some political analysts have pointed out it's given the president a consistent message that's really resonate with people especially his democratic base. so you're going to see the

president do a lot more of this. as you mentioned today, he's going to have that media blitz with a lot of local stations. a number of them from battleground states in fact. and then later today he's going to sign a proclamation declaring ft. monroe army base in virginia a national monument. so what that means is basically it will have to undergo preservation. and in that process, the white house will argue people will be put back to work. by some estimates, as many as 3,000 people. then tomorrow, he's going to hold another event at a bridge here in the washington, d.c., area. and again we'll be talking about jobs. of course, he started this initiative last week. again, the white house thinks it's working. the long-term impact will have to wait and see. the president's approval ratings remain in the 40s. then he shifts to his foreign policy on wednesday. >> a new poll shows 63% of americans have a favorable view of michelle obama. i think there's even a report

that says the white house staff, they were crediting her with helping them lose weight? i don't know if you've heard about this. she's definitely getting lots of attention. >> yeah. >> does this visibility also put her at risk of becoming more of a target? >> two of your points. there are several folks here at the white house who are saying they have lost weight thanks to the first lady. her let's move initiative basically they are saying is helping them out as well. but, you're right. anyone who is in the 2012 field who is in the 2012 ring won't be sort of free from attacks. but she's no stranger to this. of course, when she was campaigning during 2008, she had to deal with that sort of thing. one thing that's interesting you bring up that marist poll. 63% approval rating. her husband's approval rating in the mid to low 40s. so she is certainly a powerful political asset here. and we have seen a lot more of

her lately both at fund-raisers. in fact, she'll be attending a dnc fund-raiser today in new orleans. we've also seen her traveling with the president a bit. so we expect to see a lot more of that in the coming weeks and months. >> nbc's kristen welker, we always appreciate it. secretary of state hillary clinton's mother has died. dorothy rodham passed away shortly after midnight in our nation's capital. secretary clinton had canceled overseas trips to be close to her mother as her condition worsened. dorothy rodham was 92 years old. governor rick perry will be participating in a republican presidential forum in iowa any minute now. his first major appearance since friday's eye-raising speech. what can we expect from him today? plus, kim kardashian filed for divorce from her basketball star husband after just 72 days. almost a long time compared with some other celebrity marriages. [ male announcer ] an lg smart tv, lg optimus cell phone

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rick perry's unique and some say bizarre speech friday night in new hampshire, you probably know it by now. it's a speech that took many journalists who have watched his career by surprise. late night hosts couldn't resist taking aim. >> best case scenario, that dude's hammered. worst case scenario, that is perry sober and every time we've seen him previously, he's been hammered. or there is one other explanation. rick perry just got back from the dentist. >> is this real life? i can't see anything. aaaah!

>> so what side of rick perry will we see at today's gop presidential fornum iowa. we're looking at live pictures and we're monitoring that forum. if there is anything making news we'll take it live for you. in the meantime, let's get to wayne slater, the senior political writer for the "dallas morning news." he's also the author of "bush's brain." it's nice to see you. >> great to be with you as always, veronica. >> you know texas politics in and out. you've seen a whole lot of rick perry. he just brought on his new campaign staff. are we going to see more surprises from him in the future? >> well, i think one of the things the staff wants to do is present him as a more likable character. what they wanted to do early on was say, look. you got to be a fighter. so he was a fighter. but you got to do well in the debates. we didn't do well in the debates. they are trying to train him and pick up the issues of the debate so that he does better. but now present him in a way that he doesn't look mean. i think they overcompensated.

and what we saw last friday at cornerstone church in new hampshire was a rick perry who was feeding off the crowd. he was very comfortable. i don't think he'll be that silly and giddy today, but at the same time, they want to recalibrate him and make him an appealing alternative to romney. >> despite all these ups and downs, he continues to garnish support. a super pac has been running these ads for him in south carolina. also, they are going to roll out tomorrow in iowa let's go ahead and take a look at one. >> his dad was a tenant farmer. his wife a nurse. rick perry served in the air force. then came home to farm cotton. a solid conservative. >> all right. so let's get your take. with these ads he's releasing, is this the better way to stage the comeback rather than the public appearances he makes when he, you know, sometimes gets tripped up? >> yeah, he thinks so. if you mean public appearances like the debates or in large settings like the speech. he does very well in one on one

small group meetings. and his campaign has a lot of money. that ad will be done by a separate super pac. what's happened so far in the republican primary is speed dating. the voters have been going through one after another after another and there's no eharmony to fix that perfect match. and so what we think is going to happen, what they believe will happen is, if he uses these millionions of dollars he and his super pac to go on the they're places like iowa and south carolina and present a positive picture of perry, that he still can be the alternative to mitt romney. that's this race. romney and the anti-romney. >> speaking of speed dating and eharmony, one of the candidates that voters have been flirting with, if you will, herman cain, if which you know he's under fire because of the whole sexual harassment scandal. wayne, how does rick perry seize the moment here and really turn this around in his favor? >> well, he says nothing about herman cain.

nothing about herman cain's troubles. one of the axioms of politics is if your opponent is shooting himself in his foot, let your opponent continue to shoot himself in the foot. if the herman cain matter continues, that is to say if the narrative continues to build, one of these women go public and she is somewhat credible, there's another allegation, some other pattern, then herman cain has a big problem and rick perry is positioned to become the alternative that the conservative wing of the party could come back to. the other alternative is that this goes nowhere. that we know everything we're going to know and, frankly, the people who herman cain needs the most to sharp right of the party, tea party activists are the ones who would be the most likely to believe this is a dirty trick by the media and stay with him, in fact. so perry should do nothing. just be prepared that if cain starts to fall, you move in as the credible alternative to mitt romney. >> in the meantime, silence is

golden if you will. all right. wayne slater of the "dallas morning news." wayne, always good to see you. thanks. >> good to see you. we are keeping our eyes on breaking news out of poland. a boeing 767 was forced to make an emergency landing. the plane was carrying 230 passengers. none of them were injured. the plane departed from newark airport. of course, we are continuing to track this developing story. as soon as we get more information, we'll bring you those details. look, every day we're using more and more energy. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪

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joe." >> bottom line is our borders still are not secure, and arizona is the recipient of all the damage that they create coming through our state and staying in our state and feeding out into the whole country. we are the recipient of prime on a consistent basis with the cartels, with the drug smuggling, the human smuggling, the drop houses, the prostitution, the extortion. >> pete williams is live from washington, d.c. pete, it's nice to see you. >> nice to see you. >> how can we expect this latest legal battle to play out? >> we'll see how the government does here. it's been fairly successful in challenging these tough new immigration laws. in arizona, for example, two federal courts have put a hold on that law. arizona is waiting to see if the u.s. supreme court will agree to hear an appeal of those rulings. the justice department has succeeded in getting parts of alabama's law shut down and now they are trying to do the same with south carolina.

the government says south carolina has basically admitted that the goal of this tough law was to try to push illegal immigrants from their state into others. and they say that's not the way to have a national immigration policy. that the south carolina law is preempted by federal law, that south carolina can't have its own immigration laws and policies that are at variance with the balance the federal government is trying to achieve. now there's a statement from the governor of south carolina who said if the feds were doing their job, we wouldn't have to address illegal immigration. but until they, do we'll have to keep fighting in south carolina to be able to enforce our laws. so that's what you are hearing from a lot of these states that the federal government just isn't doing what it's supposed to. the justice department is looking at three other states and possibly suing them as well. utah, indiana and georgia. all of whom have passed tough laws, too. >> all right. in the meantime, the debate continues. nbc's pete williams, we appreciate it. thanks. herman cain is making the tv rounds today trying again to

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it's a signal that tells you your whole mouth is clean. you're also protected. because most of life happens outside the bathroom. feel it working, know you're covered. with new crest complete, life opens up when you do. herman cain is having a hard time getting back to business as usual on the campaign trail. the campaign shifting responses to what cain knew about sexual harassment claims over a decade ago are putting the candidate under intense scrutiny. nbc campaign embed andrew rafferty covers the cain campaign and joins us now by phone. andrew, what have you been hearing from cain staffers as this story has gained steam. are they trying to get on the same page here? >> yeah, well, good afternoon, veronica. we saw yesterday this kind of changing, this evolution of the story. of course it started yesterday morning at the press club where, you know, mr. cain said there was no settlement, that he knew of, and then all of a sudden, by

the end of the day there was a settlement that he admitted that he knew of. he knew of -- that it was a settlement essentially paid out to the accuser. there has been an evolution and a very noticeable message, a loss between the staff that they cannot seem to get on the same page about this. >> all right. you know, we do appreciate your time out there, andrew. i know there's a lot more to talk about here. we'll have to let you go. nbc campaign embed andrew rafferty, thanks for your time. can you believe the city with the highist number of asian americans, 1 in every 3 people is an asian american has befr elected an asian american mayor? that could all change with san francisco. no less than six candidates are of asian descent and are running for mayor in that city which boasts the oldest china town in america. i'm joined by jeff idachi.

he is running for mayor. thanks for your time. it's great to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> the current mayor of san francisco, ed lee, he's asian. but he was appointed and not elected. so i want to ask you, what would winning this election mean to you and asian-americans across the country? >> it's a very exciting time in san francisco. we have six asian-american candidates out of a field of 16. and what we're going to see in san francisco, i think, is a historic turnout in the asian american vote. as you mentioned, although 1 out of every 3 people here are asian-american, the electorate is only about 18%. so it's not enough to constitute a voting bloc in and of itself but, obviously, the asian vote as well as the chinese vote is going to make a huge difference. and with all the candidates, you know, out there, campaigning every day, you know, we're really going to see a historic election here in san francisco. >> well, that brings us to this question.

if elected, you'd be 1 of 36 asian-american mayors across the country. and yet asian-americans are the fastest growing minority group in america. i tlbl was a jump of 46% between 2000-2010. so why do you think it's taken so long for this segment of the population to make a political impact and why are they not turning out at the polls like you were just saying? >> you know, they call -- the asian-american constituent, the sleeping giant. i think it's also true that we haven't had a lot of asian-american leaders come forward and run for office. when i was elected public defender in 2002, i was the first asian-american elected department head in our city. and so, you know, what we've seen is really a slow evolution, and up until a few years ago, we had one member on the board of supervisors which boasts 11 members who was asian-american. so it's really, i think, a

coming together of both the electorate, as well as more awareness. and people are becoming more and more aware of the importance of running for office. we're seeing throughout the state more asian americans from vietname vietnamese, koreans, chinese, you name it, who are running for office. i'm japanese-american. i'm four generation japanese american. my family has been here since the 1890s. it's very important going forward that we see representative leaders who are willing to run for office. >> you know, you are japanese american. i'm also half asian. my mother is a filipino american. and being an asian american, i understand we're definitely not this monolithic community. and because of that, jeff, it's really difficult to get us to coalesce around the same issues. so if you become's mayor of san francisco where there are asian americans from so many different backgrounds, how are you going to bridge this gap? and also how your going to address the many different issues that affect each different type of group.

how your going to address those issues? >> veronica, what it really comes down, to what i found is asian-american voters, although they, obviously, are going to be paying attention to issues important to the asian-american community, they really care about the same things all other americans care about. jobs is a big issue. education. people are concerned about having a quality education for their children. and so when it really gets down to the brass tacks you have to address the same issues. and it has less to do about ethnic iswhen you have six candidates asian-americans. you aren't going to simply vote for a candidate because he or she has a recognizable last name. you'll want a candidate who is going to be able to deliver results. and so that's really what this campaign comes down to. we have an appointed mayor who is running in this field. so he's running on his record. and it's incumbent on myself and others who are challenging this appointed mayor to make the case. and that's what we're doing. and, you know in my case, i am somebody who is very independent. i've taken a lot of tough issues

like pension reform. and so i'm really distinguishes myself based on my own record and what i've done, rather than just being an asian-american. >> jeff adachi, thanks for joining us. great conversation. good luck to you. >> thank you. jon corzine's brokerage firm is being investigated after they discovered nearly $700 million in money is missing. corzine's firm mf global was hoping to sell part of the firm to a rival firm. but the missing money put an end to those plans. the company filed for bankruptcy yesterday. talk about revving up your engines. auto sales for october are expected to be at their best pace in more than two years since the cash for clunkers program in august 2009. car information site edmunds.com predicts sales of more than a million vehicles. another scary plane moment for one of nascar's winningest

team owners. a small jet carrying rick hendrick and his wife lost its brakes and crash landed at a key west florida airport yesterday. the couple suffered minor injuries. back in 2004, a plane hendrick owned crashes on its way to a race in virginia killing all ten on board, including hendrick's son ricky, his brother and twin nieces. well, occupy wall street has a new target. the iowa caucuses. the movement wants to occupy state-based campaign offices of both gop candidates and president obama to get both sides talking about inequality and corporate greed. speaking of corporate, the new york city-based leaders of occupy wall street filed an application to trademark the name. that brings us to today's sound off where over the next few weeks, we'll take a look at realtime policies and issues that affect the kind of outrage motivating these protests. today we focus on how inequality occupies the american classroom

and how a nationwide investment in early childhood education could fight it. let's take a look at this. 1 of every 5 children in the u.s. are living in poverty with nearly 40% of african-american and and 35% of hispanic children falling below the poverty line. melissa, based on what we know about how kids learn why is this kind of early childhood education vital to kids who are at risk? >> look. this occupy movement has done an amazing job of getting us to all talk about inequality. now that we're talking about it we really also need to think about what plans, what policies do we know we can put in place that can begin to close these profound gaps. and if we just kind of start at the beginning, the beginning would be early childhood education because what we know is that adults, people in their 30s and 40s are fundamentally different people at that age if we had intervention for them as

young people. so people in their 30s and 40s who have had preschool, high quality early childhood education are more likely to earn, less likely to have early pregnancies, unplanned pregnancies, much less likely to be part of the system of incarceration. it is tremendous what happens when we invest in closing this gap from the earliest years. 3 and 4 years old. >> of course, in order to make this all happen, we need the president. what are some of the positive ways the president can get involved and maybe drive this forward? >> well, the president and congressional leaders, both democrat and republican, this ought to be the kind of consensus issue that both parties can get behind. look. every dollar that is spent has an enormous return on investment. when people don't become dependent on the public welfare system, when people do not become incarcerated, when people earn enough to pay into the tax system, it benefits us enormously, financially.

so even in a time of recession, investment in early childhood education is one of the best returns, dollar for dollar for government money. this is something the president can be right out in front of and almost dare his opponents. i dare you to be against closing the gap in inequality by addressing the needs, the reading needs, the math skills, the social needs of 3 and 4-year-olds. >> mellissa harris-perry, thank you, as always for your insight. >> you can read more on her thoughts and on this and other topics at the nation.com. a halloween trick about president obama gets a republican group in deep trouble. details in three. plus, michael jackson's doctor makes a decision today about whether or not he will testify in his own defense. should conrad murray take the stand? [ mom ] alright guys, play with your toys after dinner.

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a virginia group is in trouble after releasing this image. it was part of a larger halloween ketch. it shows a zombie president with a bullet hole in his head. republican governor bob mcdonald called the image, quote, shameful and offensive. ♪ ♪ i am america one voice united we stand ♪ >> jon huntsman's daughters are showing their support for dad by releasing their own video poking fun at front-runner herman cain. they talked about their parody of cain's smoking ad with chris jansing. >> how can you not have some fun with that ad? it was a last minute thing. we saw it and thought, let's have fun with this. >> their father will give his t his all to win the new hampshire primary in january. will the accused testify on his behalf? that's the big question today as the trial of michael jackson's former doctor wraps up in l.a. conrad murray is expected to advise the court moments from now whether or not he will take the stand. the jury will also hear more from dr. paul white.

more testimony. the self-proclaimed father of propofol. yesterday, white was cited for contempt shortly after he told prosecutor he's expected payment for his testimony. >> you have an agreement to receive payment following your testimony in this case? >> no ido not. >> is it your testimony under oath that the only compensation you are going to receive in total for your time put in this case is $11,000? >> i hope i receive some compensation for all the time i've spent in the courtroom. >> joining me now is criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor ricky kleman. always nice to see you. >> thank you. >> so big surprise yesterday. courts wrapping up. the judge turned to dr. conrad murray and asked if he's going to testify. all along we're thinking he's definitely not going to take the stand but then he says he might. >> he wanted to think about it overnight. and it certainly shows that there's dissension in the defense camp. ed chernoff, the lead defense

attorney has already told the court that dr. murray was not going to testify. most would say it would be insane for dr. murray to testify. he would be pummeled on cross-examination. it would be a disaster. however, he will not be the first nor the last client to go against his attorney's advice to testify. >> it doesn't mean there aren't benefits, right? in order for this to be a hung jury, we just need one person. why not testify? what are the benefits? >> well, he would say, i think, to himself, all the way up to the point that he decides that the benefits may be that someone, one juror will feel sorry for him. that someone, one juror, may feel sympathy for him. that someone, one juror, may actually believe him. and so at that point, he may say, what do i have to lose? if i'm going to go down for a four-year count anyway, i'd rather go down swinging. i have had clients like that. they have driven the stiletto into my heart every time they

got on the witness stand. >> let's talk about the testimony that we heard from dr. paul white yesterday because it really seemed as though he was being raked over the coals. i mean, especially through cross-examination. what can you make of what he had to say and also this whole contempt of court charge? >> well, i think the contempt of court charge is really a little bit over the top from the judge. we have seen witnesses, professional experts and others who have done far worse things than what dr. white did. of course there will be a hearing on this on november 16th. we'll see what happens. but i do think what happened with dr. white is dr. white was very clear. >> because this was the defense's key witness. >> key witness. big witness. but the defense had to know that dr. white, to save his own professional reputation had to say that dr. murray used standards of care that were so, so low, that he had deviated from any reasonable practice in his standard of care. but he says michael jackson

caused michael jackson's death, not dr. conrad murray. and that's what they needed from him, despite all the rest of it around it. >> in the in the meantime, cour back in session and we, of course, are waiting to find out whether or not dr. conrad murray is going to take the stand. rikki klieman, always great to see you. >> thanks. >> thanks for coming by. kim kardashian is back on the market. she filed for divorce from her husband of just 72 days! it doesn't seem very long, but compared to some other celebrity marriages it was an eternity. a look at those shorter marriages on the flip side. >> coming in at number one was minneapolis/st. paul because of the nearby mayo clinic and cultural venues. ranked second was boston because of its great public

transportation. and coming in third was pittsburgh because of its revitalized economy. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil 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! how about the beat of a healthy heart? campbell's healthy request soup is delicious, and earned this heart, for being heart healthy. ♪ feel the beat? it's amazing what soup can do.

here comes the divorce papers? on the wake of news yesterday

that kim kardashian filed for divorce from pro baller kris humphries after just 72 years of marriage, today's "flip side" takes a look at the shortest celebrity marriages. but first, let's get the facts about kim's over-the-top august nuptials. kim's 20.5-carat wedding ring cost a whopping $2 million. her bridal jewels, $10 million. a cool $2 million for flowers. but the largest figure was the couple's paycheck for televising their wedding at $17.9 million. so, who are the other celebs with the shortest-lived marriages? first there is jennifer lopez and chris judd who tied the knot and split eight months later there. was dennis rodman and carmen electra, married in 1998 and filed for divorce just nine days later. then there is britney spears who was wed to childhood pal jason alexander for just 55 hours after a quickie vegas ceremony at the little white chapel. but the shortest of all celebrity marriages, all right, drum roll? no drum roll?

okay, that prize goes to mike tyson's ex, robin givens and her tennis instructor who were husband and wife for all of seven minutes. all right, that's going to do it for me. i'm veronica de la cruz. thomas roberts will be back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow. in the meantime, craig melvin picks things up where was my drum roll, sir? you were in charge of that! >> i was running late. i forgot it today. all right, thank you so much, veronica. a milwaukee paper investigating the cain campaign over some financial ties between the campaign and a private charity run by his top aides. we'll look at that at the top of the hour. plus, rick being rick. what texas insiders are saying about the rick perry speech that has become an internet sensation. also, an about-face by bank of america on those debit card fees. all that and lots more straight ahead. ing helped me beat my back pain. then i tried salonpas. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours.

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dad's a real cleaning machine. and look at mom whipping up some kraft homestyle mac & cheese. sure it's easy to make, but it looks like she's been busting her hump in the kitchen. [ doorbell rings ] ♪ let the fireworks begin. hi, it's so nice to see you. something smells good. [ male announcer ] kraft homestyle macaroni & cheese. cheesy noodles topped with golden-brown, breadcrumbs. you know you love it. [ daniel ] my name is daniel northcutt. [ jennifer ] and i'm jennifer northcutt. opening a restaurant is utterly terrifying. we lost well over half of our funding when everything took a big dip.

i don't think anyone would open up a restaurant if they knew what that moment is like. ♪ day 1, everything happened at once. ♪ i don't know how long that day was. we went home and let it sink in what we had just done. [ laughs ] ♪ word of mouth is everything, and word of mouth today is online. it all goes back to the mom and pop business founded within a family. ♪ when i found out i was pregnant, daniel was working on our second location. everyone will find out soon enough i think that something's happening. ♪ ♪ it's tuesday, i'm craig melvin. the cain campaign spinning out of control. nbc news has confirmed two women

did accuse herman cain of inappropriate sexual conduct in the '90s. cain's response to the scandal continues to evolve with him back-pedaling, clarifying and explaining. here's what he said this morning about not responding to questions to a reporter who helped break the story. >> i wanted to be able to put it into context like i'm doing now, to explain what i knew and what i didn't know, what i can now remember and what i couldn't remember at the beginning of yesterday. >> he might be doing other interviews today, but is it all too much, too late? >> herman cain had a nine to ten-day run-up to this story hitting the airwaves, and there was nothing done. >> when the story did break, the denials were like a broken record. first from campaign chief of staff mark block. >> mr. cain has never sexually harassed anyone, period. >> then from cain himself, first in a tv interview. >> i've never