anyone. >> later, in front of the national press association. >> i have never sexually harassed anyone. >> he said he was falsely accused and added -- >> i'm not aware of a settlement that came out of that accusation. >> but in a taped interview that aired in prime time -- >> and yes, there was some sort of settlement or termination, and i don't even know what the contents of that was. >> then he remembered more. >> we ended up settling for what would have been a termination settlement. >> outside pbs studios, cain said this. >> i'm not going to say that it's changing my tune. >> but if you tuned in to pbs last night -- >> was there any behavior on your part that you think might have been inappropriate? >> in my opinion, no, but as you would imagine, it's in the eye of the person who thinks that maybe i crossed the line. >> and asked if he could recall

any specifics about the allegations -- >> can you remember everything about an incident from 12 years ago? >> apparently, cain did. >> once i referenced this lady's height and i was standing near her and i did this, saying, "you're the same height as my wife," obviously, she thought that that was too close for comfort. >> politico's chief investigative reporter ken vogel co-authored the story with jonathan martin and two other reporters. ken, let's just start with your reaction to herman cain's day yesterday. what's your take on it? >> well, i've got to agree with some of the other pundits whose comments you excerpted there in the lead, he's botched the response. he had ten days. we contacted him ten days before we published this story with specific allegations that had been relayed by multiple sources. they refused to comment. initially, they denied all knowledge of this. then they said that herman cain had some vague recollection of

it. but as you saw right before we published this story, he refused to say whether he had ever even been accused of sexual harassment. so, as this sort of array of interviews progressed yesterday and you saw his story change, it's kind of difficult to know where he now stands and what he did know and what he didn't know. >> okay, what are the chances that one of these women violates the nondisclosure agreement, comes forward and tells us more about what really happened? >> well, we have been extremely careful with their identities not to reveal them, both out of concerns for their own privacy as well as out of concerns for the nondisclosure agreements that they signed. however, we did, in fact, view one of these settlements and saw the nondisclosure language as well as some of the specific documented allegations that the woman made against herman cain. we reviewed that. that was what was part of what made us comfortable publishing this story as to whether these women are going to decide that

they want to come forward and need to come forward, because you can't forget, herman cain in one of these interviews yesterday described one of these women's performances as not up to par. so, he is personally bringing them into the story the way they hadn't previously been, because we decided to protect them. if they decide to come forward, certainly his comments might give them fodder to do so. >> we know the settlement you saw was a five-figure settlement. are we talking upper or lower five figures? >> we're not going to get into the specifics. >> okay. >> we are going to protect the sources and protect the details that they agreed to allow us to divulge. >> herman cain, he's been married more than 40 years. we haven't seen his wife much at all on the campaign trail. yesterday, through one of the interviews, we learned that we are going to be seeing her soon. how far do you think that will go in helping the cain campaign move past this? >> well, certainly, they haven't done a good job moving past it thus far, and you know, in these

types of situations, there is a long and established track record of spouses standing by their accused spouses, and you know, that has been shown, if history is any example, to help these folks weather these kinds of storms. you know, we saw it in cases, the classic case is hillary clinton standing by bill clinton. more recently, we saw the opposite. we saw representative anthony weiner's wife not standing by him. and of course, he ended up not weathering the storm, and in fact, resigning from congress. >> ken vogel of politico, thank you so much. can we expect an update here any time soon? >> we're diligently tracking down various lines of inquiry we have out there and hope to continue following this story and updating our readers on it. >> thank you, sir. appreciate it. in the middle of dealing with harassment allegations, the cain campaign is being scrutinized over ties to a wisconsin charity as well. political watchdog columnist daniel bice wrote about this for the "milwaukee journal

sentinel." daniel, what's this all about? >> mark block, who's the campaign chief of staff for herman cain, set up a non-profit last year. and someone gave me the internal records and we were able to see that the campaign was paying for ipads, chartered flights, trips to iowa and las vegas for the cain campaign. and in the records, they said they were owed by the cain campaign about $40,000. no one knew about this and the only way we were able to discover this is through the internal records for the organization. >> has there been a response at this point? we should note here that we reached out to the cain campaign. we have not heard from them regarding this particular fallout -- this particular scandal, potential scandal. have you guys heard from the cain campaign? >> actually, the cain campaign have been very bad at responding to us. i first contacted the chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff in august when i got some of the records, but i see the announcement today that they've

hired outside counsel to scrutinize this. so, that's the most recent development. >> the charity in question, it's called prosperity usa, founded by mark block, deputy chief of staff, linda hanson as well. i understand that that organization, that group is now apparently defunct? >> yeah, you can't find any evidence of it anywhere. but it was affiliated with americans for prosperity, which is where mark block worked before he went to work for herman cain. they decided to set these groups up, and the intent was to be involved and to try to turn wisconsin into a more republican state. but clearly, most of the spending was done for herman cain and for his purposes. for instance, they spent money to pay the singer who came up with the theme song for the cain campaign, so -- >> how much? just out of curiosity, how much? >> -- they've spent money on a number of things.

$3,000. >> all right, daniel bice, thank you. the obama justice department taking aim at south carolina's tough, new immigration law now which requires police to check on a suspect's immigration status. joined now by nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. pete, this is the third state now. >> third and probably not the last one. the justice department has indicated that it's looking also at recently passed state laws in utah, indiana and georgia. now, those laws are all in various stages of legal action because they've been challenged by other groups. and so, the enforcement of those laws have been to some extent interrupted by the courts, but the justice department says it still might sue them. south carolina, they say the same problem as alabama and arizona, two other states the government has sued. they say states are not free under our system to have their own immigration laws that are at odds with the federal immigration law and federal policies that try to balance a number of interests. and so, the justice department has sued seeking a court's order

to block enforcement of this new south carolina law that's to take effect in january. south carolina says that if the federal government would just do its job, the states wouldn't have to pass these kinds of laws, but the justice department said yesterday that one of the things they've said in south carolina is their goal is to have a very tough law so that any potential illegal immigrants will go to other states, and that's one of the things that the justice department says is a problem, that you can't have all the states trying to push illegal immigrants into the other states. that's not a way to handle the problem. but it does seem clear that the number is three and there may be more, craig. and by the way, we are also waiting to see whether arizona will get the supreme court to take up the appeal of its case. two lower federal courts have blocked enforcements of parts of arizona's law. arizona is appealing, asking the supreme court to take that up. if the court does take that case, that will say a lot about what's going to happen to these other laws around the country. >> we did get a statement, a

response from the governor of south carolina. her spokesperson issued this response, in response to the justice department lawsuit. "if the feds were doing their job, we wouldn't have had to address illegal immigration reform at a state level, but until they do, we're going to keep fighting in south carolina to be able to enforce our laws." pete, at this point, it looks like this is probably ultimately going to end up at the high court, right? >> well, you know, potentially. >> okay. >> we'll see if they take the arizona law. if not, then it's going to be a while before we'll see whether they'll take one of these other laws. >> pete williams in d.c. for us this afternoon. pete, thanks. >> you bet. the super committee to cut the federal deficit is holding an important public hearing today. it's going to hear from lawmakers who say that it's time to stop treating social security and taxes like sacred cows. i'm joined by nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly what can we expect to hear today? >> reporter: well, craig, what makes this interesting is the supercommittee has done a lot of its work in private, with small

meetings, meeting with their leadership. this puts them front and center and on camera. and part of what they'll be hearing is sort of an admonition from two people who have been through this process themselves, erskine bowles and allan simpson, bipartisan work they had done to try to come one some answers on what to do to save the country from a crushing debt. they'll get a bit of an earful today because those two, republican and democrat, big voices on this issue, are going to encourage the committee to be mindful that if this committee fails, that it could result in another downgrade of the u.s. credit rating. that could spiral into other problems. also cautioning them to say they've got to do something with revenues, that buzz word of the day, tax increases, or an expansion of the tax base which would bring in more money but not necessarily raise rates. and they're talking about social security, too, that people who earn more may need to pay more or have some of their benefits scaled in later. those are some of the recommendations. the committee still has a lot to

do on this. it seems from people we talk to they aren't as far along as maybe we hoped. craig? >> kelly, politically, the lawmakers who are on this committee, if they are not able to craft an agreement by thanksgiving, will there be political consequences for the folks who are on that committee? >> reporter: well, that's one of the things we've talked about. and when you look at the democrats on the house side, they're actually drawn from leadership, so they're already people who are held accountable in many ways by their fellow democrats or by voters because of the leadership position. then you look at someone like john kerry, who has a very big job as chairman of the foreign relations committee. is he risking himself politically by being on this? on the republican side, you have members who are saying that no way, no how will they deal with new taxes. could there be a price there? so, they all knew getting on this committee that there was a chance it might be kind of a lead brick around their neck. the upside is it also could be a sign of some statesmanship, if they are able to get something done that people here can live with that can move the ball

forward. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell on capitol hill talking about the supercommittee there. at this point it doesn't sound like it's so super just yet. thank you, kelly, appreciate it. >> reporter: we're working our way to that. thanks. >> hopefully. new fears today that troubles in greece could spell trouble for the entire global financial system, and the u.s. markets are reacting, as you might imagine. greece shocked the world today by announcing that it will let the public vote on its latest plan to save money in that country. if the plan is rejected by voters, greece could default on its debt. let's go ahead and take a look at how the markets in this country are reacting right now. as you can see there, the dow right now down close to 270, s&p down nearly 32, nasdaq down nearly 75. meanwhile, crowds gathering in the south of france ahead of this week's g-20 summit there. protest organizers say they expect somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people to take part in today's march against capitalism. world leaders start their meetings thursday.

and amid harsh criticism, bank of america says it is dropping its plan to charge customers 5 bucks a month to use their debit cards to make purchases. the move comes after several rivals decided in recent days to also drop consumer tests of the new bank fees. bank of america issued this statement a short time ago, saying, "we have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee. our customers' voices are most important to us. as a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so." still ahead, will conrad murray take the stand in his own defense in the michael jackson wrongful death trial? why he's even thinking about it. we'll talk about that. plus, meet jon huntsman's daughters. they sit down with our own chris jansing as they hit the campaign trail for their dad. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently

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until this week, herman cain's most memorable campaign moment was that smoking video starring his chief of staff. it was mocked on all of the late-night shows, even by the daughters of one of his competitors, former governor and ambassador jon huntsman. ♪ i am america, one voice united we stand ♪ >> joining me, chris jansing, host of "jansing & co." welcome. you got to talk to these girls. >> yeah, they came in. >> what'd they say about the video? what'd they say about how this thing came about? >> what surprised me about it, because there were actually a number of journalists invited to a lunch yesterday with them and their mom, and that's how i met them. and i said to their mom, you

know, this video's a little irreverent, and they do some other irreverent things. and i said do they run this by you first? and she said no, i didn't see it, john didn't see it. they just kind of came one this idea, they thought it was funny, and i do think it speaks to a part of the population that a lot of people are questioning now. they were, you know, young people were inspired by barack obama in 2008. will they come out and, you know, these daughters are very attractive, let's be honest, and they're a lot of fun. so you know, maybe they can help their dad. >> yeah, and they seem like they've got a lot of charisma and personality about them. what else do they have to say about the video? >> well, that they had a lot of fun with it. i think that one of the things that -- and i've been covering campaigns for many, many years -- it's harder, i think, for the families in many cases than for the politician, and it's exhausted, it's grueling, and it's hard when your dad is like their dad is, frankly, struggling to even stay in this race. >> very much so. >> his poll numbers are very low. so they decided if we're going to go out, we're going to work

hard, we're just going to have some fun with it, and that's what they did. >> let's listen to the girls on "jansing & co." >> you know, i think -- i mean, i don't know about you, but i'm kind of getting a stiff neck watching all the different front-runners, you know, coming up. i mean, we've had a different front-runner every week, it seems like. so you know, but you know, we're having fun being out there with us girls trying to promote our father, you know. >> and off of that comment from mitt romney, i think, you know, while we are having a little fun, at the same time, our relationship with china is so important, and i think our dad brings something to the table that none of the other candidates do, and that's just an experience on the world stage. and that's kind of what we're trying to send in our message as well. when it comes to something dealing with china or overseas, we feel that our dad has the experience to really be talking about these issues and moving our country forward in that direction. >> you've got to wonder if we're going to be seeing more of the huntsman daughters. >> you will. look, here's what they said -- and they say it in this funny little spoof video that they do -- we are shamelessly

promoting our father. you know, they make no mistake about that. you know, if you know a little bit about presidential history or you've lived a while, you've seen it in some campaigns past. some kids of presidential wannabes have been a problem, frankly, for their families, maybe had a different political point of view or said some things or done some things. these three young women obviously love their dad, they think he'd be a great president, and they're going to be out there. so, we were glad they came in and they were a lot of fun. we'll see. look, they're also very smart, so they know he's got, let's just say a very tough road ahead of him. >> kind of surprised we didn't see them sooner. >> you know, i am, too, i am, too, that they didn't get them out there because they are a lot of fun and they're very charismatic. if you follow them on twitter, if nothing else, they'll give you a laugh every single day. >> chris jansing, thank you. you can catch "jansing & co." weekday mornings, 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on msnbc. we continue to follow a developing story. a boeing 767 that took off from

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the owner of nascar's top team and his wife both recovering from a small jet crash today. the jet carrying rick and linda hendrick ran off the runway in key west, florida, last night after losing its brakes. the pilot and co-pilot along with the couple suffered minor injuries. rick hendrick is the owner of hendrick motorsports, which fields some of racing's biggest drivers like jimmie johnson, jeff gordon and dale earnhardt jr. well, what's up with rick perry? breaking down the gop presidential hopeful's ramblings and sometimes awkward speech in new hampshire from a texas insider. why she's not surprised by what she saw. >> this is such a cool state. i mean, come on, "live free or die"? i mean, it's like, live free or die, victory or death, bring it! and you won't believe how much money americans spend on candy this halloween. the figures actually pretty spooky. come back! ♪ [ male announcer ] this is coach parker...

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welcome back to msnbc. i'm craig melvin. chrysler says its u.s. sales jumped 27% in october. they credit a strong demand for both its jeep and chrysler brands. it was the company's best october since 2007. president obama's doctors say he's fit for duty. after his annual physical, the docs say he's at a healthy weight, is physically active and also is tobacco-free. and just about an hour ago, officials dedicated a 9-foot statue honoring former president ronald reagan at reagan international airport. the virginia airport was named for reagan back in 1988. and get this, according to the national confectioners association, americans spent $2.3 billion on halloween candy this year. that's a whole lot of tummy aches. one of the reporters camped outside of every herman cain interview, waiting to ask him

what we all want to know, is nbc news campaign inbed andrew rafferty. andrew is in washington for us this afternoon joining us by phone. good afternoon to you, andrew. i know you were waiting for him outside after the pbs interview last night. you got to ask him a number of questions. when you asked him about the discrepancies in his story yesterday, what did he say? >> reporter: right, well, good afternoon, craig. as we all saw play out yesterday was this kind of evolution of the politico story and the cain response to that. so, earlier in the day at the national press club, we heard that he had no idea of a settlement, that there was any money paid. he certainly hoped there was not a high amount because he had no knowledge of it. and then as he did more interviews through the day, he started saying, okay, well, there was a settlement. so i asked him outside that pbs interview, why the discrepancy? and his words were that he knew there was an agreement but he didn't know that there was a, quote, settlement, which to him

was a very legal term and he didn't want to say that there was some legal settlement, when in fact, there might have been a more informal agreement, saying that this is 12 years ago, so he wasn't familiar with all the facts. >> so he explained it by basically saying there's a difference between an agreement and a settlement, is that what i'm hearing? >> reporter: yeah. it's not a very satisfactory answer to people who are still questioning whether or not, how exactly it was resolved. again, the allegations, what exactly happened is still unclear. but you know, saying i didn't know if it was a settlement or an agreement when he was at the press club and said he knew of no settlement, it still, it just raises some eyebrows and goes along with the narrative that he was a little unclear in how to respond to this politico story that broke late sunday night. >> andrew rafferty, campaign inbed with herman cain. andrew, thank you. >> thanks, craig. rick perry won the viral video award this week when clips of a speech that he made in new

hampshire friday started making the rounds. >> this is such a cool state. i mean, come on, "live free or die"? and it's like, live free or die! victory or death! bring it! >> joining me to talk about it is christie hoppy of the "dallas morning news." good day to you. we should probably note here that the edited clips of the speech do overstate a bit. how bizarre was the speech overall? >> i think it was an aberration. i think it was a giddy rick perry we saw. i think i'm going to chalk it up to the cheeseburger defense. earlier in the day, he had had a photo op with a hamburger the size of a canned ham, and i think he was just supersized on that friday night. >> here's the thing, though, the rick perry we saw in that video is a far cry from the rick perry that we have seen in a lot of the debate performances so far, but you write that the rick perry in that video isn't

somebody that necessarily folks in texas would be unfamiliar with. >> right. in small gatherings, i have seen him over many years give kind of a very personable, very kind of, you know, glad-handing, kind of playing with the crowd, kind of mugging type of performance like we saw there. i would say this was more of perry unplugged than perry unhinged. but again, it was even little bit over the top for him, but it was the end of a long campaign day, and obviously, this was a crowd that he knew a lot of friends in. he called them out by name in the course of it. and i think he just fed off the vibe in the room. i mean, at the end of the speech, they gave him a standing ovation. >> you have covered perry for a while now, and the perry we saw in that viral video versus the perry that we have seen in some of these debate performances that we were just talking about, stumbling occasionally, looking out of it occasionally. which one is a more accurate

picture of the real rick perry? >> i think it's somewhere in between. i don't think he's quite as robotic or phased as we've seen him in some of the debates. i don't think he's always quite as animated and playful and childish as we saw on the friday night video. i think the real rick perry is somewhere in between. >> you know, rick perry obviously slumping in the polls. there are already some folks who are saying that his campaign will never be able to recover. but here's a guy who's never lost an election. a lot of folks don't acknowledge that. he's never lost a public election. do you think, based on the amount of time that you've spent covering rick perry, do you think this is a campaign that's going to be able to revive itself? >> i think, even as we speak today, his super pac has launched a series of ads in both south carolina and iowa, key states. he is putting his own campaign money into those advertising. he does very good retail,

one-on-one meet-and-greets that are so important in the first states of iowa and new hampshire. and you know, i expect that his campaign will revive itself from these, you know, the cellar dweller that we've seen recently. how well, how strong, i don't know. >> christy hoppe, "dallas morning news," thank you, appreciate it. didn't mean to cut you off. >> that's okay. thank you, craig. >> thank you. looks like president obama may be ripping a page from president clinton's re-election playbook. mr. obama spent last week on the campaign trail, spending four or five days talking about initiatives that he says don't need congressional approval but could help jump-start the economy. yesterday he unveiled a first of those executive actions which would tackle, among other things, drug shortages, speed up the drug review process and investigate possible cases of price gouging as well. joining me to talk about this is ann of "the washington post." clinton did the same thing in the lead-up to the '96 election.

small initiatives included regulations for the fda, the education department. what's the theory behind this strategy now? >> well, what clinton did was, i think a lot longer in coming and he embraced it much more fully. he right out of the gate after the '94 midterm said, all right, if i can't work with this congress now that republicans run it i'm going to do what i can do on my own. obama's taken a little longer, but he's now doing these initiatives. the idea behind it is to reach people where they live, reach their pocketbooks. if it's giving mortgage relief to homeowners, that's something people will feel, if it's student debt, that's another part of the population that will feel that. it's contrasting his actions with a congress they would like to be able to argue is doing nothing, especially republicans in the house, and to be able to demonstrate that he's able to use all of the levers of power and for the good of middle class voters. >> and about a year ago, we actually sort of heard a clinton adviser offer this as a possible strategy, sort of advising the current white house this is something they might consider. why did it take a year for the

obama white house to take the advice? >> look, the president has always said he wants to work with congress, and even know, the white house is very careful to say that on the jobs bill, for example, this is not a replacement of the jobs bill. they still want congress to pass the jobs bill. but they reached a point where there were no other options. they could sit here and do nothing and wait for congress to act, but if congress isn't going to, he's seen as just talking. and that's what they've had to deal with with him, a lot of words and no action. this is demonstrating action. >> these piece-meal initiatives the president is launching here, what type of practical impact can they have on the economy? >> well, critics would say very little. they affect thousands of people, not millions, so they don't have any large-scale economic impact, so will it change the unemployment rate in the foreseeable future? i doubt even the white house would say that it would. on the other hand, there are individuals who are going to feel a difference, and people understand what mortgages and student debt and prescription drugs and each of these individual actions that they are taking mean. they know they're very concrete

actions. so i would continue to watch the white house for more of these going forward. they're trying to find as many of them as they can do. >> and it's not just clinton strategy here. you write that some of clinton's people are also helping the obama white house with this strategy as well. >> well, it's interesting. it didn't take much of a search to go back and find quotes from bruce reid, who was at the domestic policy council under clinton, who now is vice president biden's chief of staff, saying after '94, yes, we went and figured out how to use the executive branch without the legislature, and similar quotes from gene sperling, one of his economic advisers. so, they did it then, they know how to do it now, so again, i'd be looking out for more. >> it's going to be interesting to see politically what type of effect, if any, this has on the obama presidency. >> absolutely. >> anne kornblut, "washington post." anne, thank you. >> thank you. a financial firm run by former new jersey governor, senator jon corzine, is being accused of mishandling clients' cash and lots of it.

regulators say mf global mixed its own money with that of its clients, which is, of course, against the law. "the new york times" reporting that $700 million of the firm's money is missing. corzine himself is not accused of any wrongdoing. the firm did file for bankruptcy yesterday. conrad murray on the stand? today, michael jackson's doctor could, could testify in his own defense. we'll talk about that. plus, first lady michelle obama still getting extremely high marks when it comes to approval, but why her ratings might not be as high as they were just six months ago. first, though, another quick update on the markets. the news continues to be gloomy here. the dow down about 263 points, s&p, nasdaq also down. all of this amid concerns that voters in greece could reject that big deal. [ mom ] alright guys, play with your toys after dinner.

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the american academy of pediatrics is standing by its recommendations to limit screen time for children under 2. the organization says play time is more valuable for developing brains than tv and that babies are too young to benefit from educational programs. the aap says children learn best from human interaction. we are awaiting to find out if dr. conrad murray will be taking the stand in his own defense in his involuntary manslaughter trial. court resumed just moments ago, in fact, with propofol expert dr. paul white on the stand again. after jurors left the courtroom on monday, murray told the judge that he had not yet made up his mind about testifying. also on monday, the prosecution did its best to tear apart testimony from dr. white, who

told the jury that michael jackson caused his own death. >> so, conrad murray drew up the syringe in your analysis? yes or no? >> yes. >> if michael jackson had come to you, dr. white, and indicated that he would like to hire you to administer propofol to him to put him to sleep each night in his bedroom, would you do it? >> absolutely not. this was a complete off-label use of the drug. >> john burris is a criminal defense attorney. john, how much did those exchanges hurt the defense? >> well, i don't think they hurt the defense as it relates to he would not have done it. i don't think that's really the question here. the question really is did the doctor himself engage in conduct that caused the death of michael jackson, notwithstanding what another doctor would have done. i think this doctor did a very good job explaining how it could have happened, that michael jackson could have administered the drug himself,

notwithstanding whether it was proper or anything of that nature. i think what the jury needs is an option. whether or not that option is viable or not, and i think that doctor in fact, gave them a viable option. >> john, you know, two or three weeks ago, most folks, if you asked them, you know, do you think dr. conrad murray takes the stand, they would have said, heck, no! all of a sudden, yesterday he says to the judge, you know what, your honor, i'm kind of thinking about talk being this thing in court. what do you think led to that? what do you think has made dr. murray reconsider? >> well, he may have always had this position. it's the lawyers who may have had the other position. they probably still do. i think what it is is dr. murray is a likable person. he will come across as a likable person. and i think he thinks that his own personal charisma, his own personal ability to communicate with everyday people is something that might -- that he could tell the people why, in fact, he did what he did and why maybe it wasn't the best, but he's not guilty of a crime and he meant no harm. the problem with all that is, i don't think he appreciates cross examination.

he obviously can make a very good witness on direct examination, but the real test of all this is how do you respond to cross examination? and i don't know that he really appreciates that, and i think that's what the defense lawyers are concerned about, whether or not he can withstand cross examination. no question -- >> if he were your client, what would you advise him to do? >> i would advise him not to do it, even though i'd be concerned a little bit about the likability. i think his doctors and his other client witnesses have given them enough for the jury to at least consider. i don't think he needs to testify. he's already essentially testified through statements he's given previously. also, his own doctor has given statements that clarify some of the issues. so i don't think there's any high percentage in doing this, but i can understand what he might think that that's true, and it's a challenge for the defense lawyers if the client really wants to do it and you oppose it. you really have to follow what the client wants. >> defense could call another propofol witness, then it could rest its case. how did the defense do? >> i think the defense did very, very well. i mean, because what the defense had to do was put forward some

theories, some plausibility. they had to concede that other doctors would not have done this, but it wasn't illegal to do it, but recognize that he could have done it better, but did he, in fact, cause his death? and the issue is, could michael jackson have done this himself? and if so, maybe the doctor shouldn't be held responsible for it. >> based on what we know right now, defense or prosecution, who wins this? >> well, i'm a defense lawyer, so i'm always with the defense. that's tough for me to be objective. the prosecution put some evidence on that anyone could easily find him guilty of. the question is whether or not dr. murray has, in fact, presented enough for a juror to believe he, in fact, should not be held criminally responsibility. no question, civilly, he's liable. no doubt about that. but criminally, that's a different kind of question. i think the defense has done a pretty decent job. >> john burris, always a pleasure, sir. thank you. >> thank you. >> i'm sure we'll be talking to you a lot over the next few days. >> sure. side bar now. congressman don young of alaska has set a rather no, ma'nominou.

"the new york times" says he's missed all votes in the 112th congress, making him the most absent member of congress, not considering those sooeking a run for president. the "times" says even when the house gop voted on the cut, cap and balance measures, young was the only republican missing. the reason? a charity fishing trip. speaking of congress, congressmen seem to have done quite well for themselves over the last two years. "roll call" reporting that the overall net worth of members of congress is up almost 25% over the past two years. about 90% of that increase is concentrated in the 50 richest members' incomes. "roll call" also reporting on strange names that political and business leaders have given their political action committees. some of those names include the grow mo pac. that's for a pac in missouri. the eye of the tiger pac and the

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another quick update on the markets for you right now. as you can see, the dow down almost 300 points. investors in this country, again, still reacting to concerns that voters in greece could undo that debt deal that leaders reached in that country last week. again, the dow down, s&p, nasdaq also down as well. meanwhile, the country may be divided on the president's prospects in 2012, but one thing is for sure, americans sure do like having michelle obama in the white house. 63% of registered voters say they have a favorable impression of the first lady. that's according to a new marist poll. just 21% have an unfavorable view. 16% say they're not sure.

joined now by maybelline henderson, political reporter for "the washington post." how are you this afternoon? >> hello there. good to see you. >> good to see you as well. why are michelle obama's approval ratings consistently high? >> first ladies generally tend to have high approval ratings. laura bush's were near 80% at times. but i think one of the things michelle obama has done so well is she's really balanced the political desires and needs that the first lady has and that the west wing has for the first lady, but also, she's done what she's wanted to do. she's had these programs around combating childhood obesity, encouraging healthy living. so i think she's really been able to walk a fine line between politics and then the more sort of personal projects that she wants to do for herself. and in that way, she really has, i think in a way that's very different from former first ladies, she's become something of a cultural icon, this pop cultural celebrity. >> and she really does come across as this sort of every woman, you know? she's a mom raising two little

girls in the white house. you see her shopping at target. there's still some questions whether all that was staged, but she does give the impression, at least, that she is, you know, just like the mom next door. >> yeah, exactly. i like to call her the first lady next door because that's the impression that she gives. and when she's out there on the stump -- and we'll see her more on the stump and even more with her husband -- she humanized the president. so politically, that's going to be a really important factor in this campaign for the president, especially as he tries to win over some of these suburban moms in swing states, swing states like ohio, florida, pennsylvania. you'll see her out there more and more. >> in what ways does she follow the playbook of previous first ladies versus forging her own path? >> one of the things, if you talked to folks in the east wing early on, they very much said they wanted michelle obama to be michelle obama in this role, and i think that's really what she's done. she's tossed out the old playbook of hillary clinton and being a kind of co-presidency, and laura bush in some ways was

a little bit behind the scenes, wasn't on the scene as much as michelle obama is. so, i think that's what she's done. she's really created this role of a first lady as like a pop culture icon, and a fashion model, in some ways. >> nia-malika henderson, "washington post," thank you so much. always a pleasure. >> thank you. >> i am craig melvin. thanks for watching. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning and 2:00 this afternoon. up next, though, "andrewa mitchell reports." i'm meteorologist bill karins with your business travel forecast. storm, thankfully, this one is heading off the coast, not heading up through new england. we're going to see some clouds along the mid-atlantic today, sunshine late this afternoon. temperatures in the eastern seaboard, no problems, mostly 50s and 60s. there is a snowstorm heading for wyoming, and eventually, that will get to denver tonight into tomorrow. be prepared, more snow. ay to den a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work.

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. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," getting the story straight. 11 days after politico first asked him about past sexual harassment claims, herman cain tries again today. >> i just started to remember more. remember, in 12 years, a lot of stuff can go through your head. >> can his campaign survive? and super warning for the super committee. today the two men with a plan warned that inaction could turn

america into a second-rate power. and democrat erskine bowles told chuck todd the president shouldn't be ignoring their recommendations last winter. >> it's been really frustrating, and i think it's a shame, because i think the people want to see the country come together, to pull together rather than pull apart. i think they want to see something real, something of substance. i think they want to see something that makes sense. >> and remembering dorothy rodham. the extraordinary woman who helped shape one of the most powerful women in politics has died at the age of 92. and good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. it is double trouble for herman cain. first, he's got to deal with past sexual harassment allegations, and then explain just why his campaign seemed to botch the response. >> i'm not going to go out and start chasing two anonymous accusations. so, that was a conscious decision. i wanted to be able to put it into context like