>> oh, come on. >> how do you not let that get to your head? >> yeah. >> i don't know. i don't know. >> it's crazy. >> good stuff. willie, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's "morning joe," see you back here tomorrow, and stick around for "the daily rundown" hosted by chris cillizza with guest appearances. >> chris cillizza, i'm fixing on "the daily rundown." president obama joins world leaders at the g-20 summit in france where there's tough talk against greece's plan to put their bailout to a popular vote. can they avert a meltdown in chuck todd join us live from the summit. another day of damage control by the herman cain campaign. dogged by accusations of sexual harassment. they're pointing the finger at rick perry supporters for the leak. but now a third woman has a story to tell. overnight police dressed in riot gear clashed with protesters in oakland. a violent turn to a standoff

after demonstrators shut down the port on wednesday. it's thursday, november 3rd, 2011, and this is "the daily rundown." good morning, i'm chris cillizza, in for chuck todd. we begin with president obama in france for the g-20 summit, where leaders are grappling with the greek debt crisis, trying to keep it from spreading across europe and possibly to the united states. chuck todd is traveling with the president, and he joins me now live from cannes. chuck, the summit focused on greece and the european debt crisis, what does the president do while he's over there? >> reporter: well, mr. fix, first of all, it's a rainy and windy cannes, although the rain has let up a little bit. about half of his day is already over. the summit just started formally, but before the summit began, the president had one-on-one meetings with french president sarkozy and angela merkel and with the french president he sort of laid the

groundwork about what it is that has to get done at this g-20. here's what he said -- >> the most important aspect of our task over the next two days is to resolve the financial crisis here in europe. president sarkozy has shown extraordinary leadership on this issue. i agree with him that the eu has made some important steps towards a comprehensive solution, and that would not have happened without his leadership, but here at the g-20 we're going to have to flesh out more of the details about how the plan will be fully and decisively implemented. and we also discussed the situation in greece and how we can work to help resolve that situation as well. and the united states will continue to be a partner with the europeans to resolve these challenges. >> reporter: well, the president may have done it as addendum

when he talked about greece, bet, chris, let me tell you greece is the entire story, it's a fast-moving story today as reports have been circulating that the prime minister there, papandreou, may offer his resignation, and, in fact, ben rhodes from the national security council was briefing reporters when the news was breaking. here's what he said about that -- >> implications remain the same as it relates to the need to take action on a range of fronts. so, again, the plan that the europeans agreed to last week involves action to deal with the greek situation, but it involves a range of other steps, too, on recapitalization and building a fire wall, all of which will need to be done irrespective of different political circumstances in different countries. >> reporter: bottom line this entire g-20, chris, is about greece, it's about your row getting its financial act together. the president's role is somewhat on the sidelines. he's sort of a cheerlead

cheerleader/therapist is saying, come on, this is what you have to do, you have to do it with european money, you can't look for extra bailout money from the chinese or from the united states, this is how we did it, it's unpopular and political ugly. and they're setting up a version of t.a.r.p. and they call it a fire wall, but it's over a trillion dollars in money, available not only to greece but to italy and portugal, money the governments and banks to try to do in europe what the t.a.r.p. fund was able to do to the banks here. but we know how politically rough that is. and one final note, chris, before we move on to the other politics, i can't tell you symbolically how weird it is to be in the president's motorcade talking about an economic downturn, dealing with austerity and being here in cannes when you are going by stores by the name of jimmy choo and prada, you couldn't have a more awkward place for the president to be as you see protests spark up in

athens and oakland. >> yeah, the south of france is not exactly where average people tend to vacation or go, good point. chuck, let's talk about domestic politics, day four of the herman cain controversy. yesterday we had the associated press reporting about another woman saying that she thought about filing a sexual harassment claim. herman cain has now turned from blaming the media to blaming rick perry's campaign. where does this go? and is it -- is there anyplace it goes that's good for herman cain? >> reporter: don't forget actually he's on his third round of blame game. he first blamed the victims, blamed the accuser, at least one of them, when he talked about a subpar performance. then he went on to blame the media. now he's blaming opponents. i think this is a campaign that's falling apart before our eyes. we're watching this. not ready to handle this at all. the only upside they've gotten out of this is they do have a core group of supporters who

financially have responded. and so the one thing -- the one positive they keep pointing to is how much money they've raised this week. according to the campaign, they've raised over a million dollars, so that's about all they have going for them. but other than that, the entire conversation, we're not talking about tax reform anymore. and, in fact, that used to be his positive, that that was the -- herman cain became synonymous with tax reform, even if you didn't agree with his plan, you knew that's what the conversation would be, that conversation hasn't been happening at all. the hard part from here, for the other candidates and the other is how to deal with this, because cain's not going anywhere. he seems pretty defiant, number one. number two, he's going to have a lot of resources. he's just going to be hanging around. and there's going to be a core group of supporters who are going to blame the media and blame others for herman cain's problems rather than the fact of blaming herman cain for herman cain's problems. and it's going to make, you would assume this makes rick perry's job harder to become the

chief alternative to romney, but at this point, who knows. this story has been moving very quickly. >> well, and, you know, chuck, you said cain has gone from nine, nine, nine, this big, bold plan to very much in the weeds. i want to, let's play sound. this is mark block, cain's sort of chief operations officer, they don't call him campaign manager, but that's what he is. >> reporter: right. >> this is the man who became famous for smoking in a web video ad. let's hear what he had to say and we'll come back and talk about it. >> in 2003 herman cain ran for the senate. he hired a general consultant, kurt anderson. mr. cain divulged the nra claims at that time to his general consultant -- >> national restaurant association. >> exactly. mr. anderson. so, the campaign at that point would be prepared if the issue surfaced. it did not. approximately two weeks ago as you know mr. anderson went to work for the rick perry campaign. what else happened about two weeks ago? politico began this smear campaign citing anonymous

sources claiming mr. cain acted inappropriately. >> so, chuck, i mean, really in the weeds, talking about consultants and how this works. now, for the record, kurt anderson who advising the perry campaign has denied being involved. rick perry said no one in my campaign has any involvement in how this information got out. is this a strategy on herman cain's part to try and turn this story into sniping? it looks like a circular firing squad for republicans which, you know, probably doesn't help any of them. >> reporter: well, no, it does look like that this is the strategy that they sort of fell upon, but, you know, i had mark block on the show monday. and, you know, he seemed to deny -- he seemed to make clear that he had gotten all of the story from herman cain. you would assume that on monday had he known about this story, had herman cain done to him what he did to kurt anderson, which according to this, well, then, couldn't mark block have better answered questions on monday? couldn't herman cain have better

answered questions on monday? i think it only raises more questions this accusation about their own inability to be prepared for what clearly is something now that herman cain is acknowledging he's known about for, oh, maybe since the accusation actually happened. >> yep. no question. chuck, from a windy cannes, i know you're in france, but it looks like -- it just reminds me of watching the british open at the moment. heavy surf and lots of wind. >> reporter: it does. yeah, it is -- it is -- the only good news is it's not that cold. i mean it certainly is in the 50s. it could be a lot worse. >> all right. well, chuck, we will see you back shortly. thanks for joining us. we'll see you in a little while. dozens of congressmen from both parties are sending a message to the supercommittee, go big. they sent a letter to the panel calling for at least $4 trillion in deficit reduction to get the economy back on track. >> more than 100 of us have

asked the committee to pursue a big, balanced deal, which includes consideration and inclusion of spending cuts, revenues, and mandatory spending reform. if it fails to do so, the consequences will be wrenching, immediate, and long term. >> kelly o'donnell is nbc news capitol hill correspondent and she's joining me in studio, a rare treat, taking a break from the hill. all right, the clock is ticking, polling suggests people do not have any optimism that the supercommittee can get this done. what does your reporting tell us? what does what we saw yesterday with the 100 members coming and saying $4 trillion? >> there are moving parts. the wind is blowing like it is in france up on the hill. the 100 members who came forward, this is worth talking about, because 40 of them are republicans. >> but bipartisan. >> big bipartisan. >> which never happens in congress. >> and we tend to, you know, kind of rap members of congress over the head for not working

together, this is an instance where they at least tried to come together which is to go big as you put it, to have a bigger set of cuts to include revenue. they don't say how, they don't give a prescription for that, but members that signed no new tax pledges also say revenue in some form or another should be on the table, so that's significant. the larger mood is that the supercommittee is not getting to its goal, and we've seen that before with congress, and sometimes there's a real sense of motivation in the final hours where things get done. but they're kind of entrenched in their typical camps of wanting to protect some of the programs. democrats are willing to take some tough cuts, but they want revenue as an exchange. >> and that's been a nonstarter thus far among republicans. >> yes, we could have seen this coming. >> let me ask you. i'll go from 5 feet to 50,000 feet. >> yes. >> this is the meta question. can congress do big things anymore particularly when we're almost in 2012? >> i think in the modern age one of the things that makes it so

difficult when people wax nostalgic about the lbj days and getting big things done, there was not the incremental scrutiny of every step they took. >> the sausage making. you saw the sausage at the end and you didn't see all the steps. >> it's all laid there now, and they both take hits on both sides of the aisle if they work together. i think that's an impediment for them. do they want to? is the spirit of statesmanship ready to break out, sure. it's practically tough. we'll see today. the senate is about to vote on the infrastructure piece of the president's job bill, it's going nowhere, but we'll watch it anyway as part of the drama of the moment. >> kelly o'donnell going to be a very busy woman in the next few weeks. you look well rested. >> i'm ready, gear it up. we'll check back with chuck in cannes in just a few minutes. but up next, the endorsement war. we'll talk to two lawmakers who have made opposing picks. plus, we'll get more on the herman cain firestorm.

who wins and who loses as the republicans play the blame game. but, first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. going to be g-20'ing all day in the windswept plains of the french riviera. it's not that bad, people. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ♪ ♪ walk, little walk ♪ ♪ small talk, big thoughts, gonna tell them all ♪ [ male announcer ] the most headroom per dollar of any car in america. from $10,990. the all-new nissan versa sedan. innovation upsized. innovation for all. ♪ ♪ small talk, big thoughts, gonna tell them all ♪ [ male announcer ] the most legroom per dollar of any car in america. from $10,990. the all-new nissan versa sedan. innovation upsized. innovation for all. ♪

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i don't think the choice can be more clear. i think his executive experience and his proven track record make rick perry the right leader and the best candidate for the republican party. >> america cannot survive another four years of barack

obama and mitt romney is the man we need to lead america and we need him now. >> the rollout of a new endorsement can mean everything from a boost in fund-raising to thousands of potential votes. it's no surprise presidential candidates are zeroing in on capitol hill where scores of undecided law makers weighing their options. congressman jason chaffitz is a mitt romney supporter, and i want to start with you, congressman, let's go to the basic question, why mitt romney? >> i think he's in the best position to beat barack obama. i think republicans definitely want to do that. jobs and the economy has an amazing track record. he understands capital formation. he's been a ceo. he's been in the private sector. he's worked well with democrats. i think they'll fare very well in a general election, and i just think he's the right person at the right time. >> congresswoman miller, mitt romney's father, george romney, was the governor of michigan.

he has a lot of ties to the state. why not mitt romney and why rick perry? >> well, i just think rick perry is the one that has really demonstrated he understands how government works, to be able to create an environment where the private sector can create jobs. if you look at his track record in texas where he's actually created 1 million new jobs while the united states has lost a million jobs, i like his tax reform, his flat tax proposal. i think we need to have comprehensive tax reform. that is a very bold proposal. i like what he's saying of advantaging ourselves of our own natural resources from an energy perspe perspective. and do you know what, none of us is really going to know what the next president is going to face. no one really knows that, you have to look at a person's not only background and track record, but what their core is, and i think with his consistent core values, i think that he has a vision for making america exceptional again and continuing that. >> let's -- congresswoman, let me just follow-up with that. obviously a big criticism of

mitt romney in 2008 and to the extent this time he doesn't have this core. i assume this is someone you know and have known. you've been in politics a long time, you were secretary of state before becoming a member of congress. do you think mitt romney lacks that core value belief system? >> you know, i would just say this -- i think that -- i need a person who not only -- for president, that not only speaks to my head, that doesn't just look at america as a balance sheet, because america's a lot more than a balance sheet, i need a person that can speak to our hearts. and i just believe that rick perry is the one that speaks not only to my mind, but also to my heart. and, again, i think he has the best -- i think the -- look, i come from michigan, which is arguably ground zero for the painful economic transition that certainly my beautiful state and our entire nation now has been under, the worst in my lifetime certainly, and so the election next year is going to be -- the marquee issue is about jobs, and it's going to be about the economy, and i think you got to

look at somebody's background and a proven track record of creating jobs and, again, establishing an environment for the private sector to create jobs and i think that person is rick perry. >> congressman chaffetz let me come back to you, you mentioned why supporting romney, electability, this is someone who can win and that's the most important thing in all this. but congresswoman miller is saying that it can't just be head, which is kind of the electability area, we do not need to nominate someone that can win, it has to be heart, passion, core values. does mitt romney have that and has he not shown it enough in your estimation? >> oh, i think he absolutely does. we got to see him in utah with the salt lake city olympics falling apart, we needed a turn around, and he was able to rally the nation behind this, it was right after 9/11, deep financial problems. i think we saw that, that spirit of the olympic games that he brought back and made us so proud. when i got to see that up close and personal, how he acted as a governor, i know his wife ann, his son josh, i got to see that up close and personal.

i think the country over the next year gets to know the romney family, it will make them proud. they're just a great american family, and i think they will connect with people's hearts, but also have the private sector experience that he had in the capital formation and growing jobs and the economy. look, he's only been in public office for four years. he's been mostly in the private sector, and he's had amazing personal success. and i think that's what this country needs. >> and let me ask you quickly, i would be remiss, i want to ask you, herman cain has been on capitol hill, courting house republicans, courting senate republicans. congressman mi mama mama maman s your impression of herman cain to this point? >> i have a very high regard for herman cain and a very strong, positive impression about herman cain. i think he has -- he's a remarkable american success story, and -- but, you know, again, i looked at all the various candidates, and it's my opinion that rick perry will be the clearest contrast between the republican nominee and the

democratic nominee who is going to be barack obama. we're on the hill here. we are living with these policies that barack obama has -- has put forward in the last three years. let's just take obama care as an example, that was the marquee issue of the last election. you got to have someone who can speak in very clear tones the difference between the two on issues like that. and i think rick perry is the best positioned to do so. >> and congressman chaffetz, quickly, when herman cain planned the visit, he didn't have the sexual harassment allegations aired publicly. has this hurt his momentum in convincing some of your colleagues to get behind him? he's not obviously someone you are as familiar with as mitt romney and rick perry. >> the last thing they want to be is embarrassed. i think a lot of people are supportive of mitt romney and why he has more endorsement on capitol hill more anybody else, he's the most well-vetted candidate. you can't have been the governor of massachusetts for four years,

run for president before, run for president again and not be well vetted. i think he shares that experience in being able to say, look, you're not going to get surprised by me. and i think that's going to resonate with a lot of members of congress, who, like i said, are going to be on the ballot and they want somebody to make them proud and be a contender and ultimately win in november. >> congressman jason chaffetz of utah and congress women miller, thank you for your time. the big fat greek mess is getting worse by the mind today, what does it mean for the united states? the market rundown is next. and a political gold mine, wall street fund-raisers are pouring millions of dollars into the presidential race. we'll tell you where the big bucks are going, and why it's not all about caviar and champagne. but, first, today's trivia question -- who was the first african-american woman elected to the senate? that's a little bit easy, i think. you can tweet us, and i bet a lot of you will, at "daily

rundown."

we're just a few minutes from the opening bell on wall street, cnbc's andrew ross sorkin is here with the market rundown. andrew? >> hey there, we're looking at a much higher open there actually as i look there. we just had news out of europe this morning that the european central bank is actually going to be lowering interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, that's a huge and unexpected move. it's the first move by drogi who took over for trichet and it's something that has the whole market excited in an odd way. the other piece that a lot of people are focused on today is what is going on in greece and what will happen to the bailout man. a lot of headlines from greece suggesting that maybe there won't be a referendum at all.

we don't know the answer yet, but a lot of people are pinning some hopes that perhaps the referendum will go away, and if that is the case, the bailout would proceed apace. >> thanks, andrew. >> thank you. "the daily rundown" will be back in 30 seconds. welcome back to "the daily rundown." i'm chris cillizza in for france-bound chuck todd. bottom of the hour now, a quick look at what's driving the day. president obama is in france

for the start of the g-20 summit. looming over the meeting of world leaders, the ongoing european debt crisis, which is sure to be a major focus of the summit. on capitol hill, a house panel will vote today on whether to subpoena the white house for documents pertaining to solyndra, the california-based solar company that received half a billion dollars of federal loan money before declaring bankruptcy. and the opening bell has now rung on wall street. dow futures pointing to a higher open today, but investors will be keeping a close eye on the development in greece where calls for the resignation of prime minister papandreou are growing louder. other stories making headlines -- >> a day of peaceful protests in oakland took a wrong turn yesterday, ending in dozens of arrests. an estimated 7,000 supporters of the occupy wall street movement shut down the city's port yesterday, as part of a general strike. the scene turned chaotic when a small group of demonstrators built fires and moved to break

into an abandoned building. senior officials tell "the wall street journal" that the obama administration is considering a change in afghanistan that would scale back combat operations in the country much earlier than planned. the revised strategy would shift the military mission to an advisory role, long before the 2014 timeline. officials stress that u.s. troops would still remain in the fight and that no decisions have been made. and new data shows a record high level of extreme poverty in the united states. 1 in 15 people, more than 20 million americans, live at 50% or less of the official poverty level. that's just over $11,000 a year for a family of four. time now to check back in with chuck todd, who is traveling with the president in france. chuck, we're going to talk a little more politics. you're in france, but i know you keep an eye on what's going on over here. mitt romney was in -- he was -- let's talk first about the story that everyone's talking about.

herman cain. >> reporter: right. >> his -- he's sat down interestingly for an interview with jeanie thomas, wife of clarence thomas, the supreme court justice, for "the daily caller." let's sit down and listen to what he had to say and we'll come back and talk about it. >> that is the d.c. culture, guilty until proven innocent. >> so, guilty until proven innocent. is herman cain getting a raw deal here, chuck? you know, we're in the media, so i'm always a little resistant to the media's doing everything wrong. but is he getting a raw deal here or has re-create ehe creat situation for himself? >> reporter: he's made the situation worse by changing his own -- by having evolving explanations for things, by remembering as the day went on. by frankly going on tv too much in the first 48 hours. i think you wrote this, i

believe, yesterday or may have been your partner in crime -- >> yeah, too much. >> reporter: who said, too much, he's got to almost take a 24-hour break and regroup and get your stories straight, buddy, you know, that's been i think, you know, the issue here. his story is not straight. so when it's not, then all of a sudden, well, if he's -- well, if there was an incident and he said, maybe it was a miscommunication, well, then, obviously there was an incident. obviously there was an agreement and obviously money was changing hands. he says guilty until proven innocent, there's a lot more truthiness than he was claiming in the beginning. i think he's brought on the problems himself. but let's talk about it politically, how much will this hurt him with, say, his core 20% to 25% of support? i could see him losing a few points early on. but look at -- look at the defense he's using. attacking the media. shrouding himself in the legacy of clarence thomas, which does fire up some conservatives. i mean, you can't get more

blatant than deciding to sit down with clarence thomas' wife for a, quote-unquote, interview. >> the signal there is clear. >> reporter: we clearly know his strategy. >> yeah. >> reporter: we know the strategy and if you're mitt romney and rick perry and to a lesser extent, the rest of the field, bachmann, gingrich, santorum, what do you do here? he's probably going to hold on to a small but concerted part of the republican base -- >> yeah. >> reporter: -- will be with him just to sort of stick it to the elites. >> chuck, let's talk about, speaking of the elites, he won't like that segue, mitt romney is in an interview, he hasn't talked a lot about other states, but he got asked about it in relation to of all people tim tebow be an nbc station, i want to make sure i get this right, kusa in denver, let's listen to this, i want to talk about it when we get back. >> the big deal in colorado these days, i only bring that

up, because one portion of the discussion about tim tebow relates to his faith, what obligations do public figures, be they athletes or politicians, have to discuss their faith with the public? >> i can't speak for athletes or for business executives or for neighbors, but i do think the founders of the country made a very wise choice, they recognize that america was unique in many respects because of the tolerance we had for people of different faiths. i'm very happy to describe the fact that i'm a person of faith. i believe in god. i fundamentally believe in the principles of the judeo-christian world. >> what he didn't say in there, chuck, was much about the "m" word, mormon. >> reporter: much? did he say it at all? >> he didn't say it once. not a single time. obviously on purpose, am i right? >> reporter: well, you know, we've seen it in our own polling. we've seen it in focus groups. we know politically what he's doing. he's not wanting to be defined

as a mormon before he's defined as a conservative, before he's designed as a republican, before he's defined as a businessman. the risk here in this strategy, i think, for him, is that he makes it seem as if this is -- he's defensive over it. and as if it is sort of a taboo thing to talk about. if it's not a taboo thing to talk about, wear it more on your sleeve, be more comfortable talking about it, talking about being a mormon, what does that mean, and in trying to make it so that it doesn't seem like it's something that, shhh, you know, you whisper about or something. that's why i found his answer when we saw that come in, just -- like i said, it's potentially risky. i understand politically what they're up to, but it's risky in that it may delay the inevitable that they're worried about in the long term and they may actually be creating more of a problem. this is a man who goes to church very -- most sundays from what i

understand. they just don't talk about it. and for us, as political reporters, it's different because we're used to politicians playing that up. especially in the last, i'd say, last 20 years, whether it's a democrat or a republican, playing up the idea that they're religious, that they go to church on sundays, but we're seeing him not do that, and you wonder, does it make it so that he's making -- he's reinforcing the idea that somehow, oh, he can't talk about the fact that he's mormon. >> plus, chuck, it's always good to get a sound bite in that relates to tim tebow, good for ratings. thanks, chuck, have a good rest of the day in france. >> reporter: we can go on and on on that. did he throw for 100 yards yet or not? will he throw for 100 yards before the end of the year? >> your miami biases are showing. we'll see you, have fun in france. >> reporter: i really like the guy, even though he's a gator, he's a likable guy. but i wouldn't start him on my

nfl team. thank you, brother. >> a kyle orton supporter. republican hopeful mitt romney was in new york this week, looking to fill what else, his campaign coffers. one fetched $2,500 for vip access to the candidate. we've got a campaign embed following romney. garrett, welcome, what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, chris. yeah, we had two big events in the last couple days and who knows how many other ones they were able to keep quieter. you had the one at the waldorf-astoria and put on by the home depot starter, and you had masters of universe-type guys coming in and out from the lunch two days ago and yesterday morning you had the big event at the grand hyatt, a packed ballroom, we were told several hundred people inside, even the protesters were getting into the sort of wall street element, you had 20 to 25 occupy wall street

signs outside saying gordon gekko signs say "greed is good" but greed may be good in terms of the money they are raising. mitt romney raised $3.5 million in the state of new york so far this cycle, it's seven times more than his closet competitor in the primaries, rick perry. >> garrett, the campaign embed for mitt romney, following him literally everywhere he goes, garrett, thanks for taking the time this morning. >> you bet, chris. mitt romney isn't alone in chasing big bucks for his campaign. president obama is raking in record amounts, too, and regardless of the candidates' opinion of wall street, the finance sector is pouring in the cash. nbc news correspondent michael isikoff took a closer look at the issue and he joins us now. good morning. >> you're right, chris, while the occupy wall street protests have been getting a lot of attention, wall street has been making its voice heard with a

gusher of amount to the presidents. >> reporter: anger over corporate greed, income disparity and the power of wall street in washington. >> from my perspective they are completely in bed with each other. >> it's almost gotten to the scale that it's tipping money to the wall street elite. >> reporter: wall street has poured money into political campaigns for decades. and this election it's likely to be bigger than ever due to looser rules. president obama has gotten $12.9 million, mitt romney, $18 million, rick perry, $2 million. >> these are really the 1%. they can afford to dip -- dig deep into their pockets and bring up serious cash. >> reporter: even as they take wall street cash, the candidates are trying to shape the wall street protests for their political advantage. obama expressing sympathy. >> the protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.

>> reporter: romney blaming obama's policies. >> those who are working are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. >> reporter: it's been a particularly delicate balancing act for obama who got big support from wall street in 2008. but two years ago when he was pushing financial reform -- >> i did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of, you know, fat-cat bankers on wall street. >> reporter: what happened? >> barack obama's bark is much worse than his bite when it comes to the big banks, and as i say, i don't think they've been terribly inconvenienced. >> reporter: and now that he's running for re-election, he's reaching out for their money again. new campaign records show that 65 of the president's top fund-raisers who have brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece are from wall street financial firms and banks. obama's biggest wall street bundler? former new jersey governor jon corzine, his investment firm, mf global, just filed for bankruptcy after investing too heavily in european bonds. it's not just obama. wall street considers romney one of its own.

he made a fortune as a venture capitalist, now he's getting a gush of money from former wall street colleagues, an example, hedge fund billionaire john paulson, he gave $1 million to a superpac backing romney's candidacy. you know, chris, the president now is facing additional problems trying to get that wall street cash. the corzine problems are mounting. there's an fbi investigation of mf global. you know what this often means, demands for calls for returns of the money if there are any criminal charges. >> a lot of money to be returned. >> this morning from the rnc, and jon corzine, the ex-future obama treasury secretary, he'll be hitting this one. >> mike isikoff, one of the best investigative reporters in the country. thank you for joining us. and the political panel will be here next. but, first, the white house soup of the day, it's coconut sweet potato. i feel like that's pineapple on pizza. it doesn't seem right. you're watching "the daily

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we'll send you strips and a meter, free. can't i just have these? freestyle lite test strips. call or click today. nbc news has confirmed that a third woman did complain to others about presidential candidate herman cain's conduct. that's in addition to the two women who officially accused cain of improper sexual conduct and received financial settlements. so, the herman campaign under fire has shifted blame from the media to republican rival rick perry. cecille richards is the president of planned parenthood, dennis hastert is a former illinois congressman and former speaker of the house of representatives and, mr. speaker, i want to start with you but i want to read what herman cain said at a town hall last night.

he said, we now know and have been able to trace it back to the perry campaign to stir it up in order to discredit me and slow us down. where do you come down on this? as a republican, this looks from the outside, to me at least, like a firing squad. what's happening? >> well, look it, you're going to see a lot of finger-pointing and a lot of flailing. >> uh-huh. >> and also i always said in politics there's also, like, the chicken in the barnyard, there's going to be a lot of feather fluffing and throwing up dust, that's what's going on right now. i think really the candidate that people want to look at is who could -- who can come out of these firestorms. because the real job in the white house is actually you're in a firestorm every day. >> uh-huh. >> and whose personality and whose presence can carry through this time of thing. nobody wants to be accused of this type of thing, but it's also one of those glaring lights of the presidency, and he's going to have to, of course, talk his way out of this as well. >> let me follow-up quickly.

how has he done so far, as someone yourself who has weathered not personally but has weathered as the president of the house republican party. >> i have known herman cain for a long time, ironically newt gingrich used to bring him into our policy groups all the time. but he's a decent guy. he's fought his own battles. he's created a good business background. and he's had his fingers in politics, but, you know, this is part of the cauldron. this is part of the mashing through this process and we'll see who comes up on top. >> and, cecille, let me go to you, is there a good outcome for herman cain out of this? chuck todd and i were talking about it earlier and it kind of solidifies his support, do you see anything good coming out of this? >> we'll have to see at the primary, he's shooting at all folks at this point. at the end of the day, though, what will hurt him and frankly a lot of the republican leadership is women and, you know, the gender gap is going to be

essential in this election. it was -- it was last time around. i think women very likely will determine who the next president is, and i think for this to be the story, the republican leadership is dealing with, you know, and added to all the attacks that they've made on women's health care, i think it begins to sort of draw a picture, i think we're seeing that in the polling as well, that women really don't have confidence in the republican leadership is on their side. >> and i always say people are saying right now pointing to the poll showing herman cain doing well. give it a little bit of time, not saying he won't, but you got to give the things time to permeate out. >> right. >> the fact that everyone follows it as closely as we do and one second later they form their opinion. >> right. >> i want to play chris wilson who is a republican pollster, he's working for a superpac supporting rick perry, this mis a miasma of public financing, he was on the radio, talking about herman cain and sexual harassment. he's a pollster for the national

restaurant association. let's listen to what he had to say and we'll come and talk about it. >> i was the pollster for the national restaurant association when herman cain was the head of it, and i was around at the time when it happened. at the time she was a very lo r lower-level staffer and she was maybe two years out of college and it all occurred at a restaurant in crystal city. everybody was very ara raiware . and if she does go and talk about it, i think it will be the end of his campaign. >> we played the chris wilson sound, he's working for an organization, say, affiliated with rick perry, but it still seems to be me to be relatively damning, because we're talking about a pattern of detail. >> no, that's what you saw yesterday, more details coming out from the woman who talked to the a.p. and she's remaining anonymous and then this detail, too, suspect because he is from the perry campaign, and it certainly, you know, gives something of an argument to cain saying that this actually did come from the perry campaign, but, again, details, had is something that we haven't really had. and that's one of the reasons i

think cain has been able to survive it a little bit, because everything has been vague, but when you start getting specifics and details about specific people, i think that begins to -- >> and i think we will -- >> yeah. >> -- get details in the nationl media. we'll be back with all three of you, but i would be remiss not to give you your trivia answer. we asked who was the first african-american woman elected to the senate? the answer, and i'm sure 99% of you know this because you're political nerds and watch the show, illinois democrat carol moseley braun. she won that historic election 19 years ago today, which really makes me feel old. we'll be right back. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ♪

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let's bring back our panel. mr. speaker, i want to start with what i thought was an eye-opening poll number, quinnipiac conducted a poll, can the supercommittee and president

obama agree on a debt plan. yes 24%, no 67%. two-thirds of the american public does not have faith we can get our finances in order. fair, unfair? surprising? >> no, it's not surprising. you know, what happens within the supercommittee, you don't have the -- you have some centrists from the congress in there but you also have the poles there and it's a constant debate. you're not talking about policy, you start talking about philosophy. philosophy, you start mixing that, that's religion and government and that's all the heat in government. so it's very difficult to find some type of thing. what the congress has to be careful of, especially the republican party has to be careful of the supercommittee, if you do get an agreement and then you have to go the next step and negotiate with the white house, you know, you don't know what you're going to get because you've made that commitment step and then, of course, there's another step to go so you end up negotiating with yourself.

and that's the danger that's in this whole thing. >> cecile, quickly, elements of the debt reduction plan, people in favor of some tax increases, 39%. spending cuts only 48% of the so half of the public wants spending cuts only. how do we get to a deal when every economist says spending cuts only will be very difficult to close the gap? >> i think we can definitely get the deal. i thought it was encouraging today that republicans and democrats came together. >> we talked about it earlier. >> said this has got to happen. i think what the american people are looking for is folks that can make progress and get something done. i think one of the most interesting things about that poll too was the breakdown in gender. women, i think, are definitely looking to see can government, can congress make something happen and -- >> we'll get an answer one way or the other. nia, let's go right to shameless plugs, because i don't want to forget it. >> that's right. >> lead off, kick us off. be shameless. >> i'm going with the honey badger. you know, because the honey

badger doesn't play and you guys should always -- you should watch that. i know you've seep it. >> 22 jillion hits. >> honey badger. >> mr. speaker. >> my shameless hit is i have two grandchildren, twins, and their first birthday is this week. so we're going to go back and celebrate. >> i have twins too but -- >> doubling down. >> no, next week planned parenthood action fund, women are watching. we're launching a national site that will watch where the candidates stand on important issues to ben and i think it's going to be really important. women will make the difference in this election. >> i will give mine to "the washington post" just put out a primary tracker. it shows where everyone has been, how often they have been to the early states. it's a great resource. i spent way too much time on it yesterday. thank you all for joining me. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." tomorrow on the show, chuck todd's interview with bill gates from the g-20.

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