head start. >> rick perry excuse, number ten. >> actually there were three reasons i messed up last night. one was the nerves. and two was the headache. and three -- um, um -- [ laughter ] >> good day i'm andrea mitchell, live in washington. what herman cain described as two weeks of hell could be costing him support from women voters. a new poll shows cain has gone down 13 points among women voters and down seven points overall. cain still maintains a lead nationally in the overall race with 18% of the voters compared to mitt romney and newt gingrich tied at 15%. david gregory is moderator of nbc's "meet the press" and joins me for our daily fix. what a week this has been. you can't even make you want up.

the race is in flux. that's the bottom line. >> it is in flux. you still have to look at mitt romney and i've been talking to some republican pollsters as running a very consistent campaign. we talk about a race having two contenders and he's been a steady number one. does he have a problem with conservative primary voters? yes. if you add in as we did our polling the prospect of a third-party candidacy with somebody like ron paul it exposes more of that weakness among republicans but a lot of these upstart candidacies have gone up and come down. >> how serious a threat could newt gingrich be. is he the next bright shiny object for the tea party conservative? >> he might be. i know that the view within his camp is that he can emerge and be that and be sort of the last man standing with mitt romney. there's a feeling that even though cain steadied himself and

is weathering these allegations for now there's a view his supporters will reluctantly say he can't win this thing. there's a lot of distance to go on gingrich. there's a lot of history there that came up in this past debate about ties to freddie mac. >> a question he didn't an. >> he didn't answer. and whether other money that he's gotten in years past whether that starts to come up. but the point of it is that there's still room for that second person to really challenge romney. michele bachmann is trying to do that. remember, she had her thunder stolen when she came out of the ames straw poll which she win by rick perry who gets into the race. is she positioned to make a run. >> the difference between rick perry did damage control, the mea culpa and defiant counter attack from herman cain. let's watch herman cain.

>> probably not politically correct to say but, you know, i didn't take a politically correct class. so i'm going to say it, i've been through hell. now here's the good news. it didn't kill me or slow us down one bit. >> you know, he and his supporters like the analogy of clarence thomas and anita hill. they are the ones that brought it up. the fact is that that is exactly what clarence thomas did with his decisive testimony was to go on the counter attack, be defiant and basically to win, not vindication but win confirmation. >> in this context of this campaign let's remember what is driving conservative voters right now. anti-establishment, nonpolitician, the businessman. he's got all of that. and he's able to stand up and

say first of all these allegations are not true. right. so you'll have a credibility test on both sides. >> that's his claim. >> but second that there's an array of forces trying to take me down because i'm not part of the establishment, because i'm a business guy, because i'm an outsider to the system. that has a lot of political resonance. that sound bite you just played really capsulates a winning position for him. >> let's see if he can be on top of foreign policy in a debate on friday night. >> which has been papered over. there's been some mistakes there. but it's not where primary voters are in thinking that's what's most important. we talk about it in more of a general election capacity. >> you have a big show. >> we'll talk to michele bachmann, debbie wasserman-schultz and we'll talk about this penn state story.

how a conspiracy of silence can occur. >> it's a gripping, compelling devastating story and really is the portrait of a lot of our society today. we'll watch. thank you very much. thanks, david. >> president obama leaves tonight on an eight day the opera's asia putting him on the other side of the world just as congress faces a critical deadline for the super committee. >> you're right at the epicenter democratic debate. let's talk about where the president now goes. as you see the republican party moving farther and farther to the right in the primaries.

>> well, i think he's going to don't try to be out there talking about jobs in the days and weeks to come. he's going now to the apec meeting to move forward on a trade agenda to work with our parties in australia, new zealand, chile and peru and other asian partners to boost exports. he's made a pledge to boost exports by doubling exports by 2015. i think he'll be out there to press the republicans on the hill to do more on jobs. we finally got some traction. today is veterans day. they finally pass ad bill that the president had proposed to give tax credits to businesses that are hiring returning veterans. so that's one small piece of good news. big piece of good news for veterans and small piece of good news for the country. so i think we -- he'll continue to do that. in the meantime i think the republicans keep drifting further and further to the right and kind of away from the mainstream. >> but, john, as a former chief

of staff, put that hat on, does it come to a point if the super committee fails, there's gridlock on the hill and we go back into the same kind of meltdown as we saw in august, does he have to cut short his trip? you know -- >> don't think so. i don't think so. this is a very different circumstance. that was a crisis in which the country for the first time would have gone into default if there had been no deal. this is just a marker that the congress itself has set for itself, it misses those markers all the time and my guess is it will miss this one as well. that's not good news for the country. i think we need to get the long term fiscal program in place. but i don't think there's any crisis that will result if they fail in this context. you have to remember, the congress already and the president signed a deal in the summer that would reduce spending, including entitlements but also in defense and domestic

discretionary spending if these 12 members of congress fail in their efforts. >> right. >> the bush tax use expire at the end of 2012. you'll see a big bump of revenue physician they do nothing and so far one of the things i think you can count on particularly given the recalcitrant of the house republicans to raise revenue nothing is the order of the day in the house of representatives. >> now john, what about someone you know very well, bill clinton and in his book and i know he's taken back some of what he wrote, but this, sort of sniping from the sides a little bit from the former president can't be terribly comfortable for the obama white house. he wrote that vice president biden and i tried to get the democratic national committee to get a set of talking points so democratic foot soldiers would have good ammunition for their phone and door-to-door campaigns. we couldn't persuade the decision makers to do so and he's talking about the 2010 elections which, of course, were

a real setback for the white house and democrats. he's basically saying that, you know, he tried and he tried with joe biden but the obama team and the white house wouldn't play. is that helpful? >> well, andrea, you have to look at the whole book not just that one paragraph. he's very supportive of president obama's approach to the economy. he gives 46 specific ideas -- >> but any implied criticism, with all due respect from the former president and especially given their past relationship, the edginess what he said about the debt ceiling. >> look. people like to do the psycho drama between the two of them. bill clinton has been very supportive of president obama and i think this book is extremely supportive of the approach he's taken. and president clinton, if there's one puerto rican in this country who has credibility on how you get jobs growing and rolling again in this country, how you increase wages for the middle class and how you do it

in the context of balancing the budget it's bill clinton. >> so why doesn't the white house listen to him more? >> again, i think that if you look at the ideas in the book, many of them are in the president's jobs program and i think that two presidents, the current president and former president played golf the other day. i'm sure they talked about some of these ideas. >> they played golf once in august and the clintons have never been social guests of the obamas at the white house. you trying to suggest this is a close personal relationship? >> look, the secretary of state couldn't be closer to the president than any member of the cabinet. i think she has a great relationship with him and has done a fabulous job for him. i think the president and president obama, president clinton and president obama have -- you know, they have a good relationship and i think they talk about these ideas from time to time and president obama keeps president clinton informed. he gives him advice. i think this book, again if you read it cover to cover what

you'll see is a book that's very supportive of the approach that president obama has taken opinion it's in stark contrast to what the republicans are offering and i think one of the most important elements of this book is his take down essentially of this notion that you can destroy the federal government and create jobs and create a growing middle class at the same time. i think he's very compelling on that point. and i think that that's very helpful to president obama as he, you know, gets into the fray in 2012 with whoever is the ultimate republican nominee. >> great to see you. thank you very much. south carolina up for grabs for the republican presidential camp hopefuls. who has the best shot there? still ahead the investigation also widening at penn state. the board of trustees today appoint agnew panel to investigate claims of a campus cover-up. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" as we honor america's war veterans, only right here on

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the second time in four days be republicans will be squaring off tomorrow for a presidential debate this time in south carolina, a key early primary state. you're seeing live pictures now where mitt romney is holding a roundtable with veterans. been more than 30 years since a member of the party has won the nomination without first winning south carolina. mr. chairman, thank you very much for joining us. what a week it has been. first of all, mitt romney -- it's great to see you. i'm wondering whether mitt romney can do well in south carolina? >> yeah. i believe he really can. i think the race is wide-open.

for me it's now about getting here. i think so. he's got a lot of name i.d.. people like him. the real deal right now is the candidates getting here to south carolina early and often. >> are you frustrated with all the focus that has been on iowa and new hampshire so far? >> no. that's part it. we got our niche. we're the first in the south. we're also pretty traditional state. rich in the heritage of picking the right nominee. for 30 years we've picked the right nominee. candidates know they got to get here. >> speaking of the candidates, rick perry will be among those debating and he had a pretty bad showing the other night in michigan. people, veterans say they have never seen a brain freeze like his performance in that debate. what do you think about him as the nominee after what happened? is he still a viable candidate? >> well, look i'm a speaker.

i speak for a living. we all had a brain freeze. people expect their commander in chief to have answers and no question about it people will wonder why he had a brain freeze on that. he has to krecuppeerate. >> i want to ask you about herman cain's performance in that debate. i did an interview yesterday this, is your fellow south carolinian from the opposite party, jim clyburn reacting to herman cain referring to the former speaker of the house as princess nancy. >> to denigrate her is unbecoming of a southern gentleman. us southern gentleman just don't act that way. >> what was your reaction to that as another southern gentleman? >> you probably won't find a lot

of nancy pelosi fans here so i think herman cain will be okay here. >> okay. well thank you very much. you're one of the hosts down there and we look forward to seeing you and seeing the debate. thanks for being with us. >> looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night. >> meanwhile penn state, of course, trying regroup as student leaders turn their focus 0 the victims of the tragedy. latest on the investigation coming up next here on "andrea mitchell reports". re

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bob neal is the host of talking football on the comcast sports network. thank you for joining us. let's talk about the big picture here what this means to college football and what i want says about the more broadly about our society that if this took place as it is alleged by the grand jury's indictment what it says about the secrecy, the silence, the closed circle of the athletic community in college sports? >> andrea, it's my pleasure to join you to discuss this topic. i've noticed this since the early '80s when i first began broadcasting for turner broadcasting and some for nbc, national college football games and virtually in every conference and many of the top teams. one of the first things i noticed going back to the early '80s and it precedes even that is the closed culture of college football. it is a culture to where what happens here stays here. you hear it from coaches all the time. we will handle this discipline internally.

when that involves something like missing a class or showing up late for practice that's one thing. you get into criminal elements such as players being involved in fights or drug abuse that raises the bar. never has there ever been anything quite as heinous as this and these acusations against jerry sandusky. this closed culture leads to these things happening. there needs be a hard look by universities all across america about the closed culture and the power of these all powerful football coaches at institutions. that was the environment from which such a heinous crime emerged. >> when you raise questions, mike mcqueary did the right thing on one level. he has a career path as did sandusky who was the heir apparent. everyone involved in this case

had something to gain by being quiet. and not going to police, which is the law in pennsylvania. and i want raises so many questions. now, there were additional potential victims. there's a wider circle anesthesia investigated. and we now know texas authorities are raising questions about sandusky's travel with young people to the alamo bowl back in 1999. >> that was the alamo, that was victim number four said he went there with sandusky. that's in the hands of criminal prosecutors now. i think, i sense a shift in this by the way, a shift in the focus at penn state, first of all, away from joe paterno and poor old joe getting fired to the victims. there's a vigil tonight. there will be a vigil by the foundation to abolish child abuse at penn state tomorrow night and i also see that the university board of trustees met and they have named kenneth fraser as the chairman of this committee to investigate and

they also brought in the head man, the secretary of the state education department to look into this. i think that this is shifting now towards investigation and towards the victims. >> bob neal, thank you so much. thank for entrepreneur sights. in "the politico" briefing continue on this subject the investigation into alleged sexual abuse has political short fallouts, potential cover-ups at penn state. it sent shockwaves through republican and democratic. and testing tom corbett republican who sent a public signal by attending today's trustee meeting something he's never done before. he's a member of the board of trustees. we have our political reporter here from "politico". we heard from different establishment figures, democrats and republicans but the governor has stepped up to the plate. >> reporter: yeah. i think overall just, you know, joe paterno and penn state specifically just have such an outsize role in pennsylvania

that these politicians got involved. you saw senators toomey and casy quickly putting out a statement resinding a presidential award that they nominated joe paterno for. the politics get trickier when you get closer to happy valley. the congressman there would not talk about it and say whether he believed that award should be resinded. he said that the focus shouldn't be on paterno and it should be on the victims. when you drove down what's going on the web, democrats point out paterno was a republican. you saw the politics intruding this bigger story about the abuse scandal. >> but we have to say that joe paterno was a hero to democrats and republicans. he was close to the former governor as well. i mean he just was a larger than life figure because the program there was so clean by ncaa standards and has been such a spectacular program and it's such a special place.

>> no question about it. that's why politicians tread carefully with their statements on this. >> thank you very much. >> sure. we continue world markets easing on some signs of political progress, small progress perhaps in greece and italy. will the bailouts work? plus rick perry's terrible week. we'll talk about the state of play with "the washington post". and on monday now with alex wagoner premieres right here 12:00 eastern. we'll have a new neighbor. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

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♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! topping the headlines right now on "andrea mitchell reports". the obama administration is reportedly planning to sell bunker breaking bombs to the united arab emirates. the white house may sell thousands of those munitions to the uae as a check against iran.

this becomes even more important given the opposition to stronger sanctions from russia to hold iran in check. new guidelines are suggesting children get screened for high cholesterol in an effort to prevents heart disease later in life. they are expanding previous recommendations. kids with family history of the disease getting checked. the mayor of oakland is now calling for an to end the city's occupy movement after a man was murdered yesterday a few blocks from the demonstrations. organizers say that the victim was not associated with the protests. and the italian senate has now approved new austerity measures and greece has sworn in its new government as both countries are trying to ease fears, global fears surrounding a massive debt. nick, thanks so much for being with us. we've seen so many, so many trends this week with occupy

here, plus the global threat of a meltdown and the political problems overseas. from your perspective, what has happened in europe this week, is this short term fix politically? are we still going to face the possibility of real economic, economic meltdowns and financial waves that will reach us? >> i think today we've seen some modest progress in both greece and italy. we have more capable leaders coming to office in both countries. in italy we have these new austerity measures which have helped reduce the yields on italian debt from the utterly impossible levels to the merely catastrophically high. so i think today is a good day but i think there will be a lot more bad days down the road. at the end of the day we're moving from tiny greece is the focus to big huge italy, eighth largest economy in the world. >> and the third largest in europe which makes a big difference with a lot of financial institutions there and

potentially here also at risk if things go awry. we seem to be pretty much on the sidelines as far as the united states is concern. the president was just at the g-20 not really a player because this ve this really is a european problem to fix. >> in 1987-1988 we were the main player. today we don't have the leverage and we are, as you say really on the periphery of it. i think we are nudging europe to do a little bit more and we can probably do a little bit more of that. at the end. day i do think this fundamentally is a european crisis and it's going up to the europeans to solve it or to let it blow up. >> it wasn't only the asian crisis, the russian crisis, the latin america crisis, it was always mexico, always the united states propping up the imf, the world bank and working as the

lead figure, the lead player. and now because of our own diminished size in terms of just the way our own economy is working, we just don't have the moral persuasion any more. >> we don't have the moral persuasion given our own problems and the perception in europe that a lot of these problems really started in the u.s. and we also don't have the economic persuasion if you will. the amounts of money that would be needed to resolve the european crisis are just huge at a time when our own fiscal constraints are such that we can't do now stimulate the economy here. we're limited in the tools we can provide to aid europe. >> one of the other things that came up this week, after all of the focus on too big to fail and so-called fixes that took place how do you explain what happened with jon corzine and mf global?

>> it is fascinating how you can have these titans of wall street who are so respected and then whether it was, you know, at every level and this is the latest example, they make bets and they go terribly bad. to me it looks like the secret of making these deals is very high leveraged. when you have 40-1 leverage, if you make a good bet but boy you rake in the money. when you make a bad bet you don't just then blow up your own firm but you create these ripples that harm the whole economy. >> i was also looking at your column, your op-ed on occupy wall street in a said regarding occupy wall street, yes we face a threat our capitalist system but it's not coming from half-naked anarchists manning the bar kids at occupy wall street protests, rather it comes

from pinstriped apologists that produce soaring inequality and unaccountable executives. it's time to take the crony out of capitalism. >> you know after the asian economic crisis there was a real push to try to change the international financial arc i can -- architecture. as we resolved that crisis it faded away and the pressure mounted and instead we moved to deregulate, and to move away from the kind of discipline that capitalism depends upon which is discipline of failure and in the banking sector because we did have banks as you say were too big to fail, it was in their economic interest to make these huge bets if they managed to privatize profits but to socialize their losses and that's not good at the end of the day for them nor it is good for the country. so i mean i think what we need at the end of the day we need more capitalism, the opportunity

to go bankrupt. >> to be continued. thank you so much, nick. great to see you. >> my pleasure. >> the republican race meanwhile is beginning to look more like a demolition derby than an episode of "survivor". thank you very much for being with us, michael. you watched the debate. let's talk about rick perry, first of all. how does a candidate for president of the united states, and sitting governor of such a large state, perform that way and be completely incapable of ad libbing beyond his talking points. >> it's a real rob. you have to put it in perspective. gerald ford in a debate once denied that poland was occupied by the soviet union. perry didn't do something like that. he had a lapse. it was not a gaffe that made people angry. but the problem is it confirmed a narrative. if bill clinton had done this he could have laughed it off on

late night television. people don't doubt his political skills. but people doubt rick perry's political skills and it played into that narrative. people forget he was in a lot of trouble before this gaffe. he was struggling to be in the top tier of candidate and this is not going help. >> i was interviewing chad earlier in the program, the south carolina republican chairman and gave him a chance for him to say it's okay because rick perry, knowing how conservative so and how conservatives have been so suspicious of mitt romney and he had real concerns because he said well, you know, you do expect a better performance, i'm not quoting him exactly but the basic import was you expect a better performance. >> i've heard that in south carolina and in iowa and new hampshire. people asking well what is rick perry going to look like on a stage with barack obama. it's a serious question. it's the reason that i think romney although he has a lot of negatives in this republican field is doing quite well in the debates.

>> he's doing well in the debates. at the same time mitt romney this week on the ohio ballot issue, last week on the ohio ballot issue, he took two completely different positions on two successive days reinforcing that narrative he's a flipfloper. i want to play the tape. >> i'm not speak about the particular ballot issues. i support the effort of the governor to rein in the scale of government. i'm not terribly familiar. >> i'm story i created any confusion. i fully support governor kasich's, i think it's called question two in ohio. what i was referring toy know there are other ballot questions in there ohio and i wasn't taking a position on those. i'm 110% behind governor kasich and in support of that question. >> it strikes me when people say i'm 110%. >> i agree. i think that his first instinct

by the way was probably the better one in this case. i think that governor kasich had real problems with this ballot because it questioned collective bargaining for cops and for firemen where, you know, people in ohio, they are concerned about the cost of public employees but they are not for getting rid of the rights of collective bargaining. it was an overreach. so i think his initial instinct was better than his latter one. >> what about romney on personhood. do you think he took the right position on that, back on october 1st, i think that romney was saying one thing and then came back when the mississippi vote came up. >> well that was tough for all politicians. you had hailey barbour the outgoing governor who was conflicted himself, came down in support of it -- >> sent a signal. hailey sent the signal they didn't have to vote for it. >> it was very hard. that was an overreach as well. the election was a pretty good

night for republicans in places like mississippi and virginia. but even in a good political environment in ohio and mississippi when you overreach, the voters punish you. >> is cain right to go on the offensive rather than do an apology. he's been aggressively fight back. >> he's getting some conservative backlash support. people who really resent and fear the media. but if any of the normal rules of politics apply this is a serious blow because his response to these accusations has, in fact, been incompetent. they have gone out and accused a lot of people without any evidence. this undermines his main appeal. he's supposed to be competent manager who surrounds himself by good people and he hasn't been competent and the people around him haven't been competent either. >> thanks so much, michael. have a great weekend. the republican party inching farther to the right. how does that affect the president's campaign strategy?

howard dean is next on andrea mitchell report. a memorable veterans day for one family in alabama. >> i watch these tv shows sometimes and when little kids see their dads and sometimes i wish it was me and now it is. on november 26th you can make a huge impact by shopping small on small business saturday. one purchase. one purchase is all it takes. so, pick your favorite local business... and join the movement. i pledge to shop small at big top candy shop. allen's boots... at juno baby store. make the pledge to shop small. please. shop small on small business saturday.

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make one call to an allstate agent. [ female announcer ] who'd have thought that the person you'd grow up to be -- how creative or confident or kind -- was shaped before you lost your first tooth? ♪ the first five years are forever. ♪ that's why pnc is devoting $250 million and ten more years to helping families discover learning opportunities all around them. pnc. grow up great. i'm tamron hall. it's the eve of penn state playing its first game since news broke of the horrific child sexual abuse investigation. we know there's a new head coach and a new president but we've also learned new details from a parent for the first time who is talking publicly about what she says happened to her son. we have the latest on her story as well as security measures in

place for tomorrow's game. why the biggest names in politics are now trying to distance themselves from joe paterno and others at penn state. and details on the extraordinary event that president obama will attend in just a few hours for this veterans day. it's all coming up at 2:00 eastern. we're only 60 days, two months away from the first votes being cast in the 2012 election. what's the best strategy for the president going forward and throughout the campaign and we're joined now by former democratic party chair and former governor of vermont, howard dean. hey, governor, thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> wish i was channelling you as you were watching the republican debate this week wondering what you think of the field so far. does it took more and more like mitt romney will be the nominee because he would most arguably, he would be the toughest against barack obama? >> i would agree with both of those things. what astonishes me, this is a republican campaign along the

democratic model. chaos, establishment can't figure out how to get their candidate where they need to get. this is a very unrepublican campaign. what astonishes me, the rick perry thing, i felt sorry for rick perry. an 8 x 10 index card doesn't cost very much. when i used to be in his position -- everybody has these lapses. everybody loses their train of thought. it happens when you have nine debates and more to come. so you make eight index cards with your key talking points and one of them certainly had to be the three organizations he would get rid of at the federal government. i couldn't believe it. that's on his staff more than it's on him. i was just shocked with the exception of mitt romney at the incredibly low level of staffing that these campaigns have. >> well, at the same time he could have written it on his hand. that's been done in the past. >> company have done that. we won't go down that road. >> but at the same time, what about the fact that newt

gingrich and herman cain seem to be gaining strength by attacking the media and attacking their accusers. >> well, newt will make a run at it. everybody else had their chance. i would encourage the previous panelists, i think herman cain -- it's conceivable because 70% of the republican party grassroot voters don't want to nominate mitt romney, conceivably won't run but the only guy that has the kind of organization to win nomination. if he done herman cain could win. that's a disaster for the republican party because while conservatives may vote for him because of the backlash against the media independents won't do that. gingrich hasn't had his run. we've had cain, perry, michele bachmann why not gingrich. he'll take a run at romney in iowa and we'll see what happens. >> i want to ask you on the democratic side about a key decision by the state department and the white house to kick the keystone pipeline

decision-making past the campaign here by saying that they want to now review sir come vaent critical area of nebraska but that will delay the decision-making. this has divided the president's base. energy supporters are criticizing the failure to approve it at the same time as environmentalists are saying that the administration has let key lobbyists for energy get involved in the process all along the way. where do you come down on this as an environmentalist? >> this is the only thing that he could do. you cannot alienate the environmentalists in a democratic, if you're the democratic president during an election year. on the other hand there's thousands of jobs here that are at stake. you can't come down on one side or the other politically speaking he did exactly the smart thing to do. >> so you're saying he made a political decision that they basically made a political decision. >> of course he made a political decision. i have no idea if it was substantive but the nebraska people had a legitimate concern

about the aquifer. if i'm his political advisor i'm saying you don't get into this before the election. you can't do that. >> howard dean, great to see you. the colors still great colors s there? >> it's almost winter. >> we wish we were up there. >> skiing is great up top though. >> thanks a lot and have a good weekend. >> college basketball this season is tipping off tonight and doing it in style. this veteran's day with a high profile matchup with the university of north carolina and michigan state on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier playing host to the game and it is docked in san diego bay and host to president obama. he will make remarks ahead of the tip off. ma aouer keix r hold c

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it's beginning to look a lot

like christmas at 30 rock. the plaza tree rode on the plaza today, a 10-ton norway spruce was donated by a family in pennsylvania. the workers will spend the next couple of weeks decorating the tree. it will be in a prime time special here on nbc. which political story will be making headlines next 24 hours. jonathan cape hart joins us now. we are looking at a saturday night debate. i want to hear what they have to have about u becky becky becky stan stan. >> u kbbecky becky becky stan sn is i way i believe he put it. >> a foreign policy debate and it will be a test for rick perry. maybe he should bring the five by eight cards or three by five cards. >> it will be a test for rick

perry and his memory and recall make any sense from china to border fences to iran. if john huntsman can hit it out of the park, it will be tomorrow night. we will see. >> south carolina, big military bases there and a lot of veterans in the audience and iran will be front and center. thank you very much. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online and on twitter. my colleague has a look at what's next on "news nation." >> there and have a great weekend. we are hearing from one of the mothers in the penn state investigation. what she said happen to her son and her son feared jerry

sandusky. how students are now raising money for victims of abuse. a very different image than what we saw the day paterno was fired. newt gingrich is written off early to a glitter bomb at a book signing and now gingrich has newt ment um as he is moving up in two new polls. they want a job. the postal service employs more veterans than any other civilian employer. but congress is debating a bill that would force the postal service to fire tens of thousands of vets, close post offices, shut mail processing plants, and disrupt mail delivery. drastic cuts won't fix the postal service and aren't needed. tell your representative to vote "no" on house resolution 2309. it's time to deliver for our veterans -- and america. what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick.

you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. ♪ oh,h, oh give me your war face! ca♪ iom yo♪ raaah! [ ou darrd

inoh,h, oh give me your war face! ca♪ iom yo♪ raaah! fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido "news nation" is following developing news in the penn state investigation. authorities in texas are now looking into possible charges against former penn state coach jerry sandusky having to do with the trip to the alamo bowl in san antonio in 1999, the final game with penn state. he took one of the eight young boys he is charged with assaulting and threatened to send him home.