that's "the ed show." i'ed schultz. list to my radio show on sirius xm radio channel 127 monday through friday noon to 3:00 p.m. and follow me on twitter it'sedshow and @wegoted. >> i missed you, my friend. >> i put on a few pounds. >> i put on a few pounds. we slimmed up the camera. the turkey did it to me. >> i'm going to suck it in the next hour. i know you how feel. >> you bet.

news station a statement reading in part "no individual, rather a private citizen, a candidate for public office or public official should be questioned about his or her private sexual life. mr. cain has no obligation to discuss these types of accusations publicly with the media and will not do so even if his principled position is viewed unfavorably by members of the media." to be fair, the latest accusation is news is not because this allegation is that he's done something illegal or even because it's anybody's business what any two adults do inside or outside the bounds of their own marriage. private life is private life, even for public figures. unless those public figures choose to build their political careers on criticizing other people's private lives and proclaiming the superiority of their own private life. in the case of mr. cain, he has campaigned for office by saying he will defend the sacred institution of marriage against liberals who want to destroy it. because of that, mr. cain has a

sacred institution glass house problem. though the lawyer's statement said mr. cain would not discuss these allegations as a matter of principle, i'm not sure that mr. cain, himself, got that memo tonight. >> did you have a 13-year affair with this woman? >> no. i did not. >> did you know her for 13 years? >> yes, but i did not have an affair. okay? and until i see and hear exactly what's going to be -- what the accusations are going to be made, let's move on. but i acknowledge that i knew the woman. i acknowledge that i've known her for about that period of time, but the accusation that i had a 13-year affair with her, no. >> was this an affair? >> no, it was not. >> there was no sex? >> no. >> none? >> no. >> if this woman says there was, she's lying? is that what you're -- >> wolf, let's see what the story is going to be. i don't want to get into being pinned down on things until we see what the story is going to

be. >> those comments from mr. cain coming after his lawyer said he will not discuss this matter at all. well, there's a political flury about this new herman cain scandal tonight which this flury may last into tomorrow, may not. but if it does last, it will mostly be because there isn't really other huge political news pushing this out of the news cycle right now. otherwise i think this would be over fairly quickly. sex scandal allegation number seven or sex scandal allegation number eight depending on how you count doesn't have the same marginal impact as sex scandal allegation one or two or three. and whether it's because of the sex scandals or seeming to not know what libya was or people just getting to know him better as the koch brothers' brother from another mother as he put it, look a the polling in the recent weeks, his presidential hopes appear to be in the rear viewer mirror. if you look at the trend line for herman cain in the polls, me looks like a candidate who has peaked. the new flavor of the month, of course, the new non-mitt romney

candidate who is currently on the rise in the republican presidential politics is another republican from georgia, it's former house speaker newt gingrich. in order to understand the wa way in which newt gingrich is peaking in the post-thanksgiving flush, in order to understand that, you have to understand this guy. >> america, we do not promise that everyone wins. only that everyone gets a chance to try. and you have given me that chance. i took advantage of it as well as i could. i appreciate it. and thank you for it. >> that is pete du pont speaking in 1988 about five seconds after losing really badly in the new hampshire republican presidential primary. pete du pont came in fourth out of five candidates in new hampshire that year and promptly dropped out, never to be heard from again. pete du pont was a late '80s version of one of the koch brothers today. he was a zillionaire inheriter of his family's chemical company, a company not called koch industries in his case but

called du pont. mr. du pont used his family's fortune to run for office and create a big intrusive government for regular people, government all up in your business as an individual human but government that is almost nonexistent for corporations. mr. du pont ran on a platform, for example, of mandatory drug testing for all students in america. so for the crime of being a student, the government would force you to turn over your urine. credit card companies, though, not only didn't have to hand over their urine, they didn't have to worry about corporate taxes either. pete dupont made delaware the place credit card companies moved to avoid many corporate taxes. pete du pont is still alive and the head of the national center for policy analysis which had a brief cameo on our show last week when it was the conservative think tank behind the air pollution is good for asthma theory floated on the floor of the united states senate by republican senator rand paul of kentucky. he noted that power plant

emissions have been going down over time but asthma has been going up over time. so maybe power plant emissions aren't so bad, maybe they could be inversely related. that was data he was citing from pete du pont's national agency. pete du pont was running for president and the one thing he got was an endorsement from the largest and most influential newspaper in new hampshire. "the union leader" endorsed pete du pont that year and this weekend the same newspaper president. above the fold headline yesterday. "for president, newt gingrich." now, it is not shocking that "the union leader" would endorse somebody other than mitt romney despite what you heard about this weekend and today. this newspaper, in fact, seems to dislike mitt romney. they spent the entire presidential primary season

basically ripping mr. romney to shreds, running editorials like this one every few weeks. "the more mitt romney speaks, the less believable he becomes." ah. so the biggest new hampshire paper not endorsing mitt romney, given how we know they feel about him, tha listen. >> gingrich is going to have a better time in the general election than mitt romney. i think it's going to be obama's 99% versus the 1% and romney sort of represents the 1%. >> occupy the gop primary! i sort of think congratulations are in order here. anybody who doubted the effectiveness of the occupy wall street movement, doubted what they might accomplish, without a manifesto of demands, let the record show appealing to the 99% of americans and not the 1% is

the stated rationale for one of the most conservative newspapers in the country making its endorsement for the republican presidential nomination. so the occupy wall street movement, you know, really were a mirror image of the tea party like the beltway media says it is, then the occupy movement would be affecting the left edge of democratic politics the same way the tea party effected the right edge of republican politics. behold the occupy wall street movement having a full spectrum impact even on republicans. it's not like this conservative newspaper was inclined in a we are the 99% populist direction before this movement. this is a newspaper, after all, that endorsed pete du pont of the du pont du ponts. this is the newspaper that endorsed steve forbes in 2000. steve forbes of "forbes." in new hampshire, the manchester

"union leader" has not been looking out for the little guy, the populist candidates to endorse. this year, the same paper says mitt romney seems too 1%ey. they're going with newt gingrich. memo, everyone gets that mitt romney seems too 1%ey for the political climate in america right now arguably, but if you actually looked into newt gingrich, i mean, on paper, on paper it can seem daunting to look into newt gingrich. when you start looking into his financial empire, it can seem sort of complicated, but it's not. it's basically just this. 1425 kay street northwest in washington, d.c. 1425 kay street northwest is the home of gingrich communications. 1425 kay street northwest the home of gingrich groups, appears to be known now as the center for health transformation, a for-profit gingrich-related health care thing. 1425 kay street northwest the home of gingrich productions. 1425 kay street northwest also the home of gingrich holdings. 1425 kay street northwest also

very recently the home of american solutions for winning the future which you will remember for the scammy blast faxes where newt would promise to give you a prestigious award if you sent $5,000 to 1425 kay street northwest, washington, d.c., suite 750. you can reach newt gingrich's hispanic outreach news thing called the americano through gingrich solutions. anything related to the myriad names to the name newt gingrich has been used to separate conservatives from their money, it all basically goes through 1425 kay street northwest in washington, d.c. i mean, on paper, it looks like this. right? it looks complicated. this is a map of newt inc put together this weekend by the "washington post." see gingrich holdings at the top and everything flowing down from that. that's what it looks like on paper. in reality, in bricks and mortar land, it's all just right there. it's all that one building. if you happen to find yourself in washington, d.c., at some

point walking by that building, check for your wallet. the empire of highly interconnected newt-related organizations that raise huge sums of money and then pass that money around among the different newt organizations, thus enabling the half million dollar tiffany's charge account lifestyle that republican primary voters were laughing at just a few months earlier this year, that empire has long been thought of as a barrier to any real political future for mr. gingrich. since he left the house of representatives 15 years ago under a cloud of ethics charges, with the house fining him $300,000 for the way he was making money off of political activities, newt gingrich has essentially spent the 15 years since making money off himself from political activities, using politics to make himself very, very, very rich. 1% rich. this rise in the polls does not appear to be changing things for the way mr. gingrich lives or r behaves. this time last year, remember it

was gingrich productions' 12 days of christmas presents. merry, merry gingrichmas. do all of your christmas shopping at gingrichproductions.com. remember? this year he's doing it again. today under a url that hopefully notes it is cyber monday, newt gingrich who is the front-runner for the republican nomination for president, newt gingrich inc suggests to celebrate merry monday today, you should buy this autographed copy of his newest book "a nation like no other" for just $21.99, $6 off the cover price. yes, it is news. it is probably pretty big news for the country and for our politics that the biggest newspaper in new hampshire, "the new hampshire union leader" is looking for a we are the 99% republican presidential candidate. it's smaller but more amazing news that they think that guy is newt gingrich. joining us now is the author of yesterday's story on newt inc, karen tumullty. it's nice to have you here. >> i was looking at the picture of the building there. think how much he saved on commuting.

>> he has to commute between suites but it sounds like it may be on the same elevator bank. it is amazing. is this sort of a more typical thing in washington than we understand? are there lots of politicos and former politicos who have interlocking money-raising empires like this? >> absolutely. i think what is different about newt gingrich's plan, it was really an economic resurrection that sort of almost mirrors what we've seen him do politically in the last few months. and i think it was a lot more entrepreneurial, perhaps, than we've seen from other people, but there is a very well trod path between capitol hill and lobbying shops and law firms, where there is generally a pretty comfortable afterlife for politicians and top staffers from congress. it's, you know, again, washington is a pretty cozy place to be if you're a has

been. >> one of the things i find most interesting, and sort of endlessly fascinating the more you look into it about mr. gingrich, he very explicitly and describes himself as not a lobbyist. we all understand the revolving door between capitol hill and lobby shops trying to influence former colleagues through a system you used to been an expert of because you were on capitol hill. he's explicitly not a lobbyist so part of the way he's raised money is by being a political authority using things like blast faxes and push polling and direct mail to raise money as if he is a cause. is there anybody else who does that? >> oh, i think, you know, i think there have been a number of politicians who've done that. dick armey, for instance, was also somebody who did these sorts of things. and, you know, there's a sort of technical definition that requires you to actually register as a lobbyist. that actually requires you to go up to capitol hill and have contact with individual members

or their offices. this is really not what we're talking about here. these are people who are very much trying to influence policy, influence legislation but not in the kind of, you know, going up there and asking individual members to do you favors. >> when mr. gingrich did whatever it is he did for freddie mac, he has described it as historian services, which doesn't seem to square with the pay scale, but that is how he describes it. when he has done other consulting, for example, for pharmaceutical companies, with his health care group, is the -- is what is expected by the companies that are hiring him any different than what would be expected by hiring consulting and lobbying shop? obviously he's not setting up individual meetings with members of congress, but isn't he getting the same kind of influence he'd be getting if he was lobbying? >> they are very much, and as newt gingrich was explicit with me in my interview with him on this, they are very much expecting the kind of advice

that will help them get their agenda, get their causes through washington. and, you know, and there was also the whole for-profit health care think tank that newt gingrich had. he's no longer associated with. the center for health transformation. you take a company like novo nordisk, for diabetes, they were paying $200,000 a year for 6 years to the center for health transformation. what were they getting out of this? a lot of access, a lot of advice from newt gingrich. he was lending his name and his celebrity to some of their causes. he was the keynote speaker of their diabetes summit and his name was on their press releases commending the company for being a leader in fighting diabetes. again, these are all -- i mean, nobody is for diabetes, but these are all causes that whatever the other matters, they were good for norva's better

line and you see this over and over again in these types of transactions. >> karen tumulty, national political correspondent at the "washington post." thank you very much for joining us tonight. thanks for doing this reporting. >> thanks, rachel. all right. republicans oppose president obama's proposal for extending tax cuts. he's for the tax cuts. they're against the tax cuts. that's next with my guest, bob herbert. please stay with us. [ female announcer ] we were flattered when regenerist beat

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all right. check this out. this is on the white house website right now. it's a political tool/warning/calculator that tells you how much it will cost you, personally, if congress does not extend something called the payroll tax cut. this is an interactive thing. you just click the button, say whether you file your taxes as a single person or married person. you enter your income in the little box and ta-da! in an example here, we found a single person making $50,000 a year would have to pay $1,000 more next year. if congress does not extend the payroll tax holiday. this obviously is not just a calculator. this is raw politics. notable mostly for the fact that democrats don't usually do raw politics this well. but also democrats are usually not the ones campaigning on taxes. right now, we are in an upsidedown, black is white, day is night moment where

republicans are about to be the ones fighting for higher taxes. and democrats are the ones fighting to keep them low. because apparently republicans do want to raise this one kind of tax. even though they desperately want to be seen as the low taxes party. i mean, republicans always want to be seen as the low tax party. this year in particular, they really want to run on taxes specifically and on the economy more broadly. they're not picking foreign policy to run on this year or being tough on crime or some other typical republican troeb. it's taxes. that's what they're running on in 2012. the republican half of the sad little failed supercommittee collectively writing an op-ped for the "washington post," they blame the democratdemocrats. the closest thing we've seen to a national ad from the republicans this election cycle is from one of the karl rove linked dark money groups. it's on taxes, taxes, taxes,

attempting to portray president obama as a tax raiser. here we are with a specific policy dilemma ahead of us. and republicans seem to be the ones who want to raise the taxes. they want to get rid of a tax cut. >> if i may, senator kyl, just to cut this short, are you saying no deal on extending the payroll tax cuts? >> the payroll tax holiday has not stimulated job creation. we don't think that is a good way to do it. >> that was senator jon kyl of arizona. the same jon kyl of the "we didn't make a supercommittee deal because we wouldn't go along with the horrible democrats and their tax raising he's saying, the other tax, let's raise that one. what's difference from this tax that jon kyl complained about in the op-ped, why are they willing to lot this one tax go up but not capital gains, dividends, death tax, as well as marginal tax rates, all these other things they complained about? why don't republicans want to protect this other tax cut the way they want to protect those other tax cuts? what makes this one tax so

distinctive? why do they want to see it go up? well, it's a payroll tax. take your pick. maybe they want to see this one go up because it's a tax on paychecks. that means it's a tax cut that's not just for rich people. it's for regular people. s that's one way it's different. alternatively, this is a tax cut president obama supports which makes it intrinsically evil not to mention kenyan. which is the principle behind the republican opposition here? it's a year before the election and there's a lot of governing to be done, policy to be made base the country needs governing and policy. politics and policy are intertwined. the decision republicans make in congress about how to handle the payroll tax cut, whether they keep it going or whether they work against democrats and raise taxes on everybody earning a paycheck in this country, that decision reflects on the rest of the party in the time when the manchester "union leader" says

they didn't endorse mitt romney and the paper's leader said this in explanation. >> i think it's going to be obama's 99% versus the 1% and romney sort of representing the 1%. >> romney representing the 1%. seen as a problem for the republican party by that very conservative newspaper publisher. of course, if the republican party is at a place where if the romney is not mitt romney, it looks like it might be the guy with the half million dollar revolving account at tiffany's. it's a place where today's big political process stories that the billionaire who said president obama trying to close the tax loophole that lets hedge fund billionaires to be taxed at 15% was like when hitler invaded poland in 1939. today the big political process story of the day was that that guy, the obama is like hitler guy, has decided to throw down for mitt romney. holding a fund-raiser for him next month, thus bringing america the heartwarming tale of investment zillionaires sticking

up for private equity fund zillionaires as the big news story of the day. in the race to represent the party that only wants to hike taxes on people who work for a paycheck, if that is what defines the democratic party right now, what defines the republican party right now? do these guys in congress know how it's going to reflect on the presidential race? joining us now is bob herbert, former columnist for "the new york times." currently at demos and contributor to policyshop.net. mr. herbert, great to have you here. >> this is unbelievable, right? just, one, newt gingrich as representative of the common man. i mean, i think that's great, too. the 99%. but, you know, hypocrisy is the default position of the gop. the first place, they're the ones always screaming about the deficit, deficit, deficit, but they always want tax cuts. i mean, how do you jive that?

but now, you know, a tax cut for the middle class? excuse me, that's no good. >> the middle class tax cut is -- there was actually a divide right down the middle at our staff meeting today. we were talking about what might reasonably explain this. because jon kyl's explanation, he's perfectly explained both sides of it and perfectly explained why republicans are for a payroll tax cut and why they're against it. he automatically cancels himself out and can't be trusted to give a real answer. the obvious partisan reason is because president obama supports it, they're against it as a knee jerk reaction. is it possible they are against it because it would help the middle class? >> yeah. i think that's it. i mean, they are fundamentally the defenders of the rich. no one really wants to talk about it as bluntly as that, although many people actually understand that. so they want tax cuts for the very wealthy. it's why the bush tax cuts were skewed the way they were. the bush tax cuts could have been more fairly apportioned. you could have had bigger tax cuts for the middle class and

not quite so large for the very wealthy, but that's not the way they skewed it. they are the defenders of the 1%. very often the .1 of 1%. >> the best way to help, even if your agenda, though, was to help the .1 of the 1%, you were out there for the pete du ponts of the world and you're out there because you're worried about steve forbes. even if you wanted to do that, i mean, obviously you want to keep tax -- you want to keep taxes very low for not only just for high income but for all the different ways rich people earn their income. things like deferred interest and all of that stuff. but you also want the overall economy to be growing. i mean, when the middle class does better, rich people do better, too, and so is it -- why would they be against a middle class, something that would help them? >> this is the part that's a little difficult for me to understand.

i remember doing an interview with president clinton back in the late '90s. people were getting on his case. there was an old tax issue going. but the very wealthy were being very critical of president clinton. this is late in his presidency. and he said to me, we're in the back of the limousine on the way to the airport in los angeles, and he said to me, almost like musing, not as part of the interview. he says, you know, i made a lot of money for those fellows as well, why are they so hard on me? and the very wealthy did extremely well during the clinton administration. the economy did not do well even before the great recession under george w. bush jr.. but they don't seem to get that. they have this short-term thinking, i want as much as i can get now. i don't want to pay taxes. i don't want to think about the economy in more than the short term. it seems somewhat bizarre to me. i mean, one of the things that's really extremely hard to understand is why they don't want to do more about employment.

because, you know, everybody's going hara, hara, there have been sales on black friday and cyber monday. that sort of thing. that's how you get the economy moving, if you put money into the pockets of working people. it pumps up the economy and everyone does better including the very wealthy. they don't seem to see it that way. >> are democrats effectively taking the other side of this argument? >> i actually think democrats have been a lot more aggressive lately than i've seen them in a long time. dems are finally beginning to fight back. now, will they sustain it? i don't know. but, you know, it's good to see it at least in the short term. >> i don't know if you caught it tonight, but chuck earlier tonight earlier on ed schultz. >> that was excellent. >> if you did not see the chuck schumer appearance on ed schultz tonight, watch it on the repeat of ed tonight or pod cast it. it was really good if you're looking for the example of the kind of thing bob is talking about. bob herbert, always nice to have

you here. bob herbert is currently a distinguished senior fellow at demos, contributor to policyshop.net. just ahead, buddy roemer will be my guest for the interview. i'm very pleased to have him on the program. governor roamer has never appeared on other tv shows to accuse me of ducking him or that i'm afraid of him. unlike another candidate that's no longer in the race, a man i could mention. his initials are tim pawlenty. i'll talk about that later.er medicare... it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. all medicare supplement plans can help pay some of what medicare doesn't, so you could save up to thousands of dollars in out of pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare... you should know about the only medicare supplement plans

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election season is almost here finally, and boy is the race close. according to the late ef polling information out tonight, the space shuttle with flowers on it is out in front, the guitar is in second place. the best new thing in the world tonight is coming up, and a deadly serious and sort of inspiring politics story turns out to have a weird feel of detailed pictograms you need to be able to look at in order to explain it. best new thing in the world today, that coming up. plus, which republican presidential contender is talking smack about this show in a way that he cannot back up? that's ahead.

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weaving. i always said, look, i don't agree with her. i always thought she was bold and courageous and even thousand i disagreed with her, now she's ducking me. tell her to come out and let's have it on. >> let's. i would love to. i would do, if you weren't just talking smack without intention of backing it up. tim pawlenty was a guest on this show a number of times in 2008 and 2009. i always enjoyed him as a guest and always appreciate when republican elected officials are willing to talk to me. it was fun for me. i think it was fun for him. at least that's what he said all four times he was on this show. governor pawlenty, it's a pleasure to have you on show with us tonight. >> rachel, thanks for giving a republican a shot on the show. we appreciate it. >> absolutely. i keep asking. you guys are so recalcitrant. we're happy to have you. >> i'm available. i'm available. >> very good. very good. governor pawlenty, it's kind for you to make the time for us tonight.

it's hard to get republicans to be on the show. i'm glad you made the decision to come back to us. >> i'm glad to be here. you're funny, rachel. >> thank you for coming on the show. >> glad to do it. dr. maddow, good to be with you, you're a student of the franken -- >> did i get the chronology right? >> you did. i'm impressed. you know quite a bit about the case. >> in the rough and tumble case of cable news, tim pawlenty and i were cordial. this is a hand gesture a person makes behind their own back when they're not telling the truth. shortly after governor pawlenty and i had a good guest experience together he started running for president for the 2012 campaign. his campaign tried to reinvent him as a politics equivalent of an action movie star, as a bit of a heman. >> if prosperity were easy, everybody around the world would be prosperous. if freedom were easy, everybody

around the world would be free. if security were easy, everybody around the world would be secure. they are not. >> governor pawlenty's presidential campaign despite those awesome ads did not go that well. it never really went anywhere in the polls and he quit after the ames, iowa, straw poll in august. even now that he's just a surrogate for mitt romney, a man he spent years running against, governor pawlenty is sticking with heman persona as best he can. >> tell her to come out and let's get it on. >> that was ono'donnell" november 10th. thinking there was a mistake, i had our booking producer call him the next day, said, we saw you on lawrence, we'd love tow have you on the show. the spokesperson said the governor is traveling but the governor will look the a his calendar and see when he's available. week and a half goes by, nothing. november 21st we called back and asked if governor pawlenty could

be available sometime to, as he put it, get it on. again, today, our spokesperson called the office to see when we're going to get it on since he's pounding his chest on tv, no answers, no reply -- is going to be on msnbc tonight, but not talking with me. he'll be visiting again with lawrence o'donnell on "the last word" again tonight which means you should watch "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" tonight. it should be great. it means tim pawlenty may play a tough guy politics action hero on tv who wants to get it on and all that, but apparently when he says that, he's just kidding. governor pawlenty, you say i'm ducking you, but at this point, i'm rubber, you're glue. stop talking smack if you can't back it up.

i'm here. i'm here. >> this doesn't count. >> you ready? >> you busy later? >> i got to do lawrence's show, but i'm ready. >> we'll talk. we'll work it out. >> thank you. >> sure.elp ring children holiday joy, and while it doesn't travel by sleigh or reindeer, it does get around... in fact, every year duracell sends loads of batteries to the mattel children's hospital, u.c.l.a. of course, children here and everywhere don't really think about which battery makes their toy run... but, still... you'd never want to disappoint. duracell. trusted everywhere.

usually i always think, you know, birds of a feather flock together. >> yeah, i hear you. that's called prejudice. >> well, no. it's not. because i go by people's actions. and actions -- >> look at mine.

>> your party. you're affiliated with that party. >> look at mine. >> the actions with your party, though -- >> look at mine. >> working class people, the poor people, the minority people, to women. what are you going to do about that? what are you going to do different? are you pro choice? >> no. >> i mean, i just -- >> we're going to disagree on some things, but here's why i'm here. we agree on the main thing. you have to cut off the money. >> former louisiana governor buddy roemer has run essentially a single-issue campaign this year. his signature issue, almost his whole deal is getting big money out of politics. stopping billionaires and rich corporations from having outsized influence in our democracy, he's running as a republican and for the single-minded focus, mr. roemer received single-digit support from republican voters, often 1%, sometimes less than than. buddy roemer was an early and outspoken supporter of the occupy wall street movement and visited occupy sites in new york and washington, d.c., asking people he met there for their support and that makes him essentially the only republican presidential contender even trying to talk to constituencies outside the liberal -- excuse

me, the republican base, or to people for whom they'd like to sell their books or dvds. yesterday mr. roemer announced his pick for a vice presidential running mate. the announcement came from an ambitiously cross partisan place. kentucky senator joe lieberman, a former democrat who decided not to run again for his own senate seat, let alone for anything else. quoting mr. roemer, "i'm asking independent minded voters to imagine what we can accomplish with this ticket. americans are justifiably trust raced with their politicians and parties. joe and i could change that. to me it's a dream team." aside from mr. roemer's own political fortunes the main problem with the dream team idea, nobody asked joe lieberman to imagine who the roemer/lieberman ticket to do. "the weekly standard" asked lieberman about it and the spokesman responded with a no saying the senator has been there, done that and has the t-shirt and chad to prove it.

joining us tonight for the interview, republican presidential candidate and former governor of louisiana, buddy roemer. mr. roemer, thank you for coming thank you for coming on the show. good to see you again. >> did you and tim pawlenty bond backstage while we were having -- >> he's coming after you. >> we'll see. >> don't be afraid. >> i'm not. [ laughter ] i do not know how to run for president obviously. so caveat emptor. >> me either. >> the candidate for republican party does not seem like your ticket. >> it was an idea. the idea is that maybe what america needs is not a party, but a country built from the center. and maybe men and women with different backgrounds, but the same belief in america, could join a unity party and pull this country together. i think we're in trouble. i think we're headed in the

wrong direction. look at the debt. look at the lack of jobs. look at the lack of diversity. look at the difference between the top 1% and the bottom 95. you saw the union leader. they won't take mitt romney because he represents the top 1%. so what do they get? the get the lobbyist for the top 1%. they really got some distance. it is not just my party. both parties are together in one thing. they will take any check from any place to get re-elected. it's not right and it's not healthy, rachel. >> you have been running, as i said, i don't mean to belittle your candidacy. you have been running on a single candidacy issue trying to get money and politics in to the discussion of the campaign but it is not happening. >> i haven't been on a single debate. you say i have one or two nrnt the polls. 2% has been my tops last week. one in 50 years.

you know how many americans know i'm running, less than 10%. i can't get on the debate. would you think if you and i started a year ago, would you think a man who has been a four-time elected congressman, who's been elected a governor, who's built a billion dollar bank with the help of others but no help from the federal government, a successful businessman. do you think a man who talks about a leader that needs to be free, do you think he would get on a debate? i have not been asked to a single debate. i have been a republican for 20 years. i tried to build my party or help build it in louisiana. i'm proud of my record, but i cannot get on a debate when when others who have no political experience at all. i mean there's a pizza guy on the debate. not to put herman cain down, but my god, you are running for president. should some experience count? you know what they don't want to hear, rachel? they don't want to hear about the money. neither party does.

republicans, particularly. the only ones asked are the ones that raise a lot of money in the last 90 days. do you know that was a criterion for the last debate? did you raise $500,000 in the last 90 days. is that the way you pick a president, rachel? >> when i think about your effort and who you are talking to and the different constituencies you have chosen to address with the different things you have done, what i'm wondering is whether you think there is an audience among conservative voters who want to hear about money and politics. >> we don't. you don't know. >> of all the republican candidates, all of the candidates have dark money behind hem. >> all of them. >> not a peep from the voters. >> it is a catch 22. unless you walk in the room and say there's a fire here nobody knows the room's burning.

they just know there are fewer jobs than 12 years ago. they know we're one of the lowest countries in the industrial world with the difference between those at the top and those at the bottom. they know we're in trouble, but they are not sure where to look. the room's on fire. i'm looking at americans elect a unity group outside of the republican party who would go to independence and republicans and liberals and conservatives who put their country first. i plan on announcing as a candidate for that ticket. i'm a republican, but i'm a prouder american. i'll stay in the republican primary and do all i can, but i need a stage to talk about what is really wrong with america, rachel and what is wrong is this, a big check gets first in line and everybody else is forgotten. it's not right. >> are you staying in this no matter what happens? how long can you stay in? >> i'm going as far as i can. i have gotten contributions from 50 states. i have raised a quarter million

dollars at $60 the average gift. i'm free. if i can get an audience, we'll see if this is an election issue. it ought to be. >> former louisiana governor buddy roemer. thank you for being here. if i put you on the spot with governor paul li lenity backstage, i apologize for any personal front. best new thing in the world coming up. [ sue ] wow! i've been so looking forward to this. when my asthma symptoms returned, my doctor prescribed dulera to help prevent them. [ male announcer ] dulera is for patients 12 and older whose asthma is not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. dulera will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. dulera helps significantly improve lung function. this was shown over a 6 month clinical study. dulera contains formoterol, which increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents.

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best new thing in the world today. what do you do if a good proportion of your population is ill it will rate but you don't want that to be a barrier in participating in an election in your country. you want people to vote even if they can't read read. what you do if you are egypt and holding the first national election since you ousted your dictate they are spring you use pictures and assign each candidate in each party a picture, not like a republican elephant or drat democratic donkey, they are random images

assigned by the supreme elections commission and it is random. each party is represented by something like a soccer ball or traffic light or an umbrella or viking ship. if you get the viking ship you are probably psyched. that is not bad. you are campaign on i'll be a warrior for you or a camera, not necessarily bad it could mean i'm for free speech or yea surveillance. i'm not sure about the space shuttle with flowers on it what it is supposed to symbolize but various reports said an egyptian slang rocket means hottie and the toothbrush for brushing out the corruption. and egypt's track record for using pictorial zim symbols goes back longer than that. but it turned out -- somebody got to be a pyramid and somebody got stuck being a blender. egypt's historic elections and the opportunity it affords to cast your ballot for the viking ship or the blender, best new thing in the world today.