or not he stays in this race? the allegations jens jerry sandusky and bernie fine are raising questions about what the other half, the wives knew. we will hear from one woom who stood by her husband even after he was convicted of molestation. >> and it's not every day that a team gets a special video message from lady gaga. right now a resurging nutd gingrich is in iowa waiting to give a speech to a crowd there. there is a sneak peek from the live cameras. he is leading the pack in terms of buzz right now. but where he is lacking in campaign staff is right there in iowa. he has the smallest of any candidates competing there. gingrich says he is the clear choice for conservatives. >> people say i think we need newt gingrich because we need

somebody who can debated obama, somebody who has actually done it before. somebody with substantial big ideas. so i think where as i would have thought originally it was going to be midst mitt and not mitt now i think it will be newt and not newt. a new ad by fell loi candidate capitalizes that argument. >> when 4e was in the house, he went the other way. >> he has flipped and flopped based on who is paying him. >> he is demonstrating himself to be the essence of the washington insiders. >> it's about serious hypocrisy. >> radically different positions. people have to ask themselves, what will you tell me next time. >> msnbc contributor joins me

live in studio. karen, i'm going to start with you. herman cain making a substantial rise and then fall. rick perry did the same thing. is newt gingrich going to be any different? >> yes, he will. unlike herman cain who has proven himself not ready for prime time, period. and bauchmann, who many of us didn't see as serious to begin with and perry whose gaffes have left him out. gingrich has a record. he has worked with the president of the united states. he made things happen. gingrich is legitimate, big ideas as he so aptly pointed out. i guess he is someone who loves himself a lot. he was spot out. gingrich is someone who is here to say. i think romney and the rest of the gop camp, they need to know that this man is not going

anywhere. >> >> let's take a listen to what he had to say in a current interview. >> standing for 20 years. i helped ronald reagan develop supply side economics. >> should freddie mac ask for money back? >> i don't think we can deny newt that he was president of the destruction of the soviet union. i think sit probably a bigger deal that once he became seeker of the house he took on a book contract that a lot of people said why would you do this? you have just come into power. you can lead conservative change. why would you take a moment? he resisted returning the book

contract. that is one of if many examples where he did something that shows once he feels comfortable he gets a little bit out of control and gets ahead of himself. >> that's not something that republicans seem to care about. a lot of these guys have baggage. we know newt gingrich's baggage. we have been looking at it for the last eight years plus. it doesn't seem to matter. >> people like to say that baggage has baggage. >> in his case, yes. >> we shouldn't get lost. president obama has baggage himself. the current economy this is a guy who just came out and said we don't like how things are going, give me another term. that's not how things work. if it isn't broken, just give me another term. we oar trying to come up with a candidate that will be able to deal with the problem. >> let's look at how romney is doing out with a new ad showing that he is out playing to win. take a look. >> we're not going to balance the budget.

we're going to have to cut spending. and having a balanced budget amendment. >> the title saying why don't they like me? do you think that romney has been caught off guard? >> i was there. he probably thought that, you know, conservatives really would rally behind him and they have it. they have been saying we need to find the not mi the mpb t candidate. i think after six years of campaigning i would be surprised, too. he is obviously very disappointed. this is a guy who did a lot of

things that try to get him elected in massachusetts. >> is the gop focusing on the two best candidates? >> i think they are still looking for somebody and praying that somebody will come down from heaven and rescue this party. it's a mess, a total mess and no one hauz distinguished himself as the person who can be president of the united states. >> karen hunter, senior communication strategy, thanks to both. the number of americans applying for unemployment when fits is up for the second straight week. it's the seven largest gain of all time. making it cheaper to borrow u.s.

dollars. that should help keep european banks out of default for now. the u.s. market reporter for the financial times and joins me now. explain to all of us because as we are watching this, we like the way it looks here in america. >> a lot of people said this is a really good temporary provision to banks in europe. it will allow them to have time to work out some new policies across the sort of the peripheral countries to see if they can strike a deal to get bondholders to agree to a repayment schedule for greece. restructuring those, coming up with ways for european

authorities to long term provide solutions to that. that's really what people are looking for. to allow markets to breathe in december. >> we're watching this big close out to november. how concerned should the average investor, the 401 k investor be about the european debt crisis. >> i think it's one of the things that has the potential to be devastating. we could see echoes of 2008 which lehman brothers and other institutions failed. a lot of people have begun to talk about decoupling. could the u.s. and china begin to veer away and paufl from europe that is to see better economic performance here and in

china which is a key global economy that is watched around the world. we have got the jobs report tomorrow. black friday was strong. there is some belief that maybe the u.s., which europe is a big trading partner but actually not the biggest. you know, there is a potential for some decoupling. >> great to see you this morning. thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> now the republicans have decided there should be an extension of the payroll tax cut, there is a fight brewing over how to pay for it. should lawmakers freeze pay and chop the work force or hike taxes for the rich like the democrats are proposing? luke, what is the status of these negotiations. >> the status is that both the republican proposal which would

freeze the federal work force allow a wealthy individuals to give more money to treasury as they would like to see with no tax hikes. both plans will go on the senate floor for a vote. possibly today, most likely tomorrow. and both of the votes will fail. they would like to do it the way they see fit which is the republicans not seeing taxes go up for democrats. it's seeing taxes go up for the millionaires. what you are essentially going to see is the negotiations go on. there will probably be an 11th hour deal. but honestly, it's more of what you have seen over the last few months here. fighting all the way to the bitter end and most likely until they have to go home to the

holidays. >> like tv, a lot of hurry up and wait. thanks and appreciate it. we're going to talk with the dnc chair. plus. >> this is another reason why that i am not going to make a decision until after we talk face to face. >> all up to the missus. herman cain says his wife will ultimately decide if he bows out of the race. is this a face saving play? wh and what did the wives of jerry sandusky and berry fine no know? the two cases raising new concerns about whether wives turn a blind eye or whether they are truly in the dark.

5. welcome back. the democratic national committee is pushing back against restrictive voter i.d. laws. republican lawmakers have passed or proposed restrictions on voting. i am joined by florida congress woman. nice to see you this morning. >> thanks so much. >> great to have you here. tell us more about the campaign. the site is called protecting the vote.org. what exactly are you protecting the vote from? >> we're protecting the vote from republicans across the country in 40 states now who have passed horrendous voter suppression laws that specifically target groups of voters that are more likely to go to the polls and vote for democrats. things like requiring photo

i.d.s when no i.d. was required before. in my state, shrinking the length of time for early voting because you have a higher percentage of african-americans and hispanic voters that cast their ballots early. again in my state, telling organizations that they have to turn in the voter registration applications within 48 hours or face up to $1,000 fine per voter. now there is one after teachers who are registering their students to vote under that law. we put up this website to make sure that voters across the country have comprehensive information in their own state. make sure they don't have that blocked and issued a report to detail the voter suppression efforts and get access to the

polls and information. >> many would say this is simply about voter fraud. how do you respond to that? >> as a former member of the judiciary committee, there was a five-year investigation by the bush justice department to look into whether there is widespread voter fraud across the country. and they spent five years looking for exit came up with almost none. it is very clear that they have an insidious effort at targeting groups of voters who are more likely students, elderly, african-americans, hispanics and low income voters. about 11% of americans don't have a photo i.d. about 25% of african-americans don't have a photo i.d. and then there is the different kinds of i.d.s that are allowed to be used as proof of who they

are. student i.d.s. students more likely to vote. student i.d.s in texas issued by a university. but if you have a gun permit issued by the state of texas, then it is. it's so obvious and transparent but not obvious to the average voter who expects that they would have easy access to the polls. this is mirk afterall. we should be trying to encourage voting. that is what the democratic party has said for 50 years. they're trying to rig the election. >> talking about the democrats who are said to be afraid of mitt romney. let's let the president and his hench men keep doing it. that's good news for us from a political perspective.

is the president making a mistake? >> we're focusing on mitt romney because american voters should be afraid of the prospect of mitt romney becoming president of the united states. this person has no mor recall core, no conviction. bring afghanistan home. both sides americans do want to make sure where it stands. mitt romney probably has trouble keeping track of where he stands on any given day. we think that is important information for voters to have so they know what they are getting when they cast a ballot. >> florida congress woman, nice

to see you this morning. >> you, too. >> developing news that we need to tell you about coming out of orlando, florida, where police have returned to lake elanor. parker is the 33-year-old woman who disappeared on november 17. that was the same day an episode of the people's court aired in which parker and her exfiance argued over who was responsible for the cost of a missing engagement ring. of course we're going to keep our eye on the events unfolding today in orlando and let you know if anything new develops.

6. reports say a former sheriff of the year in colorado was selling meth in exchange for

sex. sullivan is awaiting in a jail on a $500,000 bail. a jail that is named after him. where do police stand in a hunt for a cereal killer. just brief everybody, there are ten different bodies that have been found over the last year. police now say that's not the case. how have they been able to zero in on a profile. >> what the police commissioner said is he took a lot of the bodies into consideration. ten as i mentioned, ten of them female, one male and one a toddler. the crimes date back to 1996. a portion of a body was found in a completely different location and was not linked to the scene until a lot of the bodies were starting to be uncovered and discovered.

it skould be someone that is integrated within the community. >> when we hear about this because the veteran investigators have always said cereal killers like to evolve and change. what call length does that create for police as they try to hone in and track the suspect? >> there is a lot f investigations. there is a couple of common denominators. the victims were definitely in the sex trade. so this person within the particular community, that's one of the main key clues in this. some of the tactics may vary from case to case.

and a -- smiling and giving the crowd a big thumbs up. jerry sandusky's wife is standing by her man despite the numerous allegations. why some women decide to stay even if they know their husbands are guilty. plus lady gaga surprises one of her fans with a personal video. and now that barney frank is leaving congress, who is going be the next lgbt leader on the hill? back pain. then i tried this. it's salonpas.

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welcome back. here is a look at some of the other stories topping the news now. forecasters say a cold front hitting the region is making it worse. trees have been uprooted, causing power outages and more. in his first interview, gary adamantly denied al kbagss that he had anything to do with robin gardener. authorities became suspicious when he inquired about a $1.5 million insurance policy on robin. >> lopez said you need to call the insurance immediately

because these rhelicopters said they might send you an invoice. they might be charging you for this because thae are civilians. >> gardener has been missing since august the second at the beginning of a week long vacation. >> and today is world aids day. more than a million americans are living with hiv. the centers for disease control and prevention says the latest estimates are said to be the most accurate ever. the president spoke about the plight against aids a short time ago. >> we can end this pandemic. we can beat this disease and win this fight. we just have to keep at it. steady, persistent. today, tomorrow, every day. until we get to zero. >> take a look at this picture almost half of those living

within aids in the u.s. are black. three quarters are men. a prooiflt boarding school is being sued after not admitting a 13-year-old boy because he has hiv. the school said in a statement that they can accommodate students with chronic communicable diseases. >> no other teenager should go through this, being denied just because they have hiv. >> as a part of the lawsuit, the boy is asking to still be admitted to the school and give unspecified damages. >> ending in.xxx addresses penn state, and penn state university. the effort to buy up the do main names began in september. speaking of which, the penn

state and syracuse stcandals. what elt matly will happen next. but they're not the only ones who have to live with the fallout of the scandals chblgt tracy wrote on salon.com about the wives and what it's like to hear that their husbands are accused of such unbelievable crimes. you wrote about the wooifs and the families. they all get caught up in this. >> what surprised me the most is the whom who was at the heart of my story. i started talking to her over the phone. decided to stay with him even after the revelation that he had abused a 10-year-old girl who lived across the street from

them. that in and of itself was quite shocking to me. it had not occurred to me that a woman might stay after that sort of revelation. >> when you mean stay, you men stay with her husband after he was arrested and then later had two kids with him. so that would probably be shocking to a lot of people. how does she explain herself in wanting to do that? >> she says that it's love. her sense of communemeitment. she said she was the sort of person who picked up the newspaper, read a story like about the sandusky case and said oh my god what a monster. she never could have imagined herself reacting this way. they started dating when they were 15, had been married for six years before he was arrested. she truly thought she knew everything about him and clearly she did not.

he had been struggling with attraction to prepubescent girls for quite some time and had not told anybody about it. she resolved to standby him when he went through his court mandated treatment. she says she truly believes that he is a different man, that he has been healed. experts are not so sure that it's as simple as that. but that is certainly the way that she sees it. >> when she talks about reading about the wife of jerry sandusky, does she have compassion for them? >> she absolutely does. and she actually runs a website, a support group for wooifs that are in similar situations.

>> tracy, thanks for your sometime. >> herman cane's political train is rolling on. he is planning a hard push in several states. where he is going to meet with a conservative paper. which endorsed nutd gingrich. cain says the only meeting that matters happens on friday and that is with the missus. >> i talked to my wife many times since monday about the situation. i have not talked -- this is another reason why i am not going to make a decision until after we talk face to face.

>> even at the tea party is ingesting all of this, the congressman is calling cain a distractor. is it smart of him to drag this thing out. is it and others think that cane should leave the race. i enjoy cane in the race. beyond that there is a reason that candidates don't lose races until at least the first vote is cast.

particularly in the cycling gop season. >> and to prove that he is still serious, cain is out with a new political ad airing in iowa. take a look. >> now this is good. this is bad. if you make me america's ceo, we the people will take this country back. >> so melissa, he's looking at the country as big business. so does his background as a ceo matter, especially if he can't keep his personal house in order? basically he doesn't have a political background to be vetted. voting records to look at so the only thing you can look at is his business background. >> sure. and look, it actually is a different thing to run a

corporation than it is to run the country. that said, him getting to make his case to the voters is part of what democracy is about. with no political report and a very troubled personal record they may choose not to vote for him. if he is in any amount of campaign debt at all and i don't know if he is, but if he is, it makes sense for him to stay ina little listeninger and become eligible for public matching funds. and even if he doesn't come anywhere close, he could end up wiping away his own campaign debt if he is in any. often the candidates will stay in just for that reason. >> melissa, great to have you with us. appreciate it. if you want to read more about melissa and what she has to say

you can do so online. happy meals will be just as happy in san francisco despite the ban on toy give aways. that goes into effect today. mcdonald's figured out a way to make everyone happy. mcdonald's is sellk the toys separately for ten cents. and sub way will start selling a 6 inch sub for two bucks. they are the latest chain to offer a two dollar meal. you can also get them at taco bell, cipotle and some kfcs.

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with the decision of barney frank not to run for congress, the number of openly gay congress members is now down three. congressman jerry polis is in

colorado. he and his partner welcomed the birth of their newen. your son is just about two months old right? >> he turned two months yesterday. >> are you getting any rest? >> this week i'm here in d.c. so yeah. >> dhauz be default make you the next leader of the lgbt issues in washington? >> i hope that is not the case. we hope we are not losing baldwin butç that she is movin on to the senate. c she would be the first openly gay senator. >> i am confident that they will have a stronger representation

even if that does make me the most senior gay member, and i am only 36. >> that puts you in a different category. do you see other people, the ones that are just running, the openly gay candidates that are running for congress? do you see them as up and coming leaders? >> this is really a team effort. not only are gay and lesbian members? there are many straight members and obviously it takes more than any one of us. it take asthma majority of this body to get anything done. barney leaves big shoes to fill and we will aum have to step up and march forward. >> certainly straight allies are pivotal in achieving equality. i know there is a glass closet in washington d.c. are there any people that you see as possibly coming out in the future? closeted politicians? >> i wouldn't be the one to talk

to about that. >> when we talk about the state of washington d.c. right now and there is such gridlock going on, do you think there are more straight allies now? >> absolutely. and we continue to grow our numbers with members on both sides of the aisle committed to equality. the culture has moved so much and politicians are playing a catch up game. in districts çacross the the country, it is an asset to be pro-equality. >> the register had an intervoo with bauchmann saying her point of view on gays saying they can get married if they marry the opposite sex, basically. do you see her position and other positions like that held by other people of power there in washington dc as the biggest

opposition to seeing equality? >> i think that's part of the reason that she is only at one or two percent in the polls. it makes no sense that gay people mary people of the opposite sex. it's not good for their spouse or them. >> just a programming note, there is an interview coming up on wagner's program in the next hour on msnbc. again, congratulations to you and your partner on your son. you can rest up while in d.c. but you will have to go home sooner or later. thank you. we appreciate your time. >> we are back with much more after this.

fans will flip for our next story. a toronto teen receive an e-mail

to thank him and congratulate him for promoting tolerance and understanding anti-bullying campaign in his own school. >> hello pierre, this is lady gaga and hello to toronto. i wanted to tell you how proud i am of you for being such a strong advocate for the lgbt community in your school. there should be more little monsters like you. >> who says you can't hear from your hero. he is the lucky young man that received the e-mail and joins me now. how were you able to get the attention can lady gaga with the work you were doing at your school? >> i just really wrote her a letter. i found an address for her online and i wrote to her telling her what we were planning on doing, the assembly we were having and how her message impacted the students at my school and hopefully other schools across the country. i wrote her a letter and she responded. >> what was your reaction when you received this e-mail message? >> i'm a huge fan of lady gaga.

when i saw the e-mail, i freaked out and didn't believe it. when i downloaded the video and watched it, i burst into tears. it was crazy exciting. i couldn't believe it. >> we know what the problem is in america when it comes to anty gay bullying. it's not exclusive to this country. why were you inspired to do the program you started in your school in canada? >> bullying is something that effects students in every school, elementary school, middle school or high school. and students shouldn't have to go through that. i was bullied myself in elementary school because i like to do musical theater, people would say, don't tryout for that play, that's so gay, stuff like that. i see my friends in my high school now getting bullied. it inspired me to make a difference because going to my high school made so much better for me. i want to try to make things better for students everywhere. >> since you received the e-mail message, that bolsters your profile on what you're doing and

hopefully bolsters the pride of what you're doing in your own school. how have you been able to use this to your benefit to proet issues in your school now? >> of course, it's that video that got us all of the attention from the media and press. and now with that attention we received, we've had so many more offers from different high schools to come to this school and share the same message. we're hearing from places all over the world wanting to hear the story and spread it to people in th5i country or city. it is giving us great opportunities and in a couple of weeks we're taking our assembly and doing a performance in front of 9,000 canadian students. it's going to be an amazing opportunity to spread the message. >> thanks so much for joining us, congratulations on the work you continue to do and keep paying it forward. making us very proud. thanks again. to the political side bar now which means it's times for your pictures with santa.

don't forget your ak-47s. a scottsdale gun club is coming under fire for a holiday offer to pose with saint nick and instead of eight reindeers it's machine guns. getting served, i'm not talking pizza, eviction paper. the papers were served to sharon's son after deputy tried but failed to serve her. she owes $7500 in back rent. partisan bickering on capitol hill, no surprise when discussing national security. but a small war erupted after john mccain made this comment when talking about a terror suspect captured near manhattan. >> isn't it true that justice o'connor was specifically referring to a case where a person was captured on long island? last i checked, long island was part of sometimes regrettably, part of the united states of america. >> senator schumer not too

happy. he tweeted to john mccain, all of america saw how heroic long islanders were on 9/11. mccain apologized this way. >> i'm sorry there's at least one of my colleagues that can't take a joke and so i apologize if i offended him and hope that some day he will have a sense of humor. i yield. >> schumer is still not laughing and tweeted again, new yorkers can take a joke but if john mccain wants to mock parts of america, stick to arizona. ron paul, republican presidential candidate and author of the schoolbook, you can make raspberry scones. the huntsman girls are back, the tune is from justin timberlake. ♪ we're bringing huntsman back

the rest of them is one big circus act ♪ >> not sure if this song will help the campaign but they certainly know how to get themselves attention for their dad. that will do it for me. see you back here tomorrow 11:00 a.m. eastern time. stay with you are with alex wagner comes your way next. omor♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ but the second that she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ v.o.: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough.

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newt gingrich and his ego versus the rest of the world. it's thursday, december 1st, and this is "now." joining me today, casey hunt, ari melber and ben white of politico. thank you all for joining me today. newt gingrich is a well paid s historian and not a lobbyist and newt gingrich defeated communism, all of this according to newt