millions of available jobs, millions of available workers. so why aren't more americans getting those jobs? plus, the president's plan to put two million people back to work. will it even pass? on the campaign trail, romney and religion. is it a mix that could ruin his presidential chances? plus, he won again but is herman cain's rising popularity a threat to gop frontrunners? it's a new face of poverty. and it's on sesame street. good morning everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." it's 11 o'clock on the nose on the east coast. 8:00 a.m. out west. we have reaction from house budget committee paul ryan on the president's jobs bills which he says will not pass. speaking on "meet the press" he says the president's ideas have already failed. >> what's concerning about it is he put ideas in the jobs bills that have proven to fail

already. instead of trying to get compromise, he's embracing conflict. he's running around the campaigning on a bill that won't pass. can't get it out of the senate right now. rather than working with us on ideas. >> i'm joined by nbc white house correspondent mike viqueira, good sunday morning to you. the president always calling himself the uniter. now ryan saying he's not going to compromise. >> reporter: no question that after labor day we've entered a new phase in washington. if you thought politics was bad, divisive, you thought there was gridlock before, it's likely to only increase. there are some possibilities down the road. we'll talk about those a little bit later. the president put his jobs bill out there. the senate is going to take him up. paul ryan may not be correct about one thing. the senate is going to take up this bill next week. they made alterations in the way it's paid for, most note by by the 5% surtax on income over a million dollars. it's not likely to go in the house. the battle lines have been

drawn. you can call it making the rich pay their fair share. the battle lines are firming. rahm emanuel. david gregory went to chicago today. his other gig was the chief of staff at the white house. he defends the president on some of the poor advice he gave while at the white house. >> i often advised the president about doing the quick political thing and he looked at the long-term. and he rejected the quick and political. because it was in america's interest. that's both true in financial reform, healthcare, the bigger decisions. he's never lost his fight for america. >> and alex, one other bit of news this morning. it's sunday morning. a lot of the public affairs going on. a lot of discussion about the occupy wall street and the protests that have spread to dozens of other cities. today herman cain and newt

gingrich calling them un-american. republicans now fully on the other side of that battle. alex? the protests are going to london today apparently thank you, mike viqueira. comments made by mormonism from a pastor who supports rick perry. he called it a cult and said romney is not a christian. rick perry steered clear of the issues since friday and auto herman cain refuses to say if romney is a christian or not. >> i'm not running for theologian in chief. one of my guiding principles is i start with do the right thing. i'm not getting into that controversy. >> is mitt romney not a christian? >> he's a mormon. that much i know. >> mitt romney gave a vailed response yesterday speaking about another person who called mormons nonchristians. >> one of the speakers who will follow me has crossed that line

i think. this language doesn't advantage our cause. it's never changed a single mind much the blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate. >> meanwhile, ron paul was a big winner at the conference's straw poll. the texas congressman won with 37% of the vote. herman cain finished second and rick perry, mitt romney slipped down fourth and sixth places respectively. sarah palin told an aud ens in virginia she was surprised by negativity -- she said they sent pretty mean e-mails and mess annals. i thought, oh, come on, you were going to trust me to be the leader of the free world but you don't trust me in the decision god let me to make at this time? it was a good weekend for herman cain. as we were saying, he finished second in the values voters straw poll. he got a big win in the minnesota straw poll. joining me on the telephone is campaign -- alley wine berg with

the herman cain campaign. good morning? >> good morning, alex. as you mentioned it's been a good couple days for the herman cain campaign. i think you would really point to these numbers in the recent straw polls as evidence that his name recognition is really surging among voters that he didn't start out with the name recognition that a mitt romney or a rick perry had. but as people get to hear what he has to say, they like what he has to say. that's evidenced in the polls. i think you would also say that it showed that it's not strictly a two-man race between romney and perry and that he is starting to show new signs of momentum as we've gone a couple polls out recently that show him, in fact, neck and neck with rick perry. the question remains, is he running a campaign where he can really capitalize on that momentum and keep going. today he's going to be signing some books in south carolina. so he's not exactly continuing to participate in a one-on-one

with voters getting out there and shaking hand and engaging in retail politics. he's been doing a lot of book siengs. alex? he will i, are you hearing about reaction to herman cain saying if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself? >> sure, i think people did take umbrage with those remarks. but he did sort of clarify them the other day at a stop in virginia. he was asked about it and said, he was not referring to people who are unemployed against their will. but that he was referring to people who perhaps are going down to wall street and other places in the country, that they may already have a job and they've left it to protest. he also made the point that these protests are furthering the sense of class warfare he called it. as we heard today, he also called the protests un-american. he was definitely trying to make the distinction between the people protesting on wall street whose purpose he says he does

not agree with and people who are unemployed against their will that they should be directing their ire elsewhere, not at wall street. alex? >> nbc campaign ally wineberg skbliefr. paul ryan criticized the president on meet the press. >> i think this divisive rhetoric is divisive. i think it's troubling. sewing -- social unrest is not what we do in america. i think the president is doing that. he think he's preying on the emotions of fear, envy and anger. that is not constructive to unifying america. i think he's broken his promise and dividing people. >> joining me now is eleanor clift from the daily beast. eleanor, good morning. >> good morning, alex. how is the president as congressman ryan was saying there. has he broken his promise in bringing people together? >> it's laugh bli clever how he

turns it to the republicans' favor. i thought one of the signs in the rallies said it's only class war when we fight back. the numbers don't lie. the top half to one percent has done extraordinarily well over the last 30 years and the 99 pirs has many of the protesters are calling themselves have lost ground. i think that the republicans have been quite successful in portraying the president as the person who is not making the accommodations, when i think if you look at the deals that have been struck on capitol hill, i mean, the president's supporters think he gave away far too much. yet the republicans have been really diabolically -- then pointing a finger at the president and saying hey, you're not able to fix it. so it's an odd turn in our politics. i think the president is now trying to point this out and i don't know whether the public is

going to see it his way. that's what campaigns are about. >> yeah. i'm curious with regard to the jobs bill. it's really a win-win for the president or if they see it that way. because is he still hoping to get the jobs bill through congress. if he doesn't, does he hope to score a political win if the house blocks it? >> well, i think he hopes to get aspects of the bill through. i mean, it's hard to see how the republicans are going to reject the extension of the payroll tax cut and extension of unemployment benefits. because that would leave a lot of people hurting. but if the republican house and the minority in the senate continues to block the jobs bill, the president can then go to the country and as he said, run against the do-nothing congress. i think it's the lesser of the two options. i think it would be much better to get action. in the end, the president is responsible for the economic well-being of the country. he's going to take the brunt of the blame. >> i'm curious.

because we look at the unemployment figures. still 9.1% nationally. do you think this hurts him? >> well, i think the fed chairman, mr. bernanke, portrayed the current situation as an emergency. i think we have enough people out of work in this country and now really emerging street unrest that you would think that the congress would react to it as an emergency. 9.1%, that number ought to be enough. we did get a better job growth this last month, but it's certainly not enough to make anybody rest on their laurels. i actually don't understand why the congress doesn't respond to what is clearly a national emergency in this country. >> let's shift to 2012 right now. particularly, relative to the gop race, which is pretty muddied in terms of finding a front-runner. does the president's reelection campaign feel good about this? because it indicates the

republicans are not organized enough? or is it a problem for them because they'd love to know against whom they're running and target their efforts there? >> i think given the two choices, they're enjoying watching the republicans tug of war between what's left of the establishment republican party and the tea party and people who want to focus on social issues. and i think mitt romney is the favorite. i think favorite. he's the one that i think the white house would least like to run against. the one they think they probably will run against. anything that takes away from his luster that makes him look like a flipflopper or less than a really credible candidate is to the favor of the white house. so as long as the battle goes on, i think that's good for democrats. >> okay. eleanor clift as always, thanks for the chat. a controversial new bill signed into law for education benefits for illegal immigrants.

it's part of the california dream act. it allows them to pay instate tuition at public universities and apply for financial aid if they meet qualifications. california is one of a dozen states that allow certain illegal immigrants to pay instate tuition. kansas city police say the parents of a missing baby girl are meeting with detectives again. they met two days after investigators say the couple stopt cooperating. >> we're all at the same table right now. that's the best thing for the investigation, no doubt about it imt they live here. it's their child. who knows more? talk to them, something may jog their memory. they may think of another person. >> officials are going door to door this weekend asking neighbors if they remember seeing anything suspicious the night that baby lisa vanished. they reported the girl missing tuesday morning and plan to offer a reward for any information leading to their daughter's safe return. casey anthony is facing another legal battle. the 25-year-old acquitted in the

murder of her daughter gave a videotaped deposition this weekend for a civil lawsuit brought by gonzalez. she said anthony ruined her reputation. when police were searching for caylee anthony in 2008, casey told them the girl was kidnapped by a nanny. lawyers plan to move forward with the defamation case. president obama surely lost a lot of support in the polls but there's a crucial voting group still standing by him. they are the walmart moms. we'll talk about that next. they're simply irresistible. a young band comes the latest you-tube sensation with a heavy metal sound. we're rocking out to these kids. ♪ ♪ ♪

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security cameras catch a pair of criminals in the act at a colorado jewelry store. the store owner says the two men came in saying they need today exchange gold for cash because of a family emergency. when the owner was distracted, the men switched out more than $11,000 in real gold for cheap replicas. let's go to politics now and checking in with a key group of voters who are sympathetic to the challenges president obama is facing in the white house. they are the walmart moms. they're mostly under the age of 44. about half of them earning less than $50,000 a year. they have kids living at home and they've shopped at walmart in the past month. i'm joined now by two pollsters would conducted focus groups with the walmart moms this past week. republican pollster neil new house and margie owe mere owe. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. >> good morning, alex. we have the walmart moms and nascar dads. why are we looking at walmart this time around? >> they've been swinging. they swung from 2008 to 2010.

my firm and neal's firm have been tracking this firm throughout last year. they started off very much divided, evenly divided along party lanes, favorable toward obama, having voted for obama. by election night they had moved considerably to republicans. so it's interesting to see how they're going to change if at all in 2012. >> 2008 they went obama. 2010 they went more to the right. why are these such an important group politically, though, neal? the walmart moms. are they really going to give you the winds of change and where things are going? >> alex, it's a good question. these women are really on the frontlines of this very difficult economy. and when you talk to these women, they're not really engaged in politics. what they're engaged in is the kitchen table issues that they're concerned with every day. putting gas in the tank, food on the table. getting the mortgage paid. so it's how these voters swing and swing late that potentially

could determine this election. >> margie, the walmart moms that we did the polls, the adjectives ar adverbs. they call things depressing, bad, sour and just not good. are there priorities just getting by as neil was suggesting. get the food on the table, get the gas in the tank, get the kids to the soccer in the afternoon. is that the whoenl thing they can hope for? >> they are hopeful and optimistic, thinking about their own family. they love their families and they do have some -- they do have that context. on the other hand, neil is right. they are really concerned about paying for school, paying for college and making it to the next paycheck and figuring out how far their gas tank will take them. i think it's also important when they view the political debate, they really view it through this personal lens. so they're not thinking about these social hot button issues.

very few women that we talk to mention things like abortion or immigration or gay marriage. it's really about how they're going to make it from one month to the next as well as the long-term. >> that's what it sounds like. they're looking at just week to week or month to month as you say. neil i want to go through some of the words that to describe the president. disappointing, mediocre, wishy-washy, indifferent and yet despite those words a lot of them consider voting for the president again. there's a discrepancy there, you think. why? >> almost a contradiction. these voters, they haven't given up hope yet on president obama. they still believe that potentially things can turn around. but if you listen carefully what they had to say, these voters had lost their passion for president obama and they also have -- they believe that obama has lost his passion as well. so they're moved away from him. they're not sold on it. not paying attention to the republican primary right now.

not sold on a republican candidate. they wish obama would step up and be a stronger leader, would show more force and confidence. >> how long are they going to give him to do that? >> i think they're going to give him a while. the door is not far from closed. they'll wait for a while before they decide on president obama. >> margie, do you think the folks of the democrats are trying to say, look, we inherited a lot of these problems. do you think that rings true or are they not going to buy that anymore. that was three years ago, we're done with that. >> there were a lot of similarities in the groups we did this time and groups last year where they don't blame obama. no one really said, oh, he's gone too far on healthcare or he's out of control. people have said, you know, things were really bad and he's one person and congress has been unhelpful. nonetheless, the blame and

responsibility and obviously he's the president and they'll hold him to that standard but they want him to succeed. they feel he has good ideas. there is a lot of room with these voters. that's what makes them so interesting. >> really quick, neil. you were shaking your head. >> there's a sense voters give him benefit of the doubt. he's trying, but it doesn't seem like it's good enough. alex, the one main take away, we did four and a half hours of focus groups on wednesday night and we came out of those groups incredibly depressed about what these women had to say. but these women are not feeling sorry for themselves. they're coping with this every day. they have built these strategies to deal with making ends meet and as depressing as the stories were, they were up lifting in terms of their attitudes and how they're dealing with their lives. >> i'll tell you, women will do what they can for their families. right, margie? >> that's right. >> neil newhouse, margie omero

thank you very much. don't adjust your sets. central park is pretty much all green still. is fall foliage really lacking color? that's ahead. forget cupid's arrow. see why can rover may be man's best friend to win a girl's heart. you're watching "weekends with alex witt". gomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

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oh, look at this. i didn't realize there was a meatball convention in town. >> i get that. >> listen up. you have to start showing governor romney some respect. i mean, how do you think he feels watching you like everybody more than him. >> governor christie, we don't want to stay with him. we want you to run. >> it's not going to happen. i know you want me to run, but this, this can't go national. my style works in one place. new jersey. if i run for president, i got to go to places like mississippi in june. i mean, can you picture me in the in mississippi heat in june taking questions from some yoke he will while i breathe like tony soprano? >> you all right? >> it's not going to be pretty. okay.

actor ben stiller hosted last night's episode. you can watch more clips of the show at nbc.com. you got to go there. it's awesome. now to the tops across the country. the list of leaders in today's number one. first the website, 24/7, wall street x ranks the states with the highest rate of home ownership. heading up the list, west virginia, 73.4% of homes are owner occupied. that's largely due to affordability. on the flip side, because of the high price of housing, new york has half of the homes owner okay piled. dogs will help men woo women. the dog that will steal the most heart, the golden retriever gets 19% of the female vote. including mine. in third the blabradoodle. dr. phil, taking the reins from oprah winfrey. his ratings are up over last year. dr. oz takes the second spot in

the daytime ratings. live are regis and kelly is third. boxing robots rock at the box office. real steel is the projected winner. an estimated take of $30 million. the top spot on billboard's country chart, toby keith's made in america. those are your number ones on "weekends with alex witt." cran! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. plus veggie nutrition. ♪ ♪ ♪ when the things that you need ♪ ♪ come at just the right speed, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ medicine that can't wait legal briefs there by eight, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ freight for you, box for me box that keeps you healthy, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪

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lots of londoners doing the same thing. the unemployment hovers at 9.1%. a new survey from the labor department suggests part of the current problem is a lack of qualified workers. take a look at this. the report shows there were 3.2 million job openings in july. 3.2 million. it's about the same number as in june. so why aren't these jobs being filled? let's ask kneel erwin, financial reporter at the washington post. >> good morning, alex. >> what's going on here? what is this disconnect? >> a lot of the job openings are not openings for which the unemployed have skills. we have a mismatch. you have things likening nearing, you have healthcare, nurses, a lot of specialties that people who were unemployed construction workers or manufacturing workers, is assembly type workers don't have the skills to take those jobs. >> how does the workforce adjust to meet the demands? can the government help out in any way?

>> this is one of the great challenges of the economic moment we're in. trying to figure out ways to educate our workforce and our labor force for the jobs of the next century. not to try and rebuild the housing bubble and the consumer spending bubble we had during the first part of the century. but get people ready for the export oriented things, the services, the healthcare industries that are the growth area. can we adjust the training systems to make sure people are getting the right skills and are ready for these jobs. >> 3.2 million job openings and when you talk to companies surveyed here. 96% said look, there are 3.2 million jobs open right now. why don't they add now? >> the thing is, companies are very cautious. they feel like they don't want to just plan for the future and expand aggressively, preempt tiffly and hope the business is there. they want to see the evidence. they want to see customers in the stores, demand for their products.

they want hard evidence that there's demand before they go out on a limb and hire workers, build a factory, expand their capacity. that's why we've had this kind of constantly looking to the future. businesses are saying, i think things will be better next year so i'll hire next year. i'm not going to do it now and be ready because they're not sure it's going to come. >> how low do you think unemployment might go in the next year? what's a best case scenario? >> after financial crises, recoveries tend to be slow. the best case isn't 5% overnight. we have a gradual drift down. if we could fall from 9.1 to 8% a year from now, that would be progress. most of the forecasters aren't even that optimistic. most of the forecasters are saying we get down to the high 8s by the middle of next year. >> it's been such a catch-22 for the long-term unemployed. a lot of these places are, look, if you've been unemployed for some time, don't bother applying. is that because they've lost the worker skills needed to get these jobs?

>> i'll throw out a -- it's called history-esis. they lose their skills and attachment to the labor force. therefore, they become harder to employ. so long-term unemployment builds upon itself. even though if people had found jobs a year ago, maybe they would be right back in the labor force. if they've been unemployed longer than that, the potential out put is lower and the u.s. economy has less potential than in the past. that's a dangerous situation. that's a good case why we should do everything we can to get people back to work as quickly as possible. >> does the jobs bill of the president address that? >> that's part of the theory behind it. the idea is we have the people unemployed for six months, nine month, a year. the thing to do is spend what we can, do what we can to put them back to work. get them reattached to the labor force to make sure they don't lose the skills. >> so good to talk to you neil irwin. europe, 50,000 fans gathered for a michael jackson tribute

concert. the michael forever concert featured appearances by his siblings and his children. other highlights during the four-hour show included performances by see low green and leona lewis. fall is running behind. climate change may be to blame for it. scientists in europe say global warming may not only be keeping leaves on the trees longer but also delaying the bursts of beautiful color that we normally see this time of year. >> what does this planets? >> dr. reese is a -- he's author of the honeybee and he joins me now. good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> what is happening right now? why this delay in leaf changing? >> as the earth warms, the plants are trying to adjust. you know the critical thing, alex, it's the availability of habitat and more importantly, or most importantly, it affects the flow of water to both the

critters and people. >> okay. so there's a growing season. these delays have been around for some time now. from 1982 to 2008. so why is it that we're sort of now looking at the leaves and their colors and thinking wait, why are they not so bold and -- >> well, you know, because scientist rs cautious alex. we tend to look at things after two decades. we're starting to see this pattern. as the fall is prolonged, the colors aren't the -- scarlet reds aren't as scarlet and the golden yellows and the orange pumpkin colors, they just aren't there. here's the thing. this is a multimillion dollar industry where we call the leaf peepers, they come from all over the world to go to the northeast, upstate new york. it seems to be that it's going to bite into that too. >> oh, yeah. >> i'm going to ask richard to

keep this picture on the opposite side of your screen up. we're looking live at central park. here we are the 9th of october. we would expect to have seen much more color in this beautiful overview of the park. but it's very green and it's also very dense, reese. i mean it looks like the leaves are staying on the trees longer. >> well, they are, alex. you know, here's the other thing. with hurricane irene in parts of the northeast, when we get niece deluges, the leaves will drop right away. or when we get these extended periods of drought that are enveloping at least half our nation, the beautiful colors,they just won't show up at all. >> so reese, what are the greater implications of this? >> well, the greater implications, alex, the end of the day, it's disappointing that congress seems to support this pipeline from the alberta tar sands and we're not lowers our carbon footprint. we got to address this, alex. >> okay.

dr. reese halter, giving it with passion as you always do. thanks so much. >> thank you. taking a look at a few of the stories that caught my eye this morning. sesame street is unveiling a new muppet today. lily as part of a one-hour special addressing hunger in america. >> so great. >> don't have proper food in me. >> you don't even know whether you're going to have a next meal or not. that can be pretty hard. >> well, the show's producers are hoping it helps children learn about hunger and become more sympathetic towards those in need. check this out. it's a wom bat helping her baby take its first steps. the baby steps are a big deal as they're near extinction. ♪ >> he's got the head bop down. the latest sensation on you-tube. they are the mini band. it's a group of kids in great

britain between eight and ten years old playing metallica's sand man. it has close to one and a half million hits. y went right on li. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

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new reaction on capitol hill to the occupy wall street movement. democratic leader nancy pelosi blasted comments by eric cantor that he's concerned about the growing mobs. pelosi says cantore encouraged tea party demonstrations where protesters spat on congressman. she says demonstrating is healthy in america. >> it's the american system. it's the democratic system. we don't all agree. we have a king if we were all of one mind. we don't. we have different views. the part of the democracy of our country is the expression that people give and the constitution guarantees that. >> as the movement continues to build strength in america, it's also going international. demonstrations are planned in front of the london stock

exchange next week. it's time for today's big three. three topics, three talkers. we're looking at the gop's religious divide. herman cain on the rise and sarah palin saying trust me. i'm joined by washington post an kornblut and apprentice contestant. tara do you dell. anne, good morning to you in washington. i'm reaching out to you first because you got the furthest distance. a lot of the news sparked by the texas pastor calling the mormon religion a cult after introducing rick perry at the event. mitt romney has been here before, four years ago. how big of an issue will religion be for him? >> well, it's too soon to really tell. but it doesn't seem -- certainly hasn't derailed him at this point. it's going to be an issue. they always knew it would be for a certain portion of the republican based christian conservatives. in some ways, it could be considered a welcome distraction, if you like. when you're talking about his religion, you're not talking

about potentially his flipflopping on issues or not being conservative enough. you're talking about something that americans are willing to forgive, if you will. it's his religion. he's able to turn this to his advantage. he's talking now about civility and discourse. we saw in 2008 in the general election, americans are not going to be swayed by discussions of religion achs as much as in the past. even though a number of people think that president obama isn't a christian, which he is, he won. so i think that for romney, this is not going to be something that will derail him. although it is something that he's going to have to address. >> to that point, ron, is there anything that he can say to address those who have concerns? is it something the gop should be concerned about. because this does represent a major voting block. they're apathetic and not going there or splitting up that vote, it decreases the power of the gop. >> i don't think it's something that governor romney has to

worry about. there will be a certain element that will look at him and say we don't agree with your background or believes. the important thing is can he lead the country? does he have a vision, an economic plan? does he have a sense to keep the country safe from a terrorist attack? it's looking more at his credentials will bring him over that hump. >> i'm curious before i move to tara. were you angry when you heard what the pastor said? >> i was. it's entirely inappropriate. if you want to support governor perry, then do that. you don't need to denigrate another opponent and look at their religion for not supporting someone. it's out of bounds. >> moving to you, tara, your thoughts on all this. the fact that the gop is being splintered by this religion issue right now. how much does that help the president? >> i think that the gop any contentiousness in the primary even the gop or a democratic primary certainly helps the other side. contentiousness helps the president and his campaign moving forward. i think the bigger issue for

mitt romney, though, is going to be the flipflopping. he's going to be hammered on that. most of the base of the republican party don't have a problem with his religion. what they have a problem with is the trust factor. mitt romney was previously pro choice. he supported healthcare reform and now he's campaigning about the very things that he championed in the past. that's where the discontent with mitt romney really comes from. and that's where there's an opportunity for president obama, as well as his economic record. >> here's the take away -- when you look at the straw poll, ron paul winning again. 37% of the folks voting for him there. the two presumed frontrunners, rick perry, romney, not faring so well. what is the take away, anne? >> forgive me if i'm skeptical. it's a straw poll. it's not a real poll. this is not going to be determinative of who the nominee is. in the long run.

but it doesn't give either one of them the presumed frontrunners a win. it's not going to assuage any fears that people might have that romney could win those voters over. it's a snapshot in time in a a sense. but it won't be very meaningful. >> which is the greater headline, this is great news for ron paul or herman cain or the fact that it's the low marks for romney and perry? >> you don't want to put ron paul in there. >> no. ron paul is a great organization. they vote in the straw polls. he's not going to be a factor. i think herman cain's surprising rise is more of an issue. >> what should democrats be looking at, tara in. >> the president needs to continue to focus on his jobs bill and pushing this jobs bill. what he really needs to do is to harness those people who are still waning to be with him. they want to see more fire in his belly. his base wants to see him

succeed. walmart moms that you referenced earlier. they want to see him succeed. he has to figure out a way to harness their support in order to move the jobs at this bill, the cbo just recently scored it and said it will help with unemployment and kee the country from going backwards. we don't want to go backwards. and also a bloomberg survey of economists, everybody feels this could be the jolt that the economy needs. is it going to be a magic bullet? no, and he needs to manage the expectations. >> sit tight, everybody, and we will come back and talk about the rise of herman cain. we are building a website by ourselves.

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back now to politics. herman cain's stellar week, and

he is racking up political wins, and a very strong second place in the values voters straw poll yesterday. and with a welcome to both of you, ron, you have an article in the post. >> it's important to realize it allows herman cain to be taken seriously and legitimate of serious. and then it seems to me the democrats of all people are playing the race card in order to keep president obama in office. >> that's my disapproving smile. i want to say something about the racial issue, even though i don't like to comment on it, and many democrats legitimately

believed due to some of the rhetoric coming from the tea party and some people in the republican party that they were playing the race card, and so this was never about playing the race card to benefit the president. this was about calling out people saying some things, and that should be done on both sides of the aisle. and there is the whole not mitt romney movement in the republican party. >> and let's talk about sarah palin quickly. she has getting a lot of flack, and she is defending saying they got mad and sent some pretty mean e-mails, and you don't trust me in the decision god led me to make at this time. do you understand why people are angry? >> yeah, mean e-mails at this point, you have to imagine that she is used to that. yeah, she had all of this year

she would make an announcement in september and then it became october, and she went down to the wire, and by the time she made it it was anti-climatic. for the people supporting her and holding on hoping she would run, and it had to be a bitter disappointment, and when you look out in the field and the discussion with herman cain, and people are asking who else can run, and she had to suspect that there would be people disappointed and she has been criticized for having a thin skin in the past and this is probably further evidence of that. >> give me your must read. >> my friend has a look called obama the loaner president, and it's about his personality and dislike of politics. >> terry, your must read? >> the hill, the scoring of the president's job bill. >> and then it might be your own article? >> yeah, i think so.

>> thanks to awful you so much, and good to see you. we are all out of time. stay with us, everybody, for headlines and breaking news as it happens. we will see you next week on "weekends with alex witt," and have a good one until we see you then. slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman,

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