do something about it. student debt is one of the reasons we've been seeing all theseoccupy wall street protesters. look at what happened in oakland, where more than 100 people were arrested and police used tear gas. we'll have more on that coming up in just a few minutes. but check out some more numbers. just this morning, the college board reporting that tuition costs are up more than 8% at four-year schools. and up nearly 9% at two-year colleges. nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house for us. so, mike, the president's going to unveil his plan at the university of colorado. i guess that state has among the highest student loan default rates in the nation? >> reporter: i tell you, it's a terrifying prospect, chris, if you're the parent of children under college age or you're a student in college and you keep having to take out these loans. the price of college is growing twice as fast as inflation. the average list price in-state tuition for a state school now,

topping $17,000. and that includes room and board, and it's no wonder that the majority of college students are now graduating with debt, sometimes on average, of about $20,000. the president, last year, he had a new initiative with rard to student loans, trying to make them cheaper. he's talked about it a lot, cutting out the middle man, getting the student loans directly from the government, instead of going directly to a third party. and today, a new announcement, he'll be capping the repayment of student loans. it used to be 15%. now it will be down to 10%, after you graduate from college, 10% of your discretionary income, it's going to be capped there. that's the most you can pay per year on an annual basis to bring down, pay back that student loan. also going to be consolidating different kinds of student loans, trying to get a lower interest rate, lowering that month payment, chris. >> mike viqueira at the white house, thanks. well, president obama has some new ammunition as he tries to bypass a dysfunctional congress. a new poll has congressional

approval at 9%, an all-time low. big questions this morning. will the president's new plans help americans and his own re-election efforts? i'm joined now by susan page, the washington bureau chief for "usa today." michael shere is white house correspondent for time magazine. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> so, susan, in the past couple of days, the president sidestepped congress to try to help struggling homeowners. now today he's focusing on college grads. do you think this kind of populist move is going to help move the needle in the economy and move the needle with voters? >> well, you know, it will help some people. we think it will help about 1 million homeowners, this homeowner initiative. we think the student loan consolidation program will help about 6 million. so some. it doesn't address the fundamental underlying problems for either of those groups, but it does show the president trying to do something to help americans who are really feeling under the gun on this economy. really reminds me of bill clinton in 1996, when he couldn't get through things through congress, he started issuing executive orders, taking other executive actions that he could do.

it looks to me that president obama has really learned the lesson of bill clinton's experience. >> and michael, there's a new report out from the congressional budget office that the top 1% of earners saw their incomes nearly triple from 1979 through 2007. we have a graph that shows it, and i mean, it's absolutely astonishing. those numbers, along with congressional approval, frankly, being in the toilet, does that strengthen the president's hand? does it help him in 2012? >> i think it does, and i think the white house thinks it does. it's interesting, the white house is coming out with a student loan proposal, just a few weeks after occupy wall street starts. the main complaint of a number of those students who are around the country in various city squares is that they, you know, they're college graduates, they have $80,000 in debt, and it's not just that they are only able to pay 10% of their income. they don't really have income and they're complaining about t that. the white house is trying to dovetail on that. those numbers you just mentioned dovetail really well with the president's call for raising taxes on the wealthy.

>> and we talked about him unveiling this officially in colorado a little later. he was on leno last night, talking about his daughters. let me play that for you. >> you recently said that you didn't like the girls watching the kardashians. >> that's -- >> have you seen the show? >> no, i have not seen the show. >> aha. so you're making a judgment without ever seeing the show. >> i -- i'm probably a little biased against reality tv. partly because, you know, there's this program on c-span called "congress" that is -- >> that's funny. you know, susan, this is kind of the barack obama that people liked so much personally, but do you think it helps him politically? >> oh, yes, absolutely. we know a lot about the weaknesses and vulnerabilities that president obama has going into his re-election fight, especially on the economy. he has some big advantages too. and that is that people have a favorable impression of him, they have a favorable impression of his daughters, they like his

family life. when he shows his sense of humor, which he doesn't always do, i think that's very disarming. so, yes, i think this is -- it's not going to convince people their lives are better off, but they like the fact that they have a favorable view of him. >> you know, there has been this debate. i guess it was since, michael, president clinton played the sax on arsenio hall, it started this sort of late-night appearances by presidents, and they've obviously kept it up. so they think it helps. do you think it's a big plus or maybe just sort of part of the overall impression that people get? >> they haven't just kept it up, president obama's really doubled down on that strategy. he's been on as many of these shows as he can. and i bet more people will see clips from the leno show today than will hear about his student loan initiative. >> you may be right, yep. >> and as susan said, people like this part of president obama. they're going to hear the student loan initiative and they're going to say rightly, well, that doesn't solve all our problems, it's not going to fix things, but at least i like the guy. >> i guess one of the big questions for the electorate is,

who is the problem? and both sides obviously claim it's the over that's stalling progress. let me play something from john boehner. >> the president says we can't afford to wait. well, guess what? i agree with the president. we've got 15 bills that are sitting over in the united states senate. it's time for the senate to work with the house and to work with the president to help find common ground, to move our economy forward and get the american people back to work. >> you know, susan, i wonder, can either side win that argument, when they talk like that, or are they basically just preaching to their base? >> i want to know, who are the 9% of american who is approve about the job that congress is doing? because really, you look at the dysfunction -- >> they're the families of congress, susan, who depend on them for their income. >> well, maybe so. i mean, there is a kind of pox on both your houses, i guess, when people look at how washington doesn't work. that's another reason why executive actions that the president can take, even if they're rather modest in their impact, can do him a lot of good

politic politically. >> susan page, michael shere, great to talk to both of you. thank you. four candidates, four states. what the republican hopefuls have to do or face elimination. the breakdown and the tin sights from nbc news political team is coming up. but first, tensions are rising between police and those occupy wall street demonstrators. officers fired tear gas on protesters in oakland last night after an early morning raid on the movement's encampment. police say those protesters were throwing rocks and bottles. in atlanta, police stormed a downtown park overnight. they arrested dozens of protesters there, even dragging some of them out. kntv's kristi smith joins me now from oakland with the latest on the situation there. kristi, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, chris. well, i can tell you, there are at least a dozen protesters still out here this morning. some of them spent the night and actually were arrested yesterday and came right back out here. but they have no access to city hall or franco galla plaza in

front of city hall where they were camped out, because police barricades are up this morning. protesters are telling me the reason they're here is because they want to occupy it again. after a long night, where oakland police say nearly a thousand demonstrators hit the streets of downtown oakland in support of the occupy oakland movement. police say the crowd was ordered to disperse, but they didn't. they say officers were hit with paint, rocks, and bottles, other objects. police ended up firing five cans of tear gas into the crowd. they haven't said yet exactly how many people were arrested last night, but in the morning, it was close to 100, after police raided the tent city occupy movement that had been going on here since october 10th. the city served two eviction notices on them, but the protesters stayed put. they said conditions were so bad, that the city could no longer guarantee public safety, but the movement in support of economic equality continues out

here. protesters are telling us that they're going to stay put throughout the day and that each day, more protesters will show up and rally at 6:00. so that's what we have from here, reporting live in oakland, i'm kristi smith. chris, back to you. >> kristi, thank you so much. we want you to see this, because it's really dramatic. more rescues from the rubble three days after that earthquake rocked eastern turkey. a 27-year-old english teacher was pulled out from under the wreckage alive today, along with four other survivors. searchers do say, however, that hopes of finding anyone else alive are diminishing fast. more than 460 people have died in that earthquake. "get well" messages going out this morning in new york. 92-year-old recently retired "06 minutes" commentator andy rooney is in stable condition after developing some serious complications from minor surgery performed last week. in south dakota, former presidential nominee george mcgovern is hospitalized for

fatigue. a spokesperson says the 89-year-old former senator has been on a lecture tour. and aerosmith's front man, steven tyler, was treated and released from a paraguay hospital after falling in the shower. a spokesman for the 63-year-old "american idol" judge says dehydration caused by food poisoning was behind that fall and he says tyler's injuries are minor. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha

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kmaherman cain tops a new p in the state of ohio and rick perry has sunk to just 4%. mitt romney's a strong number too in the buckeye state and he said what they all know. >> i'm doing ohio to win the

white house. >> romney is in washington, d.c. for a power breakfast with some of the capitol's most influential lobbyists. those power brokers are getting behind romney, even though his poll numbers have been flat. "the washington times" reports the state department bought $70,000 worth of president obama's books. they were used to stock libraries and as christmas gifts. most of those purchases took place after the president was elected. a state department spokesman says the books are used to discuss foreign policy and to engage audiences. now, check out this picture of president obama soothing a crying baby. the 6-month-old was fussing and the president bounced her for a few minutes and she calmed right down, even flashing a smile. yes, she is the baby whisperer. not him, that's george kcostanz from stinefeld. actor jason alexander is in israel, trying to broker peace with palestine. he says, don't give up. you've got to see mc hammer

in an ad for the san francisco mayor. ♪ thank you for blessing me and the rest of the city ♪ ♪ >> right now ed lee is the interim mayor of san francisco and voters will decide if he's too legit to quit. okay. iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, florida. each early state is a critical step on the road to the white house. we wanted to get a lay of the land right now. msnbc's political reporter domenico montanaro is hitting the high ground for us. first of all, let's start with iowa. >> first, let's say i don't own and never have owned a pair of parachute pants. let's put this out there right away. >> this is shocking to me. let's move on. >> iowa is a must-win for michele bachmann. she won ames, but has really

faded since. her new hampshire team all but quit on her last week and told them we're all about iowa right now. so that's really where we're at with iowa. and remember, only two of the last five people who have won iowa have actually won the nomination, so, you know, it's not always indicative of who becomes the nominee, but it can give momentum to important second-tier candidates, chris. >> and let's go to new hampshire. >> in new hampshire, mitt romney, this is a must-win state for him. mitt romney owns a home in new hampshire, he was governor of a state that bordered it. so mitt romney's really got to do well here. he's the heavy favorite. if he doesn't win, it becomes difficult to see what the reasoning is for his campaign going forward. >> number three, south carolina. >> in south carolina, you look at someone like rick perry. he's a southern governor, the state fits him pretty well. he's got to do well there if he wants to hope to be able to compete with romney and maybe have some momentum going into florida. and the key to south carolina, unlike iowa, every person who's

won south carolina since 1980 has gone on to win the republican nomination. >> and like ohio, which we were just talking about, another incredibly important state, florida. >> well, florida, look, you know, obviously important, very close in general elections. and you know, we're going to look at somebody like herman cain. herman cain leads in our latest nbc maris poll, but herman cain has very limited infrastructure, very limited campaign team, and not a lot of money. and the thing a lot of people might not know about florida is that it's a tv state. what do i mean by that? you have to have a lot of money to run a lot of ads in a lot of markets that are pretty expensive to advertise in. that's not something that herman cain has right now, and that's why people look at rick perry and mitt romney as the two people who really have the best chance, probably, in florida. and if this thing is a long delegate fight, well let's say perry wins iowa, he wins south carolina, and it shapes up to be mitt romney versus rick perry in florida, well, florida is the

state that could decide the republican nomination for us. >> let's figure that out. what does history, at least, tell us about the nominating process? how long does this process usually go on? >> it can depend. sometimes a candidate can win iowa and new hampshire and have this thing over with very quickly. you know, but last time around, we saw two fights that kind of within the on a while. john mccain didn't clinch until march or so. barack obama certainly didn't clinch until june, when hillary clinton finally decided to get out of the race. so it can be. wrapped up early, you know, if somebody like mitt romney, for example, goes on and wins iowa, which is possible, goes on to win new hampshire, then all of this stuff becomes moot and we don't have talk about it. but history has shown a mix. last time around it went long, this time around, it's indicating it could go wrong if a romney alternate emerges. >> and we should also say on this date in 2007, do we have this poll, leading the polls was rudy giuliani. >> of course, rudy giuliani. >> followed by fred thompson and

then the eventual nominee, john mccain. >> our pollsters tell us all the time, the polls don't matter. what matters are those early polls in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. these national polls are sometimes just a popularity test. >> domenico, good to see you. thank you, my friend. once considered a rising star in the financial word, ex-goldman sachs board member sharant gupta gave himself up. prosecutors say gupta passed on details about a $5 billion investment made by warren buffett. and it's not the fastest jet, it's not the largest, but the boeing dreamliner is the talk of the airline world today, because it made its debut four-hour flight from hong kong to tokyo with 240 passengers, some of them paying as much as $32,000 a ticket. the aircraft's selling points

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former senator john edwards will be in court today to fight criminal charges. he's been accused of taking illegal campaign contributions to hide his mistress, rielle hunter, during the 2008 presidential campaign. nbc news senior investigative correspondent, lisa myers, joins us from washington. lisa, good morning. what are we expecting this morning? >> good morning, chris. first of all, it's unusual for a judge even to agree to hear arguments at this stage of the case. basically, what edwards is trying to do today is to get his case thrown out before it goes to the trial. some say it's the legal equivalent of a hail mary. john edwards walks back into a courthouse in greensburg, north carolina, today, argued with five arguments why his indictment should be dismissed.

it's a return to hard reality. just four days after the joyful celebration of his daughter kate's marriage. prosecutors charge that edwards requested, accepted, and received unlawful contributions, in order to hide his involvement in an extramarital affair, and thereby preserve the viability of his campaign to be president. >> no other candidate has ever been charged criminally with any case that even approximates this. >> reporter: ken gross, a former head of enforcement for the federal election commission and previously a consultant for edwards' defense, argues the case goes beyond the law. >> none of that money was used for any campaign-related expense. no tv ads, no radio ads, to pay campaign workers or to otherwise advocate his election. >> reporter: the government says edwards broke the law by not reporting almost $1 million secretly provided by two supporters, which was used to hide his pregnant mistress, rielle hunter, in fancy homes and on private jets.

>> i don't think it's that novel. >> reporter: former federal prosecutor dan boyce says the government has laid out a strong case. the defense doesn't want this case to go to the jury. they're trying to get out of the case on a technicality. >> reporter: edwards insists he did not violate the law and claims the case is politically motivated. if the judge doesn't buy edwards' arguments, he could be back in court for a trial in january. now, the judge is not expected to rule today. by all accounts, edwards faces an uphill battle to get the case thrown out, given the momentum of a federal indictment. most of the times, judges would simply rather have a jury decide. chris? >> but it will be fascinating to watch. lisa maris, thank you. >> always fascinating, this case. his name recognition has absolutely exploded across the country, he's leading in a lot of the polls. his campaign ads have everybody buzzing. how far can herman cain's public persona carry him? that's next.

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some stunning new rescues today in quake-ravaged turkey. an 18-year-old college student was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed apartment building overnight. take a look at this. one of five survivors rescued just today, three days after the earthquake first hit. nbc's michelle franzen joins me nofrom ercis, turkey, with the very latest. michelle, how's it looking there now? >> reporter: well, we are on the outskirts of ercis, where a tent city has been set up. this is -- >> all right. so we've been having some problems with that shot, but you can see, the rescue efrts that continue to go on. you probably saw yesterday the 2-day-old baby that was rescued. now more today, these folks have been working absolutely around the clock, but i think we have michelle back. from what i'm hearing, they're

feeling like the clock really is ticking now. they don't have much time, given the weather and the amount of time that people may have been buried for these rescues, right? >> reporter: well, that is right, chris. the temperatures have dropped even further tonight, than what they have been in the previous nights, and as we mentioned before, we are in day four here since the earthquake struck. it is hard -- >> yeah, unfortunately, as we said, there are some difficulties with that shot. and you can imagine what the situation is there. we're going to continue to follow this situation, though, obviously, and michelle franzen will remain there. let's get a check of the weather now. carl parker standing by, as he always is in the morning, from the weather channel. carl, what have you got for us? >> well, the snow has been coming down in colorado. we're going to get a good bit of it. in fact, in denver, we've had 4 inches, but north and west of town in jamestown, in boulder county in the foothills, we've had 16 inches of snow already. and we are looking for more snow to continue through the day

today, so it's going to be well over a foot when you get into the mountains. there's a look at 70 this, and there's the snow coming down. it will continue through the rest of today. so more issues up and down 25 here, and certainly so on 70 west of town. talking about an additional 4 to 6 inches in denver and about 5 to 8 in breckenridge. great news for those of you who are looking to get up into the mountains to ski early this season. so here's a look at hurricane rina, much farther south. this is now a 110-mile-an-hour storm, nearly a major hurricane. a very small storm. we think it could very well directly impact some of the resort areas of mexico, cancun, cozumel, and beyond that, we don't know it's going to continue off to florida. if it does, it may be a very weak system. but it may get buried near the yucatan and western part of the caribbean. finally, a look at the forecast across the country. scattered showers today from the northeast back down through the ohio valley and the central plains. beautiful, sunny weather in the southeast and looking very good

on the west coast as well. 77 for the high today in los angeles. >> a beautiful day there, as it often is. thank you, carl. the death of a female member of an elite u.s. special ops team is fueling the debate once again over the role of women in combat. army first lieutenant ashley white is the first casualty of a member of the army's special cultural support teams. the women on this elite team are brought in to do things men aren't permitted to do in certain cultures. she died in a bomb explosion on the front lines in southern afghanistan last weekend and our thoughts are certainly with her family. dr. conrad murray's defense team is switching strategy today, trying to shift the case away from the testimony of those investigators and medical experts. attorneys are calling on five character witness who is will testify that jackson was desperate for sleep and so desperate to get the anesthetic propofol. but the defense is not expected to call murray to the stand. a government panel is now recommending the hpv vaccine for

boys 11 and 12. in fact, they say it could be given as young as 9, as late as 26. doctors say the vaccine will help prevent cancers caused by hpv and help stop the spread of the sexually transmitted virus to girls. the vaccine was recommended for girls five years ago. pathologists found the late soul singer, amy winehouse, consumed a very large amount of alcohol before she was died. she was 4 1/2 times over the drunk driving limit. the report follows the initial finding that there were no illegal drugs in her system. the 27-year-old grammy winner was found dead in her london home on july 23rd. well, couples weather all sorts of tough times, but imagine if your marriage started o o out like this. we'll hear from the happy couple when we go down to the wire in 20. a big bump in the road for detroit's big three automakers. they don't even crack the top ten in consumer reports' annual reliability survey.

cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. this is shocking to me. what happened? >> yeah, you know, chris, it seems these results suggest at least for gm and ford that the detroit models still have a bit of a reliability problem. ford sank from 10th to 20th spo spot, no thanks to three new models that had problems. those are the new ford explorer, the fiesta, and the ford focus, which had below average reliability in their first year. that was the biggest slip for any carmaker that we saw this year, chris. on the bright side, though, the ford fusion hybrid sedan, that remained outstanding. and chrysler, it's been suffering in the ratings for several years now, but it rose with jeep up seven spots to number 13, to make it the most reliable domestic brand. you're probably wondering who came out on top, well, the japanese brands. they continue to top the consumer reports for this years. the most reliable being scion, lexus, acurera, lmazda, and

honda. 37 were either average or better in the predicted reliability. >> let me ask you what i think is good news, because there aren't enough big women atop big businesses. big change at ibm. >> ibm has named one of its top executives as the new ceo. this is not unexpected. her name is virgin remetty. there is a president here as well, chris. this past summer during the buildup to the company's 100th anniversary, there were reports that pamzetto would soon turn 60 and this is an age that some ibm ceos in the past have either stepped down or anointed successors, and if you were wondering what she was doing in the past, she was general manager there and senior vice president of ibm's global services. obviously, she comes with a very good resume behind her. >> cnbc's mandy drury, thanks, mandy. >> no worries.

what a difference a month makes. herman cain's stock has been soaring. he has a four-point lead in today's "new york times"/cbs news poll. that's up 20 points from just about a month ago. well, cain may be leading in the polls, but how's he doing in the social media world, which stands to play a pretty pivotal role in the race for the white house. richard lui is here with a closer look at the social media campaign. how's it looking? >> it looks like there's a lot happening there. there are a couple hundred million reasons why social networking is so important to the campaigns. facebook users during the 2008 election, for instance, about 100 million, as we see right here. now just a year away from the 2012 election, 800 million yuuss right now and growing. another social media snapshot, back in 2008, twitter had just eight employees with the first months just months away, they now have 600 employees. well and good. the question is, how does this impact voting? one firm, echo research, found

social media to be more influential than traditional media, while face-to-face conversations, they say, at the local tavern, had the most impact. so who's winning the social media war right now? well, on twitter, romney leads with cain close behind, as you can see right here, 147,000 to 138 right now, below 100,000 are perry and paul. gingrich has 1.3 million followers. weapon department pidn't put hi because there's some questions, reportedly, as to whether 1.2 million of his followers just aren't real. there's more to it than quantity, says klout.com. it supposedly reflects your social media's identity ability to drive action. in the candidate's cases, that could mean donating and voting. here's how the field is scoring this hour for you. herman cain has the highest klout score at 81. mitt romney is second at 76.

ron paul is scoring well at 75, but trending flat. and rick perry, he is lagging, but trending down, hence that arrow pointing down in red. one interesting point i find, with more than 10 million followers, president obama trails by almost 25 points in the ranking right now, but his followers are more focused and consistent, says klout. when we reported on this two weeks ago, as you talked about, cain was the big social media mover then and that hasn't changed. >> thank you. that's fascinatiing stuff. but there's still a lot of traditional media. we're ten weeks if the first blots being cast in the 2012 race. republicans are gearing up today for an ad blitz in those early voting states. remember these? these are some of our favorites from 2008. >> it's 3:00 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. but there's a phone in the white house and it's ringing. something's happening in the world.

>> he's the biggest celebrity in the world, but is he ready to lead? >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. >> well, there have already been a few to remember this season, and joining me to talk about it from reputation.com, howard bragman. good to have you here in new york. so we talk about the differences now between what's going on the net and what's going on in those kinds of ads, which play on tv. what really strikes me, some of these ads are produced literally overnight. it seems like any college kid with a camera with produce an ad. and i'm wondering, does the frantic pace help? does it diminish the impact? what do you think? >> i think it diminishes the impact. there's two big trends going on, one, social media, traditional advertising, both very powerful sources.

the social media, what's in people's hearts, the ads are what the money buys and how you influence people's thinking and change them. and they have to work together. but it used to be all advertising. we remember famous political ads from the past, and they had the ability to change the race. as you say, now they're turned out overnight and it's less meaningful. it's like eating doritos, crunch one and go on to the next. >> this is a conversation we have every election, but is it something that tries to shake the narrative about who the candidate is, especially, let's say, if you're one of the republicans whob republicans, who isn't as well known as barack obama, or the infamous attack ad. >> you have to have a mix of them. it's like a balanced meal. you have to define yourself, because if you don't, you can be assured that your competition will. at the same time, you have to go after the competition. i don't know if you saw it, but obama's already running ads with romney as the presumed nominee in arizona attacking him on housing and helping people with their mortgages. so you're going to see a very aggressive mix of both this season. >> well, let's look at a couple

of the, i would say, more colorful ads that we've already seen so far this season. check it out. >> president's zero. >> americans living in poverty. >> one in six americans. >> in the right direction. >> headed in the wrong direction. >> we're just getting started! >> we need you to get involved, because together we can do this, we can take this country back. ♪ i am america ♪ one voice united we stand ♪ i am america >> the first one kind of the traditional very highly produced. >> yeah, big mistake. he's not running against obama. he has other people to beat with his numbers at 4% in the national polls, he should really be worried about herman cain and mitt romney right now, and not president obama. that time will come. >> do you think that -- i mean, i guess the strategy is, we want to seem like we are the presumptive nominee, we're above all that and we're going to go

after the guy -- >> it's just not making any sense for anybody who knows anything, his numbers are plummeting, obama is not his problem right now and he'll get the chance to address his problem. >> even though it's a couple days old, i have to ask you about the herman cain ad, and unfortunately we had a banner and you couldn't see, but at the end, this is one of the those, looks like someone on his staff took a camera and -- he's smoking. >> it's a very bizarre ad. i think what they were trying to do was a man on the street ad, but they used their campaign manager. campaign managers are supposed to be slick, smart, behind the scenes, and the man on the street is supposed to be behind the scenes, and it came out to be this weird hybrid. and we're talking about the guy smoking. and not only was he smoking, he smoked like my grandfather. my grandfather used to smoke a cigarette with no filter and always looked like he was smoking a joint when it got to the end, and that's what this guy looked like. that's my take. >> howard bragman, good to have you here. thanks so much.

we're not the only ones keeping a close eye on those campaign ads. last night, the late-night comedians paid tribute to herman cain's latest ads with their own renditions. >> rich lowry here, chief economic adviser for herman cain. government must get off our backs, out of our pockets, and out of our way. ♪ i am america >> hi, mike kilpatrick here, and it is my privilege to be chief strategist for the cain campaign. i believe herman cain is the man to restore america's greatness. won't you join me? ♪ i am america spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding.

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eating more protein may be the key to consuming fewer calories. researchers fed a group of 22 healthy adult volunteers a variety of diets for four days. those who consumed more protein had a lower caloric intake than participants given less protein. those on the low-protein diet snacked more often. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts in the next hour of msnbc. got an outstanding student loan, do you? well, you're not alone. and more and more americans are defaulting on these loans. today, the president announcing new changes to lower your monthly payment. rick perry admitting to making mistakes about immigration and also at the gop debates. how will he get his campaign back on course? his communication director, ray sullivan, will be my guest. and millions of family across this country suffering in this recession. but why are the kids of same-sex couples hit harder? eye-opening results of a new study, that and much more in the next hour. chris? >> thomas, thank you. well, there's more proof his

straight talk and 9-9-9 plan have moved the the mark for herman cain. right now he's recognized by -- and this is an astonishing number -- 78% of republicans nationwide. that's up 57 points since march. but is recognition enough? karen hunter is a journalist, a pulitzer prize winner, and nbc contributor, and boras epstein is a gop strategist. good morning to both of you. so we know people find him likable, karen. and in fact, also in the poll, he's the candidate they would most like to have dinner with. how does he take that and make something of it? >> well, he's made something of it. this is why we're talking about him. the fact that we like him -- well, not we, but the american people -- >> oh, you like him too. you like him. >> he's fun to watch. and in the media, we love him. you know, this is exciting. >> we agree on that. >> but can he turn it into real votes when it comes down to it? >> he can. he has that opportunity to do so. there's no question about it. he has succeeded at what michele bachmann failed at. he's broadn't his appeal to the

whole spectrum of the republican party. you're looking at the tea party, the right wing of the party, you're looking at the business conservatives, everybody right now likes herman cain and they're excited about herman cain. look at his background from burger king to godfather pizza, a member of the kansas city fed, he's, successful everywhere he's gone. >> and we've put together our crack political crew, his greatest hits. >> okay. >> i don't apologize for using a combination of a fence, and it might be electrified. i'm not walking away from that. >> when they ask me who's the president of u-becky-becky-becky-stan-stan, i'm going to say, i don't know, do you know? >> i kind of like my guns. >> if i made a mistake, i'm willing to admit i made a mistake. >> wow. but you have to suspend all reason and belief to follow herman cain, because none of this makes any sense. the 9-9-9 -- >> that's not true.

>> the u-becky-becky -- >> that's -- >> abortion. but he steps on it, every time, a land mine, it blows up, and he's not -- >> or it shocks you, like an electrified fence. >> and you don't die. >> he's saying, if i don't know, as president, who the president of ewe b uzbekistan, i'll ask m adviser. >> i want to switch gears really quickly. i want to talk about the man who is president, and he talked about, or refused, really, to weigh in on the gop field on leno last night. >> have you been watching the gop debates? >> um, i'm going to wait until everybody's voted off the island. >> really? >> before -- once they narrow it down to one or two, i'll start paying attention. >> good line, you've got to give

that to him. >> i hope he -- because in 2012, 2013. >> last night president obama solidified why we voted for him in the first place, and i think he did himself a service. >> some of those people who will vote for him in 2012, he will not be president in 2013. >> oh, bet! >> dinner, we already talked about it. >> i'm going to be the recipient, no matter what. >> works for everybody. >> karen hunter, boris, thank you. >> today's tweet of the day comes from jimmy fallon. "selina gomez and justin bieber adopted a dog. not to be outdone, brad pitt and angelina jolie adopted selina gomez and justin bieber." what's better than gold ?

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and storm wedding, chaz's last dance, and lost cat found. let's go down to the wire. maybe you've seen this messy marriage moment. an arizona couple saying "i dos"

in the middle of a sand storm eating mouth fulls of dirt, but now they're all cleaned up and talking to ann curry. >> it was eventful, it happened, but we got married, and in the end, me and her are married and it is what it is. >> bye-bye, bono. last night chaz, son of cher, was voted off "dancing with the stars." but he says he's proud of the way he danced and dedicated his performance to kids like him. >> i came on this show because i wanted to show america a different kind of man. and i know that if there was somebody like me on tv when i was growing up, my whole life would have been different. >> and one of our favorite lists every year, we learn just how much more people are making than we are, long after they're gone. michael jackson, elvis presley, and marilyn monroe topping the list of highest earning dead celebrities. this is the second year in a row for jackson, topping "forbes" list with $170 million. and imagine you're walking

along siesta key beach in florida and run into this guy, an 8-foot-tall lego man, written on his shirt "no real than you are." lifeguards written him off. a european artist with a conjugation problem was expected to have leaving him behind. and a cat left at the airport has been found. he fell through the ceiling tile at the airport. they checked his microchip, yes, it's jack. the owner in san francisco is heading to new york. and that wraps up this hour of "jansing and co." i'm chris jansing. thomas roberts is up next. i'll see you tomorrow. hey buddy, wattaya lookin' a-oooh.

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season of discontent. occupy wall street protests get ugly as a new poll shows more americans are beginning to agree with the protesters' point of view. and as americans grow more disgusted with the gridlock in washington, d.c. crippled by college debt.

president obama planning to announce an executive order to