the smell -- >> is that where we are? do another one. >> well, there's a lot of thoughs. lee writes deciding whether dec to walk the dog this morning dressed as jack sparrow or the creepy dude in the pajamas again. >> just be the creepy dude in the pajamas. "morning joe" starts right now. wow. snow started falling saturday. >> herman cain is in big, big trouble. here we go, number ten, can't afford cigarettes for new campaign ads. it's been fun, but there's no way we're electing a guy named herr maim herman. kissed a photo, signed a baby. and number two, refuses to acknowledge the road to the

white house goes through me, dave. you want to play in the big leagues, you've got to make a trip right here. you've got to come to scranton. acting less fun crazy and more crazy, crazy. just accepted $1 million offer to pose nude in playboy. and the number one sign herman cain's campaign is in trouble. there's a 0-0-0 chance he'll be president. and good morning. it is monday. it's halloween, everybody. october 31st. happy halloween. with us onset, we have john heilemann, we also have "morning joe" economist steve rattner. are you guying going trick-or-treat tonight? >> no, it's snowed out, right? >> no, don't say that. of course there's halloween, right? >> i guess so. >> all right. >> what a weekend. >> don't complain. >> i'm not complaining about anything.

what a weekend. look at this. snow all over the place. >> a lot of people don't have power. >> yeah. >> mike, if you're in connecticut -- >> no, no, no -- >> just assume if there is a 3-mile-an-hour wind that you're not going to have power for a month or two. >> okay. >> i talked to my friends that live up in connecticut. seriously, willie, it's like a 4-inch snow. >> your friend? >> friends that live in connecticut. 4-inch snow -- >> i don't understand. are you ashamed of something? >> for a week! >> be proud, joe. you just heard that from somewhere. >> you know what? there are about 3 million homes without power. this was a serious storm. this was much more serious than anyone expected. >> yeah. >> bill karins did call it. >> for once. >> it's historic on a number of levels. it's not just connecticut, joe, although connecticut does have the highest number. >> and they won't have power until january.

>> this was an ice/slush/snow rainstorm. and if you look at those numbers, massachusetts right after connecticut, 650,000 without power, 500,000 in new jersey, pennsylvania, it's crazy. dan malloy writing a tweet yesterday, this is the largest number of outages connecticut has ever experienced. >> and why not? 4 inches of snow, wow. what is this? southern alabama? >> he says plan for power not to return for -- >> that's what he said back when the hurricane came through. >> easy explanation, leaves still on the trees, the snowfall, topple over, take down the power lines. happened in new jersey, the side of my in-law's house caught on fire. >> every street in my town -- every house had a tree down. but we still have power. it's weird. >> yeah. >> they were all over it. >> all right. >> i don't know. >> let's go to news. >> connecticut -- >> seriously?

>> and some of my friends say they only have two trucks going around for entire towns. and one of them gets converted every afternoon into an ice cream truck. >> really? >> it is -- it is unbelievable how inefficient connecticut light and power are. >> all right. >> it is incredibly -- >> connecticut light and power is really a joke. >> i don't understand this. >> i don't understand what's happening. >> you can't do that. >> we're all confused. >> you just say you love connecticut -- >> yeah, i do love connecticut. >> and that you're sure they're doing their best. >> i love connecticut. and connecticut light and power is a joke. >> joe, stop it. >> an absolute joke. >> they're not going to help you get your power back. >> they're losers. absolute losers. >> here we go. >> no, listen. i know something about power outages. i do. >> in your days back when you were an electrician -- >> you know what?

>> actually -- >> you grow up your whole life with hurricanes coming through your backyard, you know about power outages. and efficient power companies that know how to turn lights back on. but connecticut's an absolute joke. let's go to the news. i've said it four times, you don't want me to trash the losers at connecticut light and power, then i'm not going to say anything about the losers at connecticut light and power. let's just go ahead and go to the news for the fifth time. >> herman cain's presidential campaign is on the defensive this morning after a new politico report -- >> did they elect he works for connecticut light and power? because that would finish it right there. >> i'm going to make you issue a formal apology. >> i apologize that you all are losers. so let's go. they've got two trucks going around in certain towns. >> herman cain is in hot water because these two female

employees alleging -- they complained back in the past of inappropriate behavior by cain. exactly when, while he was head of the national restaurant association in 1990. >> can i ask you? when did this story break? >> over the weekend. >> yesterday? okay, i had no idea until -- >> because you have no power. >> because i had no power. >> and you need power for the internet. >> i'm dead serious. >> you need to stop. >> what did he do? >> politico sources say the women received financial payouts to leave the association and agreed not to discuss their departures. well, okay. >> i guess they're discussing it now. >> i guess they are. >> i guess you can rent their silence, not buy it. >> are they getting their money back? nbc news has not verified the politico report. >> i'm confused. if they are paid out to keep quiet -- >> there are other board members. there are other board members who could have been the sources of the story. >> yeah, but they can -- lest

find out from the source of the story. senior political reporter for politico. jonathan martin is one of the reporters who broke this story. explain. >> good morning. we have over the course of the last three weeks doing extensive reporting, talking to dozens of current, former employees, current and former board members, sources close to this organization found at least two women during the 1990s complained about herman cain's behavior toward them. they were subordinates to him when he was the ceo in the late '90s at the organization. and they complained of both verbal and physical activity toward them that they then feel angry, uncomfortable, and they complained about it. and they subsequently received a five-figure payout to leave the organization and sign non-disclosure agreements. we have seen documentation that refers to the allegations and also gets to the organization's formally resolving the matter.

>> you've seen document -- official documentation from the organization? so this is not based on what somebody told you? this is actually based on solid evidence that you saw in front of you? >> we've seen documentation on both the allegations and that the national restaurant association formally resolved the matter, joe. >> have board members of the organization confirmed this? has anybody that represents the organization -- have they confirmed this? >> yeah. in fact, our story we actually quote former board members in the story. >> does herman cain talk about this at all? >> yeah, actually. >> i thought i remembered a statement. >> we gave the campaign ten days to respond. their response first was this matter was ammicabresolved.

and the council took care of the matter and mr. cain's campaign aides talked to -- >> wait a second, vaguely recalled? go ahead. finish up. >> their second response was that the campaign told me when they asked mr. cain about it, he said he vaguely recalled something to do with this and that the campaign ought to talk to the council for the organization to get his memory of what happened. we subsequently tried to get more of a response from them over a period of days. finally yesterday outside of the cbs news washington bureau after mr. cain faced the nation, i interviewed him and asked him repeatedly. in fact, four times all told, have you ever been accused of sexual harassment. he would not answer the question point-blank. >> let's read the statement from cain -- >> and last night they issued a

statement not denying anything at all. >> here's their statement in what they call thinly-sourced allegations. fearing the message of herman cain who is shaking up the political landscape in washington inside the beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on cain. sadly we've seen this movie played out before. a prominent conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics. >> so what? were the women liberals that got the six-figure payout? i'm joking, it's ridiculous. >> jonathan? >> yeah, in our story we quote half dozen people. current and former employees, current and former board members, sources close to this organization. so you know, in that statement you will find a critique of you know, liberal, conservative, whatever. but you're not going to find a denial of the facts.

and you also didn't find a denial yesterday from mr. cain himself when he was given the chance four separate times whether or not he had ever been accused in his life of sexual harassment. didn't answer the question. >> what are the allegations specifically as you understand them? there's obviously a wide range in sexual harassment? what did he do? >> we have to be careful about that, obviously, because we're sensitive to the sourcing involved here. >> of course. >> and also, what actually happened to these women, as well, we want to be sensitive to that too. it includes both verbal and physical gestures. these women felt uncomfortable. they were unhappy about their treatment. and they complained to both colleagues and senior officials. in one case it involved, i think, inviting a woman up to a hotel room of cain's on the road. but we're not going to get into the details of exactly what happened with these women

besides what's in the story. >> break it down for us. what do you think? >> i think, you know, this is obviously conceivably a campaign-ending allegations. not literally ending, but damaging to him in a very severe way. they have not dealt well with this story so far. in terms of it both the responses that jonathan laid out, the inconsistency, the vagueness, cain's response yesterday on the street. i believe he looked at jonathan at one point and after refusing to answer the question four times and said, asked him, well, have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? >> correct. >> that is -- that is -- >> that is an interesting strategy. >> putting aside his behavior -- >> which, of course -- >> putting that aside, it's a bush league -- they have dealt with this in a bush league fashion. cain is in washington for what

was meant to be his establishment coming out. i believe he was doing a talk today at the american enterprise institute. there's going to be an extraordinary amount of focus on him today and i believe probably a media swarm around him. how he handles this story today, extraordinarily important. what the media follow-up on the story is, extremely important. and, of course, what the facts are. but he's in significant trouble, i think, right now. >> he used, mika, the same rhetorical device that he used when somebody asked him if he knew the leader of uze-becky-becky-stan-stan. so he turns to jonathan martin and asks a rhetorical question. everybody knows the answer if you've been accused of sexual harassment. and it is so bush league, and jonathan can't say this, but that is a bush league move to make that once again shows that this guy is not equipped, let

alone to be president of the united states, but to run for president of the united states. >> go ahead. >> i would argue that we gave them ten days to respond to the story. >> no, you did a good job. >> starting on the 20th of october, a thursday. we went to them, stayed in touch via e-mail and telephone calls. gave them extensive opportunities to respond to the story and finally went to mr. cain himself to get a direct response yesterday morning there. and again, four opportunities to respond to a very straightforward question. a basic question. sir, have you ever been accused in your life of sexual harassment? and i said, sir, yes or no, and he wouldn't say. >> it's not good. >> and just for a number of levels, i know politico's process for any type of story is extremely careful. it's fascinating. thank you very much, jonathan martin. this comes, the allegations, of course, surrounding herman cain comes as he continues his reign

as republican presidential front-runner. a new des moines poll shows him in a statistical tie with mitt romney. the only other candidate in double digits is texas congressman ron paul with 12% while michele bauchmann and rick perry round out the top five. cain dominates romney among those who identify themselves as very conservative by more than 3 to 1. romney is the favorite among women, seniors, first-time caucus voters, and those who call themselves moderates or liberals. >> let's go back to the poll for a second. there are two things that jump out to me in this poll. the first is the precipitous collapse -- could you put the poll up, please? >> the first poll. yep. >> t.j., you push the button that says poll. >> there it is. >> bingo. so willie, the two things that stand out here, one is, of course, the precipitous collapse.

total collapse of michele bauchmann down to 8%. the second story is mitt romney sitting at 22%. and if i'm mitt romney's people, i've got to start thinking what barack obama was thinking this time four years ago. if i can win iowa, i got it. >> remember, this was out of play. he wasn't going to play in iowa. and he's looking at these numbers and we kept asking the question, what bursts the herman cain bubble? maybe this is the story that does it, but mitt romney keeps playing it down the middle, keeps his head down. and if all of these other candidates fall to the wayside. look at rick perry in that poll. the guy he's got to play in iowa. he might have to win iowa, he's at 7%. >> 7%. >> 15 points behind mitt romney. >> if only we knew somebody -- if only we'd had somebody -- >> about mitt romney. >> talked about mitt romney trying to close this out. just like -- >> the temptation of mitt -- >> don't do it. >> here's the deal about

vanderbilt, listen, i am mr. optimistic, right? seriously, the fact that he said arkansas's going to beat vandy by five or six points. they almost beat them -- >> they should have beat them. >> except for a couple of mistakes. >> let's talk about that in sports. >> we will. if somebody had only written something about mitt romney shutting things down. >> if somebody had, i'd read an excerpt. >> why don't you do that now? >> all right. "new york" magazine. on one reading to be sure, making a concerted late-stage effort to take iowa would be consistent with a new, nonsweaty pi pits mitt. in a race in which virtually every constant so far has worked to romney's advantage.

is there really a new romney? the answer remains unclear. but if there is, surely he'll be able to recognize and resist a briar patch when he sees one even if it happens to reside mid thousands of square miles of corn fields. >> a little too poetic for the show. >> bring us in. >> look, they have to decide -- they are more -- they are very -- they look at this, as you said, joe, they look at this and think they've been trying to maintain a studious distance, rigorous distance from iowa all along. they have only five paid staffers out there. they haven't run a tv ad. he's stayed away from a lot of big events because they did not want to raise expectations about him playing there. now, as you say, he's sitting there with 22%. and the rest of the field as fragmented as it is, it looks very attractive. and there are people in his orbit who think, let's dive in at the end here. if we can win this and win new hampshire, the nomination is

ours. that's exactly what they tried to do four years ago. and when he did not win iowa, it crippled him in new hampshire and ended his campaign. so the question for him is whether you want to revive that story line. the moment they decide they're going to run in iowa full bore, the question becomes, can romney slay the demons of 2008? it might be better to finish a strong second or third in iowa. or maybe if they win it without any effort, that would be great. and settle for second there. stick with your original game plan. >> what happens, steve rattner, if cain is taken down by this story? and i suspect if he can't answer the question any better than he has over the past ten days, his campaign comes to an end quickly. who else is there? we always know there's the pro-mitt and the anti-mitt. who fills that void?

>> looks like almost no one to fill that void. and the interesting thing about iowa, the three people at the top of the polls aren't campaigning in iowa at the moment, particularly cain and romney. iowa seems to be saying, you don't necessarily have to be here in order to win this primary. but look, to your question, joe, i don't think there is anyone else, and i think this republican nomination may be over sooner rather than later. >> herman cain was in alabama. >> second or third -- why was he in alabama? >> i don't know. >> oh, he's selling books. >> oh, that's right. it wasn't to run for president. coming up, steve rattner details which candidate's going to win the republican nomination and the white house. guess who else is coming to alabama? >> oh, boy, who? >> lsu. >> is that this saturday? >> that's this saturday. number one against number two. game of the century. >> all right. also, from the so-called gang of six.

senators mark warner and saxby chambliss join us, also we'll talk to harry smith about the premiere of "rock center." and in a few minutes, peter king takes us through yesterday's big games in the nfl. but first, bill karins, who got it right. >> no, i sat here friday and i said i'm hoping to get it wrong. i was hoping it was going to be a wet rain and that was it and not a heavy snow event, and it happened. it was just insane. something that will probably never happen again and now we're dealing with the aftermath, which isn't easy because we're getting the slush during the day and it's freezing at night, and now it's even harder to get around. right now 28 in hartford. as far as the big cities went, they had the highest total. areas of connecticut, still have about 750,000 without power. much more than new jersey and new york. hence to joe's point at the beginning of the show. 45 in hartford. it's a slow melt up there. temperatures by the end of the

week will be much warmer. by the time we get to thursday or friday, all of the snow will be gone. as far as the rest of your holiday forecast for halloween today, south florida's got rain and showers out there in the ohio valley. but overall, it's pretty much a halloween treat for most of us. just really slow, slow warmup and slow melt for our incredible, historic snow as we dealt with over the weekend in the east. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. the employee of the month is...

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this guy's amazing.

25 past the hour. time now to take a look at the morning papers. in the "washington post" the united nations has declared that the human population will hit 7 billion today. it comes as fertility rates have declined globally, but people are continuing to live longer. when social security was established in 1935, life expectancy in the u.s. was just under 62 years.

today, it's 78 and rising. >> life expectancy 62? you start getting your benefits at 65, fdr, a pretty smart guy. and here's one from the parade of papers. the "houston chronicle" says rick perry showing his support plunging in key showdown states. he says voters are just getting to know him. yes, they are, and they definitely don't like what they see. >> all right. let's turn to steve rattner. >> he's got charts. >> i was talking about his charts. >> i've got charts. >> you're looking at why it's a good predictor in this political race. how do you figure? >> intrade is something we call the prediction market. you go around and ask people who you think are going to win. and some call it the wisdom of the crowds. and the idea that the views of many in the crowd are better than an expert or a poll.

>> a brooklyn hipster. >> this primary season is pretty well over. mitt romney is up at 71% at the moment. and perry after a brief period in the 30s has basically dropped way down now and is sitting at around 12%. now, we've just been talking a lot about herman cain. but in-trade never took herman cain seriously. that's that green line along the bottom and he's been sitting there. he got a little bit of a bump up with his 9-9-9s and all that sort of thing. but as far as in-trade was concerned, he was never going to get there. and romney has been on top from the beginning. and we've talked a lot about the softness of his support. but going right back to the beginning put him -- >> tell me more about intrade, can people bet? >> you can bet. i'm not here to pronounce on the legality. >> we always hear about intrade, intrade, intrade. and it usually does get --

>> intrade got the 2004 election, it called all 50 out of 50 states right for who was going to be president. in 2009, it called 49 out of 50, all 34 senate races correctly. predicted don rumsfeld's resignation, the capture of saddam hussein. doesn't always get it right, and it moves as you'll see in a minute. >> if people put -- >> where their mouth is. >> where their mouth is. >> let's look at iowa. >> let's look at the volatility in iowa. >> iowa is interesting because intrade is basically saying, again, notwithstanding -- notwithstanding all of the talk about whether romney will come or not come. in fact, not only will romney come, but romney will win. and these numbers were updated overnight. as of yesterday, before what we were just talking about on politico, romney was at 35%, cain was at 28%, and perry was at 15%. and you can see that literally

instantaneously, unlike a poll that takes days, intrade will adjust the view of the world. and the view at the moment is that cain is having a very bad day and romney, in fact, should follow the heilemann strategy and put this thing to bed. >> you look at intrade much? tell me about intrade. >> well, steve's covered it very well. it's been very accurate and sometimes so accurate you wonder why we bother playing the games. >> but it's usually accurate? >> it has been historically. i'm trying to think of notable instances where it's not been accurate. i think there have been some. >> at this point four years ago, would you have seen rudy giuliani way out in front? >> i don't remember what they said about the republican nomination in 2008. >> in 2004 when kerry was up and down, intrade was running all over the place. it's not perfect. >> it tends to like -- in the same way that polls of polls tend to -- it's one thing to say it calls everything right by the end. it does tend to fluctuate with

news coverage. >> let's look at the big picture, the 2012 winner. >> intrade was pretty rock solid in having obama at about 60% against whoever the republican was going to be all the way through. but very recently intrade has begun to wonder what's going to happen here. and this coincides with the softness of the economy and the feeling that obama really didn't have control of it. so as we sit here today, it is very much a horse race between obama and the republican. but we should take a look finally before we go at one last interesting prediction by intrade, which is the congress. so if you look at the congress, we all expect the house to stay republican. i think that's the kind of conventional wisdom. intrade gives that a 71% probability at this point. but the senate where we have so many 2006 democrats who were elected in that landslide, intrade thinks there's at least as good of a chance as the senate going republican as the house staying republican. >> what is the chance that peter king will be elected president of the united states? >> oh, well --

>> 2012? >> i'd vote for him. >> with a sports writer. >> he looks like he wants to win. >> he looks very presidential. >> yeah. >> and that's half the battle. >> i'm pro. >> i'll start predicting that. >> i love the guy. >> that's really cool. >> don't let politico go back ten years. >> now it's time to be quiet. michael vick and the eagles put a whooping on the cowboys. is philly still a super bowl contender after that rough start? >> yes, they are. >> a look at his mid-season all-pro team. we'll be right back. ♪

it's true. you never forget your first subaru.

joining us now for the "morning joe" gridiron report. senior writer for "sporting illustra illustrated" peter king. >> possibly the next president of the united states. >> possibly. >> i often get confused for the other peter king. i get some angry tweets. after he -- >> why do you hate muslims? >> yeah. >> the hearings. >> i said, what did i do? >> well, you just described willie and my life. >> that's it. that's it. >> let's talk about the game

last night, the one you were watching. i was reading some of your tweets, talking about michael vick throwing the ball all over the field. they had that terrible start, went through the dream team thing and the season was lost, and now they've won a couple games in a row. are they still in the mix? >> i think they're the best team in the nfc east. and if you look at the eagles now, what they have started to do. they had two -- they had a brand new offensive line at the beginning of this year with the exception of left tackle. they've now really molded that into a good line. they're protecting vick, blocking for mccoy. they're definitely a super bowl contender. >> so what was the deal early on? they just hadn't gelled yet? >> vick was getting pummelled, their defense was getting wasted, and new defensive backs getting used to their scheme. and now they're playing together more as a team. and i think what you're going to see now is you're going to see

vick take off from this point on because he's just more comfortable in this offense. >> you know, willie, also in the east, i think you're going to see a tweale of two seasons, i think the giants are a -- i think the eagles are going -- >> what's amazing to me about the giants, they've got two good running backs, and they just have not run the ball consistently well. they should be able to do that. that was going to be their big strength at the beginning of the year. >> they also have green bay, the patriots -- they've got a vicious schedule. the giants will be pummelled in the second -- they're not that good of a team. >> i don't think they're a great team by any stretch. but i do think that if they get that running game going. eli manning is playing very well. i wouldn't kick the giants out -- >> did you see any of the game yesterday? >> yeah, eli turned it on when he had to. but as you said, they're 30th in

the league in rushing. they have no running game to speak of. and that's going to catch up to them. >> and brandon jacobs comes out and says give me the ball on the first -- he throws it away. >> he's always been frustrating to me, a guy that size that doesn't run over people, but i digress. tim tebow, last week we talked about the comeback. yesterday as bad of a day as a quarterback could possibly have. >> i think the thing with tebow is, he's with a new administration in denver. they didn't draft him. they're not really on his side. they don't think he's the long-term answer. and now i think they're basically giving him every opportunity, if he takes it, great. they don't think he will. and then they're going to move on and go to another quarterback. but this was a strange dynamic in denver. fans love tebow. they're wild about tebow. you see this national craze now, tebowing, guys kneeling the way tebow does. people love this guy and he is a

terrific guy. >> how was it? >> it was a terrible game. it was awful. but he wasn't very good last week either. and they saved it at the end. >> so you're saying his own team, the front office does not believe he's the guy. >> i don't think the front office believes he's the long-term guy. now, the guys in his locker room really like him. and -- >> and the fans love him. >> and the fans love him. >> but i think you need to be an accurate passer in the nfl today. period. >> if you're going to be head quarterback -- look, if you're going to be a quarterback, you have to at least be able to throw the five and out, that's all i'm going to say. >> if you're a pitcher in the major leagues, you need to throw a strike. >> two great quarterbacks yesterday, willie -- >> tom brady -- >> the thing that was great about that game was that the steelers, the veteran guy in the hall of fame, the defensive coordinator for the steelers totally changed up on the patriots. played them physical at the line

of scrimmage. usually they play coverage and brady has killed them. and yesterday they pummelled them and it worked. >> your buddy said on the show last night, he thinks pittsburgh's the best player in the ufc. you agree with them? >> what's happening with baltimore? they're supposed to be a great team. they struggled yesterday and ended up winning. >> baltimore, i think they are a team that really is struggling at the quarterback position until yesterday in the second half. he is only completing 52%, he's got to be better. >> real quick, peter, your mid-season all-pro teams? >> aaron rogers is going to be the mvp on this team. and i think what i like to do is highlight some new guys every year. and there's a great young safety in seattle named cam chancellor who has a chance to take the league by storm. >> love having you here.

i know you've been up all night. we'll talk to you -- >> coming up, the must-read opinion pages. we'll be right back. well, thank you both for coming. oh, thank you so much. i love the vermeer collection. vermeer? dutch painter? only painted, like, 34 paintings? oh what an odd name.

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live shot from hartford, connecticut. where downed wires and broken branches have led up to 750,000 power outages across the state. but it's time now for the must-read opinion pages. >> we're not going to talk about connecticut power and light this morning. >> a heart felt apology to the hard working people of cl & p. >> so what have you got today in the must-read -- >> don't want to do it, huh?

>> well, listen, the second they put out more than two trucks out in my friend's town -- >> great, great workers there, and i know there are. >> speaking of fabulous. >> it must be the people who run the place that are so terrible. speaking of fabulous, i'd like to read from the "washington post." elizabeth warren firing up the left. elizabeth warren to him looked like a rock star. and he said this. by the time the candidate arrived for the meeting, a prosaic organizing session for volunteers, there were nearly 300 people crammed into local seven to capture a glimpse of her. when she took to stage, a sea of cameras and smartphones rose as if at a rock concert. all of this for a law professor? but elizabeth warren, who is now trying to unseat republican senator scott brown is no mere professor or candidate. she is a phenomenon.

the source of it is no mystery, her fervent belief that corporations should be held to account for the economic collapse. part pat moynihan, part erin brovlovich. she is the first candidate of the occupy wall street movement, the liberal equivalent of sarah palin or jim demint. anyone disagree? >> what do you think, john heilemann? scott brown really is connect connected -- >> yes. >> with a lot of blue-collar voters up in massachusetts. this is going to be a great senate race if she wins the democratic primary. >> and the democratic primary is thinning out already. people recognize she's able to raise a ton of money from the grass roots and from elsewhere. she's going to get that nomination, i think. and it's interesting because he was a superstar last time

around. different kind of superstar. but scott brown, they're both very media-friendly candidates, and it's going to be something. the thing that's most right is that she is tapping into this occupy wall street spirit. the part of it leaking out into the broader populous in a way that no one else in the country is. >> we're looking at a picture of barack obama and elizabeth warren there. the reason barack obama can't tap into this energy is because he's gotten more money from wall street than anybody else in u.s. history. >> you know what? >> let me finish what i'm saying about elizabeth warren. she is the only national figure out there that people know in their gut is not on the take from wall street because wall street hates her. they loathe her. they despise her. she is their sworn enemy. >> of all the political phonies, she has street cred on this issue. she's walked the walk on this.

steve rattner doesn't look like he agrees. >> she's genuine in what she believes. it is true that wall street hates her. wouldn't you hate someone if they called your entire industry and everyone in it essentially a criminal? the point about obama and wall street. it was absolutely true in '08. but if you look at '12, in fact, obama is doing very badly on wall street because they feel that obama has deserted them. >> obama's raised more money on wall street than all republican candidates combined. >> that's not true. >> it is true. >> it's only true if you roll in the dnc money. >> it's not apples and oranges. >> there's apples and oranges. at goldman sachs, mitt romney has raised $350,000 in the third quarter. how much do you think obama raised? >> i don't know. >> $50,000. >> okay. >> $50,000. >> so you're talking about nitpicking here, that's ridiculous. >> that's not nitpicking. >> come on, steve. he's raised more money from the dnc, which you know will be used

for his campaign to reelect him. >> the reason that i think obama has not been as successful, if you want to call it success as elizabeth warren in taking out that territory is because obama understands the limits. he understands what is fair to criticize wall street for. and elizabeth warren has gone beyond the pail. >> steve is absolutely correct. there are a lot of people on wall street unhappy with the president. and there are a lot of people who raised a lot of money for him in 2008 who are raising money for mitt romney. that is a fact. at the same time, joe is correct. those dnc dollars happen at dinners that barack obama has. the people who write those $38,000 checks are sitting -- are paying that money to be with the president -- >> as he says -- as he speaks -- so i can win. >> romney cannot collect checks right now. >> you cannot say the dnc money that barack obama raises at fundraising events are not

barack obama's money. it's absurd. >> if you want to have a score card. apples to apples, not apples to oranges. >> mitt romney can't raise money for the rnc. so there is no relevant orange to orange comparison. that's ridiculous. >> we are suddenly all herman cain. >> i think when republicans call out obama on taking money from wall street and talking out of two sides of his mouth, they ought to look at themselves in the mirror as it pertains to spending because they want to cut spending except when it comes to their own states and individual need. >> oh, yeah, there are hypocrites on both sides. >> let's try an exercise -- >> at least obama has pushed forward -- >> even some like elizabeth warren tried to rein in things like wall street. >> i always say the republicans

are total hypocrites on spending. >> total. >> you say barack obama's a total hypocrite on wall street. you said it's both sides. i admit it. my side has been hypocritical, how about your side? >> it's a difficult relationship that leads to level of hypocrisy. >> you can't say it. has he been a hypocrite? >> he has been someone who struggled with -- >> we're not going to break. so don't go to break right now. oh, yeah, really. okay. look, every day we're using more and more energy.

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the conversation continues. >> have you guys seen this clip of rick perry in new hampshire on friday? >> it's so awesome. >> i'm not going to make any editorial commentary. >> i am. >> you be the judge and we'll comment when we finish. >> this is such a cool state. come on, live free or die. it's like live free or die, victory or death, bring it. texas rangers after 50 years are going to win the world series! oops. i grew up on a farm -- i grew up on a farm. if they print any more money over there in washington, the gold's going to be good.

20% flat tax, put it on there, send it in. that plan i shared with you doesn't force the state to expand your tax footprint, if you know what i mean. like 9% expansion. hello, herman, is he the best? today has been awesome, girl. this has really been a great day. >> your thoughts? >> well, i'd like to actually -- mika will have thoughts on this. tell us what it's like when you mix vicodin and red wine. >> well, actually -- >> have you ever had a feeling kind of like the way rick perry was just having? >> yes, yes, actually -- very recently. >> it's reminiscent. >> what was that, mika? >> vicodin advan, and red wine. >> what did we just see then? >> that was rick perry in new hampshire.

courting new hampshire voters. he was loose. mark haleprin said on the page he was loose. >> you said he has back pain? >> well, i'm saying he has back pain. he suffers from back pain. >> what does that suggest? >> i'm suggesting nothing. i refer you to mika on all matters regarding pharmaceuticals. >> what do you think? >> pharmaceuticals and a little bit of -- >> wow. holy cow. >> nothing wrong with that. not that there's anything wrong with that. >> mark warner and saxby chambliss next on "morning joe." we're centurylink... a new kind of broadband company committed to providing honest, personal service from real people... 5-year price-lock guarantees... consistently fast speeds... and more ways to customize your technology. ♪

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this wasn't intended to send any subliminal signal whatsoever. >> but it does. it sends a signal it's cool to smoke. >> he never smokes around me or anyone else, he goes outside. >> he smokes on television. >> well, he smokes on television. we didn't know if it was going to be funny -- >> let me tell you, it's not funny to me. i am a cancer survivor. >> i am also. >> i had cancer that's smoking related. >> yes. >> i don't think it serves the country well. it seems to me as front-runner, you would have a responsibility not to take that kind of a tone in this -- i would suggest that perhaps as the front-runner you'd want to raise the level. >> all right. top of the hour. live look at capitol hill. welcome back to "morning joe." joining the table, best-selling author wes moore. and from washington, political reporter for the "national review" robert costa. >> what do you think about bob schieffer's takedown of herman

cain over the smoking? >> that's just bob being bob. >> yeah, it is. what do you think about it? >> look. i thought the ad had an interesting effect. kathleen parker had an interesting piece in the "washington post" over the weekend. there are different takes on it that it appeals to the american people, to the folks who feel that the government's trying to -- and there was a message in the smoking. i don't get it. i think the bigger headline is the allegations against herman cain that are coming out about potential sexual harassment that will bring him down. so the commercial will be moot at some point. >> so let's talk about. let's finish the conversation that we had last hour about barack obama. and occupy wall street. and this debate and the way it squared out jon and myself against you and steve rattner. we think the president's hypocritical trying to get as

much money from wall street as possible while attacking wall street and saying i'm with them, occupy wall street. but you don't think so, and certainly steve didn't think so. >> steve was saying before he left that obama's going to get far less from wall street this time around because he's not very popular. and i think that has taken a form of bravery. is there a form of hypocrisy required when trying to win presidential campaigns? i won't call the president hypocrite. i think there's a form of hypocrisy when it comes to wall street that is very complicated. and i point out that this president has taken on wall street and he is going to pay the price. and you know, for republicans to accuse him of that -- and i say just look at your own records when it comes to spending. and then being so loud at the hardest time for this country ever with the biggest disparities that we'll ever see

in our society when it comes to salaries to be, you know, so, so, so hard line on spending and then trying to get pet projects for their states. they're as hypocritical in their relationship with spending as they would claim the president is on wall street. >> that's my point. i'm willing to call my side hypocritical, you're not willing to -- >> no, you wanted me to call the president himself a hypocrite. >> you can say it's -- no, but you won't say. you can't say it! the -- watch this. republicans are being hypocritical when it comes to spending. can you say the president's being hypocritical when it comes to taking wall street's money? >> i think he's tried not to, but there's a level of hypocrisy that comes out when he receives money from wall street. i don't know what he does without it, though? has a president won without wall street? >> look, president obama's approach to wall street was in the middle some place. they did wall street reform, but there were a lot of things they could have done that would have

been tougher, the administration -- >> i agree. i wanted more. >> so he walked a line. he tried to regulate wall street but tried not to tear it down, didn't try to break up the six biggest banks, that the left wanted him to do. that's fine. that's a fine policy position. but it's very hard to try to aggressively raise as much money as possible on wall street and say that you are with the occupy wall street crowd. that is a -- >> hypocritical -- >> hypocritical place to be. because the occupy wall street crowd, i can tell you, i've spoken to many of them. they say he's the president from goldman sachs. they see it as hypocritical. they look at president obama and say he's on the side of wall street now, wall street disagrees with that. but you can't be both at the wall street trough and out in the streets marching with occupy wall street simultaneously. it's just intellectually inconsistent. >> that's why elizabeth warren, i think, is surging forward and taking such interest in massachusetts because she's clean on that. >> i agree with that. >> and wes, wall street is not

ambiguous. >> it's not ambiguous at all. >> about elizabeth warren. they don't like her at all. >> that's right. >> and by the way, that's great news in 2012. >> but i'll tell you -- understanding mika's point, though, i think is this. as the president of the united states, he understands the importance of the financial markets in terms of helping the economic growth of the united states. so he gets that. but the thing i think he also understands, he does feel the general frustration. the fact that the president signed dodd/frank 15 months ago, and 77 benchmarks have not been met. so i think he understands -- he understands how important the financial sector is, but i think he definitely does feel that frustration that people feel where this system is still not being regulated. there's still not an oversight that i think he empathizes with. >> you know the bottom line when it comes to wall street reforms. as we did this show in realtime, willie, we heard people talking about -- the banks are too big

to fail, they've got to be reformed, broken up. and here we are almost three years later. and the banks are bigger than they've ever been. the president didn't break up the banks, the president didn't come close to breaking up the banks, congress didn't break up the banks, nobody broke up the banks. they are so massive if citi goes down, we're going to bail them out. if bank of america goes down, we're going to bail them out. if jpmorgan goes down, we're all going to bail them out. big has gotten bigger, and washington's done -- and i say nothing about this underlying issue. and why? because big contributions to washington. it's that simple. >> the white house would argue that dodd/frank went as far as it could go, they would say politically. fair enough to say. >> well, yeah -- >> that's their argument anyway. but if you look at the reality of what's happening, as you say, if one of these companies went down, we would all be on the hook for it right now.

the major structural problems that brought down our economy now three years ago are still in place. big questions -- the big questions are out there and worse. >> so just a matter of historical record, there was an amendment that was proposed in the senate, the brown/kauffman amendment that would've broken up the six biggest banks. that amendment got about 30 votes, and the white house not only did not support it, but went against it. there was a proposal, serious senators wanted to break up the six biggest banks in financial reform. the white house, again, not only did not support that amendment, but internally went against it. they argued not to support it. so just to your point, that's where they were. they thought you should regulate it, but regulate it this much, not that much. >> and to my point, that's exactly how powerful wall street is. because for the very thin reforms that this president has enacted, which by the way, the strongest ones a president has put in place in history, he will be punished.

he will not receive the money he got first time around and the numbers will reflect that he will be punished for thin reforms that have done practically knowpractical ly nothing. >> if i ever run for office again, i pray to jesus that i get punished as badly as barack obama's being punished by wall street. getting more money through the dnc, through his fundraisers than every other republican candidate combined. it sounds silly to say this president is being punished when the cash is just flooding in at $38,000 per plate. hey, we've got bob costa from the "national review." >> we sure do. >> he's in washington. let's talk about herman cain. because he followed block. is block -- what's his name again? >> block. >> letting block be block. there's a new story on the horizon with herman cain i'd love to get his take on it. >> the campaign is on the defensive this morning after a new politico report alleging that at least two female

employees complained of inappropriate behavior by cain while he was head of the national restaurant association back in the 1990s. among the allegations, politico sources describe conversations that cane had with the women filled with innuendo of sexually suggestive nature. the sources also mention cain making physical gestures that made the women uncomfortable. politico says the women received financial payouts to leave the association and agreed not to discuss their departures. nbc news has not independently verified the politico report. >> bob, tell me, what impact does this have? we had jonathan martin on saying they've been trying for ten days to get a response, they never got a denial. of course, you saw the clip of jonathan outside of cbs asking repeatedly, have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? and after four or five times of not responding he responded by asking, jonathan, have you ever been accused of sexual

harassment. i don't know how that helps in iowa. but what have you heard over the past 24 hours? and how is this going to impact the cain campaign moving forward? >> one thing i've always noticed about herman cain's campaign since i started covering it is he's always been open and frank. i think this is a serious story, but one thing i've noticed about herman cain, he's frank with the press, he's honest, goes on interviews and will be blunt with what he believes. i hope on this story i hope he does the same. i think he will do the same. but it's different for herman cain to be outside a television studio to be worried about the public thinks. it's not the herman cain we've been watching the last few weeks. he's confident, he's everywhere. but at this point, herman cain's the one who has to answer the questions. we only know what politico's reported. it's a real story, it's well-reported. but at this point, cain himself has not responded, we've only heard snippets from his spokespeople.

>> the guy standing up to eight years of reaganism saying they evaded the truth time and time again at home and abroad. so when it was gary hart suddenly not answering questions, it stung hart more than it -- let's be blunt, than it stung bill clinton four years later. if herman cain has this reputation, john, as being a straight-shooter and suddenly not answering a very basic question. have you ever been accused of sexual harassment before? it hurts him more than it might hurt other candidates. >> yes, because it runs against the character he's projected so far. and i'll just point out, the campaign had significant warning about this. >> ten days. >> ten days to come up with a response. it's not like herman cain was ambushed outside of cbs yesterday. if he's in any communication with his own campaign, he must have known this was coming because they've been in colloquy with politico over this for ten

days. you thought with ten days warning, he might have had an answer to the direct question the kind that jonathan posed, politico posed. >> even if that answer, mika, is, i'm not going to answer that question and you keep walking. >> and that comment. and if there's a payout agreement, there should be no comment. in a statement they said "fearing the message of herman cain who is shaking up the political landscape in washington inside the beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on cain. sadly we've seen this movie played out before. a prominent conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics." >> well, just say no. just say no, i never -- >> i wouldn't make this a liberal takedown. >> i would say as a defense strategy, i feel like i've seen this movie before, attack the press. >> exactly. >> he was also targeted by two

women. i'm not saying target, i'm saying accused. >> they're not allowed to talk. >> the spokespeople are playing victim. he was a fighter. he was an executive at p pillsbury, and if you speak to him and profile his career, this is a tough guy. his campaign's playing victim right now. but if this continues to unfold and it gets a little rough, look for herman cain to fight. he's not someone who may be gary hart and looks spooked in front of the cameras. that's what i predict. >> i said he was targeted by women, i didn't mean he was a target, i mean the accusations, not -- there was a clip we played in the last hour. we want to play it again because a lot of people have been writing in and tweeting about it. rick perry friday night in manchester, new hampshire. we'll let you watch it. >> this is such a cool state. come on. live free or die? it's like live free or die, victory or death. bring it.

texas rangers after 50 years are going to win a world series! oops. i grew up on a farm. i grew up -- i grew up on a farm. if they print any money over there in washington, the goal's going to be good. our -- that, 20% flat tax, put it on there, take your deductions off, send it in. that little plan i shared with you doesn't force the granite state to expand your tax footprint, if you know what i mean. like 9% in expansion. i love herman. is he the best? today has been awesome, girl. this has really been a great day. >> so obviously that edited down a little bit. the speech was much longer than that.

>> what's going on? >> well, mark haleprin. i don't know, that is truly bizarre behavior. but mark haleprin got it and loaded eight minutes -- >> yeah, there's a longer segment. they had -- mark had eight minutes up on the page. >> what was your take after seeing the eight minutes? >> well, mark said that he was loose and unplugged. and i think that's fair to say. that's a rick perry that's not like the rick perry that anybody -- that people are familiar with. it's kind of like a cartoon version of rick perry. and i don't know what's going on with him there. he was loosy goosy. >> bob costa? >> have you ever seen rick perry like this before? >> i had two thoughts after watching that clip. one, it reminded me of will ferrell doing george w. bush on "saturday night live." and two, this was the rick perry i saw enter this race. athletic, energetic, connecting with voters. but if he can continue to have this kind of energy, he could

connect in iowa and see momentum. because this is the perry that did connect in texas and could connect in the primary states and we haven't seen it in the stiff performance throughout the debates. >> i haven't seen this. >> no, not this. not that. it's funny, though. >> it is funny. >> i'll tell you what the romney campaign would say. what they would say is that this is yet another way in contrast favors mitt romney. mitt romney looks like a president, and in this video, they would say that rick perry looks like a clown. >> they would say. >> that's what they would say. >> the perry campaign was asked about this and they said the governor was "passionate" in his remarks. >> he had a good time. he had a good time. >> it is exhausting, gruelling work, campaigning. >> to quote the nora efron line. i will have what he's having. >> i have what he's having, i'm sure. >> what's that cocktail again? >> no, we joke, but i have to

say it comes to mind. that's all. it just seemed a little -- >> well, listen. >> what's your favorite cocktail? what's the three parts? >> now, stop it. >> go ahead. >> what did i say? >> i don't know, but i will tell you what my cocktail was when i had severe back pain, valium, vicodin, little bit of vodka, wash it down. until my doctor said don't do that. >> i think the guy was just having a little fun. >> i'm not saying he was using drugs -- >> no -- >> i'm saying i was. >> just makes you think, that's all. >> it makes you think he was having a good time, bob, right? >> all right. >> come on, now. there's no law against having a good time. >> no law against thinking someone was acting completely loopy and wondering -- >> i wonder if mitt romney will -- mitt romney and late night comics will use that one a good bit. so bob costa, you expect herman

cain to fight back today? >> oh, i think so. he has two events in washington, one at aei, another at the national press club. it's going to be a press mad house. we'll look for him to fight back. he's a fighter. >> robert costa, thank you very much. >> thank you, bob. >> good to see you. up next, two members of the so-called gang of six. senator mark warner and saxby chambliss will be here. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. the employee of the month isss... the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet?

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welcome back to "morning joe" at 22 past the hour. live look at the white house. lights are on. joining us now, democratic senator from virginia. senator mark warner. should we be nice to him today? >> we'll be nice to him today. >> we're not going back there. >> especially not today. especially not today. there's a statute of limitations. >> we've forgiven you. >> and there's a statute of limitations on calling him out. republican senator from georgia

is here, as well. senator saxby chambliss. both were members of the so-called gang of six. which recently briefed the super committee. you know that super committee is going to nail it. they're going to come together and make it happen. >> saxby, let's start with what's most important to your constituents. that is the fact that the bulldogs beat the gators this weekend. >> it was a great weekend. >> the world's largest cocktail party. >> the world's largest outdoor cocktail party. and we work hard to uphold that tradition. >> you did. and you will be pulling for alabama this weekend against lsu? >> i'm going to sit back and watch because that's going to be one heck of a football game. >> it is. it really is. >> it's going to be great. >> senator warner, since you don't play football in virginia -- i'm joking, you've got good teams there. so what is a possibility of the super committee actually doing something that makes a

difference? >> well, i think the chances are actually improving. if last week you started to see some offers go back and forth. we've now built our group from the so-called gang of six to we've got 45 senators saying to the super committee, you go big, find $3 trillion. make revenue through tax reform, entitlement reform. we say we've got your back. there's now about 100 house members almost equally divided. let's face it, this debt battle has almost become proxy for whether our democratic institutions are up for the job. and i think it's important we get it done. >> and saxby, you guys are on the inside, but for those of us on the outside looking for clues, i liked what i heard last week coming from nancy pelosi and john boehner. both of them sounded like they were in a giving mood. and nancy will usually say, no, you're not going to touch social security and medicare. but last week she was like, everything's got to be on the table, we've got to compromise, john boehner said the same

thing. do we have reason to be hopeful? >> the fact of the matter is, you can't do this with just reducing spending. you can't do it with just reforming entitlements, and can't just do it on the revenue side. it takes a combination of all three. and the more you're involved in it like pelosi and boehner have been over the last several weeks, the more you realize that. so i'm encouraged by what i heard from them. i mean, these guys have still got a long ways to go on that super committee. but they've got power like no committee we've ever seen before. they can bypass -- you know how it works. you've got to go through the regular order to get something done. they can bypass the regular order. they've got the power to do that. and what we're asking them to do is to go to $4 trillion over ten years. now, that's pretty good. >> that's good. >> but you have to remember that the last three years we've had deficits annually of $1.6 trillion, and $1.5 trillion --

>> our years ago, $4 trillion would be course changing, and at this point, it's only going to stop the bleeding. >> we're going to have to do it again. >> we're looking at $14.5 trillion, but we've got to start getting it into manageable terms. >> when you're looking over ten years, these are obviously very hard times and i think some would prognosticate it could get worse before it gets better, and it's going to be a long time before unemployment improves. what kinds of ways of bringing in revenue will this super committee be able to agree upon, actually have both sides agree upon that will be significant enough to also help reboot the economy? >> one of the things that we did was took our effort and built it off of bowles/simpson. it was in most cases lowering tax rates, but taking a lot of the tax expenditures down dramatically. simplifying the tax code. you know, we raise $1 trillion a year in income tax, we spend about $1.1 trillion a year in

exemptions. you can cut everybody's taxes in half and actually raise more revenue if you're willing to get rid of all of the tax expenditures and tax breaks. we're not suggesting you do all of that, but there's head room to generate revenue -- >> senator chambliss? >> and on the corporate side, we made it revenue neutral, but we eliminated again expenditures and credits from corporations who -- and take that savings from corporations and reduce the rates to historic lows. and what corporate ceos have told us is you give a certainty on the tax code, and we'll take this money that we've got sitting as cash today on our balance sheets and we'll invest it in our companies, we'll create jobs, we'll put people back to work and create jobs for these folks who are out here protesting today. and we will see economic growth like you can never imagine in this country if we would truly reform the code like frankly we proposed. >> john heilemann? >> i want to ask you guys both a

question about president obama. two related questions. one, as we go forward right now, is there a constructive role the president can play in this process? i know it's in the hands of congress at this point, but is -- should he just stay on the sidelines? or should he be saying things about this to help? and number two, the historical question, was it a huge mistake for him not to endorse simpson/bowles last december? >> i think without question. he appointed that commission. and it was his ball game to play in. and he should've endorsed it. if he really felt it in his heart that that was the right direction to go. and looking back at it now, i've got to believe his folks are telling him we missed an opportunity. should he be involved right now? hey, he is the chief executive of the united states. and we're not going to solve this without the involvement of the chief executive. it's up to him politically and otherwise as to what role he decides to play.

but congress has ultimately got to make the decision. and the ball really is in our court. >> mark? >> and when we came out with our gang of six plan, he endorsed it. that helped in some corners, hurt in others. i wish he spent the first three months of this year frankly just educating the american people and all of us about some of these choices. some of this is just math in terms of some of the entitlement programs. the fact that some of this revenue is at 70-year low, revenue expenditures. and whenever there's been a balanced budget, we've been around 20% on both spending and revenues. you know, this is just logic. and the one thing you'll be able to see if they're really getting close is if you start seeing the interest groups on both sides start squawking. that'll be the best indication around if the super committee's getting close -- >> so saxby, you and i came in '95 along with a guy named tom

coburn. tom and you were both conservative, but very different in your approach. while we were making small explosives and throwing them at the leadership, you tried to work inside the system. and yet you and tom coburn have both taken what i consider to be a courageous stand. and that is to say to our base what you just said. we're not going to do this without cutting entitlements, cutting spending, and generating more revenue. and doing that by closing tax loopholes. what has been the response in georgia? what's been the response from conservative special interest groups in washington? what's -- how much pain has it caused you politically? >> well, obviously you've got folks on the right who done like any change in the tax code unless it's just purely reducing taxes. we are reducing tax rates, and we're going to stimulate the economy by doing so. people did not understand what

bowles/simpson did, so therefore they did not understand what we were doing in adopting the basic philosophy of bowles/simpson. >> but your goal is to bring more revenue to the federal government. >> sure. we've got to. and here's why, it's not rocket science. based on the year ending september 30, 2010, spending relative to gdp was at 25%. revenue relative to gdp was at 14%. that's why you had $1 trillion deficit that year. we've got to close that. historically we've had revenues at about 18%, spending at 19%, we've been able to manage that 1% deficit. and that's why our debt rose every year, but it rose only slightly. now, we have simply got to get spending down. there's no question about it. but by the same token, you've got to get revenues up. >> hard times to be doing both. gentlemen, thank you very much.

>> thanks, guys. coming up, is there any substance to the president's executive actions to energize the economy? lisa myers joins us next. ♪ [ female announcer ] give a little cheer to a family of a soldier. just cut out the cheer from your specially marked box of cheerios, write your message, and we'll see that they get it.

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welcome back. 36 past. the obama administration has introduced a series of executive actions that will bypass congress in an effort to energize the economy. joining us now with a closer look is nbc news senior investigative correspondent lisa myers. good morning. >> good morning, mika, joe, gang. president obama is not the first president to roll out the initiatives to show he's trying to address problems. but some analysts say when it comes to the actual impact on jobs and the economy, to call some of these measures small is an exaggeration. in the last week, the president has rolled out a new political slogan. >> we can't wait. we can't wait. we're not going to wait. >> reporter: and a series of executive actions to help homeowners under water on their mortgages, jobless veterans, and

those crushed by debt on their student loans. >> the idea you're going to go around the congress is just -- it's almost laughable. >> reporter: independent voices say the president's new strategy is mostly, well, politics. >> it's, you know, symbolic politics at its best. and there's not much substance there. i'd say that the slogan should really be we can't wait, but we can't do much either. >> reporter: take housing, the administration says it's helping as many as 4 million under water homeowners refinance their mortgages. private estimates are about a third of that. and the changes do nothing for the most desperate. 6 million americans in or facing foreclosure. the obama program supposed to save up to 4 million of their homes has produced only 700,000 permanent mortgage modifications. >> you seem to vent -- >> reporter: this is what a democrat says about the latest initiative. >> these proposals are just fiddling around the edges.

he's got to get off the dime and get something done for the american people he represents. >> reporter: student loans, here the president is accelerating parts of a law enacted last year to help 1.6 million americans to cut their payments about $100 a month. millions also could consolidate their loans. that according to one analysis the white house doesn't dispute would save the average borrower less than $10 a month. jobless veterans, there are 916,000 unemployed veterans. the president encouraged health centers to hire 8,000 of them and provided no new money. add it all up -- >> the white house can put whatever spin they want on it, but it's not going to make much of a difference, and the public would be wrong to assume it will. >> now, white house officials insist that though these measures will be small, they will have an impact on the economy and help struggling americans. and mika, they're going to roll out another initiative today to

try to deal with the critical shortage of some life-saving chemotherapy and other drugs. it's a critical problem, but one not likely to be solved with the stroke of a presidential pen. >> all right, lisa myers, thank you very much. >> thank you, lisa. up next, how money corrupts american politics. harvard law professor joins the table when we come back. we're america's natural gas

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or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business. it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $7.8 billion to small businesses across the country so far this year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible. joining us now, professor at harvard law school lawrence -- >> and little known fact, he played for pink floyd. that's why we're playing the

music. >> "how money corrupts congress and the plan to stop it." first, let's set the table as we say and give us a sense as how serious the money issue is in congress. >> well, you could start with what the public perceives, which is the vast majority, 2/3 to 3/4 believes it results in congress. that's alone enough to drive people to think this institution is bankrupt, which is why its confidence ratings hover around 10% or 11%. but the actual fact is the public isn't so stupid. money does affect results in congress, it steers it in ways that corrupts it away from what the people would ordinarily want. and more interestingly, recently, it's begun to direct the agenda. so the things they consider, spend the time on the hill are the things that will flush the most money in. >> it's gotten worse. i thought we passed

mccain/feingold, and that was going to make things cleaner in washington. >> it's gotten worse. mccain/feingold's strategy was just to dampen down the sources, which makes it more and more ferocious to try to figure ways around the problem. so so long as you're trying to restrict the money that goes in in a world where people are more and more competitive and need to raise more money and spend more money, you're not going to solve the problem. >> what's the answer? >> you've got to find a way to fund the elections that don't make the funders a tiny selection that decide how the system works. so you've got to have small-dollar contributions get amplified in a way that make it possible for candidates to run successful campaigns. >> i'm glad you brought up arizona. arizona has some of the toughest campaign finance laws. i had a friend matt salomon who ran for governor in 2002, and he was raising it $500 at a time, it was very tough. and the last week of the campaign, a multimillionaire came in and put up $3 million,

$4 million in independent expenditures and washed matt away like janet napolitano. >> as long as they're limiting the control, this is going to be a problem. but we've got to start with the change that makes it possible. we've got to start with the change that's possible so that people can begin to have some faith this is not just another bought institution. as absolutely, i too was down on the occupy wall street and occupy k street as absolutely every one of those people down there believe. >> okay. >> i know during the 2008 election, you were supportive of the president. i know this was something he had talked about addressing. have you been disappointed by the amount of progress that you've seen thus far? >> this is understatement, right? i think the word is betrayal. i think the word is betrayal. he, you know, was a colleague of mine, a friend, i have enormous respect for him. but he came in -- the only

reason to support him over hillary clinton was he said this was the fight. he said i'm going to "take up the fight to change the way washington works." it was because of this challenge he said he was running. so when you set yourself up as the reform candidate and then on day one pick up the hillary clinton -- and that's why we're facing the exact same ridiculous questions about how to run the system right now. he's in the middle of the fight you were talking about earlier in the show where, of course, he's got to raise money from wall street. so long as we have the system where the tiny slice of the most wealthy institutions in america drive funding for elections, that's exactly the blackmail the system's going to deliver. >> john heilemann, 1% does not run elections, it is .5% -- >> .05% of america runs national elections. that's not the case in congressional races. it's not the case in some senate

races. it's not even -- but when you're running for president of the united states, it's the .05% that determine whether you're going to be president or not. >> how do you stop the blackmail? >> you've got to have a system where there isn't such concentrated power to blackmail. wall street did effectively blackmail. that's because they had the largest chunk of change in this last 2010 election. and so long as you fund elections so that's possible, blackmail is possible, blackmail will happen. >> john heilemann and you have a history. >> let's not go into that. >> no -- >> it's a little awkward. >> hateful barbs being shot back and forth. >> we don't want to start a fistfight here. i have a big question for you, right? so in the end of this book, you're not talking about just trying to reform campaign finance, you want a new constitutional convention. you're talking about reform, right? so right now, a lot of people who think this system is paralyzed would like to start with something like filibuster reform in the senate.

no headway is made on an issue that small relative to the large issues that you're talking about. tell me in a practical way. how do we get to the big-time structural reform you advocate in the book? >> i think it's called for because inside the beltway plan cannot work. we cannot get congress, we cannot get this congress to change the way it funds its system. as jim cooper says, congress capitalism has become a way for k street. you need a way around. all i'm talking about that part of if book. here are the structural ways we can go around. what gets us to that place? anger that develops in a way that begins to focus on real reform. if this wall street movement matures in a way they begin to talk to the 99%. and the 99% only care if you want to talk about what everybody cares about, only cares about this one issue, the corruption they believe makes the system not work. >> i totally agree. lawrence lessig.

thank you so much for coming onset. >> and even after you found out that heilemann was coming on. >> and for speaking a language with those of us with iqs under 250 can understand. >> 244, that's what i heard. >> we love your son too. coming up next, the "morning joe" football frenzy with roger bennett. we shall return. [ man ] i got this citi thank you card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes, i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ keep on going in this direction. take this bridge over here. there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] write your story with the citi thankyou premier card,

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with us now, espn soccer analyst and host of the soccer show that is literally changing the way your children think, men in blazer, 9:00 a.m. on sirius radio, roger bennett, you've got to start with a spectacularly, colossally, badly played match between chelsea and arsenal, the two giants. >> just in time for halloween, an epic clash. two london teams, both of them trying to keep up with the manchesters. in this game john terry was the feature. allegations about him using racism against another player. >> a horrific human being. >> he scored a goal to make it 2-1. no, they score on this.

they score the winner and there is such a thing as reward and punishment in sixth grade religious classes, do not worry. >> so what's happening here, roger? >> there's a break that came on, robin van percy scored 28 goals in 27 games, joe. grabbed his hat trick with this, smashes home an epic goal. no monkeying around for this man. joe, arsenal have now won eight out of nine. >> arsenal one of the great clubs in english football. >> traditionally. >> and they have had a horrific year. people were stupid enough to talk about getting rid of winger early in the year. people like you. but they have come back. >> they have. there's still massive problems at the back. they're still a little film see in the middle. this was a game that the english

premier league mated with the benny hill show. let's talk about liverpool. >> can we talk about liverpool for a second because they lost someone this week. gadhafi in his last days in the storm drain, his only pleasure was sipping tea from this liverpool mug. >> do we've a picture of this mug? >> do you have a mug like this? >> i knew i liked the cut of this. >> another way joe and gadhafi have things in common. >> liverpool was looking to rebound from the loss of one of its sanest fans. a plucky little tea. charlie plunked home this and a moment that made you very happy no doubt, a very well taken goal. while celebrating a belly flop measuring 6.9 on the richter

scale, 6.9, joe, you must have been happy. >> look at this plop. he is so fat and look at this. >> tsunami. >> most of them slide. >> don't try that at home, children. >> that guy is horrible but yet he scored a goal finally. he cost liverpool about $50 million. >> and also damaged it after that seismic chunky little belly flop. >> willie geist is a huge red bull fan. >> the bullies, they played the galaxy, two most talented and richest ever rosters in american soccer history. mls playoffs where alex ferguson refers to -- mike mcgee slipped it past the goalkeeper who clearly thought saving the ball was below his pay grade. but the real whistle came after

the final. he threw the ball at landon donovan. marcell marseau says proper soccer has come to your shores, america, you're welcome. world class football. they grab the face and act like they have been hit. >> flopping. >> men stuff, men stuff. >> so do you think willie may actually -- >> football is going to soar. >> america's methadone. >> since 1972. >> i love it. all right, roger, thanks so much. coming up next we'll talk about politico's developing story regarding herman cain plus a lot, lot, lot, lot more. keep it right here on "morning joe." we're america's natural gas

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good morning. it is 8:00 on the east coast. happy halloween, as we take a live look at new york city. welcome back to "morning joe." >> that's great. >> okay. you need to apologize. >> back with us on set are john hileman and steve ratner. what a weekend! >> don't complain. >> i'm not complaining about anything. what a weekend. >> a lot of people don't have power. >> a lot of people don't have power. >> like if you're in connecticut -- >> no, no, no, no.

>> just assume if there is a 3-mile-an-hour wind that you're not going to have power for a month or two. >> okay. >> i talked to my friends that live up in connecticut. seriously, willie, it's like a four-inch snow. >> your friends? >> friends that live in connecticut, a four-inch snow and there's no power up there like for a week. for a week! >> be proud, joe. >> it's not just -- you know what, there are about three million homes without power. this was a serious storm. this was much more serious than anyone expected. bill karins did call it. >> for once. >> it was very -- it's historic on a number of levels. but look at this, it's not just connecticut, joe, although connecticut does have the highest number. >> and they won't have power until like january. >> this was like an ice slush snow rainstorm. >> so let's go to news. >> herman cain's presidential campaign is on the defensive this morning after a new

politico report. >> why, did he allegedly work for connecticut light & power? >> i'm going to make you issue a formal apology to connecticut light & power. there are a lot of really good people there working around the clock. >> they do not. they have got two trucks going around in certain towns. >> herman cain is in hot water because these two female employees complained back in the past of inappropriate behavior by cain. exactly when? while he was head of the national restaurant association in 1990. >> can i ask a question? when did this story break? >> over the weekend. >> yesterday? because i had no idea until this morning that this broke. >> you need power for the internet. >> no, i'm dead serious. i had no idea. >> you need to stop. >> what did he do? >> politico sources say the women received financial payouts to lead leave the association and agreed not to discuss their

departures. >> i guess they're discussing it now. >> i guess they are. now, do they have to give the money back? nbc news has not independently verified the politico report. i'm confused. if they are paid out to keep quiet -- >> there are other board members. there are other board members who could have been the sources for the story. >> yeah, but they can deny -- okay. joining us now. let's find out from the source of the story, senior politico reporter, jonathan martin is one of the reporters who broke this story. jonathan, explain. >> good morning. well, we have over the course of the last three weeks doing extensive reporting, talking to dozens of current, former employees, current/former board members, sources close to this organization, found at least two women during the 1990s complained about herman cain's behavior toward them. they were subordinates to him when he was the ceo in the late '90s at the organization. and they complained of both verbal and physical activity

toward them that made them feel angry, uncomfortable and they complained about it. and they subsequently received a five-figure payout to leave the organization and sign nondisclosure agreements. we have seen documentation that refers to the allegations and that also gets to the organization's formally resolving the matter. >> you've seen official documentation from the organization? so this is not based on what somebody told you, this is actually based on solid evidence that you saw in front of you? >> we've seen documentation on both the allegations and that the national restaurant association formally resolved the matter, joe. >> have board members of the organization confirmed this? has anybody that represents the organization, have they confirmed this? >> yeah. in fact our story -- we actually quote former board members in the story. >> does herman cain talk about this at all?

i thought a read a statement. >> yeah. mika, i'm glad you asked that because we gave his campaign ten days to respond. they had ten days to respond to this story. their response first was this matter was amicably resolved by all parties years ago. they subsequently said mr. cain vaguely recalled some matter and the organization's counsel then and now took care of the matter and mr. cain's campaign aides talked to that counsel to figure out what happened. >> wait, wait, wait, wait a second. vaguely? vaguely recalled? go ahead. finish up. >> their second response was that the campaign told me when they asked mr. cain about it, he said he vaguely recalled something to do with this and the campaign ought to talk to the counsel for the organization to get his memory of what happened. we subsequently tried to get more of a response from them over a period of days. finally yesterday outside of the

cbs news bureau after mr. cain taped "face the nation" i interviewed him and asked him repeatedly, in fact four times all told, have you ever been accused of sexual harassment. he would not answer the question. point blank. >> okay. well, there you go. >> so let's read the statement from the cain campaign. >> last night they issued a statement not denying anything at all. >> here's their statement and what they call thinly sourced allegations fearing the message of herman cain who is shaping up the political landscape in washington inside the beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on cain. sadly we have seen this movie played out before. a prominent conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics. >> so what, were the women liberals that got the five-figure payout? i'm joking. >> are the two women at all talking in any way? >> they're legally prescribed

from talking. >> jonathan? >> yeah. in our story we quote half a dozen people, current and former employees, current and former board members, sources close to this organization. so, you know, in that statement you will find a critique of, you know, liberal, conservative, whatever, but you're not going to find a denial of the facts. you also didn't find a denial yesterday from mr. cain himself when he was given the chance four separate times whether or not he had ever been accused in his life of sexual harassment. he didn't answer the question. >> jonathan, what are the allegations specifically as you understand them? there's obviously a wide range in sexual harassment. what did he do? >> well, we have to be careful about that, obviously, because we're sensitive to the sourcing involved here and also what actually happened to these women as well, we want to be sensitive to that too. it includes both verbal and physical gestures. these women felt uncomfortable,

they were unhappy about their treatment and they complained to both colleagues and senior officials. in one case it involved, i think, inviting a woman up to a hotel room of cain's on the road, but we're just not going to get into the details of exactly what happened with these women besides what's in the story. >> john, break it down for us. what do you think? >> well, i think this is obviously conceivably a campaign-ending set of allegations. not literally ending, but damaging to him in a very severe way. they have not responded -- they have not dealt well with this story so far in terms of the responses that jonathan laid out, the inconsistency, the vagueness, cain's response yesterday on the street. i believe he looked at jonathan after refusing to answer the question four times said -- asked him, well, have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?

>> right, that's correct. >> that is a -- >> that is an interesting strategy. >> putting aside j. mart and his behavior -- >> which of course. >> putting aside that, it's a busch league -- they have dealt with this in a busch league fashion. he is in washington this week for -- cain, that is, is in washington to have meant to be his establishment coming out. i believe he's doing a talk today at the american enterprise institute. there is going to be an extraordinary amount of focus and i believe a media swarm around him. how he handles this story today extraordinarily important. what the media follow-up on the story is, extremely important. and of course what the facts are. but he's in significant trouble i think right now. >> you know, he used, mika, the same rhetorical device that he used when somebody asked him if he knew the leader of

uzbekistan. he said, well, i'll just ask them and he turns to jonathan martin. everybody knows the answer whether you've been accused of sexual harassment. and it is so busch league, jonathan can't see that, but that is such a busch league move to make that once again it shows that this guy is not equipped let alone to be president of the united states, to run for president of the united states. >> jonathan -- yeah, go ahead. >> i was going to say, i would stress again we gave them ten days to respond to the story. >> no, you did a good job. >> starting on the 20th of october, a thursday. we went to them, we stayed in touch via e-mail and telephone calls. gave them extensive opportunities to respond to this story. finally went to mr. cain himself to get a direct response yesterday morning there. again, four opportunities to respond to a very straightforward question. a basic question. sir, have you ever committed -- or have you ever been accused in your life of sexual harassment?

and i said, sir, yes or no, and he wouldn't say. >> yeah. >> it's not good for herman cain and the campaign. >> on a number of levels, i know politico's process for trying to get any type of story is extremely careful. it's fascinating. thank you very much, jonathan martin. >> thanks, guys. >> this comes, the allegations continue as he continues his reign as republican presidential front runner. a new des moines register poll shows cain in a statistical tie with former massachusetts governor mitt romney among likely republican caucus goers. the only other candidate in double digits is texas congressman ron paul with 12%, while michele bachmann and rick perry round out the top five. cain dominates romney among those who identify themselves as very conservative. romney is the favorite among women, seniors, first-time caucus voters and those who call themselves moderates or liberals. >> let's go back to the poll for a second.

willie, the two things that stand out is the collapse, complete and total collapse of michele bachmann, now down to 8%. the second story is mitt romney sitting at 22%. if i'm mitt romney's people, i'm going to start thinking what barack obama was thinking this time four years ago. if i can win iowa, i got it. >> remember, this was out of play. he wasn't going to play in iowa. he's looking at these numbers and we kept asking the question what burst the herman cain bubble. maybe this story does it. mitt romney just keeps playing it down the middle. look at rick perry in that poll. >> oh, my gosh. >> he's got to play in iowa. he's at 7%. >> 7%. >> 15 points behind mitt romney. >> if only we had somebody that knew anything about this story. >> maybe wrote an article. >> if only. >> an in-depth about mitt romney. >> who talked about mitt romney trying to close this out, just

like vanderbilt. >> don't do it. >> here's the deal with vanderbilt. listen, i am mr. optimistic, right? seriously, the fact joe scarborough and i were saying arkansas is going to beat vandy. vanderbilt almost beat them. they should have beat them except for a couple of mistakes. >> let's talk about that in sports. >> we will. so anyway, if somebody had only written something about mitt romney shutting things down. >> yes. >> just turning the lights off. >> if somebody had, i'd read an excerpt. >> why don't you do that now. >> okay. new york magazine, the temptation of mitt. on one reading, to be sure, making a concerted late-stage effort to take iowa would be consistent with the new, nonsweaty pits mitt. it would be bold, it would be decisive, it would be opportunistic in the best sense of the word, but it would also introduce an unpredictable

variable to a race in which virtually every constant so far has worked to romney's advantage. is there really a new romney? the answer remains unclear. but if there is, surely he'll be able to recognize and resist a briar patch when he sees one, even if it happens to reside amid thousands of square miles of cornfields. nicely written, john. >> they are -- look, they look at this -- as you said, joe, they look at this and they have been trying to maintain a studious distance, a rigorous distance from iowa all year long. he's stayed abay from a lot of big events because they did not want to raise expectations about him playing there. now he's sitting there with 22%. with the rest of the field as fragmented as it is, it looks very attractive and there are people in his orbit who think let's dive in at the end.

if we can win this and win new hampshire, the nomination is ours. the problem with that is that is exactly what they tried to do four years ago and when he did not win iowa, it crippled him in new hampshire and so the question is whether you want to revive that story line. the moment they decide they are going to run in iowa full bore, the question becomes iowa is all about can romney slay the demons of 2008. it might be better for them to stay focused on new hampshire, finish a strong second or third in iowa, or maybe if they win it without any effort, that would be great, but just settle for second there. if somebody else takes iowa, fine. then win new hampshire and stick with your original game plan. >> "rock center with brian williams" debuts tonight. up next harry smith gives us a preview. >> also this hour, i want my

mtv. a new book -- >> you don't even know what mtv is. she's like huh? you have no idea. >> what? >> she has no idea what the cultural reference is. >> is that like an all terrain vehicle? >> call your cable company and tell them you want your mvt. anyway, mika has no idea what mtv is. >> the golden age of music videos from a time when mtv actually played music videos. but first let's go to bill karins for a check on the forecast. you're going to be grounded. bill. >> for those millions of people that don't have power, i guess they were lucky to miss that. well, good morning, everyone. that's the big story of the day, all the people slowly getting their power back on. a lot of people's halloween plans have been altered, if not cancelled. some areas picking up over 2 feet of snow in the mountains. it's a warm morning in the deep

south but it's frigid in the northeast. it's going to be a slow warmup with highs only in the 40s and the 50s if you're lucky, so that snow will probably hang around at least another couple days. the middle of the country looks perfect from denver to kansas city, st. louis, dallas, new orleans, you look nice. pacific northwest, just some showers in seattle. l.a. looks okay too. i had a lot of people asking me does this mean we're going to have a brutally long winter because of this snow event and the answer is no, there's no correlation between early season snowstorms and long-lasting winters. who knows, maybe it won't even snow for another month or so. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ female announcer ] who'd have thought that the person you'd grow up to be -- how creative or confident or kind -- was shaped before you lost your first tooth?

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hey, brian. >> hey, harry. >> i've got a great idea for a new show. >> can you pitch knit three floors? >> coppel. >> williams. >> welcome aboard. kate snow. >> brian. >> so what's up, duck? natalie. >> brian williams. >> seth myers, fake news anchor. not one of ours. >> it's tonight. it's tonight. >> it's huge. >> it's tonight. >> you know kids are actually -- they have declared a holiday in connecticut. >> yes, they have. >> kids aren't going to school today. >> but they can't watch. >> it in connecticut literally because they're all getting ready for what happens tonight on nbc. >> but they can't watch. >> it unfortunately they can't watch it because there's no power in connecticut. >> there will be power by 10:00 tonight eastern time. i know that. >> really?

>> i know that for a fact. >> you do? >> yes. >> joining us now, a member of the team of veteran correspondents contributing to nbc's new primetime newsmagazine "rock center with brian williams," harry smith. i happen to know harry. wes moore rejoins the table. good to have you. how are you? >> think about it, no one has done it on television in a couple of decades, started a new magazine show. >> who does that? that's crazy talk. >> nbc does. >> how's it going to go? >> it's going to be a game-changer. the world will reverse on its axis as of 11:00 tonight. people will say, where has this been all our lives. >> who'd ever thought of doing something like this. >> so you're on the maiden voyage and you have a piece tonight that looks at the job situation and has a geographic answer, correct? >> yes. williston, north dakota. if you want a job, if you want a

job, you, you, you, you, me, we could drive to williston today, get a job in ten minutes. >> let's take a look at a clip of harry's piece. >> the trucks rumble through like modern buffalo, a stampede that can't be stopped. starting salary for truck drivers, $80,000 a year. you can make $15 an hour at taco john's. in town or in the oil field, if you're willing to work, the money is here. >> you know, there's opportunity here and that's what we all need is an opportunity. >> long-time mayor ward cozier says williston is fast becoming host to job seekers from all 50 stat states. in just five years its population has nearly doubled to 23,000. >> we'd have two to 3,000 job openings here and more come on the scene every day. a lot of jobs get filled every day, but it's like for every job you fill, another job and a half opens up. >> that's incredible.

that's incredible. >> isn't that awesome? >> why is it? >> oil, oil. there are 24 billion barrels of oil underground in western north dakota and montana. it's the baccan shelf. it's unbelievable. 99.5% of the oil -- wells drilled in north dakota have hit pay dirt. it's just stunning. >> so harold ford last week wrote a column and talked about how there are actually a lot of jobs in energy. there were skeptics but it sounds like your piece underlines that. >> they have them in pennsylvania and all over the place. they're drilling wells outside of denver, colorado now. just because of the technology changes, they're reaching material that could never be reached before. >> wow, that's amazing. >> so "rock center," the show itself, how would you characterize it in terms of how it differs from other newsmagazines we've seen out there? >> people will find some things

that are familiar to them. this is a very traditional magazine piece in its length and scope and everything else. but what will happen is we'll put it on the air tonight and after it's over, i'll be live with brian on the set. there will be no please ask me this, no please ask me this, no choreographed conversation, he'll just ask me whatever is on his mind and he'll do that with kate and engel too and then some segments where brian is -- they'll let the genie out of the bottle. >> really? >> brian is going to show his wild side? >> well, you know, you've seen him on letterman, you've seen him on fallon, you've seen him on "saturday night live." >> i love him on fallon. >> drop dead. >> including tonight with one of his buddies. >> that's what i hear. >> do you want to say it? >> you say it. >> the comedy central guy. the guy with the show that everybody watches. >> really? >> yeah, big-time stuff. >> that's going to be really cool. >> that's right. >> how's 30 rock treating you

compared to cbs? >> i feel very fortunate to be here. >> uh-huh. >> and in the several months that i've been here, traveled all over the united states, we've been to africa, we have amazing stories to tell. and every time i'm on the road and i'm sort of in the middle of whatever we're working on, i pinch myself a little bit and say you're one of the luckiest sobs on the planet. how's that for an answer? >> do you like that answer? >> i don't think he completely answered it. >> do you want more? >> i think that's a good answer. >> i'll leave it there. >> how long were you at cbs? >> over 20 years there. i had a great run there. >> such great people there. i hated leaving. i was so sad when i left. >> listen, i was very sad to say good by to many of my colleagues. >> the editors and photographers and producers, some of the best in the business. >> and here's what's interesting about "rock center" because they have taken a bunch of hosts from

nbc but there are also people from cbs, people from abc, people from public television. it's a very interesting -- >> plucked the best and the brightest. >> exactly. >> so how strange -- do you ever -- you've got your nbc badge. >> yeah, i'm showing it off. >> that's weird to see harry smith with an nbc badge. >> it's strange to see you and an nbc badge. are there any mornings you wake up and can't believe that you're not going over to 57th street? >> i come skipping across the west side and right down 6th avenue and i'm like, whew, i get to work here. no, i skip. >> i've seen you skip. >> what was the draw, harry about, this show? not just for you but for a guy like ted koppel. what was about it this project? >> when steve capas and i had lunch a million years ago and he said we're thinking about doing this show and i said don't get

up from this lunch unless you offer me a job, because it just -- nobody is going to do this. there will be other magazine shows in the future and come from who knows what entities, but as a network to say we're going to make this commitment in primetime on a week night, it's a very big deal. >> it's very cool. >> a rare opportunity. >> and this story sounds fascinating. can you give us a teaser about some of the other stories that you're thinking about working on? >> all right, i have another question. >> no, sorry. >> do you want me to ask you another question? >> yeah, please. >> what do you think of the tv business overall having been in and out of it, especially looking at it from the outside without a job in it. >> i've never not been in it. >> oh, i see. well, i have. i had that whole year between cbs and nbc, so i got to look at i so you just went from cbs to nbc without ever missing -- >> yeah. >> that's nice. that's great that that happened.

it's interesting how that happens. >> so talk about the news business. >> how do you think it's evolved, in good ways and bad ways? >> i can say this fairly honestly, that we were talking about this during a commercial break. you do morning television for so many years, it exists in this moment. it's like this, and the minute if you've you're off the air, you're not even sure what you talked about an hour ago, right? and it takes a tremendous amount of energy. i look back on having done it for altogether over 15 years, like 17 years of morning television. i almo can't remember any of it. you go on the road and you do big stories and you cover wars, you remember all of that. but the day-to-day-to-day, people say i remember that interview you did and i have no idea what you're talking about. >> i bet you remember doing your standup in tahrir square.

>> exactly. you know what, it's interesting because every single sort of story where you left the building and actually were covering a story as a real reporter, i remember every single one of them. >> i am with you. i completely understand that. that was a great piece, by the way. i stood up and watched it. i could not move. >> you guys gave me some nice props the next day. >> we still remember that. but willie, following up on harry, we probably won't even remember that harry was here. >> no, ten seconds from now. >> he'll be gone and we'll be like what happened. >> everybody stops today and waits for what happens 10:00 tonight. >> 10:tonight eastern time. >> harry smith, nbc employee. "rock center" tonight at 10:00, debut show with harry. thank you so much for getting up early this morning and coming in to see us. when we come back -- >> i'm going to bed now. >> when we come back, the uncensored story of the music video revolution. keep it right here on "morning joe."

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america, see what you want to see. >> i want my mtv. all right. >> i want my mtv.

>> i want my mtv. >> 24 hours a day on cable tv. >> i want my mtv, mtv, mtv. >> yeah, too much is never enough. >> that was one of the "i want my mtv" commercials from the 1980s, a campaign that helped turn a radical idea for a channel showing nothing but music videos into a dominant force in our popular culture. joining us now are craig marks and rob tannenbaum, the authors of a new book, "i want my mtv." we were just talking about toppia catain. you see tonya on that jaguar in the white snake commercial and you start to wonder is that what life is going to be like for me, women on jaguars. life has been a huge letdown

ever since. there's a whole generation of people, though, that right now "jersey shore" is the mtv. go back to the beginning. why was it so revolutionary. >> not only was it revolutionary, at the time it started it seemed doomed to failure and kind of idiotic. when mtv launched in 1981, if you had said the word "music video" to someone, they wouldn't have known what you were talking about, the phrase didn't exist. so mtv was created as an outlet for a product that really didn't exist. and its success was going to rely on the willingness of the record companies to make more and more videos. and when the record companies heard this idea, they said get the hell out of here, we're not interested in this. >> but it created a market. all their programming cost nothing. >> what was the turning point? when did record companies realize if i can get oaths let's say i'll pay 50,000, 60,000 for a video, if i can get heavy

rotation on mtv, i'm going to drive record sales? >> pretty quickly. the heads of mtv sent a couple of their managers down to tulsa, oklahoma, and found record stores were selling dur an, dur an and flock of seagulls and going into barber shops asking for a rod stewart haircut. so that's when they knew they were making a deep impression sgla was there one video that put it over the top? was it thriller? >> it was "thriller." in fact mtv was not profitable for the first two years. they were close to going out of business. they were probably one quarter away from being put in the ground. that was the time when "thriller" came out. mtv, they made a lot of mistakes in the first couple of years, but they weren't idiots. when they saw the ratings for "thriller" going up, they started pumping it like crazy. >> who were some of the acts that resisted the temptation to make videos?

>> springsteen did at first. it took a while -- the first springsteen video on mtv was atlantic city from nebraska and he didn't appear in it. he had to be pulled kicking and screaming to make "dancing in the dark." >> he didn't like it and then "born in the usa" video he didn't want to lip sync. and lots of acts from the '70s. journey made terrible videos. a lot of '70s american rock acts just thought it was beneath them. >> one of the things i love about this is we get to talk about martha quinn again who i think for a generation of american men, we thought she was the woman we would grow up to marry. >> willie dreams bigger. >> much bigger. >> when did -- when was the moment, though, when -- not when

it became an important force but some videos became art. spike jones, people like that, started coming. videos were a way to cut your teeth into what became promising film careers. where do you think was the moment these were considered important cultural products. >> i think there isn't a real defining point. there are videos even from the beginning that were artistic. there were also videos that were just crass, vulgar, those are the ones generally we love and whose purpose was to sell records. so there's a constant trade-off in the video medium between being art and selling a product. >> so let's talk about the videos that really shook things up on my cover, and there are different covers. the second you saw this video, you knew something big was

happening. name some other videos that changed the course of music. >> certainly madonna's videos did. they changed the course of mtv. they made her a star. but "like a virgin, " "material girl." >> and here's "like a prayer." boy, pepsi wishes they had not launched that without seeing it first. but madonna obviously. >> white snake, motley crue, poison, guns and roses, bon jovi. >> i actually turned the channel when those came on. >> you know, it's interesting that bon jovi is still playing stadiums, one of the few bands that can still sell out a stadium and it's really because of their videos in 1986 and '87. >> there was also another video that was transformative and that's d.j. jazzy jeff and the fresh prince, which was almost single handedly the video which

allowed mtv to embrace rap. they were kind of scared of rap like they were scared of michael jackson. but this video was so fun and colorful, to them it was finally a video where rappers weren't scary thugs. >> and you could argue that was as important as anything to bringing hip-hop to the white suburbs. it also influenced the culture in a big way. >> john, do you have a video that you thought was transformative? >> you know, i think of -- again, maybe i'm being a little too high-browed but i think about the whole rem video as being, you know, you can't think of that band without thinking of losing my religion and number of other videos that were seamlessly integrated aesthetically into the band. >> u2 had a series of great

videos. that's a fantastic video. >> you have a worst video of all time, i understand. would you like to share that with us? >> well, we do. there are only two videos that get their own chapter and one of them is billy squires "rock me tonight." it takes a really bad video to ruin a man's career. and that's effectively what happened with this video. billy was a hard rock hero. he was kind of a one man led zeppelin, very macho, long hair. as you can see this video is not exactly macho. >> this was horrific. >> so was this video response for mtv deciding they were going to stop playing videos? >> maybe it should have been. >> at what point did mtv -- did the executives say, you know what, music videos just don't drive ratings, so we're going to stop playing music videos on a music video station. >> there were two points.

in 1987 they did a game show called remote control. that was their first nonmusic show. adam sandler got a start on that show. and then in '92 they debuted "the real world" which was the first reality television show and that's when they caught the fever that music videos didn't rate the same way reality programming did and any concentrated block of half hour programming did. it's hard to play one music video after another. if you don't like the song, they change the channel. >> and the shows their air today, distasteful as they may be, 16 and pregnant, do huge numbers. >> all right, guys, congratulations on the book. >> thank you. >> anybody who came up in this generation has to read it. "i want my mtv." go pick up a copy. guys, thanks a lot. >> first song ever played on mtv. a little known fact, willie, mtv's first video, vj, she's on

wall street right now. do you know who it is? it's melissa francis and we have her next. we'll be right back.

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good one. why, thank you. whether it's saving for retirement, college, or anything else, contact a fidelity investment professional today. welcome back to "morning joe." let's get a check on business before the bell with melissa francis. she's live at cnbc headquarters. melissa, what was it like when you spun video killed the radio star. what was that like? >> first of all, i'm insulted that you would even say that i'm that old. i obviously was in utero when mtv came on the scene so that's insulting right out of the gate.

i think if i were a vj, i would be like you. if you want to talk about stocks and the day on wall street, which i think is why you invited me out here this morning. >> i'm not sure why i invited you, melissa. >> i know, i set myself up for that one. that was bad planning. anyway, it is a good month for your 401(k). you should be patting yourself on the back if you stayed in the market. you may not know it but the dow is on track to have its best month ever on a point basis, on a percentage basis. it's up about 12%. if you're sitting on the sidelines, you don't want to pounce in right now, but the s&p is up 13%, the nasdaq is up 13% as well. we're looking ahead to a big jobs report on friday. the consensus is that we're going to see an increase of 100,000 jobs, which isn't nearly enough to get the unemployment rate down at all but it's early in the week. people will be revising their estimates, and it is halloween, so we're looking ahead to holiday spending because christmas can't come soon enough. >> it's coming. let me ask you about the top of

the wall street journal, just to change course here. >> throw a curveball at me. >> corzine racing to save the firm. are we just looking at john corzine's problems because he was a political figure as well. >> we're trying to figure out the details of what's going on with mf global, which is a huge force on wall street. john corzine is at the helm so that's one of the reasons that we're looking at it. the big question with this story and we were all just talking about it here in our morning meeting is, is there a systemic risk here? is there a domino effect? and it's one of those things we don't have a lot of clarity on right now. we have a lot of reporters on the story who are thinking there isn't a domino effect, but this is definitely a story to watch. we aren't just watching it because there's a big name involved, it's a big story. >> more importantly, what are your kids being for halloween? >> stegasaurus.

we'll see. >> melissa, thank you. >> have a great day. >> more "morning joe" in just a moment. [ male announcer ] want to achieve more with your money? pnc virtual wallet gathers your spending and saving in one place. credit and debit purchases, checks, bills, and other financial information. it lets you see the details as well as the big financial picture. so you can do more with your money. see what a complete view of your money can do for you

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melissa francis was kind of rough on me. >> no, actually she's just being clear. >> i'm a working class hero. >> right. he's the only one also who doesn't have power.

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i mean come on, live free or die? it's like live free or die, victory or death. bring it. >> did you see that? >> i still don't -- i'm concerned. >> that's real. >> welcome back to "morning joe." time to talk about what you learned today. what did you learn. >> the university of texas poll, herman cain now tied with rick perry among republican voters inside the state of texas. >> not after that speech in new hampshire. that will change everything. >> willie is a fan of -- what i want to learn is what mika's kids are dressing up as for halloween. >> i have one indian, and one wearing a pink tutu, littand ot things and i said what are you and she said i'm everything. >> my kids are going to be kate middleton and little jack wants to be