hard to believe we're just two months away until iowa and we have a brand-new national poll now. it shows a big turnaround for president obama. his popularity is up significantly in head-to-head match-ups as well. he beats all the republicans. the president's approval rating climbing to 47%, up six points from just a month ago. herman cain has widened his lead over mitt romney. but most of the polling was done before news broke of that sexual harassment claims. i'm joined by gene cummings and by jonathan kaypark. good morning to both of you. what do you think is going on with the president's better poll numbers? is it gadhafi, these executive orders he's been signing or is he just looking better compared to some of the disarray in the republican field? >> chris, i think you might have hit on numerous things.

i think a lot contributes to this. in addition to libya and just a quieter time in washington where we don't have fighting, the message that the president has struck upon, i think, in the last two months or month and a half about jobs is one that actually resonates with the voters. and he's not had all of the chaos and the competing voices in which to deliver that message. and they've been pretty relentless about delivering it over the last few weeks. so i think that message is breaking through. >> then we talked about the republicans and the problems they've been having. in the last 48 hours or so, there's been this never-ending array of herman cain's explanations, one contradicting the next. here he was just a short time ago. >> they tried to destroy you. well, got a little of that this week. there's a force at work here that is much greater than those that would try to destroy me and

destroy this campaign and this journey to the white house. and that force is called the voice of the people. that's why we're doing as well as we are in this campaign thus far. >> well, we don't exactly know, jonathan, because as i said, that poll that was just taken does not take into account most of this controversy that's going on. but is he just fuelling the flames here? he just keeps talking about it now. >> right. >> he seems to keep adding to it. >> right. he talks about it in that clip, people who are out to destroy him. he is his single biggest enemy here. remember, on sunday night and monday morning, we started out with, i don't know about these allegations, i've never sexually harassed anyone, to yesterday it was, well, this incident happened and this tall and there may have been some settlements, three or four months -- and today we find out another person was given a severance package of

$35,000 to $40,000. herman cain who had 11 to 12 days to get his story straight on what happened with this sexual harassment allegations, as you said, is fueling the flames of this controversy around him. he's got to get a handle on it. >> now the lawyer for one of his alleged accusers says there was more than one incident. but she's bound by a confidentiality agreement. listen to this. >> she would like to speak out for the record only because mr. cain has stated that he didn't sexually harass anyone, there wasn't any substance to the allegations and basically made it look like she was some type of frivolous claimant just looking for money. >> i wonder what herman cain's strategy should be. does he need to come forward -- what does he do now? >> it would be helpful if they settled on a story and then told it and moved on to other topics

and then consistently tried to shift away from this conversation. and here's why i think that's important, chris. this attorney with the client, the female client what may come forward now, one of the arguments they could probably make is that the agreement should have bound both parties and cain is now breaking the agreement by talking about the case itself. so i think cain is actually raising the prospects that this story is going to go one step further and that is eventually we're going to hear the voices of these two women and if there are any others, we'll hear their voices, too. that could be -- continue the scandal even longer and could be very devastating to the campaign, which now can't talk about 9-9-9 or any of his other programs. >> we're going to talk to a lawyer about these confidentiality agreements. but his camp is saying, not only are we being picked on, but they

say they have the single best fund-raising day of the campaign on monday when all this hit. >> controversy always leads to money. remember when congressman joe wilson yelled out "you lie" in the well of the congress during the president's speech, his fund-raising went up. the money will trickle to a stop if one or more of the women who are bound by confidentiality agreements come forward and their recollections of events differ markedly from herman cain's. he better hope that doesn't happen. but it's going to happen because i think -- i can't remember who it was, whether it was karl rove or another republican who said, get all the story out because it's going to get out. >> and this is just the latest, jeanne, controversy involving at the time the republican

frontrunner and they've all seemed to have crashed and burned. whodz it help? mitt romney, the president? >> it does help mitt romney to a certain degree but not to a great degree because mitt romney really needs herman cain to stay in the race. he needs all of these second-tier players to stay in the race so that he can keep holding on to the frontrunner status and no one coalesces -- the people don't coalesce behind an anti-romney candidate. in theory, the beneficiary here should be rick perry and he's got ads up. we'll see as polls come out if he does start to benefit. but frankly, the speech he gave in new hampshire last friday that was a little odd and loose, that may actually undermine how much he could benefit from this particular moment. >> thanks to both of you. >> thank you. let's talk about washington's fight to slash the deficit. should we kit cut spending, simplify the tax code, raise

revenue? the message needs to be, it's not a choice between one or the other. it's all of the above. >> do we need both spending cuts including entitlement reform and revenue increases? show of hands? >> yes. >> you can't cut spending your way out of this. you can't tax your way out of it. >> how about co-pays? >> co-pays have to go up. we call it un-american, cruel, evil, breaking the contract, i can hear the music and the violins in the back already and it won't work anymore. >> that's a reality check from people who tried to cut the deficit before. at one time, even saying they're worried that the committee is going to fail. reports are that republicans rejected democrats' first offer and that did include revenue raisers. i want to bring in congressman jim clyburn. congressman, always good to see

you. if i can, i want to play just a little bit more of what alan simpson and bowles had to say yesterday. >> if you're bold and if you do it in a smart manner, the american people will support you. >> people admire guts and courage. they may fight you, they may vilify you but they will admire you. >> there is a perception out there, and i know that you know it, congressman, that all these folks up for reelection are just afraid to make the tough choices. what do you say to that? >> well, thank you so much for having me, chris. first of all, let me say, alan simpson is one of my favorite people. erskine bowles i've known for a long, long time. i think collectively, the four of them have done great work for the american people. we have used their suggestions.

i was a member of the biden group. we studied their proposals and we are still looking at them. we are talking to the gang of six. we are taking all of their suggestions seriously. we're working on those things and we're trying to find, as speaker boehner said, common ground. we're going through a process. we know what the time line is. and we're on target to meet our goal of getting to where we need to be on time. and so just because we don't rush out of the gate with something, i've told people, my favorite fable growing up was the turtle and the hare. we're steady and on target. >> the clock is ticking. and i'm sure you know that one of the things erskine bowles

said is he's afraid you'll fail. what are the chances of that, congressman? >> there's always a chance to fail. but with every chance to fail is a chance to succeed. so i would say to mr. bowles and everybody else, yes, there's a chance to fail. but there's also a chance to succeed. and i am the eternal optimist. i believe, as my state's motto, as i breathe, i hope, i believe that we are going to get to where we need to be with time to spare. >> your colleague, jan schakowsky of illinois, is worried about the clashing of entitlement benefits. and she told the hill, a bad deal is worse than no deal. would you rather let cuts go into effect than, say, raise the age for medicare? >> i'm not a member of the committee that says we ought to raise the age for medicare. i've spoken out against it time and again. i do believe that people working in coal mines and other kind of

laborious, hazardous jobs ought not be judged for retirement on the same line of people up here working in air-conditioned offices are. unless we're going to use the dictionary to classify jobs for retirement ages, i'm not for that. i do believe we can reform entitlements in such a way that we would not hurt beneficiaries. we read the stories all the time about how much medicare fraud is taking place. i won't call the name of the states where they have these shops set up that's collecting medicare money and we know full well that they aren't providing any services. we need to have a veteran process to keep that from ever happening. we'll save the government money if we prevent it from happening in the first place. that's the kind of stuff we're trying to do. make sure we don't waste the government's money and have people getting medicare payments and medicaid payments when they

have not done anything for it. that's the kind of stuff we're doing. it takes time to go through that process, set up a vetting process and make sure we save the government's money. we're not wasting time here. we're working hard. >> congressman, we wish you well in that work, the american people are anxious and watching. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. the lawyer for one of herman cain's female accusers has been asked to be released from that confidentiality agreement. big setback for julian assange who's been fighting to stay in england. a london court has ordered assange to be deported to sweden. there he's going to face rape and molestation charges. two women accuse him. but assange says he's innocent. he insists this case is payback for publishing classified information on his website. >> i have not been charged with

any crime in any country. despite this, the european arrest warrant is so restrictive that it prevents uk courts from considering the facts of a case. >> he now has two weeks to appeal his extradition. the l.a. lododgers are for sale. owner frank mccourt and major league baseball reached an agreement late yesterday to sell the famed franchise. mshg court filed for bankruptcy protection in june. mlb alleged that some of the money would have been diverted to mccourt, who as we said, was undergoing a very public and messy divorce battle. what's better than gold ?

free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus. rewards with no blackout dates so you can redeem anytime. and it's easy to redeem your points online. already a gold member ? just select gold plus rewards in your profile and start rewarding yourself now. just go to hertzgoldplusrewards.com to join. hertz gold plus rewards. journey on. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things?

fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. they won't be beat. oh, actually... then i'd be like, you rule! and my kids would be like, you rule! i'd be like, yes, i do rule! ohh! that rules! oh, load up the sleigh; this is going to be a great christmas. yeah. ring dinga-ding, ring dinga-ding, ring, ring, ring me up. [ male announcer ] no need to wait with our christmas price guarantee. we're so confident in our prices, if you do find a lower one later in a local print ad, we'll give you the difference on a walmart gift card. save money. live better. walmart.

what would mitt romney's america look like? well, pro-obama group priorities usa just released this video. >> everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. where do you think it goes? >> upper income wall street is romney. >> don't try and stop the foreclosure process. let it hit the bottom. >> well, if rick perry maybe looked like -- a little strange, some people suggested, maybe, drinking on friday when he gave that speech in new hampshire, the host of the event tells the hill perry was not drinking. and perry defended the speech in iowa yesterday. >> it was a great crowd, good response. and i guess you can do anything you want with a video and make it look any way you want. but i felt good, felt great. i think the message got across very well. it was a good speech. >> also in iowa, michele

bachmann and she's taking a swipe at herman cain -- >> this is the year when we can't settle. this is the year when we can't have any surprises with our candidate. we have to have a candidate that we can now when we put them into office, we can trust them with their record of what they have done and who they are. >> some congratulations in order. wedding bells are about to ring for vice president joe biden's daughter. she's engaged to a philadelphia doctor. and condi rice on "the daily show" last night talked about moammar gadhafi's obsession with her. >> when i got there, i thought, just get through your business, do the diplomacy, get out of here. and everything was going fine. and then all of a sudden he said, i have this video for you. and i thought, uh-oh, what is this? but it was actually just pictures of me with hu jintao,

with vladimir putin set to a song called "flower in the white house". new hampshire will officially announce the date for its primary, likely to be january 10th. let's check in with mark murray to get a look at what's happening on the ground in those early states. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> let's start with iowa. first state, caucus two months away. >> and rick perry is making his move in iowa. he's up with his second tv ad in the hawkeye state and another ad is airing in the state. rick perry's chances for the republican nomination as well as a possible rebound in the polls goes straight through iowa. >> let's talk about new hampshire. we just show that had they're going to make their date official today, probably january 10th. what's happening there? >> well, mitt romney has the

overwhelming lead in new hampshire. our recent nbc marist poll had him at 44% higher than all other candidates. he's the very big leader in that race. but does he also make a play in iowa? >> we have seen that jon huntsman was pretty much putting all of his eggs in the new hampshire basket. i don't know if you were watching yesterday, mark, we had the huntsman daughters, this internet sensation that they've become. now he's trying to maybe make a play in south carolina. >> that's right. he moved his campaign to new hampshire but he's in south carolina today. we has a lot of ground to make up across the country and also in south carolina, he was just at 1% there. so he's really trying to make up a lot of ground. >> and finally, herman cain is in virginia today. of course, it's all going to be about the sexual harassment charges. i don't think he's going to get much else out of there. >> one interesting thing about

herman cain is this entire story has started to develop, his activity has all been in the washington, d.c. area. he has two events in northern virginia today. then he goes up to capitol hill later this afternoon. another busy day with media following him around in the nation's capital and its surrounding areas. >> always great stuff, mark. thank you. >> thanks. did herman cain break a confidentiality agreement in that harassment settlement and could that mean that one of his accusers can tell her story? we'll talk about that. i'd like to know what you think. send me a tweet. should the restaurant association waive the agreement and allow her to talk? time for the entrepreneur of the week. nina is using high-tech marketing to engage her customers. scanning the company's codes with their smartphones, her customers can learn about wines and get discounts.

and she's not alone. qr codes are everywhere. ♪ we're centurylink ... we're committed to improving lives and linking americans to what matters most with honest, personal service... 5-year price-lock guarantees...

consistently fast speeds ... and more ways to customize your technology. ♪

yet another example this morning of the growing anger in america and the latest target is banks. they tried to get through that $5 charge, remember, if you use your debit card at an atm. >> it's outrageous.

$5 to do what? use our own money? >> these companies have to be punished for their behavior. and you have to take your money someplace else. >> now bank of america has dropped the controversial plan. joy ann reed joins us. you can't help but think of howard beale and i'm mad as -- and i'm not going to take it anymore. you have netflix. people went crazy over those charges. occupy wall street which became this movement all across the country and around the world. now you have people rebelling against the bank. is this just america saying, enough? >> yes, it was such a delayed reaction. you expected people to erupt in 2009. but now you can say that bank of america is the first victimty for the occupy wall street movement, this idea that we're not just going to be pushed around by the 1%, by the bankers, by wall street. it's really taken hold. and i think the people win a

victory here. >> and some members of congress are getting behind it. senator dick durbin said look for other banks. and i want to play what he said about that on the floor of the senate yesterday. take a listen. >> it's an indication to me that consumers across america have a much larger voice in this process today than they did even a few weeks ago. >> why? why do we have a larger voice? why now? >> it's very interesting to me that it just suddenly erupted. but i think people took advantage of the opportunity presented by a small protest that i don't even think they thought when they started this occupy wall street movement, whoever "they" are, that it would mushroom like this. but you have to remember, too, bank of america initiated this fee in response to financial reform. financial reform was in response to the banks through tanking the

economy. and their response was, we'll raise fees on you, the little guy. >> when might people be able to translate this anger they have and push for political change? >> this is the question for me with the occupy movement. the tea party -- when they got mad, they got organized, they aligned themselves with the traditional republican establishment, the lobbyists. the guys at occupy wall street seem to want to resist doing the political angle which could make them a lot more powerful. so the question is, at what point does somebody that's organizing occupy wall street say, it's great that we're in the streets, but now we need to occupy congress. >> great to have you, thanks. when is a confidentiality agreement no longer confidential? that story next. [ mom ] alright guys, play with your toys after dinner.

looks beautiful, honey. [ rattling ] jason... really buddy, wow. samantha jane. ♪ guys, christmas dinner and you're bringing toys to the table? ♪ that, that's not a toy... let's eat! [ male announcer ] get low prices on the gifts they love. and layaway is back, so you can pay a little at a time. save money. live better. walmart.

free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus. rewards with no blackout dates so you can redeem anytime. and it's easy to redeem your points online. already a gold member ? just select gold plus rewards in your profile and start rewarding yourself now. just go to hertzgoldplusrewards.com to join. hertz gold plus rewards. journey on.

♪ we could have had it all welcome back to "jansing & co." i'm carl parker. we are watching a snowstorm in the middle of the country. let's take a look at it on satellite/radar right now. you see we have an area of rain and snow coming through the midwest. got about 6 inches in denver so far. it is winding down there. the snow going across i-70. there's a lot of wind on top of that. the orange, that's blizzard warnings in eastern colorado and into kansas. high wind watch there across a lot of the southern plains down into texas. 3 to 6 inches in parts of northern kansas. and the rest of the country in very good shape, a beautiful day today across the east. a lot of sunshine that continues into tomorrow. we'll find rain coming in on friday in our major metros in the northeast. about 67, atlanta today, continues to be dry and windy. there's a fire danger in texas. and in the west, looking for a lot of sunshine with the exception of the northwest.

late-day showers coming into seattle and about 56 there for the afternoon high temperature. back to you. >> you weren't rocking the adele. you were just giving us -- >> was that your music choice there? >> i don't know adele. does that make me kind of -- >> oh, carl parker, we'll have a little tutorial later. this is what happens when you're a scientist. you're buried until the numbers. thank you, my friend. >> you're welcome. more than 1 million residents are still in the dark in the northeast after this weekend's snowstorm. the death toll is now at 25. people have been waiting in long lines to buy fuel. shelters are filled with residents who have no heat at home. officials say power may not be restored until next week in some areas. there's a new study out and women who have even small amounts of alcohol could face a higher chance of developing breast cancer than nondrinkers.

many u.s. troops are heading home today during the first stage of the u.s. withdrawal from iraq. after eight years and more than 4,000 military lives lost, this decision to pull out of iraq by january will end u.s. involvement in the iraq war. closing arguments set to begin tomorrow in the manslaughter trial of michael jackson's doctor, conrad murray. murray announced yesterday he would not take the stand in his own defense. lindsay lohan due in court in a couple of hours facing a possible return to jail. a judge will decide if lohan violated her probation for failing to show up at community service at a women's shelter nine times. prosecutors are seeking jail time. justin bieber has a song called "baby" but could he be the father of a 3-month-old boy? plus, which celeb is definitely a new daddy? we've been watching the markets and stocks are soaring

in the early going on wall street. just a day after new worries about greece sent the market plunging. mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. >> we had the two bad days, of course, and hopefully today will be better. stocks are at this stage sharply higher largely thanks to what's going on here at home. strong corporate earnings from the likes of mastercard. and of course the greek tragedy hasn't gone away. the greek prime minister is facing a confidence vote on friday. and the referendum opt bailout package could be off. the fed ends its policy meeting later on today. it's going to culminate in the bernanke news conference most people do not believe the fed is going to announce any new policy changes. but tune in at 2:00 for that

news conference at 2:15 p.m. >> let's talk about how we spend our money. let's getting expensive to take our pets to the pet. >> very expensive. if you have a pet, you know this. the average household -- i have an australian bearded dragon and he's cost me an arm and a leg. the average household spend $655 on routine vet and surgical visits for dogs last year. that was up 47% from a decade ago. and spending for cats soared 73% over the same time frame. and that, believe it or not, is on pace with human health care cost increases. all of the innovation that is we see on the human side have come over to the vet side. you have mris now, cat scans, chemo, radiations. the problem is most people aren't insured for their

animals. you can get vet insurance. and i believe that last year, policyholders submitted about 64% more in terms of cost for policyholders from four years earlier. so costs for these vets are going higher and also costs for insurance are going higher as well. it all costs to have a pet these days. >> i didn't hear a word you said after you said, i have a lizard. thank you very much, mandy. >> thank you. we're waiting for herman cain to speak at a health care event in virginia and he'll probably have to talk about those sexual harassment allegations against him. one of his accusers wants to tell her side of the story now. >> there was more than one incident that my client perceived as sexual harassment. i think she's upset about his statement and would like the record to be balanced and clear. >> and rosemary arnold joins me. what this lawyer says is that the agreement has a clause

prohibiting either side from making disparaging remarks and that he believes herman cain may have broken the agreement when he said this. let's play it. >> i do recall that her performance -- it had be told to me by her boss, was not up to par. >> so he's saying that this agreement was about her being a terrible worker. could that have broken a confidentiality agreement? >> it could have. but most agreements have a clause in them whereby if one person breaks it, the other person is then allowed to come and defend themselves. now, we don't know what this confidentiality agreement says because we haven't been privy to it. in most instances, though, if you go to court and you say, he breached it, now i need to defend myself, a court would probably allow it. >> let me go to the other side of the argument. if i'm the restaurant association, i'm going to fight this because there's a reason you put them in and you don't want to set a precedent, right? >> absolutely.

and also the fact remain that is they paid her a settlement in this case in exchange for a release in the confidentiality agreement. so she got her money. and when she took her money, she agreed she was never going to talk about it again. >> let's say she does. we're being told it's $35,000. does she have to give back the 35,000 grand? because some media organizations to liberal organizations who would be very happy to give her the 35,000 grand or could she face other sorts of prosecution? >> it depends on what the agreement says -- >> so it will spell out what happens if you break it? >> absolutely. pay back the money plus interest plus attorney fees, maybe penalties, a lot of agreements that i've dealt with have penalties in them of a lot of money if you breach the confidentiality agreement. >> stay with us. i want to bring in karen hunter and boris epstein. boris, shall we all say that

herman cain has not handled this particularly well? should he at this point just say, let her talk, i don't care, let's get this out and over with, i have nothing to hide? >> he hasn't handled it well. but he doesn't have to say, let her talk. the slow drip is killing him. he should himself go out there and talk. he should himself say, this is exactly what happened. i'm not going to hold anything back. >> then it's just a "he said" -- >> but he's running for president, she's not running for president. >> but she shaf pertinemay have information to help people make their decision. >> but it's been a slow drip. and slow drip is what kills you in a presidential race. >> cain was asked whether he thought race was what was behind what was coming out. here's what he had to say about it. >> i believe the answer is yes. but we do not have any evidence to support it. there are some people who are

democrats, liberals who do not want to see me win the nomination. >> is he being unfairly attacked? >> no, he's not -- unfairly attacked? every time he opens his mouth -- it's amazing to me he wants to play the race card when his whole campaign has been about, america is not racist. to me, it's a double standard on his part to want to cry racism when this absolutely is not. and i think this attack has come from the right, not from the left. >> and it's a mistake ob his part to go out and do that. and right now, he's not running against barack obama. he's running against the other candidates. it's safe to say this did come out from a rival candidate's camp. >> can he say, let her talk, from a legal perspective? can he just say, i don't have a problem with it and then she doesn't face any of these punitive things that might

happen? >> my understand is the release she signed was with the restaurant association. they would have to consent to that. >> a poll out today shows herman cain with a lead. at the very end of that poll covered the time after this all came out. if he tanks as a result of this, karen, which candidate gets his 30% or 20%? >> it won't be romney. he has not moved out of the 20s and i don't think anyone likes him. it won't be perry if he keeps doing the drunken master impersonation. this is a tough thing. i don't think herman cain is going to tank. i think it helps him with his base. >> his ratings are going to go down and it's only going to benefit romney. romney's been slow and steady. he's stayed in the mid-20s. it will absolutely benefit him. might get him over 30. but if herman cain goes down and 3% goes to every other candidate, romney stays as the frontrunner.

>> so he did leak this story -- >> if he really wants to resuscitate his campaign and we all agree that if not on life support, it's getting close, does he pick somebody, chris jansing, matt lauer and say, i'm going to sit down for a one-on-one and answer all your questions? or has he pretty much said everything he's going to say? >> absolutely, yes. that's exactly what i was saying earlier. he needs to sit down with chris jansing and say, chris, here's what happened, here's the whole story. and have you ask him all the questions that america wants to know right now. he's the one running for president. >> the best thing he can do right now is shut up. >> americans want to know about him, not her. >> i want to know about her. >> she's not running for president. >> thanks to all of you. in their first trip abroad,

princess william and the duchess of cambridge are visiting a center that distributes emergency supplies to east africa. omotion at red lobster. there's so many choices... the guests love it! [ male announcer ] it's endless shrimp today at red lobster. as much as you like any way you like, all for $15.99. offer ends soon. my name is angela trapp, and i sea food differently. delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it.

spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards

of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ 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? this guy's amazing. ♪

feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for unsurpassed fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion. could've had a v8. low birth weight babies face an increased risk for autism, according to the latest research. researchers at the university of pennsylvania found that low birth weight babies were five times more likely to be diagnosed with autism when compared to the general population. good morning, i'm thomas roberts. the next hour of msnbc, is the herman cain campaign able to survive sexual harassment allegations in his past? right now, there is one accuser who's having second thoughts about coming forward. and while the media scrutiny is

heating up, cain is soaring ahead of mitt romney in the nashville polls. plus, newly minted meghan mccain is going to be here to discuss cain and mitt romney. and taking the pulse of young americans, is the american dream still attainable? the high-opening attitude of the next generation. that and much more coming your way in the next hour. chris? this friday, we'll get the latest snapshot of the job market with the october unemployment report. the rate has been stuck at 9.1% for the last three months, which could spell bad news for president obama. since world war ii, no president with the exception of ronald reagan has been reelected when the jobless rate topped 6%. it's not all doom and gloom for the white house. richard lui is here with a closer look. >> yes, president obama hopes the unemployed will not take it out on him in the polls come november. there are examples of where they might have, though.

george h.w. bush faced a recession and unemployment was 7.4%. he almost by almost 6% in popular vote. in 1980, jimmy carter beared the brunt of the energy crisis, unemployment was 7.5% when he lost. gerald ford's reelection losing efforts saw 7.8% during growing inflation, the exception to the above 6% rule, though? ronald reagan. >> the economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. they will not go away in days, weeks or months, but they will go away. >> but they did not during his reelection. unemployment was 7.2%, but reagan was convincingly reelected by over 18% there. so if you include the depression as some say we should when we have this discussion about unemployment rates, given the great recession we're going through right now, roosevelt was reelected twice with unemployment moving in on 17%.

a jobless threshold on reelectability may not be the best measure. logical logically, it should be the difference between when a president starts and at reelection after that. that might be logical, but not empirical. three examples of higher unemployment at reelection, george h.w. bush, richard nixon and dwight d. eisenhower all were reelected despite worsening unemployment. so tying high unemployment to reelectability is tough. does it affect the popular vote? not consistently. maybe only in full-term presidencies? no. it's a complex stew how unemployment affects reelectability. and in that stew right now, chris, better poll and gdp numbers that could be better signs for president obama people go to the polls in november.

>> we saw the new poll today. he's up significantly over a month ago. have you been out shopping lately? holiday displays are out. coffee shops are serving red mugs and the tv commercials have begun. today's tweet of the day comes from ryan seacrest -- quote, anyone feel like we go right from halloween to ramping up for christmas? save thanksgiving. [ mom ] alright guys, play with your toys after dinner. looks beautiful, honey. [ rattling ] jason... really buddy, wow. samantha jane. ♪ guys, christmas dinner and you're bringing toys to the table? ♪ that, that's not a toy... let's eat! [ male announcer ] get low prices on the gifts they love. and layaway is back, so you can pay a little at a time.

save money. live better. walmart.

kim married for love. bieber's paternity suit and an all-american sandwich. kim kardashian being mobbed by media when she landed in australia. she wrote, when i probably should have ended my relationship, i didn't know how to and i didn't want to

disappoint a lot of people. here's her mom on the "today" show. >> certainly wasn't a sham. certainly wasn't something for tv. we have enough going on on our show that we don't have to make things up. >> they did not make $20 million? >> absolutely not. >> how much did they make? >> they made some money for the pictures that were sold and things like that. but at the end of the day, that money went towards the wedding. >> justin beeb ser facing a paternity suit. a 20-year-old alleges he impeg nated her after a concert last year. since the woman is 20, she could be opening herself up to a statutory rape probe. but someone who is a dad, hugh grant. he's father to a baby girl. grant and the mom had, quote, a fleeting affair, resulting in a child for the 51-year-old perennial bachelor. and this wasn't your ordinary fender bender in

chicago. a car smashed into a fire hydra hydrant. the driver was nowhere to be found and police think the car was stolen. and guess what most people consider the all-american sandwich? a new poll says it's pb & j, then blt, then grilled cheese and i'm hungry and we're out of time. that wraps up this hour of "jansing & co." thomas roberts is up next. his special guest, meghan mccain.

do you have an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem? are you taking warfarin to reduce your risk of stroke caused by a clot? you should know about pradaxa. an important study showed that pradaxa 150mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have kidney problems or a bleeding condition, like stomach ulcers. or if you take aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctors approval,

as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion,stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke. for more information or help paying for pradaxa, visit pradaxa.com. 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?

this is what we can gather from an ordinary crash test dummy. two million data points. this is what we can gather from a lexus crash test genius. [ engine revving ] when you pursue industry-leading safety, you don't just engineer breakthroughs in simulation technology, you engineer amazing. ♪ new details on one of herman cain's accusers. is she rethinking her desire to come forward? we're going to speak with the reporter who broke her story and brought it to light. is cain the new teflon candidate? a new poll is showing the scandal rolling off of him like

water off a duck with a seven-point lead on mitt romney. but how long will the cain surge last? plus, new msnbc contributor meghan mccain will be here to weigh in on the gop field and her time with the occupy wall street protesters. and why today's young adults feel their generation will be worse off than their parents and the tough choices they're making now in the face of a dismal economy. hi, everybody. great to have you with us me today. i'm thomas roberts. president obama is speaking live this hour, turning up the heat on congress to pass a portion of his bill that he says will put thousands of americans back to work. and there is positive news when it comes to the president's poll number this is morning. live coverage of his speech roughly 25 minutes from now. but first, we start with herman cain, still not being able to change the sexual harassment story following him to every interview, every campaign stop on the trail.