excuse me! >> that was herman cain's reaction to reporters asking about how one of the women he accused cain of sexual harassment wants to tell her side of the story. >> i think she's upset about his statements and would like the record to be balanced and clear. >> attorney joel bennett says the only thing stopping his client from going public is a confidentiality agreement with the national restaurant association, but bennett says cain's own comments monday might have violated that agreement. >> i do recall that her performance, it had been told to me by her boss, was not up to par. >> i do believe that his remarks are a violation of the confidentiality provision of the settlement agreement. >> and bennett says his client wants to clear up another inaccuracy. >> there was more than one incident that my client perceived as sexual harassment. >> even though the issue won't go away, cain doesn't seem worried. >> i don't believe that it's

hurt my campaign at all. >> but this might. >> i do view china as a potential military united states, and they have indicated that they are trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have, so, yes, we have to consider them a military threat. >> herman cain taking hits for his lack of foreign policy prowess fighting back by questioning the president. >> and the guy we have there now does have foreign policy experience? >> i think at this point what herman needs to do is to step off the media stage. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. >> cain is doing well numbers-wise. one poll shows him and mitt romney in a statistical tie for first place in florida, and a national poll shows cain leading romney, 33% to 23%. >> the most extraordinary thing is that he is at the top of the field. there's a certain basic foreign policy credentials that you've got to have if you're going to be president. >> sarah palin would have been massacred by the national media,

and i just don't know why herman cain is getting a free walk, not only by the national media, but by republicans. >> let's bring in paul singer, investigative reporter for "rollcall." let's start with the accusations here. what happens to this story if one of herman cain's accusers does talk? >> well, it depends on how credible that accuser is seen in the public. you know, i mean, the part of the issue here that cain is having trouble with is that his own story, his own discussion of this story has been a little inconsistent, has evolved over a couple of days and, that you know, for a reporter, i'm a reporter, you know, my first question is, okay, well, is there more here you're not telling us? more we should be looking into. he in some ways encourages the frenzy. now, if we get a statement from an accuser, then suddenly the story breaks wide open. well, is it a he said, she said. is she credible, somebody who we like more than we like herman cain? >> crisis management experts

have suggested that cain is -- is over egging the pudding by going into so much detail, claiming there's nothing else to dig up from his past as well. we've seen and heard a lot from mr. cain over the past couple of days, continues to take questions. is he playing this thing right? >> well, i don't know. i mean, i will tell you that if -- and i believe this is the case, that if the politico reporters had given the cain campaign about a week to respond to these allegations, then there was no real benefit to the cain campaign of having cain basically in a sort of gotcha interview on the sidewalk in front of a sunday talk show. they were in a position to provide a clear and coherent statement early on. >> why don't you think they did that? >> i don't know. i honestly don't know. i don't know whether it's because they didn't think it was a big enough deal, whether there was honestly some communication problem. you know, it's not my job to sort of assess motive or -- or

process, but i will tell you that as a reporter watching what the politico has done with this story, they had the story. they gave him an opportunity to respond, and the response has been inconsistent and incomplete. for the reporters, they have done a terrific job. >> in a pbs interview cane said china, they are a military threat to the u.s. china, of course, tested its first nuclear weapons pack in the '60s. in the past, as joe mentioned there, when others, sarah palin comes to mind, when they have said similar wrong things about foreign policy, we've raked them over the coals. do you remember think there's a double standard with herman cain, and if so why? >> well, i mean, i think the why is because there's another much louder, much more understandable story playing out in front of us. the foreign policy issues might have been a bigger deal if this story hadn't broken. you know, there's another store we herman cain very interesting about a non-profit based in his -- sorry, in wisconsin, i think it is.

>> involving two of his top advisers? >> who might have been funding his campaign. >> yeah. >> there's all kinds of other scandals. i'm not sure that rises to this level. honestly, i'm not sure the american voters really vote on foreign policy expertise. john kerry probably had more foreign policy expertise than -- than george w. bush. george h.w. bush probably with more foreign policy expertise than bill clinton. i'm not sure that matters all that much to the american voter anymore so, you know, would he have -- could he have gotten raked over the coals, another time, another week? possibly, but i'm not really sure it makes a difference in his campaign. >> paul singer, paul, thank you. >> my pleasure. see you again. >> herman cain still atop the gop field. new numbers from quinnipiac have him at 30% with mitt romney in second and everyone else vying for think. meanwhile, that same poll, in that same poll, the president's approval rating is up six points and his disapproval rating is now below 50%. joining me now peter brown, assistant director of the

quinnipiac university polling institute. peter, you conducted this poll. we should note before most folks had heard about the allegations of sexual harassment, but you also say that there were some warning signs about mr. cain's political experience that could make it difficult for him to, quote, close the sale. what do you see in the numbers? >> well, here's what's important and how it relates to the current questions about what he did at the restaurant association. his calling card is likability. over 60% of voters and 80% of republican voters said they liked him personally before -- before this broke in the quinnipiac poll, so this is his calling card, and if questions about his personal behavior become center -- front and center, it threatens to undermine his candidacy. voters have questions about other things. they are not really wild about his 9-9-9 plan, and they have serious qualms about electing someone without government experience. >> but they like the guy? >> but they like the guy, and this is the kind of story that could potentially hit him where

it hurts. >> let's move to the president's numbers now. his numbers, we've, again, according to your survey, according to your poll. his numbers are up. where have we seen the most growth for him? >> well, he's doing well among groups that he normally has not done as well with. he's up among men. he's up among white voters, and, again, mr. obama's numbers have gone from the low 40s to the mid-towards high 40s and that's a good thing for hi. obviously the folks at 1600 pennsylvania avenue are happy about this. >> can we attribute the president's bump to any event, any particular speech? >> polls aren't -- certainly doesn't have anything to do with his speeches. the polls can tell you -- why it's more difficult, but here's the thesis. the thesis is last week was a very good week for the president and that's when the poll was in the field. number one, libya ended. >> right. >> the guy -- the people that obama backed won, good thing. two, it was a good week on the economy for the president.

>> a better week. >> the stock market had one of its best weeks in history last week, again, when the poll was in the field, and the gdp number, 2.5% growth, while not gangbusters, is certainly evidence that we're not going into another recession. those are all things that generated a little bit positive buzz for the president. >> peter, thank you. appreciate your time, as always. >> my pleasure. >> want to keep talking about the poll here. let's turn to cnbc's chief washington correspondent john harwood. john, not just the president's approval rating that's up here. almost as many more people are saying, yes, the president deserves to be re-elected and when given a choice between the president and republicans in congress on the question whom do you trust to handle the economy, more people now trust the president than congress. he's up seven points. they are down four. do these numbers indicate that the president's job message might actually be working? >> i think the president, craig, by going out and drawing sharp lines with republicans has allowed him to advance his message in ways that the inside

game in washington when he's negotiating with leaders doesn't allow him to do. we saw when it came to that over the debt limit this summer that he did creep up numbers on some of the substantive issues at stake and some of his own numbers and then everything went south when the grand bargain blew up and the standard & poor's cut the american credit rating so i think the president, in addition to the things that peter just mentioned, the better than expected growth, the stock market being up, he has changed his argument in ways that democratic pollsters believe and white house pollsters believe are going to allow him to get in a safer zone, still not safe for re-election but better than he was. >> what should republicans be taking from this poll? >> well, republicans should be taking from this poll what they have been taking which is they need to cast an attitude or a message to the public that they are willing to work with him. and, in fact, they are coming back at the president now saying he's in campaign mode. he's not taking yes for an answer.

he's not cooperating with us. they need to deal with the image of them as the party of obstruction, and you do see them responding to that. it's not really a symmetrical fight if you pit up the president against congress. congress is always going to be more unpopular than the president, but, of course, they have got to worry about their own re-elections and numbers for incumbent members of congress have also been weak. >> john, last question before i let you get out of here. the super committee, of course, the thanksgiving deadline fast approaching there and continues to be a great deal of concern that they are not going to be able to come up with something. if that's the case, if they don't come up with a deal to shrink the nation's debt and deficit, who hurts the most politically? who suffers the most? >> i think everybody in washington suffers, but because we don't have the debt limit sword hanging over this discussion, the consequences will be fairly movement. there are automatic cuts scheduled to take effect, but they don't take effect for another year so for the average

voter this will look like one more washington argument, not as consequential as this summer when the specter of potential default was hanging over the discussion. >> cnbc's john harwood, always a pleasure. thank you, sir. >> you bet. >> as polls show, the president's message seems to be taking hold. president obama just finished speaking at the georgetown waterfront pushing for passage of the infrastructure piece of his jobs bill. >> when the senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell, visited that closed bridge in kentucky that i was talking about, he admitted, look, roads and bridges are not partisan in washington. if the speaker of the house, the republican leader in the senate, all the democrats, all say that this is important to do, why aren't we doing it? >> nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joining me now. the president continuing to hammer republicans for blocking the jobs bill. >> reporter: that's right, he certainly is, craig, calling them out by name today. this is a tactic we've seen him

take before, but it was certainly no holds barred today when he spoke in front of the key bridge in georgetown. really two prongs to this speech. the policy element. president obama making the case that if congress passes the infrastructure portion of the american jobs act, it will put construction workers back to work on projects like repairing the key bridge, which right now is set for construction in 2015. the president making the argument that if congress passes the infrastructure portion of the jobs act construction will begin much sooner, 2013, and then there's the political element going after congress and calling them out by name. a lot of folks looking at this saying this is president obama running against a do-nothing congress. the white house has pushed back against those types of claims, but republicans certainly calling him out for that today. i want to read you something that house speaker john boehner said earlier today. he said, while the president is out doing campaign events all over the country, what he could

do is actually be focused on trying to pass bills that would be better for job creation and help put the american people back to work. republicans have been opposed to the american jobs act, saying that they don't like the pay-fors because it will increase taxes, but as you mentioned, it seems like the president is gaining traction with his message based on the latest polling numbers. >> kristen welker from the white house this afternoon. kristen, thank you. >> thanks. >> we're going to talk about the infrastructure project, the infrastructure portion of the president's plan, the bill that's coming up for senate vote tomorrow. we'll do that here at 12:30 with transportation secretary ray lahood, 12:30 eastern, right here on msnbc. bank of america may be backing off new fee hikes. and economist and oft actor ben stein is here. we'll talk to him about his new book, about politics, and he's got an opinion on those occupy wall street protesters as well.

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we've tried to win his money, tried to pay attention to him in "ferris buehler's day off." ben stein. now he wants to ask "what would ben stein do?" the title of his latest book. pleased to have him with you. this is what, book 33? >> now you're embarrassing me. >> written or co-written? >> written or co-written, yes, and most of the books advice is kind of funny because i need the advice more than anyone else. >> the most recent book, you say

there are terrible ideas in life to avoid with money, and other things as well. >> yeah. >> what are some of these ideas? >> one is that you don't need to work, one is the idea you should try to get away with not doing any work. that's a disaster, ruins your character, ruins your self-este self-esteem, ruins everything about your life and other you should skate by living paycheck to paycheck, disastrously bad idea and if something bad happens to you, you can rely on your friends and family to bail you out. you can't. the only person you can rely to bail yourself out is you. >> what prompted the writing of this book? >> i see very little common sense among my friends and the people i'm close to. maybe that's because i'm in hollywood and out in the desert or palm springs a lot of the time, but i see very little in the way of common sense coming from the ordinary american. i don't know all the ordinary americans, but among the ones i see, i see an awful lost foolishness and i wanted to try to put a little bit of ben franklin common sense into their lives. >> you've been making the rounds, promoting the book, and during the course of some of

your interviews, you have taken to task the occupy wall street movement. >> yes. >> what's your gripe with those folks? >> let me back up and say the single largest chunk of my life was spent fighting fraud on wall street, writing about fraud and fighting it, writing about it so i'm all for fighting fraud on wall street. banging a drum and living in a tent and the leaving your feces on the floor. >> but they are doing much more than. >> not much more. march around the circle and say stop the fraud. don't do anything much more than that. fighting fraud takes serious hard work to find the fraud, point it at the responsible officials, and to say we're against greed. well, we're all against greed and we're also all greedy. >> you call them bums. >> i said a hell of a lot of them are bums. >> and feel no sympathy at all. >> i sort of feel sympathy for them that they are confused that they think banging a drum will accomplish anything. i feel sympathy for them. >> you would see them rather

instead do what? >> work. really want to fight fraud on wall street, get a good record in school, go to wall street and wind up suing people who commit fraud. >> it sounds like that you really don't buy a lot of the -- the folks out there who say they can't find jobs. unemployment right now -- >> here's what i don't buy. i don't buy the fact that there are no jobs out there. i know, for example, if you're a laid off research chemist in thousand oakes, california, you'll have a tough time getting a job there. but if you need a job at a mcdonald's or burger king, there's plenty of jobs out there. amazing to me how if you go to the big mcdonald's, bigburg kings at the airports, all the people who work there are foreigners. why can't the americans take those jobs. i agree, if you've got to feed a family of four in a middle class way you can't work at mcdonald's. plenty of young kids say they can't get jobs, some young kids come into the country can get those jobs. >> let's turn to the gop race

right now. what was that face? >> i -- i'm not wildly excited about the situation. >> not one candidate? >> well, i -- i like romney. i think he's a smart guy and a very nice guy and a very handsome guy, and i like people from utah. i like the church of latter day saints very much, but i -- i don't think he's necessarily the right guy, and i like herman cain very, very much. i think every word he says is really great, and i like -- >> every word he says? >> well -- >> i mean, you're an economist. you've looked at the 9-9-9 plan. >> i -- i've looked at it and i don't think it's the best plan in the world, but i think -- any plan that simplifies doing your taxes is all right with me, but i don't like what he just said about china. that was a little -- showed a little bit of ignorance. >> but you couple that with what he said about uzbekistan a few weeks back. i mean, there -- >> he makes a lot of mistakes, makes a great many mistakes, but here's what i was going. he seems like a great guy and he's a brave guy, a hard working guy, but i think he needs more

experience. if he were to -- i don't like the idea of a person taking on the top government job with no meaningful government experience. i know he was on the board of directors of the federal reserve bank. that's not the same thing. he's got to have a lot of experience. >> thinking about getting into the race? ben stein, always a pleasure. what's the title of the new book? "what would ben stein do?" >> exactly. book 33, he'll leave here and start work on number 34. >> already started. >> god bless. we'll be right back. we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day,

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for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... thanks. like, keep one of these over your head. well, i wasn't "supposed" to need flood insurance, but i have it. fred over here chose not to have it. ♪ me, i've got a plan. fred he uh... fred what is your plan? do i look like i have a plan? not really. [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. for a free brochure, call the number on your screen. well. we just heard what ben stein would do, but what should herman cain do? joining me now to talk about that, democratic strategist julian epstein, daily caller, senior contributor matt lewis. gentlemen, thank you so much for being with mow this afternoon. >> thank you. julian, let's start with herman cain. asked on fox news whether race is playing a factor in this

controversy, here's what he said. >> do you think that race, being a strong black conservative, has anything to do with the fact that you've been so charged? >> i believe the answer is yes, but we do not have any evidence to support it. >> julian, your thoughts? >> well, i think herman cain's new campaign motto ought to be herman cain can't explain. he's had probably five or six different answers on this latest flap. he's unable to explain his position on abortion. he's unable to explain why his 9-9-9 plan won't increase taxes on most americans. he's unable to explain where he'd teal with terrorists, whether he'd negotiate with terrorists, and you just continue to see in every major issue, including the latest controversy, he's unable to have a consistent story and to explain -- explain something in

a way that is comprehensible and consistent from day to day. >> matt, has cain's advisers, have the people that surround him, have they let him down? >> i think so. i don't think his campaign has ever been as good as herman cain, and it's interesting. i mean, there's a whole ethose about being unconventional and doing things the new way, and the more that works the more it reinforced the notion that you don't need wise old men or women around you. you don't need the so-called experts who have been in the trenches and who have run other presidential campaigns or who know how to do crisis communications. >> yeah. >> but now is when he does need them. i have to say. here's the problem cain will v.politicians build their credibility on different things. for some people it's experience. for some people it's authenticity. for cain his credibility is entirely based on likability. he's incredibly likeable. the good news is as long as people like him, it doesn't

matter if he gets some details wrong. the bad news is if that were to chip away at his likability, he would fold like a cheap suit, so it's all about likability. >> you'llian, i want to turn to the president's numbers here really quickly, talking about a new quinnipiac poll that's out. it shows that the president has seen an uptick, and it also shows that the president when -- when pared against romney, perry, cain, mr. obama still wins. is the president in much better shape than he was a month ago, or are we reading too much into these numbers? >> he's in a little better shape because we had good news with the stock market and the european deal though that seems to be in question this week. secondly, the republicans seem to be imploding more quickly than anybody expected but third and most importantly you begin to see this choice, the comparison between what president obama is offering which is a concrete jobs plan that would put lots of people back to work, would cut tax its,

versus the republicans who want to continue doing nothing and then this kind of sideshow. the republican presidential candidates. the incredible story about what's going on with cain right now is romney still can't get over 25%. you would think -- you know, you begin to think if romney were running against bernie madoff he wouldn't be able to get over 25% in the primary. >> has myth romney crested? >> i don't know. you're right he can't get above 25%. i think he has major problems, a lot of conservatives don't trust him. they don't think him authentic. i don't think we should count out rick perry. the guy's got $17 million in the bank. longest serving governor. he has problems, too, don't get me wrong, but i think, that you know, it could be a perry/romney race. wouldn't write him off. >> thank you, gentlemen. appreciate your time. >> thanks for having us. >> president obama turning up the heat on congress to pass the infrastructure part of the american jobs act. senate set to vote on that tomorrow. transportation secretary ray lahood joining me up next to talk about the plan.

also, herman cain working the room, dining with a group of republican senators in washington. is it working? we're going to go inside the cain campaign in just a few minutes. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. a sony tv with media player. ♪ ♪ ♪ how did it fit down the chimney? [ male announcer ] get low prices on the gifts they love, like this sony bravia tv with clear hd picture quality. now eligible for our christmas layaway. save money. live better. walmart.

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from $10,990. the all-new nissan versa sedan. innovation upsized. innovation for all. ♪ tomorrow the senate votes on a jobs bill that would boost spending on transportation and infrastructure. president obama just wrapped up remarks at the key bridge in georgetown to urge congress to once again pass that bill. >> it shouldn't be a partisan issue. my secretary of transportation who is here, ray lahood, great man from peoria. he spent a long time in congress. he's a republican. member of my cabinet. he knows how badly we need to act on this issue. >> transportation secretary ray lahood, left that and got straight to the white house for us. we appreciate for his time this afternoon. mr. secretary, before we get to the -- to the vote tomorrow on

the infrastructure portion of the president's jobs bill, i do want to talk to you about something you said earlier this week. you are, as the president mentioned there, the only republican in his cabinet. in an interview monday, you took your party to task, essentially calling them obstructionist. it was in an interview monday with "the daily beast." the crowd that was elected last time not only came here to do nothing, they came here to put down the president, and the way to put him down is to not give him any kind of opportunity to be successful. what's your motivation, mr. secretary? is it purely ideological, or is it more sinister than that? >> i think it's all about politics, and -- and republicans have a great opportunity this week in the senate to pass the president's american jobs act and put americans to work. 72% of americans want infrastructure. they want roads and bridges. they want the american jobs act. so everything that i said could be set aside if they vet to pass

the american jobs act. it means they want to help the american people. it means they want to put friends and neighbors to work. that's what this bill would do, building roads and bridges and runways. >> let's talk about the infrastructure part that will be voted on tomorrow, calls for $50 billion for projects around the country and an additional $10 billion seed money for future projects. the money would come from a surtax on incomes above $1 million. do you think this has any chance of passing considering the republicans have vowed to block any jobs proposal that includes tax hikes? >> i'm optimistic. i think that if senators, both republicans and democrats, really are listening to people in their states, they know that people are hurting. they also know that a $50 billion infrastructure program would put people to work very quickly, and they also know they have a lot of bad roads and bridges in their states, so this is a win-win if they pass it.

it's a win for the congress to do something, to get people to work, and it's a win for the american people to get people working on projects that are sorely needed in america. >> if this does not happen, if this does not pass, what's the next step for the department of transportation, the next step to repair bridges and to build desperately needed new ones? >> well, craig, what we are really pushing for is for congress to pass that. >> what's the hope rooted in that, mr. secretary? where's this optimism coming from because you've heard your friends from the gop, heard what they have said over and over again about the bill and about the chance of passage. what caused this optimism now? >> well, the optimism really comes from the fact that these senators have been back in their states, and they know that people are hurting. everybody in america knows somebody who is unemployed. every family has a family member who is unemployed. america is hurting, and americans know that the american

jobs act, the infrastructure portion, would put people back to work very quickly. that's why i'm optimistic, because i hope senators have been listening to the people in their states, and every senator knows somebody who is unemployed. every senator knows there are families who are hurting. thlts qui this is the quickest way to get people back to work, infrastructure and transportation, building roads and bridges, has always been bipartisan, and it needs to be this time also. >> transportation secretary ray lahood, thanks so much for your time this afternoon. appreciate it. >> thank you, craig. >> gop candidate herman cain doing well in the polls and with fund-raising as well but not so much with scandals. after a doctor's meeting this morning in virginia, reporters tried to ask him about the sexual harassment allegations that have been dogging his campaign this week. he refused, but reporters persisted. check out what happened next. >> are you concerned about -- >> excuse me.

excuse me! >> would you step aside, please. >> what part of no don't some people understand. >> andrew rafferty has been with the cain campaign for some time, our nbc news embed. we saw him lose his cool. have you seen more of that on the trail as well? >> herman cain is generally a jovial individual, and as we saw even on monday at the national press club he at least said that he welcomed the opportunity to respond to that report in politico that broke late sunday night and since then has kind of taken a light tone. staked him outside a pbs interview the evening that that story had broken, around turned to us right before he got in the car, answers the questions and said i'm going to have a great dinner in d.c. tonight. today there's been a change in demeanor what, we saw there and the campaign kind of sneaking him in back doors, bowling throw

reporters, as we saw. he's supposed to take questions today and he didn't. >> you mentioned sneaking in through back doors, andrew. >> yeah. >> he snuck into a restaurant for some dinner with some senators i understand in d.c. last night as well. which senators were there, and what did they say afterwards about their meeting with herman cain? >> well, there were about 10 to 12 senators. some of them included lindsey graham, probably the most high-profile and well-known, also senator corker from tennessee and senator john hoeven of north dakota as you're seeing right now. i was able to catch them as they were league, and one thing that's interesting is all the senators that we were able to catch up with as they are exiting made very clear they are not in any way endorsing herman cain. this is the first time to meet somebody who is a washington outsider. they were just simply there to get to know him a little bit but certainly not thwing their support behind him at this time. >> we've yet to hear from his wife. reportedly she will be doing a primetime interview this friday night. have you met her, and what can

we expect to hear from her? >> no. i mean, that is the big question, and that is a question that came up even before this latest scandal has broken, but gloria cain has not been on the trail at all. have not heard from her, and the response that mr. cain has been giving about that is he wants to keep the sanity at home. he doesn't want to bring her into this. he said when he goes home and goes off the trail, he doesn't want to worry about campaigning, but the questions were mounting even before this politico story, and now, as you see, she's going to be doing an interview on fox on this week so obviously those questions will come to a head. >> andrew rafferty, nbc news campaign embed with herman cain. >> thanks. >> call it a victory for the consumer. bank of america dropping its controversial plan to charge customers $5 per month for using its debit card to buy things, the move coming after weeks of massive customer outrage.

cnbc's melissa francis joining me now. melissa, should consumers be watching out for other bank fees that banks might try to tack on to offset the loss of this particular revenue? >> oh, absolutely. i mean, you hit the nail right on the head. look at the other banks who have dropped the fees, sun trust, wells fargo, and i have to tell you when the legislation came into place restricting banks in terms of what they could charge and deals were made, banks said at the time this is our cost of doing business. our shareholders expect this profit, and so we're just going to have to institute the fees somewhere else and pass this charge on to the consumer somewhere else, this cost, and that's exactly what will happen. what it means to consumers you may have won this battle but check your credit card statement and check your checking account statement really closely and see where else you're paying this fee. >> bank of america now, the occupy wall street movement that continues to go on, netflix as well. consumers are starting to scream and shout and say enough and

enough and it seems like some of the businesses are starting to list inge as well. >> absolutely. everyone's nerves and tensions have worn really thin and have frayed at this point. the economy has been tough for a long time. we're looking at millions of people who are out of work. everybody is trying to stretch their very last dollar so they will scream and shout when they see an extra fee. we saw that at netflix when they tried to change the way they charge consumers and with bank of america. can you really see a change in tone. >> cnbc's melissa francis, thank you. >> thank you. >> unemployment and the presidency. is there a correlation between the jobless rate and the re-election of an incumbent? we'll take a look at that. here's one way to help stimulate the economy. the mustache tax credit. that's right. we'll explain right after this.

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low birthweight babies face an increased risk for autism, according to the latest research. researchers at university of pennsylvania found that low birthweight babies were five times more likely to be diagnosed with autism when compared to the general population. >> well, this friday we'll get the latest snapshot of the job market and the october unemployment report. the rate has been stuck at 9.1% for the past three months now, and that could spell bad news for president obama. since world war ii, no president, with the exception of ronald reagan, has been re-elected when the jobless rate topped 6%. but it's not all gloom and doom for the white house. msnbc's rich lui here with a closer look behind the newspaper. hey, richard. >> good morning to you there. good afternoon to you as well. president obama hopes the unemployment -- unemployed will not take it out on him in the

polls. there's some examples where they might have in the past though for previous presidents. george h.w. bush, faced a recession and unemployment was 7.4%. he lost his re-election bid by almost 6% in popular vote, and then in 1980, jimmy carter, he bared the brunt of the energy crisis. unemployment was 7.5% when he lost there. gerald ford's re-election efforts saw 7.7% during growing inflation but the exception to the above 6% rule, 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 not during his re-election at that time. unemployment was 7.2%, but reagan was convincingly re-elected by over 18%. if you include the depression, as some say you should when you have this discussion about unemployment rates given that

the current great recession echoes what happened so many years ago, roosevelt was re-elected twice with unemployment moving in on 17%. so a jobless threshold on re-electability may not be the best measure necessarily. logically it should be the difference in unemployed when a president starts and then at re-election later on. that might be logical, but not empirical. three examples for you of higher unemployment at re-election, george w. bush, then richard nixon and dwight d. eisenhower. all were re-elected despite worsening unemployment so tying unemployment to re-electability is tough says the "new york times" nate silver. does it affect popular vote, not consistently? maybe only in full term presidencies, no. not there either. well, how about broader so-called misery indices? well, that's not conclusive either. it's complex stew here, craig, how unemployment affects re-electability, and in that

stew new and encouraging poll and gdp growth numbers for president obama. we shall see. >> all right. richard lui behind the numbers for us, thank you. >> sidebar now. congress passed legislation four years ago to cut down on the number of political junkettes paid for by outside interests. how well has it worked? "usa today" investigation says the number of trips is up 75% since last year, and the value of those trips, more than $3 million. also today, rick perry has apparently confused political satire and actual reporting. in a speech last week he referenced a quote from a member of toronto's occupy wall street movement. a protester said that the demonstrations were difficult because protesters have to work the same long hours that bankers do. the quote was not only made up, the article in the toronto "globe and mail" was labeled satire. and a tax cut for mustaches?

the american mustache institute says anyone with a mustache should be given a $250 tax cut. the reason, the mustache men spend a lot of money every making those hairy cat plarz stand at attention apparently. steven colbert has found the silver lining in the herman cain controversy. >> of course, when you're top in the polls, the media digs through your past. it's not fun, but it beats being jountsman. no one is even digging through his present. er 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.

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to create a new approach to education reform through a strategy of schools designed for teachers. >> most schools would not be allowed to do what we do. >> kenny believes in social justice through education. her passion has paid off. her organization has received the new york state education department's high performing designation. this msnbc profile in progress is brought to you by capella university. matter. >> well, one of the closest senate elections in 2012 will be in the state of washington and jefferson, virginia. the old dominion. democratic incumbent is retiring there, and it's now a race between two former governors, republican george allen and democrat tim kaine. joining me now to make sense of it all is wes hesser. first of all, how close is this

election right now? >> oh, it's a squeaker. every poll that we've seen in the past few months has shown it as neck in neck. >> george al with en, of course, lost a close re-election battle to jim webb five years ago in part because of that now famous macaca moment. will virginia voters remember that? >> i think so. i mean, it's part of the political dictionary, especially here in virginia, so he hasn't been running away from that. he's kind of confronting it forth wrightly and trying to lessen the impact, i think. >> how much money is pouring into the race? >> oh, quite a bit. it hasn't picked up to fever pitch yet but both have raised about $3.5 million so far, so i expect it to be one of the most expensive in the country. >> wes, what type of political impact could this have nationally? i mean, you know, we know that virginia obviously is very important for the president

three years ago. do we expect the commonwealth to have the same sort of importance this time around, and what could the senate race mean for the president's chances in virginia? all right. >> well, sure. >> do we have you there, wes? >> it works both ways. virginia will be critical to the presidential election. >> wes hester there via skype. bad connection. we'll have him on again to talk about the very important senate race in the commonwealth between tim kaine and george allen. we'll see you tomorrow at noon eastern. up next, "andrea mitchell reports." >> hey, craig, thanks so much. coming up next, no luck for herman cain trying to silence the sexual harassment controversy. his comments on china are also

raising questions today. we'll break it all down. the latest in our daily fix with chris cillizza and former rival turned romney supporter tim pawlenty. does he regret getting out of the race too soon? "andrea mitchell reports" next coming up right here on msnbc.

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