should consensual contact matter? dr. conrad murray will be sentenced today. she was supposed to apologize to the kansas governor for disparaging tweet. instead, she's the one who got a mea culpa from the governor. plus anger in two arab worlds. iranian students storm the uk embassy in iran throwing bombs and chanting death to england. i'm thomas roberts. great to have you with me. we start the hour with some breaking news concerning vice president joe biden. he's arrived in baghdad for a surprise visit ahead of u.s. troop departure there. the vice president landing in baghdad roughly about ten minutes ago at the international airport there.

biden left roughly around 8:45 p.m. on monday. going on to the surprise visit. while there though, the vice president will cochair a meeting of the hire coordinating with the prime minister. now we go back to our top story. the spotlight being on herman cain. not exactly the campaign would want it to be. he's facing a new round of allegations. this time from a woman who says she had a 13-year affair with the candidate. cain, who calls ginger white a friend, denies any affair. but that doesn't stop white from going public with these claims. >> it was pretty simple. it wasn't complicated. i was aware that he was married. and i was also aware that i was involved in a very inappropriate situation or relationship. >> lisa meyers joins me now with the rest of the story.

what more have we learned about the accuser? and how is the cain campaign responding to all of this? >> reporter: good morning. we know that ginger white says she met cain in the late 1990s when he was speaking in louisville. she says they had drinks. after that for 13 years, he flew her to meet him in hotels and lavished her with gifts. white says the physical part of the relationship ended eight months ago, right before cain began running for president. now even before these allegations aired, herman cain went on tv. admitted to a friendship while denying there was an affair. here's what cain had to say. >> i don't know what's going to be claimed. it was someone who was supposed to be a friend, but obviously, they didn't see it as a friendship. >> i'm asking these awkward questions. was this an affair? >> no. it was not.

>> there was no sex? >> no. >> none? >> no. >> if this woman says there is, she's lying? >> let's see what the story is going to be. i don't want to get into being pinned down on things until we see what the story is going to be. >> now one thing that's generating a lot of attention is a curious statement issued by cain's lawyer, lynn wood, which stopped short of denying the allegations and instead argued it is none of our business. he said, "this appears to be a private accusation of private conduct between adults. no individual, whether a private citizen, candidate for public office, or public official should be questioned about his or her private sexual life." . some republicans say that statement itself is a problem for herman cain. >> lisa meyers, great to see you this morning. thank you. will cain weather this political storm? let's bring in joe williams. the cain camp has been losing

steam for weeks. is this latest allegation the one that's really going to put the candidacy into a firm nose dive? >> it certainly won't help. where you have a pattern here, it's very difficult to overcome even the perception that he's got a problem. and that problem is lingering out there. there may be more bomb shells f you will, to come. cain opened himself up to that possibility yesterday. >> he's the first candidate to face a firestorm like this one. yet his lawyer makes the point that private affairs shouldn't matter. there's a thing as a private businessman, but there's no such thing as being a private politician. everyone can look at the example ls of bill bill clinton. are they asking something of the media that's not going to get from the media? >> i think it's a bit of an irrelevant point to make as far as herman cain and his candidacy and what he's trying to accomplish.

interestingly enough, he's trying to play the same point that bill clinton did when he was a candidate. accused and denied. the denials were less than herman cain's were. but certainly, there were a lot of allegations and it turned into something that not only spoke about his ability to keep a promise, but his respect for women and the fact that it merely brought down this weakness of clinton's presidency. so i think it's an imbalanced question for someone that's arguing to be the leader of the free world and is going to live in a fish bowl. >> joe, nice to see you this morning. thank you. developing news right now in los angeles. it is sentencing day for michael jackson's former doctor. conrad murray's mom is hoping that the judge will be merciful. we're seeing live images of the jackson family arriving at the court. there's katherine jackson there followed by her husband joe. and maybe rebbie.

all of the siblings expected to be there. there's jermaine talking to some of the media that have been there for all the hearings so far. we'll wait to see what happens with this. ever since conrad murray was found guilty in the singer's death, attorneys have gathered letters from family and friends and are appealing to the bench for probation instead of four years in prison. stephanie stanton is at the courthouse where a ruling is expected within the hour. we're seeing the family starting to show up. explain what you have seen so far. do we know if the jacksons plan to speak giving a victim impact statement? >> reporter: good morning to you, thomas. it is unclear at this point if any of the members of the jackson family will be giving victim witness statements. but there's every indication that dr. conrad murray will not be addressing the court. i spoke to michael flanagan yesterday. he says he does not plan to put

dr. murray before the court and ask for leniency. prosecutors want the maximum. that would be four years in prison for dr. conrad murray. they are also asking for $100 million in restitution to be paid to the jackson children. they are also asking for $1.8 million to cover funeral costs. now, i talked to michael flanagan, and he believes that based upon the way this case has been going that conrad murray will get the maximum. so we'll see what happens when the sentencing gets underway at 8:30 local time. >> stephanie stanton, thank you for the update. we are going to be live at the courthouse when that sentencing hearing begins for conrad murray. it is expected to get underway at 11:30 a.m. eastern time. barney frank is the highest profile democrat to announce he's leaving the house at the end of his current term. 17 democrats say they won't be coming back. a tough number considering the

party needs to pick up 25 seats to take back the majority. on "the today show," he was asked if he was leaving in a lurch. >> that doesn't mean we're not going to take back the house. in fact, i think we're likely to win the seat. again, did you think i would serve until i was 106? >> luke russert is on capitol hill. props for savannah guthrie. what is the chatter in washington? is there a sense that frank is abandoning the party at a time when they need him the most? >> reporter: from democratic aids i have spoken to, a lot of them said they expected this after the new district was redrawn for barney frank. he's 71 years old. there's a realize that it would be tough for democrats to win back the house this time around. any moment he would have power would be 2015. on top of that, this new

district while folks say it will be difficult for barney to win, 61% for barack obama in 2008. so the seat will most likely stay democratic. his leaving doesn't necessarily hurt the democrats all that much. >> all right. luke, thank you. we are following break news about american airlines this morning. the nation's number three carrier. its parent company is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. until today, americans of the only u.s. airline that did not file for bankruptcy after the 9/11 attacks. 240,000 passengers fly american airlines every day. the company says it will continue its normal flight operations. let's take a peek at how the markets are doing today. we saw some triple-digit gains yesterday.

we see right now, the dow jones is up by 50 points. the s&p up by 5. the nasdaq down by over 2. the market getting a boost from stronger than expected consumer confidence data we awe after black friday and cyber monday. take a look at this. iranian protesters stormed the british embassy stealing documents. details ahead. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003.

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the prime suspect in the penn state case is fighting back. the lawyer for jerry sandusky says his client has hired a

private investigator to look into the allegations being made against him. sandusky is charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse. tonight syracuse head basketball coach jim bay hiem will speak about a child sexual abuse case rocking his university as the men's team prepares to play their first game since his assistant coach was fired. the similarities between the cases are abound. two sideline coaches, jerry sandusky and bernie fine, hit with disturbing allegations of molesting teen boys left in their care. in the fallout, joe paterno lost his job for failing to report the abuse properly and follow through. now as the u.s. attorney takes charge of the syracuse case, some say coach boeheim could be

next. when we talk about jim boeheim, he's beloved there. certain certainly in the coaching world for basketball. explain what this means for his fate moving forward. >> i don't think he's going to get fired. we don't know the whole story. when the indictment came out against penn state, it was a 23-page indictment against jerry sandusky. we knew a former assistant, which turned out to be mike mcqueary, saw jerry sandusky molesting a boy in the showers and he told joe paterno about it. you knew there was that dating back to 2002. with jim boeheim, you don't know what he knew. you go back a week and a half ago, and jim boeheim came out in support of bernie fine, saying bobby davis was a liar. fine was a guy he trusted. obviously, that statement was in poor choice by jim boeheim.

but does he deserve to lose his job? no. >> what do you make of this ten-year-old tape? as we were discussing a second ago, between bobby davis and fine's wife? now fine's wife is saying this was doctored. >> it's sorted. they have had the phone conversation. i think bobby davis was in a relationship with the fine family. he said he had a sexual relationship with bernie fine's wife. it's very sorted as far as the details are concerned. but she made reference, and i didn't listen to the whole phone conversation, all i heard was what everybody heard when espn released that on sunday morning. but the fact is, she made reference to bernie fine and their relationship. this and that with regards to what we heard. there seems to be a lot of truth to it. >> thank you for your time. president obama is ready to take the fight to republicans leading the charge to keep the

payroll tax cut for middle class americans. the president is pushing republicans to help democrats extend the tax holiday beyond its new year's eve expiration date. democratic leaders pushed for the extension this morning. take a listen. >> republicans already appear poised to block this legislation. so let's be clear. what a no vote on this proposal means is a vote to deny tax relief to millions of businesses. it's a vote to raise taxes for 120 million families by about a thousand dollars each. republicans who vote no will be taking money out of the pockets of middle class families. >> ezra cline joins me this morning. let's go over the specifics. harry reid says this will be paid with a 3.25% surcharge on wealthy americans. the middle class would hold on to the $1,000 savings. why are republicans fighting

this tax break? >> republicans do not like increasing taxes on wealthy americans. to some degree, it's as simple as that. the other part is this tax break is their only leverage left. the debt ceiling is raised. they can fight on the payroll tax to get something else if they want. it's a lose-lose situation for them. i'll say one more thing about the republican position. their argument is that this surtax would be a surtax on small businesses. if you read what's coming out of their side, the democrats want to cut taxes on working americans by raising them on small businesses. this basically isn't true. it is the case that any tax on wealthy americans will hit some small businesses and business owners because some businesses incorporate as individuals. that's a tax decision they are making. and most of the tax incidents would not be a prevalent on

small businesses. it would be on rich folks. >> so how damaging could opposing the extension be? doesn't it show they are more concerned for the wealthy? >> i'm never too quick to determining a vote being damaging. i'm not sure how much attention folks are paying. but the payroll tax does expire, people will be angry prp the question is who will they blame? is this more evidence of washington not working. we need a new president? that's one way of looking at it. people aren't paying attention. obviously, democrats hope people will see republicans block this from happening to protect tax rates on the wealthy. it's time to take republicans out of office. in general, i think that the evidence suggests when the economy is bad, the president gets blamed. if republicans are making the

calculation, it would be better for them to let this expire and that would hurt barack obama. that's not what they are doing, but i'm not sure that would be wrong on the political calculation side of it. >> ezra cline, nice to see you this morning. thank you. talk about some shocking statistics. about 40 million americans log on to porn sites every day. but even more shocking, about a quarter of them could be considered sex addicts. michael jackson's family arrives at the courthouse for sentencing. live coverage moments from now. ♪ ♪ ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that

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a powerful look at what's going on in this country. this film getting a lot of praise. it's called "shame." a new york city businessman caught in the throws of sexual addiction. but it truly is a real life problem for many. it's the subject of a new article in the latest edition of "newsweek." chris lee is the author of that piece and joins me this morning. it's nice to have you on. when i saw the cover of this, i wanted to book you right away so we could talk about this. the article describes this as an epidemic. what's fueling this? social media? online porn? how do we explain what's happening? >> well, to explain the epidemic crisis of what's going on, according to the estimates i have heard, between 3 and 5% of the population could be diagnosed of suffering from sex addiction. the problem is that reliable

diagnosis is not available. but if you could reliablely diagnosis it and agree on what it is, that's a huge population. now what's fueling it is the digital era. porn once upon a time used to be from dirty bookstores. nowadays, it's online. it's anonymous. it's available for free. as well, you have applications like the smart phone app grinder, which can enable anonymous hookups with the click of a gps of your smart phone. so you have america's sexual metabolism revved up to fever pitch. >> are we triggering these things that are already in our

makeup as human beings because of the new things in our lives? are we all born with the potential to be a sex addict? just depends on what technology is brought into our lives? >> the experts i have spoken to have said that basically because this is available to so many people, people are becoming accustomed to using online pornography. what you do online, leads to offline activities. in particular, this is a generation that's coming of age that has grown up with unlimited access to pornography. people know no difference. they get a tolerance and sort of immunity to hard-core sexual liezed images. it's sexual liezing people in a strange way. >> all right. so certainly we have seen a lot of celebrities that have had to admit to sexual addiction. we have had tiger woods, jesse

james, charlie sheen. so when we look at these celebrity faces on a human problem, is this just being disguised as a problem? or is it something more about impulse control that all of us have to take more personal responsibility over? >> that's a good question. when i started reporting the story, i was more skeptical. i thought it was a cop out and a get out of jail free card for these people who have these marital indiscretions. they can use it to say i don't have to be accountable. this is something bigger than me. from talking to a number of sex therapists and a number of people who suffer from sexual addiction, this has the capacity to ruin peoples' lives. it cannot only bust up

relationships, but people can lose their jobs. their self-esteem is shattered. it changes the way that people relate to one another. not only on a sexual basis, but it puts down an emotional curtain. the psychiatrist i spoke to described this as an intimacy disorder. it makes people less able to emotionally relate to one another. >> it's a fascinating read. we appreciate your time. thank you. michael jackson's doctor is about to learn his fate for the role of michael jackson's death. will he get the maximum? will he have to pay millions to the singer's estate? we'll have it all in the courtroom coming up. beauty, huh? it's dependable.

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what's in your wallet? welcome back. a lot going on on the west coast. live images of what's taking place as court is about to get undersession in the sentencing part of the trial phase for conrad murray. for the latest though on the sentencing of michael jackson's former doctor, conrad murray, we have assembled a great panel for you today. we have seen some of the family that's been filing in. prosecutors also pushing for the max here. i should note they want murray to serve four years in prison and pay $100 million to the jackson estate. and $1.8 million in funeral costs. joining me is savannah guthrie. also ricky kleman. the judge in this decision that's about to come down is

going to hold murray's feet to the fire. do we think he's goingo get the max and then gut probation? >> everything out there suggests this judge wants to give him the top amount he can get, which is just four years for this involuntary manslaughter conviction. the judge didn't hide what he thought of the crimes when he took the verdict in. he also took him straight into custody, which is a signal of how seriously this judge takes this offense. >> when we talk about the max is four years, he could potentially only serve a fraction of that. >> what ultimately will happen here i predict is i agree with savannah. he's going to get the max of four years. the problem is overcrowding in the prison system in california. and there's a new law that they call realignment. which means a nonviolent felon

is going to go into the county jail. then i would bet after some months, he will ultimately get out of the county jail and wind up serving his sentence on house arrest. >> as we have seen with a lot of starlets that go through the court system in los angeles and get turned out really quickly, if we put this on lindsey lohan timetable, it could be weeks to months if they decide. >> the problem is you have the state system to become less crowded. this normally would be the case where they'd go to the state prison. because of the overcrowding in the state prison, they are saying nonserious offenders, we're going to send you to the county jails. the problem in los angeles, the los angeles county jails are severely overcrowded. so the jail may have to set him free. that's something that's actually out of the judge's hands. he will have the opportunity, in a few moments, to sentence him to four years. >> i understand they are talking

and debating about whether or not they can have continued audio and video coverage for the sentencing portion. that's what they are skusing? yeah. so they are deciding whether we can continue to watch this process unfold. do you think it's likely we'll continue to see this given the fact that the victims in this, the jackson family, might be allowed to give a victim impact statement and would be televise ed prior to the judge's decision? >> i would find it astounding if it wasn't televised considering the entire trial has been televised. perhaps people in the jackson family did not want it televised. >> i agree. the only thing i wonder if they are trying to put on the children of michael jackson? that might be one reason they would want to close the courtroom. otherwise, this is a public hearing. one would think whatever happens in the courtroom, the judge who has allowed cameras in the

courtroom would continue to let the proceedings be televised and open to the public. >> and with children, we have often see it. we have seen that court tv in the past had certainly accommodated courts when there were children and undercover police officers. people who didn't want to be shown. and there's value in saying we should not display those children to the public. >> wouldn't the prosecution though already have a list of people they would be providing to the judge and the court about a victim impact statement whether or not the children were on that or adult family members in the jackson family? >> sure. the court could also limit the amount of people or who would be allowed to testify. a victim impact statement is from a relative. it could also be from a friend or colleague. this could go on and on with a case like michael jackson.

so there will probably be a limit to how much we will hear. >> there's also a probability the fact that conrad murray has an opportunity to speak too. correct? there may be an apology directed to the jackson family for his involvement in this or at least trying to convey how sorry he is that they are all in this predicament. >> it would be interesting to hear that. i interviewed him. he expressed no sorrow or remorse in terms of his own action. he said his sorry michael jackson passed, but he took no responsibility of it. i have the sentencing memorandum. they site to the interview as reasons why he should get the maximum sentence because according to prosecutors, he has shown no remorse. >> even if it's a foregoing conclusion he gets the maximum, it's important for him to make a statement of apology to the victim's family. to the court. to the public. and i think that if i were

representing him, i would really feel strongly he needed to speak and be remorseful. >> in that interview that you talk about and reference, you would think there's been space between the day he was found guilty and today to be able to craft something and see the response people are getting -- or the publics that -- to think there is involvement here. he needs to show contrition of his involvement. >> if he's listening to his lawyers, they would probably say you have to acknowledge some responsibility. you have to say i accept the jury's verdict. this is not a time so say i was robbed. he's trying to get mercy from the court. i don't know the court will look upon it kindly if he takes no responsibility. especially when the judge has tipped his hand on the part of dr. murray. >> we're continuing to watch the

sentencing hearing of dr. conrad murray in los angeles. it has just gotten under way. lawyers are debating whether cameras and audio will continue during this part of dr. murray's trial. thank you so much. we'll keep you on standby as we continue to watch this. thank you. here's a look at other stories top pg the news. the british embassy in tehran is under siege. a group of iranian students are back at the compound hours after they stormed the gates. they are protesting new sanctionings over iran's nuclear program. they pushed past police and took down the british flag. the images were broadcast live on iranian tv. officials suspect the taliban may have tricked nato forces into launching an attack. 24 soldiers were killed on saturday in two locations. the attack has sparked massive protests in the streets of

pakistan. i'm joined by nbc news correspondent nick lashefsky. >> somebody in the u.s. is saying that, but everybody i have tud to doesn't put much credibility into that claim. it sounds like somebody is looking for an excuse as to why the soldiers were killed. blaming the taliban is just as good as any. some of the the facts are that the u.s. military and afghan forces were conducting an operation along the afghan and pakistan border. somebody from the pakistan side of the border fired in their direction. now, even some pakistan officials on background are acknowledging that soldiers at that outpost suspected taliban was in the region and fired flairs and mortars. the u.s. military claims that

before launching strikes against the area, the u.s. military got p permission from the pakistan mill stair to go ahead with the attack. here's the bottom line question. the u.s. military already had the area of the border pretty-well mapped out. they knew exactly where the pakistan outposts were located. so the question is, who gave the order to attack those pakistan outposts? that's going to come out in the investigations that due on the desk of the commander, general maddus, on december 23rd. >> thank you. stay put. coming up next, the high school tweeter who refused to apologize to her governor. now he's apologizing to her. we have her story after this. es. nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

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twitter and ended up with an apology from the governor. she tweeted just made mean comments at the governor and told him he sucked in person. the governor's office saw the comment on the web and proceeded to contact her principal demanding the student submit a written apology. that decision backfired witha

what did you say at that time? did you stand firm on your free speech rights at that time and say that wasn't something you were going to do? >> at the time, i was just trying to take it in. i did try to argue it was my freedom of speech and i was allowed to voice my political opinions. i was definitely scared. so i did cave in a little bit and agreed to write the letter at the time. but thinking over the weekend, i decided not to write it. >> it seems a little david and goliath when you have the governor coming down on you. when you talked about the governor giving you an apology, i wanted to read the quote from the governor. my staff overreacted to this tweet, and for that i apology. freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms. did you expect the governor to apologi apologize? >> to be honest, yes.

because i was hoping he would realize he was in the wrong. but actually in a way, the apology isn't to me. it's just in general. it would have been a lot nicer if it was directed to me and my family and maybe even to my principal for this whole situation that it happened. >> when you think about the governor now, would you change the tweet that you sent out given what you have learned about the type of governor that he is? obviously, standing up for your right of free speech and realizing that his staff overreacted. does it change your perception of him as a lawmaker? >> it doesn't change my perception at all. i mean, yes, this was bad on his part. but i still look at him in office from the political side, i still look at what i know on what he's voted on and what he wants to do with future policy. so i'm still looking tat from that view. >> you have gone to 60 followers

to 15,000. you have a lot of people interested in your tweets now, emma sullivan. so tweet your followers kindly. thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me. it's time for the side bar. the president hits the air waves with his first campaign ads of the 2012 election season. take a look. >> it starts with one person making a decision. that things need to change. they are going to help change them. that person finds another person who shares their values. they go out and find a few more. and before long, neighborhoods come together. communities organize. a movement builds. >> there are two different 30-second ads. both urge iing people to volunt for the campaign. they will be airing on satellite tv. but the committee is taking a different approach with its new ad. apparently going after mitt romney for his controversial campaign ad, which took the president's words out of context. romney says the democrats are

awfully afraid to face him in the general election. mitt romney is getting a big boost though in the key state of florida. three of state's most prominent cuban american republicans are throwing their support behind them. and the activist trying to oust wisconsin governor says they have half the signatures needed for a recall election. united wisconsin needs more than 540,000 signatures by january 17th to get the raum on tecall ballot next year. they have 300,000 so far. we're keeping a close eye on what's taking place in a los angeles courtroom right now. the sentencing hearing for michael jackson's doctor, conrad murray. a spokesperson for the jackson family giving a statement in court saying that nothing will bring michael jackson back. that's the statement they just gave. we're keeping a close eye on this hearing. ultimately, waiting for the sentence the judge will hand down. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil

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welcome back. we're getting our first look at cyber monday spending totals. this year shoppers, they shattered the records. ibm saying online sales were up 33% from last year. the average shopper spent just over $1898. retailers are expected to announce they made a record-shattering $1.2 billion yesterday, according to comscore, an online tracker. get this, facebook reportedly ready to go public for everyone and it's hoping the company will be valued at $100 billion. "the wall street journal," which first reported the story, says facebook is looking to raise $10 billion from an initial public offering next year. i'm joined by cnbc julia.

why would they decide to be so aggressive at this point? >> it comes down to s.e.c. regulation called the 500 shareholder rule. it states once a company reaches 500 shareholders in a year, within 120 days after that year they have to file certain information with the s.e.c. in facebook's case they hit that 500 shareholder number this year, so it would make sense early next year they will have to disclose that financial information. once you have to disclose, you might as well go public. >> is facebook really worth $100 billion or the estimated forecast really worth that much? >> that's the big question. this is a company that will have bz 4.5 billion in revenue, an estimate and $1.5 billion in profits. but that is still a massive valuation. this will be one of the biggest ipos ever. it would value the company about half of what google is valued. so, we're talking about a massive valuation.

so, there are some skepticism about whether it's valued that much and what valuation hinges on, is on how much faster facebook can continue to grow. obviously, this is a massive site with 800 million users but the question is, whether or not that growth will slow down once it continues to expand. >> it remains to be seen whether the ipo means changes for average joe users of the site. >> the thing is that facebook has been expanding in certain areas, including mobile but this would allow facebook having extra cash from the ipo to make an acquisition if they wanted to and give them funding if they wanted to launch a product like a facebook phone, which has been in the works. >> cnbc's julia boorstin. that's going to do it for me. you can follow me on twitter @thomasaroberts and "now with alex wagner" comes your way. tr. it's salonpas.

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herman cain, heartbreaker, but is he out of the race? it's tuesday, november 29 th and this is "now." here we go again. >> it was uncomplicated and i was aware that he was married. and i was also aware that i was involved in a very inappropriate situation. >> the accusation i had a 13-year affair with her, no. >> i wanted to come out and give my side before it was thrown out there and made out to be something, you know, filthy. >> whether he show i didn't do anything wrong. >> herman cain loves herman cain. >> ginger white is emerging as the latest scoop on top of herman cain's sunday of sexual indiscretion. white alleges a 13-year affair with the gop contenders but the question is, how much do matters of the heart really matter? cnbc