good evening. i'm michael smerconish in tonight for chris matthews who's in portsmouth, new hampshire, talking about his book, "jack kennedy: elusive hero." leading off tonight, cain to make a major announcement tomorrow. or maybe not. when a sinking candidate says i'm going to make a major announcement, it usually means one thing, he's getting out. but for cain, who knows. he could be announcing a new iowa field office. for cain and mitt romney, who fullaged an interview with the home team at fox and then saw his poll numbers plummet, three words -- worst week ever. meanwhile, the guy who benefits from all the dead and dying flies around him is newt gingrich. he's confidently predicting he'll be the republican nominee. but he's also taking heat for

saying that poor kids don't know the meaning of hard work. that's a dog whistle that isn't too hard to hear. what's next in this crazy republican race? donald trump hosting a debate? oh, wait a minute, that's just happened. it's scheduled for december 27th. seriously, this is not the "hardball sideshow" yet. it's really happening. plus, at least he showed up at the right studio. rick perry went on leno last night to make fun of his own campaign missteps. he had lots of material with which to work. and finally let me finish with the traveling circus that this gop race has become. we start with herman cain and his big announcement tomorrow. howard fineman is "the huffington post" media group editorial director and chris cillizza is managing editor of postpolitics.com. both are msnbc political analysts. gentleman, earlier this afternoon, herman cain said he was going to make this big announcement tomorrow. let's all listen. >> i am reassessing because of all of this media firestorm stuff. why, because my wife and family comes first. i got to take that into

consideration. tomorrow in atlanta, i will be making an announcement, but nobody's going to get me to make that prematurely. that's all there is to that. so tomorrow we're going to be opening our headquarters in northwest georgia, where we will also clarify, there's that word again, clarify, exactly what the next steps are. >> chris cillizza, do you schedule a big announcement to say, hey, guess what, i'm staying in this race? >> no, michael, not usually. but i'll harken back to earlier this week, where his campaign, herman cain's campaign said he was going to clarify in dayton, ohio, in a speech in dayton, ohio, he was going to clarify what reassessing his candidacy meant. i tuned in, listened to the whole speech. he gave his totally standard stump speech. he never mentioned reassessing the campaign. he sounded like he was just another candidate. so you never know.

it seems hard for me to believe that this isn't a, i'm staying in or i'm getting out, at this point. but can i just quickly, because it bugs me. herman cain said in that clip you just played, "this media firestorm" is why he's reassessing his campaign. no, that's not why. it's the allegations of sexual harassment, and the allegations of an affair. the media reported on those things. we did not do those things. >> let me make a comment in follow-up to that, because howard fineman, i find it remarkable that it's infidelity, alleged, tat may drive him from the race, when alleged sexual harassment didn't. i would have reversed the importance of the two. not to downplay infidelity, but infidelity is a matter among spouses. it seems to me that sexual harassment, which is a civil wrong, if it's true, is the public's business. do i have it mixed up? >> well, you may have the dynamics of the herman cain family mixed up.

because i think herman cain's big audience right now is not the voters in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, it's his wife. and his family. and i think that's what he's talking about. the way i read it, lynn wood, who is the atlanta-based high-powered attorney who has been advising herman cain for the last several weeks made it very clear earlier in the week, i thought, that if he had his druthers, he'd just as soon herman cain would get out of the race. for whatever reason. for whatever it is that lynn wood knows. herman cain said otherwise. mark block, his campaign chairman, said otherwise. who knows what herman cain is going to do. but if he's going to be opening a new campaign office in northwest -- in northwest georgia on the same day that he's announcing that he's getting out of the race, then that's going to be a very short opening of an office in northwest georgia. >> mine is just an editorial statement about how individuals

on the right pooh-poohed claims of sexual harassment. that was not perceived as any kind of a big deal. alleged fanny pinching at the office. or whatever it might have been. but the minute it's infidelity, we've got to abandon ship and go where. >> michael, i would add to that, though, i think it's the totality of it, you know? i think when it first came out, herman cain denied it. he said, there's nothing to it. it was a he said versus a she said. then as the weight of it wasn't one woman, it wasn't two women, it wasn't three women, it was four women, and then on top of of that the allegations of the extramarital affair. i think the totality, the context of it is why you're seeing it kind of impact him more now than it might have been before. >> well, chris, i think it's that. i also think that this latest female passes the smell test. i mean, that's just my opinion. you look at her, and to me, at least, she's got an air of credibility about her. let me show you something else, yesterday at a meeting with the new hampshire union leader, herman cain admitted his wife did not know about his most

recent accuser, ginger white. but later in an interviewer with lawrence o'donnell, white couldn't believe mrs. cain didn't know. let's listen to both. >> my wife didn't know about it. that was the revelation and the surprise that my wife found out about it. when she went public with it. if she had been just another man that i had helped, it probably wouldn't have raised as much suspicion. but my wife is comfortable with the explanation that i told her regarding, you know, having to help her. >> i would be surprised if she is surprised by this, honestly speaking. i would be surprised. i am deeply, deeply sorry if i have caused any hurt to her, to his kids, to his family. >> howard, he's certainly been consistent. i mean, he's denied, denied, denied, even to the point of saying that he helped this woman because of a charitable instinct. but yet didn't tell his wife about his good deeds. >> yeah, well, i just think that

as chris said, that the totality of the circumstances of the life of herman cain is what's the problem here. beyond that, he's just handled everything so clumsily, that even republicans who might have been drawn to his campaign because they thought he was an effective businessman can't think of him as an effective politician. just to take one example. he blew off the "union leader" editorial board three weeks ago, refused to meet with them. then they end up last week endorsing newt gingrich, which means they're in hook, line, and sinker with newt gingrich. then herman cain, after this latest story comes out, decides to meet with the editorial board of the "union-leader" which had already decided whom they were going to support. it's just another example of how poorly he's run the campaign. the other thing is, when you're a mystery man. when you're known as -- you come out of nowhere, really, and that's what herman cain did. he's been on the fringes of

politics for years. and suddenly you're introduced to the american people, everything is a case of first impression. and the first impression that people have of herman cain, 9-9-9, notwithstanding, is a guy who sort of gets around town in ways that are hard to explain. and that's killing his campaign. >> chris cillizza, allow me to show you this new ad. the group, americans for herman cain released an ad in support of the candidate this week. take a look at this one. >> it's time for the truth. the media won't tell you what one of the foremost lie detector experts in america said about herman cain. >> in my exam, he is being truthful, but the allegations of saying that she's been sexually assaulted by him did not occur. >> now that you know the truth, let's focus on what matters. herman cain is a reagan conservative who can beat obama. his 9-9-9 plan is easy to understand, will create jobs, and will get america working again. >> that doesn't sound like a commercial from somebody who is getting out of the race. as i put it together, it looks

like a guy who's able to look at his laptop and see different color codes and see if somebody is lying. >> the other thing, too, michael is the cain campaign themselves, not just the super pac, the cain campaign themselves put out a new ad in iowa. here's what i think is happening, though it's hard to know. i think herman cain at this point is almost a totally independent operator. that his campaign is trying to carry on as though nothing else is different, but you have herman cain kind of out there saying, yes, we're reassessing, yes, this has taken a toll on my wife, yes, i have to go talk to her face-to-face. i'm not sure that herman cain and the herman cain campaign are in that close of quarters. i don't know how else to explain -- howard points this out. i don't know how else to explain the incredibly fumbled messaging. one minute he's in it to win it. the next minute he's reassessing. and then he's in it to win it, and back to reassessing. >> we'll find out tomorrow. thank you howard fineman and chris cillizza. up next the latest from newt gingrich. poor kids have no work habits because no one around them works, or so he said. there's a dog whistle for the

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welcome back to "hardball." the new front-runner in the polls for the republican nomination, newt gingrich, has some interesting positions on child labor laws. he's called them quote, truly stupid, and suggested that students could create janitors in schools. yesterday he was asked about those comments and he doubled-down saying poor kids have no work habits because no one around them works. it's not the first time he's demonized the poor for political gain. also gruch is leading in the polls but does that mean he's the definitive nominee? he seems to think so and that's what he said to abc news. it's not the first example of his ego that has been out on the

campaign trail. is he just too confident? michelle bernard is the president of the bernard center for women politics and public policy and an msnbc political analyst. steve kornacki covers politics for salon.com. here's what newt gingrich said last night, in iowa, about poor children. let's watch. >> really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working, and have nobody around them who works. so they literally -- they have no habit of showing up on monday. they have no habit of staying all day. they have no habit of, i do this and you give me cash, unless it's illegal. what if you paid them part-time in the afternoon to sit at the clerical office and greet people when they came in? what if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? what if -- and i pay them as early as is reasonable and is practical. >> michelle, this is a big subject of conversation in my lily white suburban household, okay? because i am forever telling our

three sons about all the jobs, everything from mcdonald's to delivering flowers, to painting street address numbers on curbs. i mean, i did it all. i did magic acts when i was 12 years old. why wasn't the message for all children? because i think we've all gotten off track in this regard. >> you know, i don't understand the reason why newt made the statement the way he did. it's a very, very important and powerful message for all parents, for all children. i think newt being newt, though, i think that he made -- what he was trying to say, i think he made a very inarticulate statement about what he was trying to say. maybe this was an opportunity for him or he saw it as an opportunity to try to reach out to the poor, reach out to a different demographic, and talk about helping communities rise up and helping children achieve. and he said it in a very inarticulate way, that looked a lot more negative than i think his intent probably was. >> i'm going to ask you both, but i'll start, michelle, with you. was it a dog whistle? was this coded? was it intended to appeal to his base?

>> you know, i'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, michael. i think he made a very inarticulate statement. i know people will say, he was trying to go after the most racist, horrible motives of the far right, but i don't think so. this is somebody who, i think, was trying to make a statement about pulling yourself up from your bootstraps, having good role models. i mean, if you actually take an honest look at poverty and look at some of the toughest, most impoverished neighborhoods in the country, there are children that are sorely lacking in role models, whether it's education, whether it's working. whether it's families staying together. but he could have found a much more positive way to make that statement. >> steve kornacki, a dog whistle? what did you hear when you heard that? >> i heard a bit of two things. i heard a dog whistle, but i also heard a very ill conceived intemperate attempt at blowing a dog whistle. there's an artful way of doing that if you're a skilled politician. i think it gets to two issues about romney. about gingrich, excuse me. the dog whistle aspect is pretty simple.

you know, part of the sort of core of the conservative message these days is telling a lot of suburbanites, is telling people who perceive themselves as taxpayers who are under siege that their taxes are so high because the government is taking their money and wasting it on poor, lazy, undeserving people. so i think the message was sort of designed to reach those people and say, hey, i get it. i get that your tax dollars are being wasted and this is what it's being wasted on. people who don't understand what work is. it's ill conceived and gets to a real problem with gingrich, which is his tendency to fly off the handle and make inflammatory comments that cause him a lot of trouble and don't necessarily have their intended affect. if you think back to the last time newt gingrich was really as big as a national player as he has become at this moment, it's when he was house speaker. this is the sort of thing that defined his 3 1/2, 4 years as house speaker. he would make statements that would totally blow his party off message for days, for weeks, even for months. i remember when the republicans won in 1994, within about a week

of that election, the entire conversation was about orphanages, because gingrich had said -- >> i actually want to show that to you. >> sure. >> i wanted to point out, he's got a history when it comes to controversial comments about the poor. it was 1994. he proposed that states stop giving aid to poor, single mothers, and instead use the saved money to send their children to orphanages. you might remember hillary clinton, who was the first lady at the time, called the proposal unbelieve and absurd. gingrich was asked about hillary's comment when he appeared on "meet the press." this was december of '94 and he responded by referencing the 1938 movie that romance sized orphanages. watch. >> i'd ask her to go to blockbuster and rent the mickey rooney movie about boy's town. my answer to her in part is, you know, the little 4-year-old who was thrown off the balcony in chicago would have been a heck of a lot better off at boy's town. that the 11-year-old who was killed after he killed a 14-year-old might have had a chance to live in a supervised boarding school.

that the children you see in d.c. killed every weekend might be better off in a group home or a foster home. >> michelle, when you put it now in the context of what he said back in the mid-90s, does it make this most recent remark more palatable or less? >> you know, quite honestly, i feel completely numb about it, because i understand -- it's inflammatory, it's crazy, i was actually looking at it thinking, what on earth could he be thinking about, but here's the thing, michael. if you dig deeper, think about all of the candidates who are running for president. think about everyone who's running for office, whether they are democrats or republicans. we constantly hear about the problems of the job creators. we constantly hear about how important it is to have a middle class. there are no politicians who are willing to talk about what we do to help the least among us. and i'm not saying that newt gingrich is doing that, but he's the only candidate that we hear at least trying to touch on the topic of poverty and maybe, maybe all of the candidates will look at this as a way to reach out to a different demographic

and honestly talk about some of the biggest problems facing the country, rather than only focusing on the economic woes of people who are actually getting by. >> thank you michelle bernard. thank you steve kornacki. up next, rick perry is wasting no time making sure we know he can laugh at his campaign blunders. the latest example of that is coming up in the sideshow. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. to use on a denture, it could be very abrasive. if the surface gets abraded, it's just the environment that bacteria likes to nestle into and they can cause the odor. your denture needs to be cleaned gently on a daily basis. i like to recommend polident, it kills the bacteria without causing any abrasion. when my patients follow my instructions, their dentures feel clean and fresh. they look forward to putting them in their mouth and smiling. where do you think it all comes from? elves. [ laughs ] [ thunder crashes ]

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hey, back to "hardball." and now for the sideshow. first up, if you can't beat them, join them, right? that seems to be the game plan for gop candidate and consistent fact flubber, rick perry. we can't forget perry's epic brain freeze in a debate, but if you need a reminder, you can count on none other than rick perry himself to come through for you. take a look at this new ad from the perry campaign and you'll see what i'm talking about. >> commerce, education, and the, what's the third one there? >> department of energy. you know, we've all lost our train of thought before, but not many have done it on national tv. if you want a slick debater, i'm obviously not your guy. but you want a clean house in washington with a balanced budget amendment, a flat tax, and a part-time congress, i'm your man. i'm rick perry at -- what's that line again? i'm rick perry and i approve of

this message. >> i like it. i think it's a good strategy. and if you're still not convinced that perry can poke fun at his own gaffe, there's always the late-night comedians to help him out, right? let's watch rick perry making light of it all on "the tonight show" last night. >> thanks for coming. you provides us with a lot of material, so i appreciate you being here. >> it's what i do. >> what happened with the brain freeze that night, with the -- you had the three things to remember. >> well, you know, one, two, and, uh, uh -- every now and then, i call my dogs by the wrong name. >> what happened in new hampshire here? >> those of you that will be 21 by november the 12th, i ask for your support and your vote. >> i was thinking drinking age, maybe. >> drinking age, drinking age. okay, all right. that makes sense. but how about -- >> you got to have an excuse, right? so that's mine, and i'm sticking to it. >> and of course, if that doesn't work, he can always give a go michele bachmann style. remember how she confronted the campaign blunders a couple of weeks ago?

>> i haven't had a gaffe or something that i've done that has caused me to fall in the polls. >> there it is. just deny everything, although i think the poll numbers speak for themselves. neither strategy seems to be working. up next, vacation veto. today, president obama teamed with former president bill clinton to promote job creation through energy-efficient building projects. and don't think that the president missed an opportunity to nudge congress to pass at least parts of his jobs bill. let's listen. >> we're going to keep pushing congress to make this happen. now's not the time to slam the brakes on the recovery. right now it's time to step on the gas. we need to get this done. and i expect that it's going to get done before congress leaves. otherwise, congress may not be leaving. and we can all spend christmas here together. >> somehow, i don't think that was an invitation to christmas at the white house. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us, chris mathd us will be back on monday. up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg.

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