perry? we are going to hear from mr. o'reilly moments away. >> laura: in the impact segment tonight, according to the latest rasmussen poll on the contest texas governor rick perry leads the pack. mr. perry has 29% support. mitt romney drops down to 18%. 15% remain undecided and michele bachmann comes in with 13%. since announcing over the weekend, mr. perry has had some tough words for washington starting with fed chairman ben bernanke. >> is this guy prints more money between now and the election, i don't know what you all would do to him in iowa. but we would treat him pretty ugly. printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treason oust in my opinion. >> mr. perry raised some eyebrows with these comments about the president. >> laura: bill o'reilly talked to don imus this morning about the governor. >> speaking of rick perry, is he for real? >> bill: yeah, oh yeah. absolutely viable contender. nice economic story to tell in texas. and you know, you know he is for real whe

mr. perry by the way served in the air force. the president took the opportunity to lecture governor perry yesterday. >> mr. perry just got in the presidential race. i think that everybody who runs for president it probably takes them a little bit of time before they start realizing that this isn't like running for governor or running for senator or running for congress. got to be a little more careful about what you say. but i will cut him some slack. he has only been at it for a few days now. >> laura: here is how governor perry respond today. dollars. >> yesterday, the president said i needed to watch what i say. i just want to respond back, if i may, mr. president, actions speak louder than words. my actions as governor are helping to create jobs in this country. the president's actions are killing jobs in this country. it's time to get america working again. >> laura: joining us now from stanford, connecticut with analysis the purveyor of dick morris.com. mr. morris. dick, i'm watching this whole thing unfold. i saw that litt

mr. perry is more conservative than mr. romney and he often uses spirit in his presentations. mr. omney is running as america's ceo. a man who has succeeded in private business and who knows how to handle the free marketplace. governor perry is pretty much running on that as well showcasing texas economic success story. the truth is that both romney and perry have many things in common. including good hair both them would offer a challenge to barack obama. at this point it's gobble to say which man has the most going for him even though governor perry leads in the polls he is untested in debate and americans don't know him very much. governor romney has big name recognition but many are suspicious of him not popular in republican primaries. the perry romney battle is a toss-up and could go either way depending on how the candidates perform in the upcoming debates. as they like to say in texas. there will be a high noon between these two men. a verbal shootout that will leave just one standing. and that's the memo. now for the top story tonight. let's bring in the aforementioned car

obviously, mr. perry promoting christian values in a very secular time and that's causing some angst. but is it smart politically? joining us now from atlanta, ralph reed, chairman of the faith coalition and author of the now ballots and blood. here in the studio, kathy rue, contributing editor for "the washington post" magazine. was that a smart political move? >> for the short term, yes. evangelicals and born agains are the ones that come out to the primaries and 50% of the voters. so for the short term, yes, pandering to this group is the way to go. >> bill: pandering is a loaded word! loaded word is pandering. if he believes, it it's not pandering. >> doesn't believe it. we don't know if he believes it. >> bill: his history is he's a very spiritual guy and always does this kind of spin, you know that, come on. >> his history is he's a politician. maybe this is what it's taken. >> bill: do you believe using the word pandering was fair? >> i do. i do. i do. >> bill: ok. you say it's smart because in the

anybody of faith is going to get raked over by the secular press and mrs. perry and governor perry should have been ready for that. >> the big leagues. >> i do believe there is an antichristian bias in the mainstream media in it country. i absolutely believe that. i'm not wrong on this. you know i say i could be wrong, i'm not wrong. if you are christian and you tell voters that your faith influences your decision-making, the secular press is going to try to cut your heart out. >> but the secular press is going to detroy any republican nominee or try to. >> bill: but it gets elevated for people like sarah palin. >> of course, it does. >> bill: and rick perry and michele bachmann. >> there thy ha has to be a std of excellence you need to meet. of course, they will come after him. he is a texan and evangelical. >> bill: the christianity thing makes them see, the new york times people, makes them crazy. >> they hate him but a lot of people love him for it. >> bill: what hurts him far more was his stance on illegal immigration. that illegal immigration was really wha

also mr. perry has not made himself available to forums like "the factor," so it's hard for americans to get to know him. i talked with the governor on the phone. he was very polite. said he would come on "the factor." a good time might be soon, governor. on the democratic side, things keep getting worse because the economy keeps getting worse. hard to see how president obama can make a comeback unless jobs are magically created and the stock market goes up 1,000 points. however, mr. obama remains steadfast in his belief that the federal government can control the economy and has an obligation to spend a massive amount of money speculating on things like green energy. >> if we want to compete with other countries that are heavily subsidizing the industries of the future, we've got to make sure our guys here in the united states of america at least have a shot. there are going to be some failures -- >> you were getting warnings not to back that company up. >> well, hindsight is always 20/20. it went

mr. cain up 12 points in less than a month. governor perry down 13 points. and mr. cain is a compelling political figure come as cross as friendly and talks about tax reform with his 999 campaign. governor perry another story. americans were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. and also, mr. perry not made himself to available in forums like the factor so it's hard for americans to get to know him. he talked -- i talked with him on on the phone and he said he would be on the factor. on democratic side, the economy keeps getting worse. hard to see how president obama can make a come back unless jobs are create skptd stock market goes up a thousand points, however, mr. obama remains steadfast in his belief the federal government can control the economy and has an obligation to spend a massive amount of money spending on things like green energy. >> if we want to compete with other countries we've got to make sure our guys have a shot. there are going to be failures and... solydra is an example. hind sight is 20-20. people felt like this was a good bet. >> ther

mr. o'connell's point of view that whether it is valid for campaign doesn't really matter he has got to, rick perry, get on board and get people paying attention to him and this is how he has decided to go mr. o'connell. i think it's a smart move. >> i absolutely do. if he shows poorly in iowa, he is done. he is going to go for broke. if this doesn't actually reach the court he needs to, i could see him going even further with some of these other ads. >> bill: going further? what else is he going to do? >> i don't know yet. i'm -- >> bill: how far do you go? president obama and the liberals are attacking christianity and i'm going to stop it that's pretty far. >> cats and dogs are fighting. we have got to keep going here. [ laughter ] >> bill: we're going to have pestilence if we don't knock it off. thanks very much. we appreciate the debate. plenty more ahead as the factor moves along this evening. canadian tv broadcasting a christmas show featuring pamela anderson as a profane virgin mary. culture warriors has some thoughts. is it legal on whether attorney general holder and jon corzine can talk

mr. mann. you're going to vote for perry.ean, right now, the way it stands, you got romney, you got bachmann and a number of others, perry is your guy? >> yeah, bill, it comes down to this. do you prefer a president that doesn't believe in evolution or do you prefer a president that doesn't believe in israel? >> ok. >> bill: pretty clear cut for you. do you favor any of the republican candidates, any of the others over governor perry? >> i've been very impressed in recent days with governor huntsman who understands the world of internationalism, who seems to be an extremely intellectual type person, a man with seven children and i think he's sort of a sleeping giant and frankly, when they had the debate about 10 days ago, i thought newt gingrich was the winner. if newt was as likable in the past as he was that night, newt's star would still be on the rise. the other candidates, i think, are marginal. >> bill: we appreciate it. thank you very much. plenty more ahead as the factor moves ahead this evening. the editor of "the ne

mr. perryow has to deal with that joining us from washington fox news senior political analyst brit hume so the "the washington post" broke this story on sunday. it seems to me i read this story that the rock was painted over and maybe if you had a magnifying glass you could see this objectionable word on it. it kind of stretching, right? >> it doesn't seem to me to be as big a story as the "the washington post" played it. after all the properties you pointed out was leased. the perry family didn't own this land that was used as a place to hunt. and eventually, i guess the exact time of it was in some dispute. the offending word that was, i guess, part of the name of the property or name of the area was painted over. you can't see it anymore. the story was based on a lot of anonymous sources which always raises questions. i just think it's not helpful to perry for this reason, bill. every day you spend talking about something like this with regard to perry is a day that whatever else perry is s

it seems mrs. perry believes that her husband has been singled out or scorn because of religious beliefs. do you buy that? >> i think it's, she's right it's been a tough month for him. as his wife, i mean, she's probably hurting for him. the truth, i think is that when you get into this race as michelle bachmann found and as last time around, mike huckabee found and sara palin found as a vice presidential nominee, the media and others are going to be hard on you, scrutinize your records look at you on the stage alongside other candidates. you're going to have to match a standard of excellence that makes people feel reassured about your abilities beyond governing your state and beyond record in the state that you're in. so i don't think it's anything to do with his faith and everything to do with a comfort level people want to have. i think by the polls we few there are a lot of people who wanted rick perry to soar from the beginning. and he has to take himself across the finish line. i think in the end a

and on the hpv virus, mr. perry admits he made a mistake. his executive order oversteps his authority. he should have encouraged the vaccinations but not ordered them. on illegal immigration, he does have problems. there are millions of hispanic voters in texas, he doesn't want to alienate them. thus he opposed a border fence. they must stop the illegal flow of illegal immigrants into this country and the fence is effective. he also offered in state tuition for illegal immigrant students that cost the state about $40 million a year. that's unfair and drains resources from the texas education system which ranked 33rd in the nation. governor perry has done many good things at governor. the state is strong and people are moving there because the tax rates e low. he rejects many regulations that handcuff freedom. in the end you, the folk, will decide if he's the strongest candidate against president obama. he took fire last night. and here now are is the analyst. >> do you feel story for him? >> why should i feel story for him? >> barack obama w

. >> bill: is mr. perry a pinhead or patriot? i think i know. we want to see the numbers.e know there are a lot of "friends" fans out there. last night justin bieber did this. >> well hello. he was like, my daughter sasha, milia my wife michelle, we are so grateful, that you are coming to the white house. >> bill: 68% think young justin is a patriot. 32% believe he's a pinhead. please spout off about the factor from anywhere in the world, oreilly@foxnews.com. name a town if you wish to opine. brand new word, no chuffiness when writing to the factor. thanks for watching. i'm bill o'reilly remember the spin stops right here, because we are definitely looking out for you. >> good morning, everyone, president obama weighing in on local politics, again. i think everyone has to make some adjustments but it is also important to recognize that public employees make enormous contributions to the well-being of our states and cities. >>alisyn: should the federal government let the states handle their own business? >> members of the u.s. house fired up over spending cuts. >> i will ob