site of last night's debate in rochester, michigan, msnbc and "time" magazine political analyst mark haleprin. good to have you with, mark, jon, mike, hi, willie. >> hi, willie, how are you? >> i don't even want to see it. >> i don't want to see it either. >> so let's show it. >> so let's show it. >> let's get it out of the way. >> do we have to get it out of the way? >> i do. this is -- i don't -- i'm not going to -- i want to take my ear piece out. >> i feel like saying good morning, mika, good morning, joe, and good morning -- >> just stop. >> there's a -- >> mark haleprin -- >> i know you guys. >> that's mean. >> where's mark right now? >> he's in michigan. rochester. >> hey, mark, so last night's debate will be remembered for years to come. >> they're calling it an epic gaffe. >> for one reason. tell us what happened last night, and is it the end of rick perry's campaign? >> well, governor perry was having a decent debate, not a great one, he was a little bit left out of the mix as he's been in some of the previous contests, and when it got to a point where he was trying to drill his mes

i'm going to ask the same question i asked mark haleprin and he hedged politically around it. >> that'sand america and i want to understand the republican party, i really do. of all the candidates, the republican candidates, which one on paper -- forget how you feel -- and give me your opinion. >> just ask the question. >> which one on paper is most qualified to win the nomination and take on obama on the issues? and is most -- >> okay, perry. >> i object, your honor, leading question. >> okay. the old model tells you it's mitt romney. i think based on what we've seen strictly on that basis. >> and on the issues that are really, really important to this country. >> lead him into china. >> you obsess about china. >> i hate getting involved in domestic -- >> i know. >> she wants you to say jon huntsman. >> i think the answer is newt gingrich. >> oh, good god! >> wait a minute. >> you didn't expect that one, did you? >> excuse me. i followed -- i've followed your instructions. >> this is important. >> listen. go ahead. >> go ahead, jeff. >> when you read that item, it sounded like a hostag

mark haleprin is an msnbc senior political analyst. mark, you look at all these, and here are some of the highlights from last night's soundly rejected an anti-union law that eliminated collective bargaining by public employees. "without question, the results will be viewed as a momentum builder for democrats nationwide and should encourage president barack obama." in mississippi, a personhood amendment which would've defined personhood starting at conception. this would've outlawed all abortions and many forms of contraception. in arizona, the republican president of the state senate, architect of the state's harsh antiimmigration law lost in a recall election. and in maine, voters rejected a law that ended same-day voter registration. in ohio, voters went two to one in rejecting the president's health care individual mandate. voters supported that proposal that says no federal, state, or local law could force a person or employer to participate in the health care system. so there you have a pretty good night for the democrats, mark. l

yes, with us onset, senior political analyst mark haleprin. national affairs editor, john heilemann. hi, john. >> hi. >> and director of the earth institute, jeffrey sachs. >> disgusting. >> disgusting. >> absolutely disgusting. no sense of any meaning in all of this. absolutely revolting, actually. and especially when what they're protesting against is the incredible abuse of power, the criminality on wall street and so forth that he, yes, taking his millions of dollars, it's shocking. >> someone needs a bath, and i don't think it's the people from occupy wall street. that's all i'm going to say. i got nothing else. i'm so disgusted by that that something horrible's going -- those are my belts, i'm sorry. i was having trouble dressing this morning. >> i sort of like that. bringing out discarded pieces of clothing. >> i'm sorry. i'm sorry. it's monday and -- >> special. >> i -- i -- am i alone here? am i overreacting? i'm sickened by that. >> the republican party needs to be politically smart to try to capture some of the sentiment there that

mike barnicle and mark haleprin are still with us.bc political analyst eugene robinson. good to have you all on board this morning. we're going to start with politics. let's get through this cain stuff and get to the polls, shall we? >> we'll charge through it. new details. >> i agree. >> it's officially reached call me when it's over. >> well, i do want to hear what david and eugene have to say about why this is even at this point. >> well, let's -- >> because the polls show something, as well. >> let's give him a respectful reading because he is in first place. >> wow. front-runner. new details are emerging. >> i'm sorry. >> about an alleged incident that led a female employee of the national restaurant association to accuse the front-runner, herman cain, of sexual harassment back in the 1990s. that's your front-runner. according to "politico," the employees say cain made a "unwanted sexual advance." the woman left her job shortly after the incident with one year's salary, about $35,000. politico reports that a separate woman who ac

mike barnicle and mark haleprin are still with us.e you this hour. how's it going there, joe? >> going great. >> great, great, great day for newt gingrich. >> oh, are you -- how excited are you for newt? >> you know what? at this point, i'm pretty excited. >> and why is that? >> well, i just think it's probably really good news for obama. so i'm not going to get caught up in what a hypocrite he is. >> just stop that. come on. >> no, that'll come out in the wash. so what's great is the republicans clearly don't want to win and that's good for obama. >> wow. i don't know. i don't know -- i mean it's looking pretty good for him. he's moving ahead in the polls. mark, he's moving up in new hampshire. he's moving up in iowa. he's got the endorsement -- >> conservatives love him. >> what i call the manchester union leader. he doesn't have a conservative record. he's spotty at best. >> but they can pretend he does. >> but he's still doing very well despite the fact he flip-flops as much as mitt romney. >> i'll say again, if you take the good

mark haleprin, do you agree? >> well, in terms of if it were a primary, probably. but remember, these are caucuses, so those young people who don't have land lines and who haven't been involved in politics before still have to turn out for the caucuses, which is a more complicated process than voting in a primary. the biggest question is what will mitt romney do about iowa? >> right. >> if he loses iowa to ron paul, i think he's perfectly fine. if he loses it to someone else, he's not. right now, the question is, does someone else like a rick perry or newt gingrich decide they want to take on ron paul to stop him from winning iowa. today he could win iowa without question. >> fair to say when you look at these numbers and other polls, you see newt gingrich is doing quite well moving forward. >> in the last few weeks he has. the scrutiny, though, is starting. and it's limitless. every candidate who comes into president -- >> limitless. >> every candidate comes in, there are things you can look at and say this is going to be a question, that will be a question. every