cain. >> have you asked mr. cain that question? >> yes, i have. and he said to me emphatically, when there is facts, bring them to me. let me face my accusers and we'll deal with it then. >> i can tell you, i have my own sourcing on this that talks about a cash settlement from somebody who was familiar and was working at the national restaurant association. i understand there are nondisclosure agreements on this and that's part of the reason why you're going to get sometime some of this tougher sourcing on this because in order to get the money you had to sign this. but there's a lot of string here. is he issuing a flat -- even to you that doesn't sound like he's giving you a flat-out denial. >> i would suggest that you contact the national restaurant association and ask them about any settlement. i am not personally aware of any settlement dealing with mr. cain. >> you understand how that sounds? >> yes, i do. it's very serious. >> no. the fact that you cannot say it and you're telling us

it was all about herman cain. when the debate is all about you, then it's not a surprise when you wake up the next day and sitting atop the polls. this race is all about herman cain right now. >> howard fineman, i want to talk about this poll we just released. nbc poll. many stunning things in it. one of them being the mitt romney number. the only number in the poll to hold steady, absolutely unchanged at 23%. the front-runner status switches around him. rick perry drops out of that slot. herman cain moves into that slot. what's going on with mitt romney in. >> well, his numbers don't move any more than his hair does, but if you talk to people in new hampshire, when i was up there yesterday and today, was at the debate then i heard herman cain before the new hampshire legislature which i want to tell you about. first on mitt romney. somebody observed to me a very shrewd politician up there observed to me that even though romney's numbers in new hampshire look good, and he's in the low 40s in new hampshire, the roa

now herman cain says it's a joke.ly insensitive joke to say we have a fence that will electrocute people. they will say, you are not a serious candidate, you can't expand the map. not that many tea party candidates won statewide. they won in little house races. they didn't win state wide because you have a ceiling when you have controversial answers like that. >> rick perry and michele bachmann will really go after him. he's taking their votes. >> i read that michele bachmann was critical about his comments today on that electrified fence. thanks. >>> up next, a second evangelical with close ties to rick perry, taking shots admit romney's faith. are these attacks on the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, mormonism, becoming a problem or is it part of a campaign strategy? we'll talk about that. >>> the mother of a missouri baby breaking her silence with a string of new admissions. what she's saying about the night her daughter disappeared. [ inner voice ] establish connection. give me voice control. applicati

herman cain.you think you know a lot about the republican party, here's haley barbour on herman cain's chance of success. >> i have a theory on this too. >> let's listen to haley barbour. >> if this election where it ought to be, and that's a referendum on how president obama's doing, a republican's going to win. if herman cain is our nominee running against barack obama, i think he'll sweep the south. >> "he'll sweep the south." do you want to counter haley barbour? >> "if he's the nominee." will he win north carolina? virginia? i don't think so. but i don't think he'll be the nominee. we won't have to worry about haley's prediction. >> my argument is this. mitt romney is more vulnerable than herman cain as a nominee, because he is very vulnerable with 77% of the party who reless lently won't support him, even in polls. he's got a problem. it might be the religion problem, i don't think so opinion i think it's the ideological problem. they don't trust him as a conservative. whereas herman cain, e

they like the bluntness of herman cain. in a field of unpolished candidates and some overpolished candidates, he stands out as being this blunt guy. >> this is a year where people are fed up with washington and the blowed-dried-hair ways of washington. cain has tapped into that. he's tapped into pushing back against political correctness. but you have to push back cleverly, push back in a way that's presidential. that's the line he has to walk. it's also a lesson, anderson, in when you run for president, how hard it is, how many rookies make mistakes. the trick is do you learn from them and go on to a higher, more presidential level? >> mary, is he really running for president? because there's some who say he's basically on a large book tour and he's now suddenly surged in the poll, so he's clearly in this thing. does he have staff, does he have enough people around him? >> well, no. he has the big mo, as one of our old bosses used to say, but he's a no show in the states. i don't care what your message is -- and he has a s

against rerman cain herman cain the president has an 11-point lead and against rick perry he has a 12-point lead. >> we're stuck with mitt. >> if we don't run with chris christie romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. >>> more good news for herman cain. after taking the lead in yesterday's nbc news/"wall street journal" national poll of republican voters, he now has the lead in the all-important primary state of florida. in a new poll from the american research group cain has 34%, romney has 28%, newt gingrich has 11%, and rick perry comes in fourth with just 5%. cain is already imagining who would serve in his cabinet as vice president as he did today on a conservative radio show. >> there are some people in congress that are very, very good, that i respect and admire, that i would love to have on my team. whether that would be in a vp slot or whether that would be in a key cabinet slot, i'll give you a name, like representative paul ryan, senator jim demint, people who are not afraid to challenge the system. people who are not afraid to put on the table what we should do and not

he'll weigh in on herman cain.er and big rainmaker in terms of money raising for candidates. he hasn't yet formally said who he will endorse. we'll talk to him about all those issues, we'll also talk about the next al qaeda. el shabaab is sort of an offshoot group but growing and growing, more and more americans involved. money coming from americans. there's threats of attack on american soil. plus, john, there is a vigil going on downtown, not related to occupy swaul street or the halloween parade. we'll explain what it is because we can't resist. that's the only hint i give you. >> i like when you can't resist. i'm curious. you got me. if that's how it works -- >> one by one. all right, see you, john. >>> when we come back, it's damage control time in the cain campaign. why do his conflicting accounts about sexual harassment allegations complicate his effort than focus more on the economy and taxes. that's next. erica, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been wor

cain surges in the polls. tal ran tolerance is another question certain to resurface now. >> would you be comfortable appointing a muslim in your cabinet or a federal judge? >> no, i will not. here's why, that is a creeping attempt, there is this attempt, to gradually ease sharia law and the muslim faith into our government. it does not belong in our government. >> whatever you think of mr. cain, one thing you cannot question, his communication skills. >> you know you must be doing something right when you get a lot of arrows in your back. this is the first time that arrows -- >> let's dig deeper on herman cain, the man and the candidate, with jeff campbell, former chairman of the pillsbury restaurant group, he hired cain to run godfather's pizza. just wrote a piece called the "cain mutiny." jeff, tell us the man herman cain what you saw in the ceo that carries over favorably and if you saw something that carries over unfavorably to herman cain, presidential candidate? >> a definite leader. there's a differenc

cain said that.he question is whether you get on the campaign trail and move back to the 9-9-9 plan and issues that brought him to the top of the poll in the first place. his rivals will likely remain silent on this. going with the long-standing adage best to leave your opponent alone when they're in trouble. >> bret: thank you. brit hume has thoughts on the cain story. good evening. >> we don't know the truth and we may never know. the case does illustrate the truth on the law in matters today. years ago, the board room employees were at a disadvantage subjected to unwanted sexual advances by the superiors. today they are at an equal or greater disadvantage. not only are unwanted advances against the law, but so is conduct that may be found intimidating hostile or offensive working environment. the problem is what is offensive to some may not be to others. compliments may be welcome to one person or give offense to another. it doesn't matter in thecation of herman cain whether there is any basis to

of herman cain's life. is one of the things about herman cain that makes it hard to imagine him as a viable mainstream candidate for republican nomination for president of the united states. it is not the only thing, though. mr. cain is out and proud about not wanting to know the names of leaders of other countries. >> when they ask me who's the president of ubecky, ubecky, stan, stan, i'm going to say, i don't know. >> when asked about foreign policy over the last decade, neoconservatism, herman cain said he was unfamiliar with the movement. of course, there's herman cain on abortion. >> my position is i'm pro life, period. >> if a woman is raped, she should not be allowed to end the pregnancy? >> that's her choice. that is not government's choice. i support life from conception. >> so abortion should be legal? >> no. abortion should not be legal. i believe in the sanctity of life. >> i'm not getting -- i'm not understanding. if it's her choice, that means it's legal. >> no. i believe -- i don't believe a

threatened by herman cain, and they understand that herman cain is bringing new ideas to the table.hink specifically on the tea party front, people who want to say the tea party are a bunch of race cysts, they say how come the tea party is supporting herman cain? >> well, a rationale was this proves they are racists. >> they, they want to make him into a puppet, a token that's correct he's being manipulated by the white republican establishment. here's the news for them, herman cain is in fact breaking barriers and people should be proud of herm campaign his accomplishments. >> and one year ago you got a big raise and now you should be happy, you are in the top 1% and now you have to pay more taxes 23 obama has his way. >> if i can make as much as you, i'm glad to give. >> good to see you. >> thank you. >> another scandal brewing for the white house in the wake of the solyndra loan. the solyndra loan. michelle is her [ courier ] the amazing story of whether bovine heart tissue can make it from australia to a u.s. lab to a patient in time for surgery may seem like a trumped-up hollyw

cain?the people that would pay more are the people who would buy mostly new goods. >> now, i grew up on hand-me-downs and my dad could nerve, never afford hi new car. in the painful recession and in its wake, millions of american families are buying used, or many not buying at all and most, well, they're not complaining but they sure hope things get better for them and for everyone. when they do, you bet they would like, no, they would love to buy a new car or new washing machine. even if you accept mr. cain's logic, well, those people at the bottom, they can't buy used food. look at this. the poorest american households spend more than half of their income on housing. and they spend nearly 40% of their income on food. the cain plan, 9-9-9, would levy a 9% sales tax on that food. so to those with the least, that have suffered the most in recent years, this, frankly, just sounds cold. >> it depends upon whether or not they buy used goods or whether or not they buy new goods. >> now the value

herman cain.id corn's an msnbc political analyst and "mother jones" magazine's washington bureau chief, and jonathan martin is senior political reporter for politico. gentleman, i want to know how this ends for this fellow, herman cain, who's come out of nowhere. you're chuckling, but let me raise a couple of questions here. i'm going to give you a number of questions, the scenario. this guy keeps going up. he's ahead now in south carolina. he's ahead now in florida. he's ahead of the field against a guy who can't do anything but flatline. mitt romney won't get above 23. he stays right there, like a dead guy, politically. whereas cain keeps going up. my question to you, if cain can even hold second place to romney, who gets ahead of him? who beats him? >> it ends up with herman cain on fox news and a lot of book sales. this guy will not be the nominee, chris. maybe rick perry comes back, you know, it's true that mitt romney's in a weak position, can't get above, but herman cain, once mitt romney,

it's herman cain. hi is hot for himself in his new memoir "this is herman cain: my journey to the white house." just listen how much cain believes in himself. in the last paragraph in the book, he says, "well, i'm just about at the elevator up to the family quarters, but bare with me for just a minute more as i confirm who i am. it's obvious i'm the president of the united states of america." folks, this is a brilliant strategy. with that one sentence, cain has taken away obama's strategic advantage of being america's only president and by fantasizing that he is america's first second black president, cain clearly knows his imaginary place in history. listen to this: "when all the votes were counted on tuesday, november 6, 2012, we will be free at last, free at, last thank god almighty, this nation will be free at last again. yes. because we must not judge a man by the color of his skin, but by the way he pretends to have the content of someone else's character. [cheering and applause] nation... the bi

herman cain.> you think you know a lot about the republican party, here's haley barbour on herman cain's chance of success. in southern states. haley barbour, king of the south. >> i have a theory on this, too. >> let's listen to haley barbour. >> if this election is where ought to be, and that is a referendum on how president obama has done, a republican's going to win. if herman cain is our nominee running against barack obama, i think he'll sweep the south. >> "he'll sweep the south." do you want to counter haley barbour? >> if he's the nominee. >> okay. >> i mean, will he win north carolina, virginia? i don't think so. but i don't think he'll be the nominee. we won't have to worry about haley's prediction. >> i'm going to go back to what you were saying. he's not going to be the number two. he's not going to be number one. my argument is this. mitt romney is more vulnerable than herman cain as a nominee, because he is very vulnerable with 77% of the party who relentlessly won't support him, ev

herman cain stops by november 1. we're working to schedule all the candidates if for center seat with the panel. still ahead, could you or loved one die because there is not enough medicine? we'll explain. >> bret: the u.s. trade deficit dipped in august to $45.61 billion. the lowest amount in four months. the deficit is running at an annual rate of more than $564 billion. up 13% from last year. applications for unemployment benefits fell by 1,000 last week. but are still well above levels considered healthy. stocks were mixed today. dow lost 41. the s& s&p 500 gave back four. nasdaq added 15.5. of course, wall street is getting a lot of unwanted attention lately, because of the protests there. which leads us to the question: are the people on wall street really to blame for the struggling economy? chief washington correspondent james rosen went in search of an answer. >> the member of occupy wall street tend to blame economic morass on service sector. >> i have in mind a system between government, wall street, and m

now cain is having his curve up into the polls. is there something in the michele bachmann curve in the polls that predicts where you're going with herman cain? here's someone who's dedicate to iowa, spends all this time in iowa. iowa, she becomes less and less popular the longer she stays there. is there something about the candidacies that the familiarity breeds resistance? >> sometimes. there's a lot of self-inflicted wounds across the way. mr. cain is struggling with his fence debates the last few days. mrs. bachmann who obviously is a good member of congress but hasn't ever been in the presidential game. it's a different game. it's amplified 20 times what any congressional race ever is. it's the media, scrutiny. every single word you say gets basically highlighted and you have to be very careful what you say. >> what do you make of this shifting loyalty of the republican electorate from very high support for michele bachmann, previously high support for the mythical candidacy of trump and now to cain? >> there's a segment of t

. >> herman cain is now leading among likely republican voter. we'll analyze the cain factor. what is driving his popularity. >> should you raise taxes on anybody right today? rich or poor or middle classes? no. >> uh-oh. bad news for the democratic party and president obama. bill clinton is off the reservation. >> there is no growth of the economy. >> bill: and there are are reports of rampant drug use and other illegal conduct within the ranks of the occupy wall street protest movement. the culture warriors on that. caution. you are about to enter the no spin zone. the factor begins right now. hi, i'm bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. the herman cain factor is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. mr. cain is surging in the poll. tied with mitt romney at 29% among likely republican primary voters. rick perry clocks in with just 9%. obviously mr. cain has take and lot of perry's support and a "wall street journal" poll has cain leading romney 27 to 23. there is another element to the poll. when asked about the general election, voters say president o

herman cain shows you exactly how to do that.corporate tax that does not allow corporations to include reasonable and normal business expenses. i'm not talking about their wild complicated tax loopholes. i'm talking about all normal reasonable business expenses. they're not allowed to be deducted under the 9-9-9 plan. now, if a democrat had proposed this, fox news would be screaming about a crazed anti-business socialist who was going to destroy american businesses and the american economy. now, let's restart that tape and listen to the rest of what herman cain had to say. >> on the first 9, relative to corporate profits, you are allowed to deduct -- this was in the calculation -- you are allowed to deduct purchases and capital investments. 100%. no depreciation schedules. capital expenses and purchases. if those purchases were made here in the united states of america. if you purchased components from a country outside of the united states, you can't deduct them. what does that do, folks? it makes u.s. goods more competitive wit

>> the amateurishness of the cain organization should not lead it a conclusion that cain did somethingery bad. he may be a victim of the fact that he is not running a normal presidential campaign. he is not ready for prime time. that doesn't make him guilty of anything serious. it is important to understand that companies settle claims all the time for reasons other than thinking they did something wrong. especially with the amounts of money here, that is said to be in the five figures. so i did research today. in the world of sexual harassment litigation, those are not big figures. >> as ken vogel said, from 10,000 to a hundred,000. they might have done this just to move along. >> anyone with sexual harassment, is a very serious charge, it is a serious incident. it is discrimination in the workplace. it makes people very uncomfortable. it is a form of bullying and we should take the charges of allegations seriously. that's why i think the cain campaign should have been prepared for it. they should have understood the seriousness of the allegations. it is not just one woman, it is two

cain. >> you understand how that sounds? >> yes, i do. it's very serious. >> no, the fact you can't say it and you're telling us we have to go to the association. that's sad. >> the place to go for an answer if there was a settlement. >> ken vogel co-authored the report with two others. i'm sure you heard the answer from mr. cain. let me get the reaction to his denial. >> what he's saying is he never sexually harassed someone. clearly there were allegations of sexual harassment. he's saying he didn't perceive his behavior to be sexual harassment. we have allegations from two women. we've actually seen a settlement document that one of the women reached that details the allegation and actually delivers this five-figure settlement that includes a non-disclosure agreement. clearly there are sensitivities here. that's why we didn't name these women. nonetheless, there's been no denial of the fact there were these settlements. >> ken, how did this story come about for folks who haven't been foll

right now it's cain.hold it anymore than perry, bachmann or palin, who's not even running? that will be the question. >> the real question, whether romney can gather the support. he hasn't fully embraced the tea partiant and on the flip site, the audition on the right, the other big story in the race, mitt romney despite candidates rising and falling around him, he's steady but stuck. around 25%, 26% in your poll. when you ask people who agrees with you on the issues, one of the other big questions you asked, only at about 20% and again, on the tea party side i think only at 14% among those voters saying that they agree with him most on the issues. the one positive leading indicator for romney in your poll, beginning to establish some gap with the others when you ask who is most likely to beat obama and win? probably hoping to be in effect the last man standing. you don't have to have a majority of support to get nominated. there may never be a majority in the party that wants to nominate romney. as long

herman cain.id corn's an msnbc political analyst and "mother jones" magazine's washington bureau chief, and jonathan martin is senior political reporter for politico. gentleman, i want to know how this ends for this fellow, herman cain, who's come out of nowhere. you're chuckling, but let me raise a couple of questions here. i'm going to give you a number of questions, the scenario. this guy keeps going up. he's ahead now in south carolina. he's ahead now in florida. he's ahead of the field against a guy who can't do anything but flatline. mitt romney won't get above 23. he stays right there, like a dead guy, politically. whereas cain keeps going up. my question to you, if cain can even hold second place to romney, who gets ahead of him? who beats him? >> i tell you where it ends up. it ends up with herman cain on fox news and a lot of book sales. this guy will not be the nominee, chris. maybe rick perry comes back, you know, it's true that mitt romney's in a weak position, can't get above, but he

cain beating romney there, 34-28.his comes on the heels of a national poll yesterday which put cain in the lead. now, cnn's polls of polls show that cain is still behind romney. just in that margin of error there, 23-20. whatever the case, it is no question that herman cain's popularity is surging. the national poll has you at number one. now the poll has you leading in south carolina and florida. what's your family thinking, and why do you think this happened, that you've surged to the top? >> well, my family, they are not surprised. because they know me from my business career. because i've always done some challenging things. but i believe this happened for two reasons. and it was first evidence with that florida straw poll. first, it demonstrates that the voice of the people is more important than the voice of the media, with all due respect. because for a while, as you know, some people in the media tried to paint this as a two-man governor-on-governor race. the second key message is, message is more powerful tha

now cain. what we also know is that if you are serious about running for president, while you can expect the media to jump on these types of things, you have to be able to run your campaign in an efficient, and professional manner. you know, everybody is going to stumble and everyone is going to forget things, but that can't be routine, right? it can't be the it new normal for the cain campaign. that's where we are. and the "new york times," you know, unsurprisingly is going to cover that angle. cain has to be ready for it. >> bill: all right. because we only have two months now before the first vote january 3rd in iowa. you know, about two months and a couple of days. if herman cain only has six paid employees, i guess you would divide it three and three. three in iowa and three in new hampshire. i don't know if that's true. hard to get inside baseball. >> we all, i think, can conclude that herman cain is probably more surprised than anyone out there that he is where he is on the polls. >> bil