covering the week, dan balz of "the washington post," jeanne cummings of bloomberg news, janet hook of "the wall street journal," and joan biskupic of "u.s.a. today." >> award winning reporting and analysis covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capitol. this is "washington week" with gwen ifill, produced in association with national journal. corporate funding for washington week is provided by -- >> we know why we're here, to give our war fighters every advantage, to deliver technologies that anticipate the future today. >> protect america everywhere from the battle space to cyberspace. >> around the globe, the people of boeing are working together to give our best for america's best. >> that's why we're here. >> additional funding for "washington week" is provided by prudential, norfolk southern, the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likes you, thank you. >> once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. all is now clear. two longed-for candidates have opted

. >> dan balz wrote about this. they saw herman cain as a people person. his likability factor is high. he is a hard-working businessman, someone had people would like to have as their next-door neighbor. the rest of the candidates do not come through that way. they talked about a perry -- what word comes to mind when you think of a fifth grade kid? bully. >> nina? >> he is a fabulous salesmen did go online and watch a missing in what sounds like a prayer -- watch him as saying what sounds like a prayer song, but it is about pizza. he has a beautiful voice, by the way. there's a certain level of satire, humor, but he is selling, and that is what he is doing now. what is he selling? >> evan? >> he is not going to be president. he is a very appealing guy, but people are not going to vote for him as president. romney is lucky in a way to have him out there because he is not really a threat. the only one who can beat romney at this stage is romney. . >> didn't peter hart asked about herman cain? >> yes. acknowledging that the focus group is not a scientific sa

bush's former strategist, mark halperin of "time" magazine, rich lowry and rich hunt and dan balz of the "washington post." i'm pleased to have all of them here as we look back al at something that took place merely hours ago i begin with hunt and this question. how did this debate if at all change the republican race for the presidency? and the presidential nomination? >> first it was interesting in the issues that were framed and will continue to be framed on the ecomy. i think three things were dominant tonight. one, if you had any doubt that mitt romney was an adult and had gravitas it was clear he d tonight. if i were the obama white house i would not have liked this debate because mitt romney clearly looked good. secondly herman cain was really fascinating. he just... he's a compelling figure and that see it was good. on the other hand there are a couple things that wilcause him problem, the sales tax among others. thirdedlyly-- and matthew would know more than-- rick perry may have a lot of asset bus debate formats are not one. he was given an opportunity tonight by you and ka

dan balz of "the washington post." and gloria borger of cnn. >> award winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week with gwen ifill." produced in association with "national journal." corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> we know why we're here. >> to give our war fighters every advantage. >> to deliver technologies that anticipate the future today. >> and help protect america everywhere. from the battle space to cyber space. >> around the globe, the people of boeing are working together. to give our best for america's best. >> that's why we're here. >> additional funding for "washington week" is provided by prudential financial, norfolk southern, the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. within the last 48 hours, two ji -- two gigantic shoes have drop

tomorrow on the show, "the washington post's" dan balz and al hunt continue their debate in new hampshirelook at what's next on "news nation." >> great to see you. >> you got the orange memo. >> i guess we did. richard engle has arrived in egypt 24 hours after an outbreak of violence between christians and muslims and why leaders are criticizing the government for not protecting them. plus the wall street protest is spreading further across the country, even across the pond. new reaction coming in from congresswoman michele bachmann who is going after the protesters. herman cain doubling down on his criticism. zachary from the daily beast will join me live. "news nation" is minutes away. uh, it is, yeah, it's a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? well it still takes gas to go farther. but you're not getting gas. true. not this time. uh, don't have to gas up very often. so you have to go to the bathroom? no. yes you do. thought these were electric? yes, it's a uh, a chevy volt. so what are you doing at a gas station? ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announce

dan balz, good to have you in new hampshire for us on a monday morning rather than here next to me. >uck. >>> up next we're kicking off the week with our monday political panel. but first the mess is closed at the white house today. because, you know, it's technically a holiday. columbus day, native american day. everybody's got a different name for what this day is about. but no soup for you. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. ♪♪ [ female announcer ] the road is not exactly a place of intelligence. highway maintenance is underfunded, costing drivers $67 billion a year, and countless tires. which drivers never actually check because they're busy, checking email. this is why we engineered a car that makes 2,000 decisions every second. the new audi a6 is here. the road is now an intelligent place. ♪ if you think even the best bed can only lie there. ask me what it's like when my tempur-pedic moves. talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america. ask me about my tempurpedic advanced ergo. ask me about having all the right moves. th

that was a negative, i think in fact, you don't have to use me as a source here or as a pundit, but dan balz aims johnson in the book believe that that had tremendous influence on the outcome of the election because when that first debate began, they were neck and neck, a little bit of the advantage to mccain. obama took the lead in the polls after that debate, and one of the reasons as people said, he came over as angry and fidgety and rigid. and he never ever recovered from that. >> host: you also write about sort of this threshold that a presidential candidate needs to cross, like he's ready, or she's ready. and that for barack obama that may, in fact, have been a threshold. but talk about that, a little bit, a candidate, people are looking i do i on their television sets. >> guest: that's the key to the whole thing. in obama's case, the issue out there, spoken and unspoken, is this guy really ready to be president? is he going to be cool enough under pressure? could he really handle himself? and up until that point, up until the first debate people have seen these candidates in their own

kearney who is running the campaign, joe friday of talkers had two poignant but critical points in the dan balz piece, sofring this since jesus was a little boy, knows what he speaks, message is more important than chatter and the polls are polaroids, that's what they're acting on that all of this chatter, all of these suggestions, or implications about perry's debate performance playing them out into a bigger finding doesn't -- doesn't hold. over 70% of voter did not make up their minds in iowa, new hampshire, until the final month. we're not into that phase when you put boots on the ground. >> what does governor perry have do to get back into the game? >> better at debatindebating. he's had as many important debates in two months than in 13 years in texas politics. texas is such a red state that you win down there by rallying conservatives, you don't have to persuade. he's now in the persuasion business and that takes getting used to. they do have money, some infrastructure and nature and the american media abhor a vacuum and they will not allow there to be a stroll for romney -- >> you menti

dan balz was an eyewitness. we'll ask you about that after the break.honor of halloween we ask our first ever photo challenge question. what are these people and what are they dressed as? the answer, it's al and tipper gore, 1999, dressed as the cartoon characters underdog and polly purebred. a lot of you guys got this quickly. i was impressed. we'll be right back. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. to brind 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. or go to walmart.com for details. sweet & salty nut bars... they're made from whole roasted nuts and dipped in creamy peanut butter, making your craving for a sweet & salty bar irresistible, by nature valley. >>> we're kind of into those slogans, man. live free or die. victory or death. bring it. they printed more money over there in washington, the gold's going to be good. 20% flat t