now, our jim acosta is there at that values voter summit for us. here, if you would, jim. >> reporter: well, tj, it's a difficult story to tell, because it is so very complicated. but basically, here's how it goes. yesterday, here at the values voter summit, that pastor that you mentioned, robert jeffers from first baptist church of dallas was giving the introductory comments for rick perry. pastor jeffers is an endorser of rick perry, wants to see him elected president. and it was during these introductory comments that pastor jeffers said very interesting. he said, quote, do we want a candidate who is a good moral person or do we want a candidate who is a born-again follower of jesus christ? that was a not so subtle dig at mitt romney. and so when pastor jeffers walked out of the ballroom, he was peppered by reporters with questions about what exactly demean by that? and pastor jeffers did not mince words. he said he believes that mitt romney is not a christian. that he says mitt romney is a mormon and mormonism is part of a cult, and so therefore

jim acosta is there for us. what's happening right now?, wolf, i was able to pull aside here just for a few moments, dr. robert jeffers. the pastor of the first baptist church of dallas. he also gave a speech introducing rick perry and if you don't mind me saying, you've created a bit of a stir coming out of that speech because in talking to reporters, you said in pretty strong, plain language what you think of mormonism. you described it as a cult and you said that if republican votes for mitt romney, they're giving some credibility to a cult. do you stand by that comment? >> absolutely. that's not some fanatical. that's been the -- southern baptist convention has officially labeled mormonism as a cult. i think mitt romney's a good, moral man, but those of us who are born again followers of christ should prefer a competent christian that's why i'm enthusiastic about perry. >> what do you say to those voters who said religion as mormonism shouldn't be an issue. he's just as american as anyone else. >> i aglee and article 6 of the constitut

jim acosta joins us. what do you think? how did cain do? >> with all that talk about the 999 plan last night, kyra. i thought it was the plug for the 9:00 show. no, you could probably read the thought bubble coming out of mitt romney's head last night. he was basically saying i could get used to this because so much of the attention at this debate was focused on herman cain, the former ceo of godfather's pizza. probably felt like one of his own pizza because his rivals that table were turning up the heat. >> jobs, jobs, jobs. >> herman cain find out what happens to candidates who shoot up in the polls. they become big targets. >> when you take the 999 plan and you turn it upside down, i think the devil's in the details. cain's economic plan and sets rates at 9%. also create a new 9% national sales tax. >> if i think it's a catchy phrase. in fact, i thought it was the price of a pizza when i first heard about it. here's what we need. we need something that is doable, doable, doable. >> it will pass. it's not the price of a pizza. >> it was g

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kudos to jim acosta for nailing that guy down and getting to know that this guy is political. >> jim s a friend, i'm a little bias. let's talk about that bright future. marco rubio for those who don't know is a 40-year-old republican senator from florida. gop rock star on the short list as a possible vp candidate, even though he has ruled it out himself. but he appeals to latino voters and wouldn't this be a great way for republicans to have a chance at winning florida in 2012? >> no, they'll win florida, i think, anyway in 2012. i think rubio would help them win florida. but where rubio becomes a cost completely, not a smart move for rick perry to choose marco rubio because he has single handedly because of his views on immigration turned off many mexican americans. two-thirds of tlatino pie are mexican, mexican/americans. california, texas, arizona all those other places because he's not very popular out there. >> all right, reuben, thank you very much. you can read his op-ed column at cnn.com/opinion. if you like, join the conversation. you can even leave a comment for him. >>> com

jim acosta is in vegas. we'll talk to him about who is under the most pressure to perform well tonight. we'll be going live to las vegas to catch up with jim in just a second. >>> all right, meanwhile, let's go to senior political editor mark preston, also in vegas while we're waiting to hear from our jim acosta. mark, we have just been talking about these new polls that were released a few moments ago as we are preparing for the presidential debate tonight. okay. this is live television, folks. it's like a juggling act when you have about three live shots to get to in las vegas. jim acosta, are you in place? there we go. we got you. >> this is a, this is of no fault of my own, kyra. i promise you. >> did you have a late night in vegas, jim? >> listen, what happens in vegas, kyra. that's all i have to say. no. the lovely carol costello, carol had to move off and mark preston and i had to move in. this is live tv. we have to roll with the punches here. we got a little debate tonight, what do you think, kyra? >

you were talking to jim acosta about that poll. one of the questions, and this is republicans only, do you think christie -- you would you like it see him as the nominee. 42% say yes, 34% say no and about one in four were not sure. here is the interesting part. go to the next poll. they asked the same thing about sarah palin. republicans overwhelming there, two out of three say no, they did not want to see her run. and one other thing before skji dropped off, you were asking about that speeds up of the process. and i think that is part of the equation here. with iowa and new hampshire going right after the new year, for chris christie to form a campaign and get people in the early states by the end of this year, that's a tall task. >> absolutely right. one of the things that we've talked about again and again is the notion that tea partiers have been driving a the lo of the issues, a lot of the stanl stances. was that a factor for him in deciding not to run? >> you got it. you and i were talking about this just yesterday. and, yeah

jim acosta.get easier when he stepped off the stage. our deputy political director paul steinhauser joining us from vegas. so, paul, cain says he misspoke about a possible terror swap for terrorists in guantanamo bay. that interview with wolf blitzer. critics saying this exposes a bigger weakness, in their words, of him. tell us about that. >> reporter: yes, some critics say maybe herman cain isn't ready for primetime. listen to how it started and how it played out throughout the day starting with wolf blitzer's "situation room." take a listen. >> did you see yourself as president authorizing that kind of transfer? >> i could see myself authorizing that kind of transfer, but what i would do is, i would make sure that i got all of the information. i got all of the input, considered all of the options, and then the president has to be the president and make a judgment call. i can make that call if i had to. >> now, i believe in the philosophy of, we don't negotiate with terrorists. i've been saying

paul steinhauser, walk away from jim acosta.mments did herman cain make with regard to the wall street protesters? >> he made interesting comments about the protesters making a lot of news lately and herman cain doesn't mince words and he talks about what he thinks and basically he said, what is the big deal here? he said, quote, i don't have the facts to back this up but i believe the demonstrators are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failures of the obama administration. don't blame wall street. don't blame the big banks. if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself. and he said it in typical herman cain speech. so for all of the talk out there, people writing these kids off on wall street not having much effect on the candidates. they got the president talking about them which may raise their profile a little bit. >> okay. jim, thank you very much. >> you bet. >>> nba fans, the first two weeks of regular season will be canceled if they cannot reach a deal. the main sticking point is how to divide b

jim acosta is awaiting rick perry's event next hour in graycourt, south carolina. alk about the flat tax plan. >> reporter: yeah, keira. there's political urgency for rick perry announcing this new tax plan. "the new york times" cbs news poll shows perry in fifth place with just 6% of the support of republicans right now. so he's hoping he can change all of that and really eject some energy to his struggling campaign with this new economic plan he calls cut, balance and grow. he'll be talking about it in an hour from now, but i want to go over some of the details of the proposal. he's talking about, as you just mentioned, an optional flat tax rate at 20%. americans could also stick with their current tax rate if they prefer that. he would also lower the corporate tax rate to 20%. he would eliminate the estate tax and taxes on long-term capital gains and dividends and social security benefits. he also says he would go after the deficit and hold domestic spending to 18% of gdp. but perry as he's announcing this plan has gotten off message. over the weekend he gave an

jim acosta is there.k perry talked about his views on immigration and he had some strong language about it. >> reporter: he did, don. this has been an issue for rick perry, ever since giving the statement about undocumented workers in texas. his republican rivals had given him all sorts of grief for it and rick perry said that he was talking about the drug war down in mexico and called it a clear and present danger. he said that you can't take military options off the table when it comes to dealing with that. what did he have to say? >> and let me say this about border security. i have lived and breathed this as a border governor. i've dealt with the carnage caused by traffic and drug and weapons and people. as a border governor, i know firsthand the failures of our federal border policies and i know the answers to those answers is not to grant amnesty for those who broke the laws to come into this country. >> reporter: you know, one thing that we did not hear from rick perry, don, is that he did not apol

he was critical of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and told our jim acosta and others that morm ononism is cult. >> you created a stir because in talking to reporters, you said in pretty strong plain language what you think of mormonism. you describe it as a cult. and you say that if a republican votes for mitt romney, they're giving credibility to a cult. to you stand fwby that comment? >> absolutely. that is the historic position of evangelical christianity. we have officially labelled mormonism as a couple. i think those born again followers of christ should prefer a competent christian to a competent nonchristian like mitt romney. that's why i'm enthusiastic about rick perry. >> what do you say to voters who say religion, his mormonism shouldn't be an issue? he's just as american as anybody else? >> i agree he's just american as anyone else. >> reporter: and mormons do say they are christians. >> a lot of people say they are christians and they are not. they do not embrace historical christiani christianity. i believe as christians we have the duty to prefer and se

jim acosta is looking at herman cain. a lot of us are asking the question, can herman cain go the distance? >> he's been written off as the unromney or flavor of the month. a lot of republicans are starting to ask the question. could herman cain somehow become the next president of the united states? herman cain is no long shot anymore. latest cnn poll shows the upstart gop contender right on the heels of front-runner mitt romney. >> thank you. >> for many conservatives, the sudden surge is as simple as 999, cain's economic plan which replaces the current tax code with one that taxes individuals and corporations at 9% and add a new national sales tax at 9%. >> it's bold. it's dramatic. >> but grover norquist cautions against creating new revenue streams for the government. >> you've got one needle in your arm drawing blood. that can hurt. you put in two more and you can really begin to move to drain the blood out of a person or the income out of people's pockets. >> reporter: cain argues consumers could take steps to avoi

later, jim acosta gave jeffers a chance to clarify his controversial comments. >> if you don't mind me saying, pastor jefferss, you created a bit of a stir coming out of that speech. in talking to reporters, you said in strong, plain language what you think of mormonism. you described it as a cult and you said if a republican votes for mitt romney, they're giving some credibility to a cult. you stand by that comment? >> absolutely. that's not a fanatical comment. that's been a historic position of southern christian ee advantage gelky. i think mitt romney is a good, moral man, but i think those r of us who are born again followers of christ should always prefer a competent christian to a competent non-christian like mitt romney. >> what do you say to those voters out there who say that religion as mormonism shouldn't be an issue in this campaign? >> i agree he's just as american as anyone else. >> and mormons say they're christian. they believe in jesus christ. >> but they do not believe historical christianity. and i, again, please that we have a duty to select christians as our leade

jim acosta, thanks so much. coming up in the next half hour, we're going to hear from ron paul who also addressed the values voters summit. >>> demonstrators are back in the streets today to the occupy wall street protest. they are now in their 22nd day. the protest started in new york and they have spread to a dozen other cities now coast-to-coast including portland, oregon, austin, texas, washington, d.c. susan candiotti with us. saturday has been the biggest day so far for these protests, right? >> that's right. and here in new york they are planning something different. what's different? instead of just being in that part near wall street that we've seen so many times now because we're now entering the fourth week, believe it or not, now the group wants to expand its base of operations here in the city. so they are going to move to set up a second location in washington square park which is up the street. it's also in the heart of the new york university campus which could attract more students certainly. it

jim acosta explains. >> reporter: during a series of events in florida, marco rubio admitted what is of his own family story. his parents did not come to the u.s. after fidel castro seized control of cuba in 1959 as his senate web bio once stated. it came in 1956 as his corrected site states now. >> does it change anything? absolutely not. >> i was raised by exiles. >> reporter: a democrat leaning political action committee called american bridge 21 cst century says the dates do matter, suggesting in this video rubio is not really a cuban exile because his parents left the island before castro took over. rubio referred to his family as exiles in this cnn interview last year. >> it's hard to be a political when your exiles are raised by exiles. >> reporter: the senator insists his parents are exiles because they couldn't go home. >> they spent the rest of their lives, my mom is still alive, separated permanently from the nation of their birth. that makes them exiles and immigrants. >> we hold republicans accountable. >> reporter: this was revealed in an exclusive interview with cnn, h

and our own jim acosta is standing by in the strip in vegas for us now and so is steve sebelius. th of you. let's start with you, jim. every time we have one of these debates, it seems like there is a new attention grabber. this time around, of course, it is herman cain. it was other candidates before that. it was michelle bachmann and others. now it's herman cain's turn. >> reporter: that's right, don. this is going to be a big test for herman cain on tuesday night. and a lot of republicans are going to be watching to see how he handles, how he responds to a couple of controversies that popped up just this weekend, don, you know, down in tennessee. he was campaigning and he talked about the fact that he would like to see an electrical fence down on the u.s.-mexico border to keep illegal immigrants out of the country. and, you know, that really raised a lot of eyebrows. he said on "meet the press" this morning he was only joking. i would imagine that that is going to come up at the debate on tuesday night. he's going to be asked about that. one of the other candidates may challeng

and that's his biggest challenge at this point. >> jim acosta, thanks to both of you.e'll be watching. it's going to be interesting on tuesday. who will come out on top in the cnn western republican presidential debate? make sure you join us from las vegas tuesday night, 8:00 p.m. eastern. cnn's anderson cooper will be asking the questions. >>> security forces accused of opening fires on demonstrators in yemen. luck? i don't trade on luck. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. trade commission free for 60 days [ cow moos ]ng ] agents, name these critters. these are the sweet little animals that run into the road and cause car crashes. deer alone cause billion

jim acosta has been covering governor perry's rollout.>> that's right. the voters here in south carolina got a sneak preview of rick perry part two today and while some of his supporters are hoping the squeal is better than the original, parts of the governor's message may sound like a rerun. this was supposed to be the day for the new and improved rick perry. the texas governor was armed with a radical new plan that he says would balance the budget by 2020, change entitlement programs and give americans the option of a 20% flat tax on their income or stick with what they already pay. >> this is a change election and i offer a plan that changes the way that washington does business. >> it was also a changed perry barring a page from the herman cain marketing playbook. the texas governor used props to illustrate the simple choice. keep the reams of paper representing the current tax code -- >> the best representation in my plan is this postcard. >> or switch to a tax form that fits on a postcard. >> taxpayers will be able to fill this out

jim acosta is here with what could be a very challenging test for cain tonight. pounce on herman cain tonight. >> i would think so. carol, the poll you just showed was just the perfect example of how republicans are becoming like vegas oddsmakers. they are starting to see mitt romney as the safe bet for the gop nomination and herman cain as a bit of a long shot and part of that is because of herman cain's outspoken style. take his most recent comments on immigration. it is likely to be the subject of tonight's debate. >> when i'm in charge of defense, we're going to have a fence. >> reporter: herman cain says these comments on immigrants crossing the border did not cross the line. >> 20 feet high and barbed wire on the top and it's going to be elect electroi electroified. and there's going to be a signen the other side that says, it will kill you. warning. mr. cain, that's insensitive. no, it's insensitive for them to be killing our citizens, killing our border agents. >> reporter: the outspoken conservative businessman says he was only kidding. >> it was a joke,

strict budget discipline and would continue with the process of liberalisation our correspondent jim acosta is at the forum for business arts. russia is a tough sell right now for investors especially after what we've seen happen with the markets according to the latest reports russia saw an eighteen percent increase in foreign direct investment last year which amounted to thirty five billion dollars now having said that since the beginning of this year we have seen the a billion dollars in the country and loving europe would seem to use this opportunity to pitch to investors and lay out this economic policy point overseas. is the state should reduce its presence in the economy therefore we will gradually withdraw from the capital of state gratian but privatizing states to the state we will appoint an independent professional to the boards of directors of companies with state ownership part of the prime minister's liberalize ation plan includes allowing foreigners to buy up to twenty five percent in some of resource companies without having to deal with lots of red tape as well as the liber

jim acosta, washington. >>> following breaking news, 13 u.s. in kabul, afghanistan. we are working our sources here at cnn, and we'll have a live report at the bottom of the hour. we're back after this. gary... he hung up. ...why do we have so many a's in our name? so we're listed first in the phone book. ya know, gives us an edge. you know fedex can, give us an edge. how? well, fedex ships auto parts from factories around the world, they clear em through customs, and that'll help us fix cars faster. great idea. you know you got a bright future here at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... [ male announcer ] supply chain solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. >>> we are following breaking news out of afghanistan this morning. 13 american troops are dead after a suicide bomb attack in the center of kabul. the bomber targeted a nato convoy traveling through the capital city. an armored bus carrying u.s. troops was in that convoy. u.s. officials say details are continuing to unfold right now. it is the largest single day loss of life for u.s. troops in afghan

jim acosta is on the phone and, jim, what are you hearing? >> well, martin, i talked to a key iowa contributor yesterday who is backing chris christie right now. this is a contributor who's part of a group of donors who tried to go to trenton earlier this year to persuade chris christie to jump into the race and they had dinner at the governor's mansion and at that time the governor said, look, i'm just not ready to run. that contributor told me over the phone yesterday that he has been advised by his group to wait until wednesday before jumping to another campaign. this contributor told me that he is ready to support another candidate. that he and his fellow donors have been getting some overtures from the rick perry campaign and they would like to start making some decisions here. but they've been advised to wait. that's new information in all of this that there may be some word coming out of the christie camp to give the governor just a little more time. but time is not really on his side, martin. as you know, the primary schedule has been

right now we'll bring in jim acosta in south carolina where perry will be speaking. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. jim, perry is calling the plan cut, balance and grow. what exactly does that mean? >> reporter: that's right. well, i think he's hoping that this will grow his poll numbers, joe. cut, balance and grow, it basically -- you can slice it into three parts like cutting nestic spending to 18% of gdp, to see a balanced budget attempt and to grow the economy. he wants to grow the economy with a really radically different tax code than the american people are used to. he's talking about going over some of these details right now unveiling in the wall street journal. a 20% flat tax that would be offered to individuals that they could choose from, they could either have the flax tax or stay with their current income tax rate. he would lower the corporate tax rate to 20%. wipe out taxes on long-term capital gains and dividends and social security benefits. it is a radical plan. as you mentioned, it is sort of borrowing the page a little bit from herm

jim acosta is at the values voter summit where rick perry was making his pitch. this is pure and simple red, neat politics. what do you think of what he said? did he make his case today when it comes to immigration? >> reporter: well, on that issue of in-state tuition for undocumented workers in texas, he's gotten beat up on it quite a bit. he made it pretty clear that the value voter summit that there should be no amnesty for undocumented workers and we've heard rick perry talk about this in recent weeks, talking about the drug war going on down in mexico and he used a phrase today that i'm not sure we've heard from rick perry, referred to it as a clear and present danger to the united states and also said that no options should be taken off of the table when it comes to dealing with mexico and the united states, under the perry administration, enters into a military cooperation with mexican forces the way that the united states did with colombia to fight the drug cartels. >> very specifically, he said, that being a governor has lived and breathed for a while no

jim acosta joins me live from las vegas. jim, you have new poll numbers. what do they say?een showing in the last week or so, herman cain right at the head of the pack or near the head of the pack. he is nipping at the heels of mitt romney, really just neck and neck at this point, our latest poll showing 26% for romney, 25% for cain and rick perry at 13%, a major reversal of fortunes for rick perry. just last month, joe, our cnn/orc poll showed rick perry at 30%. he was leading the field, ahead of mitt romney at that time, herman cain at 9% then. he has nearly tripled his support among the republicans in this latest poll. another thing i think is just really interesting about these poll numbers is that two-ed thirds of the republicans we surveyed said they might change their mind between now and when they have to vote in their individual state primary or caucus. and, you know, they're fairly satisfied with their candidates. the folks that we surveyed in this poll, only about a third of those said that they're not satisfied with the field at this point. most are saying they'

cnn jim acosta is joining us with details. ht now, jim. >> it is the healthcare headache that won't go away for mitt romney. the healthcare program he passed in massachusetts is back in the headlines. it is in the l.a. times and not in a good way. >> just moments after mitt romney filed his official paperwork to run in the new hampshire primary, a political ghost came back it haunt the gop front-runner from across the border in massachusetts. as it turns out, the state healthcare law signed by romney in 2006 when he was governor of massachusetts can kohn taned a program for uninsured residents that allows illegal residents to receive services. that safety net was well known inside romney's administration according to experts who helped draft the administration. >> absolutely his people had know both before and after the law about how the state dealt with this need. this was a costly issue. it was part of the process and conversation leading the passage of the law. >> you had the -- >> i'm speaking. i'm speaking. i'm speaking. i

jim acosta watched it all unfold. jim is here, and, wow. the crowd was really into it, though, i must say. >> reporter: that's right. the wild western republican debate, i guess you could say. for weeks mitt romney has cruised through don't after debate. sort of letting rick perry and herman cain take all the abu, b abuse but that changed in last night's cnn debate. >> anderson -- would you please wait. >> reporter: a wild west shoot-out on the las vegas strip and a times felt like rick perry's last stand with an urgent strategy to take down mitt romney. >> you hired illegals, in your home, and you knew about it for a year, and the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy. >> reporter: romney wasn't laughing for long. >> are you just going to keep talking? >> a tough couple of debates for rick. >> reporter: civil discourse was out the window. this was the first gop debate to get personal. >> we hired a law company to mow our lown, and they had illegal immigran