, our political analyst >> schieffer: back now with cbs news political analyst john dickerson. ack from iowa. start from the top, john. i mean what's happening out in iowa and how about herman cain this morning. >> let's talk about herman cain. it's gone from a flirtation with herman cain to now we're in a steady relationship. there's a lot of forgiveness in that early period. he's had these stumbles on abortion that you got him to speak about today. these other issues. the supporters who like him because he's not a washington politician, they give him a lot of leeway because they say "he's not polished. that's okay." they also like his simplicity. one of the top aides called it "kid logic," which is just the simple common sense solutions that others may call simplistic. they love it. for that non-mitt romney spot. there aren't any alternatives left. he's a winning character. there's no other candidate out there that those who don't like mitt romney can go for. >> schieffer: his position on abortion, which i have to say, is contrary to what he has stated before. he now says he o

that's going to take a lot of work for him. >> schieffer: john dickerson, thanks so much.with some final thoughts in just a minute. congratulations. congratulations. congratulations. today, the city of charlotte can use verizon technology to inspire businesses to conserve energy and monitor costs. making communities greener... congratulations. ... and buildings as valuable to the bottom line... whoa ! ... as the people inside them. congratulations. because when you add verizon to your company, you don't just add, you multiply. ♪ discover something new... verizon. you know what else is early? medicare open enrollment. now through december 7th. can i stick with my old medicare plan? sure! or find a new plan with better coverage, less cost, or both. medicare plans give you free cancer screenings and wellness visits and 50% off on brand-name prescriptions when you're in the doughnut hole. it's part of the healthcare law. so it's time to look, compare... and choose the right plan for you. learn more at 1-800-medicare or medicare.gov. your core competency is...competency. and yo

who helped to break that by giving these enormous bailouts to special interests. >> mitchell: john dickersonn washington, as always, thanks a lot. >> thanks, russ. >> mitchell: with the unemployment rate still stuck at 9.1%, you might think that any employer who is actually hiring would have no trouble finding recruits. not so. cynthia bowers reports on the skills gap that is leaving so many good jobs unfilled. >> this is your desk top printer on steroids. >> reporter: last year's paul raucher's company emt international hired more than 100 people. what do you say to people who say the manufacturing sector is dead in america? >> they don't know what they're talking about. >> reporter: but as his green bay business continues to expand, he is finding it harder and harder to fill the jobs. >> so in order for us to grow, we have to have a steady influx of qualified people, and there's a very small candidate pool out there. >> even with wisconsin's unemployment nearing 8%, manufacturers say they're having a tough kind attracting the right kind of worker. the few applicants they get often lack the

norah o'donnell our chief white house correspondent and john dickerson our political analyst.o joining us, julianna goldman of bloomberg news, white house correspondent for them. and julianna i want to start with you because you were one of the questioners at the republican debate last week. things sort of stayed in place. what did you take away from it? >> herman cain came across as very likable, authentic, compelling. but with his new frontrunner status comes the scrutiny of a frontrunner and questions about whether the 999 plan really adds up. rick perry really came to that debate needing to play. he didn't have an economic plan to put forth. this was a debate focused only on the economy. he also did not use the opportunity to really hit mitt romney very hard on health care. instead talking about the need to block grant medicaid dollars back to the states. mitt romney really did seem to be the most confident and comfortable on matters of the economy. at the debate. >> schieffer: it seems to me, john, to be a consensus in the political community that whether republicans are

our own cbs news political team: congressional correspondent nancy cordes and political analyst john dickerson. it's all ahead on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, bob schieffer. >> schieffer: morning again. welcome to face the nation. in the studio with us today herman cain annuity gingrich. i want to ask both of you. you both spoke to the big conservative values conference last week. but the preacher who introduceded rick perry kind of stole all the headlines because he told reporters that more monism is a cult and that mitt romney is not a christian. mr. gingrich, should that be part of the discussion? >> no. i think that none of us should sit in judgment on somebody else's religion. i thought it was very unwise and very inappropriate. >> schieffer: do you think that mitt romney is a christian? >> i think he's a mormon and they define themselves as a branch of christianity. >> schieffer: your thoughts? >> we're not running for theologian in chief. we're running for president of united states of america. while i believe that the american people want

jan crawford and john dickerson on what that will mean. the incredible story of a 67- year-old man found and rescued six days after his car plunged off a california cliff. and steve hartman on the time he spent a few minutes with andy rooney. >> it costs money for three elevators to come to the lobby at the same time. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> schieffer: good evening, scott's on assignment, i'm bob schieffer. well, our military and intelligence forces have been tracking him for years and today they found him and killed him. anwar al-awlaki who apparently inspired the fort hood major who killed 13 service members and whose ties to al qaeda may go back as far as the 9/11 hijackers was tracked down leaving a funeral in yemen and killed by a rocket fired from a u.s. drone aircraft. we have reports tonight from david martin and bob orr. first to david at the pentagon. david? >> reporter: bob, the hunt for al-awlaki was code named "objective troy" and has been in high gear for months. a c.i.

our political analyst john dickerson is just back from iowa.hould say here we did also for a representative from the perry campaign, but they never got back to us. we're going to get to 2012 in a minute. but first, we got a look at some excerpts from former secretary of state condi rice's new book, "no higher honor" from the upcoming issue of "newsweek". according to "newsweek," as national security advisor condoleezza rice had been concerned from the beginning about the lack of pentagon planning for a post-war iraq; that is prior to the invasion in 2003. her attempts, she writes, "always led to a rather dismissive handling of the question." she says, "when i finally arranged a briefing on the issue before the president in early february, 2002, he started the meeting in a way that completely destroyed any chance of getting an answer." quote, she says, he says, "this is something condi has wanted to talk about." "i could immediately see," she says, "that the generals no longer thought it to be a serious question." after that meeting she says her

covering the week, john dickerson of "slate" magazine and cbs news. john harwood of cnbc and "the new york times." jackie calmes of "the new york times," and janet hook of "the wall street journal." >> 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 negotiation is national journal. corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> this rock has never stood still. since 1875 we have been there for our clients through good times and bad. when their needs changed, we were there to meet them. through the years from insurers to investment management, to real estate and retirement solutions, we develop new ideas for the financial challenges ahead. this rock has never stood still. and that's one thing that will never change. prudential. >> a shrine a powerful thing. it connects the global economy to your living room. cleaner air to stronger markets. factory floors to less crowded roads. today's progress to tomorrow's promise. norfolk summit,

. >>> and with us now, john dickerson who is in las vegas. john, good to have you here. these new e-mails slamming mormonism, what do they do to rick perry at this point and essentially to the rest of the candidates? >> it doesn't really help rick perry at all. his campaign is in a hole. he's had some bad debate performances and conservatives are confused about some of his positions, particularly on immigration. what he needs to do is get himself out of that hole and hurting mitt romney doesn't help with that. he needs to reintroduce himself to voters, explain why he's a conservative that they like and to the extent that this story or any other story distracts from that, that's not good for rick perry. >> how important is religion when he comes to the eventual candidate here snd there's a lot of talk about the importance of the evangelical vote, there is a strong mormon vote in this country. a lot of people follow the mormon faith and they tend to vote pretty conservative. >> reporter: as jan mentioned, in south carolina and iowa, 60% of those who participate in the prim

. >>> also joining us, john dickerson who is up early in las vegas as well. take a look at this. as jan said, perhaps bruised in a lot of cases. everyone is talking about mitt romney and rick perry. which one of them did what they needed to do last night? >> well, whatever they were serving before the debate they are now serving it in the casinos with the risk-taking and gambling the candidates were doing. clearly rick perry came to press his case, show passion. he was in mitt romney's face a lot of the debate. he was also -- sometimes he didn't take the bait and go after romney. he took those opportunities to make a forceful case for his energy plan, his record in texas. what was clear from the back and forth is these will be the last two standing. for rick perry who's been in a tailspin this was a good night to get back in shape. >> a big change for him. he came out of the gate, gloves clearly off in this one. we heard it would happen in the last debate and it didn't. did you think the message got through that he needed to be more present in many ways? >> right. the clock is ti

john dickerson in las vegas. thanks. >> thanks, erica. >>> the latest from wall street. the markets oep oened a little bit lower this morning after the dow fell 247 points on monday. alexis of cbs money watch is at the stock exchange. ended a two-week rally. what are investors looking at right now? >> looks like investors are searching for direction after another round of mixed earnings reports and another sign that europe is still far from finding a solution to its debt crisis. taking an early look now at the dow jones industrial average on the big board. here's where big things stand. goldman sachs posting only its second quarterly loss since going public in 1999. apple and intel will show us their profit report cards and that happens after the closing bell and wholesale prices surge nearly 1% last month as companies paid more for gas, food and other goods. if you take out food and energy, inflation was actually pretty tame. but there is word that europe's debt crisis may be going from bad to worse. now, moody's says it may downgrade france's top credit rating over the

we want to bring in john dickerson who is also in washington this morning.ere is still a little bit of time left here. is there enough time for someone else, a sarah palin to jump into the race or is the field essentially set now? >> i think the cast is pretty much set here. we may have a special guest appearance by sarah palin. she is still hofvering around ad has in our cbs poll, 73% said that they did not want palin to run. that is a very steep hill to climb and particularly with such a short amount of time left. because in that period of time, you would have to overcome those numbers. she has very high negatives and you have to do. they suggest she might go her own way but that would defy the laws of politics. >> let's talk about herman cain. our poll showing minimum in a dead heat with romney right now. what is it about cain that is resonating with voters and can he sustain this? >> he says the fact he has not been in washington. also he is a straight talker. a bit of him, a bit of the chris christie element in him that he sort of says it like he sees i

. >> joining us this morning from hanover, new hampshire, the site of last night's debate is john dickersonmitt romney which we expected and herman cain. herman cain was making an effort to be heard and even when he was told a few times he would have a chance to answer, he couldn't stop talking. how did he do? >> a lot of his opponents were talking about his 999 plan and it's a good thing when you're in a race, if everybody is talking about you, that means you're at the top. he took every opportunity to mention his tax plan. he was a bit of a one note wonder and that is both a strength and a weakness. it's a strength for the voters who like his simplicity. the idea it's not that difficult, if you have a plan and work it, you can succeed. the problem is there a second act? can he explain this plan and what he did mostly in the debate when he was challenged, he was challenged on two fronts that his plan will never pass or if it is passed congress will make a mess of it it will be worse than the current tax code. he didn't really answer those questions. he has plenty of time to but he'll have

. >>> also joining us is cbs news political analyst john dickerson who is up dark and early in las vegas as well. john, take a look at many. as jan said, perhaps bruise inside a lot of cases. a lot of people are talking this morning about rick perry and mitt romney. which did what they needed to do last night? >> whatever they were serving in the debate they are serving in the casinos with the risk taking the gambling the candidates were doing. clearly, rick perry came to press his case and show passion and in mitt romney's face a lot of the debate and sometimes he took the opportunities make a forceful for his energy plan in texas. it seems those are the last two men standing. rick perry in a bit of a tailspin probably a good night to get back into good shape. >> he came out of the gate and gloves clearly off. do you think the message got through to him he needed to be more present in many ways? >> right. the clock is ticking. less than three months before the iowa caucuses and also this is the last debate for three weeks. so this was a chance to kind of show that perry really wants it

we bring in cbs political analyst john dickerson. how big is this perry controversy and how quickly does the campaign think they can put this behind them? >> if the perry campaign was running smoothly and going, this might have been the kind of thing he could weather. also if he had been in the race earlier if the candidates have it distracts from his effort to get back on track. the best they can hope for in the perry campaign is somehow switch the subject under some kind of ground where he has more strength to talk about, but right now, it's a real problem. >> jan, chris christie, last week, they were saying he was 50/50 on getting in. is the campaign up to 55/45b or 60/40 at this point? >> reporter: i was hearing over the weekend he was starting to see the real hurdles to him getting into this race and it all comes down to timing. when if you think about what chris christie would have to do if he announces his candidacy, i'm told if he gets in we will know probably early this week, he has three months to put a campaign together an

john dickerson joins us with the latest from washington. good morning to you. >> good morning, russ. >> chris christie has said what don't you understand about this, i am not running for president. what are you hearing? >> well, he has said that a lot, and for a long time those close to him said he really meant, it and he came -- he had a whole stack of reasons of why he wasn't running, and now, though, the sheer volume of people who have asked him to get into the race has changed his mind, and so he has been giving it serious consideration. i've talked to people who have talked to him recently, and i have gotten two different answers. one who thinks he is really leaning to get into the rashgs and the other was not so sure. the longest we'll have to wait is a week. we may hear, though, a lot earlier than that early in the week or midweek next week. >> not only is governor christie said i'm not getting into the race time and time again, but he also said i'm not ready for that yet. could that come back to bite him if he does? >> absolutely. h