advocacy group, and then an author of a great new book "for liberty and justice for some," and then karen hunter, journalists and professor, and pulitzer prize winner, and our panelists yesterday so we have to book you together at some point, don't you think? >> no. >> so first off let's talk about the week the president had. a very productive week for him. on monday he announced a plan to give much needed mortgage relief to under water homeowners, and on tuesday he changed community health centers to hire veterans, and then lowering monthly payments for student loans, and graduates that have loans through the federal student loan program, and then helping find the services needed from local governments, and it's all part of the campaign, and it was all done without congress. the president was not shy about it in his weekly video address yesterday. >> the truth is we can no longer wait for congress to do its job. the middle class families who have been struggling for years are tired of waiting. they need help now. so where congress won't act, i will. >> congress is not happy, or some members are

at&t. >>> we are here in new york, and karen hunter is reading the twitter response to his comments.ust talking about the two-tier justice system, and you wrote a book about the nypd and i went on a position about yesterday's arraignments, and didn't let you finish. i want you to respond. >> i look at the decision in america when you talk about the cops or a number of groups, and it tends to be on the liberal side, this effort to say well occupy wall street, these people speak for us, and they speak for our anger and everybody, and i don't think they are speaking for everybody. i think a lot of the times the people speaking for an awful lot of americans are people that look and act and sound like the cops. >> you must be kidding me? >> i am sure you don't agree. >> no, i don't. >> and i think liberals back themselves back in the corner, and they identify with the michael moores. i don't think people identify with michael moore, do they? >> i don't know if they identify to cops tear-gassing peaceful protesters, either. >> no. >> and when you say liberal -- when you say liberal, we nee

karen hunter is a journalist, a pulitzer prize winner, and nbc contributor, and boras epstein is a gop. so we know people find him likable, karen. and in fact, also in the poll, he's the candidate they would most like to have dinner with. how does he take that and make something of it? >> well, he's made something of it. this is why we're talking about him. the fact that we like him -- well, not we, but the american people -- >> oh, you like him too. you like him. >> he's fun to watch. and in the media, we love him. you know, this is exciting. >> we agree on that. >> but can he turn it into real votes when it comes down to it? >> he can. he has that opportunity to do so. there's no question about it. he has succeeded at what michele bachmann failed at. he's broadn't his appeal to the whole spectrum of the republican party. you're looking at the tea party, the right wing of the party, you're looking at the business conservatives, everybody right now likes herman cain and they're excited about herman cain. look at his background from burger king to godfather pizza, a member of the kansas

. >> let's bring in our company, journalist and publisher karen hunter and republican strategist boristein. if not chris christie, who's time is it? >> mitt romney. this is mitt romney's time. this is a big opportunity for him. you've seen the do not know 18%. he can catch those people and he's ahead. herman cain is doing a good job but he is one of those candidates like bachmann was in midsummer that he's catching hot right now. he'll likely lose a lot. it's romney's to lose right now. >> he still only has the same number, he's flat lining. he can't capture the chris christie crowd because he doesn't have the chris christie energy. he hasn't had it, he will not have it and this is wide open. i'm looking for sarah palin to get in. >> rick perry raised $17.1 million in the third quarter. 4 to 6 million ahead of romney. does money talk? >> money is important, but right now romney is the one that has the republican crowd comfortable. and comfort is very important. >> comfort? >> complacent. >> no, no, comfort with your candidate is very important. >> if they were comfortable with him, the

let's bring in karen hunter and boris epstein.ask the first question, boris, would it be a dream team if you had mitt romney and chris christie on the ticket? >> we saw what happened with the philadelphia eagles bag the dream team. it would be a strong team. mitt romney will most likely be the nominee. he's a strong candidate. he has the public background. that's why chris christie went out and endorsed him. could christie be the nominee, of course. but are there other strong ones like marco rubio. >> does chris christie's enforcement matter? >> i think it hurt chris christie more than it helped romney. he has such a great feeling among republicans. other republicans are not feeling this. they don't like romney. they don't like christie endorsing romney. >> if you look at the polls and the leading states, you look at iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, florida, romney is either first or he's within two or three points -- >> but he's not winning in a way that's exciting. >> chris christie is only going to shore that up. >> he hasn

. >> so karen hunter is an nbc contributor. matt lewis is a contributor. bout that. karen, we have seen donald trump, michelle bachmann, rick perry. now herman cain being at the top. do you see anything different in this candidate? our polls are showing him having the strong support. especially among key conservative. >> he's been there through those people. he's risen and risen. all the way to the top. and i don't think this is a fluke. i agree with him. even though i don't like black walnut ice cream, it's not my flavor. but the analogy was nice. >> and you have that song stuck in your head. >> and i want to read a piece from "the wall street journal." a hundred other people could be president. what candidate is best for voters? are other candidates letting romney off the hook? >> i think romney has, in a way, skated. if you look at his record, he has flip-flopped on almost every major issue. including ronald reagan. and i think, frankly, part of it is because he ran in '08. not only is he a better, more skilled, more experienced debater, but a lot of his

joining me now to talk about it is karen hunter, politics and state editor of the des moines registering to you. good afternoon, i should say. good morning there, good afternoon here. how are you? >> just fine. glad to be here. >> herman cain deciding not to spend a lot of time in that state. why is that? >> i think there are a couple factors at work. one is that they're both businessmen and this is a time when the economy is not doing too well. we ask iowan republican caucus goers whether they would prefer businessmen or whether elected officers were important, and 60% said businessmen. >> they will visit 199 counties in a week, and your poll found that someone with conservative core beliefs could win. why isn't ron paul -- rick santorum doing better? >> he has worked very hard. he's visited here more than any other candidate. but michelle bachmann is going for that same mark, rick perry is trying to get to the voters and that's really hurt him trying to break through. >> i want to talk about this ad that started running in iowa that talks about his poor debate performances. let's lo

. >> to make sense of the republican horse race, i am joined by karen hunter, an msnbc contributor andein, a strategist. despite the flip flopping changes, look at romney in the early battle ground states. they show romney ahead of by 3% in iowa and new hampshire he leads with 40% over cain's 13% and a double-digit lead in florida. they don't love him or like him, but seem prepared to lead with him. >> he is the bona fide front runner and for the republican primary voters, it's like looking for mr. good bar. they dated a number of candidates and nobody has emerged. romney certainly is the definitive front-runner. perry, the one thing dan quayle taught us is you can't run away from the label of being called dumb. most have decided that perry is just not ready for prime time. with respect to cain, i think as we learned with the boston red sox to move from a political to a sports analogy, you can't get to a world series by making that many forced errors. on abortion and how you negotiate with the terrorists on the right of return and a series of issues. this guy makes several unforced err

what does it mean for libya moving forward karen hunter and mark tapscott for the washington examiner with you, the president was the voice for lead from behind, stuck with that strategy. what does that mean for the obama administration? >> victory and the republicans will have one less thing to hit him with and they were wrong once again. he did something that he felt he needed to do and they were talking about constitutions and he was violating this and violating that. but the results are indisputable. >> mark, a lot of republicans voice their o position to the effort of what took place in libya and had more problems with the president's strategy. how will this play out coupled with the plan and capture of bin laden? >> he got bin laden and awlaki and now gadhafi. the problem is for obama and for democrats, this election in 2012 is not going to be decided on the basis of foreign policy. it's going to be decided on the basis of the economy. this has nothing to do with the economy. >> mark, you make a great point there. the economy is what domestically the american public will care ab