joining me is ken the langone. no o is more disappointed about that than ken ngone. tell me how you look at the decion. >> i'm disappointed at the decision, and i'll tell you why. if his heart was the in it, the disappointment would be if he run ande didn't make the evident he made to win. i admire the man for the ft he says this is not my time, it' not for me now. i'm disappointed in the fact we would have had superb leadership. charlie america has never needed the truth more than it needs it right this minute. the truth about what we've been to go, what we can afford, what we can't afford about what needs to be done to be fixed. and i want to be very forthright. i have the same feelings about our governor in new york state as i do about governor cristie. he was the attorney general and he picked up the case -- charlie we never had a greater need than we do right now for the truth. being told what's possible and what's not chris, the thing i admired about this man is he took on the most difficult challenges economy did it in partisan fhion he couldn't have done it w

you're getting word out of that, boston, behind ken langone a couple of others that may help in the money still think that this was going to be a competitive election, competitive primary contest with governor christie and it's still going to be a competitive primary contest with governor christie, were he to get in. you know, this still is -- it's still october, we still have a number -- the first contest in iowa and new hampshire haven't even taken place yet. >> closer than we thought a few days ago. >> governor romney maintained a got level of support, while everybody else has fluctuated up and down and that's a good sign for his campaign. >> here's the question. i hope we can show a graphic. we have a republican feld. one question mark, is that our field to the left of the screen, should we consider sarah palin, for get about it, or still have to ask the question, will she run? >> i think we still have to ask the question. there is a report out that her lawyers have been making inquiries into early ballot access dates, we don't know if that happened recently or some time ago and dead

i think you saw ken langone, a big christie supporter coming out today endorsing mitt romney. you will see a lot of undecided donors, big donors, part of what you would call the republican establishment will break to mitt romney decisively over the next couple days. i think this has been a tough couple weeks for rick perry. it's not like he's over or he's completely out of it. as we go forward to the next debates you look forward to seeing michele bachmann attacking him from the right, rick santorum attacking him from the right. obviously herman cain has risen pretty high in the national polls. i think all of those candidates are going to try to take a piece out of rick perry. i think rick santorum has every potential to see movement in his numbers in iowa. so you're going to see a pretty vigorous contest now about who's going to be the conservative alternative to romney and a pile-on in that part of the primary. it will be interesting to watch. >> in terms of what comes out of that conservative, say, sort of still unanswered fight it be the non-romney candidate, we've also go

those top would-be christie fund-raisers are now moving very quickly to the romney camp, including ken langone is the co-founder of home depot. the romney people are quite happy about this. and all they have to do is convince republicans to get on board. they're polling at a solid 25%. but you need to do better than that to get the nomination. >> let's look at some of those polls because after losing support, gloria says some voters are giving romney a second look. new polls like this one from "the washington post" and abc show romney gaining the top spot. what do you make about the rise of herman cain and the stumble of rick perry? >> well, romney is the same floor and the same ceiling he's had throughout the race. the dynamic hasn't changed. still a two man race versus romney, a two-man race for the not-romney candidate. 75% of the primary elector et is still not with romney. what gloria reported is an important fact. see where the money goes. still an enthusiasm gap for romney and a 13-point enthusiasm advantage for the conservative electorate at large. so this primary's very rational. they

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some of the richest, most powerful people in country, ken langone, heem depot founders from henry kissingerto him, the country needs you. he recognizes and believes like almost everybody else in the country that the republicans stand a very good chance capturing the white house. withining the presidency is like winning the super bowl. the opportunity doesn't come along very often. if you miss it or pass it up for any reason it might never come again. he has to look at the possibility if he doesn't run and a republican wins, that there is a distinct possibility that it could be eight years before that window would open again and who knows where he would be or the country would be then. he may feel, i know i said all the things i didn't initially want to do it, but this is kind of opportunity doesn't come along every day. i can understand why he is agonizing over it. martha: that is only way he could do it. he himself pointed to the tape showed all the instances where he was asked. if he did decide to change his mind and come forward say, basically i changed my mind. i don't feel this way abo

ken langone, who led the effort in recent weeks to draft governor christie told charlie rose he's disappointedhristie won't run, but now he's mitt romney's supporter. take a listen. >> i told him at my office last week, if governor christie doesn't run, governor romney, i'm with you. >> are you sure you made every argument that could have been made to governor christie to convince him to run? >> charlie, i did everything but kiss him on the lips, okay? okay? all right? >> with governor christie officially out of the race, a new cbs news poll shows herman cain has moved into a tie with mitt romney atop the 2012 gop candidates. herman cain. cain has 17% support up from 5% two weeks ago. the poll also shows waning support for rick perry who dropped from 23% to 12% in two weeks among republican primary voters. michael steele, couple of things. cain's a story, perry's plunge is a story. and moving on to mitt romney. great news for mitt romney, but it's obvious he's a second choice. is that at all debilitating? >> i don't think it is. this whole process is about settling and coming into, you know, a