>> all right, lisa myers in our d.c. news room starting us off tonight. lisa, thanks. >>> college football's most legendary active coach, penn state's joe paterno may be on his way out tonight in the wake of these revelations about a child sex abuse scandal involving one of his assistant coaches at penn state. reporters and students gathered outside the paterno's house tonight not far from campus. we caught a glimpse of the coach through the window. he was said by observers to be moved to tears at the show of support. nbc's ron allen is with us from state college, pa tonight. ron, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we have not heard from coach paterno directly today, but "the new york times" is reporting that university officials here are very busy planning for his exit, sometime in the days or weeks to come. that as the calls for the coach to step down grow louder. the coach could hear a few fans as he left for practice, refusing to answer questions about the 40-count indictment, alleging his long-time assistant coach jerry sandusky sexually

lisa myers starting us off on a friday night from our d.c. newsroom. sa, thanks. >>> all of this brings us to david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." and, david, the question for you on a friday night, having worked the phones yourself today, two-part question. what does the white house make of the shape of the republican field and the status and what are republicans saying about this? >> well, let me start with that latter point including insiders within the cain campaign. they are trying to create an alternative universe for this campaign to operate in where they deflect, deny, accuse the media or his rival campaigns of playing dirty and trying to set him up, even raising the specter of clarence thomas. that speaks well to the base, sharpens his anti-establishment credentials. the problem though republicans have been saying to me today is this going to create a cap for him at the 20% level of support? can he get anything beyond the conservative supports? as for the white house, brian, they are frustrated with all this talk about cain. what they

cain reacted. >> lisa myers in our d.c. newsroom tonight with the story. lisa, thanks. >>> we have new numbers to report tonight on an increasing trend. the parents that will not allow their children to be vaccinated because they are worried about unintended consequences of the vaccines. a new analysis finds that a growing number of parents in more than half the states in this country are opting out of getting shots for their kids. the problem with that is we have vaccines of course for a reason. the alternative can be disease, in some cases epidemics. that's why it's called public health. so the choices of a few can affect a lot of people who have followed the rules. and that's why this is being watched so closely. our report tonight from dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: 5-year-old ella and her little brother ethan are happy, healthy and unvaccinated. their mother, lisa morris, a practicing chiropractor from buffalo decided against all immunizations, an about-face from the way she was raised by her mother, a practicing nurse. why the decision? >> the thou

we begin here tonight with nbc's lisa myers. lisa, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the woman's lawyer says there were several incidents of sexual harassment described only as inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances by cain. he charged that cain for all his denials knows what those incidents were. ♪ [ applause ] >> thank you. >> reporter: in what had to have been the high point of herman cain's week -- >> love you all. love you. >> reporter: a conservative group gave him a rousing welcome today. >> i have been in washington all week. and i have attracted a little bit of attention. >> reporter: hours later the attention was focused here. lawyer joel bennett went public with his client's version of events, confirmed that she filed a sexual harassment complaint against cain in 1999 while he was ceo of the national restaurant association citing several incidents. >> she made a complaint in good faith about a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the ceo. >> reporter: bennett also confirmed that she received a financial settlement. what about

we begin tonight with lisa myers. lisa, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. today herman cain changed his strategy. instead of refusing to answer any more questions, he launched a full-scale assault on one of his accusers. a defiant herman cain says he doesn't remember anything about his latest accuser. not her face or her name. >> i have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period. the charges and the accusations are absolutely reject. they simply didn't happen. they simply did not happen. >> reporter: he charged that sharon's claim that he groped her when she came to him with help with a job is part of an effort to derail him and his candidate. >> and now the democratic machine in america has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations, statements, many of which exceed common sense. and they certainly exceed the standards of decency in america. >> reporter: earlier in the day, the cain campaign even put out the case numbers for a half dozen lawsuits against bialek, as well as two filings for personal bankruptcy. her lawyer defended such att

>> lisa myers starting us off from our d.c. newsroom tonight. lisa, thanks. >>> this is the latest entry in a long list of similar situations, stories that have made headlines and come and gone over the years and a lot of people are wondering not only what really happened here but where the line is where the rules of the workplace are concerned. that angle of this story tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: a lot has changed since the mad men of the 1960s when men were men and women did their bidding. harassment in the workplace, when it happens, goes well beyond "9 to 5" and often is not reported. >> the number of complaints the is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much harassment there really is out there. >> reporter: one trend -- more men are now filing complaints. in fact, since 1997 the percentage of men filing complaints has gone from 11% of all claims to more than 16.4% last year. the biggest catalyst for change, the high stakes drama 20 years ago between clarence thomas and anita hill. >> on several occasions thomas

our report tonight from nbc's lisa myers. >> here he is. here he is. >> reporter: herman cain kept his distance from reporters today, after telling his staff he's reassessing the viability of his candidacy. in a conference call with his team, cain spoke of the latest firestorm. claims by an atlanta woman, ginger white, that she had a 13-year affair with him. >> i didn't want so come out with this, i did not. >> reporter: cain unequivocally denied having an affair. said the woman was a friend he had been trying to help financially. but he added, we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to create too much of a cloud in some people's minds, as to whether or not they would be able to support us going-forward. he said, it's also taken a toll on my wife and family. many conservatives came to cain's defense before, when four different women accused him of sexual harassment. but so far, not this time. >> i think this is the most damaging allegation that's been made to date, no question about it. >> reporter: today, former spea

our report from nbc's lisa myers. >> reporter: just when you thought this story couldn't get more unusualherman cain showed up on a conservative website this morning being interviewed by ginni thomas, the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas. the message -- another black conservative is being mistreated by the media. >> that is the d.c. culture -- guilty until proven innocent. >> reporter: clarence thomas was accused of sexual harassment by anita hill during his confirmation hearings and in the eyes of many conservatives was badly treated by the media. >> there are lots of conservative journalists he could have sat down with, but only one would have reminded people of clarence thomas and the anita hill affair. >> reporter: amidst the media frenzy cain's fund-raising has actually soared. advisers say he's collected more than $1 million online in four days. cain was pressed by conservative sean hannity about the reports this week that three women complained in the 1990s about cain's inappropriate sexual conduct. >> sean, this is absolutely fabrication, man. i don't know what else t

>> lisa myers in our d.c. news room tonight, lisa, thanks. >>> and then there's rick perry. polls show him running behind herman cain and mitt romney in some crucial states. but it's a speech he gave friday night in new hampshire that's getting a lot of attention. people who saw it wondering if something was up with him, or if he's decided to go off-script to try to gain traction. kelly o'donnell covering for us tonight. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this is a political moment gone viral. clips from governor perry's speech are getting noticed because the governor appeared very loose, animated, in ways we don't often see. so here's a glimpse of that. >> and this is such a cool state. i mean, come on. live free or die? i mean, you know? you got to love that, right? gold is good. if you've got any in the backyard. because, you know. if they print any more money over there in washington, the gold's going to be good. that, 20% flat tax, put it on there, take your deductions off, send it in. >> reporter: i spoke to senior perry aides to get their take and

lisa myers, nbc news, washington. >> let's talk about this with chuck todd tonight. where does this leave the field, after all, iowa is in 35 days and sooner or later there's going to have to be a leading contender emerge from this pack? >> reporter: that's right, exactly five weeks from tonight. herman cain was on a yuan ward trend even before this latest allegation. and now it appears, it looks as if he's in a campaign death spiral. where does that leave us? you have newt gingrich who is surging in the polls, even hiring new staffers, trying to beef up iowa. he's trying to engage mitt romney in a one on one. meanwhile you have the front runger, mitt romney and the dnc running attack ads against him. what's the obama campaign doing? trying to prevent the -- prolong the republican primary, so they're throwing these attack ads out on romney so rick perry or newt gingrich pick them up in the primary, they want the primary to go long, not short. there's an interesting circular attack going on between those three candidates. >> you mentioned rick perry, i want to play a

lisa myers, nbc news, washington. >>> still ahead here as we continue, tonight's controversial health news for women. this one involves drinking and now breast cancer. an expert will be with us in the studio to help us sort it out. >>> later, her daughter put 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling, remembering hillary clinton's extraordinary mother who passed away today. clinton's extraordinary mother. food, meet flavor. flavor, meet food. introducing swanson flavor boost. concentrated broth in easy to use packets. mix it into skillet dishes, for an instant dose of... hell-o! [ female announcer ] new swanson flavor boost. lugging around a hot water extraction unit can be a rush! that's why i'm carpet for life. but if things get out of hand, there's no shame in calling us. ♪call 1-800-steemer. i wanted support for my heart... and now i get it from centrum specialist heart. new centrum specialist vision... helps keep my eyes healthy. centrum specialist energy... helps me keep up with them. centrum specialist prenatal... supports my child's growth and development. new centrum specialist

our report tonight from nbc's lisa myers. >> how you doing? >> reporter: with newt gingrich on the rise mitt romney today went on the air in new hampshire emphasizing that he's a creature of the private sector. >> i spent my life in the private sector. i have competed with companies around the world. >> reporter: in an interview romney took a shot at gingrich portraying him as a washington insider. >> speaker gingrich is a good man. we have different backgrounds. he spent 30, 40 years in washington. i spent my career in the private sector. >> reporter: gingrich had a jab about romney's wealth underscoring his own humble beginnings. >> i haven't been as a successful as mitt romney, but when i babysat at fort reilly, kansas, and when i was a pin setter in a bowling alley, preautomatic machines. i set pins and worked as a gardener. >> reporter: with the emergence of gingrich, the vulnerabilities of both candidates were on display. romney became testy when pressed about mandating health insurance in massachusetts. >> brett, i don't know how many h

it's where we begin tonight with nbc's lisa myers in our washington newsroom on the still breaking details. lisa, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the latest accuser is an atlanta businesswoman ginger white, who told waga in atlanta that she'd had an off and on again affair with herman cain for # 13 years. she says he flew her around the country and put her up in expensive hotels. she produced phone records of dozens of calls and text messageso cain's phone. >> it's pretty simple. it wasn't complicated. i was aware that he was married. i was also aware that i was involved in a very inappropriate situation, relationship. >> reporter: even before the report, cain went on cnn to deny the allegation. >> did you have a 13-year affair with this woman? >> no. i did not. >> did you know her for 13 years? >> yes. but i did not have an affair. i acknowledged that i knew the woman. i acknowledged that i have known her for about that period of time. but the accusation that i had a 13-year affair with her, no. >> reporter: cain's lawyer issued a statement saying this is an accusation of

our report tonight from nbc's lisa myers. >> reporter: for herman cain, day two of damage control also involved trying to undo the damage from shifting stories on day one. >> i just started to remember more. remember, 12 -- you know, in 12 years a lot of stuff can go through your head. >> reporter: that's how cain explained yesterday's inconsistencies. he recommended that the work performance of one accuser was subpar. and offered new details about an incident that prompted what he says were false accusations of sexual harassment. >> i was standing close to her, and i made a gesture. you are the same height as my wife, and brought my hand -- didn't touch her -- up to my chin. obviously, she thought that was too close for comfort. >> reporter: cain's story about whether the woman received a financial settlement also has changed. first -- >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. >> reporter: then -- >> and yes, there was some sort of settlement or termination. >> reporter: now he blames the confusion on semantics. he considered the payout a termination agreement. >> the word settlement

>> lisa myers in the bureau in washington. lisa, thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> in just the past few moments, breaking news here about a new headache for the herman cain campaign. there has been a legal complaint charge, legal complaint charging illegal corporate funds were used to pay for campaign expenses. nbc's national investigative correspondent michael isikoff has more from washington. >> this is a complaint just filed by the citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. a public watchdog group accusing the cain campaign and campaign manager, mark block, of what it calls serious campaign violations by using corporate funds illegally to pay for cain's presidential campaign expenses including charter flights around the country and paying for ipads. what happened is, these are based on documents that were first put on the web by the "milwaukee sentinel journal" from a group called prosperity usa, a non-profit founded by mark block, the cain campaign manager. they do show payments of $40,000 to the cain presiden

nbc's senior investigative correspondent lisa myers has the latest on this. >> good morning to you, matt. cain acknowledges the cascading allegations have taken an emotional and political toll. he says he'll spend the next few days reassessing. meanwhile he sent out a fund-raising appeal, attacking his latest accuser calling her a troubled woman with a fabricated story. herman cain predicted business as usual, in a foreign policy speech in michigan tuesday night. he made no reference to legislations by atlanta businesswoman ginger white that they'd had a 13-year affair. he did mention his wife. >> i was sitting in my favorite chair in front of the tv next to the kitchen. she was in the kitchen preparing dinn dinner. what? that's what we do at our house on sunday. i sit in the easy chair and she prepares dinner! and there are days when i prepare the dinner, okay? >> reporter: among this crowd, the latest allegations drew a mixed response. >> it's 2011. i mean, we've been there before with other presidents. >> sometimes where there's smoke and there's lots of smoke, maybe there is a little

matt. >> lisa myers in washington. lisa, thank you very much. republican presidential candidate michele bachmann joins us now. congresswoman bachmann, nice to see you, thanks for joining us. >> good morning. good to see you too. >> so we have to figure out what we know here. we know herman cain is vehemently denying these accusations. it's also been reported that at least three women accused him of sexual harassment back in the 1990s when he was the head of the national restaurant association. you're a candidate first, but you are also a woman. as the only woman in this race, i just would like your perspective on all this. >> well, i don't have any comment on this particular issue. i don't have any inside information, there's nothing i know. the one thing i can tell you is that you won't find any surprises with me on my record. i have a very consistent, conservative background and record on policy, and there won't be any surprises. >> yeah, but you've been listening, i know, to what's been going on and you've heard the comments mr. cain has made

>> lisa myers, thank you so much.tar jones is a former prosecutor and veteran legal commentator and david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> good morning, ann. >> is herman cain fighting fundamental questions about his credibility as much as he's fighting allegations of sexual misconduct? >> we face the prospect of a number of accusers coming together at once to lay out a body of evidence, what she described to "the new york times" against herman cain and he was unequivocal, in the case of miss bialek, said declaratively i've never acted inappropriately at all. there are things verifiable. business bialek said he upgraded her room to a suite, presumably there's a receipt to prove whether she's telling the truth or is he. the settlement agreement with the national restaurant association more details about what allegedly occurred. then you're right, credibility becomes a question. >> he's not stepping down, continuing to suck the air out of the narrative. does the party

lisa myers has the latest on this story. lisa, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, matt. cain's latest accuser says she had an on-and-off affair with him for 13 years and that the physical part of the relationship ended eight months ago, right before cain announced for president. >> i didn't want to come out with this, i did not. >> reporter: with that, atlanta businesswoman ginger white told a local atlanta tv station, waga about what she says was a 13-year affair with herman cain. >> i was aware that he was married. and i was also aware that i was involved in a very inappropriate situation, relationship. >> reporter: white says she met cain in the late '90s in louisville, kentucky, where he was speaking as ceo of the national restaurant association. she says they had drinks. he invited her to his hotel room. after that she says for 13 years he flew her to meet him in hotels and lavished her with gifts. >> he made it very intriguing. it was fun. it was something that took me away from my sort of humdrum life at t

lisa myer is in washington with more. >> good morning. the political storm which has engulfed cain's candidacy shows no sign of abating. his efforts at damage control seemed to compound his problems as his story continues to shift. ♪ amazing grace will always be my song of praise ♪ >> reporter: herman cain insists he's not changing his tune but by monday night was offering new details about an incident he said were false acsixes of sexual harassment. >> once i referenced this lady's height and i was standing near her and i did this saying, you're the same height as my wife, because my wife is five feet tall and she comes up to my chin. this lady is five feet tall and came up to my chin so obviously she thought that that was too close for comfort. >> was there any behavior on your part that you think might have been inappropriate? >> in my opinion, no, but as you would imagine, it's in the eye of the person who thinks that maybe i crossed the line. >> reporter: nbc news confirmed two women accused cain of inappropriate sexual conduct while

>> thanks very much, lisa myers. let's go back to cannes, francis.odium. let's listen. >> over the past two years, those of us in the g-20 have worked together to rescues the global economy, and put us on the path to the, but we came with no illusions. the recovery has been frajed. since our last meeting in seoul we've experienced a number of new shocks -- disruptions in oil supplies, the tragic tsunami in japan, and the financial crisis in europe. as a result advanced economies, including the united states, are growing and creating jobs, but not nearly fast enough. emerging economies have started to slow. global demand is weakening. around the world, hundreds of millions of people are unemployed or underemployed. put simply, the world faces challenges that put our economic recovery at risk. so the central question coming into cannes was this -- could the world's largest economies confront this challenge squarely? understanding that these problem will not be solved overnight, could we make progress? after two days, i can say we've come together and m

>> lisa myers, thank you so much. star jones is a former prosecutor and veteran legal commentator, and david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." they both now join us. good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> good morning, ann. >> let me start with you. is herman cain fighting fundamental questions about his credibility as much as he's fighting allegations of sexual misconduct? >> i think he is. i think we face the prospect now of a number of accusers coming together at once to lay out a body of evidence, what she described to "the new york times" against herman cain. and, look, he was unequivocal about this, that in the case of this, he didn't know her, nothing inappropriate happened. he said declaratively i've never acted inappropriately at all. there are things verifiable. business bialek said he upgraded her room to a suite, presumably there's a record to be found, a receipt, perhaps, that could prove whether she's telling the truth or he is. somebody is not. how about the details of the settlement agreem

lisa myers in washington this morning. lisa, thank you very much. >>> now let's get a check of the rest of the morning's top stories. in for natalie this morning we've got savannah guthrie. >> good morning, everybody. president obama is in indonesia this morning on the tail end of his asia pacific tour. before leaving australia earlier today, he addressed u.s. and australian troops in the town of darwin about his decision to step up the u.s. military presence in the pacific, a move designed to counter china's growing influence in the region. meantime, secretary of state hillary clinton is in thailand to visit victims of the historic flooding there and announced a $10 million aid package for them. >>> police in new york city are bracing for a day of action from the occupy wall street movement. protesters are planning to rally near the new york stock exchange before fanning out across the city. and nationwide protests are heating up as well. in dallas about 20 demonstrators were arrested as they were evicted from their encamp

ann. >> lisa myers this morning, thank you for your reporting. the chairman of the republican national committee, good morning. >> hey, good morning, ann. how are you? >> i'm okay. the question is how is the party and how is herman cain's candidacy? let me ask you straight out. can herman cain's candidacy for president survive the claims of sexual harassment from three women and now also this eyewitness? >> i mean, it depends on the verasty of the claims. i'm not the referee. primaries are tough. when you have the horsepower on your side of the aisle like we have on the republican side, they work. i come from wisconsin. we have a new governor there you know very well by the name of scott walker. he came through a very tough primary. they work. by the way, you look at barack obama and hillary clinton, they fought it out all the way through the end of june before a national convention. guess what? it worked out pretty well for him. he took a super majority to congress, a 60-vote majority to the united states senate -- >> let me interrupt you. what'

lisa myers, thank you. >>> let's get a check of the rest of the top stories with savannah guthrie. >> good morning. president obama is in ind deesh ya on the tail end of his tour. before leaving australia earlier today, he addressed troops in the town of darwin about his decision to step up military presence in the pacific. in the meantime, secretary of state hillary clinton is in thailand to visit victims of flooding there. >>> police in new york city are bracing for a day of action from the occupy wall street movement. protesters are planning to rally near the new york stock exchange. nationwide, protesters meeting up as well. in dallas, 20 demonstrators were arrested as they were evicted from city hall. in san francisco, more than 100 demonstrators stormed a bank of america. several were arrested when they refused to leave. but a rare victory in boston. a judge has stripped the city of its authority to evict the demonstrators from their camp for at least the next two weeks. >>> now for a check of the markets, melissa francis is at the new york stock exchange this morning. >> report