. >>> and i'm going to be coming up here in just a moment with our paul steinhauser.someone who is going to be boycotting the cnn debate. he is skipping out on the cnn debate. we'll let you know which of those republicans won't be on stage and exactly why. my conversation with our deputy political director paul steinhauser is coming up in just a moment. >> t.j., thank you very much. we look forward to that. >>> are you over 50 and looking to change careers? cnn money is listing the top jobs for flexible, social meaning. one thing that caught our attention about this is none of these jobs require an advanced degree. number five, attitututor. private tutoring is in command right now. here is the good part. schedule sessions when you want, don't need as much training as a teacher. number four, online marketing writer. it's veryh8 popular right now. number three, energy field auditor. what's that? homeowners hire these energy auditors to check their homes for leaks and other things like that and recommend improvements. this is another job where you can set your own hours.

and paul steinhauser. >> they all want to have the job that bill clinton once had.g up his base and his poll numbers lately, fredricka is it at the extense of his own race? that's coming up at the top of the hour. martin luther king junior monument dedicated. >> i want to bear witness he was a christian preacher. he believed in the gospel, the good news in which you try to keep track of the humanity. and if there were a memorial for him and he were to come back from the grave he would want to be in jail. >> we will hear more about that and this story. i know how you love these stories a heart warming amazing story about a football player that suffered a catastrophic accident and now he is teaching all of us, even the medical profession about beating the odds. this will uplift your spirits. if you think you are dealing with something, and can't get over it. you will be like i don't have problems. very much an inspiration. >> ahead ticking and tocking. >> nine minutes. >> nine minutes and 99 seconds. it is my 9-9-9 plan. >>> homeless animals have good friends on the w

paul steinhauser has that story and very interesting it is, paul. >> very interesting. the old frontrunner may be the new frontrunner, again. abc news and "washington post" that came out overnight. among republicans and independents that lean towards the gop. mitt romney back on top, the former frontrunner at 25%. but there the former massachusetts governor who is making a second bid for the white house, this is no surge. kind of where he has been all the time. the big drop is rick perry. perry now down at 16%, the texas governor who jumped in and became the frontrunner and herman cain seems to be riding a wave lately. he's at 16%, martin. so, a real kind of shakeup now and it points to the fact that maybe republicans aren't just so crazy about the current crop of candidates. what about chris christie? should chris christie run? 42% saying yes and 34% saying no and about one in four unsure. but the poll also asks the same question about sarah palin. a resounding no. two out of three republicans asked whether pashin should run said the former alaska governor should not r

we've got your america's choice 2012 politics update with cnn deputy political director paul steinhauserul, bottom line, iowa matters. winning voters there is one of the first steps of nominating republican candidates. so is romney going full force in iowa? or is he going to shy away? >> it seems like he's somewhere in between, fred. i mean, he's only been to that state a couple of -- maybe a handful of times this year. as you mentioned, there are two big events there this week. the republican governor terry branstad has a forum tuesday and a big republican dinner friday. mitt romney will not be at either event. neither will jon huntsman. take a look at the late st poll in the state. the first state to vote in the polls. romney and herman cain basically dead even at the top there. go to the next one. "des moines register" poll came out last night. same deal. cain and romney all tied up, all knotted up or everybody else in lower teens or single digits. does mitt romney go full force in iowa now that he's high in the polls? he won full force in iowa four years ago. it did not work out for

paul steinhauser, thank you so much. on to zanesville, ohio. we've been reporting this morning how they are looking for exotic wild animals, tigers bears, wolves et cetera. here's the sheriff now updating people. >>> -- secured area. highly volatile area. we have several of our deputies o.d. & r. people up there, surrounding communities neighbors communities to us have come in, authorities. i am prepared to release we feel comfortable saying that we're at about 43 to 44 of these animals that are accountable for. however, there are still some that we know that we have shot last night that we have not got vehicles down to recover. so, of course, that number could go up a little bit. we are hovering around that 48 number to start with. possibly could have been 51. i'm getting conflicting reports with people that used to work here. we are ironing those out right now. hopefully we'll be able to figure that out. we're recovering these dead animals. we're getting an inventory of what we have and trying to get that number for you

joining us now from washington, paul steinhauser to give us some of the details of that plan. nor perry today in south carolina will try to make a case for a simplified tax system and maybe also politically trying to get some of that 9-9-9. herman cain, his tax plan which he has been touting over the last couple months has boost him to an after thought. perry, of course, was the frontrunner back in september. has faltered in the polls. so, today the plan is called cut, balance and grow. it includes a new flat rate tax. mortgage interest, charitable state and local tax exemptions for families earning less than $500,000 a year. it increases the standard deduction to 12,500 for individuals and independents. ewants to eliminate the death tax and lower corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%. steve forbes, the head of forbes incorporated and forbes incorporated that ran for the presidency in '96 and 2000 pushing the flat tax was one of the co-authors of this plan. perry uses one of forbes' line saying my tax plan is so simple you can fill out your taxes on a postcard. alina? >> governor

holmes joining us live from nevada talking about the gop presidential debate, of course, with paul steinhauser. we'll also talk to carolyn goodman, mayor of las vegas and tim williams, members of the clark county republican party. >>> gop and the white house found common ground this week. how about that? when both sides reached a deal on free trade agreement. the president was thankful for that. but still frustrated that both sides are divided on how to get americans back to work. >> good to see congress act in an a bipartisan way on something that will help create jobs when millions of americans are out of work and need them now. but that's also why it was so disappointing to see senate republicans obstruct the american jobs act. a majority of senators voted yes to advance this jobs bill. we can't afford this lack of action. >> and speaking for the gop, california representative kevin mccarthy, the house majority whip, also praised the bipartisan effort. >> the free trade agreements with colombia, panama and south korea are one such area of common ground. they open the door to thousands of ne

paul steinhauser is joining me. in looking at the few statements, president obamaed astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in iraq. >> let me continue on with that. he said that it's an astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of american men and women. the question is, is this a naked political or with the iraqi government. the american people deserve to hear the recommendations made by our military commanders in iraq. that is tough language from the romney campaign, no doubt about it. >> yeah. >> rick santorum, also running for nomination, the former sen tore was on fox news and said that he has a big concern going forward, is the war in iraq and iran -- he was just talking to chris lawrence about it -- if we -- my concern is that we are leaving a potential state that could turn into a puppet state for iran. you're going to hear a lot of tough language from these potential presiden

our deputy political director paul steinhauser is joining us from washington. what does perry's tax plan look like or what will it look like? >> tuesday he makes the announcement in south carolina, one of those early voting states. and it is a one size fits all flat tax. we heard this before from many republican presidential candidates. it is go to be the same rate for businesses and for people, for personal income as well. and steve forbes who ran for the republican nomination in '96 and pushing the flat tax, the perry campaign says that forbes was helping advise himflat tax sount should. what about mitt romney, so the called front-runner now, at least on the national polls kind of with cain there. romney is not calling for a scrapping of the current tax system. he wants to maintain the current system but extend the bush era tax cuts, eliminate the death tax and lower corporate tax rates. so kind of what the top three candidates in that so-called top tier are doing, fred. >> meantime, you have president obama not necessarily talking about flat tax, but instead

cnn deputy political director paul steinhauser takes a look at the week ahead in politics. >> good morning the republican presidential candidates will spend much of this week in iowa, the first state to vote in the primary and caucus calendar. on tap, republican governor on tuesday and a gop party dinner friday night. the next day, two of the candidates, former godfather's pizza ceo herman cain and former house speaker newt grinning grich face off in a debate in texas organized by a tea party group. >> paul steinhauser, thank you very much. >>> children are headed thought weekend begging for candy. but if you're worried about your child's safety this halloween, we've got some peace of mind for you and it is as easy as getting on your smartphone. we'll explain after a break. >>> but first, for some it is all about getting the candy. for others, dressing up is the best part of halloween. which costumes are the most popular this year? here are the top five for adults according to the national retail federation. five, batman. four, zombie. three, vampire. number two, pirates, and the number on

paul steinhauser, we'll check in with you throughout the morning. tuesday is when we will have that republican debate, the western republican presidential debate coming up right here from the venetian, on the vegas strip hosted by our own anderson cooper. alina, right now, back to you. >> 16 states part of that western conference. it's abdomen important one. t.j., that you can so much. >>> back in washington, president obama is praising americans and republicans for reaching a deal on free trade agreements. but in his weekly address to the nation, he expresses frustration that both sides are so far apart on how to get americans back to work. >> congress act on a bipartisan way on something that will help create jobs at a time when millions of americans are still out of work and need them now. but that is why it watts so disappointing to see senate republicans obstruct the american jobs act. even though a majority of senators voted yes to advance this jobs bill, we can't afford this lack of action. >> republicans, on the other hand, say the gop is ac

you heard paul steinhauser talking about it. bumble in the polls in recent days and we're going to bring you some of his remarks live when he takes to the mike in just moments. the economy is picking up. more jobs. that's according to the september jobs report. perry was stronger than expected. 103,000 new jobs created last month. but it didn't make a dent in the unemployment rate which remains unchanged at 9.1%. so far the economy has regained 2.1 million of the more than 8 million jobs lost since the recession began. >>> occupy wall street. protesters are taking to the streets for the 21st day and rallies are being held in new york and d.c. and other cities around the state. they are talking about corporate greed. we are getting messages from cnn ireporters. let's listen. >> i'm here because people are talking about the issues that affect everybody and i realize that my success does not depend on stepping on some one else. >>> investigators are looking at a train derailment in tiskilwa, illinois today. people were evacuated as

the next hour in the newsroom, let's go ahead and start with our political director paul ste steinhauser lot of change in the gop nomination. i'll tell you who has to gain or lose tonight coming up at top of the hour. >>> the senate is scheduled to hold a key test vote on the president's jobs bill today. what are the chances it will pass this procedural hurdle and what are the politics behind it? i'll have more at the top of the hour. >>> i'm elizabeth cohen in atlanta. a pencil goes through a four-year-old boy's eye socket all the way through and he lives and sees to tell the tale. i'll have the information about his incredible surgery, keira, at the top of the hour. >> guys, thanks so much. this week we're getting to the root of school bullying. >> the research is showing there is so much aggression on a day-to-day basis. it doesn't necessarily mean it's always an extreme situation but that every day a significant percentage of kids are engaging in aggression. >> so why are so many dealing with this aggression and where is it coming from? around cooper digs deeper, just ahead. . >>> bi

paul steinhauser is in washington. and shannon travis is in iowa. let's go ahead and start with you, paul. bachmann and cain ducking the debate shows. just how delicate the balancing act proves, i guess, how delicate that balancing act needs to be. so what do you think? is this the end of the topic, or are we going to hear a lot more? >> i don't know if we'll hear a lot more, but we'll hear more no doubt about it. there's a debate tomorrow night. it could come up there. you heard that sound bite there "state of the union" with candy crowley. bachmann and cain didn't want to touch this issue. what about romney and the controversy over his faith? he doesn't want to touch it that much either. it was kind of telling that saturday at the values voters summit he did not specifically mention jeffress, the preacher from texas, by name. and that's how i think what you're going to hear from romney this time around. remember, mitt romney dealt with this four years ago. in fact, he had to give a speech in texas about his mormon faith. this time around, it's for

. >> let's get the latest on the cain controversy from cnn deputy political director paul steinhauserton this morning. paul, cain has these two big speeches later on today in washington, d.c. i don't think reporters will be asking him about his 9-9-9 economic plan. >> reporter: no, i think that's a safe bet, carol. cain was confronted yesterday by martin. politico says they had been questioning cain or had been looking for answers on this story for ten days. so yesterday, cain on the talk shows here in washington, and jonathan martin asked him some questions. take a listen. >> i'm not going to comment about two people who you won't tell me who they are, okay? i'm not going to comment on that because, you know, i think that is one of those kinds of things that -- >> yes or no? >> thanks. >> last question. >> have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? >> reporter: okay, so that was sunday morning. let's fast-forward about 12 hours and the story breaking online. the campaign quickly put out a statement. j.d. gordon is communications director for the campaign who i reached out to. t

paul steinhauser. thank you. >>> brooke baldwin will pick up from here. >> randi, thank you. the underwear bomber pleading guilty just as the feds were launching his case against him. this is a guy who two years ago tried to blow up the airliner flying into detroit with hidden explosives hidden in his pants. and today did you get that text? maybe not. blackberry says that its outage spread today and most affecting text and internet access, not phone service. >>> to texas now -- >> i could not for the life of me think that he would be capable of doing that. >> that is the estranged wife of this man here. we'll have much more on him in a moment. he's the iranian used cars salesman in the nexus of this case. eric holder issued a subpoena that covers communication about a botched plot. they doubt holder's denial of prior denial of the p controversy. >>> the family of little family lisa irwin turns to a prominent investigator to try to find her. phil stanton is in kansas city with ed lavandera with some news. >>> police scouring the bottom of a lake again today. they are looking f

let's check in with political director paul steinhauser. he's got the numbers for us. paul?g about here, kyra. the presidential candidates announcing that between them and the democratic national committee, and they're teaming up for this fundraising, they pulled in $7 million. that's a good chunk of change. they did that in the third quarter, which is july, august and september. it's not as much as the 86 million they brought in in the second quarter, but it's more than they said they would do. why does all this matter, kyra? two reasons. first, the money can be used down the road for the president in campaign ads when he's out there stumping and getting out the vote assets. you can invite all those republicans and they're not up to the president. that's why we keep a close eye on campaign cash, kyra. >> you keep an eye on everything, including the fact that we're hearing another state is considering moving up its primary date. >> here we go again. we talked about this last week. now new hampshire is threatening to move their primary. they're always the first in the nation

>> thanks to our paul steinhauser. >>> president obama, he was speaking to the republican candidatesm, but he had a message directly for them, and that was -- if you want to be president, you need to stand up for the troops. he was talking about the don't ask, don't tell policy and the reaction to a gay soldier's question at one of the republican debates. listen to the president. >> we don't believe in a small america. we don't believe in the kind of smallness that says it's okay for a stage full of political leaders, one of whom could end up being the president of the united states, being silent when an american soldier is booed. [ applause ] >> we don't believe in that. we don't believe in standing silent when that happens. we don't believe in them being silent. you want to be commander in chief, you can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the united states even when it's not politically convenient. [ applause ] >> the president was referring to an incident at one of the debates. if you don't remember that, here is that incident when a gay soldier was

paul steinhauser. >>> week two in the trial of dr. conrad murray.ike the defense suffers an uphill battle, because michael jackson's doctor took a beating in round one. we have a glance back then a look ahead. >> reporter: week two of the conrad murray trial will likely pick up where week one left off. on friday we heard from paramedics that reported to michael jackson's house after the 911 call was made and the paramedics told the jury when they arrived michael jackson was cold to the touch and that never throughout their resuscitation process did they ever feel a pulse or see one on the heart monitor, but, of course, the most damning evidence against murray from those paramedics was that they asked him what drugs were in jackson's body, and murray never mentioned propofol. we started to hear from one of the emergency room doctors at ucla on friday. extend that testimony early next week and the doctors will tell much the same story. that they, too, asked murray what was in jackson's body and again, no mention of propofol at all. we'll likely hear f

paul steinhauser has some answers for us. paul, what's the latest when you look at the calendar?> boy, here we go again. we could -- could -- have an iowa caucus in december, right around the holidays. all right, here's how it all started. go to the calendar. remember it was just less than a week ago florida announced they'd have their primary on the 31st of january. what did that mean for new hampshire, iowa, south carolina and nevada and the states that are supposed to go first? they all vowed they would go earlier. earlier this week south carolina said yep, we'll hold ours on the 21st. nevada last night announced they're going to be holding their caucus on the 14th. what's that mean for new hampshire? new hampshire says by state law they have to be seven days ahead of everybody else so maybe they could go as early as january 3rd. if that happens, iowa could -- could be in december. randi, for those of us who cover politics, no rest for us this holiday season but for the voters more importantly they have less of a chance to actually get too to see and know the candidates. >> ju

. >>> let's go to washington, shall we, talk to paul steinhauser with america's choice 2012 politics talk to me. >> you're going to hear a lot about that tomorrow. why? because rick perry the texas governor in south carolina tomorrow, going to announce his plan for a flat tax, basically a flat or even rate for both corporations and for personal income. so a big announcement tomorrow from rick perry on that. maybe he's hoping for some of that 9-9-9 magic that herman cain had when cain announced his tax plan. it kind of boosted him in the polls. now, today, one day before the big anounlsment, perry got an endorsement from steve forbes, the head of sfoshz incorporated. he ran for the republican nomination on the flat tax. today forbes endorsing perry for the nomination. so stay tuned. more details tomorrow. everybody putting out their competing tax plans, brooke. >> perry got that endorsement. also mitt romney got a pretty high-profile endorsement as well. >> he did. he was up in new hampshire today, went to the state house in ballot in the first in the country primary. john sununu, for

. >>> paul steinhauser now with america's choice. paul, let me get this straight.st there could be votes for 2012 this year? >> yes. 2011. this is supposed to be a 2012 election but first votes may be in 2011. mad dash by some of the states that move ahead. let's go to the calendar and i will explain the play-by-play. it started last friday when florida announced, guess what, guys, we are holding our primary on january 31. well, the four states supposed to go first that didn't sit very well with them. south carolina announced they will hold their primary on the 21st. you can see there last night nevada said guess what, we will hold our caucus on the 14th of january. brooke, that leaves new hampshire and iowa, two states that will go first, well, new hampshire might have to go as early now as january 3rd. if that happens iowa may have to move up until december. everything getting accelerated for people like me who cover this, i guess christmas vacation and is out the window. for voters, it is important, too, because they are going to have less time to actually meet

deputy political director paul steinhauser is in vegas. paul, he said he was kidding.ow much is that comment going to hurt him? >> it may hurt him. he had a tough weekend, kyra, when it comes to what he said. when you rise in the polls, more scrutiny comes with that. saturday on the campaign trail in tennessee, here's what herman cain said about a proposed fence if he was president. take a listen. >> when i'm in charge of the fence, we're going to have a fence. it's going to be 20 feet high. it's going to have barbed wire on the top. it's going to be electrified. and there's going to be a sign on the other side that says, it will kill you. >> as you mentioned, he said he was kidding on the sunday talk shows. he took those comments back and walked back a little bit, but he'll be in the spotlight over the comments today because he'll be in neighbors arizona today, meeting with sheriff joe arpaio there, who is known as a hardliner when it comes to border security. it wasn't just border security that cain was in the spotlight about this weekend. he was talking about his 9-

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

paul steinhauser with more of the story behind those numbers. and it's going to be interesting to see if those numbers are impacted by these allegations coming forward, paul. >> exactly, kyra. both these polls conducted obviously before the politico story. we are just over two months away from the first votes in iowa. take a look at this. a survey of republicans likely to vote on january 3, look who's at the top there, herman cain and mitt romney. basically a dead heat, 23% for the former godfather's pizza ceo, and 23% for romney, who is making his second bid for the white house. ron paul the congressman from texas at 12%. everybody else in single digits. let's take a look at a cnn/"time" poll. romney and cain dead even just about at the top there. kyra, as herman cain has risen in the polls, remember a dramatic rise, he has come under more scrutiny. his 9-9-9 plan which boosted him in the polls has been picked apart by his rivals for the gop nomination. every word he's said on abortion has come under scrutiny. and now this story from politico.

christie has been under tremendous pressure to run for president and paul steinhauser joinings us live from washington with that side of the story. what you can tell us? >> and we've seen this push all year. and i t. went into kroefr drive just about two weeks ago. it seems rick perry kind of stumbled at that debate in orlando, florida about two weeks ago and then some other incidents, as well, over the last two weeks and that accentuated the calls for christie to jump in from activists and top fund-raisers who had not fallen in love yet with any candidate. so that was the signal here that maybe republicans still even this late into the process, into the cycle, were not tootally in love with any of the frontrunners. 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

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joining us live now from washington, cnn deputy political director paul steinhauser. what's on his agenda? >> the business mogul is reality tv star donald trump. herman cain will be there tomorrow meeting with donald turn in new york city. meeting with trump is a must do if you're running for the republican presidential nomination. last month the two front-runners in the race, rick perry and mitt romney separately met with trump. herman cain does it tomorrow. on tuesday his book comes out. "this is herman cain my journey to the white house." herman cain will be making the talk show circuit. he won the straw bopoll in florida. since then he's been nonstop everywhere. his top press person resigned over the weekend. interesting timing. >> what does that mean? >> we're looking into that one. >> let's talk about chris christ christie. he hasn't said he's going to run. there's a lot of pressure on him to make up his mind again. is it too late? is he seriously considering? >> he's considering. remember, because he kept saying no, no, no. the new jersey governor said no, no,