>> shannon travis for us on the ground in iowa. thanks, shannon. >>> it seems every week or two there say new front runner in the race for the republican nomination. this year, cnn opinion research polls show just how fluid and unsettled this race has been. cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein is with us from washington, the editorial director of "the national journal." you wrote a great piece tracking the polls over the year. and the rotating other than romney front-runner. what do you make of what you've seen so far and what do you expect to happen as we move closer and closer to iowa? >> right, the race actually has a pattern in its unsettledness if that is not a contradiction in terms. what you've got is basically two wings of the republican party. roughly half the party does not identify with the tea party. is more moderate, somewhat more pragmatic, more secular. the other half of the party, more ideological, higher percentage of evangelical christians of the sort that gathered yesterday and they're moving down different

thank you very much, shannon travis.ll be watching. >>> tuesday night on cnn, the republican presidential hopefuls will take part in a debate on national security and the economy. it is hosted by cnn's wolf blitzer and co-sponsored by the heritage foundation and the american enterprise stoous institute. make sure you watch it right here, 8:00 p.m. eastern on tuesday. our wolf blitzer is going to join me at 7:00 to talk about the debate and the republican race for the white house. >>> shannon mentioned the occupy movement, occupy wall street is at a major crossroads of major police crackdowns all across the country. i want you to take a look. [ shouting ] >> those cal davis protesters paid the price for their encounter with police. meantime, back east, police e vift vi evicted demonstrators at the epicenter of the movement. that's new york's zuccotti park. and the police action appears to have worked. the park is mostly empty and quiet today. professor of political science at columbia university joins me now. thanks for j

>> cnn political reporter shannon travis was in that room when that took place and he's with us now fromying to be very firm with reporters there, saying,the conditions that i'm setting. >> reporter: absolutely fred. what was happening in that room, i was right there with the other reporters, what you just heard and what i heard was frustration. frustration because herman cain, as you mentioned earlier, he wants to move on, but yet a week after the story broke, the questions still persist, the details and the developments just this drip, drip of information. on the one hand, herman cain's campaign feels they have answered all the questions. he's been on a round of national interviews, chief of staff mark block addressed a lot of issues and the campaign feels that they're shadow boxing against unseen anonymous sources, sources of information. but on the other hand, fred, it is unrealistic for a presidential front-runner, essentially what herman cain is right now, to think that he can tell reporters which questions he will or will not answer, which questions he will choose or not choose or

enjoying a recent upswing in the polls and herman cain, the front-runner, cnn political reporter shannon travis standing by live at the debate for us. shannon, getting ready, tension is rising. it's getting exciting there. the question is -- i'm sure some people will be paying attention. in the back of everyone's mind, they'll be thinking about herman cain and those sexual harassment allegations. >> reporter: they will absolutely be the elephant in the room. this week long drip of information and accusations, all of which herman kacain has deni. that will not be a topic of discussion at this debate here today. it's sponsored by the tea party. they want to stick to entitlement. anyone who's a spending or deficit hawk wants to talk about how to bring the nation's deficit down, how to bring the nation's spending levels down and obviously entitlement. social security, medicaid, medicare, eat up the lion's share of that. i can tell you right now that one of the competitors is getting ready by signing books. i'll have my cameraman swing over to newt and his wife over there signing autographs, signing

shannon travis is in iowa. shannon, what's going on?e very protesters you just talked about from around the globe and around the country may descend here in iowa, as you just mentioned, for the iowa caucuses here. the occupy des moines group, the supporters of the larger umbrella organization, will come here the week before the iowa caucuses. the proposed dates are december 27 through january 3 and could shut down the presidential offices of all the different candidates, including president obama. they say they want to have their voices heard. they say they will not disrupt the electoral process, but they definitely want to have a presence. i pressed them about is this a publicity stunt? they said, no, it's not. they're is very aware the national or international press will be here. one point of note, the republican critics i spoke to said, you know what, they disagree with it, and they also said the only real goal they'll accomplish is providing a lot of overtime to the des moines police department, keira. >> travis, we'll watch it wit

let's go to shannon travis. shannon, why is this event important and how did it go?porter: it went very well. as you just mentioned time is running out, don. only 25 days left before the iowa caucuses, and so it was really important for these six candidates to come here and make essentially one of their last-ditch appeals to these conservative voters. of course, these conservative voters will come out to the caucuses, rain, snow, whatever, they helped hoist mike huckabee in 2007. this is an important voting block which is why you saw all six of them here. also tonight, don, occupy deparalympian testers. they were out in front of the venue before candidates started to show up, and in a very kind of bizarre moment, frank lutz, who was the moderator for this discussion, he knew that out of 3,000 people, that potentially some of them might be occupy des moines protesters. he thought he'd make a deal. anyone planning on disrupting this, i will give you a few moments to speak if in turn you allow us to speak uninterrupted for two hours. one man got up. he didn't say he was

chances for republican hopefuls to make a lasting impression ahead of iowa's caucus on january 3rd, shannon travisat the thanksgiving family forum in des moines. shannon, talk about who is and isn't there. >> reporter: yeah. who is here, six presidential candidates as you just mentioned, fred. michele bachmann, rick perry, rick santorum, ron paul, newt gingrich and herman cain. 2,000 christian evangelicals, that's important because as you mentioned the caucus are on january 3rd. that's 45 days away. this is one of the last forums, the last times that these candidates will be able to appeal to this critical, critical base of voters here in iowa. voters who could potentially hoist, propel some of these kinds to a win. outside behind me you see some of the people filing in. let me take you inside where i just left from. there's basically a table, all six candidates will sit "around the table" with pollster fred cluntz. let me give you three things i was told. these candidates will be pushed off their talking points. they want the people in attendance to get to know these people. original questions wi

. >> i neglected to say shannon travis. you're like cher, one name, shannon. we appreciate you joining us. tuesday night on cnn, the republican presidential hopefuls will take part in a debate on national security and the economy. hosted by wolf blitzer and cosponsored by the heritage foundation and the american enterprise institute 8:00 p.m. eastern tuesday night. before libya's revolution many people thought saif al islam gadhafi would be the country's next leader. tonight he is in custody, his fate in the hands of men he once described as rats. we look at his fall and what's next for him. >> a day of celebration in libya. many calling it the true end of the gadhafi era. once the heir apparent to his father's iron-fisted rule, now saif al islam ca an daf if i is a prisoner of war in the western mountain city of zintan. he was caught in the remote southern deserts of libya. it appeared he had been seeking to escape into neighboring niger. these fighters ho s hold up thee taken from his hands. he will be soon transferred to tripoli where they want him to stand

shannon travis, we appreciate that. join us us every sunday afternoon at 4:00 when we dedicate an entire hour to the presidential contenders in the 2012 election. >>> there are ways you can save money still on holiday flights. we'll give you an idea in about 90 seconds from now. . ♪ it gives me warmth. ♪ [ boy ] it gives me energy to help me be my best. quaker oatmeal has whole grains for heart health. and it has fiber that helps fill me up. ♪ [ male announcer ] great days start with quaker oatmeal. energy. fiber. heart health. quaker oatmeal. a super grain breakfast. what makes us number one in motorcycle insurance? we love bikes. we love riders. and most of all, we love to ride. perfect hair every time. leading the pack in motorcycle insurance. now, that's progressive. call or click today. your core competency is...competency. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm getting an upgrad

cnn's political reporter shannon travis was there for the whole thing. shannon, update us.t happened? >> reporter: well, don, it's clear that after a week of questions and claims surrounding herman cain, details and denials his campaign are determined to move on. as you just mentioned, the debate itself was much about entitlement spending but what happened after the debate at a press conference featuring mr. cain. things got a little bit testy. mr. cain was asked questions about the substance of the debate. when it turned to the natures of the allegations against him that he's denied, he got really testy. take a listen and look at what happened moments ago. >> if you all listen, if you all just listen for 30 seconds, i will explain this one time. >> could you sit -- >> it's time for us to trade places, everybody, so mr. cain -- it's time for us to change places. >> you see what i mean? i was going to do something my staff told me not to do and try to respond, okay? what i'm saying is this -- we are -- we are getting back on message -- >> thank you, mr. cain. >> -- end of st

we have shannon travis out there and we'll be staying on this story, no doubt about it. >> paul steinhauser, good to see you. >>> and you can join fredericka witfield every sunday afternoon, 4:00 eastern, she'll have a special hour dedicated to the presidential contenders in the 2012 election. fredericka, of course, will be joining me here in about 30 minutes as she gets geared up and ready to go for her show top of the hour. >>> across the country, growing anger at big banks, rising fees, some of those banks could be losing customers and their deposits today. move on.org and sponsoring a move your money day, another group that's backing what they call a bank transfer day. it's all today. organizers calling on customers who put their money out of the so-called big banks and shift them to the smaller community banks for credit unions. the bank transfer started with a california woman and her anger at the big banks. >> i started the idea myself. it began as a facebook event that i sent to 500 of mirror closest friends. educating them to the powerful impact credit unions can have on our local

shannon travis has that. those stories and dr.the occupy wall street protesters no longer allowed to camp in the park. >>> and-ing details about the south african rhino trade. and the ceo of ringo. we'll tell you what that is. what it will take. [ male announcer ] what if you have potatoes? but you've got a meat and potatoes guy? pour chunky sirloin burger soup over those mashed potatoes and dinner is served. four minutes, around four bucks. campbell's chunky -- it's amazing what soup can do. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. that's good for our country's energy security ♪ we're centurylink... a new kind of broadban

cnn's political reporter shannon travis standing by live at the site of this debate, lincoln douglas-likeate, everyone is saying. will these harassment allegations against cain be off limits tonight? >> reporter: well, don, it will not be a part of the discussion. but it will likely be the elephant in the room. this debate between newt gingrich and herman cain here in the houston area. as you just mentioned, herman cain is coming off a very rough week of sexual harassment allegations and the drip-drip of information and even more allegations. he's, of course, denied -- he said he's never done anything wrong, never sexually harassed anyone. none of that will be on the table for the debate between these two men. this is sponsored by the texas patriots pact. it's basically a tea party organization and they want to talk about entitlement spending. you and our viewers understand that entitlements take up the lion's share of the federal budget. that's what they want to focus on. one of the moderators is congressman steve king of iowa, not really moderators in the traditional sense of the word.

our political reporter, shannon travis, was there. >> reporter: t.j., it was a pretty tame discussionnewt gingrich and herman cain here in the houston area. it was what happened after their debate where sparks really flew. during their debate, the two men tackled entitlement reform. government spending. but afterwards, candidate herman cain took questions from reporters. you obviously know that he's been besieged with claims and questions, details and denials. he took questions from reporters and basically tried to drive a stake through any more questions about what happened this week, details from the accusers. take a listen at one of the reactions from candidate cain to a reporter's question. >> if you all just listen for 30 seconds, i will explain this one time. >> could you sit down at the microphone for us, sir? would you, please? >> no, no -- >> it's time for us to trade places, everybody. so mr. cain -- it's time for us to trade places. >> mr. cain -- >> i was going do something that my staff told me ton do and try to respond, okay? what i'm saying is this -- >> could you -- >>

our cnn political reporter shannon travis tells us, that did not seem to really matter to the crowd.sidential candidates appearing here in iowa at the ronald reagan dinner. the first person to speak was ron paul. he spoke glowingly about his association and ties to the 40th president of the united states. >> of all presidents i have met over the many decades, president reagan was the one i knew the best and visited with the most and had the most in common. >> reporter: right after ron paul the texas governor rick perry got a lot of laughs out of one thing he said. he basically compared the gop race to the occupy wall street movement but in a comical way. he basically said the race should call occupy the white house right after the texas governor michele bachmann spoke. take a listen to her referencing some very familiar campaign rhetoric. >> as i look out at all of you, what i see is the epicenter of hope and change for our country. >> i'm energized. >> reporter: rick santorum was fourth. the pennsylvania senator spoke about faith and family values. and last to take the stage, former

our cnn political reporter shannon travis tells us, that did not seem t family values.former house speaker newt gingrich. he got a big applause and a hearty round of laughter. he says if he became the republican nominee he would challenge president obama to seven lincoln style debates. he said if he didn't accept, he would essentially follow him around the country. for more and what's happening in politics, here is paul steinhauser. >> thanks, shannon. they face off tonight. the showdown between the former house speaker and businessman touted as a modern day modified version of the historic debates between abc ham lincoln and douglas. in the spotlight over allegations of sexual harassment. cain says the allegations are baseless. beginning rich whose campaign once left for dead shows he's rising in polls. 12% in a new survey, up five points have a month ago. less than two months to the start of voting in the primaries and caucuses, now is the right time for a candidate to start. >> thanks to both. are you sick of poll six? wouldn't you like around campaign season, time f

cnn's political reporter shannon travis was there for the whole thing. shannon, update us.at happened? >> reporter: well, don, it's clear that after a week of questions and claims surrounding herman cain, details and denials his campaign are determined to move on. as you just mentioned, the debate itself was much about entitlement spending but what happened after the debate at a press conference featuring mr. cain. things got a little bit testy. mr. cain was asked questions about the substance of the debate. when it turned to the natures of the allegations against him that he's denied, he got really testy. take a listen and look at what happened moments ago. >> if you all listen, if you all just listen for 30 seconds, i will explain this one time. >> could you sit -- >> it's time for us to trade places, everybody, so mr. cain -- it's time for us to change places. >> you see what i mean? i was going to do something my staff told me not to do and try to respond, okay? what i'm saying is this -- we are -- we are getting back on message -- >> thank you, mr. cain. >> -- end of s

. >> cnn's shannon travis. >> they feel the issue of abortion and gay marriage are major for them. they feel governor romney, through his record waffled on both issue. democrats have been plays clips of mitt romney and past races in massachusetts, stressing that he was for abortion rights and also gay marriage, obviously, passed in massachusetts. >> the romney campaign told cnn he's running a 50-state campaign. he's competitive in iowa and reaching out to each and every voter. while he's running a campaign that stretches his alleged ineligibility as republican nominee. mitt romney has a long way to go to seal the deal. >> a number of social conservatives, spoken, let's say part of romney's problem is he's perceived as anybodying social conservatives, and reaching out. romney spent a lot of time campaigning in iowa four years ago but got beat by mike huckabee who is about this minister. >> thanks very much. in the cnn debate. republican candidates shot from the hip at least some of them seem to be doing that. wore were they on target with claims about national security? let's get a

shannon travis is shadowing the cain campaign and is on his way to the next stop in dayton. phone. shannon, again, this was a riveting interview. we heard the taped interview a couple nights ago on a local atlanta station. the first time she is speaking out live. is the cain campaign revealing any plans yet? >> reporter: yeah, you're right, don. it was a riveting interview. the cain campaign is not responding directly to this latest interview from her this morning on "good morning america." however, they are talking about trying to clarify a little bit more with this reassessment. reassessing the campaign means a few things. they spoke with cnn this morning. he defined it saying it's a major thing that's going on right now. he's reassessing how the campaign goes forward, what have you, but mark block who's cain's chief of staff told "abc news" last night there's no way that he was dropping out and that cain would give details of what this reassessment strategy would be today at the stop that i'm going to in dayton. we'll be anxious to hear what he has to say on that. also two

that could be very helpful and all comes as shannon travis, our political reporter in iowa reports a secret meeting on monday night by social conservatives looking to find a consensus candidate to take on mitt romney. t.j.? >> secret meetings. i'm sure shannon is all over it. paul steinhauser, thank you, as always. next political update is in one hour. you know the spot, c cnnpolitics.com. >>> seven minutes past the hour now. are you one of those about to hit the road? one of the 42 million about to hit the road ready for this long holiday weekend. aaa is predicting 42 million will drive, fly or hop on a train this thanksgiving. george howell is at atlanta's airport. certainly a busy place all year. today, as well. most people are hitting the road, right? does the airport look pretty busy? >> you know, 3.4 million people expected to travel by air and atlanta being the busiest airport in the world for passenger and operation travel, you can imagine, t.j., what happens here in atlanta will affect a lot of passengers and travelers throughout the country. so, what we found inside and afte

our political reporter shannon travis is out there, and he's waiting to see what herman cain says atclear how much more he can say, suzanne. i mean, he said last night that he really thinks it's kind of neat that not only are his words being put under the microscope by the press, so are his pauses, is the way he put it last night coming off a bus at one of his campaign events last night. so obviously, these brain freezes are becoming contagious for some of these candidates. but the polls show that herman cain is still right there in the top tier. he's still in the thick of it. he's not done just yet. and, in fact, there's a new iowa poll that just came out from bloomberg that shows he's in the lead in this state, which is pretty important. if you look at the numbers, they're quite impressive. cain at 20%. ron paul right there at 19%. then mitt romney and newt gingrich. herman cain is not done just yet. that obviously is not going to help his cause. >> jim, you talked to people on the road. do they buy this case that he's making here? do they believe that he's ready for primetime? >>

. >> shannon traif travis for us in chicago. we'll see you plenty throughout this campaign. a program note to or vurser here, you can join fredericka witfield sunday afternoon at 4:00 eastern for an hour dedicated to the presidential contenters. she'll be here in about 45 minutes to start her show, but even earlier, she's going to come hang out with me for a little bit. she's coming your way in just a few minutes. >>> cyber monday is around the corner, but do you know what to do on cyber monday, necessarily? you have to have a plan and be focused. we'll tell you exactly where you need to be to find the best deals online. >>> also, some trivia before we go to break here. cnn money taking a look at the gap between rich and poor in america. where do you think income and equality is greatest in this country? is it d.c., florida, connect, new york? i'll tell you when cnn saturday morning continues. 4 zone moisturizer with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you. [ male announcer ] shopping for medicare co