>> dedicating the dream. >> in this place he will stand for all time. the martin luther king jr. memorial is officially open on the national mall with an emotional ceremony. and living the dream, finally. he waited more than two decades in prison to win his innocence and a title. all that right here, right now on cnn. >> hello, everyone. i'm don lemon in atlanta. thank you for joining us. we're going to start with a tragic day in auto racing. >> in front of him. >> whoa, here we go. >> huge contact. up in turn number two. multiple cars involved. >> what you're looking at right there that, is a video of a crash that killed two-time indy 500 winner dan wheldon. it happened today in a horrific multicar crash in las vegas. the race had barely started with one slip set off this fiery chain reaction. wheldon's car went airborne. the car disintegrated. flames and debris flew off in all directions. wheldon was airlifted to the hospital but was pronounced dead a couple hours later. an emotional meeting among the drivers. they agreed to cancel the race. instead, they honored wheldon with a slow five-lap trip around the course. wheldon's number 77 was put at the top of the win inner's pole in the infield. let's bring in t.j. holmes tonight. several other drivers were also taken to the hospital. what is going on where you are now at that track? >> you know, it's just horrific. it's a sad day. you know, we're used to seeing -- we know that accidents are a part of racing. but we're used to seeing them get up and walk away so oftentimes no matter how horrific the crash looks. we're here at the track still. right behind me to my right here is really that first turn, turn one and two. this is the straightaway here. there is so much debris. the debris from where the wreck first started, the debris continued for about three quarters of a mile to give you an idea. and these are cars that are going literally 220 miles an hour. you can't stop. you can't just throw on the brakes when something happens in front of you. and that is what played out here. we'll give you a look at. this we do have the video. just a horrible crash about 11 or 12 laps into this race today. dan wheldon was actually up for a $5 million prize as part of a promotion if he won this race. there were so many factors playing in to this accident. but this was built here, don, as the race that was really going to help indy going into next year. kind of been a struggling series for the past several years. but the new ceo really was betting a lot on this race, promoting it. there were 34 cars. that's a record for this track. he had been promoting it on the las vegas strip. and so many things were a part of it. and now to have this on this day is just -- is just horrific. i talked to a few folks who were still left out here after the race. listen to them describe what they saw and also their feelings after the race. >> you had probably three full safety crews around him. he was not moving in the car. i mean we were able to get the -- we were able to look in right at him. it didn't look good. >> you've been following racing since the late '50s. you have ever seen anything like this? >> no. that's what totally beyond anything i've ever seen. it was just total carnage for a while. >> and, don, a couple things that will be talked about now after this race. 34 cars were entered into this race. again, that's a record for this track. that means there were going to be a lot of cars on the track going 220 miles an hour. these are not like nascar stock cars that bump each other. it's a part of racing. they cannot touch each other. when the tires touch something is going to go tragically wrong. that will be talked about after this race. the $5 million prize will be talked about as far as a special promotion. did that factor into the drivers racing harder? also you had two guys going up for the championship here. they were out here racing hard. you had two rookies going for a championship here as well. it was danica patrick's last race. there were so many story lines to this particular race. and people will be talking now and questioning whether some of that played some kind of a factor in how the racing was going and if it possibly played any role in this accident. but right now, just a horrific picture of the crash and racing lost one of their superstars today, dan wheldon. >> we'll get to that. the number of people that entered the race and we'll hear from danica patrick. thank you for that. we want to bring in patrick snell. cnn sports. everyone knows auto racing is extremely dangerous. but when it actually happens like this, it is a complete shock. let's talk about this. 225 miles per hour. and more cars for this race than normal. >> right. and the big concern is during practice, during the week voices had been raised. listen, the speeds are getting up to 225 miles an hour. you got more competitors that you would normally be allowed to have in this kind of an indycar meeting. and basically, i think people perhaps got caught up in the whole race. this was the season finale. we had two races going for the title. australia's world power and dario franchitti. the focus was on them and the exciting spectacular seasonal razzmatazz of the finale in las vegas. perhaps this went under the radar, the fact there were safety concerns over the speeds. >> and you interviewed dan wheldon and did so recently. >> dan wheldon is a character. as a fellow brit, i mourning. no question about that. extremely popular. huge respect from his piers. that's come out already. we've had so many tweets about him and his achievement. there's no question, don, that the world of motorsports has lost one of its favorite sons. that's very evident indeed. 33 years young, leaving behind a wife and two very young sons as well. >> patrick snell, thank you. patrick, i want to read this. this is from danica patrick. she released a statement, saying racing lost a wonderful champion today. dan brought so much excitement and personality to the sport and its fans. he was a great driver and i feel privileged to have raced with him. i pray not only for him but for his wife suzy and their two boys and the rest of his family. of course, there are many others praying for them as well. and there is the family right there. our thanks to cnn's patrick snell. we're going to move on now to other news. in philadelphia, police have made a horrifying discovery. you're not going to believe this one. four mentally challenged adults locked and chained in the basement of an apartment building. the three men and one woman are believed to have been there for a week. three people are in customer -- are in custody. they're accused of holding the captives to get their social security checks. susan candiotti reports. >> reporter: don, it's almost too awful to think about what happened to four adults inside this apartment building. it was simply put a room of horrors. police call it an act of evil. in a basement below the basement of this philadelphia house, a chain shackled one of four mentally and physically challenged adults to a boiler, all of them locked behind a steel door. one woman and three men age 29 to 41. >> it looks like a dunkon. these people were stored like surplus meat in the basement. >> reporter: held captive in a 15 x 15 foot room, emaciated and covered in bed sores and filthy conditions. the building's owner discovered them saturday when he heard dogs barking inside. he pried the door open and couldn't believe his eyes. >> one person was from the left ankle with the pad lock and chain. and the police didn't have the tools to cut the chain. i got my hacksaw and i cut throughout pad lock. >> quite simply this case makes you shake your head. i mean it's despicable and unspeakable. the mere fact that, you know, individuals would treat disadvantaged people like this is just ridiculous. i mean it just makes us sick. >> reporter: neighbors couldn't believe what was going on. >> crazy that somebody like this in real life can do something like this. this is stuff you see in movies. >> reporter: three people are charged including linda weston who police say orchestrated the whole thing. the suspects traveled with their victims from texas it florida and arrived in philadelphia october 4th. they're jailed on six charges including kidnapping and aggravated assault. investigators say they might have been stealing social security checks of the alleged victims. the fbi is looking into that. the four victims are now hospitalized. >> i don't know know what the motivation in this is financial or just out and out evil. i'm not sure. but either way, it's just a despicable act. >> reporter: the victims were in such bad shape the landlord told us if he had found them one day later, he believes they would have been dead. don? >> susan candiotti, thank you very much. in philadelphia for us tonight. martin luther king jr. is the first african-american to be memorialized on the national mall. ♪ lord lead me on >> aretha franklin, queen of soul among the celebrities and dignitaries at the dedication ceremony today. a 30 foot statue of king now stands between the jefrson and lincoln memorials. those who spoke today included some of king's children plus congressman john lewis, dan rather and president of the united states. >> if he were alive today, i believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of wall street without demonizing all who work there. and the businessman can enter tough negotiations with his companies union without vilifying the right to collectively bargain. he would want us to know we can argue fiercely about the proper size and role of government without questioning each other's love for this country. >> a dedication was set for august but was postponed because of hurricane irene. dr. cornell west recently told me he planned to mark the dedication of the king memorial by getting arrested and he did. the princeton university professor was among occupy protesters in washington. he was arrested on the steps of the u.s. supreme court while holding a sign that said poverty is the greatest violence of all. he said being arrested was in the spirit of dr. king's disobedience. when we come back here on cnn, we'll have a live report from where the occupy movement all began and has now blossomed worldwide. now what? and later, a wrongly accused boxer spent two decades in prison. he's finally out. and at 52 years old, he just won his first pro fight. but also, it's his last. life insurance companies treat you like a policy, not a person. instead of getting to know you they simply assign you a number. aviva is here to change all that. we're bringing humanity back to insurance and putting people before policies. aviva life insurance and annuities. we are building insurance around you. at red lobster. there's so many choices. the guests love it. 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they say we went international yesterday. they're very proud that there were protests marches in sympathy of their cause in italy and in south korea and in london and in tokyo and all across the united states. so they feel like they're very much on a roll. although whether that's true tomorrow morning here down near wall street remains to be seen. >> so here's the question. just update us again. so what you're hearing is we know they were supposed to clean the park and there was consternation on the occupy wall streeters against the city. so right now we're hearing that police were trying to take down some tents and then -- is that all we know? >> yes. that's all -- it literally happened just as we were going live. i hear chants right now going on. someone ran over and told us this was going on. and, you know, it could be any number of different things. frankly, you know, it's unlike most parks here. there is a very unusual sort of thing that non-new yorkers wouldn't necessarily know about. but this is actually a private park. but they made a deal with the city when they acquired the park that it would become open to the public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. so that is very unusual. >> hey, errol, do us a favor. check it out for us. as you get information, will you come back and report? >> absolutely. >> errol louis at zuccotti park, thank you, sir. we appreciate your reporting tonight. we want to go to las vegas where cnn is set to host the next major test for the republicans battling for the presidency. on tuesday, they meet for a debate cosponsored by the western leadership conference. and our own jim acosta is standing by in the strip in vegas for us now and so is steve sebelius. a political reporter for the las vegas review journal. good to see both of you. let's start with you, jim. every time we have one of these debates, it seems like there is a new attention grabber. this time around, of course, it is herman cain. it was other candidates before that. it was michelle bachman and others. now it's herman cain's turn. >> reporter: that's right, don. this is going to be a big test for herman cain on tuesday night. and a lot of republicans are going to be watching to see how he handles, how he responds to a couple of controversies that popped up just this weekend, don, you know, down in tennessee. herman cain was campaigning and he talked about the fact that he would like to see an electrical fence down on the u.s./mexico border to keep illegal immigrants out of the country. and, you know, that really raised a lot of eyebrows. he said on "meet the press" this morning he was only joking. i would imagine that that is going to come up at the debate on tuesday night. he's going to be asked about that. one of the other candidates may challenge him on it. and his 9-9-9 tax plan which he obviously has gotten a lot of air time and a lot of attention for. it came out over the weekend, don, a couple of analysts looked at that tax plan and said it looks like lower and middle income americans will be paying more taxes and he acknowledged that on one of the sunday talk shows. so he's going to have to get through this test. he looks a lot like some of the other candidates you talked about, don, michelle bachman, rick perry. they both emerged as the unromney in this campaign. they went up like a shooting star and then imploded when they were held up to the media spotlight. >> i guess fickle is a good word at this point. still, it's early on in this process. if they're not in yet, it's not early on. it's still fairly early on. steve, let's talk about the issues in this debate that are really affecting las vegas or nevada as a whole. 14% unemployment in the city. lots of immigration issues for the state. and should these candidates be addressing this on tuesday night? they will be, i'm sure. >> well, yeah, absolutely they should be addressing it. nevada voters preparing for our caucus now on january 14 do want to hear about some of those things. i'm sure the issue of yucca mountain the place for nuclear waste is going to come up as well. really the unemployment and jobs issue, that will be the number one issue here on voters' minds. that certainly something the candidates have to address. >> who do you think, which candidate is going to appeal most, do you believe, to nevada republicans and why? >> well, i think it's going to be mitt romney. mitt romney in 2008 captured 51% of the votes in the caucus. he still has an organization here. he rehired the staff he had in 2008. and the mormon community in las vegas, very small part of the population. they turn out almost 100%. i think it's mitt romney's game to lose right now. that's especially true since the caucus date was moved up leaving candidates with a month less time to organize. >> okay. so this is for steve and then jim. i want you to weigh in on this. you say it's going to be mitt romney, steve. that's what you say. herman cain is going up in the polls perry is seeing some surge and mitt romney is level, going stagnant. so what is it about mitt romney in your estimation as a nevadan that it's not appealing? >> well, mitt romney certainly has appeal here. to republicans though nationwide, he's running in the republican primary. there's strain of conservatism that says that mitt romney is just not one of them. i don't know how strong that is in nevada. but certainly mitt romney also gained about the fact that he says out of solidarity with new hampshire he's going to skip the nevada caucus entirely. really, it does come down to mitt romney. he'll do well here. how well he does in other places, that's an open question. >> what does he have to do on tuesday night and also chris christie, one would have thought that chris christie the darling of the republican party that it might have given him a boost that, didn't even happen. >> yeah. you know, mitt romney, you know, he has really done so well in all of these debates. i mean whether you're republican or democrat, a lot of independent folks have looked at this and said has won all of these debates. if he comes in on tuesday night and runs the table again and cleans up here in vegas and wins this debate on tuesday night, it is going to be hard to stop the chatter that he is the eventual nominee. you already saw that starting to emerge as a narrative coming out of the last tuesday debate up in dartmouth. if mitt romney has another strong performance, it's going to be hard for the other republican candidates to stop that narrative emerging from what happens here on tuesday night. herman cain is going to try his best to throw mitt romney off his game. i think we'll see the other candidates do that as well. mitt romney's biggest challenge is something you hear from what, -- from what the democrats are saying right now. david axelrod was saying this on one of the sunday talk shows. mitt romney is at this 20% to 25% plateau among republicans. he has to figure out a way to get above that in order to capture the nomination, i think. and that's his biggest challenge at this point. >> jim acosta, thanks to both of you. we'll be watching. it's going to be interesting on tuesday. who will come out on top in the cnn western republican presidential debate? make sure you join us from las vegas tuesday night, 8:00 p.m. eastern. cnn's anderson cooper will be asking the questions. security forces accused of opening fires on demonstrators in yemen. luck? i don't trade on luck. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. trade commission free for 60 days [ cow moos ]ng ] agents, name these critters. these are the sweet little animals that run into the road and cause car crashes. deer alone cause billions in damage. so, what do we do? we talk to our customers, make sure they understand their options in case these guys ever cross their path. 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[ chorus ] ♪ we are farmers bum-ba-dum, ba-bum-bum-bum ♪ checking your headlines. as dawn approaches in yemen, gunfire and explosions are echoing in the streets of the capital. the latest sign that turmoil in yemen is far from over. a medic says at least five people were killed in the capital on sunday when security forces opened fire on a demonstration. dozens were injured. marchers carried signs reading soli kills and the world watches. they're demanding an end of the president's reign and he blames al qaeda and the muslim brotherhood for the unrest there. the arab league is considering the extraordinary step of suspending syria in the face of his crackdown on protesters. activists say were on the move and security forces fired on thousands of mourners at a funeral. they're trying to meet protesters demand for reform and a new constitution will be drafted in the next four months. >> senator john mccain worries that the white house plan to send soldiers to uganda could mire america in a new war. president obama announced friday he was sending 100 military advisors to help those troops. they're fighting joseph coney and his lords resistance army. the rebels have waged a campaign of rape, murder, and mutilation and killed tens of thousands of people. mccain didn't question the president's motives but said the decision fit a disturbing pattern. >> i worry about with the best of intentions that somehow we get engaged in a commitment that we can't get out of. that's happened before in our history. and we need an explanation. i'm very disappointed again that the administration has not consulted with members of congress before taking such action. >> the news that abducted israeli soldier is one step closer to freedom. israel has submitted the paperwork necessary to pardon 447 palestinian prisoners. that's the first of two groups that will be released as part of a deal with hamas to free him. israeli citizens have 48 hours to reject. the government warns any changes are likely to scuttle the deal. >> one of america's most beloved g-rated programs just got victimized by some x-rated hackers. that story straight ahead. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm? 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[ thunder rumbling ] [ thunder crashing ] and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. ♪ and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. it looks like porn hackers have commandeered "sesame street's" online channel. this is what you get if you try to visit "sesame street's" youtube page. the channel is not available. earlier, users saw sex videos instead of clips of the characters. at one point the page also said that content was brought you to by the letter x playing off "sesame street's" saying. so far, no response from pbs or youtube. the fbi is investigating after a dead newborn baby was found on a carnival cruise ship. a crew member found the body while the boat was docked at the caribbean island of st. martin. the mother is a 20-year-old american woman. she stayed behind as the cruise ship returned to florida. she's expected to return in the next 24 hours. no one has been charged. the fbi says it is still gathering evidence in this case. the trial of michael jackson's doctor resumes on tuesday. no court is set for tomorrow because a witness for the prosecution is unavailable. prosecution is expected to wrap up its presentation this week. dr. conrad murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in jackson's death. rising republican star herman cain getting deep into political hyperbole on illegal immigration. here's what he said at an event on saturday. >> when i'm in charge of a 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 said it will kill you. >> sound a bit extreme to you? well, cain says lighten up. we'll get into that. first, here is this week's "getting down to business." many americans support the idea of higher taxes for the wealthy to help reduce the federal budget deficit. a "washington post"/bloomberg poll found more than two-thirds of americans say the ultra rich should pay more in taxes. this comes as billionaire warren buffett reveals he made more than $62 million last year and paid less than $7 million in taxes. and for all the apple lovers who stood in line for a new iphone 4s, don't throw away your old one just yet. it could turn into cash as sales of smartphones increase, trade-in sites have also grown. one company offers close to $300 for an iphone 4 trade in. and if you're planning to travel for the holidays, book your plane tickets now. experts say travelers will pay around $40 more this year and expect the price to go up about $5 a day. we'll get an overall reading on inflation wednesday. that's this week's "getting down to business." hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. 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[ giggles ] all right. getting down to the wire. more politics now. herman cain riding a huge wave into tuesday's gop debate. but the boost in popularity is bringing more scrutiny for him and his policy ideas. i want you to hear what he said in tennessee about keeping out illegal immigrants. >> when i'm in charge of the fence, we're going to have a fence. it's going to be 20 feet high and have barbed wire on the top. it's going to be electrified. and there is going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you. >> boy, he seems serious there. he walked back on the comments on nbc's "meet the press." >> that's a joke, david. >> it's a joke. >> that's a joke. >> that's not a serious plan? >> no, it's not. >> you got a big laugh. that's not what you'd do. >> it's a joke. i also said america fields to get a sense of humor. >> he has said it before about the exact same issue and in exactly the same way. >> you upped the ante with a 20 foot barbed wire electrified fence. were you serious? >> america's got to learn how to take a joke. >> so what exactly does herman cain find so hilarious about the illegal immigration issue? i want to bring in eric ericsson, editor of redstate.com. and robert zimmerman, member of the democratic national committee. eric, i want to start with you. why does cain keep saying these things about illegal immigration and later saying it was a joke and americans need to lighten up? why does he keep doing that? >> it was a joke for herman cain. he is giving this line now for a number of years. it used to be on the other side there was a moat two feet long filled with alligators and if they could climb the fence and get through the moat and past the alligators, he'd give them a job. unfortunately, he cut it down too much. he has a very good sense of humor. now that he's at the top of the pack, people are saying maybe he needs to cut the joke telling. but he's got a good sense of humor. >> the big -- the problem he is doesn't have a sense of humor. it's a poor joke. border and port security which is so important to our safety and so important to putting in immigration reform shouldn't be taken lightly. i'm not defending my party for not doing enough on the issue. and likewise, the republican party as well. it's been a bipartisan failure. but the idea that we have someone who pretends to be a serious presidential candidate mocking and minimizing the issue of immigration reform demonstrates he does have a good sense of humor and he's not qualified for public office, least of all the presidency. >> and in one breath, robert, correct me if i'm wrong, you can't say that i respect life about the abortion issue and then make jokes about killing people in the next breath. >> absolutely. i mean, there's so many -- is this herman cain that you're referring to? >> yes. >> my point is simply that is one more example. certainly the comments he's engaged in regarding race are equally divisive. and hateful. but the bigger issue is the fact he's able to get away with this is how extreme the republican party has become today. the concept of reagan mainstream conservatism is really an issue for the smithsonian. because ultimately reagan would be an outcast in today's republican party because he raised taxes, he raised the debt ceiling and he negotiated with our adversaries. it's extreme how -- >> but listen, hang on here. you're moving ahead a little bit. robert, listen, i want to say game on. he's at the top of the heap right now. it brings this sort of scrutiny when you're at the top of the heap. so i want to talk about the issues. when you make -- when you say things like african-americans are brainwashed. you say president obama's never been part of the black experience in america. african-americans use racism as an excuse, what does that say about herman cain? and some may wonder if herman cain is the mouth piece for some conservatives and members of the tea party and he's just -- they're using him to voice their opinions about how they feel about this issue? robert? >> don, is that for me? i couldn't hear you. i'm sorry. that's exactly the point. herman cain is playing the race issue to try to appeal to the extreme wing of the republican party. and when he make the issue that african-americans are brainwashed, he's trying to excuse why he doesn't have support from the african-american community. but when he announce the president obama by saying he's not a strong black man, he's ultimately trying to use the issue of race to play the extreme fringes. >> listening to robert's tone this is why americans are so cynical about this. when you get to the top of the pack apparently you have to have your sense of humor taken way. i may not like herman cain's sense of humor, but he has a sense of humor. he is on top. he does say some things. keep in mind, herman cain was running as an insurgent candidate. they rely on grassroots not on money to get attention. one thing they do is they make more bold pronouncements. bill bradley did it when running against al gore in 2000. the list goes on and on. they all do it. the game has changed, and he's going -- >> that is factually incorrect. >> hang on a second, robert. he has to elevate this now it a different level when he gets to it. part of this was him getting -- he has a sense of humor. >> hold that thought, robert. listen, cain's rhetoric is catching fire as we can tell with this very boisterous debate here. is he going to amp it up on tuesday night to pull off a big victory and get him the much needed money? 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[ male announcer ] advil congestion relief. all right. we're back. we're going to continue our conversation now. before the break, we were talking about herman cain's surge in the days leading up to cnn's republican debate in las vegas on tuesday. "saturday night live" took notice too and had some fun with his 9-9-9 tax plan. >> how to fight terrorism, my 555 plan. for every terrorist america will send five airplanes, five soldiers and five dogs that caught osama bin laden. how we fix health care, the 333 plan. every time you get sick, you get three pills, three days off and three chicken noodle soups. >> i'm back now with eric ericsson getting a good laugh here. robert zimmerman, also getting a good laugh. he is a former cnn contributor. and a member of the democratic national committee. so clearly herman cain has everyone's attention now. but eric, here's a question. is it going to translate into campaign money for him in states where he is lagging? he needs the money to stay in. >> i'm not sure that it matters at this point. because you've got iowa and new hampshire moving up their caucuses and primaries to january. you did have a month into 2012 where he could raise extra money. now that's going to be curtailed. through christmas, people are not giving a lot of money. he had a surge of fund-raising at the end of the last quarter. still only $2 million or $3 million compared to perry and romney who had 15 and 20 on hand. and they have the money to be able to lay a ground game in an iowa caucus state which is different than running a primary state. cain said he's going to bypass the nevada caucuses for now. that is more for fund-raising than solidarity with the other candidates. >> go ahead, robert. >> eric, it's very important to decipher there is a difference between political buzz and political clout. and quotability with credibility. sure, herman cain is getting a lot of attention. yes, he's winning national polls. nominees are not picked out of national polls. they're picked by winning the early caucuses and primaries. right now herman cain is busy selling books in tennessee on a book tour. he's not in iowa organizing. he has no campaign to speak of in new hampshire. when it's all said and done, yes, he'll get his share of attention and maybe a lecture series out of this. but he's not a credible, viable candidate. >> it is worth pointing out one of the things he did because he was so low on money is the book tour. largely, i think the book publisher was paying for him to get some high profile spots. but now apparently i'm being told had a that his campaign is shifting into high gear going to iowa to do this. i'm not sure he has enough time given how many people are sapped up. >> he's going to have to do it fast. >> here's the question, eric. who's really in the lead here? you see herman cain going up in the polls. you see mitt romney is level. mitt romney is raising a lot of money. herman cain is raising no money and rick perry is raising a ton of cash as well. >> right now, i would say it's a romney versus perry race. perry has done horrible in the debates. atrocious. we'll see how he does on tuesday night. but he has $15 million on hand. romney i think has -- his numbers haven't come out. but a significant amount of money. so they have the money for staying power. the other candidates don't have the money for staying power. this is a marathon. >> i want to ask you, eric, who is going to be the nominee? >> right now, the way the republicans go, it's going to be mitt romney. >> not going to be cain? >> probably not cain or perry. >> well, i don't know. perry could surprise us in the debate and win it. >> who can beat president obama out of the three? >> it's my hope that president obama is able to be re-elected. the reality is that any republican that can reach independent voters or reach middle -- people in the middle, moderate voters, it makes this a 50/50 race. right now none of these have shown any ability to move to the middle and reach them. that's what makes this debate coming up on tuesday so critical. because ultimately, each candidate has to really play a dramatic strategy. if you're a second tier candidate, you have to have a strategy to get attention and develop traction. if you're rick perry, you have to put sentences together and have an economic program. and if you're mitt romney you have to break through above 20%. >> eric said, you heard it. none of the candidates can beat president obama. none. thank you guys. have a great evening. this has to be the last word. i have a programming reminder for you. join us live from las vegas on tuesday night, 8:00 p.m. eastern. anderson cooper will be asking the questions. president obama goes on the road this week trying to promote his jobs bill. that and more big stories and your week ahead. nice little pat on the back. ahhhh! 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( bike bell) unbelievable. our lead story was two-time indy 500 winner dan wheldon dying in a fiery crash. cnn spoke with his father-in-law about hearing the news. >> of course, we were rooting for dan and then my daughter was realizes there was a terrible crash and she's saying it's dan that's involved in the crash. as we're waiting, sure enough he was involved. my daughter phoned, dad, i have to go to the hospital, please pray that everything is okay. of course it wasn't okay. >> well, that race was cancelled. wheldon's fellow drivers paid tribute to him by driving in formation around the track at low speed for five laps. wheldon was married and had two young sons. he was 33 years old. bazelam for a champion boxer for most of his life. but until last night in los angeles, his boxing prowess was little known outside of sing sing prison. facing off against larry hopkins, his first and only professional match. the 52-year-old was free from prison in 2009 after serving 26 years r