floor and health care providers do not have to intervene if this bill is passed. it's just appalling. >> check out this tonight from anita perry, wife of governor rick perry. some perry aides blame shaky debate performances for the need of more sleep. mrs. perry suggested his slip in the polls is because of brutal attacks from other republicans that she suggests somehow resent his faith. of those republican critics, mrs. perry said, quote, they may feel like god called them, too. but i truly feel like we are here for that purpose. rising cain, the leap of herman cain to the top of the pack of the presidential race. new poll numbers out tonight, 27% of republican voter back cain. former massachusetts governor mitt romney is the choice of 23%. governor perry follows at 16%. congressman ron paul cracks double-digit support. some are quick to suggest cain is the latest beneficiary of an anyone but romney dynamic among the most conservative republicans. the never shy mr. cain says he'll prove them wrong. >> will not be the flavor of the week. the answer is an emphatic no, because haggen-dasz black walnut tastes good all the time. >> why the soaring poll numbers? listen to this from an interview today with my colleague erin burnett. >> it demonstrates the voice of the people is more important than the voice of the media, with all due respect, because for a while, as you know, some people in the media tried to paint this as a two-man governor on governor race. the second key message is, message is more powerful than money. >> just who is this guy, herman ca cain? 65 years old. grew up in a poor family in atlanta, georgia. graduated from morehouse college, receiving a master's from purdue university. the father of two, married since 1968, and a survivor of stage iv liver and colon cancer. few dispute his prowess in the business world. one thing he is not, a newcomer to national politics. >> my question is quite simply, if i'm forced to do this, what will i tell those people whose jobs i will have to eliminate? >> why wouldn't you be able to raise the price of pizza 2%? >> then, as now, cain said the democratic president simply didn't get it. >> your other point about having to pass it on to my customers in the competitive marketplace is simply done work that way. >> now, in this campaign, his appeal is part confidence, part rhetorical flare, and part collarty. ignoring conservative analysts who say it doesn't quite add up. calls it 999, 9% income tax, 9% corporate tax, 9% national sales tax. >> the 999 plan that i have proposed is simple, transparent, efficient, fair, and neutral. >> again, not everyone agrees, and the plan is getting more scrutiny, as mr. cain surges in the polls. tal ran tolerance is another question certain to resurface now. >> would you be comfortable appointing a muslim in your cabinet or a federal judge? >> no, i will not. here's why, that is a creeping attempt, there is this attempt, to gradually ease sharia law and the muslim faith into our government. it does not belong in our government. >> whatever you think of mr. cain, one thing you cannot question, his communication skills. >> you know you must be doing something right when you get a lot of arrows in your back. this is the first time that arrows -- >> let's dig deeper on herman cain, the man and the candidate, with jeff campbell, former chairman of the pillsbury restaurant group, he hired cain to run godfather's pizza. just wrote a piece called the "cain mutiny." jeff, tell us the man herman cain what you saw in the ceo that carries over favorably and if you saw something that carries over unfavorably to herman cain, presidential candidate? >> a definite leader. there's a difference between managing and leading, and you can get by with management under some circumstances, particularly if things are sailing along smoothly. but when you've got something like a business that's got to be turned around and need energetic leadership to make that happen you better find yourself a leader. my recollection, though it's gone back quite a ways i don't think i spent a lot of time deciding who was the right person for that job. >> michael, we see that on the campaign trail. he is a leader. he is energetic, a great marketer. he brings a lot to the table. looking at potential future commander in chief, he's missing some pieces, right? >> absolutely, john. i think this is the key question in coming weeks, is he a flash in the pan, is he going to fade as michele bachmann did or are voters going support this die. he was asked what's your plan for afghanistan? his answer i don't know enough about afghanistan whethand when become president i'll ask the experts. a few days ago he said he wouldn't need to know the names of foreign leaders he didn't know the leader of uzebkistan, few people do, but he was saying in general it doesn't matter. the day before i meet a foreign leader i'll learn that leader's name. that's not what you hear from a presidential candidate, and the rules seem like they might be different this time around. but they would have be awfully different from past elections for voters to kind of shrug that off. that's really a key area i think you have to watch to see whether he can close the deal and be a serious, credible candidate for the nomination. >> that is a key question. can he fill out the policy portfolio? another question, jeff, who is this man? one thing that has come up question of tolerance. he talks about sharia law, he sees muslims in the united states wanting to impose sharia law in the united states. listen to this from june. you may not be casting aspefrgss on all muslims but wouldn't that test, subject all muslims to a test that you would subject no other ethnic or religious group to in the neunited states? isn't that discrimination. >> no, it's not discrimination, it's called trying to protect the american people. in my 40 years of business i hire people from all races, creeds, religion, sexual orientation. i look for the best people. but look, this nation is under attack constantly about people who want to kill all of us. so i'm going to take extra precaution. >> ever any question in your mind, jeff, about his tolerance, his open-mindedness, fairness? >> absolutely no question. i know that stuff gets sensitive and people get interviewed and things can become uncomfortable, but i'm going on 20-some odd years of history with herman and one thing i tell you, this is an honorable man. >> michael, it's an interesting question, we have our first african-american president, now an african-american atop the republican field, herman cain and barack obama talk differently when it comes to the issue of race. cain talking to candy crowley this past weekend. he says he escaped the democratic plantation. listen when he talks about how he thinks racism is sometimes exin exinge ex-rate ex-raex exaggerated. >> i have seen blacks move up in the big of the corporations. they weren't held back because of racism, no. people sometimes hole themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve. >> he knows he's provocative on this question. how important is it, or unimportant it is, to his candidacy now? >> i think it's something that conservatives like about him. a think a lot of conservatives in america feel like they are kind of quickly -- that the left is quick to accuse them of racism, the tea party was accused of racism in its kind of when it was peaking wit big rallies a few months ago. to have someone like cain fight back and to have ablack man saying this is exing aratted, it's overstated republican party is not racist and a different set of possibilities for what you could have from a black candidate, i think really does energize white conservatives. i think it helps them. i think it's probably not central to his candidacy but i think it probably is something that's appealing. >> jeff, conversations, a quarter century ago, ever wanted to so a guy who wanted to be a politician in he did pop up during a health care debate. ever got the sense this guy wants to run for something or this guy has strongly-held political views? >> no. we didn't -- we didn't talk politics at all. when i saw was a leader, and the bill clinton thing happened after we were working together. it didn't surprise me. i've told somebody the other day that i can't point to any specific event during my time with herman, but to see him emerge as a political leader and political aspirant for high office, it's not a surprise to me, it's probably part of the big dose of leadership gene he's got. >> the biggest question mark of watching your friend run for president? what question do you have? >> my question as a citizen, and it's a question that i'm trying to lure him back to san diego to we can have beers and talk about this, i want to talk about where we're go going with this country because i'm, frankly, disgusted with both political parties and tired of watching the same movie. you know, we've got a lot of big issues. i don't hear enough of them being talked about, where are we going to fine 20 million jobs, how are we going to reconstitute the middle class, simple stuff like that. >> are you definitely a cain voter? >> i'm not anybody's voter as yet. i'll wait to hear what i hear. i'm a herman cain defender because i know who the man is and what he's made of, and i will say this, we desperately need some leadership in this country. we don't have in that i can see. and herman cain is, if he's one thing at all, he is a leader. i'm going to be paying a lot of attention to him. >> jeff, michael, he is a lead somewhere passionate on the campaign trail. he portrays himself as ultimate outsider which has great appeal to the tea party base which sent a lot of people here to washington who don't have political experience and they did that on purpose. yet, he's not a total outsider, is he? >> he's not. very quickly on the first point, if you haven't seen herman cain speak it says a lot about his appeal. he blew away the room at the values voter summit last weekend. i was there. it's essential to understanding him. to your question, yes, i think people are going to learn more about him and some people who love him right now might be saying, i didn't know some of those things. he was a member of the federal reserve board of governors in kansas city in onmaha, for the federal reserve, a boogie man for the right right now. he ran the national restaurant association which spends a lot of money lobbying the federal government for legislation in congress. he was in effect the restaurant industry's top lobbyist. and he has been as advising and mixed up with political campaigns since the mid 90s. talked about running for president in mid '90s, advised dole-kemp campaign, ran for senate in 2004. he's not a guy that walks out of the boardroom and leapt into the presidential campaign. he's got more history than that. >> he does have more history than that. at moment the most fascinating figure in american politics. appreciate your insights today, gentlemen. now that he's rising in the poll, can herman cain translate that into the organizational and fund-raising success necessary for the long march to the republican nomination? that's tonight's truth, next. the postal service is critical to our economy-- delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. [ male announcer ] its design inspires. its power impresses. it's thin, light and built without compromise. but mostly, it acts like my personal assistant on set. unlike my real assistant who isn't quite as thin, light or powerful. ♪ he's right there, isn't he? designed with the 2nd gen intel® core™ i5/i7 processors, performance you need, style you want. visit dell.com this week and check out our october signature event for great offers on our best systems. herman cain's rise to the top of republican presidential field is nothing short of remarkable. yes, part is due to dissatisfaction with other better known and better financed candidates, mitt romney, rick perry, to name two. don't discount mr. cain's peel or his political skills he's a natural at marketing, a skill from the business world he has carried over seamlessly into his political campaign. >> let's fix the biggest problem that we have in this country, which is the economy, and that starts with eliminating the tax codes and passing my 999 plan. >> but here's tonight's truth. while he is without a doubt an impact player in the gop field, he is at the moment not prepared to leverage his current popularity into a serious challenge for the republican nomination. for starters, it costs money to run for president, lots of it, and mr. cain is way, way behind in the fund-raising race. in the second quarter this year, latest reports available, mitt romney raised $18.3 million, herman cain raised $2.6 million. part of that came from 500,000 of his own money. he ends the quarter with just $480,000 in the bank and was already $500,000 in debt. this short coming is about to get a short-term remedy. with poll numbers up, so is cain's fund-raising. he told erin burnett tonight his fund-raising's picks up in the past week. cain said his campaign will report having several hundred thousand dollars in cash on hand and no debt at the end of the current third quarter. we'll watch for those numbers. what he does with that money is a critical test because it takes organization to win over the long run and for all of his appeal, mr. cain is lacking here and significantly so. top aides in iowa and new hampshire quit this year, and there's significant turnover in cain's small headquarters operation as well. check out this daunting david versus goliath challenge. according to reports filed in july, cain had 26 paid staffers on hand, total, one or two in the key primary states. romney had twice as many, 57 staffers and i know romney staff has expanded more over the past couple of months. red flag, some aides who work for mr. cain question whether his goal is popularity or the presidency. he gets big fees on the speaking circuit, of late raises i brous putting book signings ahead of campaigning in key early states. you see the book signings, lighter stops, not key primary stops. he denies he's not a serious candidate. >> they will know that i am in this to win it. i am not in this to raise my profile or get a tv show. >> he is also quite confident, quick to dismiss those who make the case he didn't have what it takes for the long haul. >> if i have to listen to experts i wouldn't have tried to go to florida to win the straw poll. i won! look at the midwestern republican leadership straw poll last weekend. i won! by big numbers. so why -- there's a theme here -- i win! >> that's true, but go back through the history of last 20 years. a lot of candidates win straw polls, and then disappear when the real voting takes place. unless he fixes fund-raising, strategic deficiencies, and fixes them fast, mr. cain will learn that very difficult lesson but worth watching. a very important period for mr. herman cain. unusual fallout from the alleges iranian plat to assassinate saudi arabia's ambassador to the united states. both countries are doing something they almost never do. 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natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ today we learned direct contact between the united states and iran over the alleged plot to assassinate saudi arabia's ambassador. now details about the conversation still aren't clear but we know it occurred wednesday, and initiated by the united states. u.s. officials say elements of iran's government paid the a middleman to recruit hitmen, possibly bombing a restaurant here in washington. the united states is briefing allies about the bizarre plot. >> we laid the facts before them and we believe that, after people have analyzed them there will not be a dispute that this is in fact what happened. this is a not just a dangerous escalation, this is part of a pattern of dangerous and reckless behavior by the iranian government. >> let's get perspective from fareed zakaria. the alleged plot is brazen but also pretty bizarre. the "the washington post," everybody surprised by the amateurishness of the plotters, inconsistent with high standards in the past, meaning iranian attacks around the world. we had to be convinced of the plot to come to the belief that, yes, you can trace this high up into the iranian government. are you convinced the administration, the justice department, have made the case that they can trace this up to the high level of the iranian regime? >> my presumption would be that if the senior officials of the u.s. government who have spoken so far and they have been very senior officials, were convinced by the evidence it must be pretty credible. i do think, however, that there is a great deal of ambiguity of what we mean by an iranian plot. one of the things i think that has happened in iran over the last two or three years, maybe a little bit longer, is that you see essentially a kind of military takeover of the regime, remember this used to be a clerical regime, mollas in charge. what happens happened over the last few years the republican guard have taken control over the political and military system. what appears to have happened here the quds force, an element of the revolutionary guard seems to be directing it. so i think we're dealing with a new element in the iranian regime, these military elements, young military officers, trained in the iran/iraq war, hardened, taken pow, displacing clerical elites much wiser, i guess i'm saying there are a lot of military hotheads in powerful positions in iran with lots of money. i think more likely than not this was a quasi rogue operation sanctioned by one of the military hotheads. it probably does not have the perimeter of the entire regime. >> from a policy perspective the united states slapped some sanctions on iran. you have to answer the question or you'd like to answer the question, how high up does it go? listen to the secretary of state here, it is pretty clear she's not sure. >> it's a little hard to tell what was really going on, why this was given a seal of approval, why there was a go ahead from tehran, whether within their military and their government the kinds of debates and divisions that we are now watching unfold, because it's difficult to know who's making the decisions, was this for political purposes? was this just a crazy idea that got out of hand? >> those are excellent questions. i guess my question to you, if somebody in the government, in the military, was trying to embarrass ahmadinejad or embarrass the mullahs -- >> what hillary clinton talked about is true, the last few months in iran, ahmadinejad has fires ministers who have been reinstated by the supreme leader, they have had scuffles over policy issues, there have been offers made on the nuclear issue which have then been in a sense with drawn. so there's a real lack of clarity about who's actually in charge. in that context it's quite conceive able that one of these guys in the revolutionary guard, one official, was presented with this, it seems like a very low cost operation, so it wouldn't require a lot of people to sign off on 0 it and he said, yeah, go ahead and do it, and that's where we are. >> if that's where we are, we're waiting to see how the united states responds and the president of the united states put on the table today the other question, which is how do the saudis and their friends and foes in the region respond? let's listen. >> this plot was not simply directed at the united states of america. this is a plot directed against the saudi ambassador, and i think what you're going to see is folks throughout the middle east region questioning their ability to work effectively with iran. >> is that still a question or have people decided, some say, yes, we can work with iran, others said absolutely, no we can't? >> no, it is a question. look, there's a great deal of suspicion about iran in middle eastern capitals, in some places it's outright hostility in saudi arabia. the iranians are tough customers, shrewd negotiators and they're not arabs, and so there's always been some suspicions and reluctance. i think this will add to them. this was a very smart idea for president obama to highlight the idea that this is not a u.s./iranian issue but iran trying to take out a key arab ambassador, one of the most important figures in the arab world and in that sense it should be something arabs look upon with a great deal of suspicion. >> the president said no options are off the table, codes for we would consider military options. but we know that's not a viable option. what options does the administration why v. beyond ratcheting up sanctions? >> in the past, if you think back to the cold war, this kind of thing would almost always trigger a response in kind, which would mean that that would trigger a u.s. covert operation that would in some way be appropriate and proportional. i don't think we're in that cole war tit for tat game but it's conceivable the u.s. has a covert operation on hole in iran, that it would look at more carefully, that the saudis might do something like that. my suspicion is, at this point it doesn't mean anything because they're just evaluating the situation and trying to figure out, like the rest of us, who actually might have done this and the question you asked which was the crucial one, why? what was the point here to discredit ahmadinejad, create some division within the iranian government or simply directs against the u.s. and saudi arabia? until they figured that out i doubt you'll see something. but the u.s. has run covert operations in iran. we have encourages iranian freedom fighters, we call them, they regard them as ethnic secessionists to rise up against the iranian government. there are ways to turn the tap up again. >> spy novels were written on cold war beliefs. when you first heard about this, what went through your mind? >> when i first heard about this, i thought about a spy novel. david ignatius of "the washington post" wrote a spy novel set with the u.s./iranian context except i don't think he would have written something like this because it's too amateurish to be believable. you know, in a novel, fiction, you can make it as happen hazard and crazy as it is. but as you know, john, the reality about reporting is sometimes there's so much incompetence and amateurishness, and everyone looks for dark designs and evil plans, and the truth is, you know, sometimes it's more keystone cops than james bond. >> sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. thanks very much. >> a pleasure, john. next, why democratic leader nancy pelosi is warning if republicans get their way, women might, quote, die on the floor. 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(laughing) yeah. get $100 rebate when you buy four tires. 100 bucks! only at your ford dealer. 3 million tires. 11 major brands, fiona's kind-of-nice. i don't know why you're not here. welcome back. the latest news you need to know now. ray lahood, only republican in obama's cabinet, say his will not stay on if the president wins another term and he won't run for public office again. the house votes of a republican-sponsored change to the new health care law, keeps federal money going to any insurance plan that provides abortion services and gives hospitals permission to refuse to do an abortion, even a woman's life is in danger. democrats like nancy pelosi are outraged. >> under this bill, when the republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor and health care providers do not have to intervene if this bill is passed. it's just appalling. >> another big debate on capitol hill today, brings us to tonight's number. 94,500, the number of millionaires who do not meet the buffett rule test. what are we talking about? remember that number, 94,500. well, that means those 94,500 actually pay a smaller percentage of income in taxes than middle class americans. middle class pays that big percentage. these millionaires pay a small percentage. why? if you're in the middle class you know this, midst middle class pay around 28%, 25, 33, most are here. these, more than 90,000 millionaires pay 15% because they're paying capital gains, on investments, not what the middle class is paying. how many millionaires? let's get that to kick in. 94,500 make up 25%, 25% of the millionaires in the country. this obviously a driving, driving political debate. we'll take a closer look at the top story, that is herman cain, at top of the national public opinion polls. what's driving it? can he sustain it? what do the democrats think? ♪ [ cellphone rings ] cut! 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listen to what he tells radio show host steve gill about cabinet members and running mate. >> there are some people in congress that are very, very good that i respect and admire, that i would love to have on my team, whether a vp slot or a key cabinet slot, i'll give you a name, representative paul ryan. i'm not saying he would be a vp pick but he might be, but that's the type of person i wan would want in my cabinet. senator jim demint, people not afraid to challenge the system. >> joining us, two guys who didn't make herman cain's list, cnn political contribute, alex cass t castillanos. let's talk about this. a fascinating dynamic in politics, this guy go nowhere to the top of the pack. why? why? some say it's conservatives don't like romney and perry slip sod cain comes up. has to be more to it. >> a lot going on. i know herman cain, i worked for him years ago when he ran for senate. he does have presence, he has charismatic and leadership qualities. he's optimistic. who makes you feel good in the republican field? the country's so down. also, we've have had donald trump, sarah palin, people who want to disrupt washington, a hand grenade under washington's door. herman cain is that outsider, very disruptive. look at someone like mitt romney, you don't get a sense of bold change you get incremental change. he's got a lot going on. don't discount him. he's going to be very strong in iowa. >> don't discount him. you say strong in iowa. nbc news poll out recently, among tea party supporters in iowa, herman cain, 31%, mitt romney, 15%. 2-1 among, now the tea party's not nfg eeverything in eye, but terms of where the juice is, that helps. >> i've got to tell you, that's the most damning number in the mitt romney campaign. they're looking for a counter to mitt romney, it bachmann, perry. if he can coalesce them, he can become the alternative to mitt romney he may be in the race for a good long time. all of the laughter early on that people made about him if he becomes the other choice to mitt romney, the choice of mitt romney, and he gets backing of the tea party, this guy might be in for the long haul. >> you say you worked for him for a while running for georgia senate. that did not go well. the question is, he's told erin burnett, you'll see that interview, he's starting to raise money in recent days and that's what happens, go up in the polls, especially grassroot conservatives, small donations but he does not have an infrastructure in place. how long does he have before the lack of infrastructure, whether it's organizational in the key states or a fund-raising organization, until it trips him up? >> longer than you think. that's the saime thing they sai about the arab spring and protesters. it's called the internet, you can raise money very quickly. it can organization itself bottom-up. barack obama used it, he'd go into north carolina and find campaigns self-organized for him. he has more time and more fund-raising potential. scott brown in massachusetts, when he caught on, didn't have a lot of organization. next thing you know he was raising $1 million, $2 million a day. >> spoken like a media consultant. i'm old school. you need ground forces, organization, especially where you why v. caucuses, you have to have troops on the ground. that's a challenge for him. >> the proof is, barack obama won in iowa in 2008, thought he was going to win new hampshire, hillary clinton took the night back at last minute because she had a great grassroots organization that identified voters, got the vans, grabbed them by the ear, got them to vote. right now ideology drawing a lot of support for herman cain. talking about 999 plan. we'll see if he can sell it over time. he says i want to go to washington and be different. does this factor in elect ability? look at nbc/"wall street journal" poll, herman cain versus president obama, obama has 11-point edge. match up governor romney, dead heat, will republicans in a second look now that cain is a cred ebl contender at moment say, i need to ask nor questions, one of them, can he win? >> they will. republicans think that losing to obama is losing the country. it's not just elect iblts, it's the reason you go out to vote. herman cain is better known around republicans than the electorate in general election. give him room to grow, and throws numbers may tighten up. >> the truth of the matter is, i think we put too much weight in that. if you're a voter, and you really like herman cain, you think herman cain share yours values and speaking your language to you, you think he's electable. ideal that what you're saying is, my values and my perspective is wrong because it's not electable. if they like herman cain, they're going to think he's electable. >> a debate among african-americans, say how dare you herman cain? he says i left the plantation, they wanted to keep me on the plantation where you're a bad african-american. how is this playing out the rise of herman cain, which many african-americans whether a democrat or republican, agnostic, one should say great in both parties now, you have leading politicians, leading figures who are african-american? >> it's fundamentally a good thing that you have herman cain running well in the republican side, it's well past due. the problem with herman cain is he said outrageous things. he's talked about african-americans being brainwashes. you can't say that all african-americans are brainwashes because you can't think the way they thought. there's a lot of people in the south where they grew up who take note that here's someone who talks about personal responsibility and doing it on your own. when the time came for the civil rights movement marching and what have you in atlanta and the south, the heart of this, herman cain didn't take part in that. he didn't take part in that. you can't criticize people for, you know, saying poor people, you're poor because you're poor, and take personal responsibility for yourself, and when the biggest movement of his lifetime that made it possible for him to run for president took place, he sat in the back of the bus. >> i'm not sure that i'd hold that against anybody. a lot of people in different situations who defepending on t structures of their life stood up in different ways in the country. the argument that herman cain is somehow not black enough, that's always seemed to be made against a republican. >> no one -- i would never say he's not black enough but what i would say is he's been h hypocritical talking about personal responsibility, when it came time to stand up he didn't. >> a sobering message, not to pour rain on mr. cain's parade or governor romney's, but go back in time. national polls are important, but not that important. let's go back in time. 2008, republican choice for their nominee at this very point, rudy giuliani, 27%. fred thompson, 19%. john mccain, 17%. i misses the giuliani and the thompson administrations. so we need to be careful here. this is important. it will help herman cain raise money. it will also get him tougher questions at next debate because he's a more credible candidate now. but we shouldn't be buying our -- >> he's got some hurdles to jump. one is you've mentions foreign policy hurdle. you can fix that with the people you put around you with the right vice presidential pick, condi rice, general petraeus, fareed zacarias. he does have hurdles, he does have to build a ground game and organization and romney's stronger than people think. in the same nbc survey, one to one against rick perry, 54% romney, 39% perry, over half of republicans would be happy to vote that way. >> i'm not going to read it but vie something, maybe the romney campaign will slip in the mail, herman cain's endorsement of mitt romney from the 2008 campaign. i won read it here. a quick break. as we go to break if you don't think herman cain's 999 plan is catching on, spirit catching on airlines has an advertising plan that is working on that. 9-9-9, look that. sometimes politics pops into our culture. when we come back, governor perry's wife complains they have been brutalized by fellow republicans because of his faith. not white collar or blue collar or no collars. we are business in america. and every day we awake to the same challenges. but at prudential we're helping companies everywhere find new solutions to manage risk, capital and employee benefits, so american business can get on with business. ♪ [ man ] you have one new message. 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits... here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits... and you will be hearing from us... today and on election day. ♪ demands doing more in less time. which is why we've developed innovative learning tools like our mobile application and phoenixconnect, a worldwide academic social network. it's part of our commitment to you and why last year we invested over 1 billion dollars in our students to help them successfully balance work, life and education. ♪ discover all that sets us apart at phoenix.edu. south carolina today, an emotional and protect speech from anita perry, the wife of the texas governor rick perry. listen to what she said at a southern baptist liberal arts school. >> we realize that our opponents in our party so much today, i think they look at him because of his faith. he's the only true conservative. well, there are some conservatives and they are there for good reasons. and they may feel like i called him too. but i truly feel like we are here for that purpose. >> still with us, alex cast anno. alex, i want to start with you. brutalized by our republican opponents, and because of his faith, they may think they have a calling, but we truly feel that's why we're here. how is that going to play? >> i don't think that plays very well. being the victim, that means you're losing. and it's kind of playing the loser card. it's really the mark about i think a fairly disspirited campaign. they have good reason to be. he's had a couple of terrible debates. but he's got a lot of money in the bank. he's a very aggressive campaigner. i think he would be -- he would be more successful being more aggressive and tougher instead of playing a victim card like this. >> saying that you're being victimized for your faith in the republican primary is not a winning strategy. they should change it. >> well, there are people sometimes who criticize candidate who is talk about their faith and i like to get back in their face, because it's important to a lot of people. because voters should make their own judgment. evangelicals are important in a primary. i think that's who she is trying to appeal to. but to say we think we have that calling as opposed to somebody else, how do -- evangelicals process that? >> i didn't take that as mrs. perry being pre sumptuous or something, that's an obligation they have, and that's fine. my problem is with the other part of that, and that is that somehow being victimized because of your faith. no, you're victimized because you're running a terrible campaign. >> i think she was being presumptive. he's running a campaign, he's got to be nicer. >> not really. i'm retired. >> she knew exactly what she was doing when she did that. ask and she is trying to rally the evangelical california vote. i don't think it's a good strategy. >> he needs to come out with a $5 foot long campaign. >> he has come out with -- in the debate the other night he said mitt romney has been at this a long time. let's move on, though, because democrats say controversial things too. here is the vice president out in michigan yesterday, trying to criticize the republicans saying if they don't pass the president's jobs plan, which includes some money that goes out to states so they can keep teachers on the payroll, keep police and firefighters on the payroll, the vice president making the case in flint, michigan that if the republicans let this bill die, they will be responsible for an increase in crime. >> in 2008, when flint had 265 sworn officers on their police force, there were 35 murders and 91 rapes in this city. in 2010, when flint had only 144 police officers, the murder rate climbed to 65, and rapes just to pick two categories, climbed to 229. in 2011, you now only have 125 shields. god only knows what the numbers will be this year for flint if we don't rectify it. >> fair use of statistics, or a fear mongering? >> well, i think it's a fair use of statistics. and it's going to the point. look, more cops on the street, more cops on the beat, equals crime goes down. less cops equals more crime. i don't think that's a controversial statement. the truth of the matter, if we do keep laying off and furloughing our professoolice o, there will be dire consequences. >> can we take up a collection to send joe biden on the campaign trail some more? republicans think he's great. he's making the argument there that we just don't have enough money, right? that there's nothing else in government we can cut. we have to cut teachers, we have to cut policemen, we have to cut firemen. his argument is there is no waste in the way government is run. americans are just not going to buy that. >> before we go, the obama campaign announced some record fund-raising for the campaign and the democratic national committee today. very good fund rising. not sure if it's a record. $70 million and an e-mail from jim mussina wrote this, obama raised more than $70 million. and it all happened during a summer when the president was focused on doing the job he was elected to do. the summer when we had to cancel a series of fund raising events and ask everyone to dig deeper. it's true. it was tough to raise money in this environment. and it's true, the president raised a lot of money. but i want to say, from time to time, the president mixes official travel and fund-raising and you and i and every taxpayer in america helps to foot some of the bill. let's show you a map. here's just some recent trips we picked up. the president on august 11th. he went to michigan. that's an official event. taxpayers pay for that. then he went on to new york city for fund raises. they'll make a split there so the party pays. here's the ones that get interesting. september 26th, official travel for an event in california and then three fund-raisers. october 4th, official travel to dallas and then two fund raisers. so cornell to say, oh my god, it's so hard to raise money and focus on his job, sometimes being president you have a benefit. >> well, yeah -- he has a benefit being president. and every president, whether you're republican or democrat -- >> that is tr