seven-point lead over former massachusetts governor, mitt romney. and among tea party supporters in the hawkeye state, gingrich is now the runaway favorite. now the question -- did gingrich put all of that at risk last night when he walked into the wiquick sand of republican politics. how to treat millions of illegal immigrants. >> i'm prepared to take the heat for saying, let's be humane and enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families. >> not a new position. here's gingrich this week in new hampshire explaining his position in more detail. >> if you've been here 20 or 30 years, you've been paying your taxes, you've been obeying the law, belong to a local church, you're married, three kids, two grandkids, a program which would allow you to pay penalty, allow you to be legal but not a citizen. to become a citizen you have to join at the end of the line the people who are not currently here so nobody gets cheated for citizenship who has been obeying the law. >> to gingrich, it's common sense. to rivals it's the star let "a" word of immigration politics. >> you're legalizing 11 million workers. if you're legalizing 11 million workers it sounds like amnesty to me. >> and we know amnesty is a toxic word in republican politics toe. reagan may be their hero but most conservatives think this was a galactic mistake. >> i believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and who have lived here though some time back they may have entered illegally. >> we have real-time proof of the quick sand effect. remember, it wasn't that long ago that texas governor rick perry was a tea party favorite. then he voiced opposition to fencing the entire u.s./mexican board somewhere took after critics of his decision to give children of illegal immigrants state college tuition breaks. >> but if you say we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there, by no fault of their own, i don't think you have a heart. >> governor perry led our national polling in september. he's how in fourth place. will stepping into the immigration quicksand do to gingrich what it helped due to governor perry? the co-founder of florida's first tea party. straight up, how damaging what will the speaker said on immigration in the debate last night to be his candidacy which at the moment is surging? >> it wasn't damaging. it wasn't damaging at all. he's explained what his policy is and we support that policy. many of us in the tea party do. >> if you look at new iowa poll, not own is gingrich lead big seven point over mitt romney if you look closely among tea party supporters in the state of iowa the arg poll has gingrich at 42%, ron paul at 19%, mitt romney at 11%. you say this won't be damaging. when i was down for our tea party debate in florida, a lot of people at that luncheon consider his position to be amnesty. they didn't like it. why do you say it's not damaging? >> he explained it more. we have checked with him today because we wanted to find out more explanation, please, newt, and we got the explanation and there are a lot of us. we threw this out to the tea party and asked them what they stho thought, and listen, he's right a lot of people in the united states that have been here 20, 25 years, there's 11 million and we've got to start talking about these people as individuals. >> you're a fan of newt's. just a tad suspect, don't get me wrong, i appreciate your perspective. but i want to show you in our polling we asked people, should the focus be on deporting illegal immigrants and stopping more from coming across the boarder? 42% of democrats say that. 54% of independents. 71% of republicans say the main focus should be on deporting them and stopping more from coming. are you confident the explanation na newt gave to you that you buy will sell with the grassroots? >> it's a definitely a tender conversation that we're going to have here, john. and, yes, some people are going to say throw them all out. we cannot be that way. there are 25-year people have been here and we have to have a conversation about it. we've got to get real. >> if it's okay for newt to say that now, why was it so horrible when john mccain said that four or five years ago? >> newt explained himself. you've got to talk about this. you know you said i'm a big fan of newt. i'm a big fan of anybody that wants to support the rule of law, immigration needs to be lyle emigration. we're all about that in our tea party. we want people to be here legally. people that came here 20, 25 years ago they came because reagan said it was okay that the point. he gave amnesty and a bunch of other people came over at the same time. we've got to address that issue. illegal immigration has been a problem for us for ever and we've got to sit down and have a frank conversation and we've got to get real about the real issues here. >> billie tucker of the florida coast tea party, appreciate your time. have a great thanksgiving. we'll touch base soon. iowa votes in six weeks and as such, it's the first big test of both the gingrich surge and the power on the illegal immigration issue. in johnston, iowa, jennifer jane cobs and "new york times" national political corner jeff zelany. i'm skeptical that billie tucker's position will sell with many if not most grassroots conservatives and tea party people, am i wrong? >> i think you're right about that, 0 john. at least in the shorthand of this what speaker gingrich was trying to say last night can be described as amnesty and that what mitt romney was doing today. he happened to i have prescheduled campaign stop in iowa. timing was good for him in that respect and it offered a new path way to amnesty. we'll hear him say the words amnesty over and over. that is accurate? probably not but we saw what his campaign did with governor perry of texas, conference calls, mailings, other thing stwhez drove this issue home. speaker gingrich is better about explaining himself. so this is going to be a true test here. >> and the question, jennifer, six weeks from now, people of iowa caucus, influential conservatives in that state have taken a hard line on the amnesty issue, among them congress steve king who said in an interview today, i think if speaker gingrich had to do that over again he might couch his language differently. at a minimum, it is a form of amnesty. so does the speaker, as jeff notes, is he going to do more explaining in iowa or can he, as he said, i'm going to take heat, can he survive it? >> immigration is a tough issue. in iowa there's not a big constituency here for iowa conservatives who consider a candidate left of the center on immigration and that was proven out with rick perry in iowa. that was one of the factors for why rick perry's poll numbers have dropped in iowa. >> you say rick perry's poll numbers have dropped. gingrich has been a beneficiary. look at the new arg poll today, gingrich, 27%, romney, 20%, paul, 16%, everybody else in single digits. speaker gingrich is a good communicator, it's safe to say he's a better communicator than john mccain. but all of the evidence at the ballot box has been the party's moving to the right since 2008. if the position was on immigration and mccain was for path to citizenship, spooik speaker gingrich stopped short of that if it was damning for john mccain, is speaker gingrich that good of a talker, that good of an explainer? >> newt gingrich enters this with more trust among conservatives. rush limbaugh on his air today was not critical at all of speaker gingrich. i think he enters this with much more trust than senator mccain did certainly. i think the burden is on him to explain this. perhaps there is a new way here. but, boy, it's really hard to believe that suddenly he'll be able to be that persuasive. >> that trust points is very important. also important is the fact we're six weeks away from iowa voting and the ball has been passes if you will, donald trump, michele bachmann, herman cain, rek, now it's newt gingrich atop of the pack. is there a sense it's going to be keep bouncing or being passes around or is there a sense things are beginning to gel there? >> no real sense that it's gelling completely. newt gingrich is definitely somebody iowa conservatives are looking at. we had powerhouses waiting in the wings to endorse. immigration has been historically touchy in iowa this definitely could be a problem for him. i'm not sure if people will move on from him. it remain to be seen but top republicans think this is going cost him in iowa. >> appreciate your time. have a great thanksgiving to both of you. we'll talk soon. congresswoman bachmann wasn't the only gingrich riv toll sense an opening on immigration. >> we're not going to have an amnesty system that says people who come here illegally get to stay for the rest of their life in this country legally. >> for the record, this is yet another issue where romney has had to be kind a dramatic evolution. in march 2006, quoted the former governor as saying, i don't believe in rounding up 11 million people and forcing them at gun point from our country. and he stood by that position in december 2007 appearance on "meet the press "s. >> my own view consistent with what you saw in the lowell sun, people in this country, 12 million here illegally, should be able to sign up for permanent residency or citizenship. >> got it? then for a process that allowed illegal immigrants possibly to get citizenship. now, criticizing gingrich who favors legal status but opposes citizenship. still to come, disturbing, new allegations again a former penn state football coach, jerry sandusky. this is not mitt romney's best week but is it the beginning of the end? eat ar, sir. we'vsaved people a lot of money on car insurance. feels nice going into the holidays. ohhhh.... will you marry me? oooh, helzberg diamonds. yeah, well he must have saved some money with geico. reminds me of the gecko mating call. really? how does that go? shoo be doo be doo. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. all right, i'll be right back. okay. ♪ [ male announcer ] sometimes the giving can be just as amazing as the gift. what do you think? [ laughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer for exclusive lease offers on the 2012 ct 200h and, as a gift from lexus, we'll make your first month's payment. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 there are atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 account service fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and the most dreaded fees of all, hidden fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, you won't pay fees on top of fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no monthly account service fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no hidden fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and we rebate every atm fee. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck tdd# 1-800-345-2550 because when it comes to talking, there is no fee. ask 20 veteran republican strategists who will win their party's nomination, 15, maybe more will say mitt romney, or most likely mitt romney. despite the newt gingrich surge in the polling, even the former speaker can see romney has a bigger, deeper, groundration and a deeper found reservoir. if there is a romney collapse, you will trace the roots of the unraveling back to this week. gingrich not only caught up to romney in the national polls he clocks him when republicans are asks their preference if it comes down to two-way gingrich/romney race. romney launched his first ad of the campaign. romney's campaign theme is believe in america. well, thoords hard to embrace t you you can't believe or trust him. more importantly to me, it is clear if you watch them team romney senses something. after our debate last night, romney aides complained aggressively their candidate was cheated on time. not true. not even close. ro romney was asked more questions and trailed gingrich on the time clock. team romney complains jon huntsman got so much time. truth is, though, huntsman didn't get so much time. he was sixth of the eight candidates on the time clock. it was clear, team romney didn't like this exchange. >> the commanders of the ground feel that we should bring down our surge troops by december of 2012 and bring down all of our troops other than perhaps 10,000 or so by the end of 2014. the decision to pull our troops out before that they believe, would put at risk the extraordinary investment of treasure and blood which has been sacrificed by the american military. >> just about the generals on the ground, listen, i think it's important for the american people to know we have achieves very important objectives in raising standards in afghanistan and helping to build civil society. at the end of the day the president of the united states is commander in chief. commander in chief. >> on paper, governor romney is the strongest gop candidate. today he was in iowa showing off another big endorsement, senator john thune of neighboring s. south dakota. there's a debate how hard to fight for iowa. key decisions on investments due very soon. maybe this will prove not such a great few days. every campaign has those ruts. but whining is not synonymous with winning. team romney is acting as if it senses a disruption in the force. let's consider this question in detail with our political analysts, gloria borger, david gurgen to set the post debate table and the prethanksgiving table. david, you first. in the sense when cain emerges everyone in the romney campaign said, not a serious threat. perry emerged and his poll numbers dropped so quickly, they were calm for the first week they didn't have to worry much longer. last night identifyii don't kno sensed something, they were just a little bit ante and they're supposed to be the front-runner. >> for the first time they have a rival who could go all the way. he's got the chops, newt gingrich does, too actually win this nomination. if he can survive the next two or three weeks in terms of the vetting process that we all knew would come from his personal and financial life and as well as this question about immigration now. he, as he said, told gloria last night, he's willing to take the heat. but from the point of view of the romney people, this is, you know, ultimately, they thought they could polish off any of the rivals but gingrich is a different kind of player. and i think there's -- you know, there's a new pew poll out about mormonism which suggests that one of the factors that may be in the mix on why mitt romney's having a heart time breaking out is that a number of republicans are reluctant to nominate a mormon though they would support him against barack obama in the general. >> especially the early states, iowa and south carolina. i want it show you the new iowa poll. gingrich perhaps having the chops to go the distance. gingrich, 27, romney, 20, paul, 16, everyone else single digits. look at september, newt gingrich was at 8%. 27% now. september to november, that's two months, that much math, i can do. romney's stayed stable. but to the point david makes about staying power and the risks the speaker took last night he has a lot of tea party support and glowing tea party support but he also made a play last night, i believe, what he was doing deliberate rately, because he explained this in detail in new hampshire early in the week, moderate, independent voters in new hampshire, yes i'm conservative but i'm going to take a risk on immigration and reach for the middle, that's reaching for romney voters. >> it is. newt gingrich was nowhere, as you point out, in iowa. if he doesn't win iowa but he does pretty well in iowa, it will be important for him. then he can move on to new hampshire. nobody expected him to win in new hampshire. if he does well in new hampshire and don't forget, it's open to independent voters, that's jon huntsman's play, he think his can get independents in the republican primary, but what if newt gingrich is going for those independent voters and that's where his talk about immigration, opening up the party, being humane puts a new face on newt gingrich. you know, we've seen the nasty face of newt gingrich, someone who scolds the media, scolds other candidates. last night we saw the positive face and i don't think it was by coincidence. >> if newt gingrich gets a lot of independent votes in new hampshire that will be a landmark for american forgiveness in the sense of what independent voters thought of newt gingrich after the impeachment days of clinton. somebody write that down, watch that number. one of the interesting controversies about the romney campaign is they launched their first paid tv ad and there's plenty of materiel to criticize obama on the economy. what they decided to do was take a statement he made in 2008, lop the context off and use obama's voice in a way which was grossly out of context. the fact check reviews have been horrible, i called it represent hence iblg. they have plenty of material and they don't neat to cheat, take a statement, use it out of context. governor romney defending his ad -- >> so there was no hidden effort on the part of our campaign. it was to point out what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and he spoke about the economy being a huge burden for john mccain. this ad points out, guess what, it's your turn. the same lined you used on john mccain are going to be used on you which is this economy is your albatross. >> help me here because i'm having a hard time figuring out why a campaign of smart people and a smart candidate would do something deceptive when they have plenty of other obama quotes from real-time if they want to use something to say he's stumbling on the economy? >> i can't help you on this, john, i don't understand it. the ad that he ran did not mention mccain, did it? the whole point was he cut mccain out of the ad. to say today, you know, we were just trying to point out that mccain said that -- about this burden on john mccain, i mean -- or on the republicans, i don't get it. i think they're much better off -- mitt romney one thing he's got going for him he has a reputation for integrity. he has a reputation for being a straight shooter. he does not need to play around on the edges. he ought to chastise his campaign. a lot of issues work in his favor and right now, i will tell you this, the other thing is, i am in philadelphia. i talked to one of the top pros in this state and they said the democrats are surprised that what the republicans are doing. they said you know today if the election were held today mitt romney would have a real good chance of beating barack obama in pennsylvania, as you know such critical swing state. they go to dpgingrich they've g no shot. >> all you have in politics is your integrity and credibility. i think romney, undercuts himself with this and as a mom first thing i teach my kids two wrongs don't make a right. so if barack obama did it in 2008, that doesn't mean that mitt romney should be doing it in 2012. >> authenticity, credibility would help in the campaign. david, have a great thanksgiving, gloria as well. tonight's number will fill you up but also empty your wallet. we're not talking gas prices. a deadly escalation in egypt and a key religious leader urges authorities to stop firing on civilians. beauty, huh? it's dependable. long-lasting, too. yeah, i could really use this silverado. i'm a big hunter. oh, what do you hunt? deer. fish. fantastic. ♪ this holiday, chevy's giving more. now qualified buyers can get 0% apr for 72 months on a 2011 chevy silverado. or 0% apr financing for 60 months plus no monthly payments until spring. ♪ >> today, egypt's military tried to end five days of bloody chaos. police took up positions between police and thousands of protesters. after three hours of daucalm so protester started firing. our senior international correspondent ben wedeman live for us. among the developments, egypt calling into a broadcast network urging an end to the violence and urging police to stop firing. any into the violence in sight? >> reporter: if you can hear the ambulance in the background, that would indicate there's still fighting going on in the streets off of tahrir square. tahrir square itself is fairly i wouldn't say quiet but calm at the moment. i think to put this call in context, he is the senior islamic judicial figure in the country. in the days of mubarak, if he were to criticize the government, criticize the interior ministry, he would very quickly be out of a job. so this is an indication of the new environment in this country where senior public figures are highly critical of the government, of the interior ministry, which of course many people are blaming for many deaths and injuries taken place here since saturday. >> and, ben, the next new development we will watch to see a test of the transition, the parliament si elections scheduled for monday. what are we expecting? >> reporter: well, it's hard to say at this point because i've spoken to many egyptian and they say i have to remind myself there are elections coming up next monday. the focus at the moment is so much on what's going on in tahrir square that many of the parties that are in the election have suspended campaigning. others are threatening to boycott elections because they feel it's not appropriate at this time after the death and the injuries in tahrir square to hold it. if they do go ahead, certainly the worries that this will provide some sort of stamp of democratic legitimacy to the ruling military council and that's something many people don't want to do at the moment. another worry, of course, is the elections could be very violent and that has many people worried at the moment. john? >> ben we'dmademan in cairo. joined by former u.s. state department official nicholas burns and cnn contributor, fran townsend, george w. bush's security adviser. we knew the transition would be difficult, there was a risk of tension between the protesters and the military government. now that we've seen violence over several days, your perspective of what the risks are at this fragile moment. >> well, john, it's a time of real testing for the egyptian military. they had enormous credibility with the egyptian people after the events of last january and february when they protects the people against the mubarak regime. the military used live ammunition over the last week, killed 24 protesters, wounded 1500 and their credibility has fallen through the floor. they have a real people with the people. they cut a deal, as you know, with the muslim brotherhood to accelerate transition to presidential rule but that deal has upset a lot of the young people in the streets because they don't want to -- they want to see justice here and they want to see someone in the military authority resign because of what's happened. they can't control people in the streets. they do have elections coming up. most people believe, john the muslim brotherhood and islamic parties are to win the elections. the more liberal and secular parties are calling for a delay. >> fran if you're the president of the united states i assume you can't medal here, you have to watch it play out. if the islamist parties, muslim parties have the edge, should you be worried? >> absolutely you should be worried. we have seen this in the hamas elections. you can't influence now but it's regrettable the president, who took a visible role in pushing mubarak from power went on to libya, went on to other things, has domestic issues and really didn't lead, didn't apply leadership and resources that might have been helpful here in helping the military transition to a civilian democratic government. >> i want to turn both of your focus to the national security debate among the republican candidates. i want to start with michele bachmann. she was participating in a conversation about the risks of pakistan, whether the united states should end aid to pakistan, how it should change its relationship with pakistan and discussing in her view the risks to the nuclear program. let's listen. >> they also are one of the most violent, unstable nations that there is. we have to recognize that 15 of the sites nuclear sites are available or potentially penetrable by jihadists. six attempts have been made on nuclear sites. >> there was some suggestion she was talking about classified information. you can do a search and get most of the information, specific statistics in an atlantic article published recently. the point about the safety risks in question, that is right? are the pakistani nuclear sites, as we speak, at risk? >> well, john, this has been a concern for many administrations and of course, our relationship with the pakistani military gives us some cause for comfort that they have a very sort of robust command and control structure for securing weapons. the article you mentioned talks about pakistan baugs of tecause tensions with the united states moving around weapons. if that is true, those a allegations any command and control we universitied to be comforted by is at risk and this should be a huge concern to us. >> another issue that came up syria. some questions of whether the assad regime can survive pressure from the opposition movement now. governor perry of texas, one of the republican candidates says, let's have a no-fly zone. that was a point of contention in the debate. >> one of the option is to have a no-fly zone over syria at the sometime putting options against iran. >> they have 5,000 tanks in syria. a no fly don't wouldn't be the right action. maybe a no drive zone. >> maybe more importantly, as you watched this debate, separate the men from the boys, if you will, did you see a commander in chief and did you see less than that? >> well i think, john, this is a real point for me, debate, a very sharp contrast. you have self-assured, knowledgeable people like mitt romney, newt gingrich, jon huntsman. clearly can go into depth on them. other candidates, governor perry's one of them, cain and bachmann are others who don't have that experience. and they can't speak to these issues in any detailed way and it really matters. the next president is the chief diplomat for this country and commander in chief and the constitution gives the president wide authority on foreign policy. on syria, if you advocate no-fly zone you're advocating an armed intervention by the united states of america. we're the only country that can create it. right now president obama has been wise in keeping us out of syria militarily. >> your biggest takeaway watching the republican candidates? republicans have 50/50 odds of win the next election. how different would u.s. global posture, u.s. foreign policy be if one of the republicans wins? >> look, the whole point of the debate, and the point that the candidates were trying to make, they'd be more much more aggressive. much more leading from the front. we've seen a number of ways, and president obama looked in libya, we wound up gadhafi was overthrown, criticized from leading from behind but it ended up where you wanted it to. what you're seeing here is right now the candidates trying to make a sharp distinction. interesting, john, in the area i worked on was counterterrorism, nobody really -- none of the republicans want to talk about bin laden because of course now he's dead and that's president obama's success. >> find some other things to talk about on that front. thanks for coming in tonight. have a great thanksgiving. next, uprisings force a fourth arab world leader to step down. a new problem for president obama. our polling reveals he's losing support among a very crucial group of voters. it's like having portable navigation. a bluetooth connection. a stolen vehicle locator. roadside assistance. and something that could help save your life - automatic help in a crash. it's the technology of five devices in one hard-working mirror. because life happens while you drive. this holiday, give someone you love an onstar fmv mirror for only 199. visit onstar.com for retailers. i think we should see other people. in fact, i'm already seeing your best friend, justin. ♪ i would have appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship. who do you think i am, tim? quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide you with proactive updates on the status of your home loan. and our innovative online tools ensure that you're always in the loop. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. welcome back. the latest news you need to know right now. the department of homeland security and the fbi issued a joint intelligence bulletin saying terrorists could choose to strike during the holiday. it says law enforcement is, quote, not aware of any credible threats. after 33 years in power and months of protests, yemen's president saleh signed a deal to step down. the fourth arab leader forced from power this year. >> bahrain, independent commission handed in a scathing report of accusing police torturing civilians during the pro democracy uprisings. u.s. stocks fell sharply after news of the job market and new doubts about germany's strength to withstand europe's debt crisis? courtesy of the 700 club, a little bit of thanksgiving menu planning from condoleezza rice and an interesting reaction from pat robertson. >> what's that one thing at thanksgiving you have to have? >> mack and cheese. >> sister, that is my dish. that is one thing i can rock. >> but only once a year. >> good interview, congratulations. >> thank you. >> what is this mack and cheese? is that a black thing? >> it is a black thing, pat. >> listen, you guys, other people, the world needs to get on board with macaroni and cheese. >> you guys, other people? is that a black thing? mack and cheese? mac and cheese is bipartisan. thanks to kraft, republicans and democratic conventions for years they give us mac and cheese, you can make it in a box, with fresh pasta, it's good stuff for everybody, thanksgiving or any other day of the week. i'm sure erin burnett agrees. coming up at the top of the hour. with a preview, not of her thanksgiving menu. an important story, an american student jailed in egypt. >> i like annie's mac and cheese. it's american thing. an all-american thing. >> amen. >> talking about cairo, you've been talking to ben wedeman, we'll go live to tahrir square. things in cairo falling apart. now three american college students arrest in cairo. police there say that they were throwing molotov cocktails in tahrir square. joy sweeney, the mother of derek sweeney, is going to be with us. her son is in jail this evening in cairo and she's going to find out whether he's been charged. we're also going to talk to the prosecutor in the casey anthony case and ask him, john, why do you think you lost that case. we've got that coming up. plus, a preview behind the scenes of my secret week with marilyn, the movie coming out with michelle williams, skinny dipping part of the interview. back to you. >> i can't watch that. >> i'm not saying who is skinny dipping. i'm just saying. >> i got you. i have to watch to find out. a mystery for you. we'll see you in a few minutes. >> see you, john? tonight's number, is important for you if you're getting the big meal ready. 49.20, that's the average cost of a thanksgiving dinner for ten people. now let's break this down a little bit. average cost of a bird, 21.57. that's a big bird. 248 million turkeys produced here in the united states today. you see the top ten, turkey producing states right there. cranberries, yes, talk to the graphics people, up 7%. cost of cranberries. sweet potatoes, up seven cents. cost of a pumpkin, up 41 cents. we didn't work in the mack a an cheese costs. for a limited time, passages malibu will be giving away free copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. troubling numbers for president obama underscored how difficult his state by state challenge will be in 2012 compared to 2008. that's this map. overall job approval rating 44%. stuck in our polling for six months. but there's a shift for the worst. among the constituency critical in the big electoral battlegrounds. ask all democrats if they want president obama to lead their tick net 2012, 72% say yes. why the lower standing? among white democrats with no college education, 50% want democrats to nominate obama, down 24 points a big number if a month ago. this affection among blue collar democrats could be a huge problem if, if it carries over to next fall. the democratic primaries in the 2008 campaign -- maybe not not going to show you that. hillary clinton beat the president aplong the voters in pennsylvania. if you look at these states here, the president could have a huge problem. the reagan democrats from those days, a lot were blue collar democrats. crunch the numbers. cornell be cornell belcher, david frum, to the sense why, why all of a sudden a big drop in a month, this is a constituency the president has had trouble with going back to 2008. >> one when you get a dramatic drop in one poll to another poll i have to look at that poll as suspect. other thing is, i think this is interesting because i've got to push back on this a bit because the ideal of whether or not we have another nominee i don't understand that question. democrats have a nominee. he's not -- he's not being challenged. >> wait a section. >> 70% of the approval of the job the president's been doing right now. going back to primaries they said clinton was killing them with the group of voter swhez won the primary. take that into a general election. he wasn't going to be able to win voters. he won, for democrats a landslide picking up north carolina, colorado along the way. >> my question is, if he's hurting more among this constituency, less educated, those are the people reagan called the reagan democrats. i don't know what we call them today. people registered democrats, some union, sometimes it's the gun issue, if you're pennsylvania, michigan, ohio, wisconsin, could be a very important constituency. >> ron brownstein had an important article, noncollege whites are the most pessimistic group in america. if you ask questions like do you expect a better future for your children than you have? those numbers are -- they are -- they are more likely to project the bad future than a positive future. latinos don't think that way. college educated whites are not optimistic but still ahead of the group. why? things are terrible for this group. they are reflecting objective reality. and cornell's right. he sees a big move in one poll, you raise the possibility maybe it's an outlier. another possibility, maybe we're seeing another whiff of that winter breath of a downturn in the economy where this group of people is feeling faster than other groups in the american economy. >> concede maybe the next poll will swing back a little bit. a 20-point swing, 24-point swing, swing, even if you cut it in half, something's happening if you see it out there. to david's point, if you look at the unemployment rate, it is the highest or higher among noncollege educated white. having a college degree is a huge factor in the unemployment right now. it is that -- do you attribute all of it to that? there are some people who whisper, this is a constituency that's always been uncomfortable with an african-american president. >> let's go further. i'm going to dive in the race all the time, i'm not going to dive this point. let's go back when lbj signed the civil rights legislation, democrat hasn't won the white vote since then. it's not like bill clinton or john kerry won the white voters, it's always been a struggle. what the president has to do with blue collar white voters is stay competitive. look, we didn't blow the world away with blue collar white voters last time around, but we do have to stay competitive with them. and when you look at the choices across the aisle -- i am going to get partisan for a second -- the republicans who want to let wall street write their own rules, i think i like our guy's chances. >> the president is doing -- when you said with the severity of this crisis -- has held up remarkable high in a way that's almost puzzling. given that you're there through now our fourth -- actually the recession starts in december of 2007. this is within an inch of being the fifth bad thanksgiving in a row for millions of americans. to be in the 40s, that's a testament to how the nonwhite parts of his base are sticking with him. this is a very bad economy even though here in washington, d.c. you can't get a reservation on a thursday night. >> don't trust anybody who never leaves washington, don't trust him -- that's the best advice, david cornell, thanks for coming in. we'll see you soon. up next new allegations in the sex abuse investigation. with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you. oh, brother. hey, guys. ni-i-i-ck. oh... i thought those were put out for me. i 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i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. explosive new allegations against former assistant coach jerry sandusky. his attorney says one of two new cases of alleged child sex abuse involves a member of sandusky's own family. both allegations involve current children rather than adults coming forward to allege abuse from years ago. with us from los angeles, and assistant state attorney stacey honowitz. stacey, let me start with you. how much of a difference does it make? how does it change the dynamic of the case. and i should make it clear mr. sandusky's attorney denies the allegations. now we're talking about victims who are children now as opposed to cases that are 10, 12, 15 years old. >> this is not unusual. it happens quite often in big sex crimes cases. and what it goes to show is that the abuse has been ongoing for so many years. we're going back to all of these young guys who are now adults and now we have kids that are younger. so all it goes to show is something that we probably already knew that the abuse has been ongoing for a number of years. the it's going to be very interesting. and i'm sure it's not the end of hearing from victims. >> and mr. sandusky has been freed on bail. that's been controversial to some. he thinks these new allegations could change that. >> my concern is if they bring new charges based upon new people coming forward that bail's going to be set and he's going to wind up in jail. >> is that a safe prediction? >> that's a safe prediction not only -- might the bail be set at a point he can't make the bail, they could also revoke the bail, particularly given the fact are not only these allegations the fact that he molested children potentially associated with that second mile charity organization, but also children in his own family. the suggestion being that, look, this is a guy who is more like a serial molester than a pedophile that simply targets random children. the fact of the matter is, it's very likely that this guy is seeing the last few days that i think he has in terms of freedom. no judge will set a bail he can reach, instead they'll probably set a bail so far out of the reach or revoke a bail altogether he can't post it and he'll wind up in jail until this case finds a resolution. >> it's not just jerry sandusky on trial here, at least in the court of public opinion given we know there was a campus investigation that went nowhere. then you have a long delay between a victim coming forward and the grand jury about charging him, now you have the former fbi director seeing if there was some cover-up at the school and with the cloud of a cover-up, then you find perhaps current victims. what does it tell you about this? >> well, i think john as i said before, this is not the end of what we're hearing. you're going to hear about a federal investigation. you're going to hear layers and layers of things going on. there's no doubt that there was some type of cover-up. you have the evidence that people knew and didn't say to him. this investigation while people might think we've heard the end, i'm going to tell you this investigation is going to continue to go on. there's going to be people we never heard before that knew information that are now going to come forward. and you're going to see that this case is going to take on a life of its own. >> a life of its own, stacey. if jerry sandusky wanted your advice right now, what would it be? >> you know, this is such a difficult case, john, because there's so many new allegations as we've spoken about on this program before. this case seems to change by the day. the first thing i'd do is i'd stop my lawyer from continuing to talk to the media. because i don't think it ever benefits a defendant. when either the defendant is talking and the bob costas interview was a mistake. it was a mistake for his lawyer to continue the conversation, the dialogue he's having with the media. if i was his lawyer, i'd take my own advice and close my mouth a while and wait until these things play out. i would encourage my client to take a low profile and also encourage him to get his affairs in order because i think he's going to be in custody very soon. >> in custody very soon trent says, stacey, as a prosecutor, is there any reason at all that the state of pennsylvania should not have him behind bars soon? >> no, trent's 100% right, once the allegations come forward, there's going to be a motion to revoke or a new bond will be set. >> no bond hold. how does that complicate the case, trent? does it make a difference whether he's free or not in terms of get