case of sexual harassment. looks to me like sexual assault, basically. you ve been covering this case, by the way, the cain campaign has issued this statement this afternoon in response to that press conference. just as the country finally begins to refocus on our crippling $15 trillion national debt and the unacceptably unemployment rate, now activist celebrity lawyer gloria allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of the republican front-runner herman cain. all allegations of harassment against mr. cain are completely false. mr. cain has never harassed anyone. fortunately, the american people will not allow mr. cain s bold 9-9-9 plan, clear foreign policy vision, and plans for energy independence to be overshadowed by these bogus attacks. for more on these allegations and what it means politically for herman cain, i m joined by john heilemann and maggie of politico. maggie, i want to start with you, because politico s been all over this story, just gett
i m jack jackie deangelis with your cnbc market wrap. stocks rebounding in light but volatile trading today. the dow jones industrial surging 85 points. the s&p 5,000 adding seven. and the nasdaq tacking on nine. minor news today out of europe. we had ecb policy maker sparking this afternoon s rally by saying that he thinks the debt crisis will be solved in one to two years. in stocks, best buy slumped after buying out its british partner and apparently abandoning a plan for a chain of megastores in europe. and general motors peeled out after its china chief says the company is on track to double its sales in china by 2015. biotech giant amgen jumping after announcing plan to buy back its stock. and while the housing market is still flat, companies that survive the downturn will be lean, mean, and likely to prosper. that s it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to hardball.
back to hardball. now for the sideshow. first up, there s more where that came from. herman cain may have a monopoly on the headlines these days, but don t think that s doing anything to overshadow rick perry s loosy goosy speech in new hampshire late last month. the good news is that little plan i just shared with you doesn t force the granite state to expand your tax footprint, if you know what i mean. like 9% expansion. and the late-night scene shows no signs of putting that one to rest. let s take a look at saturday night live s take on where rick perry is headed. governor, uh, it looks like you re just flat-out losing it. what? the election? i know. i m losing it really bad.
now for the sideshow. we re all in agreement. when it comes to debates. rick perry is not in his element. today he reminded us of this. take a look at what he said last night on the topic. i hate debates, like i used to hate spinning in an aircraft, t-37s and finally and finally i did it and got pretty good at it. so hole on. maybe i ll get better at debates. looks like he s giving some sort of talking point but then there s the speech he gave in new hampshire that still has people talking, in fact asking. is there some inner that rick perry is trying desperately to get out? the good news is that little plan i just shared with you doesn t force the granite state to expand your tax footprint, if you know what i mean, like 9%
thanks. good morning, students. today we re gonna continue. thanks. like, keep one of these over your head. well, i wasn t supposed to need flood insurance, but i have it. fred over here chose not to have it. me, i ve got a plan. fred he uh. fred what is your plan? do i look like i have a plan? not really. [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. for a free brochure, call the number on your screen. well. we just heard what ben stein would do, but what should herman cain do? joining me now to talk about that, democratic strategist julian epstein, daily caller, senior contributor matt lewis. gentlemen, thank you so much for being with mow this afternoon. thank you. julian, let s start with herman cain. asked on fox news whether race is playing a factor in this