gun battle in the fight for libyan liberation. plus, war is hell. and there's been ten years of it. now a war widow needs your help. a man of god and an icon makes news on same-sex marriage. >> you are either for equal rights or not. >> the reverend joseph lowery turning 90 and taking a stand. it's all here on cnn. hello, everyone. thanks for joining us. i'm don lemon. you are in the "cnn newsroom." we're going to start tonight with two subjects consuming the nation for the last few days. politics and religion. more specifically, what is keeping republican voters from fully embracing mitt romney? if you believe the headlines out of the value voters summit, the annual conference for conservatives it could be his mormon religion. as candy crowley reports, many in romney's own party of doing what they can to sidestep the issue. >> thomas jefferson talked about the wall of separation between church and state. nobody said anything about separating church and politics, but everybody knows it's a sticky wicket. >> is mitt romney a non-christian? >> i'm not running for theologian in chief. i'm a life-long christian. krp and what that means is one of my guiding principles for the decisions i make is i start with do the right thing. i'm not getting into that controversy. >> rick perry is -- >> the question arises because dr. robert jeffress, a southern baptist minister, introduced rick perry at a voters values summit the other day calling perry a genuine follower of jesus christ as opposed to another candidate jeffress can and did mention in a later interview. >> i think mitt romney is a good, moral man, but those of us who are born again followers of christ should always prefer a competent christian to a competent non-christian like mitt romney. >> mitt romney is a mormon and has passed this way before. four years ago, the first time he ran for president when he addressed concerns, rumors and political analysis of his religion. >> i believe in my mormon faith, and i endeavor to live by it. some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. if they are right, so be it. >> many things sank his candidacy in '08. religion may have been one of them. >> you look at the result frtss -- results from 2008, he ran poorly among evangelical christians. he never topped out above 20%. only 11% in the critical state in south carolina. >> in all, 45% of republicans who vote in primaries are conservative evangelical christians. they are far less a factor in a general election. for romney's gop rivals, this requires a straddle. you don't want to alienate a huge part of the primary vote, nor do you want to look intolerant. the pastor who was introducing and supporting governor perry in texas who said that governor romney who is a mormon is not a christian, i want to know if you agree with that statement. >> you know, this is so inconsequential as far as this campaign is concerned. >> you leave open the possibility that people will say you dodged the question, the direct question. >> i think, again, to make this a big issue is just ridiculous right now because every day i'm on the street talking to people. this is not what people are talking about. >> it will look like you're dodging it. >> if that's what it looks like, i'm dodging it because it's not going to help us boost this economy and that's my number one priority. >> and that's how you navigate around a sticky wicket. candy crowley, cnn, washington. two men who never talk around the tough issues are cnn contributors will kane and elsie granderson. they joined me earlier for a lively discussion about mitt romney and religion. elsie gets us started. addressing the political challenges facing a mormon candidate. >> mormonism is a problem because so many evangelical christians believe that he's going to hell. and no one wants to vote for anyone that's going to hell. i think that's the reason why people pay so much close attention to who the president is and who the president chooses to worship because the bible strictly says, and if you are a fundamentalist and follow the bible literally, it says no man can come to the father but by me. that's jesus' words. you are saying this guy isn't following jesus, then whoever he is following is not the right person. he's going to hell. i can't vote for somebody going to hell. that's the reason we keep having this conversation over and over. >> go ahead, will. >> i'm very curious because elsie knows, i don't have a dog in this fight. i believe nothing, honestly. i mean, christianity, mormonism, they are competing myths to me. but i don't understand that religion should be off the table. it seems like religion is something that informs our decision making, our world view. it informs our philosophical bearings. when choosing a leader of the free world i don't understand why we should exempt their religious beliefs as part of our analysis. >> i'll tell you the most disturbing thing to me about all of this. there are so many opportunities for president obama and others running for the white house to get in front of a microphone and say this is america. it doesn't matter what your religion is because we have freedom of religion, freedom of expression and none of this should be impacting the white house. they keep ducking it and pandering by saying, no, i'm a christian. or if you are romney you don't talk about your religion at all. i think what really needs to happen is someone needs to stand up and remind america what america stands for because right now, all we're doing is, you know, ducking the question because no one wants to offend the far right. >> i can't deny that it matters something to some voters. but the question none of us can answer is how much. to be honest, we're all guessing. so will this help or hurt rick perry? i'm sure there's a segment out there that believe the same thing that pastor said about mormonism and it won't hurt rick perry with them. will it hurt perry with general election voters, should he win the primary? i don't know. i think elsie has some interesting things to say about religion there but it doesn't answer the question. if religion is so important in forming who we are, why should it be something we exempt from the debate? >> for the record, rick perry has distanced himself from the remarks labeling mormonism a cult. he's not cut ties with the pastor who made those comments. monday marks the 24th straight day of nonstop protests by the fledgling occupy wall street movement. occupy events have been popping up all over the country, including this one sunday in front of the white house. about 100 people gather to protest what they call corporate greed and social inequality. one person was arrested when he tried to throw a shoe over the white house fence. secret service says the shoe hit a uniformed officer. the man has been charged with assault. the occupy wall street movement apparently doesn't have many friends among republicans. house majority leader eric cantor called them mobs and republican presidential candidates have been lining up to dismiss the protesters as un-american and engaging in class warfare. listen to herman cain and then michele bachmann. >> i went by one of the protests in washington, d.c., on friday and saw a lot of signs from unions and others there. i don't know how spontaneous these protests were. but it seems to me that their anger should be directed at the white house because barack obama's policies have put us in one of the worst tailspins, economically, that we have. and maybe that's why the protests that i saw was within shouting distance of the white house. >> yes, but the fact of the matter is, why aren't there jobs? go and picket the white house. demonstrate in front of the white house. the thing this administration does not get is that the business sector is the engine of economic growth. that's key. they don't get that. so this president and administration wants to continue to try and spend our way to prosperity. part of it is jealousy. i stand by that. >> as you might imagine, civil rights veterans such as the reverend joseph lowry have a much different perspective. >> the people know that he is not responsible for our financial dilemma, and they know that the financial community is responsible. that the greed, the corruption, the selfishness of the financial community, and even today when the wealthy are not willing to share their wealth. they want to keep less than 10% of the people own more than 90% of the wealth. that's unfair. >> dr. joseph lowery turned 90 this week and is a living legend of the civil rights era. why are so many people ignoring the similarities between the occupy wall street protest and that other dissatisfied citizen powered movement, the tea party? well, we'll take that on in our no talking points segment in just a few moments. and the war widow needs your help. she's lost a symbol of the union with her late husband, his wedding ring. we'll tell you what she's doing to try to find it. capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. 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[ giggles ] woohoo! yes! ♪ it was the best day ♪ it was the best day yeah! ♪ it was the best day ♪ because of you [echoing] we make a great pair. huh? progressive and the great outdoors. we make a great pair. right, totally. uh... that's what i was thinking. hmm. covering the things that make the outdoors great. now that's progressive. call or click today. it is going to be a big week in washington. the senate is expected to vote on president obama's $447 billion jobs bill. 60 votes will be needed to overcome republican efforts to block the measure. cnn's athena jones has a look at the highlights. >> reporter: the bill would cut payroll taxes, extend unemployment benefits, give tax credits for raising wages or hiring out of work veterans or the long-term unemployed. and provide money to keep public workers on the job and invest in rebuilding schools and roads. it would be paid for with a 5.6% tax on income over $1 million, starting in 2013. >> unemployment remains stuck at 9.1%, another reason the democrats argue that a jobs bill is badly needed. we have been telling you about the occupy wall street phenomenon going on in new york and other cities around the country. cnn contributor and political anchor for new york one errol lewis is in lower manhattan tonight. errol, thank you. you are right in your own backyard, almost. so it's good to see you. what are protesters telling you. are they still in this for the long haul because i know you've been reporting on it on your show. >> yeah, they are here for the long run. this is day 23. what they've said and there's one sign back here to that effect, it says that the medium is the message. that the fact that they have an -- see you later, pal. the fact that they haven't presented a list of demands, the fact they haven't been organized in a traditional sense, the fact they haven't put a group of leaders forward as their leaders is part of the message. and that indeed is what they've done. they've sort of decided just to hang here and to be here. and to let people come by and find out from them what it is they're talking about. and we and a lot of other news organizations have done just that. >> you said you had a couple of bloggers on, some people who were arrested. you had close contact with the folks there. what are -- not people saying they don't have a coherent message. what is the feel you get, especially as a new yorker, about this group which has sparked other groups. do they realize what's happening across the country or are they in a vacuum because they are now the the parks every day? >> no, they are probably better wired up than most offices in this country. they've got a whole internet setup back there. and, in fact, i came and they were projecting it up on the screen as they were having a large group discussion. one of those discussions was about a group from california that's going to be coming here to talk with them and sort of watch and learn from them about some of their demonstration tactics. but, no, they are very, very aware that they have inspired different groups around the country in washington, d.c. and in a number of cities around the country to do sort of the same thing. they are getting support. they are getting packages on a daily basis from all across the country. people are sending them money. i talked with the folks at the financial institution where they've opened up an account. i mean, they are digging in for the long haul. >> what i'm wondering, we've been talking about the president's job bill is coming up next week. if people in washington, if lawmakers may be paying attention to this and do you think it will have any effect on that passage or nonpassage of that bill? >> what's going on down here? >> yeah. >> i suspect that there will be very little, frankly. i mean, look, one of the things going on, don is there's a profound distrust of the existing institutions, whether it's the media, as you just saw or the courts or the congress or the white house and certainly wall street. so those avenues are always open for these folks to sort of do the traditional thing. write a letter to your congressman. hope for passage of a particular bill. by and large, the mood here and the signs that are back here and the conversations going on it goes far, far beyond that. they want to talk about the core reasons that people do things, not passage of a particular bill. >> the reason i asked you that is because i spoke with someone from "the wall street journal" earlier who writes about these matters and writes about the economy. he believes that the people on wall street are starting to pay attention now but the change is going to have to come from washington. so i'm wondering if that has trickled down into washington. that's why i asked you that question. >> it's interesting. i mean, look, i've seen signs of every description back here. some say impeach obama. some say, you know, waterboard wall street. you know, so i think there is sort of a sense of a plague on both of their houses and we, the people is what they are saying, need some action. they are not really getting into the ins and outs of who is supposed to act first, what particular action they are supposed to take. what they are saying is, as if you will, consumers of the end product, they don't like what they've gotten. they don't like what they are seeing. they don't have a lot of trust it's going to be done properly and they want an entirely new way of approaching this so that in the end, there will be jobs. it goes way beyond passage of a particular bill. >> thank you, errol louis, in the field, on the scene. we appreciate that. >> thanks, don. libya's new leaders say they are in the final stages of controlling moammar gadhafi's hometown of sirte. that report is next. and my conversation about poverty across america. for convertibles, press star one. i didn't catch that. to speak to a representative, please say representative now. representative. goodbye! you don't like automated customer service, and neither do we. that's why, unlike other cards, no matter when you call chase sapphire preferred, you immediately get a person not a prompt. chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. 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[ chorus ] ♪ we are farmers bum-ba-dum, ba-bum-bum-bum ♪ the last gasp of forces loyal to moammar gadhafi. libya's new leaders on the national transitional council say they are in the final stages of the fight to take over sirte. it's the most important remaining strong hold for gadhafi's supporters. the ntc is waiting for the city to fall before declaring liberation. gadhafi's whereabouts are still unknown, but the military commanders say it's unlikely that he is still controlling any forces. >> this week the country's second largest indian nation, the cherokees will elect their chief. 2800 descendants of african-american slaves will get to vote in the election after a federal court fight. cnn special correspondent soledad o'brien has more on the battle over civil rights and tribal rights. >> samford is a cherokee freedman. >> i'm an african-american with cherokee heritage. my great grandmother was a slave of the cherokees. >> it's a little known chapter in american history. the cherokees were one of five indian tribes whose members owned slaves. so what were those slaves doing for the cherokee nation? >> agricultural laborers. they were also individuals who worked as domestic slaves. >> in 1866, the cherokees freed their slaves. they signed a treaty guarantees that all freed men and theiry is -- and their descendants would have all the rights of native cherokees. today, that treaty is at the center of a controversy involving nearly 3,000 african-americans. on august 22nd, cherokee nation kicked them out of the tribe. >> and the treaty of 1866 did not give citizenship to the freed men nor their descendants. >> diane hammonds is the attorney general for cherokee nation. >> the heart of the issue is whether or not an indian tribe can describe, can determine who is eligible to be a member of that tribe. >> in 2007, cherokee nation passed a law requiring proof of indian blood to be a member. the proof is based on a record that was created a century ago called the dawes rolls. they said they're wrong because they were based on how you looked. >> if you looked back, they wrote cherokee freedman. if you looked not black, they wrote cherokee. >> many freed men were of mixed cherokee and african blood. but on the rolls, they were listed with no indian blood. last month, it all went to federal court. >> i was restored as a member of the cherokee nation. >> a settlement has let the freedmen back into the tribe for now. the descendants can vote in the election for the cherokee chief but there's no guarantee that they'll get to stay in the tribe. reporting for "in america," soledad o'brien, cnn. make sure you join soledad o'brien as she examines how some black entrepreneurs are risking everything to become the next big thing in the silicon valley. a black in america special "the new promised land -- silicon valley" will air sunday night november 13th at 8:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. coming up, the ultimate case of trying to find a needle in a haystack. we'll show you what one afghanistan war widow is trying to do to find her husband's lost wedding band. it's a heartfelt story. 6 how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? 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