from joe scarborough, i suspect. "morning joe" starts right now. since this discussion is all about economics, governor romney, i promise this won't be about religion. sorry about that, rick. >> we're missing this so much. what we need to be focused on in this country today is whether or not we're going to have this policy or that policy. what we need to be focused on is how we get america working again. and we're sitting on this absolute treasure-trove of energy in this country. and i don't need nine nine nine, we don't need any plan to pass congress. we need to get a president of the united states that is committed to passing the types of regulations, pulling the regulations back, freeing this country to go develop the energy industry that we have in this country. i can promise you that we do that and we'll create an environment in this country where the manufacturing will come back to this country. we did it in texas. >> oh, we'll find out. it's wednesday, october 12th. >> what was it? it was a snuggie? is that the blanket with the arms? >> i think so. >> yeah, my daughters have those. welcome to "morning joe." i like your leopard skin one. with us onset, msnbc contributor mike barnicle. and congressional correspondent for national journal major garrett. and former chairman of the republican national committee michael steele. >> leopard skin snuggie. >> you don't have one of those? >> come on. >> my daughter has one. what are you talking about? are you making fun of my daughter? >> no, no, him. the concept of a leopard skin snuggie. >> we got it. we'll just go back to wherever you were and pretend you're here. nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. >> it's a great day to have a andrea on. >> always a great day. but news wise, an important day to have her on given the terror plot that was foiled. andrea can give us her insight on that a little later. >> yeah. and of course, hank williams jr. wearing a yankees uniform. so much worse than the hat. >> why are we putting him back on the air? >> i win. game over. >> game over. michael steele, former gop chair, judge the debate last night for us. >> it was a load of fun. i tell you. >> hold on a second. define fun. >> and load. >> both of those are operative terms there. no, i thought it was one of those debates where everyone who needed to do something either did it or didn't. and in this case, romney needed to stay cool, calm, and collected and show he's presidential. he did, he won the debate. hands down without any doubt. he was not touched. in fact, the questions he got in many respects, i think further positioned him to get to iowa and new hampshire and beyond. herman cain sustained himself. he batted back on the 999 points. there was no real digging into what this 999 plan was about. so he survived. you saw perry, at one point i had to tweet. you know, perry was clear lip underprepared for the last couple of debates. but he was prepared so much too well that he was too tired to answer questions. >> it is amazing the energy level, major. i want to follow up on that. the energy level of rick perry on these debates is frightening. it's just -- i've got to say it's remarkable. a guy shows up at a debate and it's a nonissue. the clip we just showed or people just showed is where we he basically says we shouldn't be worrying about this policy or that policy. >> we need a legislative plan. >> pixie dust? >> what struck me about governor perry, not only did he shrink on stage, but as the night wore on. >> he always does. >> when mitt romney had a chance to ask a question, who did he ask a question to? right past rick perry to michele bauchmann. mitt romney thought he was the formidable challenger four weeks ago, last night he didn't. and as you saw rick perry understanding what's going on. this is the ultimate televised insult. you don't matter anymore to me. i'm going right past you. >> and he's a punch line to huntsman. i've got to say, huntsman -- >> i like him. >> he had a couple of good ones. also very in control. the base isn't going to warm up to him. but he's a grown-up. there's no doubt. he and romney last night were the grown-ups. >> i think what rick perry said later in the night summed it up. we'll get to that in a moment. but let's bring people through what happened last night. we also have to get to chris christie's endorsement. many of the questions directed at mitt romney. texas governor rick perry looking to gain back some of the ground he lost in the past few debates tried to press romney again to defend his health care legislation while he was governor of massachusetts. take a listen. >> and i'm proud of what we were able to accomplish. i'll tell you this, though, we have the lowest number of kids, as a percentage, uninsured of any state in america. i'm still speaking. i'm still speaking. i'm still speaking. we have less than 1% of our kids that are uninsured. you have 1 million kids uninsured in texas. 1 million kids. under president bush the percentage of uninsured went down. under your leadership, it's gone up. >> wow. >> after the debate, governor perry headed to a fraternity house where he was speaking to fraternity brothers. and this is what he told the boys there. "i just try to get up every day and do my job, and debates are not my strong suit." >> well, that's knowing your value or lack thereof. >> sort of like -- >> willie? >> man's got to know his limitations. >> this is like me when i say i don't test well. >> single digits in the s.a.t. for me. >> that's hard to do. >> didn't even get my name right. you know they tell you you get all those points if you get your name right. >> not true. >> no, i didn't get my name right. >> you didn't put the space. >> i guess so. >> to major's point about mitt romney looking past perry. it wasn't just the question, it was the way he addressed him right there. i'm still speaking. i'm still speaking. that's the way my wife talks to my 4-year-old. i'm still talking. but he also just -- if you just pure lly superficially, he look like a ceo running a meeting. sitting in the middle of the table, most of the questions directed at him. he was steering the conversation. it looked like it was his debate and he was running a meeting. >> mike, there was my first problem, i suppose. i said, nobody here other than maybe huntsman, ideology aside, forget ideology, can touch mitt romney. romney has gotten so much better over the past four years. it's stunning. and last night, i'm just talking stylistically, he looked like the grown-up there. along with huntsman who i've got to say -- >> is the grown-up. >> is really coming into his own. he was very nervous and shaky his first debate. he's a guy that's got nothing to lose. >> yeah. that's exactly right. >> that's it. >> that's exactly right. huntsman is comfortable in his own skin, attractive candidate. knows he has nothing to lose. mitt romney last night, basically his body language, real language, his rhetoric, behavior, his i'm still talking. he really, that performance cosmetically was saying to the public watching it and the rest of the candidates there is i'm the one who is going to be running against barack obama, pay attention. rick perry, he's just this year's fred thompson. >> and that's a guy, mika, that's going to be able to hold his own against barack obama. >> i think so. andrea mitchell, really quickly before we get to newt gingrich and chris christie, jon huntsman would be able to hold his own especially on the foreign policy front, wouldn't he? >> absolutely. jon huntsman has more experience than anyone there especially on foreign policy. at the same time, the issue is the economy. and that played to romney's strength. i agree with you about the way romney treated perry. when you say to the guys, debates aren't my strong suit, that's like saying commander in chief isn't my strong suit. that's what republicans are certainly looking for. and that's -- and americans are looking for a president who can go up against others and be a strong advocate for the united states in foreign affairs and domestic. >> willie, tell us what newt did last night. that was interesting, wasn't it? i didn't really -- i think he wants to be hauled off to prison or something. >> he wants a couple to be thrown in jail. >> a lot's being made of this. newt gingrich making headlines last night with a statement on who should be held responsible for the economic crisis. and more importantly, what should happen to them. >> if they want to really change things, the first person to fire is bernanke, who is a disaster as chairman of federal reserve, the second person to fire is geithner. and if you want to put people in jail, you ought to start with barney frank and chris dodd. and let's look at the politicians who put this country in trouble. >> clearly not saying they should go to jail. >> well, in chris dodd's case, go back and look at the countryside deals. look at the lobbyist close to freddie mac. >> i think we all agree barney frank should not be put in jail. the context of the question was should wall street people be thrown into jail. and then he played off of that. >> newt was newt last night. he was, michael steele, newt was leaning forward as they say at us at msnbc, throwing wild punches left and right. and in about a five-minute frame. and if you're newt gingrich trying to grab the base, this is one way to do it. he not only absolutely slammed bernanke, who is ironically an ideologically conservative, and somehow has become the whipping boy of the far right. right after that, he's talking about hauling a couple of congressmen and senators off to jail. and then he starts talking about death panels. i thought it was august 2009. i just -- >> eh -- >> newt connected a lot of dots last night in about a three-minute segment. and i think the point is if you go back and look at newt's performances from the very, very beginning, he has been consistent in laying down a very strong argument. he shows and demonstrates very well his knowledge of the working of government and the policy side of it. it has helped him to the extend that he's barely in the double digit range. but you need to bring a little bit more to that, particularly as we've already talked about you've got someone like romney who is really smoothly pursuing this effort and demonstrating his presidential. >> newt gingrich quietly is picking up one point here, one point there. he's ahead in perry in some polls. my nominee for the john mccain potential award this year goes to newt gingrich. not saying he's going to win, but i -- i might expect newt to creep in and be the anti-romney by the end of this. >> he might. he reminds me very much of the congressman i met when i came to washington in the '90s, a skilled provocateur who can take two or three issues, define them, and create what he calls a binary proposition. if you're for this and this, you must be for this. and he carries you along in this realm of argumentation. that works on a couple of issues. but bashing the fed has become an echo of ron paul. he's trying to get the ron paul part of the party because he has no other part of the party right now. >> right. >> and this whole part of the conversation about who should go to jail was started by what about the wall street people, and michele bauchmann said no, it was a community reinvestment act. and fannie mae and freddie mac lowered their lending standards. but also in 1999, you had legislation that repealed legislation that turned banks and investment companies into brokers. which allowed the creation of all of the toxic assets through credit default swaps. >> it was a couple bad things in a row. >> republicans want to focus on one, they do not want to focus on the other. >> we've compiled -- we had one good one last time. we've compiled a few. just to give you the arc of the debate. mike's first tweet, perry, looks like he's watching a tennis match. the next one, strangely, perry seems to have only one answer, oil and energy. so on the nose, who did debate prep, marlon brando and the formula? the next one, perry thought bubble, zzz this fancy pants debating doesn't matter a bit. the fourth one, mitt looks like he's watching these guys and all he can do is hum hail to the chief in his head. and the last one, score card strong, mitt weak, perry, good format, hunts better, nobody saw it, nothing changes. >> interesting. let's go to andrea mitchell and the big news yesterday coming out of iran. andrea, that's going to create shockwaves in washington, d.c. >> it's creating shock waves in riyadh, washington, and tehran. the iranians have written a letter to the u.n. secretary general calling the charges baseless false allegations. so they are claiming that they are outraged by it. the u.s. officials do not know how high up this went. they have sanctioned the head of the force, which is a top military force. but the question is, did the ayatollah know about this alleged plot? did president ahmadinejad know about it? they have not been able to pin that down. but they did say this is the attorney general, the fbi director, the top officials at treasury, the president went to the situation room yesterday morning and congratulated all of the officials for having foiled this alleged plot. but it does, they acknowledge, read like a cheap thriller. and they are having a hard time, you know, explaining to people exactly how this could be possible that this iranian, a naturalized american, born in iran, could've gone to mexico, supposedly under orders to try to find an assassin to kill one of the most veteran diplomats in washington, well known to everyone and the closest adviser to king abdullah of saudi arabia. >> i'm just looking at the highlights of this scheme, of these two iranians indicted for plotting to assassinate the saudi ambassador. it starts there. but the scheme involves an iranian used car salesman, mexican drug lords, and a murder for hire that could've left scores of people dead. now, one of the accused is an iranian-born citizen who sought out assassins from a mexican drug cartel to carry out bombings on saudi arabia's ambassador by blowing him up at an undetermined washington restaurant and then targeting the saudi embassy and the capitol. >> isn't there an easier way to do things? i'm not spy here. but seriously. come on. it's like the guy watched magruber. >> underrated. >> by the way, very underrated show. your grandmother did not like "magruber." >> he, of course, is the man who was arraigned in the manhattan court yesterday. the other indicted is still in iran and they have not been able to get him. more sanctions were put against the iranians. and a worldwide travel alert. so the state department, the treasury, the white house, everyone is completely behind this despite many questions about this alleged plot. their point is that this force has never before done anything that was this extreme, this aggressive in the past. they've supported hezbollah, hamas, but never done anything that would suggest a plot on u.s. soil. >> yeah, and this wildly unfocused. can you believe that? >> used car salesman threatening to blow up a washington restaurant that doesn't exist. >> yeah, and going down to mexico. everything in there but the celery. i mean, seriously. where did he get this idea? we have a lot to talk about. we didn't get to chris christie or your free stuff, major. >> i think we made history this morning, willie. very rarely have "magruber" references been dropped in. >> very few got the celery reference. >> do not let your parents go home this afternoon after school and figure out what we're talking about. we're going to talk to presidential candidate rick santorum, and ed rollins will be here. interesting. but first, bill karins, what's the forecast look like? well, we had a great stretch of weather in the new england and mid-atlantic. now it's coming to an end. it's an umbrella day in many areas of the country. we'll have airport delays out there. the green on the map is the rain. much of pennsylvania is wet along with ohio, west virginia, d.c. rain overnight, and now you're getting a little bit of shower activity. we will see the rain picking up in intensity in new york city and philadelphia here during the morning commute and new york city more or less toward about the noon hour. we should be dry in hartford and boston until later today. at least your morning drive is on the dry side. also, thunderstorms this morning, rolling through dallas and ft. worth. the worst of it is now clearing out of the area. it's safe to head outside. you still will have a slow drive. and it could be localized flooding on the roads. an active weather wednesday with storms in the middle of the country, and all of that rain heading into the northeast. check ahead, of course, if you're going to be going to any airports later on today. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. it's 23 past the hour. time now to take a look at the morning papers. we're going to begin with our parade of papers. the "richmond times dispatch" shows a match-up between president obama and herman cain in virginia is currently a toss-up. the head to head match-up has obama with 45% and cain with 43%. in another match-up, virginia voters give mitt romney 45% to the president's 44%. and "usa today," large daily doses of vitamin e once believed to protect against cancer and other ailments actually increases the risk for prostate cancer. >> come on! >> and you grow horns on to top of your head. >> everyone stop for a second. just eat well, okay? eat really well. don't eat this poison in fast food restaurants. >> poison? >> a lot of vegetables -- >> eat well. >> the more color, the better. that's basically it. >> i'm sorry, i'm very skeptical of the vitamin industry. >> are we sponsored by any vitamins, anybody? >> just eat well. >> alex? >> i don't think so. >> i'll tell you right now, even some of our major -- soda pop -- >> let me tell you, i've never gotten vitamins. >> pretty much poison. you're poisoning your kid -- >> no, no, no, we like fast food. >> we don't, actually. >> i think if it's balanced. like you have a big mac one day and a whopper the next and a triple from wendy the next day. and a fish fillet later on. >> a fish sandwich. >> i do have a bone to pick with mcdonald's, though. you know their apple pies? they used to be fried. remember you could bite into them and they would crunch and you would be scalded by hot apple. >> this is why people think they need vitamins to supplement their awful diets. and let me tell you, there's only one thing that vitamins do -- >> the cinnabon is great. let me tell you, a wendy's single meal may be my favorite meal. >> you know what i used to do with a cinnabun? >> tell us, the world awaits. >> back in my bad days. >> her bad days. >> at an airport. i'd take the cinnabon and literally inhale it and ask for two extra or three frostings. it's -- i can't even do it. i'm like an alcoholic. >> can we have a cinnabon frost machine? after intense negotiations with the white house, well, red sox general manager -- okay. that's not real. that was not really written well. >> alex just said, sor