the bells ring, let s go out front. hello, everyone. out front live in las vegas. feels good to say that. we re just an hour away. we have seven republican candidates squaring off for their party s nomination to challenge president barack obama next november. herman cain surging in the polls to defend his front of runner status. rick perry could be dropping and that could be the comeback story of the night and mitt romney, slow, but steady. in a poll released this morning and lagging behind cain in likability, can he pull more gop voters to the side? we have a lot lined up for you. we want to begin with two of our special guests, john avalon, senior economist for news week and the daily beast, cnn chief political analyst and all of this action was buzzing around as the show began. a lot of people over there. the motorcycles came. that s right. they ve got a lot to prove, gloria. sure is. and i think this will be a transition thing because we re going to see if r