and john, we've got a new way of describing cane cain, called the cain swagger. what are other candidates saying herman cain's swagger, if you will? >> i tell you one thing that herman cain never lacked was swagger, nobody's got swagger like herman cain. we were talking a second ago. we were talking about a minute ago, the power of the herman cain endorsements would be. looking at my switter, larry sabato, a familiar face at fox news, several times, and an endorsement guarantees little. engaged voters do their own picking. cain's people will scatter to several candidates and no en masse transfer. and more coming in from his competitors, newt gingrich writes in twitter feed, i am proud it know herman cain, consider him a friend and i know he will continue to be a powerful voice for years to come. and as to how herman cain affected the debate in the presidential race, gingrich tips his hat to him on the tax plan saying that herman cain's 9-9-9 plan got our country talking about the critical issue of tax reform and elevated the dialog at primary, similar words from

to herman cain, and would help newt gingrich, if herman cain were to slip. so, there's been a whole lot of speculation about that. and we should point out that herman cain's loss of altitude began before these allegations came out and has probably paid a bigger role in his fall than the allegations of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct. and scott rasmussen published a new poll today and he asked people, what's more important to you, the allegations against cain or the fact that he's had difficulty answering foreign policy questions? 43% said the allegations, 45% said the foreign policy questions. so, it's about split. people have been disturbed by that. john roberts mentioned steve king, the representative from iowa saying something essentially pronouncing the campaign dead. i've spoken to cain about this and he was concerned about this for quite a while. there was a real problem with the cain campaign before any of these allegations came out. >> now, byron, to your point earlier today on fox news, mike huckabee who will be having a forum with some of th

cain. >> i'll ask him what he thinks. all this will mean for the cain train. and why he said the candidate's sex life is no one else's business. also, ha is the cain crisis tell us about the state of the republican party? plus, a worldwide exclusive from the sex, drugs rock'n'roll legends, motley crue. this is piers morgan tonight. good evening, breaking news on herman cain's campaign. his attorney is here with new information on ginger white, the atlanta woman who accuses cain of a 13-year affair. lin wood joins me now. mr. wood, a pivotal moment for your client's campaign and everything resting really, i guess, on this woman, ginger white's word against herman cain's word. ha makes you so sure that your client is telling the truth? >> well, i have seen no evidence, piers, no evidence to support the accusations of ms. white. i have seen her go out on what we now know is not just an interview where she could tell her story and be done. but now she's engaging in a media campaign, one intervi

cain. we stand with mrs. cain. lord, remember us. remember america. remember our families, lord. and we will always give you the honor, the glory, the praise, and the thanksgiving, in jesus' mighty name, amen. >> ladies and gentlemen, join us in welcoming army colonel, commander bravo company third battalion, and former offensive lineman playing on the 1980 championship team, colonel michael steele. join him as he leads us in the pledge of allegiance. >> it is great to see this crowd here today. it's great to see americans do what americans do. i'm very encouraged by seeing all of you here today, and i am compelled to say with as much clarity as i can, so there's no room for misinterpretation or misrepresentation, let me say as distinctly as i can, that i am proud to be an american. [ applause ] in a time like these when so many are willing to subjugate love of nation and national pride out of fear they may be called intolerant, arrogant, divisive, or be accused of using hate speech, in times like these, just like you, i stand firmly and i stand proudly on the belief that being a

cain. he said he needed to speak with his wife. you're now looking at a live picture of what was to be a day when herman cain opened his atlanta headquarters. three or four weeks ago this man was flying high at the polls then came a series of revelations, all of which he announced to be untrue at some level. it has taken its toll in the polls and fund-raising. herman cain has been home with his wife now for at least 24 hours discussing the situation. i am joined today by my colleagues, senior correspondent joe johns and also with our shannon travis down covering atlanta -- what will be atlanta headquarters for herman cain of the problem is you and i have been talking to sources for the last couple of hours. well, he's leaning towards leaving. we're pretty sure he's going to leave. you get the same thing and you can't trust them. >> no, you can't. one source i talked to a little while ago said this is a man who holds his own council. he may have people around him telling him things. those pe

for cain, who knows. for cain and mitt romney who fumbled an interview at fox, three words, worst week ever. meanwhile, the guy who benefits from the dead and dying plies around him is newt gingrich. he says he'll be the republican nominee. he's taking heat saying poor kids don't know the meaning of hard work. what is next in the crazy republican debate. it's scheduled for december 27. this is not the "hardball" side show, yet. it's really happening. plus, at least he shut up at the right studio. rick perry went on leno to make fun of his campaign missteps. let me finish with the traveling circus this gop race has become. we start with cain and his big announceme announcement. howard fineman and chris cillizza. herman cain said he was going to make a big announcement. let's listen. >> i'm reassessing because of all the media fire storm stuff. why? because my wife and family comes first. i have to take that into consideration. tomorrow in atlanta, i will be making an announcement. nobody is going to get me

that cain denies. here's his press secretary responding. >> any time those allegations come out, it's always tough on anybody. it did take away a little bit of the steam, but i think we're back on track. i think the conversation that he had with his wife last night were positive. and we're hoping that we're here monday and we're up and running and moving forward. >> we've been speaking out potential indicators what herman cain may do and what the impact of those decisions will be. there's a new des moines register poll out that shoes just about a month ago when herman cain led in that early caucus state. he had 23%, those numbers now have dropped all the way to just 8%. so clearly he's having a great deal of difficulty in terms of support and one of the challenges is financial support, as well. alex? >> nbc's peter alexander watching the action there for us in atlanta. the crowds are certainly gathering there. so we'll stay with this picture and the story. thank you very much, peter. >>> and the big th

cain is saying. they are saying we are not -- gordon is saying we are not going to pull out of the race, just reassessing really how we are going to go forward with our strat jand we are not even thinking about pulling out of the race. herman cain actually is saying i'm not sure i'm going to be in it. i asked him earlier tonight if he was going to unveil the third leg of his policy. he is supposed to be unveiling -- he did his 9-9-9 plan, which is the economy and foreign policy on mon day and the energy plan. and i asked if he would do the energy plan next week answered said he is not sure a lot defended with the conversation with his wife. kay part, i want you to be the jury as we listen to cain's answer on fox news about why he was give this woman money. let's listen to this. >> you did give her money over the years and that raised questions -- a basic one, why? >> well, neil, over the years, because i have been successful, i have helped many people financially. i have helped people stay in their h

cain. >> i've talked to my wife many times since monday. >> he may face tougher questions when he heads home and has a different meeting this weekend with gloria. >> i have not talked with her face to face. >> i hope he's bringing a lot of flowers and chocolate. >> a million dollars, but the american people are going to raise some cain in 2012. >> i think we need newt gingrich. >> what we always get with newt is this high drama. his poll numbers are on the rise. >> it looks like gingrich will be that conservative alternative. >> gingrich is coming under attack on all fronts. >> the paul campaign labels gingrich a, quote, serial hypocrite. >> he's a flip-flopper. >> i helped lead the effort to defeat communism. >> romney getting really testy. >> you're wrong, brett. brett, brett. >> mitt romney overreacting a little bit? >> mitt got a little defensive.ç >> we've just seen the tip of the iceberg. >> what brett bear said in his interview with mitt romney. >> he was overly aggressive. >> all r

cain is new. one question that i find disturbing that is not raised by anybody seriously at least when i read it. what is the motive of ginger white in no one seems to have honed in on that and a few vague references of how her relationship as the story was relayed to the public on a tip. someone went to the media. who went to the media? she didn't have to go on the television show as she did with abc and go through the sordid details of their alleged relationship. what is in it for her? she substaniate want money or write a book? why do it. if this is a case of a scorned woman? and why she did it. not to say it is not true but the very act of coming publicly and wrecking his campaign? >> it is an interesting point about going into the motive of these women to come forward . interesting to note when john edwards was deal his candicy. the media left it to the national enquirer to come up with the story and go with the headlines and they didn't want to pick it up until they were forced to since the

i'm not sure that herman cain and the herman cain campaign are in that close of quarters. i don't know how else to explain -- howard points this out. i don't know how else to explain the incredibly fumbled messaging. one minute he's in it to win it. the next minute he's reassessing. and then he's in it to win it, and back to reassessing. >> we'll find out tomorrow. thank you howard fineman and chris cillizza. up next the latest from newt gingrich. poor kids have no work habits because no one around them works, or so he said. there's a dog whistle for the right. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. that will change your life... for the first time ever... a toothpaste. crest 3d white. if beauty editors notice, who else will? crest 3d

cain in room 1102, gonna need a cot. (laughter) again. but cain wasn't willing to say that this was the last time he'd be accused of something. >> do you expect other women to be coming out and making similar kind of accusations? is there any evidence... none. >> is there any indication there are others out there. >> none that i know of! do i know of any that might come out? not off the top of my head. (laughter) >> this is where wolf blitzer should interrupt and say "we're a 24-hour network. take your time, dig a little deeper than the top of your he head. maybe try the middle of your head where your brain is, the thing that storms the names of the ladies you bang. once again it's boiling down a he said/they said situation. any evidence here? >> white provided the fox affiliate with cell phone bills and text messages showing cain up until this september would contact her at all hours of the day and night-- one at 4:26 a.m. >> a 4:26 a.m. booty text? even farmers don't cheat on their wives that early. (laughter) it's still circumstantial.

cain feels and whether the growing sex scandal has derailed the cain money train. cnn political correspondent jim acosta is following the candidate for us this morning. >> reporter: carol, when we asked herman cain whether he is staying in this race, he did not give us a direct response. it is a sign that his campaign at this point is up in the air. >> we want cain! [ chanting ] >> reporter: the crowd was in a fighting mood and so was the candidate. >> they want you to believe that with enough character assassination on me that i will drop out. they -- >> reporter: but in a fiery speech, that was as close as herman cain came to talking about the accusations of marital infidelity that now threaten his campaign. the conservative businessman did not deny the allegations as he has this week, and he made no promises to stay in the race. >> one of the reasons that they want to try and shoot me down and tear me down is because of the strength of my message that's resonating with the american people. >> reporter: but he accused unnamed political forces of trying to block h

cain train coming to a crashing halt. legislates get political analysis from role call staff writer. shura, good see you. cain quit his campaign for president, but he says i'm going to still be out here campaigning on the issues. which invites the question, was this truly an attempt to become president or simply a campaign that was all about herman cain? >> well, i think the only person that is ever going to know that answer for sure is herman cain himself. but it raises eyebrows. i looked at his website and saw what his tour stops. he was going to places like oklahoma and arizona, not traditional primary states. i think it's interesting he got in the race at the same time he was writing a book. what could go wrong in his head, i'm sure he was thinking when he announced his campaign. what could go wrong by running for president? yeah, several things went wrong. >> gregg: no kidding. the way he did this, shira, has to be one of more bizarre moments in modern political history. here are all of his devoted campaign workers.

train is trying to stay on the tracks by launching a new website that lets cain supporters trash cain accusers. goldly taylor of the grio is here with the latest. >> the ayes are 51, nayes are 49. the motion is not agreed to. >> republicans are on the record and voted to raise taxes on the middle class. today the president is laying down the gauntlet. >> i expect it's going to get done before congress leaves, otherwise congress may not be leaving and we can all spend christmas here together. >> vermont senator bernie sanders is here with reaction. >>> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. herman cain is expected to announce tomorrow whether he's going to stay in the race for president. the source close to the candidate told nbc news he has decided to quit. now the campaign is responding to that report. they say no decision has been made. and anything indicating that a decision has been made is inaccurate. herman cain wants to shield his family from more fallout from allegations of sexual harassment and a claim of an extramarital affair. the only caveat accordin

the last stop for the cain train. herman cain today in atlanta effectively ending his bid for the white house. the candidate who just a month ago was being talked about as the frontrunner for the republican nomination, suspending his campaign. in recent weeks, cain has denied allegations of sexual harassment and an atlanta woman's claim that she had a 13-year affair with him. today, his eyes hidden behind dark shades with his wife, gloria, by his side. cain broke the news to supporters. >> i am at peace with my god. i am at peace with my wife. and she is at peace with me. >> okay, even as cain was announcing the end to his 2012 dreams, he was promising that he wouldn't be silenced and that he wouldn't go away. cnn's shannon travis standing outside the atlanta headquarters that cain just opened today as he was suspending his campaign. talk about bad timing there, shannon. how did the crowd react to his wife and what else did he tell that crowd? >> reporter: the crowd reacted in waves and spurts. at times, don, when you

coming up, herman cain decides to bring that cain train to a halt. which candidate is going to reap the benefits now? >>> also, yesterday you heard jerry sandusky talk about his "attraction" to young people. this morning we are getting reaction from the attorneys of two of his alleged victims. >>> also this morning -- well, it looks like a christmas tree. right? the lights, a star, a few ornament on it. if you live in rhode island, however, it is a holiday tree, taking christ out of christmas. the subject of this morning's "faces of faith." >>> but we begin with the end for herman cain. here is part of his announcement, if you missed it yesterday. >> i am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt caused on me and my family, not because we are not fighters, not because i'm not a fighter. >> all right. but he won't be fighting on as a presidential candidate. the campaign is suspended. doesn't mean he's not still going to have some kind of impact. our political reporter shannon travis is here in studio

herman cain susspending his campaign for president. he made that announcement today in atlanta with his wife behind him . with a lot of prayer and soul searching, i am suspending my presidential campaign. cain saying being president was playad and he has a plan b. >> i am not going to be silence going away. plan b is a grass roots effort to return government to the people. he was surged in the fuels and his catchy 9-9-9 overhall plan and doing what others said he couldn't do. shepherd smith with a closer look. >> i stand here today as a son of a chauffeur and a domestic worker. >> herman cain was born in metchis in 1945 and his father worked three jobs to support his family and scrapping enough money to buy a house and move to atlanta. >> they never uttered the words victim because they never fement like a victim. >> they lived in the segerated south. the teacher said he would never get a good education because he attended black schools. thea graduated second in his class in hospital. he went to moore house college and earned a degree

cain is he used the specific language "suspend." the difference between that and ending your campaign is when you suspend you can still get the federal matching fund. if he ended it he wouldn't be able to get those. what it means for the larger race, though, is that it's romney versus gingrich race with ron paul always out there, somebody you have to look to. but this solidifies ever more that it's a two-man race. >> mitchell: cain lost a lot of support in the last few weeks. however, he still had a lot of supporters out there. where are those folks likely to go? >> the cain voters who had been leaving him looked like they were pretty much going to newt gingrich, but the hard-core supporters who were left, those will be interesting. they liked cain because he was not a washington politician, not a member of the establishment. newt gingrich is both of those things. the core supporters also liked the fact he was a businessman. that could benefit mitt romney. it is unlikely the cain core supporters will be distributed through the remai

michele bachmann and herman cain spoke on the phone. she didn't say exactly when this occurred but it was definitely clear this was recent. number two, she tells me a number of herman cain supporters have reached out to bachmann's campaign to say that they would be willing to support her. now, obviously we don't want to read too much into this. we do not know exactly what the decision will be that herman cain will announce when he comes out, whether he'll stay in the race, whether he'll get out of the race. if we're reading the tea leaves as we have been doing all day about where he might go with this, this is certainly a significant development in that they share a lot of the same supporters, tea party supporters, social conservatives. so it's curious that a number of his supporters, excuse me, would reach out to the bachmann campaign according to alice stewart. so if we're reading the tea leaves as we have been all day, that's another sign in one direction that herman cain might be pulling out. again, we do not know that for sure. fre

herman cain home in atlanta tonight. perhaps for the last time with all the trappings of a presidential candidate. earlier today cain was still campaigning in south carolina. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. >> reporter: he said he'd clarify his next steps tomorrow. >> i am reassessing because of all this media firestorm stuff. why? because my wife and family comes first. >> reporter: today new hampshire's union leader headlined that cain didn't tell his wife about his long-time friendship with atlanta businesswoman ginger white. >> my wife did not know about it. that was the revelation and the surprise that my wife found out about it when she went public with it. >> reporter: in his editorial today captioned "charisma isn't enough" the union leaders slammed cain for his handling of the scandal and said he isn't ready to be president. cain speculated that white was paid to talk. last night she told lawrence o'donnell no one offered her anything. she said she came forward in response to leaks. >> did herman cain tell y

herman cain is a side show. there are reports that his wife has had enough and wants him out of the race. if you take him by his word and he's going to talk to his family, that would signal that he could drop out. but it's very hard to predict what he's going to do. >> and drew klein was the new hampshire editorial page editor and eches also on last night and he describe what had cain had to say about his wife's decision. >> he said my wife would not ask me to quilt tt the campaign. but if i judge that it was in her best interests for me to quit, then i would do that. >> and this of course followed by the union leader today saying that we hope the allegations against herman cain prove up true. whatever the outcome, we suspect his wife will have him back from the campaign trail sooner rather than later. >> and they also went on to say that he's not ready and they said we're happy that he did embrace some ideas that were outside the mainstream, but most of the press he's getting right now is not very good, but her

cain said this publicly. and as i was told in the last couple of days and we first report last night, he has a lot of work it do at home. that's what he cited publicly here. the other important piece of the landscape, politically in iowa his support had plummeted. 22% in the polls. the latest des moines register poll had him at 8%. he had simply lost support, lost the about to raise money. >> he plans to endorse, and while we wouldn't suggest any other candidate would take some joy in his personal problems, one of them is likely to benefit. who might that be? >> i think newt gingrich thus far has been inheriting that support. you see it in his own poll numbers in new hampshire -- excuse me in iowa, in other early states as well. and he's been working, gingrich has, quietly to get more of that support. so i think that's an early potential for him in terms of endorsements. >> david gregory here in new york. thanks very much. >> thanks, lester. >> a program note, obama campaign senior adviser dafed axel rod and

and about who could inherit cain st supporters. cain's supporters. >>> the sky is falling. really, it is. it fell the other day through the roof of a warehouse in new england. but what is it? jacqui jeras is here with -- >> wasn't the sky. >> was it blue ice. >> it wasn't blue ice. >> you know what blue ice was. thank goodness it wasn't blue ice. it was mystery metal. a big hunk of metal. it happened in plymouth, massachusetts at furniture warehouse and it weighed 3 1/2 pounds. it blew a hole through the roof and caused a mess throughout much of the warehouse. there's an airport nearby so they thought could it be a piece of the plane, the faa did an investigation and they say no, it is not of a piece of plane. >> space junk. >> they don't know what it is for sure. our local affiliate wbz from boston aired the story and some man from texas says he knows what it is because the same thing happened to him at his funeral home in texas and he said it was a piece of a grinder from a construction site nearby. so authorities in plymouth, massachusetts will try to get together with t

of herman cain. that's really what herman cain needed to do tory to put this all to rest as he ended his campaign and suspended his campaign at least and moved forward with whatever he's going to do in the political arena. how many times has a candidate appeared before the cameras with their spouse to acknowledge everything that had happened and you think, wow, the poor spouse and other times when the candidate has appeared without the spouse and that candidate is really dead. but for herman cain to appear here today with gloria presented a united front and loving couple and saying they've talked with each or and very much in love off 40 years of marriage, that was something that helped put a coat on herman cain to allow him to survive in the future. had she not been there, it probably would have been difficult for him to go ahead and if she had been there sort of as the suffering spouse, that also would not have looked very good for him, but, i think that the way that they portrayed this was about a