herman cain can make a difference. iowa does not dictate to the rest of the country. if you check his poll numbers in south carolina, they were still up. so, i still think that this man with his swagger, as you say, jehmu, might make a givens in endorsing a republican hopeful. >> don't go anywhere, we might be coming back to you. thank you for your insights, kelly. >> kelly: and the dialog between those two. john roberts is live at the event now where he's been there following everything that's been going on with herman cain 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 vot

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

i support herman cain because i trust him. now listen, in the last few weeks, there's been an awful lot of talking. and primarily by people that haven't even met herman cain. i'm here today because i know herman cain. i know herman cain is a man, more importantly i know him as a friend. and i can't think of a more stronger way to demonstrate my unwavering trust and confidence in herman cain than my willingness to entrust the lives of my two children who both serve our nation in uniform, tone trust their welfare to his decisions. [ applause ] i would ask that you give a very warm welcome to my good friend, mr. herman cain. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> thank you. ♪ >> thank you, my friends. you all are great! thank you, thank you, thank you. i love y'all too! >> gloria! gloria! gloria! >> well, let me first say, as usual, the cain supporters are not warm weather supporters. and i can't thank all of you enough for what you've done, how far we have come, and the things that we have done. the things that we have been able to achiev

we're awaiting herman cain. the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. >>> like anything in politics, can be deceiving. we're assuming herman cain is on that bus, just pulled up. the crowd has been waiting a couple of hours at least to see herman cain, who i believe now is coming down with mrs. cain. >> hand in hand. >> says a lot. we've talked very much about these politician's wives and how they react to various reports unproven and certainly disputed by herman cain that he had a longtime affair. so we -- honestly, none of us sitting here can tell you what's going to happen, which makes this a very, very interesting story. >> you see that picture just coming off the bus, the first thing that comes to my mind is what they said last week, which was that this reassessmen

and look at herman cain. i said when i first spoke on his behalf at his press conference that was a good and decent man. a successful businessman. he has ideas about how to fix the country. and now the media wants to take the focus off of those ideas and they want to go into the he said, she said. i think the naive person here is the media and its failure to focus on the right issues. >> okay. let's hold it there. have a short break. we'll come back and explore your belief that it's the media's fault. >> sure. ♪ [ male announcer ] a simple gesture can spark romance anytime. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment's right, even if it's not every day. [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you

and look at herman cain. i said when i first spoke on his behalf at his press conference that was a good and decent man. a successful businessman. he has ideas about how to fix the country. and now the media wants to take the focus off of those ideas and they want to go into the he said, she said. i think the naive person here is the media and its failure to focus on the right issues. >> okay. let's hold it there. have a short break. we'll come back and explore your belief that it's the media's fault. >> sure. >>> what this says is, is that somebody is awfully afraid that i'm doing too well in this republican nomination to continue to dig up these stories to try and put a cloud and a damper on my campaign. >> that was of course, herman cain advancing a conspiracy theory with wolf blitzer. cain's attorney, lin wood is with me exclusively. >> we're not going to call each other any names this time. >> it's a spirited debate. >> it's okay. i'm teasing you. >> the one thing, let me clarify one thing that we have i

i'm not sure herman cain and the herman cain campaign are in that close of quarters. i don't know how else to explain the incredibly fumbled messaging. one minute he's in it to win it. then he's reassessing. >> we are going to find out tomorrow. thank you howard fineman. the latest from newt gingrich. poor kids have poor work habits. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. nyquil: you know i relieve coughs, sneezing, fevers? tylenol: me, too. and nasal congestion. nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. >>> welcome back to "hardball." the new front-runner in the polls, newt gingrich has interesting positions on child labor laws. he calls them stupid and suggested students can replace janitors in schools. he said poor kids have no work habits because no one around them works. we're going to get to that in a moment. gingrich is leading in the polls. does that mean he's the nominee? he thinks so. it's what he said to abc

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

ç >> i'd like you to listen to herman cain today. i think we have this snd of him today discussing the question of exactly how much money he gave you over the years. >> how much money did you give her? >> well, i -- because of my attorney and because of some inc. thises that we are looking at, i can't talk about that at this particular point. >> i can tell you, ginger white, that that is not a common answer in interviews with presidential candidates. i can't answer because of my lawyer tells me not to. can you remember or tell us what you think the total amounts of money or any given year, how much money he would end up giving you to help you get by? >> honestly, i'd rather not say. i don't have an exact amount. so i -- you know, i'm just not sure exactly. >> did he give you that money in cash? >> yes, he did. >> always in cash? >> always in cash. >> and he said that he has given -- he has helped other people this {way. did he ever discuss with you helping other people in a similar way? >> he never -- in a similar way would be sleepi

and look at herman cain. i said when i first spoke on his behalf at his press conference that was a good and decent man. a successful businessman. he has ideas about how to fix the country. and now the media wants to take the focus off of those ideas and they want to go into the he said, she said. i think the naive person here is the media and its failure to focus on the right issues. >> okay. let's hold it there. have a short break. we'll come back and explore your belief that it's the media's fault. >> sure. for some, it's a lifelong passion. for others, it's something discovered yesterday. we all have things that speak to us. they drive us to get up early, and stay up late. getting lost in the things we love has never felt quite like this. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner

that's the question surrounding herman cain. he is expected to make an announcement very soon about whether or not he plan to stay in the presidential race. spring of sexual harassment allegations and extra marit an affair has some expecting him to drop out. john roberts is standing by in cain's headquarters. any indication of whether or not cain plan to stand in or out? >> your guess is good as mine. there are arguments for and against. we are here in the opening of the new headquarters and there is an atmosphere of celebration here. a lot of supporters came out and signing them up for volunteer work and they are even serving barbecue. i can say in my entire political experience we would see first time one would end while they are serving barbecue. whether he stays in the race will depend on gloria. the allegation of an affair was charged by ginger white. it has taken a toil on his family life. we talked to the georgia press secretary and that's what he told me. >> i think these allegations and everything happened is always tou

herman cain. the bad publicity has wrecked his presidential chances. >> now clear herman cain will not secure the republican nomination for president. >> i agree you looks like herman cain is through. >> the media believe that they have accomplished their mission to kill the cain campaign. and i don't know, they may be right. all they have to do is create enough doubt about the candidate in the minds of his donors and then the money stops and that's it. that's all they have to do. campaign will die. >> joining me now, washington correspondent for "time" magazine, jay newton small, who was in new hampshire where cain gave the speech tonight. also, "washington post" editorial writer and msnbc contribute per, jonathan capehart. jay, you were there with cain in new hampshire tonight, making very different sthoupsd time around as he was confronted with accusations. that last part when he was asked to describe what he wanted us to know about gloria white and about his relationship with gloria white, he

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

i think herman cain is getting started. he'll use this as a jumping off pointed just like sarah palin did. i think this is good. he has plenty to do. he has respect for his family and wife and put her first. >> i find it interesting you said you think it was a good thing that he had his wife standing beside him because we see that so many times over and over. i did wonder if that would happen today. >> she was standing by his side, pumping her arms. like in contrast with press conferences with spouses, that is not the role they play. i think that worked well for him. i also think, he looked at this as a celebration. he said, i now have 99% name recognition. i think herman cain got everything he wanted out of this process. he is now on to the whatever television opportunities, bigger book sales. he is happy. >> heather: i have to ask the question, out% more name recognition which will carry over into this book that he is trying to sell. >> which is part of the message today what he was delivering to his supporters there. i'm

if they're saying, you know what, herman cain, you know, what have we learned about herman cain? we learned that four women were in his life. three women thought that his advances were sexual harassment. one did not. so that's what -- one in four women who herman cain hits on doesn't think he's harassing her. that's what we learned about him. bye-bye. >> how about newt gingrich, mike? i mean, he's a front-runner here. why would he lower himself to be on the stage with someone who is not a serious journalist? >> newt is the perfect candidate. i call him the composite candidate. the tea party composite candidate. he's a little bit of flip-flop schizophrenia that we see in mitt romney. me has the sex scandal madness we saw in herman cain and the tinfoil hat delusional aspect in him when he talks that we saw with michele bachmann. he has the bug house stupidity we saw with rick perry, every time the newt gets pinned down on real substance. he is the perfect candidate. that's the why this is all lining up. that's why, you know, that's why -- it's anybody's game right now because we re

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

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

week revealed her 13-year relationship with herman cain. she is joined by her lawyer, edward buckley. thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us. >> ginger white, herman cain has said tonight that he believes you were offered a very large amount of money to come out and tell this story. is that why you're telling this story? >> absolutely not. no one has offered me anything. so that is false. >> he knows you well. what does it feel like for you to see him talking about you that way? >> it's very hurtful. very hurtful. >> now, he has acknowledged that he has known you for 13 years. he calls it a 13-year friendship. and so the difference that's being argued over right now is what was the nature of that friendship, and you're saying it involved a romantic affair that was on and off over those 13 years. when you hear herman cain in every interview he's given, he gave one on fox news, essentially calling you a liar, how does that make you feel? >> well, it doesn't make meç fl very good. however, a

>> unless you're herman cain. one of the things that herman cain hat prided himself on is that he is not running a template campaign. he is not running a campaign the likes of which we have ever seen. i would say he has succeeded in that. i thought yesterday when he said, tomorrow i'm going to open my headquarters and then i'm going to talk about my decision on whether or not to even have a campaign was almost a classic herman cain line. i think we don't know what to expect when it comes to him. i think there is -- and there are two tracts here. there's a very personal decision, you know, does he say, listen, the price of my wife, the price to my family is too high, i'm out. or is this a political decision? listen, my numbers are in the tank and with it my donations and, therefore, i can't afford to go on? so there are two different decisions here. either one of which could make his him decide to get out. on the other hand, there have been plenty of times, particularly when the sexual harassment charges came out t

what is his reaction to the announcement from herman cain? >> we haven't gotten the official word from his campaign since herman cain made his announcement. earlier in the morning, we asked him to weigh in what it would mean if he left the race, stayed in the race and what specifically it meant for romney and his run for the white house. >> he made the point he didn't focus on what he was doing step by step, but where he's going in his campaign. he did wish herman cain luck should there be the case and he's facing serious allegations. he kind of was hands off when it was what herman cain did or did not do and we're waiting. >> patti ann: and i understand that he took on president obama and the attorney general herri eric holder? >> yes, he ripped into president obama because he's scheduled to vacation, mitt romney says it's not time for a 17 day vacation over the christmas holiday when america is it in a difficult position and should be focused on work. and when it comes to attorney general eric holder, romney believes he husband resign or th

and herman cain's words. he regarded her as a friend. you know, he said he questioned that friendship now that she's come out with these allegations, but, you know, from both of them, it says they had some sort of very close friendship and i got to tell you that my husband just doesn't have friends who are women that i don't know. >> what happens in las vegas is supposed to stay in vegas. they say that what happens in vegas is supposed to stay in vegas. >> a lot of husbands went to las vegas for that fight and in atlanta we called it the atlanta way. the wives did not take that trip. i will tell you now. >> joe, herman cain says the american people are on his side. listen to this. >> the first day that that story broke, contribution dropped way off. guess what, they're moving back up, because i happen to think a lot of the american people are starting to see through this whole character assassination on me. >> character assassination is what he calls it? doesn't he have some friends that would step up and say, buddy, you know, you're rea

the liberals do not want herman cain to get this nomination. but i happen to believe that the american people have a different idea. >> reporter: after the speech, the man behind the 9-9-9 tax plan sounded 50/50 on whether he will remain a candidate. >> mr. cain, jim acosta with cnn. are you vowing to stay in this race? is that your message? >> we are assessing, re-evaluating. >> reporter: are you staying in the race? >> we re-evaluating and reassessing. >> reporter: how soon will have a final answer on your future plans? >> we'll be making a decision in the next several days. >> reporter: supporters at the event were still lining up for yard signs long after the candidate was gone. diane phillips questioned whether the allegations dogging the campaign are true. >> what is a woman in his background compared to all the socialists and communists and whatever that in obama's background? they elected him, so i don't worry about that woman as much as i do the theology and the ideology of the man. i want him in there. >> reporter: either way, karla k

for more on herman cain's campaign issue we we head out to wyatt seine knack. wyatt, how badly is this going to damage his credibility? >> this is bad, seriously. do you know how often married men give money to single women they've been acquainted with for 13 years but haven't had sex with? never. (laughter) go ahead, try it. the check won't even clear. banks aren't set up for that. the a.t.m. says "what's wrong with you man? transaction denied, go home, come back when you get a kiss, dummy." (laughter). >> jon: first sexual harassment claims, now this. he's got to be thinking "what's next?" >> i can tell you what's next. this was the scene at the local atlanta fox affiliate that broke the story. (screaming) >> he touched my boob! >> he touched my breast! >> i road the cain train! >> they're calling it black walnut friday. (laughter). >> jon: thank you so much, wyatt, the scandal has taken its toll on the cain campaign. reports are emerging he might be consider withdrawing from the race which i strongly discourage him from doing. i already lost trump. i can't l

campaign, now former republican presidential hopeful herman cain. he's spending his campaign. he spoke in atlanta a short time ago. he blasted what he called false accusations about his personal life. he's battling serious image problems. this after a woman said she had a 13-year extramarital affair with cain. he's also been dogged after weeks of allegations of sexual misconduct. cain made the announcement several moments ago. >> becoming president was plan a. before you get discouraged, today i want to describe plan b. so as of today, with a lot of prayer and soul searching, i am suspending my presidential campaign. >> the decision means cain can still raise funds to retire any debt his campaign may have. in other political news now, mitt romney supporters in new hampshire call today super saturday. it's a day of making calls, knocking on doors. the candidate himself had a rally this morning with former candidate, now supporter tim pawlenty, ev with newt gingrich surging in the recent polls, romney today kept his focus on criticizing president obam

we're talking about herman cain. he's expected to open his atlanta headquarters today, the same day he is making some big announcement. some speculating that he could drop out of the race. just had his first face-to-face meeting last night with his wife since the allegation came out last week about a 13 the-year affair. is there any way you have a grand opening and a grand closing of a campaign headquarters in the same day? that's not going to happen, is it? >> not the same day, i don't think. it goes back to what we were talking about before, saving face, trying to leave the campaign with grace. we oftentimes focus on these candidates and what they've done and how they've screwed stuff up. but we don't look at the people behind the candidates, the people that have given time and money and confidence and hope. how do you transition out now that you've let those people down? that should go into the process, as well. which is why there should be a delay for opening and closing. >> that's offensive. you can't get all th

so i don't think anybody really knows what herman cain is going to do except for herman cain and his wife, gloria. we know that that's where this turns, that this week herman cain said that he did not tell his wife about his friendship with ginger white, the atlanta businesswoman who accused him of a 13-year extra marital affair. he had to go home and talk to his wife face to face for the first time in weeks, alex. >> do we know anything about that meeting? >> so far the campaign has been pretty quiet on what exactly has happened. even the press secretary, the georgia press secretary who peter has been talking to, hasn't said he's heard anything even from cain. so even people close to him on this campaign don't know. >> okay. we do know that cain has lost nearly 2/3 of his supporters there in the state of iowa. he's got about 8% support there right now come pained to 23% just a month ago. 32 days left to go until the caucuses. is there anything he could do where he could stay in the race after today and salvage the state of iowa? >> if he stays in this race, he's going to have to fig

herman cain -- what is herman cain doing? you know what? just look at what we've got in studio today. look at this. dear friends of our show for years now. this is the first time we've been able to actually get them to atlanta next to each other. republican mcallister and of course candidate strategist car doan. you all picked a he heck of a weekend to be here. we'll see them throughout the morning. i'm going to start with herman cain. is there any way in the world you can open a campaign headquarters and close it on the same day? is there any way he's really getting out? >> i say yes. >> today. >> i don't know if it's going be today, but think this is the beginning of the sunset. you can't open it up and close it within a week because how do you overcome this? i really felt that herman cain's goal was going to be number two. if you look at the early debates, you could see mitt romney was giving the olive branch to herman cain. how is he going to have the muster or direct them intentionally? i don't see it. >> here's the thing. herman cain

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