continuing to pivot of the current tax code will not lose this economy. 9% corporate business flat tax, 9% personal flat tax and an 9% national sales tax, and it will pass because the american people wanted to pass. >> one thing i would say is when you take the 9-9-9 plan and you turn upside down, i think the devil is in the details. >> unlike his plan which does not pass because how many people here are for a sales tax in new hampshire, brazier hands. that is how many boats you'll get in new hampshire. rick perry's starkist shaking. he needed a strong showing tonight and that romney is the front runner which made him a punching bag tonight is will. hours before this debate, mitt romney won the endorsement of chris christi. he says it makes him the right candidate to lead the republican ticket. gloria you get crossers denied the pending 9-9-9, how did he did? >> okay. you know, he didn't get specific other than saying he really wanted to get rid of the tax code that it was clear that from a bunch of republicans, they believed they would never be able to keep a personal tax rate at 9% and also, a national sales tax is regressive and something they don't like. rick santorum, as you just show, made a good point. and many people in the state of new hampshire will vote for 9% national sales tax? the republican party doesn't like to talk about that, no matter how much from the cane does. >> it is not just the sales tax that is tough to sell, even conservative analysis says the federal government would lose 10 to 20% of its current revenue. how is he so that, that would make the spending cut choices even tougher nbc washington can't get that done as it is. >> unless you accept herman cain's argument that a different tax would produce democrats in the economy, not a bad argument made. but one thing herman cain needed to learn to night and didn't is that these debates are like parking your car on the hill. either you keep moving forward or you slide back in tonight, we may have learned herman cain's pin code for his bank card but we didn't learn anything new about herman cain. >> bronte had a great debate tonight. and newt gingrich. >> hang on. one thing -- hang on, dana, we need to know whether rick perry was ready to play after 2 criticisms, how can he handle criticism on the debate stage. the central issue was the economy. here is rick perry on his jobs plan. >> bronte care has driven the cost of small-business insurance premiums up by 14% over the national average in massachusetts. my question for you would be how would you respond to his criticisms of your signature legislative achievement? >> we at the lowest number of kids as a percentage uninsured in any state in america. you had the highest. i am still speaking. i am still speaking. we have less than 1% of our kids that are uninsured. you have a million kids uninsured in texas. and made his career under president bush, the percentage of uninsured went down. and your leadership, it has gone up. >> we will get to the jaws plan and the man appeared dana lash right there, going at it, did he turn and a stronger performance tonight to turn down the daughter's? >> no, he did not. i was waiting for this question to be asked center. i thought it would appear earlier in the debate and then rick perry asked him and i thought finally someone is going to ask mayor ronnie about this and it has an effect on business in massachusetts. he fizzled out. i don't exactly know what happened. he didn't call it. it wasn't aggressive within the question itself wasn't even framed in an aggressive management. one policy was we didn't raise taxes in massachusetts. we are able to implement this health care system. that is not entirely untrue because of the runoff costs that taxes had to go up after it was implemented. something that perry didn't follow up on and i was waiting for him to show everyone that he and fire in his belly, that he wants to run for president. i didn't see that from an tonight. and now i am beginning to wonder whether or not he is serious about this. >> that is important criticism. what should be perceived met ronnie weakness, that is one thing to put on the table. let's listen as he puts in a jobs plan. >> the present and particularly with the plan i will be lying out of the next three days and i will not let out for you tonight. irani has had six years to work on a commitment. i have been an ad for eight weeks. >> is that enough? this will be pakistani a, b. maybe he has more details been given his sleep in the polls, ask the questions of whether he can handle himself in a debate, is that enough? >> it didn't seem like it here tonight. i think obviously his campaign decided we're going to simplify things for our candidate. give him one idea, and we will let him be quiet the rest of the time and get through the debate that way. the last debate, the excuse was made he was standing up the whole debate and the entire. this should have been his because he was sitting down. the next time you get a mattress because there was no energy, no fire and it was way too simple. >> you know, instead of seeming like an aggressor, perry almost seems like a bystander and he really could not afford to do that. he just put out a brutal web at against mayor ronnie which attacked him on being a flip flops and on his massachusetts health care and then tonight, instead of building on that aggressively, he seemed to be more passive or a lot more passive than i thought he needed to be. >> if that is the case- >> wanted to raise a quick point. >> i want to add to that. to gloria's point, that is exactly how, sorry about that. to her point, that is how rick perry as 1 campaign is. he has never won because he is articulate or because he is the brightest and select. key always wins campaigns because he sticks a fork in the eyeball of his opponent and he has enough money in the bank and then-super and out there, i would expect to see some very tough ads from it. precession and the boston and i whoa media markets. >> dana, if herman cain didn't defend his plan, if rick perry was a no show, does that mean by default met ronnie 1 tonight or did someone else deal today? >> not necessarily. one of the things i was going to say was during the debate, the camp was sending out e-mails the things he should have been sitting in this debate on t.a.r.p. i thought that was odd and they did that pretty consistently. something they should be talking about in the debate. a great opportunity to distinguish themselves from these other candidates. their butts defending t.a.r.p. shocking. i don't think that ronnie wins by default. while he is a good debater and be as great rhetorical skills, his answers if you judge them by conservatism londell pass the smell test. because of semantics and he is an artful did there, he comes out on top. it being ratio is as well because he just choose everybody up and spits everybody out and is able to refine any debate that he is in. bronte comes out on top banking bridge comes out topic came did well but perry did not. >> let me close with this. cnn has a debate one week from tonight. if rick perry is 0 for 3, that is do or die. >> that is important. republicans need to believe that they're going to nominate somebody, this person can stand next to barack obama on the stage and go at him and do well at it. and if he cannot do that in a debate, with his republican contenders with the other republicans, he will have a hard time against barack obama. that is what people are looking for and he has not shown it yet. >> gloria, dana, alex, appreciate your insights. the cnn debate one week from tonight. just ahead, more breaking news. new details on the terror plot uncovered here on u.s. soil as with ties to, get this, iran. a murder for hire scheme to kill saudi arabia's ambassador to the united states. also for the first time, jurors hear dr. conrad murray's full story of what he says happened the day michael jackson died. [ male announcer ] theraflu, mucinex, lysol disinfectant spray and...a toy drum. hiya folks, so the other day i tried to buy some camouflage pants but i couldn't find any. [ rimshot ] thank you, thank you i'll be here all week. in fact, i'll be here for the next 18 years. [ rimshot ] is this really necessary? come on ma, laughter is the best medicine! i'm just glad i stocked up on the real stuff. tough crowd. [ male announcer ] get low prices every day on everything to prepare for cold and flu season. we're so confident in our low prices, we back 'em with our ad match guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. we back 'em with our ad match guarantee. for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. we are now printing on the back sides of used paper and we switched to fedex cause a lot of their packaging contains recycled materials. tell them what else fedex does. well we're now using more electric trucks and lower emission planes. we even offer a reusable envelope. now, can't we at least print on the back sides of used paper? what's the executive compensation list...? [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. ♪ a couple years of up all night ♪ ♪ and a few thousand diapers later ♪ ♪ oh, yeah ♪ he loves that little girl [ male announcer ] all her life, she's been coming toward you. now that she's driving, she's going the other way. ♪ there goes my life [ male announcer ] thanks to state farm's steer clear program, teens learn safer driving and parents gain peace of mind. breaking news, new details obtained by 360 on the alleged terror plot uncovered on u.s. soil with ties to iran. the fbi and dea uncovered a murder for hire scheme to kill saudi arabia's ambassador to the united states, manssor arbabsiar is his name. according to court documents the suspects talked about killing him with explosives, possibly at a crowded restaurant in washington. a naturalize u.s. citizen appeared in court today. in a moment details on how they caught him, how long he has been held and who was tracking him and another member is of the revolutionary guard. iran is blasting the united states saying it has no ties to this suspected plot. the spokesman for mahmoud ahmadinejad said "i think the u.s. government is busy fabricating a new scenario and history has shown the u.s. government and the cia have a lot of experience in fabricating scenarios and this is the latest one. i think their goal to to reach the american public they want to take the public's mind off of the serious domestic problems they are facing these days and scare them with fabricated problems outside of the country. robert mueller said there was no fabrication. he said elements of the iranian government were ready to spend $1.5 million to hire what they believed was a drug cartel hit squad for mexico. >> this case illustrates that we live in a world where borders and boundaries are increasingly irrelevant. a world where individuals from country sought to conspire with a drug trafficking cartel in another country to assassinate a foreign official on united states soil. it reads like the pages of a hollywood script, the impact would have been very real, and many lives would have been lost. >> this new fallout just this hour, congressman king, the chairman of the house homeland security commit see says iran with was planning an act of war on u.s. soil and chairman king says everybody should be left on the table, everything. as for the saudi response, they released this statement, the royal embassy of saudi arabia would like to express its appreciation to the responsibility agencies of the united states government for preventing a criminal act from taking place. the attempted plot is a despicable violation of international norms, standards and conventions and is not in accord with principles of humanity. joining me with new insight on the alleged plot is former homeland security adviser to george w. bush fran townsend and fbi supervisor agent. with us tonight, cnn contributor, tom fuentes and bob baer. what are your sources telling you. >> he said it is like a hollywood plot and as we got additional details it is not only that but an incredible example of the sophistication and success of the fbi and law enforcement agents here. we know manssor arbabsiar flew in to mexico and was denied entry. it turns out we learned from senior counterterrorism officials he was denied by design. you would think he then flew to new york. you may ask yourself why didn't he fly to texas? that's where he and his family were living. because federal officials in the united states understood that under texas law he may not have been able to be held to do an intelligence interview. he was flown to new york. unbeknownst to the defendant, on the flight were federal agents. they took him in to custody and to a secret facility where he was held from september 29th until today. that's 12 days, john. each of those days he was interviewed by federal agents. each of those days before the interviews began he was given miranda warnings and told he was entitled to be presented on charges before a federal magistrate and each of those days he, in writing, signed a waiver. the reason he was presented today, the defendant was tired of talking to federal agents. during those 12 days they not only got a confession from him and we see that in the complaint but also dozens of intelligence reports and leads. those reports are being gone through across the agencies trying to find additional links. the interesting thing, john we know there are direct links to the irgc, the revolutionary guard. senior counterterrorism official tells me they have not yet found a direct link to the supreme leader or to president mahmoud ahmadinejad but that's what they are going through these reports looking for now. >> let's go through the process. ali i want to come to you first because you are familiar with the interrogation tactics. what does that tell you, 12 days of talking and i'm done. the feds decide to go to court. what does that tell you about the suspect and the process? it tells me the individual has been cooperating and that the government was probably taking advantage of his cooperation, getting as many intelligence as they can get. this is a very sensitive case. it has regional and national implications and the government needed to dot every "i" and cross every "t." i believe the fbi agents needed everything they could get from him and eventually after his cooperation ended or maybe it ended from our side, he was presented and appeared in to court. because the subject, the defendant, has a right to ask for an attorney and has a right to appear in court anytime he wants. just the fact he stayed more than 12 days, being interrogated by the fbi, that indicates to me that there was a level of cooperation going on. >> so, tom, fuentes, if you read this complaint and now we understand what happened in prison, it does read like a hollywood novel. if i you presented this in hollywood they would probably throw you out. but the key adviser to king abdullah. what is the goal. why would iran want to do this and why here? >> well, i think one thing that iran has an advantage is when they make the rest of the world mad at them and either create a situation where the united nations starts hearing evidence against them, or other statements are made, then that unifies them politically and internally. someone like mahmoud ahmadinejad can gain national power internally if it is iran against the world and that could be one reason to have an attack like this. >> iran against the world. bob, how unusual is it for foreign government? if this is we believe this. the republican guard of iran outsourcing an assassination to a criminal drug enterprise, a drug cartel? >> it uses proxies to to make attacks. it could go on and on but they always use reliable proxies. i've never seen them go to drug cartels, sit down in a meeting like this, send money through new york. it is sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. this is not characteristic of the force at all. it makes me wonder if there isn't somebody is losing it in teheran. it is a terribly risky operation and has been said by the department of justice it is an act of war. how can we not respond this? what i can't figure out is why they left so many clues, fell in to the trap. it is not their modus operandi. >> thank you for your help tonight. let us know what you think. we are on facebook or follow me on twit wither. herman cain's controversial comments on race and racism in america. and one week after republican new jersey governor chris christie said he won't run for president he announces which gop candidate he thinks should get the job. >> john, for the first time we hear dr. conrad murray's full story. what he says happened the day michael jackson died. more audiotapes of his police interview were played in court today. you will hear murray talk about how the singer's children reacted to the news their father was dead. [ woman on radio, indistinct ] ♪ bum-bum ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum ♪ - ♪ ai, ai, ai - ♪ bum-bum - ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum - ♪ [ ice rattles rhythmically ] ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum ♪ ♪ [ imitates guitar noise ] ♪ [ vocalizing up-tempo heavy metal song ] ♪ [ vocalizing continues ] ♪ [ all singing ] from honda. [ cow moos ]ng ] agents, name these critters. these are the sweet little animals that run into the road and cause car crashes. deer alone cause billions in damage. so, what do we do? we talk to our customers, make sure they understand their options in case these guys ever cross their path. [ slapping noise ] - boat insurance? - second door, down on your left. thanks, man. [ elk snorts ] [ announcer ] we are insurance. [ chorus ] ♪ we are farmers bum-ba-dum, ba-bum-bum-bum ♪ gop presidential hopeful herman cain under fire for his comments on racism in america. cain said today that many liberal democrats in the black community are, quote, racist, for questioning his political ambitions as a black conservative republican. his remarks came in an interview on a radio show. and there's more. over the weekend, the former executive of godfathers pizza, pillsbury and pizza den say that african americans who remain economically disadvantaged have only themselves to blame. watch. >> they weren't held back because of racism, no. people sometimes hold themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve. >> that comment, along with some others he made recently, outraged a number of african-american leaders who argue cain is out of touch with reality. among his critics professor cornell wells who said the republican candidate needs to get off his, quote, symbolic crackpipe and harry belafonte who called cain a bad apple who didn't represent the african-american community. last night, cain fired back at his critics on fox news hannity. >> people like harry belafonte, professor west and others who attack me they don't want black people to think for themselves. this is why they are so upset with herman cain, who's now moving up in to the top tier for the republican presidential nomination and that people are listening to me. they don't want me to wake people up and get them to read the fine print and think for themselves. >> cain also had this message on fox news for those speaking out against him. >> i left the democrat plantation a long time ago, and all they try to do when someone like me -- and i'm not the only black