>> reporter: mr. cain, mr. cain, jim acosta with cnn. are you vowing to stay in the race? >> we are reassessing and re-evaluating. >> reporter: are you staying in the race. >> we're re-evaluating and reassessing. >> reporter: how soon will you have a -- >> in the next several days. >> cain appeared on fox news. we should point out he routinely refuses to come on this program. somehow de he did find time to down with fox's neil cavuto. >> on ginger white, why would she say -- she's known you 13 years, and you say nonam more russ relationship, why would she say, out of the blue, he's not fit to be president? >> neil, i have no idea unless the people who i believe are putting her up to this maybe that was one of the lines that she was supposed to use. i have no idea. >> herman cain saying he believes ginger white was put up to it. when asked who put her up to it, take a look. >> we have no idea who it is, but i just happen to know that the reason that i was trying to help her as a friend financially because she was in some deep financial problems about to not even be able to pay her rent. so i don't know who's behind it, but at this point, but we are going to try to figure out as much as we can because this is a direct character assassination. >> so he can't say who's pressuring ginger white to bad-mouth him if in fact that's what she's doing but he has a theory of the string of allegations against him. >> you're the only one that seems to gather or collect, again, accurate or no, these type of charges, whether it's harassment, wlihether it's womanizing, inappropriate relationships. it might not be anything, like you say, but they tend to pile up around you, why is that? >> well, neil, here again i don't have an answer as to why that is the case. but i can only conjecture that maybe i am the democrats' worst nightmare if i win the nomination, and as long as i was still low in the polls relative to the republican nomination, this stuff didn't come out. it was only after i got in the top tier and lo and behold there it came. >> herman cain, tonight. again we invited him on this program, invitation remains open. he's always welcome. his accuser, meantime, also yet to present evidence to back up her claims of a 13-year affair, and not just a longstanding platonic relationship as herman cain is claiming. today on good morning america she said she didn't save notes or receipts during the alleged affair because she never planned to go public. white did describe a trip they took together. >> it was a very casual affair that herman flew me to -- on several trips. i went on self-trips with herman. we did one particular trip was the mike tyson/holyfield fight in las vegas, you know? i can't make this stuff up. >> well that remains to be seen because, as we mentioned, she's offered no hard evidence to support that or her other claims. the only verifiable fact is how deeply troubled the cain campaign seem to be. joining me now is ari fleischer, democratic strategist, cornell belcher. ari is the cain campaign to the point where it could do some damage to your party? >> oh, no. to the party? did bill clinton's affairs to damage to the democrat party? these things become individual damage. but the broader point here, anderson, and i say this as somebody who has been a fan of herman cain and who liked him by the same time i've been saying for months herman cain is not ready for the oval office. that's the more fundamental issue. none of us know what the truth of the he said, she said that is piling up is. herman cain on policy is not prepared to be the president of the united states. i've been saying that for months. so many ways this doesn't matter except where will the cain votes go if he does drop out. that matters a lot. >> cornell, do you believe he's doing damage to the other republicans in the race? >> i mean, i'll say a couple of things. one is, the whole idea that nothing was going on, it seems to be -- it's a stretch. every guy in america knows if you're texting and calling a woman at 4:00 in the morning, that's not about finances, that's a booty call. so, he's not passing the credibility -- >> stop using tough political terms. >> the other thing is, you know, push back on my friend ari a little bit here. what the bill clinton monica lewinsky scandal did a lot of damage to the democratic brand. i don't give michael steele a lot of credit for anything but michael steele is right on this one. all of the attention on herman cain is taking away from what the republicans want to be talking and and who the top two candidates because right now on anderson cooper's show at top of the hour we're talking about herman cain and that cannot help the republican party. >> does it hurt one candidate more or does it help any of the republican candidates, cornell, do you think? >> i do think in -- look, i think -- in an interesting way, maybe irony's not the word for this, but newt gingrich is benefitting from a man having an affair here. absolutely. because look, even at 17%, 16% support, which herman cain dropped down to, he's got a base of the anti-mitt romney supporters and if newt gingrich can support of begin to consolidate the anti-mitt romney base of voters out there it becomes a real problem. that's why you see mitt beginning to sort of pivot and turn his attacks frontally on newt gingrich in a way that he did not attack perry or bachmann or cain early on when they rose in the polls. >> do you agree with that? that cnn poll did seem to indicate that newt gingrich benefits the most from cain supporter. >> well, that's right, anderson. that's frankly to me the only issue that matters now. and if herman cain stays in the race, that's good news for mitt romney. mitt romney, if he's going to do well in iowa, he needs a multiple field that divides so he can conquer it. the fewer opponents mitt romney has in iowa, the harder it will be for him to have any kind of plurality of a decent size showing that gives him a boost coming out of eyee. he needs herman cain to stay in the race. if herman cain were to drop out the fewer opponents for mitt romney, that's the real play here, that's what's at stake politically, speaking. >> cornell, how significant is it that romney's come out in the past day or so slamming gingrich? >> i think, you know, as a pollster, i can smell another pollster's work. look, clearly they've done some research and says that newt is a threat to them in a way that's going to be real to them in a way na perry wasn't. and now they're sort of beginning to contrast with him. i've got a feeling that they're not going to end with that. and in the campaign you start throwing out contrast and working with contrast you think is going work until you get the one that works. i've got a feeling on the communication side they'll start with the insider/out sider contrast. when it comes down to pay communication, when they're paying for communication, when paying for ads and paying for under the radar stuff like mail and robocalls, they're going to hit newt gingrich on character and draw a strong character contrast between mitt romney with the picture of his family, faithful family man, versus newt gingrich, and what those conservative voters that ari knows be better than i do, that could be a stronger contrast. >> the stronger play for mitt romney is electability issue. they're willing to accept flaws and candidates in many ways mitt romney is everybody's plan b. nobody really likes him, not enough people really like him to excite the republican party. but what excites us is the prospect of defeating barack obama. to the degree that romney is stronger positioned to do that than gingrich, that's going to play a big role in the minds of a lot of republicans as they go to vote. >> ari, do you think he's in a stronger position to beat obama? >> well he is today. he is now and he has been for months. newt's task is to pick up his numbers so people who say i prefer newt to romney but i don't think newt can win. newt's got to start demonstrating he can beat barack obama in head-to-head, especially battle ground states. right now mitt romney has a five to ten-point edge over newt gingrich in electability over obama in many battle ground states. big task for newt to address the shortfall. >> thanks very much. let us flow what you think. we're on facebook, follow us on google plus, twitter. barack obama accused of mixing the business of governor earning and campaigning. we'll ask the president's spokesman how he accounts for the travel and why it's business as usual for years. "keeping them honest" tonight. the penn state sex abuse scandal, the first lawsuit now has been filed against jerry sandusky and penn state. the plaintiff is a new accuser, not mention in the grand jury report. details, ahead. how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. i've tried it. but nothing's helped me beat my back pain. then i tried this. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas. keeping them honest now. president obama getting heat for racking frequent flyer mile on air force one. that's the accusation. in a moment, receipt buttal from jay carney. president obama's in new york tonight for a string of campaign fund-raisers off-limits to the general public. before air force one touched down tonight, it took off from wilkes-barre scranton international airport in eastern pennsylvania where mr. obama spoke about the economy and his jobs plan at a local high school. he talked about policy, his jobs plan. but critics say both legs of the trip, new york and scranton, are more about politics than policy. president, they say, has checks out of the white house and stepped on to the campaign trail. here's house speaker boehner who began leveling those charges last month. >> nothing has disappointed me more than what's happened over the last five weeks. to watch the president of the united states give up on governing, give up on leading, and spend full time campaigning. >> debatable, but it's whether a trip to push for a jobs plan adds up to a campaign stop, that's the question if it takes place in pennsylvania. what's not debatable is this. president obama has been spending a lot of time on road in states that are crucial in his re-election. >> hello, iowa. hello, cincinnati. it is good to be in orlando. it is great to be back in pittsburgh. it is great to be back in the motor city. it is good to be back in asheville, north carolina. it is great to be here in north carolina. it is great to be in virginia. great to be in the philly area. hello, new hampshire. it is good to be back in scranton. >> that's just a sample. according to the "wall street journal," mrobama's made 56 viss to battleground states this year, breaking bush's record of 49 events in 2003 and clinton's 40 in 1995. both sides of course do it. went they're traveling, you're paying. it's up to the white house to decide which events are campaign stops which weren't. according to a report, prepared for democrats on the house committee on government reform, taxpayers foot most of the bill in either case. the report covered presidential and vice presidential travel leading up to the 2002 midterm elections. the findings, 6.5 million in flight expenses, of which political campaigns only reimbursed $198,000. that's 3%. the report went tonight say flight expenses are just a fraction of what it costs and what you pay to put a president on the road. so the bottom line, quote, the president and vice president can legally participate in campaign and fund-raising events for candidates. but when they do so, the taxpayer bears most of the cost. that was a democratic report complaining of republican trips. today the tables are turned but in many cases you're picking up the tab. the white house is pushing back hard on this one. >> joining me now, white house spokesman jay carney. no one is saying the president of the united states shouldn't go out and speak to the american people. is it coincidence so many travels take him to the states that are in play for the presidency? >> anderson, i would simply point out that so many of the states that the president travels to are considered in play next year because we live in a country that's closely divided politically, and this president, when he ran for office the first time in 2008, put a lot of states that had previously not been considered to be in play, like virginia and north carolina, indiana, and others, into play and won them. so, what i've said from this podium in the past is that if this president were unable to travel to states considered in play politically, as president of the united states on official business, he would have to rule out travel to a great portion of the country and we're not going to do that. every president, republican or democrat, ought to be able to travel around the country to states that are considered blue, red, and purple, to talk about his agenda or her agenda, and that's what this president's doing. >> you can't deny politics does play a role somewhere in the decision of where to go for the president, i mean, in terms of campaigning and decision -- >> i think you have to define politics. depends what you mean by politics. the president made a speech today that's about politics in the sense that when he spoke at the high school in scranton, pennsylvania, he called on congress to do the right thing and pass a payroll tax cut, extension and expansion, for 160 million working americans. now, that's a political thing because we -- this is a political process here. we have both parties in congress, republicans have a point of view about the payroll tax cut, the president has a point of view, and he's urging congress to ability. this stems from a "wall street journal" article that -- that misleadingly asserted that president obama has travels more to so-called battleground states than his two predecessors but it included in that total travel to virginia for president obama but not for president george w. bush where every president -- >> more states are at play this time you're saying? >> more states at play. because every president travels to virginia, it's ten minutes from the oval office. >> there are a lot of republicans -- >> i'm saying that president obama could be ahead by 20 points in virginia and he would still go to virginia because it's nearby him and presidents want to get out of washington. virginia's the closest place they can go, and maryland, of course. >> the criticism, being given by republicans now is the president's spending too much time on the road campaigning. tonight he's at three top dollar fund-raisers here in new york, after spending the day in pennsylvania which as you said promoting an extension of the payroll tax cut. is the trip to new york being paid for with public funds or is that -- >> everything -- when we -- when this president travels for political events like the campaign events he has in new york, those are paid for appropriately out of dnc or campaign funds. i mean, this -- but the trip he made to januarystscranton, penn prior to new york was an official event. the president has a responsibility to travel around the country to advance his agenda, and is he campaigning? yes, he's campaigning for the american jobs act, to pass a jobs ability job s act to benefit 160 million americans. >> when a trip is for campaign purposes the federal government's only reimbursed for how much a typical commercial airline ticket would cost. it's estimated for the cost of an hour of air force one is $58,000 so the public ends up paying a lot of the bill of trips that are considered political. >> anderson, i'm not sure where you're going with this. i mean, by comparison to any other president, this president operates absolutely by the book and according to the rules. he is president 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, when he travels he has to travel with the complement of advisorers, including an national security matters and others that always have to be with him, whether political travel or official travel, and that is part of the reality of being president. but you can be sure that we do this absolutely by the book. >> do those republicans saying that the president's spending too much time in campaign mode you say? >> again, never -- if you take out virginia, which is across the river and every president travels to in abundance, his immediate predecessor traveled more frequently to so-called battleground states than president obama, and i don't remember republicans complaining about that. >> jay carney, appreciate your time. if you have money in the stock market, chances are you might have made some money today, the dow soared 500 points. is the gain bad news for global markets? crime and punishment, new developments in the penn state child sex abuse scandal. today a new accuser filed a lawsuit against form ar sis tant football coach jerry sandusky. an interview with sandusky's attorney, coming up. phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. [ professor ] good morning students. today, we're gonna... how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm? [ jake ] uh... khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ for others, it's somethingelong 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. business bulletin, a surgeon wall street. the dow ends the day up 490 points, the largest gain this year. the dow, nasdaq, s&p, up more than 4%. the rally happened after the fed announced it's going to work with other central banks including europe and canada to shore up the global economy by making it cheaper for banks to borrow u.s. dollars. christine romans joins us help us explain. why did the fed do this? >> we were seeing dangerous signs it was getting more difficult and expensive for banks to borrow money overnight, dollars. this is how the world does business in dollars and overnight lending is something the lifeblood of the financial systeming a inin and we were se arteries getting clogged it was starting to look like back late in and 2 008 and that was scary. in the absence of any political movement in europe and the u.s., central banks coming with the big guns and saying we're going to keep the money flowing. >> how much is about this what's happening in europe? its all about europe. so many signs of concern among the european banks. i mean, this is such an important moment, dramatic moment, i mean people are saying that the euro zone is unraveling before our eyes. >> right. >> it's the