acquaintance but white said they were much more than that, beginning in the late 1990s when cain headed the national restaurant association. unlike the women who accused cain of sexual harassment, white says her relationship with pretty simple and very inappropriate. cain told cnn's wolf blitzer he had no plans to exit the race but today he said he is quote, reassessing. wolf joins me live just moments from now. and moments ago in los angeles, conrad murray was sentenced to four years behind bars for the death of michael jackson, the maximum term and exactly what prosecutors war asking for. convicted of involuntary manslaughter forgiving jackson a anesthetic to sleep. the judge said murray is dangerous and completely without remorse. vice president biden in baghdad this hour. it's his eighth trip to iraq since taking office and almost certainly his last before u.s. forces pull out at the end of the month. he's due to meet with iraq's prime minister and president and commemorate the sacrifices and accomplishments of u.s. and iraqi troops. newt gingrich is planting his flag in the first southern state, that is south carolina. this is day two of a three-day visit by the latest front-runner and in a town hall event just getting started in bluffton, you can bet he'll be talking immigration. he was proposing what he calls a humane progression towards long-time immigrants to pay taxes. former penn state assistant football coach jersey sandusky hired a private investigator. sandus sandusky's lawyer says it he will try to prove the former coach was innocent. he's currently free on $100,000 bail. an hour from now in syracuse, the da will ask a judge to force police to hand over records from their noninvestigation of bernie fine in 2002 the former assistant men's basketball coach at syracuse university now accused by three men of sexual molestation dating back decades. in 2002, lease told one accuser the claims were too old to be acted on. today they are the subject of state and federal accusations in syracuse and police in pittsburgh are investigating an alleged incident there as well. there will be no immediate impact on flight schedules or passengers but the parent company of american airlines has filed for bankruptcy. a chapter 11 reorganization will allow the airline to cut costs. the gap between our cost structure and the rest of the industry had become too wide. and really not something we could sustain further. >> they have only recorded one quarterly profit since 2007. a decorated war hero is suing a defense contractor. meyer received the medal of honor for his service in afghanistan. earlier he took a job with bae systems. he claims his problems began after he opposed a plan to sell thermal imaging equipment to pakistan. meyers said he ended up quitting but a supervisor accused him of being mentally unstable and problem drinker. meyer claims the assertions blocked him from get ache job with another defense contractor. bae issued this statement to cnn, we are incredibly grate follow for his service above and beyond the call of duty. although we strongly disagree with his claims, which we will address through the legal process, we wish him success and good fortune in his endeavors. less than a month ago a scandal became a fund dz raising wind fall. that was a long time ago. today cain is not sure he can go on and wolf blitzer has the details. first, a u.s. district court judge in manhattan says no to a b big settlement. the judge rejected the $285 million settle saying it's pocket change to citigroup. and saying that the sec didn't do their best to find the truth. to the judge standing up to say it's not just about money but about taking responsibility, you judge, are today's rock star. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model-year newer... with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance product like it. better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual. it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? today, herman cain faces up to the damage done to his gop presidential campaign by weeks of explosive allegations. the latest you may have heard from a georgia woman who said she and cain had a consensual affair for 13 years. cain said that he's acquainted with ginger white but strongly denied an inappropriate relationship. he also said he was in the presidential race as long as my wife is behind me. now we're hearing something very different and wolf joins me from washington, d.c. with the latest on this. wolf, it seems like something new happens every day. where does the cain campaign stand at this hour? >> a different place where it stood yesterday because just a little while ago, a couple hours or so ago, herman cain had a conference call with his senior staff and base beingally said he was going to reassess in the coming days his whole campaign based on these latest allegations from the woman in george who claims she had a 13-year affair with herman cain, all of this coming on the heels of claims of sexual harassment in recent weeks. he says he wants to see how it plays out over the next few days, will the supporters stand by him? is his family okay with all of this? he's not going to talk about it any more, he's going to let lynne wood make any public statements on the alleged affair. he's going to go ahead with his schedule, although he's going to cut back and reassess his media appearances at least over the next few days. he obviously understands this is a very serious allegation and could undermine his race for the presidential nomination. just as he pointed out on this conference call, just as he reassessed his campaign earlier in recent months when there were s setbacks and couldn't raise enough money and lost the iowa straw poll in august, doing the same thing right now. we'll see where it stands. you're absolutely right though, randi, it's a marked contrast to what he said to me yesterday in the situation room when he was very, very insistent that he would continue his race for the republican nomination. >> he said absolutely to you he's not leaving the race. i'm curious, wolf, why announce you're reassessing. this is a conference call according to gloria borger with 90 people. is this part of the strategy to get the word out? >> i think he's trying to determine how much support he has from the core constituents or core supporters. are they going to believe this woman or him? what about the other women who made the accusations of sexual harassment. he's taking a close look. he did hint in the interview with me yesterday, that if he felt this were taking too much of a toll on his wife and family, he then might have to reconsider his race for the republican presidential nomination. he did hint that although he said he planned on move forward. he is going to give a speech in michigan that college there on national security and foreign policy. he is going to go ahead with the schedule but i don't think you're going to see him doing a whole lot of tv interviews as he reassesses whether or not to continue his race for the white house. >> that could take days from what i understand. wolf blitzer, thank you so much. fascinating interview with herman cain yesterday. we'll look for more on "the situation room" today. it is tyning and threatening to wipe out florida's palm trees. announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! michael jackson's doctor gets the maximum sentence. a short time ago the judge sentenced to murray to four years in prison and making him pay up in restitution. he said murray has absolutely no sense of remorse and calling the doctor a danger to the public. this follows his conviction of involuntary manslaughter three weeks ago. jackson's family watched nearby as murray learned his fate. >> the court has determined that the appropriate term is the high term of four years imprisonment. i do so because once again, i find that dr. murray abandoned his patient. >> let's get straight to our legal analyst, sunny hostin on trutv. what is your reaction to the sentence? do you agree with the judge? >> i do. i'm not surprised. i think he gave every indication of being someone that's tough on crime. remember, he immediately remanded dr. murray to prison to county jail right after the verdict came in. i think that was a shock to so many people, randi. but this was expected. he will get four years in prison. but i think it was sort of the scathing, scathing sentencing that i haven't seen for quite some time. he talked about dr. murray being a disgrace to the medical profession and talked about money for medicine madness that will not be tolerated by him. so something that i haven't seen in quite some time, a judge speaking to a defendant in this manner from the bench. it doesn't happen all the time. but certainly i was surprised at that. i was surprised at sort of the tone of his remarks. he also called it a horrific violation of trust. one thing that i also noticed randi, he talked about that tape recording, remember we heard that during the trial? he said the tape recording was dr. murray's insurance policy. that was shocking to me that he went that far in describing that tape recording. really quite a message sent from the bench today. >> we carried the sentence being live here on cnn. let's play a little bit of what judge michael pastor had to say. >> dr. murray created a set of circumstances and became involved in a cycle of horrible medicine. the practice of propofol for medicine madness. >> sunny, he also talked about this web of deceit and lies. i do think that the fact that conrad murray never told the paramedics and the e.r. workers that he had given michael jackson the prop follow which they say killed him played a big part in the sentence, do you agree? >> this judge said that repeatedly, this web of lies did nothing more than help dr. conrad murray and was such a horrific violation of patient/physician privilege. he also took into account conrad murray's life before the case. he said he looked at the book of his life but the most important chapter was the chapter involving the death of michael jackson. this is a judge that i believe randi considered all of the circumstances, considered the prosecution's sentencing memo, considered the defense's recommendation and also considered the character witnesses we saw during the trial. but ultimately fell dr. conrad murray needed to spend at least the maximum amount of time in prison for this crime. >> so we know he sentenced him to four years but we also know he said from the bench that he doesn't have the authority to send him to state prison. how much time will he actually serve do you think? >> that's the question everyone is asking, how much time will he really get, even though he says i give you the maximum sentence. because of the realignment plan trying to alleviate the overcrowding in the prison system, dr. murray will serve probably half of his sentence in la county jail. and i believe that will probably translate into months as opposed to two years. remember what we saw with lindsay lohan and others that get sentenced to prison time, six months typically turns into 30 days. we're talking about two years, he gets 46 days for time served, credit for time served. i don't believe he will be in county jail for the full two years. it will be much less than that. >> i remember hearing katherine jackson say this doesn't bring my son back and it's very true even though she wanted aid harsher sentence, it doesn't do much for the family. >> thanks, randi. >> it is tiny and deadly and threatening to wipe out florida's palm trees. jamie joins me next to explain. if you've just signed up for medicare or will soon, there's no time like the present to consider all your health insurance options. does medicare alone meet your needs? would additional coverage be better for you? well, now is a good time to take a look at an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. get started by calling for your free information kit and guide to medicare. as you probably know, medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. a medicare supplement insurance plan helps cover some of it. that could save you up to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. and you can visit any doctor who accepts medicare patients. with medicare supplement insurance, you'll find a range of plans to choose from to fit your needs and budget. there are no networks. no referrals to see a specialist. and you could get a pretty good idea what your out-of-pocket costs will be every month. plus, these plans travel with you anywhere in the u.s. don't let this time go by without considering if an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan is right for you. it's as easy as a phone call. rates are competitive. and these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans exclusively endorsed by aarp. remember, medicare doesn't cover everything. medicare supplement insurance plans help pay for some of the rest. you could save up to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. and you can choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan could be an option to get the coverage you need at a competitive rate. so don't wait another minute. be sure to call today. call now for your free medicare guide and information kit about aarp medicare supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. welcome back, it is a mysterious deadly dug on the march in florida. this nasty bug is the source of the texas phoenix palm decline and could lay waste to palm trees across the state. bug does its damage by taking a bite out of the leaf and vomiting on it. the regurgitation carries deadly bacteria. officials say the disease has already killed thousands of palms in florida. joining us for more is jamie gurie. nice to have you on the show today. what can you tell us about this mystery bug? >> well, thanks so much for having me. to be honest, it's got everybody in the industry scratching their head. you know, the texas phoenix palm decline, it's a systemic disease and kills palms very very quickly. it's a little bit similar to the fug ar yan wilt that gets into a lot of phoenix palms and has had a devastating effect in australia, i remember many years ago it carrying 100-year-old palms and hundreds of them in one of their most prestigious parks in sydney. this is something that needs to be sort out and we need to find out which of the three bugs are transferring the disease and find a species immune to it. >> has this bug been around for a while or is it something new? >> it seems to be something fairly new although what i've read is that also the fug ar yan wilt is quite new in australia and more tropical countries, the wilt has been around for a long time and that's where the center crown of the palm actually starts to decay away and you know, within a matter of six months you have no head on the palm at all and it needs to be cut out and taken away. when you think about a place like florida, very very famous for their palms and you've got almost 8,000 palms that have been affected by the disease, it has a devastating effect to street side, not just the aesthetics but overall environment. >> can people spread this disease? can this bacteria get on to people and they carry it? >> they've nar rowed it down to a one of three feeding insects such as plant hoppers. there's got to be more work done until we actually get to a point where it is the exact species and then i guess the next part of the step is we've got to find out which species is immune to it and start the replanting process. but obviously, that's a very very expensive solution. at this stage, it seems to be the only one. and because it is a very very tough bacteria, it doesn't have a cell wall, it's making it very very hard to lock in on what disease this is and what species will become immune to it. at this stage it's just cut out the affected ones and get them far away and destroy the plant stock as possible and get the new stock in quickly and make sure it's immune to it. >> hopefully they'll figure out which one of these buggers is the culprit and save those beautiful palm trees in florida. you can watch jamie's show on sundays at 11:30 a.m. eastern on hgtv. herman cain back in the spotlight. this time an allegation of a 13-year extra marital affair, true or not, does this spell the end for his presidential run? it's fair game next. first, our political junkie question of the day, was the worst iowa caucus finish for any candidate that went on to win the nomination? tweelt me an answer and i'll give a shout out to the person who gets it first on the other side of the break. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. [ male announcer ] the new htc vivid. stay a step ahead with at&t 4g lte, with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g. ♪ with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g. [ thunder crashes ] [ snoring ] [ thunder crashes ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] vicks nyquil cold and flu. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold... medicine. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] vicks dayquil. defeats 5 cold & flu symptoms. ♪ ♪ >> before the break, i asked when candidate or candidates had the worst showing in the iowa caucuses and went on to win the party nomination, the answer is bill clinton in 1992 and john mccain 2008, both finished fourth in iowa. now a big shoutout to gsorensen for the answer. this is where we go to the heart of the political debate where all sides are fair game. today we're talking about the latest accusations against herman cain and cain's announcement that he's reassessing his presidential campaign. this is ginger white. she says she had a 13-year affair with cain that hended around the same time he decided to run for president. >> it was pretty simple. it wasn't complicated and i was aware that he was married. and i was also aware that i was involved in a very inappropriate situation, relationship. >> cain has strongly denied he did anything wrong. joining me now is liz chatterden and ronbonjean. should he be announcing it's the end? >> you know, the sexual harassment allegations and the alleged affairs have become a distraction or side show to the whole republican primary. at first it drowned out everyone else's attempt to run an effective race on tv, now it's just -- it's just so identified with herman cain, it's going to be hard for him to separate himself from all of these allegations. whether or not they are true, it's like a massive spider web that he can't seem to get out of. i would be reassessing my campaign if i were him. >> before ginger white's story aired we had an interviewer with wolf blitzer and herman cain. i want to play a portion of that and we'll get more to it. >> are you worried this could further hurt new this republican race