but -- there's a real big but -- does he need bill clinton to win? let's go "outfront" i'm erin burnett. unemployment jumps 8% chblt that's the lowest level for unemployment in about three years. it's a big headline, but a closer look, 120,000 jobs added last month isn't great. that's barely enough to keep up with population growth, let alone put a dent in the 9 million jobs lost in the great recession. still, the president hopes americans will focus on the unemployment rate. and he's also hoping he can get some of what this guy has. oh, that bill. he has the love. he has the love of so many voters. recently some republicans said bill clinton isn't sold on barack obama term two. but the two men appeared together at a green building event in washington today. >> i am thrilled that president clinton has been willing to take this on. partly thanks to me he's home alone too often. and this has been a passion for him for quite some time. >> president obama needs all the bill he can get. bill clinton's book "back to work", example number one of the former president's popularity. it's the number one book on amazon. number ten on "the new york times" best seller list. and his approval rating is at a high sky 63%. can you imagine if that were the margin in the election of a vote. now that's a mandate. compare that to obama's 20 points lower at 44%. okay. bill. he needs you. but are you going to be there for him? james carville is former adviser to bill clinton. david gergen is our senior political analyst and another former adviser to bill clinton. john avalon is with us as well. all right, james carville, what is going on here? you see bill clinton with barack obama. this is at a green building. it's a cause of the former president's. you're not seeing them together at a lot of things. you know, bill clinton has far from wholeheartedly giving barack obama a bear hug. >> i bet you anything that president obama spends more time than the last democratic president than the republican nominee spends with the last republican president. that i'm very comfortable in saying. >> it depends. nominee of the week. >> former presidents have a very difficult job. they are kind of to be seen, not heard. and it's a delicate balancing act. obviously the president supported president obama in 2008. he's going to go for him as much as is appropriate in 2012. >> what is all out, though? >> well, as much as he needs him. elections are won by the candidate who connects to moderates in the middle class. no one has done it better than bill clinton. he was able to focus on the economy and make the forgotten middle class feel like they have an advocate in the white house. that's exactly what barack obama needs to do going into the election. >> david gergen, there is a way for barack obama to get more clinton. and that might not be to get more bill clinton, but to get more hillary clinton. look at her approval rating at 69%. trumps her husband's. >> that's absolutely right. there may be a good chance that later on they will get together. everybody is asking what is the possibility of hillary being on the the ticket and swapping joe booiden to the state department? come summer he's in a very tight race, president obama is in a tight race. he may want to play the card. i'm not sure hillary clinton wants to do it or joe biden wants to do it, but the president may have persuasive power. i want to go back to be bill clinton. there's no question, as james carville said, there's no question bill clinton will be supportive of barack obama during the campaign. the obama people will want to showcase him at the democratic convention in charlotte. this next year. but the real way to draw upon bill clinton's strength is to ask him for more help on creating jobs. bill clinton has a book out now. he had a central idea about a year ago to create far more green jobs, to retrofit the buildings. he didn't get a very warm reception in the white house. and i do think it would be possible, i think it would be wise, just as this president reached out to hillary for help on foreign policy. >> he does, john avalon, and i know there are nuances on this, that president clinton said he doesn't want to raise taxes during a recession. >> yeah. >> president obama has some plans in there that would raise taxes on some people, the wealthiest americans, which bill clinton is not against. there is an important nuance there. >> there is. bill clinton raised taxes as part of the first budget deal. a lat of the focus on reengineering the economy and building the middle class. barack obama knows that bill clinton particularly in the swing states. if he wants to really put north carolina in play, bill clinton is invaluable. it's also the economic prescriptions, putting those in actions. which they took for the jobs bill. >> in the eyes. you talked about president obama's real problem with the independents. >> absolutely. independents. >> this always interested me. the unemployment rate is 8%. that's a big drop. it's based on a survey of american who is pick up the telephone and say do i have a job or not? payroll number is not good. but if people are self reporting an improving job market, is that unemployment rate really the number that's going to predict who wins the election? >> i don't know. the rate is high, and it will probably be high as 7.4 is the highest. as long as a president like it was 140,000 private sector jobs that were created, i mean, one of the problems is we filled half a million public sector jobs. but i think if there's improvement it will probably be to the president's benefit. and as of now, as of now, you know, that very important caveat, it seems the job market is improving, which can only be interpreted as pretty good news for the president. >> how does he play that, though? with the whole of 9 million jobs, and not even keeping up with population growth with new job creation, how does he sell the "improving, buy into my side" story. >> there are some signs. if things go bad in europe as we've talked about before, this economy could stall or even go down again. so i think what he needs to be doing now is be seen as actively working to improve things. and doi believe that in the last few weeks he's almost been rather passive in the sense of governing. he's been much more of the campaigner. and what i think is important for the next few months is for him to come back to the white house and govern, and be working hard on i have to get the payroll tax cuts extended and do the other things that may help create more jobs. >> thanks to all three. we appreciate it. by the way, mitt romney, talking about the unemployment numbers. mitt romney posing with his extended family. we're going to talk about the personal side of him in just a moment. but also florida missing mom michelle parker disappeared two weeks ago. we've been talking about her story. her sister is out front with the latest. and newt widening his lead on the gop side of things. can anyone hope to catch him? john avalon has the power rankings and then inside the personal life of mitt romney, what you didn't know. then i'll go to the front lines of ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if cialis for daily use is right for you. for a 30-tablet free trial offer, go to cialis.com. i take leadership seriously, even though we don't take ourselves too seriously. these people want me to make the right choices. and to stop making the coffee. all i know is that i've made the decisions that i hope let them believe as much in me as i do in them. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. if you're a business owner, we have financial strategies to help. jon corzine has been subpoenaed by the house agriculture committee to testify next week. they're looking into the collapse of mf global which filed for bankruptcy september 1st. it's the biggest financial failure in america since lehman brothers. the investigators are still trying to find up to $1.2 million missing from the customer accounts. jon corzine is the former ceo of goldman sachs. that's how many resigned after willy free was appointed a the trustee in charge of overseeing the company's liquidation. free has been a busy man. he's also heading the investigation of the penn state child sex abuse scandal. it's been a crazy week in politics. john avalon is here to tell us what happened and give us the rankings of the week. i don't know if it's how big or bright someone looks on your screen. how does it fall? >> it's getting cold outside, but politics is heating up. so this is our way of gauging who has the big mo, using polls , analysis, seeing what happened next week. a couple weeks ago this is how it might look. mitt romney on top. the best campaigner. herman cane, getting over the sexual allegations. his supporters staying with him. ron paul and newt gingrich in the middle of the pack. at the bottom jon huntsman is not getting any love. herman cain on monday begins with a terrible week. ginger white, 13-year affair. by the end of the week he's running ads using the guy with a lie detector tests. >> in my exam he is being truthful. but the allegations of saying she was sexually assaulted by him did not occur. >> just keeps getting weirder. doesn't it. then mitt romney had a bad weekend. polls falling across the board. a very testy interview with brett barry. >> you're wrong, brett. the tape out there -- continue to tread the tape. >> the normally unflappable mitt definitely getting rattled by bad news. best week, newt gingrich soaring high in all the polls. it just might be going to his head. listen to what he told abc news. >> it's hard not to look at the recent polls and think the odds are very high i'm going to be the nominee. >> feeling pretty good about himself, isn't he? he's got reason to. let's look at the political power numbers. newt gingrich on top. he's soaring in every state. mitt romney u hanging in at number two. he want this is. he's been up there all the time. it would be foolish to write him out. ron paul in the winner's circle. his supporters are intense. don't count him out. jon huntsman, the big sur prize. why is he number four? he's inching ahead in new hampshire. he's going to do a lincoln douglas style debate with newt gingrich in new hampshire. he's got mo behind him. the bottom of the pack, herman cain is number six. he's still got all our attention. tomorrow he's making a major announce. . tonight he's talking with his wife. that's pretty tough f here's why he's got power. even if he gets out of the race, who he tell ls supporters to go to will shake up the race. who is the biggest mover of the week is this no question, it's the newtster. biggest loser has to be the m hermanator. >> i like that. >> got to have some fun with it. >> let's bring in david gergen. david is back with us because you've got a special look at what's going on with mr. romney. the republican strategist alex caselanos is with us as well. david, let me start with you. you interviewed mitt romney a few weeks ago. this is what's going to come out. hits stands on sunday. there it is. and i want to ask you more about this. how do you think first of all mitt romney's week has been? seeing newt gingrich fly like a phoenix to the top? >> i think it's been a very rough week for him. john avalon had it exactly right. when just about a week or ten days ago, mitt romney was running in trade. that's where the betting occurs on who will get the nomination. and he was seen as a 70% chance of winning the nomination. maybe 69%. today he's less than 50. or newt gingrich is surging. is mitt romney still the man to beat? i think yes. but for the first time he has a serious rival on his hands. if newt gingrich can go through the process that's coming, and he knows that, and emerge on january 1 as a standing rival, romney could be in trouble. the real question is what does he do for his campaign to give him momentum? >> alex caselanos, i want to get your view. let me ask you a quote about mitt romney. quoting rocky anderson saying quote, romney in a word is human. he's much funnier than he comes across. that's for sure. >> and when you meet him, as i did years ago, last campaign i worked for him, he's this wonderful, genuine guy. and then you see him on tv, and he looks so perfect, and we think perfection is false, most of us, because we know how hard it is. so he does have that kind of problem. but i'll tell you the story for example. i recommend his piece to everybody. it's not just where they stand on the issues. who are they as people. you never know the crisises. he said my daughter is lost in new york city, what do i do? he shut down the business. took everybody to new york city, set up a command center to find the girl. fortunately, they did. that's mitt romney. i think what he needs to do to win this election if he wants to is, tell me who you are. tell me what's important to you. and i think david got to that in the parade issue. >> so david, tell us what you found. in this piece you have lots of pictures of mi the, t with his family. he likes to sit on the couch and watch "modern family" among other things. what did you find out about mitt romney that surprised you, as someone who has worked with so many presidents and in so many campaigns? >> well, i think alex is putting us exactly on the right trail. that's the mitt romney that we see behind the podium is highly compete competent, but he also seems robotic, even scripted. that's only a piece of who he is. what you see when you go into his home is a much more relaxed mitt romney and a much more human mitt romney. i was quite struck, erin, when ann romney walked into the room, he literally lit up. his whole body language changed. and it became apparent in talking to him that his life rotates around her a lot more than you might ever think. hi said, and i verified with her, that she was the one who talked him into running. he had reluctance. she said the same thing. she was the one wo talked him into going on a mormon mission years ago when he was young and he wanted to give it up and marry him. she talked him into running in the senate against teddy kennedy back in the '90s. this man is much more deeply anchored in family and in faith than i think we no. and to go to alex's point again, i think if he wants to be embraced by the american people, he's not only got to be respected. least got to establish an emotional connection. so important for the presidency. that means he has to humanize himself. open himself up to what the family needs of him. i can't believe that it is really that good, he sh that normal, and he was so lucky to meet the love of his life at 18. people don't believe it, or maybe there's a weird jealousy about someone who fate smiled upon like that. but herman cain, speaking of fate not smiling, how the media has gone for him, regardless of what really happened. he is at a meeting with his wife right now. the wife did not know ginger white, the woman who alleged a 13-year affair. >> he's making a major announcement. at the end of the day only two people can convince him to stop the campaign. himself and his wife. herman cain rose in the polls because he was authentic. it seems very different than mitt romney, for example. but we understand there's more complexity in his personal life. everyone will be watching tomorrow. we boept know until he tells us. there's probably drama going on at the scenes at the cain household. >> don't miss "parade" magazine this week to learn more about mitt and ann. a church in kentucky votes to ban interracial marriage. a woman denied permission to marry her fiance comes out. >> and blackberry makes a smart phone. but some of their employees aren't so smart. or beloved. we'll be back. 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... so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. so, we do a lot of serious stories on this show, but this one is a little more seriously. research in motion, the canadian company that makes the blackberry has been struggling. there was the embarrassing worldwide outage, flat lining sales of the new smartphone. trouble with the ipad competitor the playbook. all that leads to a stock that has dropped more than 7% since february. they announced they're not going to make their guides to wall street because of the playbook problem. but the company had a plan to turn things around. send two top executives to china to drum up the business. brilliant idea, right? that's what all the sales are. there was one big problem. on the flight from toronto to beijing, the two executives got drunk, seriously drunk. the two men got so drunk the flight crew had to ask the other first class passengers to help restrain them before returning to canadian air space, landing, and being met by oh canada, the mou mountees. the two men pled guilty to charges of mischief and were ordered to pay restitution to air canada. our frequent fliers are banned from airing with them again. they were among the two biggest frequent fliers in canada. probably until the inevitable tape of the flight surfaces. how much do you want to bet it was shot by another passenger using an iphone? oh, poor torch. seriously. >> still "outfront" the out front five. banned in kentucky. >> it's racist. that's all you can call it. funny or die? >> i want to be your president because this is able. >> all this out front in our second half. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! 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