mike osheerer around a.b. stoddard of "the hill." i'm candy crowley and this is "state of the union." 'tis the season for endorsements -- or not. a big not this week in iowa from the family leader -- the influential social conservative group said it won't even consider backing herman cain, citing, in part, a narrative of questions versus clarity on the key issues of life, marriage, foreign policy, and presidential readiness. joining us now from atlanta is herman cain. mr. cain, thank you so much for joining us here. i want to show our audiences, we noted you were the front-runner in october. this is our latest cnn/orc poll which shows you running at about 17%. that's an eight-point drop since october. you have the ""manchester union leader"" coming out endorsing newt gingrich who's now first in some of these polls. you have "the family leader" saying they didn't want to consider you because they don't really think you are ready for it. what do you think has gone wrong in the past month or so? >> well, obviously false accusations and confusion about some of my positions has contributed to it. that was to be expected. in terms of the campaign itself, nothing has gone wrong in terms of our strategy of spending time in new hampshire, south carolina and florida. so in terms of the mechanics of the campaign nothing's gone wrong. but as you know, candy, some people are heavily influenced by perception more so than reality. the good news is, most of my supporters, they have stayed on the cain train, as we say. >> let me talk a little bit about perception and maybe what you think you might have done to add to some of this perception. we have the words from the "family leader" today saying there just isn't some clarity in so many things they wanted to know from abortion and family issues, to foreign policy. and there is a group called factcheck.org, a nonpartisan group that kind of looks at what people say. they looked at your words on the allegations of sexual harassment, your explanation of your position on abortion, some of your answers on foreign policy and took into consideration your 9-9-9 policy and what it would do to those below the poverty level, and they were even harder on you than "the family leader." in factcheck.org they wrote, what's clear in all of this is that when cain plays fast and loose with the facts and when he comes under attack he exhibits a pattern of evasiveness and misdirection, changing his position and then blaming others for misunderstanding him. do you think that you've made some mistakes here in dealing with some of these things that have come at you pretty hard and heavy over the past month? >> well some of them, candy, have been taken out of context. so let me just set the record straight. i am pro-life from conception, period. secondly -- >> would you agree there was confusion there because you indicated in some interviews that that wasn't your position. >> no, i did not. see, that was taken out of context is what i'm saying. the interview where it was taken out of context was a highly hypothetical situation and they pulled that out without showing the entire segment. so this is why i'm setting the record straight because confusion has been generated. i'm pro-life from conception. secondly, on foreign policy, my foreign policy philosophy is peace through strength and clarity. i've been real clear about that. and the other thing relative to foreign policy is that i've been real clear about how i disagree with president obama on the draw-down of troops in afghanistan and iraq, et cetera. so i've been real clear. but a lot of confusion has been thrown my way and that's part of the -- part of politics. it's real clear where i stand. >> you don't think you could be clearer. because it does seem you say to our piers morgan that when the question comes to life of the mother in abortion, that should be up to the family. but you're saying that was taken out of context. >> yes, candy. that whole segment i talked about my position on life from conception, no exceptions. they didn't show that. then he basically raised a highly hypothetical situation relative to if it were my granddaughter and that's when they took that part out of context because of a poor choice of words in retrospect that then got later blown out and it became the story. >> i mean i guess that's what i'm getting to, is that you did say, well, that should be up to the family in response to a specific question about your granddaughter. so i just wonder if you -- >> but candy, candy, please. please allow me. see, the issue of do i believe abortion should be illegal? the answer is absolutely, yes. but see, what it's taken to another hypothetical situation, that's what was taken out of context. >> okay. let me move you on to some issues here. as you know, in the foreign policy national security debate newt gingrich caused quite a storm when he said that he thought there should be a humane way to somehow legitimize some of the undocumented workers that have been in this country for 25 years, pay their taxes, played by the rules, had family ties. do you agree with that? >> my position has been real clear. the illegal immigration issue has four problems. secure the border for real. enforce the laws that are there. i don't believe we need another path. we don't need any special exceptions. we need to clean up the bureaucracy that's already there. >> but there's 8 million -- >> -- promote the path of the citizenship -- nope, candy, i'm not going where newt gingrich is. i'm simply stating my position. >> why? >> my position is secure the border for real. promote the path to citizenship that already exists. the problem is the bureaucracy in getting people here legally. now then the way i would deal with those that are already here, which has been my stated position, empower the states to deal with the illegals that are already here. not some big grandiose national one-size-fits-all. i believe that the state's should be in power to deal with the illegals that are already here. >> so it would be okay with you if states said, all right, those of you who meet certain criteria can be put on a path toward legalization, towards citizenship. >> it would be up to the states as long as they did not break the federal law. >> okay. so in some ways, this is an issue you would leave to the states but you don't argue with newt gingrich's position even though his is -- seem to be a federal position that he would like the federal government to take that position. >> right. his position has created some controversy. here's another one of those gray areas that he's thrown out there that's kree created some contro. i'm basically restating what i've stated consistently relative to that. >> which is that it would be okay to you if states granted some sort of amnesty to those already living here. >> no, no, candy,dy not use that word. this is how misperceptions get started. i am not saying that at all. >> but you're saying it is okay with you if states said to undocumented workers, if you meet certain criteria, you may stay here. >> no, no, no. >> isn't that what you just -- >> that's not what i'm saying. let's try this one more time. please. give me a chance one more time to state this because it is a package. secure the border for real, promote the path to citizenship that's already there and the path to citizenship that's already there doesn't say anything about amnesty. thirdly, enforce the laws that are already there. but make it easier for companies to be able to enforce the laws. and fourth, empower the states. don't give the states any special things to do. just empower them to do, within the law, what the federal government is not doing. that's my approach to the whole issue. >> i think i'm a little confused but we want to move on. we'll take a quick break and when we come back i'll move to some other issues of the day. we'll be right back.ps efends agl constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. mary? what are you doing here? it's megan. i'm getting new insurance. marjorie, you've had a policy with us for three years. it's been five years. five years. well, progressive gives megan discounts that you guys didn't. paperless, safe driver, and i get great service. meredith, what's shakin', bacon? they'll figure it out. getting you the discounts you deserve. now, that's progressive. call or click today. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. 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. back with the republican presidential candidate herman cain. mr. cain, because the super committee didn't get its work done, there are many things that are going to expire at the end of the year if congress doesn't act on them. i wanted to get your opinion on a couple of them. one of them is there is a payroll tax cut that is what you pay for social security in your paycheck that's been in effect -- it is a little over 2%. if congress does not act, that payroll tax cut will go away. meaning that about almost $1,000 to the average american will be gone from their paycheck. do you support extending that payroll tax cut? >> i could support extending it, but here's the problem -- it didn't do any good the first time. that is a thimble of water in the ocean. the president -- >> but isn't it something? i mean if you've got millions of americans that have $1,000 more in their pocket, that's got to help. >> candy, i'm agreeing with you. a thousand dollars would help a lot of people but it is a distraction from the big problem and that is a lack of effective economic policy to grow there economy. so argument over whether or not we should extend it or not extend it, that's not the issue. the issue is where's the economic growth for the entire economy. >> long-term unemployment benefits expire at the end of this year. that is unemployment benefits for those who have been unemployed for 99 weeks or more. >> right. >> do you believe those unemployment benefits should be extended? >> no. and here's why. where do we stop, candy, is the question. here again, extending unemployment benefits, extending the cut in the payroll tax are just distractions from the bigger problem, which is lack of economic growth which has not been there. secondly, we're spending money we do not have. it's unfortunate that people are unemployed. this is one of the reasons that i have proposed a bold plan to get this economy going which you know is 9-9-9. people need to go -- want to go back to work. that's the good news. but this economy's not producing the jobs in order to get 14 million people that are unemployed back to work. >> about 2 million of those will lose their benefits in long-term unemployment benefits are not extended. and there are lots of studies that show that one of the quickest ways to get money into the economy is through these unemployment benefits. so if i read you correctly, you would not be for extending those for another year but you would be for the payroll tax cut. >> candy? it's not that simple. and this is part of the problem. what we need to do to get this economy growing is to put fuel in the engine which is to cut taxes to businesses and individuals, rather than just cutting the payroll tax where people might have a thousand dollars. let's cut -- if the president wants to do something in the short term, cut income taxes. cut corporate taxes. this is something that i was proposing earlier. that would -- that would solve the problem. this is just tinkering around the edges. that's what i'm saying. >> right. and it may well be in terms of not getting huge tax reform around not reforming social security or medicare. but that -- none of the big things are going to happen by the end of this year. so that's why i'm asking with you these are going to come up incrementally and so i'm asking you whether you think, in the absence of these other things that you are talking about, those ought to be pass. >> but candy, if the president were to go to congress and say, "i want to lower personal income taxes and corporate taxes by a significant amount in order to do something such that next year will not be an economic flat line," i believe he would get that support. it simply is not in his dna. so no. taking a position on extending unemployment benefits, or leaving that 2 percentage point reduction in payroll taxes, that's not working on the right problem. that's my point. >> all right. let me move you to some foreign policy issues. in the debate recently, you were asked about the tsa. i just want to remind our viewers what you said. >> i believe we can do a whole lot better with tsa and i call it targeted identification. if you take a look at the people who have tried to kill us, it would be easy to figure out exactly what that identification profile looks like. >> targeted identification. can you expand on that? is that another word for profiling? >> i don't see it as another word for profiling. this is why i use the term "targeted identification." >> okay. what's the difference? >> targeted identification is a deliberate approach to figure out patterns associated with people who have tried to kill us. that's what that is. profiling has been used in a lot of other situations and it obscures the whole issue. targeted identification. if we go to the intelligence agencies and ask them to identify the people that have tried to hurt us, kill us, blow up our planes and things of this nature, they could do that. so targeted identification in my mind is different from profiling because profiling has been used in a very negative way. >> and so -- but this sounds a little bit like flying while middle eastern, not unlike driving while black. is that -- i'm just trying to get a handle on how you would do this. >> candy? you are trying to pull me into the rhetoric that gets people in trouble and what i'm trying to do is to not be drawn in to that. no. i am not trying to identify a particular religion, a particular color, a particular ethnicity. i'm simply saying we should not be afraid to identify those characteristics that basically have been consistent in people who have tried to hurt this country. that's all i'm saying. >> let me ask you, governor romney said, when you were talking about israel and the middle east during the debate, that the first country he would visit, should he become president, would be israel just to show the nature of that special relationship. where would the first country be that herman cain visits? >> israel would be one of the first countries. i might do a swing through europe and the middle east and certainly israel would be one of the countries that i would want to visit as part of my first foreign visit because i feel strongly that we should stand with israel and we should basically strengthen that relationship. so it would be one of the first, amongst many that i would include in an overseas trip. >> herman cain, thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. see you on the campaign trail. >> thank you, candy. up next -- we'll examine the political ad wars. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. your new progresso rich & hearty steak burger soup. 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[ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma ♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? let's go back to drawing. 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. democrats aren't waiting for the formality of primary season to pick president obama's republican opponent. they're playing the odds and putting ads up in states they think will be in play next november. >> almost half of arizona homeowners under water. foreclosures everywhere. and what's mitt romney's plan? >> don't try and stop the fok process, let it run its course and hit the bottom. >> reporter: let arizonans hit the bottom? mitt romney's message to arizona -- you're on your own. >> this type of ad is known as "in their own words." reality ads, if you will, cherry-picking quotes to attack a rival with his own sound bites. they are all the rage. mitt romney also ignoring his primary rivals ran his first tv ad this week. >> thank you, new hampshire! how's everybody doing today? i am confident that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. we need a rescue plan for the middle class. we need to provide relief for homeowners. it's got to take a new direction. if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose. >> democrats cried foul because in that last statement, then-candidate obama was actually quoting the campaign of his then-rival john mccain. the idea of reality ads is to break through to voters cynical of paid advertising but do they work? our panel of advertising and political experts next. ♪ [ man #1 ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. 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[ cheering ] i wanna see that again. ♪ joining us now to assess the 2012 political advertising landscape, oken goldstein of media analysis group, kiki maclean who advised then-senator hillary clinton on her 2008 presidential bid, and in boston, mark mackinnon, advertising director for president george w. bush in 2000 and 2004. i want to start with a web ad and it was very early on when rick perry entered the race. i think in the first couple of weeks. here's a little bit of it for our viewers. >> i love these folks who say, well -- >> zero jobs. >> not a single job. >> no jobs created. zip, zero. >> people are demoralized. >> a great country requires a better direction. a renewed nation needs a new president. i believe in america. i believe in a purpose and a promise. i believe her best days have not yet been lived. >> okay, so mark mackinnon, my first question to you is, is there such a thing as going overboard? you know, clearly we have the pounding horse hooves and the texas boots and there's this very clear differential yags between here's president obama and there's all this confusion, the economy's bad, and in rides a guy on a white horse from the west. it just has a sort of legends of of the fall feel to it. >> these days you have to press the envelope. t the president's whole zero idea got a lot of focus. and we're seeing how much focus there is on web content and they're trying to break through and get attention and this spot achieved that, it got a lot of attention. >> kiki, i was sort of mesmerized by it, i thought great ad. the more i watched it, i thought whoa. >> i can't decide if sort of will smith and tommy lee jones are going to come out, "men in plaque," it is almost like a movie preview that comes out. but mark used an important word, and that was content. right? anymore these days whether you are working in corporate america with private label brands or working in corporate american politics, this is not about conteco digital advertising or social media special videos. but it is really about content. >> let me ask you, ken. the difference between a web ad and tv ad. obviously if they want to they can turn this into a tv ad. it would have to be a little bit shorter, i think. but who sees these web ads? are they aimed at just us playing it like we just did or what's the use of it? >> it is aimed at you and it is aimed at people who are going to give money. so what we've seen so far in this primary battle on the republican side is very, very little broadcast advertising in spot markets. we've seen some of these videos online and agreeing with both mark and kiki, content matters and trying to get through -- you think there is a noise now, wait until you see the noise that happens in 2012 and you're going to need a really compelling message to get through. but, those are very cheap ways for them to try something out, maybe raise a little money off of it, and then get the free media to amplify their message. >> say look at this cool ad we just found on the web. >> exactly. >> kiki, in some ways does this make the web the new iowa or new hampshire where you can really run cheaply and you don't have to be up against the big guns? it used to be all tv. you had to have money to put these kinds of things on tv. now, not so much. >> i've been studying it for a number of years. in the odd-numbered year i always have a bunch of reporters calling me up and saying this is going to be the year that it is not tv advertising. then the same reporters call on the even number of year and ask if we're going to break records in advertising. these are targeted towards free media and not fund-raising. in 2012 i think it is more t. every day news cycle is turned up is a day mitt romney doesn't have to hear another ad. >> this is from the bachmann campaign. i think it is always interesting to know when these ad air. this was released november 16th and it's around the time or actually a little later than that michele bachmann was saying to people, you don't have to settle for somebody who isn't a true conservative. you can get a really true conservative this time because it is going to be easy to beat barack obama. so here's her ad going after her fellow republicans. >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. >> ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make. >> if you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there, i don't think you have a heart. >> hi, i'm nancy pelosi. >> i'm newt gingrich. >> together we can do this. >> i love that ad for some reason. i think it is just because nancy pelosi and newt gingrich are on the couch. but nonetheless, mark, is that an effective ad to you? >> yeah, it is effective. and michele bachmann's actually had a pretty focused message. she's got a clear conservative message that she is the true conservative. think that's actually pretty powerful. the problem for bachmann at this point is that she can only do web advertising because she's broke. but if she could put that ad on in iowa where she's really from, she's the one that should be having the resurgence, not newt gingrich. >> we're seeing ing ing a lot m this, candidates saying something in their own words and that being used against them. i think that is going to be the major thing we see in advertising that shines through in 2012. when mark was first working for george w. bush in 2000, not every single thing that then-governor bush said in the lead-up of the year before was on tape. now it is. either because -- >> thank god. >> now it is. either because editorial board meetings are being taped, plus the first job of the kid in politics now is taking a video camera and going and following the candidate around. >> it's not just from a podium now. it's everywhere. >> they used to make sure the route is covered in signs. now it is make sure are you at the event with a flip cam. >> exactly. exactly. i want to move you on. there is this whole idea of outside groups that have tons and tons of money. one of those that's got an lot of attentions, crossroads, a republican group, karl rove is one of those and they are already up and out with a lot of advertising and this one's called two presidents, two visions. >> two presses, two visions. >> should we raise taxes on anybody right today? rich or poor or middle class? no. >> a political stunt, not a solution. a bill full of tax increases. >> this one i thought was interesting for where it went. colorado, florida, north carolina, ohio and pennsylvania. every one of those states carried by barack obama in 2008. where he is now showing some weakness. so this is about geography to me in a lot of ways. what do you think when you look at it and the amount of money that's out there -- i mean there's something like 240 super pacs out there that are going to collect money. what's going to be the driving force? those outside groups? >> that's going tonight the big story. barack obama is going to be well funded for money he's raising for his campaign and raising for the party. i would expect the eventual republican nominee will also be well fund bud let's see what those groups do. those republican groups that shown they can raise that money and they showed it in 2010. the big story now is are there groups on the democratic side going to be able to raise that sort of money, and with so many different players who can't speak to each other, are they going to get the message right. because you might have 10, 11, 12 different players and they could screw things up as well just as much for their enemies as for their friends. >> you end up answering for groups have you no control over. >> this is the big point. all right? everybody's going to be funded. nobody's not going to have enough air time. the question is who's paying for that air time and what's the accountability on that air time? that very piece that you just saw where they're trying to pit clinton against obama has come under a lot of scrutiny by the fact checkers. >> it was one of the things i was going to ask mark about. it got a "d" from one of the fact check people. he did say that but what he also said was, i think when the economy starts to recover we need to tax the rich. >> there was a slice and dice in it. that particular ad is under a lot of scrutiny and a lot of criticism. the question is how are you going to track that and hold accountable? an ad that comes directly from a campaign, a lot of accountability. you can call them on it, stand up right in front of them. a group that's maybe here for two years, gone in six months? what's the accountability and i think that has a lot to do with it. >> mark, when an ad is put together, you clearly put an ad together to enhance the guy you want to have win. how much does it hurt when these fact checks come out? sometimes i feel like it's just -- we're against so much headwind that you can come out and say, listen, this ad takes clinton out of context, yes, he said that, but he also said he agrees with president obama that the rich ought to pay more, et cetera, et cetera. is that just white noise? does the ad always have more impact once it is out there? >> yeah, sure, it does. because it's getting $2 million, $3 million worth of money behind it when there might just be a web story or a fact check ad that brings some accountability. kiki is absolutely right. these super pacs -- there are 240 of them now -- they are going to raise $1 billion collectively, it's been estimated, which is as much as barack obama or the republicans will raise. the crossroads run by karl rove and the pac run by obama's folks are both going to spend more than $100 million each which is more than the public spending that campaigns would qualify if they took it. so this is not just a race between barack obama, the and the republican nominee, it is a race between the super pacs which i think is just outrageous. it is not good for democracy and as kiki said, the biggest problem is there is no accountability. so if there is fact check problem, who's going to answer it? because there is no one behind it. >> mark, if you are a tv viewer or you roam the web and look at political ads, would you believe any of them? >> no. that's the problem. the threshold anymore to break through on the credibility component is so difficult anymore. i mean voters just start off incredibly cynical and with the notion that whatever they see, they think the politicians are lying to them. so the threshold to break through for the campaigns is extraordinarily high. so to do anything effective these days is really difficult. >> ken goldstein, kiki maclean, mark mackinnon, thanks, all. when we return, newt, not romney? we'll ask the new hampshire union leader's editorial page editor why. progresso. it fits! fantastic! 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mitt romney has been leading in new hampshire for i think probably -- since we starred taking polls here this time around. he consistently tends to be tied, be competitive with the president in places where perhaps newt gingrich is not, though it has been some time since we saw head-to-head with newt gingrich. does electability fit in? it sounds to me like are you saying no. >> well, of course electability is a factor. it is one of many factors. but i don't think you can look at this particular moment, this little snapshot in the polling, and conclude, therefore, that a year from now mitt romney will be more electable than newt gingrich. i think that's a very false assumption. >> would you have pick newt gingrich a month ago, two months ago, when it looked for all the world like his campaign was dead. would you still have picked him? >> we did that with john mccain in 2008 and it worked out pretty well. >> so you -- i mean, it did look a little bit -- but i think mccain was in a stronger position if new hampshire than newt gingrich was in the single digits a couple months ago. >> i think we look at the candidates for their -- i'm sorry. we consider the candidate overall. i mean we don't just look at the poll numbers. this isn't a game where we're trying to win the primary so we can have a record of "x" number of wins. we don't look at it that way. we are not trying to attach our name to a winner. that's not really leading. that would do our readers a very big disservice. we're looking at who we would like to see as president. >> drew cline from the "new hampshire union leader" making big news there today. i know in new hampshire -- the only statewide newspaper endorsing newt gingrich. thank you so much for your time, drew. >> my pleasure. up next, our political panel on how the new hampshire leader's endorsement of newt gingrich could shake up the republican presidential race. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪ joining us now, a.b. stoddard of the hill newspaper. thank you both for joining us. i want to show our audience a couple of new polls from american research group. this is iowa, first of all. newt gingrich, 27%. romney, 20%. paul, 16%. on down the line in single digits, cain, bachmann and santorum. moving to new hampshire, romney 33%, gingrich 22%. paul 12%. single digits again, cain, undecided and huntsman. okay. couple questions. is newt gingrich a serious contender at this point? >> i think the endorsement of "the union leader" makes him a serious threat to mitt romney potentially in new hampshire in ways that he might not have anticipated and we'll see what happens in the polls in the next few weeks. i think in iowa it is easy to say newt's on top but that contest comes first. he has a lot of explaining to do on the immigration question. he has a lot of explaining to do on other issues. support for t.a.r.p. which he then took back. his position on climate change. his position on the ryan medicare plan. a mandate for health care. advanced directives for health care. he has a lot of answering to do in iowa before those caucuses are counted -- the votes are counted on a cold january 3rd night and i think that ultimately, iowa could be a muddled picture where there is sort of an anti-mitt romney vote that's split by gingrich and others. possibly even rick santorum is well organize there had in a surprise showing. ron paul could be a huge spoiler there and i don't expect iowa to be so predictive. so i think new hampshire becomes the big battleground. i think mitt romney still has a lot of changes there but this really pro pepels newt gingrich the top of the race there and makes him a real threat for romney. >> people i talk to say, well, he hasn't pushed the self-destructive button yet. everybody's sort of waiting for that to happen. plus, it's not just old baggage which has to be gone through again. it's the new baggage with his links to the health care industry, his links to fannie mae and freddie mac, et cetera, et cetera. so the question is can he survive that without imploding. >> this is definitely an imknock calculation, this endorsement from union leaders. conservative credential, we were waiting for the newt bubble to burst, waiting for him to be treated as the others, reality show contenders. we had herman cain on earlier. who go up and down the next week because the ratings change. but this says newt gingrich is a serious guy. a serious person for conservatives to look at. i think it will inoculate him. it's a serious hit for mitt romney. you've had other conservative candidates not get the union endorsement in the past, but you haven't had an established candidate who has basically been living in new hampshire for five years now not get the union leader endorsement. it's a real -- >> he did take a swipe at mitt romney, a clear swipe at him. is there anybody, when you look at this polling, is there anybody who's like, forget it? can herman cain come back? can michele bachmann come back? can rick per economy back? >> i don't think rick perry can come back and i don't think herman cain can. i think jon huntsman, if he can't get traction soon, can't go anywhere. there is a chance that michele bachmann and rick santorum who are actively identifying voters and iowa coming up with the split showing, i think ron paul is tremendously organize thursday and could be a billing spoiler. i -- big spoiler. i would say i would count perry and cain out. >> i think this endorsement, they said it came down to perry or newt gingrich. and rick perry losing this short another nail in what has been a historic collapse. it's hard to see him come back. >> the immigration issue that you said we should probably take a hue -- he said he should probably take a humane approach. >> this is a problem. in trying to walk back these comments he's saying he was never on a path for citizenship forrin w irin who came here ill for anyone who came here illegally. >> the question of legality, amnesty, wording -- >> it's words, and i think, again, those that will be a tough issue with the activist base of the party he's seeking to win over. >> this is one of newt's ten den i sees, he reverts. he likes being complicated, likes making the issues. the anti-herman cain here. what's new -- this was his line in march. no one was paying attention, he was giving interviews with univision, talking to hispanics about how he would govern as president. he has been consistent in this. the question is whether -- especially in iowa, where the immigration issue remains a huge issue among caucus-goers. whether this is just another dealbreaker for him. >> let me move you to capitol hill. i -- the notion that the next election will fix things, you wrote a great article. let me ask you three things i tried to ask herman cain about. one is the payroll tax cut, the 2% break that most americans are getting on social security taxes. is congress going to approve that pie the eby the end of the? >> you get the sense that since the super committee failed they need to get points on the board. they want to show bipartisan accomplishments. so i have a feeling in the late hours of christmas we'll extend unemployment insurance in addition to payroll. it is almost $400 million in new deficit spending. tough to beat. >> and whether they'll look at things that are gimmicky, to say we're paying for this, or whether they have to find substantive cuts which may be tough to get through. boehner doesn't have a clear record. he's wanted to get points on the board and failed when it comes to crunch time. it's not a sure thing. >> and also there are democrats that have looked at the payroll tax cut going i don't know that we've gotten enough bang for our buck, et cetera. just a hard thing to do at christmas. i go, yeah, remember the unemployment benefits? >> and in politics, obama set this up well for himself. he's going to win either way. the white house knows, it they're comfortable where they are. >> just go out of country, right? real quick, what about the medicare payments for doctors which will drop by 30% if congress doesn't act? will they act on that? >> yeah. we've got a whole other year until that chicagoer is pulled. will be tied -- trigger is pulled. it will be tied to the defense cuts, medicare, but they have to come up with a compromise. they'll be fighting along the same lines they're fighting along now. i don't think 2012 is going to solve anything. they're not going to have huge majorities for republicans or democrats. the change in the white house isn't going to make it so they can't override a veto. >> got to stop it there. it amy, michael, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. the top stories are next, and then "fareed zakaria gps" at the top of the hour. why did we build a 556 horsepower luxury car with a manual transmission? because there are those who still believe in the power of a firm handshake. the cadillac cts-v. manual or automatic, that's entirely up to you. we don't just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs. but my nose is still runny. 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[ male announcer ] cyber week starts sunday and lasts all week. plus get free shipping on hundreds of thousands of items. the only place to go for cyber week. walmart.com. time for a check of today's top stories. pakistan is calling a nato attack that killed 24 pakistani soldiers totally unacceptable. nato's secretary general says the deaths were tragic and unintended. the nato attack which wounded 13 others in a region bordering afghanistan occurred yesterday. 19 of 22 arab league countries have voted to impose economic sanctions on syria for its deadly crackdown on protesters. serian government tv says sanctions would be unprecedented a and contradict the trade agreements between countries. britain's prince william co-piloted a helicopter that rescued two sailors from a life raft in the irish sea today. five other sailors are still missing. their ship capsized in gale-force winds. three american students detained in egypt are back home in the u.s.