about claims he sexually harassed two women. ahead, what he thinks triggered one of those women to speak out. 1.7 million people in peopl northeast still without power after the freak nor'easter. temperatures are rising today, but sadly, so was the death toll. right out of the movies, the fbi release surveillance tape of russian supervise operating incompetent america, included that red headed bombshell, anna chapman. the pictures are fantastic and fascinating. and what's going on with rick perry. the bizarre new hampshire speech that has everyone buzzing on this american morning. and good morning, everyone. it is tuesday, november 1st. feels like february here in new york city. welcome to american morning. >> i just can't believe it is november 1st. where does time go? good morning to you. up first, herman cain fighting

back against allegations of sexual harassment. problem is, his story just keeps changing. the gop frontrunner is defending himself against a politico report against two women that accused him of inappropriate behavior during his tenure at the american restaurant association in the 1990s. we begin with cnn political director paul steinhauser. so i'm trying to think how many times herman cain's story shifted in what, a three hour period yesterday. >> pretty much. you can say the time was unfortunate, the story braging one day before the republican candidate had high profile speeches and television interviews. start with the national press club. he was there around noon. this is what he had to say. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i hope it wasn't for much because i didn't do anything, but the fact of the matter is i'm not aware of a settlement that came out of that

accusation. >> okay. couple hours later, fast forward. he sat down for an interview with pbs's judy woodruff. this is what he had to say. >> i was aware an agreement was reached. the word settlement versus the word agreement, you know, i'm not sure what they called it. i know that there was some sort of agreement, but because it ended up being minimal, they didn't have to bring it to me. my general counsel and the head of human resources had the authority to resolve this. so it wasn't one of those things it got to a certain authority level and i had to sign it. if i did, i don't remember signing it because it was minimal in terms of what the agreement was. >> in his defense, cain says listen, not everybody can remember what happened 12 years ago. he also said the terms agreement and settlement are two different terms. but carol, maybe this is a sign

of a campaign that just wasn't fully prepared for the story. remember, herman cain went from basically an afterthought to a front runner for the white house in two months and his campaign structure is not that strong. maybe this is a sign of that, maybe it is a sign that there's more there when it comes to the allegations, we just don't know. >> i talk to two lawyers that represent many women in sexual harassment cases, they find it incredible that herman cain can't remember being accused of sexual harassment. usually when a man is accused of something like that, he never forgets. whether it is true or not, that's a terrible allegation to make, number one, and it is something you don't forget. he says he doesn't remember the names of these women. >> we're going to hear from herman cain, he is on our sister network in a couple of hours. this story isn't over yet for herman cain. i think we'll hear more. >> paul, thank you. after acknowledging he was falsely accused of sexual harassment, cain said he tried

to think back on what could have been perceived as offensive. >> here's the one incident i recall as the day has gone on. she was in my office one day, and i made a gesture -- and i was standing close to her, and i made a gesture, you're the height as my wife, and brought my hand, didn't touch her, up to my chin and said you're the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin, my wife of 43 years, and that was put in there as something that made her uncomfortable as part of the sexual harassment charge. that one little incident about the height thing was in my office, door open, plain view. my secretary sitting right outside the office, but in reviewing her case, she couldn't find anybody to corroborate her story. >> cain also said he had april office on the same floor as the woman, insisted he never traveled with her when he would

go on speaking engagements. >> cain's explanation came after a day of playing cat and mouse with the media. he had one flat out denial. campaign watchers wonder why his team was caught so off guard. here is joe johns with that part of the story. >> reporter: it is never a good day for a presidential campaign when the candidate's name appears in the morning headlines in a story about alleged sexually inappropriate behavior. from a campaign management standpoint, this may be a textbook example of how not to handle a crisis. politico which broke the story said there was plenty of warning. it first asked the campaign about this ten days before the confrontational interview outside cbs on sunday. >> i'm not going to comment on that. >> reporter: and when the campaign's chief of staff was asked about politico's allegation two women received settlements, he seemed confused, too, saying he was not aware of any. just hours before the candidate said publicly that he had been falsely accused.

herman cain's words, of sexual harassment. cnn political analyst rich galen says it sounds like there was plenty of time for the campaign to prepare for the story to hit. >> this is the kind of thing that you see with campaigns that aren't very skilled and very experienced. every campaign will have a bad time. every campaign is going to have to explain something they didn't think they were going to have to explain, but you practice it, try to get ready for it, and when and when it does happen, you just execute on the plan. >> reporter: here is how one reporter at politico responded when we asked if the story came from another presidential campaign. >> my colleagues and i have been reporting this store eat past three weeks. in the course of that time, we talked to dozens of current, former employees at the organization, current former board members at the organization and a lot of folks in washington that are close to the organization. this has been an extensively reported story, thorough story,

and have a half dozen sources telling us about the various aspects of the claims against herman cain. >> reporter: he calls it an witch-hunt. he says there was an investigation done and that investigation determined there was no factual basis for what he calls false allegations against him of sexual harassment. joe johns, cnn, washington. >> you know what, we'll end it. i was talking to gloria allred, she said if only he would say what the amount of the settlements were, it might put it to rest. if it is a $10,000 settlement, people would think this woman was a nuisance and they wanted her to go away and she left. if it was a $95,000 settlement, that might say something different, that charges were serious. but because we don't know the details, it left people wondering. >> we don't know what the charges are and won't.

if they signed a confidentiality agreement with the settlement, we won't hear from them. >> he is not held to the confidentiality thing in the agreement, he can say what he wants to say. he puts it back on the restaurant association, saying it is a personnel matter, the restaurant association doesn't release details like that, but he can. so we'll see what he says on hln later today. a new movement bubbling now. occupy wall street protesters threatening to shut down the iowa caucus. organizers plan to gather in iowa one week before the vote is held january 3rd, calling it the first in the nation caucus occupation. they plan to occupy the offices of all candidates, including president obama's offices in iowa. >> the white house says president obama is looking forward to next year's presidential debates. we now know there will be three. the first, october 3rd at university of denver, second, october 16th on long island, and a third at lynn university in

boca raton tone, florida. president obama gets a clean bill of health according to his recent physical. the 50-year-old commander in chief said to be fit for duty and in excellent health. the report says the president is tobacco free, yes. they say he has quit smoking for good. her husband's popularity may have slipped, but first lady michelle obama's approval rating remains strong, according to a new poll. 56% have a positive impression of the first lady, unchanged from back in may. that's why they call her the president's secret weapon on the campaign trail. she remains extremely popular. we'll know when and if what role she will have in the election coming up. >> i bet it will be bigger. secretary of state clinton cancelling a trip to britain because her mother is ill. no other details of her illness were disclosed. dorothy rodham made several appearances with her during the

run for president in 2008. it was a bloody night in new orleans. one person died, as many as seven were wounded in a shooting after midnight. a reporter at the scene said officers shut down bore bon street for hours. not far from there, another person was injured by gunfire. police say it appears to be unrelated. could be friday before 1.7 million homes and businesses in five northeast states have power restored. 13 deaths now blamed on the freak weekend storm that triggered emergency declarations in new york, new jersey, connecticut, massachusetts. meantime, jetblue is apologizing for leaving passengers stranded on the tarmac for seven hours in hartford saturday. the airline releasing this video message on youtube. >> we know we let some of you down over the course of this weekend, and for that, we are truly sorry. going forward, we plan to fully participate with the department of transportation in cooperating with their investigation into

the events over the weekend. and we're also going to conduct an internal evaluation so we can learn from this event. >> jetblue faces $27,500 fines for each passenger it left stranded. in total, they could have to dole out 5 million bucks because of this. heavy rain in florida. coastal parts of miami-dade in flood warnings. they already rescued several drivers that stalled in standing water. in some places, people are warned to stay in their homes as the rain still is falling. check out new york city's halloween parade. thousands of people lined the streets in greenwich village. the parade has been around 39 years with dozens of bands and dancers and giant floats, and great costumes, from cute to very scary. up next on "american morning" supervise operating in broad daylight in the u.s.,

included that red headed russian bombshell, anna chapman. we have just released fbi spy tapes ahead. will he or won't he. we could know as early as today if conrad murray will testify in his own defense. and is nothing sacred, a favorite lunchtime staple is about to get more expensive. that's right. 12 minutes after the hour.

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[♪...] >> male announcer: book now, save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. welcome back to "american morning." michael jackson's death trial is wrapping up. in a few hours, a crucial decision, will dr. conrad murray take the stand? here is ted rowlands with a look at what we can expect. >> carol and christine, in a few hours we will find out definitively one way or another if dr. conrad murray will take the stand. at the end of court yesterday, the judge after the jury left asked murray flat out are you going to take the stand or aren't you, and murray said he

hasn't made up his mind. the judge said you better hurry up, you have until 8:30 tomorrow in court. he is expected to tell the judge one way or another if he takes the stand. that would be a bombshell if he decides he wants to get up in front of the jury. monday, there was fireworks in court between david walgren, lead prosecutor in the case, and dr. paul white rgs defense expert and star witness. walgren tried to dismantle the defense theory about how michael jackson died and also attacked white in the way dr. conrad murray acted after he found jackson unresponsive, specifically he asked white about the fact that murray waited 20 minutes to call 911. >> there's no justification for what conrad murray did in failing to immediately call 911, is there? >> as i said earlier, i think he should have called 911 sooner. i do not, however, think it would have made any difference in the outcome of this case.

>> white is still on the stand and will be up to finish his testimony when court resumes this morning. then the defense has one more witness, assuming murray doesn't testify, a late add if you will. so that will extend the defense case in chief by a few hours, although they told the judge after court they do expect to finish up their case at some point tomorrow again, assuming dr. conrad murray does not take the stand. carol, christine. >> thanks, ted rowlands. also new this morning, the parents of the missing missouri baby lisa irwin fired their lawyer. cindy short announced her split from baby lisa's legal team. she claimed it was because of friction with the lead attorney. police are vinvestigating the parents. she went missing in october. an arizona man found a man guilty of murdering nine people, he was convicted of other

assaults and kidnapping. they happened on baseline road in phoenix back in 2006. a judge in tennessee ordered officials to stop enforcing new rules that they were using to arrest occupy nashville protesters. last week, the state imposed a curfew, told protesters they needed permits to stay. the next morning, dozens of protesters were handcuffed and hauled away. the dean of london's st. paul cathedral resigned over occupy protests on the door steps. they set up over two weeks ago when their attempt to overtake london stock exchange failed. saint pause came under fire when they said they would take legal action to try to remove 200 tents from the square outside its main entrance. rob marcy and oh is in the weather center. good morning. >> good morning. temperatures in the northeast where snow is falling and in some cases melted away, some

cases it is there. 29 degrees in albany. temperatures in the freezing mark in the snow zone in the area where we have 1.7 people in the dark. some cases you can't fire up the furnace, so it is cold. 56 degrees expected in new york city. that's a couple degrees lower than it should be. average temperature is 58, 59 degrees and we had all that snow over the weekend. mild temperatures work into the area as we go through time. meanwhile, another storm dropping into inner mountain west. could see a foot of snow above the 8,000 foot mark. high plains will see snow as well. other than that, fairly quiet weather shaping up for today, a breather of a day. low clouds and gusty winds creating ground delays in some northeast airports. there's a system trying to get itself together, another nor'easter trying to make itself happen, but it will stay offshore. just light showers and clouds in the extreme northeast shore lines today. you mention the extreme rainfall

across florida. these are october rain totals for parts of south florida. veer oh beach, 21 inches, marathon, 20 inches, and miami seeing 15 inches of rainfall. places like miami, they average 60 or 70 inches a year, so to get that much in a month is a lot of rainfall. temperatures, 47 degrees in new york city. we are warming up somewhat since when i started the weather cast 60 seconds ago, guys. happy halloween. it is november 1st now. 30 days left before hurricane season is over. >> oh, great. i was telling carol, i have branches on my roof, i have a completely smashed swing set, 100-year-old oak tree disintegrating out there. it is crazy in the burbs. >> thanks, rob. now is the chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day.

the question, will sexual harassment allegations sink herman cain. you heard the ever shifting story now, started with a story in politico. two women accused cain of sexually impropriety in the '90s when he was head honcho for the american restaurant association. at first, his camp said the politico story was false, then cain denied there was a cash settlement, until he didn't. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i hope it wasn't for much because i didn't do anything. but the fact of the matter is i'm not aware of a settlement that came out of that accusation. >> by the time cain was on fox news, he had an epiphany. not only did he remember there was a cash settlement, he remembered the exact gesture that made one of his accusers uncomfortable. >> she was in my office one day and i made a gesture saying oh, and i was standing close to her, i made a gesture, you are the

same height as my wife. and brought my hand, didn't touch her, up to my chin and said you're the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin. >> none of this means cain is guilty of anything, but the shifting story matters to those that represent victims of sexual harassment. if cain is elected president, he will be head of the largest workplace in the nation. as attorney and women's advocate gloria allred said, the president must be the gold standard of employers. didn't we learn anything from the clinton era? the talk back question today. will sexual harassment accusations sink herman cain? facebook.com/americanmorning. read your comments later this hour. >> all right. ahead on "american morning," supervise among us. surveillance tapes of russian operatives in america released.

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good morning. welcome back. minding your business this morning, u.s. stock futures are down after a pretty bad day, a bad day that was, you know, a pretty good month, by the way. stocks falling sharply yesterday. dow off by 276 points, about 2%. selloff fueled by concerns about europe. and john coarse ien's company filing for bankruptcy after millions of bets on europe went bad. boeing will soon set up shop in an old space shuttle center at nas a they will use that space to test a new capsule designed to ferry new astronauts and cargo to the international space station. the deal excted t create more than 100 jobs. the list of major banks retreating from wildly unpopular

debit card fees is growing. suntrust and regents bank say they're going to stop charging customers $5 a mopt fnth for de cards. that leaves bank of america. they are stepping back and looking at provision that is would allow people to avoid the fee. hotels are piling on services that used to be free, like using the pool, getting a roll away bed. according to a study out of new york university, they are going to collect $1.8 billion in fees up from a decade ago. whether you prefer creamy or chunky, one thing is the same, the cost of peanut butter is going up. they're raising prices by as much as 40%. the reason, a poor peanut season. you will feel it in your pb and j. "american morning" back after this break. ♪

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and welcome back. almost 30 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. the top stories now. herman cain story keeps changing after a report of two women that accused him of sexual harassment in the '90s. cain acknowledged there was a payout, a big change from denials earlier yesterday. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i hope it wasn't for much because i didn't do anything. but the fact of the matter is i'm not aware of a settlement that came out of that accusation. >> i was aware that an agreement was reached. the word settlement versus the word agreement, you know, i'm not sure what they called it. i know that there was some sort of agreement, but because it ended up being minimal, they didn't have to bring it to me. >> cain thought back on what could have triggered the

allegations. all he could think of is when he stood next to the woman that made the allegations and noted she was about the same height as his wife. a halloween night bloodbath in new orleans. one person died, as many as seven were wounded in a shooting after midnight. not far from the scene, another person was injured by gunfire, two hours later, in what police say appears to be an unrelated incident. utility crews going how the to house, trying to restore power to 1.7 million customers. a freak weekend snowstorm triggered emergency declarations in new york, new jersey, massachusetts. at least 13 people have been killed bought of that nor'easter. the fbi has released video of the notorious anna chapman and other russian supervise conducting business in the business from an undercover operation called "ghost stories." jill dougherty is live with more. >> good morning. we've all seen the spy movies, but this is the real thing.

supervise, undercover fbi agents, all captured on videotape. just in time for halloween, the fbi releases a treasure trove of videos, photos, and heavily edited documents from operation ghost stories. a coincidence the fbi says, but it is an undercover peek at how a russian spy ring collected and passed on information, how the fbi trailed them, and finally cracked the operation. in one video from january 2010, anna chapman, the red headed bombshell who later went on to fame in moscow as a tv host sits in a new york coffee shop wearing designer sunglasses, unknowingly talking with an undercover fbi agent about problems with her laptop she use toss communicate with russian officials. you are ready for the next step, okay he asks? okay she says. this is not laptop to laptop, this is person to person, the

agent says. in another video, the classic spy technique, a brush pass as another spy trades a bagful of cash with a russian official as they pass in a train station. the fbi was forced to release material recorded over the decade the fbi had the ten russians under surveillance as part of a freedom of information act request. and it looks just like a spy movie. including one russian digging up a package of money from what in spy lingo is called a dead drop. this spy ring is over, but the fbi says it's not the end of the story. >> the u.s. remains the target of most of the world's spying, and again, as long as we have policy information, technology and research that the rest of the world wants, and as long as for enintel want a strategic advantage against us, we will continue to be the target of that kind of spying. >> and anna chapman and her spy colleagues were returned to

moscow as part of a spy swap as we remember. and it looks as if being a former intelligence agent might actually be good for your career. >> jill, how sophisticated were the techniques the supervise were using. some of that video at the train station is right out of a movie. sometimes they're smooth erin a movie. >> it was like a 1950s movie. some of those techniques were the old tried and true. when we talked with the fbi, they said some of the other things like anna chapman using that computer, she was using a mac laptop, and it was communicating with another computer that was in a van that was going around the city. in fact around that block and able to communicate. so there were more techniques that were a bit more cutting edge. so i think that's one of the reasons that they were concerned. obviously as the agent said, there are a lot of countries that still would like to be spying on the united states. >> and as you mention anna

chapman, she's a hero at home, got her own talk show. for her, getting thrown out of the country paid. >> it did. she's interesting. she has that kind of -- she was doing a few lingerie ads, and she was in men's magazines, but she's been promoting herself, vaguely involved in some political stuff and i understand some magazines dealing with financial issues. so obviously she's, you know, pretty intelligent and will parlay this into something good for herself, i'm sure. >> jill dougherty, the pictures are fascinating. ten years of surveillance. >> that was very cool. also new, libya's transitional government picks a new interim prime minister. the ntc elected an electrical engineer, born in tripoli, educated in the united states. he pledges to respect human rights and international law. he'll serve in the role until libya writes a constitution and

organizes a national election. no sign of relief yet from three months of catastrophic flooding in thailand. right now, there are new threats of water and insect born diseases like ma layer i can't. 370 people have died. japanese automaker honda is scrambling to protect factories exposed to rising waters. the company slashing production in six u.s. and canadian plants. the bankrupt capital of pennsylvania failing to get an agreement on a financial plan. a hearing over whether the city can pay its creditors. harrisburg, pennsylvania, is sitting on $310 million of debt it cannot pay for. all right. they're literally getting crafty. school officials warn about new brake lights kids are wearing that are more than a fashion craze. when you take them off, they're a pipe used to smoke pop. they are popping up in schools in florida.

they're expelling kids if they have been used to store or take drugs. >> i don't know if that's clever or not. you would think the kids would -- very strange. up next on "american morning," the white house going on the attack. the republican candidate there already targeted before the first primary is even held. and what's up with rick perry? everyone is talking about his new hampshire speech. was he just fired up like his campaign says he was? 38 minutes after the hour.

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41 minutes past the hour. welcome back. the white house isn't even waiting for the primary season to begin to figure out who the republican nominee for the president will be. the obama administration already targeting the man they think they will be facing, actually he will be facing next november. here is cnn's chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. >> you are now leading mr. cain in two national polls. >> romney is basically tied for the top spot with business man herman cain. >> a statistic cal tie. >> political watchers measure

who's up or down in a tight republican horse race, the obama re-election team is already focusing its fire power on mitt romney. top white house adviser david plouffe on meet the press. >> he has no core. you get the sense with mitt romney if he thought it was good to say the sky was green and grass was blue to win an election, he'd say it. >> ouch. and we haven't even gotten to iowa yet. convinced most voters still don't know much about romney, and persuaded he's likely to become the nominee, team obama is jumping in to define him while he's still distracted with the primaries. a biting two-pronged attack. one, they'll argue he is a flip flopper. press secretary jay carney. >> it is always a question as to where he is and where he might be on any issue. >> david axelrod. >> if you are willing to change positions on fundamental issues of principle, how can we know

what you would do as president. >> they say he is a creature of wall street who won't help the middle class. in a statement, obama campaign press secretary ben labolt said rather than restoring economic security for the middle class, mitt romney thinks we should join a race to the bottom by promoting outsourcing, loopholes, and risky financial deals. the president made the case after a debate where mitt romney said he won't support extension of the payroll tax cut. >> that's what he suggested we do during the debate, allow taxes to rise by up to a thousand dollars next year for struggling u.s. families. >> romney campaign is not letting those go unanswered. andrea saul issued a statement saying president obama and his allies already signaled they're going to run a campaign of personal destruction to quote,

kill, mitt romney because they're intimidated by his candidacy. americans know that mitt romney is a fiscally responsible business man who will put in place pro-growth policies that will create jobs and undo the damage caused by the failed obama presidency. the makings of a very harsh campaign indeed. jessica yellyellin, cnn, the wh house. 40,000 fewer preemies were born between 2006 and 2009. that bumped the country's grade from a d to a c. the grade is based on each state's preemie rates compared to the goal rates. the ntsb releasing a report saying a crash was caused by failing to properly put a track switch. disney worker had died in that

crash. it caused more than $24 million in damages. and cardinals manager tony larussa is retiring. managed 33 seasons in the major league, third in all time wins. two world series titles. two with the cards, one with the a's. >> it is amazing, he is retiring on top. isn't that the dream of everyone? the only question i have is what's up with his hair? i wish we had a picture of him with his hat off, because it is kind of strange. it is the largest crime spree in vancouver history. the riots after they lost the stanley cup. now the vancouver police recommend charges against 60 people arrested in june. charges include everything from assault to breaking and entering. officials say more arrests could be announced in a few weeks.

and field of dreams sold. a group of investors bought the farm that was featured in the movie. selling price wasn't disclosed. it was listed at $5.4 million. they plan to build a youth baseball complex next to the legendary diamond. >> they are going to model it after cal ripken's. field of dreams will remain, maybe build dreams for little guys and girls that will come. 46 minutes past the hour. rick perry's campaign hinted he may skip some debates. who needs debates when you're a one man show. the speech that has everyone buzzing.

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it is 49 minutes past the hour. here is what you need to know to start your day. herman cain now saying he never sexually harassed anyone after a report that at least two women accused him of that back in the '90s. cain now acknowledging there was a payout after denying he knew anything about any cash settlement earlier. halloween night turned into a bloodbath on bourbon street in new orleans. one person was killed, as many as seven wounded in a shooting just after midnight. 1.7 million people have no power in five northeast states, and officials say they may have to wait until friday before the lights and heat come back weekd at least 13 people. hundreds of people have been forced to stay in shelters. south florida on the other hand dealing with heavy rain and dangerous flooding. miami-dade and broward counties under flash flood warnings last night. in some areas, people are warned to stay in their homes. secretary of state hillary clinton is cancelling her trip

to britain and turkey because according to the state department, her mother is sick. dorothy rodham is 92. mrs. rodham made several campaign appearances with her daughter during clinton's run for president in 2008. big day in the trial of michael jackson's doctor. conrad murray has until the start of court this morning to decide if he will testify in his own defense. closing arguments and jury deliberations could begin as early as thursday. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" back after a break.

we asked to you talk back on

one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, will sexual harassment accusations sink herman cain? this from rita. mr. cain should have owned up to it from the beginning, but he changed his story, and that means he's done. at the same time, republicans forgive their candidates for their transgressions. this from kerry. i'm so confused. why would anyone think less of cain when it was perfectly okay for bill clinton to have monica. are there double standards here, one for democrats and one for republicans? why are we even discussing this? and this from maria. of course it will. any victims that initially supported cain are going to quickly turn their backs on him. his wavering stories aren't promising. he's losing my vote. if he hadn't done anything wrong, i wouldn't care, but the flip flopping is less than reassuring, not only on this matter but in regards to what he

would say if he became president. everyone talking about governor rick perry's lively and all over the place speech in new hampshire. everyone including jon stewart. >> so cane is possibly hobled. could rick perry, hurt by stiffness in his performance seize the moment in new hampshire this weekend. >> this is such a cool state. i mean, come on, live free or die. i mean, live free or die, victory or death, bring it! >> you're overcorrecting. don't worry. it gets worse. >> texas rangers after 50 years are going to win a world series! oops. the day has been awesome, girl. 20% flat tax, put it on there,

take the deductions off, send it in. i grew up on a farm. i grew up on a farm. that little plan i just shared with you doesn't force the granite state to expand your tax footprint, if you know what i mean. like 9% is expansion. >> all right. best case scenario, that dude's hammered. worst case scenario, that is perry sober, and every time we've seen him previously he's been hammered. >> i have got to go watch the whole speech. i want to know what percentage of the speech was that and what percentage was not. >> i'm telling you, he was funny, though. maybe he has another career in store as a comedian. >> he was relaxed and excited. >> he was relaxed, very relaxed.

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i am unaware of any sort of settlement. >> i was aware that an agreement was reached. >> herman cain's changing story about claims he sexually harassed two women ahead. what he thinks triggered one of the complaints. his time is up.

decision day in the trial of michael jackson's doctor, and this could be a game changer. will conrad murray take the stand. a new global gender gap report is out. some say empowering women could be the key to kick starting the economy. and don't worry, be happy. there's good news for those of you with the glass half full approach to life, the key to living longer on this "american morning". good morning to you. it is tuesday, november 1st. welcome to "american morning." herman cain now saying i never sexually harassed anyone. the gop frontrunner defending against a politico report of unnamed sources of two women that accused him of inappropriate behavior at the national restaurant association in the 1990s. the candidate and campaign seemed to have trouble getting the response straight in the past couple days. first cain denied he knew about

any settlement in the case. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i hope it wasn't for much because i didn't do anything. but the fact of the matter is i'm not aware of a settlement that came out of that accusation. >> thep a few hours after that, he a few hours after that, n a changed his story. th >> i was aware a settlement was reached. the word settlement versus the word agreement, i'm not sure what they called it. i know there was some sort of agreement, but because it ended up being minimal, they deputy have to bring it to me. my general counsel and the head of human resources had the authority to resolve this thing, so it wasn't one of those things where it got above a certain authority level and i had to sign it. if i did, and i don't think i did, i don't even remember signing it, because it was minimal in terms of what the agreement was. >> all right. many cain supporters rallied

around their candidate, defending the gop frontrunner and slamming the objectivity and sourcing of that report. >> and after acknowledging he was falsely accused of sexual harassment, cain said he tried to think back on what could have been perceived as offensive. here is what he said. >> but here's the one incident that i recall as the day has gone on. she was in my office one day and i made a gesture saying -- and i was standing close to her, and i made a gesture, you're the same height as my wife, and brought my hand, didn't touch her, up to my chin and said you're the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin, my wife of 43 years, and that was put in there as something that made her uncomfortable as part of the sexual harassment charge. that one little incident about the height thing was in my office, door open, plain view. my secretary sitting right outside the office, but in

reviewing her case, she couldn't find anybody to corroborate her story. >> he also said he had an office on the same floor as the woman, but he insisted he never traveled with her when he would go on speaking engagements. >> campaign watchers wonder how cain's team was caught so off guard. joe john is live in washington. good morning, joe. some say it looks like he is reaching back in his memory to remember what happened. others say this is not presidential and looks like he's trying to cover his tracks. either way, his team was caught flat footed. >> absolutely. it was not 24 hours ago he called it a witch-hunt, says there was internal investigation at the national restaurant association where he worked in the 1990s. that investigation he said determined there was no factual basis for what he called false allegations, but in hindsight, it took a long time for cain himself to come out publicly and admit there had been a complaint, false or otherwise.

it's never a good day for a presidential campaign when the candidate's name appears in the morning headlines in a story about alleged sexually inappropriate behavior. but from a campaign management standpoint, this may be a textbook example of how not to handle a crisis. politico which broke the story said there was plenty of warning. it first asked the campaign about this ten days before this confrontational interview outside cbs on sunday. >> i'm not going to -- i'm not going to comment on that. >> when the campaign's chief of staff was asked about politico's allegation two women received settlements, he seemed confused, too, saying he was not aware of any just hours before the candidate said publicly that he had been falsely accused, herman cain's words, of sexual harassment. cnn political analyst rich galen says it sounds like there was plenty of time for the campaign to prepare for the story to hit. >> this is the kind of thing that you see with campaigns that

aren't very skilled and very experienced. every campaign will have a bad time. every campaign will have to explain something they didn't think they were going to have to explain, but you practice it, try to get ready for it, and when it does happen, if it does happen, you just have to execute on the plan. >> here is how one reporter at politico responded when we asked if the story came from another republican presidential campaign. >> now my colleagues and i have been reporting this story the last three weeks, in the course of that time we talked to dozens of current, former employees at the organization, current and former board members at the organization, and a lot of folks in washington who are close to the organization. so this has been an extensively reported story, a thorough story. and we have a half dozen sources telling us about various aspects of these claims against mr. cain. >> the problem for the campaign is when you have a story like this, people want to know more. the campaign strategy so far has been to try to turn it into a

media story, accusing the media of drumming up false allegations in attempt to discredit the candidate, which could work, unless new details start to trickle in to keep the story alive. >> what does it say about the political savvy of the team around him? >> it certainly says they had some problems, some challenges. it is very interesting it took so long for them to figure out how they're going to proceed on this. it looked like as one republican analyst told me, it looked to them like nobody wanted to go to the candidate and give him bad news and start planning for contingencies. >> because the news had been so good for them up to that point, they hadn't suffered any set back like this in terms of strategy and planning. real interesting stuff. thanks, joe. also new this morning, it was a bloody halloween on bourbon street. one person died, as many as seven were wounded in a shooting after midnight. they shut down bourbon street

for hours. not far from the scene, another person was injured by gunfire, police say it appears to be an unrelated incident. could be friday before 1.7 homes and businesses in five northeastern states have power restored. at least 13 people died because of the freak weekend storm that triggered emergency declarations in new york, new jersey, connecticut, and massachusetts. in the meantime, jetblue is apologizing for leaving passengers on the tarmac seven hours in hartford. the airline releasing this video message on youtube. >> we know we let some of you down over the course of this weekend, and for that, we are truly sorry. going forward, we plan to fully participate with the department of transportation in cooperating with their investigation into events over the weekend, and we're also going to conduct internal evaluation so we can learn from this event. >> jetblue faces fines of $27,500 per person stranded on that plane. add them all together, there

were 200 passengers aboard, that's about 5 million bucks. >> they get a nice apology but don't get their seven hours back. heavy rain causing severe flooding in south florida. coastal areas in miami-dade under flash flood warnings. they rescued several stranded drivers. in some neighborhoods, people are warned to stay in their homes as the rain continues to fall. could be a big day in the trial of michael jackson's doctor. conrad murray has until the start of court this morning to decide if he will testify in his own defense. as of yesterday, murray said he was undecided. if he chooses to stay silent, testimony in the trial is likely to end today. closing arguments could begin as early as thursday. a new movement bubbling. occupy wall street protesters threatening to shut down the iowa caucus. organizers say they plan to gather in iowa one week before the vote is held january 3rd. they're calling it the first in the nation caucus occupation.

plan to pie the offices of all including obama in that state. secretary of state clinton is cancelling a trip to turkey because her mother is ill. no other details were disclosed. dorothy rodham made several campaign appearances with her daughter during clinton's run for president in 2008. and president obama gets a clean bill of health. according to the recent physical, the 50-year-old is fit for duty and in excellent health. the report also says the president is tobacco free. this is the first official confirmation of what the president's spokesman has been saying the past year, that the president has quit smoking. still to come, a new report is out measuring the global gender gap. which countries fair the best. we'll talk to one of the authors straight ahead. and pressure mounts as we get closer to the debt deadline. they urge the super committee to go big. what does the group want?

we'll fiepd out. and if you're happy and you know it, see what researchers said. ten minutes past the hour. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia.

12 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "american morning." solving america's debt crisis, yeah, right. that's the job of the high profile super committee, six republicans and six democrats. they have 23 days to come up with a way to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion. yes, that's a big task. and this morning, the committee is urged to go big by a group of bipartisan house members. joining me now, democratic congressman jim cooper of tennessee and republican congressman read ribble from wisconsin. welcome, gentlemen. >> good morning, carol. >> good morning, carol. >> good morning. thank you for being here. it is nice to see a republican and democrat together and talking. so you have written a letter, you have about 100 members signed up in support of this letter. so tell us what the 100

lawmakers have agreed to and give us an idea how many democrats and how many republicans you've signed up, representative cooper. >> we're asking the super committee to be brave, to do the right thing for america. if they do that, we've got their backs. basically we want everything on the table. >> you say be brave. so representative ribble, what does that mean, be brave, have courage? >> i think for us, we want the super committee to feel empowered to go much larger than 1.5 trillion. if we look at $1.5 trillion in the course of a decade, that's only reducing spending about 2.7%. if they could go to 4 trillion, now we are at 9.5%. and we're encouraging them to do so and lead with courage. >> congressman, the biggest hurdles are retirement reform and taxes. are republicans in favor of some tax increases?

are democrats in favor of reforms to entitlements? >> i'll take it on the republican side, carol. i think what we're looking for is to encourage the committee to look at three things. we want whatever they come out with to be fair, to have sound policy, and to recognize the economic realities of what we are facing today. tax rates don't correlate much to what actual revenue is, but if we would remove some of the subsidies and tax give aways, we would have the money to reduce rates and spur economic growth which would increase revenue. >> would that satisfy things on this super committee do you think? i mean, the republicans especially? >> i think that that's a place to start. and that's the whole purpose of the letter, to show them there is some bipartisan support for them to look at this in a much bigger, long term approach. >> so you know, you're sending this letter, and there are 100 lawmakers that signed on, but they don't have the super committee, it is acting on its own, you are sort of outside the

mix. how much clout will the letter really have? >> i think you'll see it has a great influence because the super committee wants to know whatever they recommend and it is coming out november 23rd that it will be able to pass congress. we have to vote by december 23rd, by christmas. 100 signatures on the letter means it has a lot of momentum. i think that will encourage the super committee to do the right thing. >> congressman ribble, i want to ask you about the approval rating of congress. >> yeah. >> there was a new "the new york times" poll down to 9%. that means only your relatives and friends pretty much support you guys. what does that feel like? >> well, i mean, as a new freshman member, i expected some of this to happen, but i tell you, the american people have a right to be cynical. i came into the job cynical back in january. hasn't been a lot i've seen today to make me less cynical. however, here's a case where congressman cooper and i have become friends. we're a little more pragmatic.

we want to see the future better for our children and grandchildren, and you know, we all have to lay down our swords, stop poking each other in the eye, try to get something done here. it is time we start to walk the walk, talk the talk. that's just the reality of it. >> that sounds like such a simple thing to do. it is like sit down, talk it out, and compromise. so congressman cooper, why can't congress do that? >> well, you're right, carol, we should be able to do it, it's for the good of the country. we should be able to come together and compromise. democrats often times want to completely protect all entitlement programs forever, republicans don't want to hear the t word about taxes. there has to be a solution somewhere in the middle to reduce some debt so we have a stronger financial future for our country. we can do this. >> congressman ribble, we hear it all the time. hear it from lawmakers like you that yes, compromise is possible and yes, we should be doing these things, but we don't see it in action. >> well, we see it sometimes in

action, and we see it with this letter that's being written. i think one of the mysteries and maybe the wisdom of the super committee is that you're doing something in a bi-camera way and doing some of it bipartisan. if you address the big drivers of debt, defense spending, medicare, social security, chances are better if we step together into the pond and say we'll do it together. what that will do is it will force the political parties and their committees to not be able to use it as a weapon against each other. we have to take those weapons away, and we have to be able to -- sometimes i feel like i'm in a classroom of six-year-olds. >> i think many americans would probably agree with you. >> they would. >> i hope your letter makes a difference. the super committee doesn't have much time to come up with whatever plan they're going to come up with. representative cooper and ribble, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> if you cut $1.2 trillion or

$1.5 trillion out of the deficit, you're still running up the national debt. that doesn't start to eat at the national debt. that's where the go big strategy is coming from. even what they have to do which is politically dangerous and differ still isn't enough. we are shoveling in the northeast, a lot of people don't have power. rob marciano. good morning. >> good morning. the numbers are coming down slowly, but there's so many people without power, there's not enough man power to get the power lines back up. you have to clear the roadways and clear the lines. here is fresh video coming in from connecticut where -- that's one of the hardest-hit states. even at this hour, 690,000 people remain without power. and you bet that everyone in the communities, especially upstate are having a hard time clearing what needs to be cleared to get power crews in there to get the job done. probably be at least until end of the week before everybody is

up and running. 20 inches of snow at bradley international airport. and another nor'easter developing, couple of light showers on the immediate shoreline, don't worry about this. dry weather, fairly mild weather, although in the areas that still have snow on the ground, temperatures around the freezing mark. snow is refrigerating the ground. we continue the melting process. temperatures well above freezing mark into the 50s. the average in new york city close to 60 this time of year, 56 still a little below average. we'll see more mild air coming in the next couple days. meanwhile, another system is dropping into the colorado rockies and mountains of wyoming and through the high plains of western nebraska. winter storm warnings are posted for the area, could see several inches, a couple of feet potentially at higher elevations. if traveling the nation, an in between day. low clouds and wind resulting in some delays across the northeast. other than that, quiet.

southern california, for those of you waking up super early or going to bed late, santa ana winds and it will be dry and breezy. back to you. >> thank you, rob. now is the chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning. will sexual harassment allegations sink herman cain? you heard his ever shifting story by now. started with a story in politico. two women accuse cain of sexual i am propriority in the '90s when he was head honcho for the national restaurant association. at first, cain's camp said it was false, a witch-hunt. then he denied there was a cash settlement until he didn't. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. >> i was aware that an agreement was reached. >> yes. by the time cain was on fox news, he had an epiphany. not only did he remember there was a cash settlement, he remembered the exact gesture that made one of his accusers

uncomfortable. >> she was in my office one day and i made a gesture, and i was standing close to her. i made a gesture, you're the same height as my wife, brought my hand, didn't touch her, up to my chin, and said you're the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin. >> none of this means cain is guilty of anything, but his ever shifting story matters to those that represent victims of sexual harassment. if cain is elected president, he will be head of the largest workplace in the nation. as attorney and women's advocate gloria allred told me, the president must be the gold standard of employers. didn't we learn anything from the clinton era? so the talk back question for you this morning. will sexual harassment accusations sink herman cain? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. still ahead, is nothing

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capital and employee benefits, so american business can get on with business. ♪ welcome back. minding your business. u.s. stock futures are down after a bad day yesterday after what was a pretty good month. stocks fell sharply. the dow off 276 points, 2%. that sell off fueled by concerns about europe. and jon coarse ien's company filing for bankruptcy after bets

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and good morning to you. welcome back. it is 31 minutes past the hour. new developments from a violent halloween night on bourbon street in new orleans. there were four separate shootings according to wwl. cnn is working now to confirm the numbers. 1.7 million people still without power in five states in the northeast. and they're being told it could be until friday before their lights and heat come back on. the death toll now stands at 13

from this weekend's freak snowstorm. governors in connecticut, massachusetts, new york, and new jersey all seeking federal disaster relief. from bankers to the ballot, occupy wall street protesters are threatening to shut down the iowa caucus. organizers plan to gather in iowa one week before the vote is held january 3rd. they plan to occupy campaign offices of all candidates, including president obama's offices in iowa. herman cain saying he never sexually harassed anyone after a report at least two women accused him back in the 1990s. last night on fox news, he talked about a gesture that may have triggered one of those claims. >> here is the one incident i recall as the day has gone on. she was in my office one day, and i made a gesture saying oh, and i was standing close to her, and i made a gesture, you're the same height as my wife, and brought my hand, didn't touch her, up to my chin, and said

you're the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin, my wife of 43 years. and that was put in there as something that made her uncomfortable as part of the sexual harassment charge. >> cain also now acknowledging there was a payout involved, big change from his denials earlier yesterday. the trial of michael jackson's doctor is wrapping up. this morning, a crucial decision, will dr. conrad murray take the stand? here is ted rowlands with a look at what we can expect. >> reporter: in a few hours, we'll find out definitively one way or another if dr. conrad murray will take the stand. at the end of court yesterday, the judge after the jury left asked murray flat out are you going to take the stand or aren't you, and murray said he hasn't made up his mind yet. the judge said well, you better hurry up. you have until tomorrow morning before court. so at 8:30 pacific time, murray is expected to tell the judge one way or another if he takes the stand. of course, that would be a bombshell if he decides he does

want to get up in front of the jury. monday, there was fireworks in court between david walgren, the lead prosecutor in the case, and dr. paul white, the defense expert and star witness. walgren tried to dismantle the defense theory about how michael jackson died and also attacked white in the way dr. conrad murray acted after he found jackson unresponsive, specifically he asked white about the fact that murray waited 20 minutes to call 911. >> there's no justification for what conrad murray did in failing to immediately call 911, is there? >> as i said earlier, i think he should have called 911 sooner. i do not, however, think it would have made any difference in the outcome of this case. >> now, white is still on the stand, so he'll be back on the stand to finish his testimony when court resumes later this morning. then the defense has one more witness, assuming murray doesn't testify, this is a late add if you will. so that will extend the defense case in chief by a few hours, although they told the judge

after court they do expect to finish up their case at some point tomorrow. again, that is assuming that dr. conrad murray does not take the stand. carol, christine? >> thank you, ted. be sure to check out our sister network, hln, your place for expert coverage of the case against dr. conrad murray. still ahead, where in the world is it best to be a woman? we're going to give you a hint. the united states is not on the top of the list. new info out on the global gender gap, including where we rank and where we're falling short. 35 minutes after the hour. >> that's depressing. [ male announcer ] you've climbed a few mountains during your time. and having a partner like northern trust -- one of the nation's largest wealth managers -- makes all the difference. our goals-based investment strategies are tailored to your needs and overseen by experts who seek to maximize opportunities

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mostly cloudy. 47 this morning. sunny and 56 later so some of the snow can melt so the work crews can get out in the northeast and start fixing all of the power lines. all right. the global gender gap, the inequality of men and women with political, educational, opportunities. no country has yet to achieve true gender equality. many say empowering women is the key to unlocking potential and stimulating economies. getting the economy to grow again by empowering women. the global gender gap report is being released today. we are joined by the director. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> four measures i bring to the index. economic participation, education, political empowerment and health and survival. where is it the best place to be a woman today? >> if you look at the rankings, the nordic countries come out on top. these are countries that closed the gaps on health and education a long time ago. they have got the returns on

that investment by ensuring women are able to participate in the economy and they're part of decision making structures. however, they have not yet closed the gender gap. the highest country in the world, ice land, closed 85% of the gender gap. >> 85% means a little more, there could be true gender equality there? >> essentially what's lacking is the leadership positions in politics and in the economy. >> we saw the u.s. rank 17 on that list. when you look at the trouble spot for the u.s., it may well be political empowerment. women makeup 17% of the house and senate. never been a female president. what if there was more female representation in washington, d.c.? perhaps maybe there wouldn't be gridlock and better -- >> there are two things. you can say based on previous research, one is logical, equity argument. women makeup 50% of the population, they should be represented at the top of

decision making structures. the second is some interesting evidence that's come out of india that looked at the quote as put in place at the local levels of government. they found women make different choices, different spending decisions when they're responsible for budgets. they make choices that are better for longer term community development versus men. so yes, it would be a different set of choices. >> interesting. you mention india. you mention brazil, russia, china, they rank farther down the list than the u.s. at 17, so they have a lot of work to do as well. you look at countries, the number one thing you can say this is the way to get more representation for women in business, in politics, to close that gender gap? >> so the countries that are the best poised to essentially make that leap are the countries where women already makeup not even equal numbers but the majority of those in, for example, in higher education, in primary, secondary education, women in a lot of countries in

the world are actually starting to be the majority. and so these countries are best poised to make that next leap. they have to remove the barriers to women's economic participation. you take two extreme examples. japan, for example. close the gap on education a long time ago, highly skilled women, yet the labor force participation rate is half that of men. so the next stage of development would essentially be to remove the barriers to women's economic participation. make it possible for women to be able to combine work and family essentially. >> when you look at the u.s. last week, i was reporting the headline that "fortune" record number of women running fortune 500 companies, 18, i think when i started my reporting career it was 11. when you think of 18 out of those, that's essentially the issue. that any progress is very incremental, isn't it?

gl we look at the entire 114 countries covered in the last six years, there's actually good news. 85% of these countries have made progress. a little progress, a lot of progress, depends on the country. 15% are either staying the same, plat ohhing out, or moving backwards. by and large, the world is making progress. and i think that's fairly positive news after six years of producing the index. >> the gender gap, ice land, norway, finland, the top ranked. some of the fast growing economies are much lower. nice to meet you. thanks for coming by. >> thank you. >> carol? 138,888. it is the wedding that was worth every penny of it, or was it, every minute of every penny of it. you know which one i'm talking about. it is 43 minutes after the hour.

it is 45 minutes past the hour. here are the morning headlines. two people were killed, 15 others wounded during four separate shootings last night on bourbon street in new orleans, according to wwl. cnn is working now to confirm those numbers. herman cain now saying he never sexually harassed anyone after a report that at least two women accused him of that back in the '90s. cain also now acknowledging there was a payout after denying he never knew about any such agreement earlier. a big day in the trial of michael jackson's doctor. conrad murray has until start of court this morning to decide if he will testify in his own defense. closing arguments and jury deliberations could begin as early as thursday. occupy wall street

protesters threaten to shut down the iowa caucus. organizers plan to gather in iowa one week before the vote is held january 3rd. they're calling it the first in the nation caucus occupation. markets are on track to extend losses from yesterday. the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 futures are trading lower because of what else, concerns about europe's bailout deal. 1.7 people without power may have to wait until friday before the lights and heat come back on. almost half all those outages are in connecticut where dozens of shelters have been set up. last weekend's freak snowstorm left at least 13 people dead. flash flood warnings in south florida. heavy rain causing big problems in miami, dade, broward counties. police already rescued several stranded drivers and in some neighborhoods, homeowners are told to stay inside. and a special honor for the crew of space shuttle "atlantis." they get to meet the president in the oval office this

afternoon. atlantis was the last mission for the shuttle program. and that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" back after a break. ♪ [ cellphone rings ] cut! [ monica ] i have a small part in a big movie.

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nice clear morning in atlanta. about 40 degrees now. it will be sunny and 68 later today. >> atlanta has the greatest weather. >> except when it doesn't. when it is hot and steamy. welcome back. this morning's romans' numeral, 138 stks $888 if you prorate the length of kim kardashian's marriage. 138 grand a day. 72 days! can you believe that? >> i'm just surprised everybody thought that was a real wedding, with real love shared between the two. everybody is like oh, she took us for a ride. well duh! >> kim kardashian released a statement about her divorce from kris humphries saying it wasn't an easy decision after 72 days, prorates to that per day. sometimes things don't work out as planned. the cost of that wedding was covered by other people. >> didn't they make something

like $17 million off the wedding? >> yeah. i mean, yeah, everything was sponsored. >> i read the real reason was he wanted to move back to minnesota and minnesota and live a quiet life and she said, oh, no way, i'm a career girl. it's just like ridiculous. anyway, moving along. school officials now warning parents about new bracelets that kids are wearing that are a lot more than just a fashion craze. when you take the bracelets off, it actually turns into a pipe. a pipe used to smoke pot. >> looks like a bracelet. maybe or a necklace. >> yeah. >> or -- >> but it must have something to do with drugs. >> there's a cap that you undo and the entire thing -- >> becomes a pipe. >> if i saw that on one of my friends, i would not think twice about it. if they never figured it out, it's really smart. >> these things have been popping up all over central florida. schools are now suspending

students just for having them and expelling kids if they've been used to store or take any drugs. in am house call, a nice reason to smile this morning. a new study shows people who report feeling happy don't just live better, they may actually live longer. he who laughs last laughs longest and best. elizabeth cohen joins us more from atlanta with more. are you feeling happy this morning, elizabeth? >> i am feeling happy because i learned how useful it is to feel happy. >> you can gleefully enjoy that your mean boss will not live as long as you. >> that's an excellent point. >> i don't know if revenge makes you last longer. >> that is an excellent point. this is such an interesting study that they did in england. they looked at 4,000 people ages 52 to 79 and they measured their happiness. what they found is that if they were happy, they were 35% less likely to die during the five-year course of the study. so, there you go.

there seems to be a relationship between happiness and long life. >> how happy exactly do you need to be to live longer? >> you need to be ecstatic. you don't need to be that happy. these people weren't crazy happy, just people who were happy and satisfied with life. >> happy and satisfied. that's all it took. >> how did they determine if they were happy? >> what they did is asked the people to rate their happiness four times a day. when they woke up in the morning and when they went to bed at night and two times in between and they asked them to rate how happy they were feeling. >> it's just, i understand why there would be a connection, you know, the power of positive thinking in all that, but i can't understand how they would actually link the two. they studied a number of people over a certain number of years and they answered those questions you were talking about. but then, really? >> really. and there seems to be a be a biological mechanism here. one of the mechanisms might be

when you're happier you have fewer stress hormones circulating throughout your body and stress hormones are bad for your cardio vascular system. >> what if i am a negative person. which i am. at what point do i need to be really, really happy to prolong my life? >> i want to make a distinction here between someone who is a critical thinker, such as yourself. someone who wants to make sure they do a good job and they're aware that they want to perform well. you know, that's not an unhappy person. that's a person who wants to do their job well. that's something different. you know, we're talking about unhappiness versus happiness and to answer your question, it's never too late to be happy. you could, doctors say you could get becaupositive medical outco and doctors think at your annual checkup ought to acquire to your level of happiness because that's an important part of your health.

>> well, okay. i'll work on being happier more often. >> thanks, elizabeth. >> i exercise and eat right, i might as well add that into the mix. better than a multivitamin. >> at mile five, just remember to smile. we ask you to talk back this morning. the question this morning, will sexual harassment accusations sink herman cain? linda says, herman cain will sink herman cain. this soft shoe back pedaling he's doing in regard to the subject is laughable. the idea that anyone would consider him as presidential material even before this matter shows how delutional people are in this questionable political. someone compared herman cain to clinton. well in clinton's case the issue was consensual and sexual harassment is never consensual. he keeps contradicting himself. why can't he just come clean and move on. this from john, i could care less what happened 20 years ago.

i care about now. this from cela, what will sink mr. cain in light of these accusations is not that he keeps flip-flopping or even that there was a settlement it is that he thinks the incidents of a woman accusing him of sexual harassment is too meaningless to even recall. facebook.com/americanmorning. we'll read more later on in our show. top stories when we turn. plus, it's governor rick perry like you've never seen him before. the unusual speech in new hampshire that has now gone viral. >> it is unusual. jetblue response after their flight to new jersey leaves travelers stranded on the tarmac for seven hours. well, we'll let you hear jetblue's apology for yourself. five minutes until the top of the hour. and i'm jennifer north. opening a restaurant is utterly terrifying. we lost well over half of our funding when everything took a big dip.

i don't think anyone would open up a restaurant if they knew what that moment is like. ♪ day 1, everything happened at once. ♪ i don't know how long that day was. we went home and let it sink in what we had just done. [ laughs ] ♪ word of mouth is everything, and word of mouth today is online. it all goes back to the mom and pop business founded within a family. ♪ when i found out i was pregnant, daniel was working on our second location. everyone will find out soon enough i think that something's happening. ♪ ♪

i'm carol costello. herman cain fighting back

against sexual allegation harassment answering the question, coo you have a wandering eye? he ran one of wall street's most powerful investment banks and now jon corzine is in the midst of one of the biggest bankruptcy filings in american history. what brought down corzine's wall street firm on this "american morning." and good morning to you, it is tuesday, november 1st already. ali has the day off. >> he sure does. >> up first, herman cain now saying, i never sexually harassed anyone. the gop frontrunner defending himself against the political report citing unnamed sources that claim two women accuse cain of inappropriate behavior during his tenure at the national restaurant association, you know, back in the 1990s. last night on fox news he talked about a hand gesture he made referring to a woman's height that may have been perceived as

some kind of advance. but cain said he didn't mean it like that at all. >> i believe i have a good sense for where you cross the line relative to sexual harassment, but you have to know the lady, the individual. and if you look at my entire 40-year career and you look at the fact that i worked of the department of the navy, coca-cola, ran a region for burger king, rain godfather's pizza. up to that point, not one accusation of sexual harassment. which meant that i did a pretty good job of knowing where to draw the line. i thought i had drawn the line and not infringed upon what was objsly perceived as sexual harassment on her part when i made the gesture about her height and i can't honestly even remember what was in the

accusation. >> asked cain whether he's too friendly for his own good. >> got a roaming eye at all? >> a roaming eye? >> yeah. >> i enjoy flowers like everybody else. >> i enjoy flowers like everybody else. >> you know what i mean. >> not at all. >> not at all? >> depends upon what you mean. >> i'm trying, women see sexual harassment sometimes very differently than men. >> correct. >> and you don't recall exactly and maybe it didn't occur, maybe there was no conversation. i mean, women, women can make it up and they can be telling the truth and it's always, it's always just two people alone hard to tell. so, i'm trying to get a sense of whether or not you're one of those guys that are a little too friendy and little too cozy when you're with a co-worker. >> here's what i can tell you. i know i never made any innuendoes with the lady that filed the complaint that we were talking about at first. none. >> zero. >> zero.

zero. none. >> cain is creating even more questions because his story changed so much over the past two days. cain is now acknowledging there was a payout involved, a big change from his denials just a few hours before. >> let's bring in our cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein and also the editorial director at the national journal. good morning. >> good morning. >> let's talk about herman cain. i guess we should look at how his answers changed yesterday. and the course of a few hours when he was asked specifically if there had been a cash settlement of any kind. let's listen. >> if the restaurant association did a settlement, i was not even aware of it. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. >> i was aware that an agreement was reached. the word settlement versus the word agreement, you know, i'm not sure what they called it.

>> and, yes, that was some sort of settlement or termination and i don't even know what the contents of that was. >> so, herman cain kept shifting his story, even though his campaign knew that politico was going to come out with this investigative report for a while. knew for at least ten days. what do you think is going on here, do you think? >> this is the flip side when you have an outsider candidate. this is someone who is not running for office and not vetted in other campaigns and who now, as a result, being forced to kind of learn on the fly how you respond to a very serious allegation. you know, on the one hand, i think this is unlikely to completely sink and derail his campaign because his base is the most conservative part of the american party. on the other hand, i think this will have a significant effect on his ability to grow. it's not likely to go away until he and the national restaurant association provide more information about what exactly

happened and what was done and what kind of settlements, if any, were offered. >> that's what i think. maybe he should sit down and he's not bound by this confidential settlement. he can say anything he wants about it. >> he was asked to, i believe he was asked to call on the restaurant association to release information without getting into the specifics of the women's name and so forth on exactly what happened. i think that would be the wise course. you're talking about someone who could be the republican nominee for president, potentially the leader of the free world. certainly all the relevant information about this while protecting privacy should be out there and i suspect until it is, this story will not completely go away for him. >> you mentioned conservative support because some conservatives are coming out in support of him like rush limbaugh and ann coulter. it's a witch-hunt and the libbial media trying to bury herman cain. is he really teflon because other things that he said during the campaign, i've heard him,

too, like on his stand on abortion and the shifting thing he had there. an electroified fence on the border and maybe let people coming over be electrocuted, killed by that fence and then he said, oh that was just a joke. >> i think we'll find out. look, part of what has propelled cain is the desire to have -- there is kind of a need, a demand need for a candidate to fill the role that he is filling. not a lot of information out there about him, people don't know a lot about him if you're a more casual republican voter and this is the first thing you learn about him, especially the shifting stories, that is nothing you will pull towards him. unless he is more able to effectively deal with the allegations and get a complete story out there about what is going on. >> let's talk about mitt romney who is enjoying all of this because herman cain is burying

himself. i want you to listen to something we caught on fox news sunday after they had just interviewed rick perry. listen. >> we have now interviewed all the major republican candidates in our 2012 one-on-one series except mitt romney. he has not appeared on this program or any sunday talk show since march of 2010. we invited governor romney, again, this week and his campaign says he's still not ready to sit down for an interview. >> so, romney really isn't granting inert views to anyone. i mean, george will even came down on him this weekend. he compared romney to michael dukakis and said he's not only more unelectable, but damage republican chances of winning the senate. >> i mean, obviously, george will very eloquently expresses the conservative case. he is calling a four corners offense. he is, you know, trying to basically run out the clock on the race and successfully kind of moved us back into the fall without engaging with the others

outside of the debates. their feeling is they have a solid hole on their piece of the party and none of these other alternatives have shown staying power. trying to keep the focus down and not really make any errors and they have been really very kind of consistently low key in that and it's worked for them because none of the other conservative alternatives to romney have been able to sustain the spotlight. >> i know you have brand-new polls to show us, so, take it away. >> we do this congressional connection pole al and the poll out across the week is a shot across both parties. do you want president obama to be re-elected or a republican in the white house and do you want the republicans to hold the house or democrats to take back the house? right now on both of these questions, the public is in a firing mood. you have a narrow plurality that is tilting towards putting the ins out and narrow plurality for the house. neither of these deficits are

insurmountable but it does show the broad level of discontent we're facing here and when you compare these polling results in particular to where president obama was in 2008 or where the republicans were in 2010, you see significant declines in their support in key groups. one particular thing that caught my eye, 28% of roughly 30% of minority voters said they wanted a republican rather than president obama in 2012. that's the measure of the fact that both young people and minorities, two of the absolute cornerstones of the licoalition are among the groups and they certainly need those voters in 2012. >> fascinating stuff, ron brownstein, thanks, as usual, for joining us this morning. not a great weekend for a couple gop contenders. everyone is talking about governor rick perry's very lively and all over the place speech in new hampshire. everyone including jon stewart. >> so, cain is possibly hobbled. could rick perry hurt by

stiffness in his debate performances seize the moment in new hampshire this weekend. >> this is such a cool state. live free or die. i mean, it's like, live free or die. victory or death. bring it. >> you're overcorrecting. don't worry, it gets worse. >> texas rangers, after 50 years, going to win a world series! oops. today has been awesome, girl. 20 her flat tax. i grew up on a farm. i grew up, i grew up on a farm. that little plan that i just shared with you doesn't force the granite state to expand your tax footprint. you know what i mean.

like 9% expansion. best case scenario, that dude's hammered. worse-case scenario, that is perry sober and every time we've seen him previously, he's been hammered. >> so last hour i said i wanted to make sure. they just cherry picked some good spots out of a otherwise very long and sober speech and, no, most of the speech was very animated like that. animated, joking. >> he was like your crazy uncle after thanksgiving dinner. you know, joking about stuff. >> how do you know my uncle is like that? >> he was trying to be funny because humor seems to work in this political climate but before he took it -- >> there you go. okay, still ahead, occupy wall street ocpicupy.

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happening right now, a confrontation between occupy portland, portland, oregon, protesters and the feds. eight to ten people now arrested. 40 officers on the scene, we're told. it's a little different situation than we've seen in other cities because protesters have spilled over into federal property because the feds actually own the property near city hall and that's where the protesters are. the department of homeland security has told these protesters to get off that land for some reason. they haven't really acted to do that. they're giving them some time. some unspecified time table and now police are moving in to arrest a few of those protesters. >> it's illegal to camp out on federal grounds and it doesn't appear that anyone is really left. they say they're ready to be arrested there and we're told that there have been eight to ten arrests in portland, oregon, from the portland, the occupy portland folks. this is a standoff. you're right, a little bit different than we've seen. this the federal government not involved, not exactly the city

mayors. an apology from jetblue. the airline facing millions of dollars of fines for leaving passengers stranded on the tarmac in hartford during the freak snow storm on saturday. a video posted on youtube. >> we know we let some of you down over the course of this weekend and for that we are truly sorry. going forward, we plan to fully participate with the department of transportation and cooperating with their investigation into the events over the weekend. and we're also going to conduct an internal evaluation so that we can learn from this event. >> jetblue faces a fine of $27,500 for each passenger that was stranded. let's head to atlanta and check in with rob marciano. jetblue says, we're sorry. >> i'd be sorry, yeah. >> i just wanted to pult you on the spot for some reason and i apologize for that. >> yeah. it seems to happen every year. some airline gets stuck in a bad

position and the passengers are stuck, as well, unhappily so. good morning, again, guys. start you out with numbers coming out of florida. the month of october just, you know, on the wet side. especially the southern half of florida, typically gets 60, 70, maybe 80 inches a year, so they get between 15 and 20 inches in a month, that's certainly unusual and considering they didn't really see any sort of landfall tropical system. let's look at some of the video coming out yesterday. a lot of this rain came in 24 to 36-hour period and, okay, well, that's connecticut storm video. and there's your miami flood video. there you go. tremendous amount of rain yesterday. in some cases, over four inches of it and that's just not enough for those areas to handle that situation. in connecticut, they still have 690,000 people without power and just clearing the roads and clearing the power lines that are down just to get the crews in there has been an obstacle and a lot of folks are chipping

in to do their part. some of the communities there. temperatures today, of course, will get above freezing. to about 56 degrees in new york city and that is right around where you should be for this time of year, matter of fact. so, to get 20 inches of snow just north of new york city when you average almost 60 degrees, that's certainly a remarkable storm. 69 degrees expoked in atlanta. fairly quiet the eastern third of the country. this has prompted a winter storm warning in more usual spots. although the high plains will get several inches of snow from denver back through parts of western nebraska and a decent shot of cold air, which this time of year, if the high pressure is strong enough, we'll get santa ana winds and we do expect that to happen tonight and tomorrow. our friends in southern california expect high fire danger with winds gusting 40 to 60 miles per hour, but it will be a dry and sunny to start your day today. guys, back up to you in new york. >> thanks, rob.

now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. with sexual harassment accusations herman cain. starting out with a report on politico two women accuse cain of sexual inpropriety back in the '90s. ka c at first cain's camp said it was false and a witchhunt and then he denied there was a cash settlement, until he didn't. >> i am unaware of any sort of settlement. >> i was aware that an agreement was reached. >> yes, by the time cain was on fox news he had an epiphany. not only did he remember there was a cash settlement, he remembered the exact gesture that made one of his accusers uncomfortable. >> she was in my office one day and i made a gesture saying, oh, i was standing close to her. and i made a gesture, you have

the same height as my wife and brought my hand up to my chin and said, you're the same height of my wife because my wife comes up to my chin. >> his shifting stories matters he will be head of the largest workplace in the nation. gloria allred told me the president must be the gold standard of employers. didn't we learn anything from the clinton era? so, the talk back question this morning, will sexual harassment accusations sink herman cain? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your responses later this hour. a check of the markets up next. plus, wall street and the world markets rattled by the sudden bankruptcy of mf global. this is a brokerage firm run by jon corzine. how bad is this meltdown? how did it happen?

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down on fears a new greek referendum could jeopardize europe's bailout deal. the world's most powerful political. europe's debt crisis expected to dominate those talks. at the summit, president obama is also expected to push for his latest jobs bill which remains stalled in congress. mf global. a financial firm run by jon corzine has filed for bankruptcy. the firm filed for chapter 11 after bad bets on europe helped put the company $439 billion in debt. according to government agencies, the company may have millions of dollars missing from its balance sheet. joining me now to talk about all of this william cohen blo bloomberg contributor. for ten years ago he was in politics, jon corzine, what happened here? did he take more risk, more risk, more risk and bury this

firm. >> christine, that's exactly what he did do. he has not sat on a trading desk for a trader in 25 years because in the interim period he ran goldman sachs and was in politics. he comes to mf global in march of 2010 determined to make this firm, which was basically considered a sleepy back water into a major risk taker in the markets. he thought there was an opportunity to make this firm more like golden sacks and to redeem his reputation to come into this firm and make it into a pour in the market. unfortunately, he took this major risk and, as we have learned all too often, it's all about confidence. if you lose confidence in these firms, you don't have anything. >> that risk was at a big discount, he bought the debt of some of these countries in europe, the debt that has been downgraded and downgraded. >> which may work out. >> but the market has lost confidence. >> exactly. >> what does it mean? i know commodity brokers who couldn't do their deals because

they were backed by mf global and commodities and world markets about this, what is the impact of this for the marketplace? >> well, i think there's good news and bad news. relatively good news. none of it is good news, especially for the 2,800 people who may lose their jobs at mf global. but the relative good news is this is not a lehman brothers or ing. this is a relatively small broker deal that has relationships, yes, with sophisticated institutional investors around the world and their deals, their various trades and the money they have at this firm, if it could be found as you alluded to in your opening. that will take years to work out. the lehman situation is now three plus years later and still in bankruptcy and creditors still haven't gotten their money, whatever it is they're going to get. this is going to take a long time. >> how soon after lehman could we be talking about a mini lehman? >> here is a guy that was

co-head of goldman sachs. he was a governor and senator from new jersey. a very, very smart sophisticated guy and pulling the same kind of stunt that he knows he should not be in effect lending long and borrowing short. what i mean by that, he shouldn't make this big investment in the discounted debt of european sovereign nations. at the same time, relying on overnight short-term funding to run his business. you can't do that. we learned that in spadthree ye ago. >> we have calls into the company and request for an interview. but this is clearly something that is really caused a lot of head scratching on wall street that it could happen again so soon. still the biggest financial bankruptcy since lehman brothers. all right, william cohan, thank you so much for joining us. coming up next, russian spies caught on tape. new fbi video show under cover fbi operatatives in action. a rare glimpse into their

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conrad murray has until the start of court this morning to decide if he will testify in his own defense. as of yesterday, murphy said he was undecided. from bankers to the ballot, i should say. "occupy wall street" protesters threatening to shut down the iowa caucus. they hope to gather in iowa one week before the vote is held on january 3rd. the clintons occupy the campaign office offices. after struggling to respond for more than 24 hours, herman cain now says he never sexually harassed anyone. the gop frontrunner reacting to a report that at least two women accused him of inappropriate behavior back in the '90s. last night on fox news, he also talked about a gesture that may have triggered one of those claims. >> here's the one incident that i recall as the day has gone on. she was in my office one day and i made a gesture saying, oh, i

was standing close to her. and i made a gesture, you have the same height as my wife. and brought my hand, didn't touch her. up to my chin and said, you're the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin. my wife of 43 years. and that was put in there as something that made her uncomfortable as part of the sexual harassment charge. >> cain also acknowledging there was a payout involved. big change from his denials of a payout yesterday. spies operating in broad daylight right here in the united states. the fbi has now released video of the red headed bombshell conducting their business here in the u.s. it's from an undercover surveillance operation called "ghost stories." jill dougherty joins us live from the state department this morning. and usually you have to get, you know, pay 20 bucks to get a ticket to see this kind of stuff. >> no popcorn.

you do not need popcorn for this because it is the real thing. the fbi was tracking them for about ten years and here's the result. just in time for halloween, the fbi releases a treasure-trove of videos, photos and heavily edited documents from ghost stories. a coincidence the fbi says is an undercover peek at how a russian spy ring collected and passed on information and how the fbi trailed them and finally cracked the operation. in one video from january 2010, anna chapman, the red headed bombshell who later went on to fame in moscow as a tv host sits in a new york coffee shop wearing designer sunglasses, unknowingly talking with an undercover fbi agent about problems with her laptop that she uses to communicate with russian officials. you're ready for the next step, okay, he asks. okay, she says. this is not laptop to laptop,

this is person-to-person, the agent says. in another video, the classic spy technique a brush pass as another spy trades off a bag full of cash with a russian official as they pass in a train station. the fbi was first to release the material recorded over the decade the fbi had the ten russians under surveillance as part of a freedom of informantation act request and it looks just like a spy movie. including one russian digging up a package of money from what in spy lingo is called a dead drop. this spy ring is over, but the fbi says it's not the end of the story. >> the u.s. remains the target of most of the world's spying and, again, as long as we have policy information, technology and research that the rest of the world wants and as long as foreign intel services want to gain a strategic advantage against us, we'll continue to be the target of that kind of spying. >> we're kind of laughing about

this because of anna chapman and she's endlessly fascinating, of course. there really are, as you heard from the fbi agent there, serious considerations. there are spies who don't look like anna chapman who are trying to get information in the united states and also don't forget the u.s. has spies abroad. so, it's a big business and a very serious one right now. >> in looking at that video, i mean, i remember initial stories about this russian spy ring that came out saying they were kind of inept and amateurish. did anything from the video tell you that, jill? >> not necessarily. i think initially the way it was interpreted is they were amateurs because they weren't getting sensitive, let's say military secrets. but that's not what they were supposed to be doing. they were supposed to be getting information on american culture, influential people and things like that. cultural directions, financial business, things like that. so, i think that although they

never really did, aapparently, according to the fbi, get anything that was very serious and compromising, they could have. and this is just one other thing that spy agencies around the world want to collect. where societies are going. >> right. >> well, one thing anna chapman did do, she became a star in russia. it all paid off for her. >> in almost an american way, actually. >> cross cultural influences. up next, the occupy wall street movement. do members really reflect the 99% of americans they represent? why aren't more men and women of color joining in this cause? cnn goes in depth on this. it's 36 minutes after the hour. i don't want healthy skin for a day.

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new developments this morning from "occupy portland,

oregon." dozens of officers in riot gear are at the scene there. the department of homeland security are there because protesters spilled over on to federal land. they were warned it is illegal to camp there on federal grounds. so far, everything has remained peaceful. stay with cnn for any further developments on this. we are the 99%. a familiar battle cry of the "occupy wall street" crowd. when you break it down by class and color, it is not representative of the real 99% of americans. our next guest says embracing race will be key to this movement's success. in depth this morning with peter joins us live this morning from philadelphia. good morning. >> good morning. >> when you look at the 99%, it's not really the 99% when you break it down by racial and even socio economic lines. tell me why. >> well, there are a number of different reasons why. this is a fairly complex issue,

first and foremost, when you think about a protest of this nature and you think about the way we want to include black folk and people of color, they will have to encounter the police in these kind of protests. the relationship between the police institutions and communities of certain color and communities of certain class makes the participation in "occupy wall street" skewed a little more towards people who don't have that same kind of negative history with confrontation with police. i think we should understand, there is some reluctance but the great thing is that occupy wall street understands this and kind of working internally to become more representative of the 99%. >> let's talk about that. wept down to the florida protests and that was in october and they survied the crowd, this is what they found. 70% on "occupy wall street" were

white. when you compare that with new york city's makeup you can see the people who have the time, the means or the impetus to protest are not exactly representative of the 99% here. many people have pointed out to me, as well, if you're working two jobs just to get by, you don't have the luxury of going down there. if you're taking care of three little kids, you can't go down there, maybe you're letting this progressive group speak for you. >> that's the irony of the situation is that the folk who have a little bit more f financiala tonomy. they have more time and leeway to go down there and protest and, yes, they do have to represent. what's interesting is that every issue that "occupy wall street" addresses is an issue that is central to the communities that want to be represented there. if you want to talk about income disparities and poor folk experience the worst income

disparities in this country. one thing that we need to consider here is that "occupy wall street" those numbers are not that bad. not strong for new york. new york numbers as you mentioned here, blacks are around 27%, latinos around 26%. those numbers are not that great for new york. if you look at those nationally, they're not that bad. a lot of other movements. the "occupy harlem" movement. when you pull all those movements together and just look at the energy and attention that is being paid to occupy wall street, i think they'll get it right. if you think about the tea party or the 1%, no one talks about the racial makeup of those groups. when we look now at "occupy wall street" an internal push to become more representative. >> you look at some of the groups that have been swept up and there is the green movement and there's, you know, there's free to bet. sometimes you see a lot of

anti-war folks. some of those groups individually also have not really embraced race as one of their core, i don't know, one of their core messages. that also feeds ninto it. >> another limitation, that those groups, especially the green movement. the issues they are talking about are issues that affect diverse populations sometimes in worse ways than the main stream population. we have to, obviously, as a counity and, obviously, as organizations become much more progressive about these issues. professionals for progress that was at the forefront of this move to try to get the banks to understand that they should not be charging these exorbitant fees. i wonder to what extent it is acknowledged or organizing around some of these issues and really xribticontributing to so this movement. >> you look at the legacy of the civil rights movement. it changed america. so many saying if this is our modern civil rights movement or

the genesis of it, it needs to be more inclusive. you think that will happen? >> i think it is happening. i think what we have to understand and we have to be patient here that "occupy wall street" wants to be more diverse and plenty of black and brown groups out there that want to be part of this movement. we just have to work together in a very organic way to bring those things together. i think that's already happening. i think that's already happening. >> james peterson, nice to talk to you this morning. thank you so much for dropping by. >> thank you for having me. morning headlines are next. it's 45 minutes after the hour. [ man ] i got this citi thank you card

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it is 48 minutes past the hour. here are your morning headlines. two people have now been arrested after bloodshed on bourbon street on halloween night. that's according to cnn affiliate wwl. herman cain now saying he never sexually harassed anyone after a request, after a report that two women accused him of that back in the '90s. cain now also acknowledging there was a cash payout after denying he knew anything about such an agreement. a big day in the trial of

michael jackson's dr. conrad murray has until the start this morning to decide if he will testify in his own defense. jury deliberations could begin as early as thursday. "occupy" protesters threatening to shut down the caucus. they plan to gather in iowa one week before the vote is held on january 3rd. they're calling it the first in the nation occupation caucus movement. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 futures all trading lower because of concerns of europe's bailout deal. 1.7 million people without power in five states are being told they may have to wait until friday until the lights and heat come back on. half of the outages are in connecticut where dozens of shelters are set up. last week's nor'easter left at least 13 dead. heavy rain triggering flash flood warnings. police in miami, dade, browerar

counties have stranded drivers. a special hawner for the crew of the space shuttle "atlantis." three months after flying the final shuttle mission they'll meet the president in the oval office this afternoon. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" back after a break. spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing.

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good morning, atlanta. high of 68 later today. in "am house call" now drinking ice cold water could be an effective way for overweight kids to burn calories. boys and girls ages 7 to 12 were tested in a new study. the cold water appears to increase the number of calories a child's body burns in order to maintain normal function in a resting state. if you replace the cold water with soda and orange juices and full of sugar, that's probably a good bet, too. if you toss and turn at night, chances are you could use a little more company. those with the greatest frequency of sleep problems also reported the highest degree of lonelines loneliness.

she told the voices in her head that she was in control, now, one woman is helping others to do the same. dr. sanjay gupta with this encouraging story for anyone that suffers from mental illness. this is today's human factor. >> i heard voices. i saw images of people following me that scared me. >> reporter: ashsly smith knows what it is like to nearly lose it all. >> i felt like my life was in danger. i felt family members on the street were against me. >> reporter: when she was in college, her sanity started slipping away. >> i thought everyone was against me. >> reporter: overwhelmed, ashley blamed it on stress. >> i would complain a lot about it and thought that if i just continue to cope with it the best way i knew how, i would get through it. >> reporter: but she didn't. ashley stole a military truck and led police on a high-speed chase. he send nded up in jail.

two months went by before she earned paranoid schizophrenia. 2 million americans have schizophrenia but in the african-american community mental illness is misunderstood and not often discussed. ashley did something remarkable. she decided to be open about her diagnosis with the goal of helping others. >> do i look like a person with schizophrenia? >> reporter: today she helps train law enforcement officers. they learn to recognize signs and symptoms of people with mental illness to help the officers intervene in a crisis. ashley has also started her own nonprofit organization. embracing my mind, which helps low income and homeless people with mental illness get help. she is studying to be a therapist. >> it's a life-long process to overcome schizophrenia. i do it through my medication, my support network, which is my team and my peers and family. >> reporter: ashley hopes sharing her story would reduce

stigma surrounding mental health. >> for those people newly diagnosed or still suffering or struggling with this illness, there are going to be ups and downs but it is very manageable and you can succeed. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. >> we ask you to talk back on our question of the day. the question is, will sexual harassment accusations sink herman cain? your responses, next. [ female announcer ] lactaid milk is easy to digest. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk.

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washington, d.c., mostly cloudy, 46 degrees. partly cloudy, 60 later on today. 23 days to go until that super committee makes their decisions. counting down the clock. let's talk about a man who wants to be in the white house there. subject of our talk back question this morning. will sexual harassment accusations sink herman cain? his campin would have sunk on his own. now he will be made to look like the victim of the liberal machine.

bad strategy. this from marine. by the time this sexual harassment nonsense, i'm not reading this right. the sexual -- >> the time it's getting, i apologize, probably my fault. the time that this sexual harassment nonsense is getting is an attempt is to deflect attention from the real economic issues. they are grasping at straws. this from eric. this allegation will sink his campaign, not because of any truth to the accusations because this is the focus of the inside the beltway media outlets. they'll latch on to this and pound it into the ground to clear out any opponents of the sitting presidents. this from dennis, he told different stories. the truth doesn't change, only lies do. i wouldn't trust cain to change my oil or sell me pizza, much less run my country. no thanks. please, ke t