in the morning, you'll wake up and say, today i'm eating a nice salad. >> all right. so you got to give them, the jokes are pretty good. but everyone else, imagine there's no pizza, it's easy if you try. on the ridiculist. thanks for watching. erin burnett starts now.

and out front tonight, big ideas. ron paul wants to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget. herman cain wants to toss out the current tax plan and go to 9-9-9. some people have laughed at the candidates for these big ideas, but the reality is a bold idea, not necessarily cain's or paul's, is what we need to break through the paralysis in washington that's hurting americans and america's reputation. paul, cain, and the other republican candidates are gathering in nevada for tomorrow's debate. and nevada is a place that needs a really big idea. the state's unemployment, 13.4%, highest in the united states of america. 4 percentage points above the national average. housing is a bust. nevada ranks number one in foreclosures. las vegas prices down almost 60% from the peak. we need big ideas we're going to be getting a democrat's view in just a moment with mike warner, but first let's find out if the nation is ready for a big idea. and what the response is to the cain and paul plans. gloria borger is cnn's chief political analyst, john avalon, columnist for "newsweek" and the

daily beast. great to have both of you with us. gloria, since you're out in vegas, why don't you give us the sense, what was the response to ron paul's plan today, which, of course, in addition to the trillion-dollar budget cut in year one also included getting rid of several federal agencies. >> reporter: i think republicans are very interested in hearing what ron paul has to say. he's been a -- someone who's been on the scene for quite some time. but when you scratch the surface, erin, you see that he wants to eliminate five cabinet departments. he wants to cut spending back to 2006 levels. but when you look at that, that would mean severe cuts in things like medicaid, children's health insurance programs, and, again, once you look at the details, people are going to start raising questions about it. one other thing, he doesn't touch social security or, guess what, medicare. and those, even to this

libertarian, seem to be sort of sacred cows, wouldn't you say, in an election year? >> that's an interesting point. john, what do you think about what gloria's saying, though? you come up with a big, bold idea, whatever it might be, from whatever side of the political spectrum, and then it gets pooped all over, because it's too bold. can anything really bold pass? >> in a divided government, of course, it's more difficult. but i agree that there's an obligation to propose big ideas. look, give ron paul points for philosophic consistency. he's been making these points for a long time and that's why his libertarian followers really do admire him, in a time where washington's really been gutless about proposing new ideas. the problem, however, is polarization. the problem is what you get in these primaries are people playing to the base with bumper sticker politics. and those plans almost by definition don't have a prayer of crossing over into mainstream support or getting bipartisan support which you need to divide and concur congress. >> gloria, what do you think these plans will do to the republican electorate? the cnn poll today sort of

amazed me that two-thirds of likely republican voters have not decided who they're going to vote for yet. >> reporter: well, they're kind of fickle right now, erin, i would have to say. you you know, these republican voters -- you look admit romney, he's the only one that's kind of at 25%. he's everyone's second choice, kind of. so they're looking around. and what these debates are really job interviews. and people haven't decided who they want to hire as the republican nominee. so i think it's kind of no surprise that right now, they're looking at the field and they're saying, okay, let's see what you have to offer. by the way, mitt romney had a complicated 59-point economic plan and he got taken on by herman cain, because it was too complicated. but this is a complicated country with big problems that require very complex solutions. >> i had an issue with that plan, i'm thinking, 59 -- why not 60? at least he could have got to an even number or something.

>> reporter: i'm with you. i'm with you. couldn't they have thought of one more point, right. >> john avalon, what do you think in terms of the three quarters of republican voters that are undecided. are they going to go bold or when push comes to shove, going to go more safe? >> it points to how disaffected they are with the field, the limits on mitt romney's campaign, the fact that he's stuck in the mid-20s, and the fact that no one's made the sale because people are feeling to anxious and frustrated and fearful about the future. people want major change in washington, but they want someone who can figure out a way to bring that change and bridge the divides that exist in politics. that's a tall order, but the responsibility of whoever's chief executive. >> gloria, john, thanks so much to both of you. if you're a republican running for president, you have an advantage, because you can come up with these big, bold ideas. because you're the guy trying to get the job. it's harder on the democratic side when the person running is an incumbent. but we wanted to talk democratic big ideas. and virginia center mark warner is adamant that ds and rs can strike a grand bargain. he's got some ideas himself, a member of the group of six, and

great to have you with us. really appreciate you taking the time. >> thanks, erin. >> let me ask you, senator warner, you've talked a lot about infrastructure, but when you talk about a big bold idea that comes from the d side of the aisle, where you sit, what would it be? >> let me give you two or three ideas. first of all, i think we need to acknowledge, we're coming out of the worst recession since the great depression, and government has already used its biggest tools. in any downturn, you use monetary policy to lower interest rates, we've done that, and you use government to stimulate the economy. we've kind of done that. so where do we stand now? we've got to look at what else we can do. infrastructure investment bank, not a new fannie and freddie, but actually an infrastructure investment bank, similar to what has been used in many other countries can jump-start infrastructure. we've turned from a competitive advantage into a competitive disadvantage. >> yeah, just to jump in quickly, we're number 23 in the world right now, the united states of america, on infrastructure quality. you see it in every airport you fly into anywhere else now. >> it doesn't make any sense to go to shanghai to see the world's fastest train or airports in the 21st century.

that makes no sense. we've got to figure out a way to bring in private capital. and i've been working on the so-called build act, bipartisan, should be able to get through, that says, let's encourage private capital to help us to reinvest in our infrastructure. >> and quickly, senator warner, how big would you make this infrastructure investment bank? >> i think that -- >> because the president pushed for it when he started the stimulus, he didn't get asp as he wanted. how big is big and bold when it comes to infrastructure today? >> one of the things about an infrastructure investment bank is $10 billion to $20 billion of capital could be leveraged up, in effect, with private capital on top of that, using the kind of export/import bank model. and you could end up with $500 billion, $600, $700 billion worth of projects that would get started on that. you'll need to also look at additional funding to infrastructure in its traditional source. right now the gas tax is a declining source of revenue, and obviously, nobody wants to touch the gas tax. but infrastructure would be one area. another area would be, i think it's time to take a fresh look at the housing market. in 2008, 2009, when t.a.r.p.

originally came out, it was supposed to be about fixing the housing market. it didn't do that. and then i think the general consensus among the experts was, let this housing problem just kind of work its way through. well, in states like nevada, california, arizona, florida, and the rest of the country, that's not happening. so there are some ideas out there about refinancing 20 million of the freddie and fannie owned mortgages of the current market rate at 4% or take a lot of the mortgages that are underwater and move to a rent-to-own program rather than the current, kind of simply having these folks go into foreclosure. >> would you put principle reduction on the table? >> i voted for principle reduction, as long as it was a narrowly defined universe. that window has passed, but i think that vote looks better and better at this point, as a way to kind of staunch, to still the bleeding that's going on in the housing market. a bold idea around housing. but they're also, i think you have to acknowledge, a need for some smaller ideas, because there may not be the single silver bullet.

so whether it's ideas about spectrum, ideas about reform of our food and drug administration to get medical devices and pharmaceuticals to the market quicker, whether it's about making sure that we no longer continue to educate the best and brightest from around the world and then send them home instead of stapling a green card to allow them to start these businesses here in america. there are ideas out there. >> and it's nice to hear them, because your optimism and can-do attitude is what everyone wants to hear a lot more of. i know that you were part of the gang of six and you've hosted dinners for both sides of the aisle. can you look the american people in the eye tonight and say there could be a grand bargain? that we're not just going to hear a, it's all about taxes on one side, all about spending on the other, and we're never going to get anywhere in washington. >> unless we are willing to put entitlement reform and tax reform that raises revenues into the mix, we're not going to do the job that we were hired to do. and frankly, i understand why everybody is -- congress is a, what, 8% approval rating at this point? >> yeah. >> i still believe we need a $4 trillion deal that that is grand bargain.

and there are 44 senators at this point, and we're still growing, that say if super committee goes large, we'll be there to support them even if it's not a perfect situation. >> i hope that they do and i hope that you can get it done. thank you so much, sir. >> thanks, erin. up next, a number of gop candidates propose building an electric fence along the mexican border. is this a big, bold idea that will solve america's immigration problem? and then dsk, that would be dominique strauss-kahn, caught up in another sex scandal. the top police officer accused of being his personal pimp. and a herman cain clip that is even better than we imagined. we cannot resist playing it for you tonight. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams.

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the number tonight, 50. that's the percent of americans

excuse to say, "i didn't know," but under the immigration system, it is an excuse to say i didn't know. under the clean water act, the fines are heavy, under the immigration law, they are not. many states have a requirement, if all did, it would make a big impression by taking away the incentive to migrate illegally. but a fence, we built a fence on the border of mexico between tijuana and san diego. it runs i think about 11 miles.

it took a decade to build because of all the litigation. there are wetlands in the rio grande. there's going to be litigation. it will take a century of lawsuits. and by then, everybody will have moved who wanted to move. use e-verify, the fence is just a gimmick, it won't work, it's just too slow. >> modern day hadran's mall. >> it's hispanic immigration reform. people aren't complaining about canadian nurses coming across the border to work in michigan. >> that's true, i was going to call david out on that. but i lit him get away with it. >> or eastern european waitresses working in bars. we're worried about mexican they've handed that captured

israeli soldier here in rafah. they may have filmed the process themselves. we may get video of that later on. we haven't seen a picture of gilad shalid yet. just the confirmation from the military wing that they've been holding him the last five years. he's now been transferred to egyptian security. we're also hearing an official from the israeli government has him. only one thing about the condition of gilad shalit. before the exchange took place, they changed his clothes. they gave him new clean clothes before the transfer, but that's the only information we've received about this soldier, now 24 years old, who's been in captivity here in gaza the past five years. rosemary? >> it's just extraordinary.

when would we expect to hear some details? people would want to know. this is more than five years later. they would want to know more about his current condition, how he's feeling, what he's thinking after such a long time in captivity. when are we likely to get more information on this? >> reporter: i've been pushing hamas officials to give me some information about shalit, but it's been totally taboo for the media to discuss with hamas officials. it's all been discussed by the more military wing of hamas, and they don't talk to us at all. what one official did tell me is, look, if you're interested in what shalit looks like, what he's feeling like, you're going to have to wait a few days until he arrives and israel, and you can ask him personally.

that's what we'll see over the course of the next few hours, the next few days. we'll get a much better picture obviously of shalit and his condition. what we're hoping for and what we may have been led to exist is video of shalit during his captivity. there's only been one video by hamas a couple years ago. he appeared looking very frail holding up a gaza newspaper. now that he's been handed back to israel and through egypt, the expectation is that we'll see a lot more video come out that's been taken by hamas, his captors, over the past five years. >> as you mentioned, we haven't had confirmation that he's actually with israeli authorities at this point.

just take us through, if you will, the process. when will he meet with his parents whorb parents, who have been solid supporters, obviously, since his capture in 2006. >> reporter: as far as i understand, he'll meet across the border in egypt. then he'll be taken to a southern military base and he'll get an initial medical check. if everything is fine, he'll be moved to an israeli air force base where he'll be debriefed and sent back to his family as soon as possible. what israeli officials have said is they hope to have him with his family as early as this afternoon local time. i think it's going to be quite a rapid process. the israelis are going to process gilad shalit, if you will, debrief him, make sure he's medically checked and reunited with his family as soon as possible.

>> matthew chance reporting there at rafah crossing. we want to say good-bye to our u.s. viewers, but just wrap if we can very quickly what we know. hamas has confirmed that israeli soldier gilad shalit has been released into egyptian authorities. he's with egyptian authorities at this point. this, of course, is after five years in captivity, captured by militants, palestinian militants back in 2006. at this point, we don't have confirmation as to whether he is actually with israeli authorities at this point, but the main point of this, of course, is that gilad shalit has been released after five years in captivity. we will continue to follow this story. we say good-bye to our u.s. viewers, as i said. we're going to take a very short break. back with more news in just a moment. the postal service is critical to our economy--

delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts.

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>> they frankly were never supposed to be seen by the public. some of the most popular ones include the chevrolet sales convention musical. oh, yeah. the wendy's grill skill wrap. those are burgers. and the bank of america

because presidential candidate herman cain has now officially joined past political pop stars like mike huckabee, howard dean, and, of course, bubba, in this just-released 1991 clip, the former godfathers pizza ceo dressed in a choir robe performs a pizza-themed version of john lennon's "imagine." and if you thought his 9-9-9 plan was catchy, wait until you hear this. imagine there's no pizza i couldn't if i tried eating only tacos >> i'm sorry, but what would america be without pizza? he's right. we just couldn't resist.

out front next, the president is accused of campaigning on taxpayers' dime. is his job tour really just about his job? and new developments in the michael jackson death trial. the toxicology reports may hurt conrad murray's chances of an acquittal. and nba commissioner david stern comes out front about whether we're going to get an nba season. will they play a single game? he's out front.

we start the second half of our show with stories we care about and focus on our own reporting and find the out front five. it was a rough day for the market. stocks fell sharply, down about 247 points thanks to worries that europe will not make a deal on their debt problem. we told you that's going to be a roller coaster ride. the dow the fell about 2.13%. david lux told us to watch for data out of china overnight. the world's current growth engine has economic numbers that come out throughout the night. it will be a big deal for our markets here. we need china to grow. number two, two indy drives have been released from the hospital following yesterday's crash that killed dan wheldon.

dash cam video shows the fiery crash, which involved 15 cars, it was shocking to watch this live. wheldon was a 33-year-old father of two. he suffered unsurvivable injuries. several fellow drivers have come out since and said the track was not suitable for 34 cars traveling more than 200 miles an hour. one such driver was darrio franchitti. watching it yesterday, i'm sure many of you did, like we did, there was a period of time when you had a lot of hope, especially when the helicopter left, that maybe mr. wheldon would make it. number three, the man behind president obama's auto bailout has a new job, finding ways to expand the u.s. postal office. his name is ron bloom and he's been hired by the national association of letter carriercarriers. bloom is tasked with one big goal, keeping saturday service. the postal service could soon run out of money.

it's looking to cut $20 billion in the next three years. and rimm, the maker of the blackberry announced today it's giving users $100 in free apps in a way to say, hey, sorry for last week's service outage but only a portion of blackberry users will benefit, because you have to on the in. it's not an automatic refund. sign up if you want the refund. it's not just good customer relations, it may spark interest in blackberry's app store. it is just not enough, sorry. number five, it has been 73 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? president obama began another bus tour, pushing his jobs proposal. this time, he was in north carolina and virginia. now, republicans are saying the road trip is about saving one job, his own. and you know there is a reason that they are suspicious. cnn's tom foreman has been looking at a map and what do you see there, tom? >> erin, you're right, there is a reason to be suspicious.

look, this is the 2008 result here. we know all the blue states went to president obama, all the red states went to john mccain. look where the president's been since mid-august of this year. all of his travel except for one trip to texas has been in blue states. and more importantly, look at the ones that have these lines on them. those are the states that he flipped from republican red to democratic blue in that election. and there is a preponderance of travel in those states. clearly the white house is looking very carefully and saying, how do we try angulate the electoral votes coming up. let's say all of these states that he flipped went neutral right now. that would put roughly 112 electoral votes up for grab. roughly, because there's been a change because of the census, but that's based on the last elections. if these changes started happening back to republicans, north carolina for 15, virginia for 13, ohio over here for 20, and then say indiana, which was very close anyway, went back over here, then the republicans

picked up something big like florida, look at the raise in those circumstances. suddenly the republicans would have the edge, the democrats would be on the defensive. this white house proved, erin, above all else in this last election, the president's team knows how to count votes. they did it in the primary very well. they did it in the election, the general election, very well, and that's clearly what's happening now. a lot of triangulating of all these electoral votes in all these states and saying, what is the magic combination that could get him the 270 that he needs. we'll see a lot more of this from him and the republicans over the next year. >> thank you very much and the map says a whole lot about why the republicans say the bus trip is much more than a sales pitch for jobs. here's mr. mccain. >> the president has taken to the road and -- i mean, he's spent a number of minutes attacking our plan and i understand that.

i think the question might be, though, is that appropriate on the taxpayers' dime, since it is clearly campaigning? >> all right. this is the white house announced it's pushing parts of the original bill piecemeal. senator john hoeven is on the appropriations committee. senator, i want to red to start first off with what senator mccain said, that the president is campaigning on the taxpayers' dime. do you think that's a fair charge or too harsh? >> well, we're concerned that the president and the administration need to start working with us on a long-term comprehensive approach that will stimulate private investment and get this economy going. he's out touring around the country essentially on what are sound bites when we need to be working of on comprehensive policy here in d.c. that will stimulate that private investment, get our economy going, and help create jobs.

>> so let me ask you about how he's going to push this through piecemeal. when he was pushing a 5.6% surtax on millionaires, three quarters of the american public were okay with that, with the so-called millionaire's surtax. now he's saying, i'll pay for $35 billion of my jobs plan, fireman and teachers with a 0.5% millionaire's surtax. is it going to be possible for republicans like you to oppose that. it just won't seem like a lot of money to most americans. >> look, we think there are things in his overall package that we can work with him on and find a way to make work. but they've got to be structurally sound. he's still trying to provide short-term spending and then long-term tax increases. what we need to do is to reduce the regulatory burden, to control spending, prioritize spending, so where we need to be provide funding for important priorities, make sure it's there. we'll work with him on that, but at the same time, control spending, reduce spending, find savings where we can, and then

let's engage in the kind of tax reform that closes loopholes, that's pro-growth, and that we get growing revenue and job creation from a system that's fair and that stimulating growth rather than higher taxes. we're ready, anxious, and willing to work with him on that type of approach. an approach that can work. >> an approach that can work. will that, in any way, in your view, allow for revenue increases? and i'm not asking you specifically on the surtax, just any kind of revenue increase? >> the key to revenue growth that is tax reform that closes loopholes and that is pro-growth. then with a growing economy, that's where your revenue growth comes in, not from higher taxes. >> so let me ask you an interesting question here. new cnn poll today, two-thirds of americans, as i had indicated, were in favor of raising taxes on millionaires, but about 50% of them had favorable views of millionaires. is that something that should make us feel good? that the country isn't as split as some might have us believe right now, that we are not so divided by class warfare? >> i think people recognize that the higher taxes that the

administration is talking about hit small business. four of five small businesses face higher taxes under president obama's proposal. the key is the kind of tax reform that closes loopholes, everybody pays their fair share, it's fair, and then as you grow the economy, because you have a progrowth, simplified understandable system, that's what generates the revenue that along with controlling our spending and reducing the regulatory burden creates jobs and gets us out of this deficit and debt problem. >> all right. senator hoeven, thanks so much for being with us. senator hoeven, former governor of north dakota as well, who had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. thanks again. we have a new sex scandal brewing tonight for the former head of dsk. according to a french newspaper, police have linked the 62-year-old to an international prostitution ring, and accused a top ranking french police officer of being dsk's personal pimp. it comes in the midst of his civil lawsuit with the new york

hotel made that accused him of raping her last april. sometimes you get great stories and great cases to cover, vicky. prostitution of france is legal as long as it's not underage. which i know is maybe a question here. what laws is he suspected of breaking as a client of this ring? >> in france it's not illegal to use a prostitute, but it is illegal to be in the business ofprostitution, of pimping. he finds himself in a gray area if these newspaper reports are true. which we don't yet know. if he had organized a man to procure certain prostitutes to choose certain girls for him,

which were then driven by a french policeman, a senior french policeman from paris to spend time with him, both in paris and in new york, is that business? or is that just using the service of a prostitute? we will find out in days to come, erin. >> and in days to come, dsk has said he wants to talk to the police as soon as possible. >> he does. >> how soon and what could he possibly tell them. >> i spoke to his lawyers today in paris. they said he hasn't seen any legal complaint yet. he's just read the newspapers. he'd like to know what the evidence is against him, will he be a witness? i asked, well, is he guilty? they said, well, we have no comment. if he wants to use a prostitute, that's not illegal in france. that's the french. >> all right. okay. vicky ward, thank you very much. i appreciate it. and of course, we're going to keep following this with vicky, because this could have implications for the potentially millions of dollars dsk may have to pay if the civil suit in the

u.s. goes ahead. well, coming up, the mother of baby lisa was drunk the night her little girl disappeared. and even if conrad murray is found guilty, he may not have to go to prison at all. how is that possible? and the nba strike. the very real possibility that the season will be canceled. out front with the nba commissioner in a minute. i take my multi-vitamin but wanted to do something more for my nutrition. there's so much information out there. what's good for you today, is bad for you tomorrow. i had no idea what to choose.

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our outer circle, we reach out to sources around the world and tonight we go to athens, greece, where garbage is piling up after 16 straight days by strikes of government workers. now, these latest protests are over pay cuts and layoffs come just days ahead of a vote on austerity measures. becky anderson is in london tonight. why is this vote so important? >> it is very simple. if the greek government can't agree to implement increasingly stringent austerity measures, they won't get the money they need from europe and the imf to pay their bills. that means default and bankruptcy. this may be the most crucial week for greece and europe. this is a deeply unpopular set of measures and greece's two main unions, which represent about half of the workforce is preparing for one of the biggest protests since this crisis began. a meltdown in greece has an effect on banks just not in europe, but across the entire world. erin? >> that's right. certainly here in the u.s. some banks could be very exposed. and now we go to china, where

people are reeling after a horrific video captured a 2-year-old being run over twice and left for dead. we want to warn you, this is very hard to watch. eunice yoon is in beijing the little girl is in critical condition, but this got a lot of coverage in china. >> people here are outraged by the double the hit and run, but they're equally disturbed by the indifference of the passersby. more than a dozen people just walked by this bleeding child without offering to help. after about ten minutes, a trash collector came and moved the child to safety, but this video has left millions of people here lamenting what they fear to be a decline in morality at a time when 1.3 billion people are all clambering to climb up the economic ladder. erin. >> eunice, thank you very much. very disturbing. two weeks and still no sig 10-month-old lisa irwin. her mother says she's innocent. there no leads yet from police, but suspicion continues to hover around bradley.

she's hired a high profile lawyer from new york. it was a pretty busy day there in kansas city, jim? >> reporter: it started on nbc news "today" show when deborah bradley admitted she was drunk and perhaps even blacked out on the night that lisa disappeared. her new attorney that she just said that may be indeed be why if an intruder broke in, she may not have heard it. police have been researching areas, going inch by inch, trying to find new leads, but police tell us they have had no breaks in this case, erin. >> jim, thank you very much. jurors had the day off in the case against michael jackson's doctor, conrad murray, but there was a development that could affect his defense. prosecutors presented the judge with a new toxicology report that actually contradicts a key defense theory, which is that michael jackson was taking the drug lorazepam without telling his doctor in addition to the propofol when he died.

mark geragos is a former attorney of michael jackson's. he's been following this case closely. mark, thanks for being with us. i just want to start off with this. how damaging is this development to conrad murray's defense in your opinion? >> i don't really think it's all that damaging. one of the things people have to understand about this case is it's a circumstantial evidence case. what that means is that this judge at the close of the case is going to instruct the jury, if there's two reasonable interpretations, one that points towards innocence, one that points towards guilt, you must adopt the one that points towards innocence and find him not guilty. the defense is going to argue that this toxicology report is exactly what they would have expected, because the lorazepam dissipates very quickly. i anticipate that's exactly what they're going to put on in the defense case. this is nothing unusual for them. i think they expected it. all in all, i think the prosecution put on a good case,

but i still believe this is probably a hung jury. >> wow. a hung jury. so does the defense need to do anything here to -- because some of the evidence we had heard, it appeared to be rather damning, but it's interesting your take on this, especially on this, is not so dramatic. >> i don't think this is as dramatic as people are making it out to be. i think what once you see the cross-examine, that -- on the underlying toxicology report, it's not going to look all that damaging at all to the defense, because there's an explanation oz to why it's not at the levels

that people would assume. that, having been said, does the defense have to do anything? i think they do. i think they've got to put on dr. white. that's the self-professed father of propofol that they talked about in the opening. i think they have to put him on and see what he says. the critical part of that is not what he says on direct, it's what he says on cross-examination, when they start asking him about giving propofol in a house. >> if conrad murray is found guilty. he faces up to four years in prison, we learned he may not serve any jail time. how is that so? >> well, there's two things, first of all, the involuntary manslaughter carries up to four years, and it's what's called 50% time. which means even if the judge sentences him to four years, he only does two years. then under realignment, that's this brand new thing that's happened in california, 30,000 prisoners are going from state prison to the county jails, and they rate the prisoners depending on the crime. his is one of the crimes that arguably could be back to county jail and he could be released woefully early. >> quickly before we go, i wanted to ask you, was he sick for a long time in terms of his issues with all of these drugs? >> well, you know, the -- without violating attorney/client or anything else, the michael that i knew was always fairly sharp, engaged, especially during the child protective services investigation, and the early

stage of the criminal case, he was focused like a laser. i remember one meeting in particular, where he was asking all the right questions. no, i don't see it. and it's interesting that you bring that up, because i think that's the portrait that the defense has kind of painted during this trial. >> certainly. >> and i think that only helps dr. murray. >> thank you very much. i appreciate you taking the time, and sharing that anecdote as well. nba commissioner david stern comes out front after this. will we have a basketball season or not? it's a crucial 24 hours. he's out front next. [ male announcer ] this is lara. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills.

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countdown tonight to possibly no season for basketball fans. preseason and the first two weeks of the nba already canceled. can the players and the owners reach a deal over $4 billion in revenues? nba commissioner david stern met with the federal mediator and then came out front today. >> we spent two hours with him this morning, and he was heading over to the union to spend a similar amount of time with them. >> so let me talk about the revenue split. you're at 47, they were at 53. i know someone said you were at 50, but they were at 57%. they came down to 53. so 53 is already sort of below other people, if you think of it that way. >> we had a 57% deal. that's over. and under that deal we lost over a billion dollars, almost 300

million this past season. we need to reset our business model, which not only gives our teams an opportunity to be profitable, not mandated, but an opportunity, and -- and allows them to revenue share. because as the union has made, i think, clear, and i agree with them, we need a more robust revenue sharing plan. >> what about meeting them in the middle of where they are. you're saying 47 but you've sort of been at 50. >> no, that's what they're trying to do by their off the record comments. they had suggested and we had agreed that we'd go back and place a 50-50 deal in front of our respective sides, but then they interrupted the process and they won't do it. so they're at 53, we're at 47. and even at 50-50, it would be a very thin deal for the nba. we need a system that allows our

teams to better compete. we need a system that allows small market and large market teams to tell their fans we can compete if we're well managed. >> why is it, though, in basketball, assuming everything you say is the case, that you have to go so low on the share for the players? >> it's important to know that under the expired deal, the players managed to get to a $5.5 million average compensation on $2.2 billion worth of total compensation divided by all the players. and we have said we're going to try as hard as we can to get you over $2 billion and take you from that 5.5 by year seven to 7.2 million if our projections are met. this past year under our 57% deal with all of the, shall we say, imprudent contracts that people point to, we promised the players 57. we didn't get there.

so at the end of the season we wrote them a check. we wrote the union a check to make up for it. >> and how do you feel about the overall concern here? i mean we saw it with major league baseball when they had their dispute that the ultimate fans that you have, that are the kids now, right? and that they miss games and they see a side of the sport that isn't that pretty. >> it's never pretty. i mean, i've driven general motors cars in my years, and the fact is that when general motors aloud itself to get pulled away by excess costs, it filed for bankruptcy. and those cars would not have been available on a continuing basis except for government help. >> it seems that if you get a deal even by next week, you could still be playing by thanksgiving. is that fair? >> yes. i think we would aim for the shortest possible time. but between 28 days and a month is, with due respect to february