[Phillips:] Checking top stories now: Free trade deal with South Korea, Colombia and Panama are heading to President Obama's desk. Congress passed the deals last night. Supporters say they will create jobs in the U.S. People along Mexico's Pacific Coast are dealing with destroyed homes and flooded out roads, thanks to hurricane Jova. The flood waters and mud chased some people to their rooftops. And more people have died after eating tainted cantaloupe. The CDC says the death toll is now 23. Remember cantaloupes were found to contain the deadly listeria bacteria. Herman Cain is now the man to beat in the Republican presidential race. According to one new poll, a new "Wall Street Journal"NBC poll puts him on top with 27 percent of the vote. Mitt Romney comes in secondIpsus poll from the same time frame scrambles those four and Romney lands on top. CNN political analyst Roland Martin and CNN contributor Will Cain joining me live now. Gentlemen, another day, another frontrunner is this a sign of Cain's strength or Romney's weakness? Roland?
[Roland Martin, Cnn Political Analyst:] First of all, neither. This is an irrelevant poll. Look, we sit here and those of us who cover politics, we go back and forth. A new poll. There are about 5,000 polls out here PPP, NBC, CBS, you name it. Everybody has a poll
[Phillips:] You don't think you don't think Cain is resonating at all?
[Martin:] Look, he's resonating because he is a simple message. He's speaking directly to Tea Party people. When you break down this poll, they say we like his plain talk. He's not a politician. At the end of the day, are these polls meaningless until you actually have both. It's also a state-by-state race. A national poll serves no purpose right now.
[Phillips:] Will, is it meaningless?
[Will Cain, Cnn Contributor:] No. I mean Roland makes some good points that we can't just look at these polls and go, well, I guess Herman Cain is going to win the nomination. That being said, what these polls reflect is a real appetite for what Herman Cain is actually delivering. This guy has a biography that is unmatchable on this stage. This guy's daddy wasn't a chemical titan. This guy's daddy wasn't governor. He's the son of a chauffeur. He's been CEO of Godfather's Pizza. He's a mathematician, ballistics at the Navy. This guy is impressive. And on top of that, he's got a bold plan 9-9-9 that I have substantive disagreements with. But whatever you disagree with about it, he's not tinkering around the edges. He is saying we have a real problem, which everyone agrees with the tax code.
[Martin:] Right.
[Cain:] Roland agrees with that, I agree with that at least this guy has a bold plan. I'll tell you what? That poll reflects he is resonating and he should be.
[Phillips:] Go ahead, Roland.
[Martin:] But here's out there again, when you start looking at this particular poll, OK, what he speaks to is people really paying attention, the crazy, political folks who follow this stuff. I mean, every up and down. When you begin to go into November and December, and when you begin to have that first election, first of all, we have no idea these days if New Hampshire might be voting by Thanksgiving. So, all of a sudden, the field widens. Then people began to say, first, are you electable? Can you win in the general? All those things come up. Also, right now in the GOP field, you can appeal to a sliver of the populous and then you can be in the top tier. So, when you look at 15 percent, 18 percent, 20 percent, that's really what it is all about. This is more about a fractured GOP field as opposed to one person, Cain or Romney somehow resonating across the field.
[Phillips:] All right. Well, Will then, Will, when are Republicans going to settle on a candidate. We have seen the frontrunner fluctuate.
[Martin:] When the vote?
[Cain:] Right.
[Phillips:] Will? Yes, yes, Roland
[Cain:] Look, you can't disagree with a lot of what Roland is saying. We will decide on a candidate when the voting period comes. But here's what Roland is doing he is being too dismissive of somebody who is resonating.
[Martin:] No, I'm not.
[Cain:] This is too much inside the Beltway. It's too inside the Beltway talking about which polls matter and which I'm telling you, Roland is from Texas and I'm from Texas and I talk to people and Herman Cain's name comes up over and over. The point is, this guy is resonating and I want to say this, Roland's right. OK? This doesn't matter until January when the primaries roll around. But I'm going to say, do not dismiss Herman Cain. I think come January, it will be a decision between Herman Cain and Romney.
[Phillips:] Last thought, Roland.
[Martin:] I cannot be dismissive here because guess what? At this point, then-Senator Barack Obama down 20 points to Senator Hillary Clinton.
[Cain:] Fair enough.
[Martin:] It all matters when people actually vote. You can resonate in a poll, but when they go into the voting booth, that's the real issue. So, I pay no attention to polls before people actually vote. That's where elections matter.
[Phillips:] We're going to leave it there, guys.
[Cain:] I just want to say, all I'm saying, is distinguish Herman Cain from Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry. I don't think you're seeing the same boom and bust. That's not what's happening here.
[Phillips:] We're going to keep tracking it. Guys, thanks. See? Everyone is talking about it. No matter what you think, everybody is talking about it, including us. All right. Don't forget, next Tuesday night, live on CNN, the Republican candidates for president gather in Las Vegas to debate the issues and sway the voters. The Western Republican Presidential Debate, CNN, Tuesday night, at 8:00 Eastern. All right. We talked about the black unemployment crisis but one billionaire says he's got a solution and it starts with a challenge for America's biggest companies. Just ahead, I'm going to talk live with BET founder Bob Johnson.