confirmed dead. funerals a already being held. and as crews continue to rescue survivors, there is still the fear of aftershocks. >> this is an area with multiple faults, and a very complex pattern. we can already see that some of the aftershocks are probably on different faults than on the main shock. >> let's head right to ercis, turkey, where nbc's michelle franzen is standing by. michelle, what is the latest? >> reporter: veronica, we're here near the city center of erc ercis, one of the hardest hit areas in the southeastern region of turkey where the quake struck a little less than 4 hours ago. here we are plenty of debris blind me, said to be an islamic school behind me and earlier crews were working here with large diggers and trying to dig through a lot of the concrete, and all the rebar and the steel that was in that building that came down. directly across from me, night

crews are taking a chance to try and solder and reach some areas. it's an apartment building, mixed use. the destruction very heavy where we are today but there are other pockets of the city that are virtually untouched where buildings are still standing, earlier, before nightfall today we were focusing in on a building near the university in this town of ercis where rescue crews were focusing on trying to find people that they thought were still alive in this building. a six-story building had businesses on the ground floor, but housed families and university students in that building. so a lot of emotion there, as family members and friends were waiting word, and also as rescue crews were scambling now at night and also in the cold weather. ercis of course just one part of this story. further, about 60 miles away in van, also a heavy hit area, a bigger city, and all along this

route around this lake van area, this region that's close to the iranian border, you've got a lot of smaller villages with buildings that are mostly made of mud. so far, though, we have seen the destruction greatest in these cities. veronica? >> michelle franzen live for us in ercis, turkey, michelle, thank you. president obama's message is changing from pass this bill to we can't wait, as he rolls out a new economic offensive today. his new campaign will include new rules for federally guaranteed mortgages, ease student loan repayment and future plans to help returning vets to small businesses. the president will announce a new plan to jump-start the troubled housing market in las vegas, ground zero of the housing bust. diana olick joins me now from cnbc. what do you hear about the housing plan? >> this was a refinance plan announced this morning by the fannie mae and freddie mac's regulator. it tweaks to an existing program

that wasn't working and it's for underwater borrowers, that is people who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are actually worth. this plan was in place for people who owed up to 125% more of their home's value. now it goes to no cap at all. so no matter how far underwater you are on your mortgage, if and only if you're current on your payments right now, you are eligible for a refinance program through fannie mae and freddie mac so again you have to have a fannie or freddie loan and current on your payments. whether or not this will jump-start the housing market, i don't think that's the correct assumption because it's not about helping people buy or sell homes. it has nothing to do with people behind on their mortgages. it has nothing to do with people facing foreclosures. again it could be an economic stimulus because you're lowering monthly payments for a lot of borrowers, which again puts money in their pockets and helps them to spend but again it is a small program and the fhfa, the regulator of fannie and freddie said this morning, this is not a mass refinance program. >> all right, put this into

perspective for us, how dire is the situation? how far will this plan go to help people? >> well, when you talk about a dire situation, this program is about people who are current on their mortgages, that is they're not in trouble, so when we look at these say 6 million borrowers who are either facing foreclosure or in the foreclosure process, they are very far behind on their mortgage payments, this plan has nothing to do with them, nothing at all. this is about people who just simply owe so much more on their mortgages than their homes are worth because home values have plummeted so much. the idea is you're helping them to have lower monthly payments and feel a little bit better about paying on those mortgages when they know they have no equity in their homes and they may not see equity for a long time. some say it may help people from defaulting in the future. others say it will also help some borrowers who might have been thinking of walking away from their mortgage or what we call strategic default so again it's designed to help these borrowers. it is not helping those who are in trouble. >> all right, diana olick with

cnbc, we appreciate it. diana thank you. well the u.s. has abruptly pulled its ambassador out of syria over security concerns. the state department says syria's embattled regime is to blame for credible threats against ambassador robert ford's personal safety. it is unclear when ambassador ford will return to syria. the move comes as syrian security forces killed four people in homs today. mitt romney is running neck and neck with herman cain in the polls so the person romney fears most would be rick perry? right? jim o'sullivan with the "national journal" thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> you recently reported romney is going in for the quick kill of rick perry, if you will. let me ask you this, south carolina and florida are two important primary states for perry, he's expected to do better in the south but let's look at some poll numbers. these poll numbers for the states show in south carolina it's cain edging romney with perry far behind, and then in

florida, it's romney edging cain with perry far behind. the question for you, why is perry the threat if he's not doing well in his own backyard? >> right, you saw mitt romney get far more confrontational with rick perry last week and from our reporting it looks like the big answer is the $17.2 million that rick perry put on the board in the third quarter, that gives him the resources to withstand a long campaign. he's raising money at a clip faster than any other candidate. he's right neck and neck with romney on that and serm fcertair above the other candidates. if they don't have the money they can't compete with romney. perry has poll numbers that slid far from august and early september, that makes him the threat to romney and the romney people recognize that and don't want to let him get up off the mat. >> you just said $17.2 million coming in from perry. we've seen him take a couple of spills in these day baits. >> sure. >> has that affected his ability to bring in money at all? >> any time you have a guy up on

the pedestal early in the campaign and he's pulling in big dollars and then you have these series of debate performances where you looked uneven, at times stumbled and misspoke, went into long pauses, that really shakes up the idea that he's this credible front-runner, and especially stacked next to romney, who has been so good in these debates, that knocks him down a peg and raises the question of his viability, if he can't deal with the likes of rick santorum and michele bachmann, how will he go against presidentby that? i think you saw a shift toward mitt romney and herman cain as well. >> his attitude, he put his hand on perry's shoulder during the debate, seems like he's going on the offensive now. what sort of attacks will we be seeing from the romney camp? >> you've seen them hit him hard on immigration, time and again come after this instate tuition plan where illegal immigrants pay the same rate as legal residents at institutions of higher education, they'll continue driving that immigration huge in a republican

primary. the rift for romney is sort of two-fold, that you get this consolidation and behind perry in excitement among his supporters to sort of backlash against romney and the other idea is that you put him on the same plane as yourself, you're mitt romney and the clear and evident front-runner do you want to bring a guy like rick perry who has the resources like we talked about, up to your level. so he's going to keep hitting him on immigration and i think that the short lived web video was entitled "ready to lead" you'll see mitt romney and others raise questions about rick perry's suitability. >> jim we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> thank you for joining us. two people who favor stricter immigration laws the romney/perry filt is a tell-a novella battle. there's no way to judge it better than by the ads the two sides produced jim was talking about. let's look at this one from the romney camp.

>> but the fact is -- americans understand faith. >> rick perry plunging in the polls, rolling the dice. >> if he would just calm down, he seemed very agitated. >> for more on the soap opera is that the romney/perry battle we turn to gop strategist karen nestle. thank you for joining us. >> great to be here. >> several candidates last week, there's an inference made from romney's quick kill strategy they see this as a two-person race now. what do you think, do you believe that that's where we are right now? >> well, clearly there are still several other candidates in the race, and herman cain shouldn't be counted out. your previous guest, jim, laid it out quite well. it's a little bit about the money game at this point and the ability to support an infrastructure and herman cain hasn't really shown that he has that kind of infrastructure that's ready to be long-term and

can go the distance into next spring in terms of a national campaign. >> also joining us, former dnc communications director and msnbc political analyst karen finney, nice to see you.. >> good to see you. >> romney's used perry's debate stumbles to frame perry. how do you think perry should do this for romney? >> well i guess perry is clearly trying to align his argument against romney using the flip-flop argument, using the illegal immigration as a specific issue in particular. you know, here's the problem. there's not anything new in any of the things that perry thus far has put forward. i mean, these are issues that romney has already had to confront and deal with so he's prepared to handle them again. i think the issue for perry is, it's very clear, you know, that he is good on the attack, but what does he stand for? what idea is he putting forward and the latest ridiculousness of

reigniting the whole birther controversy really shows he doesn't have much of his own in terms of fresh ideas or policy proposals he can campaign on, only campaigning against mitt romney. >> right, and for those of you who might not be that familiar with the whole birther issue, coming back into the spotlight, we're going to throw up a couple of graphics so you can take a look at the conversation. rick perry was interviewed by "parade" magazine, and the interviewer is asking, governor, do you believe that president barack obama was born in the u.s.? perry is saying, i have no reason to think otherwise. he goes on to say he had dinner with donald trump the other night and the issue came up again, and never really did he answer yes or no, does he believe that barack obama is a citizen. he's saying i don't have any idea, it doesn't matter. he's the president of the united states, he's elected. it's a distractive issue when asked whether or not he's seen his birth certificate and not answering the question, not ever saying that no, he doesn't

believe that the president isn't a citizen either way. karen nussle, come on, is this 2008 all over again? why are we bringing this issue up? >> i agree it's a little bit ridiculous and there's some breathlessness giving governor perry too much credit. i didn't take him as reopening this issue. i took this as inexperience on the part of the candidate, not knowing when to shut up, and he went on and said a little too much, got himself in trouble with this reporter. i would like to ask the question, why did the reporter bring it up, but i saw this as a moment of inexperience and rick perry has shown that that's a real problem for him. i don't think he's had the kind of interaction with the media in texas the way he's having it now as a national candidate and he just doesn't have the experience that mitt romney has in this regard. >> but you know there's another problem, though, with this comment, two things. number one, rick perry has at this point pretty much gotten a pass on questions that were raised about that ranch that was called, you know, the "n" word

rock, followed by a "new york times" story that raised questions about certain terminology he grew up around, and then here we have this, so there is an element of racism that i think if he becomes a serious candidate, which i think every day he becomes less of a serious candidate, he really has to answer. i'd also want to ask him, because i agree with karen, it is a sign of inexperience, but the birthers are now going after marco rube yo and bobby jindal. does he want to see their birth certificates as well? he's got to be careful when you throw around this terminology that there is a much bigger pandora's box that gets opened when do you that. >> we have to leave the conversation there, obviously a lot more to discuss. karen finney and karen nussle, two karens, it's always nice to see you. thank you both. >> thanks. testimony continues in the conrad murray trial as the prosecution prepares to rest its case. what will the defense strategy be? we'll take a look at the case next. and which candidates are in it to win it?

who really wants to be president, and what could the other motives be? but first a look at the markets. let's take a look at what they're doing now. all markets are up, the dow is up about 99 points, s&p 500 up 15 points, and the nasdaq also up as well, 58 points. we'll be right back. o

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well the defense phase of the trial against michael jackson's personal physician is expected to begin later today, but first, dr. conrad murray's lawyer also get their last crack at cross-examining the prosecution's star witness. propofol expert dr. steven schaeffer. schaeffer testified last week murray was a direct cause of jackson's death. on friday attorney ed chernoff attempted to discredit schaeffer. >> everything you said in the last two days was your opinion. you do understand that, right?

do you understand that? >> i stated my name, which i think is a matter of fact. >> and you certainly do consider that >> john q. kelley is a civil attorney and former prosecutor. thank you for joining us. >> sure. >> i was just watching the video and seems shafer is not easily ruffled. is that a good strategy, going after him, trying to discredit him? >> sure, they have to. they have to sort of set the table, they have their own expert coming up, dr. white. they have too show dr. shafev and dr. white are on equal footing. if that's the case all ties go to the defense and that's reasonable doubt if experts are balanced against each other. >> they have a bit of a contentious relationship. there's a past between the two. >> well, and it's getting to be

more of a past and a future right now. i think chernoff is trying to set up dr. shafer as being antagonistic toward dr. white and vice versa and that may amplify or embellish his testimony because of the personal vendetta against him. >> the defense has a lot of work ahead of them. >> sure. >> they have to backtrack and basically go into damage control mode. where should they start? >> well, i think they've got to do three things. one, they've got to have three experts to counteract the prosecution experts, once again, all ties go to the defendant. if they have experts who say there prnt egregious deviations from the accepted standarded of care, didn't rise to the level of criminal, secondly they'll hit upon the fact that the iv tubing was never seized or disappeared on the part of the prosecution. it's not there in evidence. and thirdly they have to show that there have been incidents

of conduct like this or worse in the past where doctors aren't charged criminally and this is sort of a, because it's michael jackson this doctor is being made sort of a martyr in being selectively prosecuted. >> what do you think? do you think that dr. conrad murray will take the stand at all? >> no, he will not. they've got almost two hours of his testimony. it's the testimony he gave without being prepared, without being lawyered up at that point, so it's more reliable and it would only go downhill for him if he testifies at this point. >> in the meantime, janet jackson was scheduled to be on tour in australia, she's postponing that, spending time with her family. does that mean you think the case will wrap up quickly and go to the jury soon? >> i think it will wrap up friday or monday at the latest. the defense has 15 witnesses. the one thing i would do if i was a defendant is get rid of my character witnesses. they have no impact on jurors, usually backfires, they should limit it to three medical experts and the detectives who will say the iv tubing was lost or never seized. >> john q. kelly, always appreciate your insight.

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nations. officials in australia say they've hired a private helicopter to look out for sharks like the one that killed an american diver saturday. 32-year-old thomas wainwright was the third man killed by a great white shark in southwest australia in the last two months. his sisters say he loved being on the water. he helped in the effort to cap the bp oil spill, and he was an avid fisherman and diver. >> doing what he was doing, it's a risk you take, and it was just the wrong place at the wrong time. >> he would certainly never let something like that stop him from doing something that he loved. >> the family say they're speaking out now so people know he was much more than just the victim of a shark attack. nbc news goes inside the home where baby lisa irwin was last seen three weeks ago and new surveillance video of a mystery man. and rick perry will unveil his pitch for a flat tax tomorrow. the question is, will it work, this time? rewards

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welcome back to msnbc. i'm veronica de la cruz. wikileaks says it's going to stop publishing secrets online in order to focus on raising cash. you can see the names of america's biggest companies upside down. congresswoman gabrielle giffords heads to north carolina to undergo more intensive therapy as she recovers from a gunshot wound to the head. a new study finds that girls whose mothers were exposed to bpa while pregnant have more behavioral issues and more hyperactive in preschool. boys didn't seem to be affected. average gas prices jumped a nickel in the past two weeks. the price of a gallon of regular is now $3.47. mitt romney and rick perry grab the cash but the second tier candidates do just as good a job at grabbing headlines.

dominico montanaro, nice to see you. >> you, too, thanks. >> michele bachmann lost more staffers in new hampshire this time? what's going on? >> she lost her entire campaign, we reported that they had quit and in fact they didn't tell the campaign. they didn't tell them formally. bachmann didn't know they had quit until the news reports had hit over the weekend and finally confirmed that yes, in fact, they had left the campaign. >> bachmann camp struggle to be to keep staff and raise adequate cash. the iowa caucuses are just around the corner, january 3rd. can she make it? >> yes, 71 days away, right? so yes, she'll make it to the caucus. it's not that you suddenly run out of, you can get your name on the ballot, people can vote. she'll get to that point. if she doesn't win iowa that's a

major blow to her campaign. if she doesn't win south carolina it's a major blow to her campaign and that's going to happen mid to late january, early to late january, january 3rd is the iowa caucuses and south carolina later in the month, if after south carolina she doesn't emerge as the alternate to romney she's probably not going to be in this campaign much longer. >> there always seems to be room for a candidate who is not mitt romney, practically every candidate has had that chance at this point, michele bachmann was one at one point, perry is trying to get back in the game. there was cain, 9-9-9, now there's speculation newt gingrich or rick santorum could be next on tap. is there any truth to this? >> you've seen newt gingriched polled ratings kind of come up a bit in iowa and other places, as people like you mentioned look for an alternate. we saw obviously rick perry come out of the gates very strongly and his poll numbers plummeted after three debate performances.

rick perry is the one with the cash that could make it a long-term race. none of the other candidates so far have that kind of cash. herman cain is raising about $1 million a week since october 1st which is more than he raised in the second quarter or in the third quarter or second quarter, so you know, maybe he's somebody if he gains some infrastructure, gains some campaign staff, be able to compete in these early states he could do pretty well but people still look at rick perry because he has the team in place and he has the money long-term and look we're going to be talking about the story until the caucuses come. whoever wins the iowa caucus suddenly we're going to be talking about the comeback kid, if rick perry wins there, suddenly he's the guy who eme e emerges as the alternate to mitt romney. >> good point. domenico montaaro good to see you. rick perry decided to pick a fight with mitt romney over one of the gop's favorite talking points, taxes. will his speech tomorrow on flat

tax versus income tax be the red meat that excites the gop base? joining us is the national journal's beth rhinehart. nice to see you. thanks for joining us. >> thanks. >> it's not the first time we've been here. this is an issue raised by steve forbes, now advising perry, and that was back in 1996, also there was gary bauer during the 2000 campaign. but it's an issue that really hasn't produced a winner, so why do you think the perry camp thinks that it's going to work this time? >> i think that they're seeing the excitement that herman cain's 9-9-9 plan generated, the idea of throwing out the old tax code and doing something completely different, has a lot of political appeal so they're trying to capture some of that. today newt gingrich is campaigning in iowa on what he's call an optional flat tax, so he's climbing on the same band wagon. >> the flat tax would lower income tax rates for the rich, under most flat tax plans it

would eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends, which most often benefit those with more money. i'm going to throw up some poll numbers right here, a recent "national journal" poll found 59% of adults completely agree or mostly agree with the occupy wall street protesters. we're looking at this right here. so what do you think? is lower taxes for the rich really the message that the gop wants its nominee to send? >> well, i think the message they're trying to send right now is, i'm going to do something that sounds good to the tax code and it's not so much about how its possible impact on the economy. most economists would say a flat tax is not going to fix what ales the economy and as you just pointed out, it would only exacerbate what is already increasing disparity between the very rich and the very poor in this country. >> but something obviously you just pointed out, all the gop

candidates kind of clamoring towards, you were just mentioning newt gingrich, we've heard from herman cain and 9-9-9 and mitt romney opposed flat taxes in the past but some of his recent comments make his position a little less clear. where does he stand on this issue? >> you know, i think romney is trying to walk a fine line. i think he doesn't want to sound totally negative about a flat tax, because it does have this appeal among conservatives, but that's not really part of his economic plan. his is a little more complicated than that. he would lower the corporate tax rate and he is not, that's not really his game plan. >> but do you think this is going to be the issue moving forward or the issue that we hear from all the candidates? is it going to be tax reform, tax reform, tax reform? >> well, i think it's obviously, we know that the economy is one issue and taxes is going to be a big part of that.

i noticed romney, whenever the discussion comes up like when cain brings up 9-9-9 or rick perry brings up his things, he tries to sell himself as someone who has a much broader agenda to fix the economy. it's not just tax policy. it's not just energy independence, it's broader than that, and that's the message that mitt romney i think is trying to present. >> all right, beth reinhard, always nice to see you. thank you for your time >> thanks. there are potentially game-changing developments in the case of baby lisa, the now 11-month-old girl missing for three weeks from her missouri home. a police document reveals an fbi cadaver dog hit on a scent at the house. lisa's parents insist they have nothing to hide and to prove their point they invited nbc news to tour their home and lisa's room. nbc's peter alexander is in kansas city with more. ♪ amazing grace >> reporter: sunday night, baby lisa's parents, deborah bradley and jeremy irwin, returned to

the home where they say their daughter disappeared for a candlelight vigil. neither deborah nor jeremy said a word but they were both in tears as jeremy's father, lisa's grandfather offered an emotional prayer. >> please keep her safe and bring her home to us as soon as possible. >> reporter: after the vigil, the irwin family invited nbc news inside the home. this is baby lisa's bedroom that you've heard so much about, one of the first things you notice is the spot on the light switch where police were trying to find fingerprints, this way, the small frames, hand and footprint from the day little lisa was born, her clothes still hanging in the closet, the scooby-doo onesie she liked to wear and this is the crib she was sleeping in. they believe this is where she was taken from that night, an an ominous reminder of what they say happened here, the graphite from the fingerprinting process by police. this is the window where deborah and jeremy suspect an abductor came inside the home.

the screen was pushed in like this, this was a family room or computer room. if it was an abduction, this right here on the counter is exactly where the family says the three cell phones were missing. deborah and jeremy believe the abductor would have come into the hallway, passing by where lisa's brother was asleep, where one of them was sleeping that night. coming into her bedroom, walking down the hallway, and they would have come in this direction with the baby in their arms to the front door that jeremy found unlocked that morning at 3:45 a.m., where you can see police tried to find new fingerprints. this weekend, this newly filed police affidavit is revealing dramatic new findings in the baffling three-week-old mystery. according to the affidavit, last week an fbi cadaver dog smelled the scent of a human corpse somewhere here on the floor right near the bed. >> human decomposition usually starts within four minutes after biological death. it's going to be within minutes that a dog should be able to

find that scent, if it actually existed. >> reporter: according to the affidavit, deborah told investigators she didn't initially look for lisa behind the house because she was afraid of what she might find. last week investigators spent nearly 17 hours executing a search warrant inside the home. the new court documents also detail exactly what detectives collected, a comforter, a disney character shirt, a glow-worm toy, as well as rolls of tape and a tape dispenser. and left behind inside the kitchen, this empty box of wine that deborah admits she drank enough to get drunk on the night she says her daughter vanished. deborah was seen buying that box of wine on surveillance video, hours before she said she put lisa to bed. police reviewed this sir valence video taken from a gasoline less than a mile away from the irwin home at 2:00 a.m. the night lisa vanished that shows the blurry image of a person walking out of a wooded area. at least three witnesses including this neighbor who lives only doors away from the irwins say they've spoken to

investigators about a suspicious man they saw in the area that night. what exactly did you see that night? >> we seen a gentleman walking up the street 12:15, carrying a baby. >> reporter: a baby in his arms? >> a baby in his arms. >> was the baby wearing anything? >> no, at that time the baby was just wearing a diaper it looked like, it appeared. >> reporter: what did you think? >> it was odd. >> police say they still have no suspects and are not ruling anyone out. straight ahead, herman cain's been criticized for turning his book tour into a presidential campaign. which other candidates are getting into the product placement game. plus, how youtube is once again changing the face of politics, and it's not just about the gaffes. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up

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eating more protein may be the key to consuming fewer calories. researchers said a group of 22 adult volunteers were fed a variety of diets for four days. those who consumed more protein had a lower caloric intake than participants given less protein. those on the low protein diet snacked more often. product placement isn't just for tv shows and movies. you can find it in presidential campaigns, too, but not for products like coke or pepsi but rather for the candidate's own products. joining us now, david weigel of slate.com and also an msnbc contributor. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> of the candidates, which ones spend a lot of time working in mentions of their books? >> this is the easiest question i think i'll get all day, that's

newt gingrich, newt gingrich at a speech i was just at in las vegas i think he spoke for about 12 minutes, mentioned five products he was involved with, three movies he and his wife, calista and his book and his wife's new book. the media was not being unfair but unintellectual not reporting on his books as part of his effort to improve the country. >> it's interesting, something we've seen him tweet a lot and i believe he even threw in a mention during the last debate about the movie you were talking about, the one, i think, that he's made about ronald reagan with calista, right? >> and he's made a series of films, one about ronald reagan, one about the pope -- sorry, pope john paul ii, two about the religious history of america, one about energy. this is how he's spent the year since he left the speakership, building up his reputation as a statesman, but herman cain has a

memoir, michele bachmann has a memoir coming out in about a month, all in different ways using this not just to supplement their campaigns but to get past the media and kind of chastise us for saying we're not taking their ideas seriously enough. >> there's been talk about how hard herman cain is trying to win the presidency, some say it's more book tour than an actual presidential run. do you think this is a fair charge when it comes to cain? do you think that it's sticking in the minds of average voters? >> well, the reason that's important is that iowa traditionally rewards the candidates who spend the most time there. mike huckabee spent a fraction of the money that mitt romney did. he camped out there, and organized churches and won. barack obama spent more time than hillary clinton did there. herman cain is not spending the time that iowa front-runners and winners end up spending. he's gone to tennessee, got other things on his schedule that promote his book. he did basically a week of national media that was well

timed, he was doing the media just as he'd won the florida straw poll but he's not working iowa the way that people there think he could in a way that propels him. they might be testing something new in politics, where voters who more than ever can select what media they pay attention to choose to interact with the candidates that way instead of demanding they show up at a coffee house. >> honestly, david, i think one of the biggest problems with product placement you look at something like sarah palin, who has shown what kind of a payday you get when you don't win the presidency. it almost doesn't matter who gets the nomination at some point. >> if you look at previous elections, too, as a guide, one or two candidates are running for president and everyone else is running to be a contributing commentator on a cable news show. maybe to get their own f there's an opening at 9:00 p.m. on one channel maybe herman cain it fill it up. >> david, it's nice to see you. thanks for your time. >> thank you. side bar now, could joe

biden be revving up a presidential campaign for 2016? well is he not ruling it out. the vice president tells cnn his one focus right now is to get the president reelected. as for the election four years after that, he said "i'll make up my mind on that later on." beltway watchers might thrill to a matchup of biden versus hillary clinton. the secretary of state so far seems to have ruled out a run. condi rice is opening up about moammar gadhafi's odd fixation with her. "the new york times" quotes her forthcoming memoir which tells of an odd video the libyan leader once made of rice. the tape showed pictures of the former secretary of state score to a song whose title is "black flower in the white house." she writes, "it was weird but at least it wasn't raunchy." requests no higher honor" is due in book stores next month. wondering which way spelling gadhafi is correct?

a column in "the chicago reader" had investigated the issue and seems in 1986 he replied to a letter sent by second graders in minnesota he signed his name typed in english, how did he spell it el-gadhafi, right there with a "g" not with a "k. "so now you know. to be more environmentally aware, we are now printing on the back sides of used paper and we switched to fedex cause a lot of their packaging

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youtube has launched a brand new politics channel. on it you can find videos produced by candidates and also those gotcha videos regular people capture on the campaign trail. the site tracks the most viewed 2012 candidates' views of the week, the day of the month and all-time. guess what's number one? barack obama's appearance dancing on "the ellen degeneres show." do you remember this one? ♪ go barack, go barack. ♪ go ellen, go ellen ♪

this clip received more than 11 million views. come on, you got to hand it to barack, he can definitely dance. youtube's news and politics manager, ramya, you're laughing, right? 11 million views, why? how does that happen? >> yeah, well i think you see candidates taking all sorts of approaches to get more views on youtube, so for example, certain candidates like rick perry and ron paul are uploading more classic campaign ads. other candidates like herman cain have been uplowsing videos of him singing. one of his most videos is him singing "god bless america" 200,000 views. he's taking obama's lead. >> you do believe that this is a trend that is going to continue. candidates uploading videos of themselves. what about those gotcha videos that people love to look at?

is the majority of the videos being uploaded, are they candidate-driven? are they user generated? >> at youtube.com/politics we're really trying to provide a central place for all sort of political video and the lead up to the 2012 election. video comes in all shapes and sizes from your political speech to your campaign ad, to your gotcha to your voter generated video. so we want to create a place where you can find all of this content. so it really is a mix. it really is all of those things. in addition, we're trying to provide a place where citizens can track the candidates on youtube, so you can see from week to week, day-to-day, who is up and who's down on youtube in terms of video views >> that's interesting. who is up and who's down? >> yes, so the most viewed candidate in the past month is rick perry. one of his videos is proven leadership and that's gotten almost 2 million views. other candidates that are doing

well as i mentioned are herman cain, who is using youtube to show a more genuine side of his personality. and of course, they're all up against stiff competition in president obama, in the lead up to the 2008 election, he was uploading almost 20 videos a day to youtube. >> you're kidding me, really? oh my goodness. >> yes. no, he has really set the bar pretty high in terms of uploads. the white house uploads about 17 videos a week to youtube. >> all right. ramya raghavan obviously we'll see a lot more coming from youtube in the coming days leading you up to the election. nice to see you. thank you for drawing us. >> thank you. >> i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for joining us. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern. up next "andrea mitchell reports." with what'setter than gold ? free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast.

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succeed at first, try, try again. president obama heads to nevada, home of the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with yet another proposal to attack the housing crisis. the secretary of housing and urban development joins us right here with the details. part of that process, and put my name on this paper, hoping that this time it will take, and -- >> and mitt romney makes it official, filing papers in new hampshire and picking up an endorsement from former new hampshire governor john sinunu who joins us this hour. and the search for survivors after a devastating earthquake in eastern turkey. we're live from the quake zone. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. at obama heads to las vegas today, ground zero for the foreclosure crisis and promis