for office again, unlikely but if i do shucky ducky can be by cue. >> words from herman cain. didn't quite work. thanks for being with us this morning. have a great weekend. we'll be back with you on monday. stick around for "the daily rundown". newt gingrich sticks to the high road even as mitt romney attacks. can newt keep his cool until iowa? president obama warns lawmakers they may have to make new holiday plans. after they block his nominee for the protection bureau and threaten to call his bluff by loading up their payroll tax cut extension with some republican face savers. not to worry. washington is just beautiful this time of year. and more unrest today in moscow as prime minister slald m

vladimir putin. that clinton incited the unrest. it's friday, december 9th, 2011. i'm chuck todd. let's get to my first reads of the porng. mitt romney returns to iowa today. just his fifth trip to the state since announcing his presidential campaign. 24 hours until the next hawkeye state debate. and frankly every hour is critical. romney campaign is feeling the heat. going all in. pro-romney super pack is running this ad that targets president obama. according to to nbc news tracking resources the future pack has purchased almost $800,000 of that $3 million air time. and is also prepared to spend the next three weeks going after newt gingrich. to put that money in

perspective. rick perry has thrown most of his money here. romney is preparing to go negative with this attack on gingrich. we may see it on the air soon. >> newt has a ton of baggage. like the fact that gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. or that he took at least $1.6 million from freddie mac. he supports amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. he even teamed up with nancy pelosi on global warming. and he was part of a national health insurance mandate the center piece of obama care. >> as you can see, that kitchen sink type ad right now, the campaign is also unleashing surrogates to attack the former speaker's record. yesterday the focus was on paul ryan's medicare plan. that happened here on this show. >> look at the way the faux

conservative gingrich handled it. >> you believe gingrich is a faux conservative. >> i think he's a gingrichite. he cares about newt gingrich. >> the cam pin says it's raising money at a faster clip. no doubt. but that's not a lot of money in presidential politics. can he raise more to defend himself? so far he is showing some discipline. he was pressed by reporters to answer romney's attacks. check out how he handled it. >> you never listen to what you're told to do. >> i'm going to stay positive. i'm going to talk about how we solve the country's problems and i have one opponent. barack obama. >> now, rc is the press secretary. later availability, newt gingrich talked about why he may be keeping his cool.

>> others ought to do what they want to. my observation is every time these guys have attacked each other, they've gone down. i don't know being the attacked dog in the republican party is a big asset. >> if mr. romney does go on the attack, are you going to stand by that? >> if he goes on the attack which is his prerogative, my answers will be positive. >> and that is what there is some nervousness in romney world that the first one to attack that it may bounce back. that said, at this point with 25 days left, allowing gingrich momentum in ohio if he comes out of iowa with a head of steam, watch out. one reason attacks aren't ease to sell is they want someone who is a fighter. come across as too much like him stylistically. on the trail in south carolina, gingrich showed why he's that hard to attack. >> i will challenge the

president to seven three-hour lincoln/douglas style debates with no moderator. we will concede in advance he can use a teleprompter. i think he'll accept out of sheer ego. how do you look in the mirror columbia graduate, harvard law school, editor of the law review. how do you look in the mirror and say you're afraid to debate some guy who taught at west georgia college? >> this is something i've harped on for awhile. inside the republican base, they want a stylistic change. they want a stylistic change in how the republican party deals with president obama more so than they want the change itself. romney and obama stylistically, they're kind of the same guy. gingrich and romney, not so much. at least gingrich using language that does fire up talk radio. gingrich using language that

fires up the fox news viewer. and that's what in many of the ways the conservative base, the reacting and responding to that. it's never been a strong suit for romney. finally the president brought his game face to the briefing room yesterday. seeming to relish the opportunity to respond to republicans who have called his mideast policies appeasement. >> ask osama bin laden and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda leaders who've been taken off the field whether i engage in appeasement. or whoever's left out there, ask them about that. >> he also took on republicans on the payroll tax holiday debate telling leaders not to dicker around. >> this is not about me. they shouldn't extend the payroll tax cut for me. they shouldn't extend unemployment insurance for me. this is for 160 million people who in 23 days are going to see

their taxes go up if congress doesn't act. my response to them is just do the right thing. >> you know, it's interesting. the shutdown debate, debt ceiling debate. there are gulfs between the two parties. i have so say, there's not a lot here between where congressional republicans are now today for instance versus where they were two weeks ago and where democrats are. there's a lot of rhetoric on both sides. we know the deal's going to get done. the question is how many republican face savers have to be in there to get the votes in the house, enough votes in the senate. that's where we are negotiatingwise. russian officials are trying to reign in protests for sanctioning a rally tomorrow. stephanie gosk is with us. there's stuff underneath the radar here including somehow putin blaming secretary of state clinton. walk me through it.

>> well, you know, in recent relations it sounded like the cold war yesterday. you had putin coming out today. specifically secretary of state clinton and the comments she made earlier in the week. calling for an investigation in these elections. as well as the state department itself actually funding these protests instead of looking at the country and there are cracks in putin's time. people are angry about corruption. they're angry about limits in their freedom of expression. now you have this enormous protest that's sanctioned by the government. but it is still one of the biggest protests you've seen in this country in 20 years. the facebook site the organizers have put together already has 35,000 people who have signed up. there's going to be a protest here in moscow and cities across

russia. >> and stephanie, when it comes, how is sort of the putin government, are they just going to back off or is this a crackdown? is this is real opposition leader? the point person that sort of becomes the verbal opposition to putin as he takes the reins of the presidency. >> at this point there isn't really a leader and the message is fragmented. what you have is the government coming in dealing with the opposition. when it comes to this process negotiating with them. but the protests sanctioned in revolution square where the earlier protests were this week. it's across the river. a separate location. they say 30,000 people can show up. what you'll see tomorrow is if those people leave that location and go somewhere else, that will be considered illegal protest. how the security officials conduct themselves tomorrow, how the protesters conduct

themselves tomorrow will be an indication on whether or not this movement has steam ahead. >> stephanie gosk in moscow. thanks very much. the caucus countdown with all eyes on iowa. rick santorum picks up a major endorsement. and is ron paul mitt romney's secret weapon? but first look ahead at the president's schedule. it's a quiet day officially. we do know he's sitting down for a big interview with some news program that appears on sundays, has a little clock. you know it. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. i love the holidays. and with my bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i love 'em even more. i earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through.

that's 1% back on... [ toy robot sounds ] 2% on pumpkin pie. and apple. 3% back on 4 trips to the airport. it's as easy as 1... -2... -3... [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. [ toy robot sounds ] but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives...

that's smarter power today.

the newt gingrich surge to the front of the pack has plenty of the types worried. but he's staying positive even as romney rmg and the rest of the field step up to the attacks. with me now jonathan martin. all right, guys. it's getting good. 25 days. >> it's close. >> as hillary clinton once said, now the fun part starts. >> i love that quote. >> newt time. we're focused on mitt romney. rick perry has been the one going off on newt's marriages. here's an ad he goes off on both newt and romney. >> we don't want government-mandated health care. yet newt gingrich supports it. and mitt romney, he put it into law in massachusetts. worse, barack obama forced it on the entire nation.

>> i won't let the big government liberals ruin this country. i'm rick perry. i will appeal obama care. >> but i have to play this one which his gingrich marriages. >> i made an oath to god when i married my wife. so yeah i think it's an important issue. but the american people will figure out these issues and work their way through them. >> jonathan martin, rick perry. who's he an ally of here? that's weird when we look at this. the anti-newt stuff, what was perry more effective on? hitting romney with the first ad or hitting newt with the marriage comment? >> i think his chief opponent is now newt. because to get to mitt, at least two weeks ago that's how it was. you have to go through newt. i think even know with newt in the lead, his opponent is still

newt because of the conservative vote share. it's those two that are still fighting over some of the same voters. perry spent 5 million bucks on tv. >> and it's not moved. >> a little in iowa. >> they're starting to move a little. 12, 13 in iowa. >> how is that possible? yeah. >> the thing i would say is we've talked about this allot. rick perry looks dead in the water. the one thing he's got going for him. he's got millions of dollars and has a big superpac who's going to spend a bunch of money. money doesn't change everything. his numbers hadn't moved as much as we thought. but he has money to spend over the last three and a half weeks before iowa. >> so we're having the empire strikes back here. the revenge of the establishment. is it so easy to find somebody

in this town petrified of the idea newt gingrich will be the nominee. but this isn't a republican party that's going to listen. >> senate races are not presidential races. when i look back, i remember two weeks where in alaska losing a primary in august. there's a primary 2010 in delaware. people say mike castle. this is a guy we can win. christine o'donnell, she can't win. they spent lots of money to get her. >> and it didn't work, yes. >> she went bigger. probably would have helped her. >> that's the thing i always keep coming back to. does the establishment have the power to pick the nominee or it looks like it's a gang up on newt. does it help newt. newt has trouble making the i'm an outsider argument. >> he does. it's interesting looking at you guys had it first. we know this superpac negative

ad is going to probably go up within the next 24 hours. we've seen the highlights of it, we played a bit of it. it felt like the kitchen sink. >> it really did. it was sort of everything out there. but i want to talk about what chris was saying though. because when you're talking about newt and the vulnerabil y vulnerabilities that newt has, i think it's different than o'donnell in this sense. with delaware in the senate race last year, i think one senate race in delaware is different. >> i understand that. >> the stakes are different for conservative voters. therein lies the challenge. if you look at the polling, a lot of voters say newt can be just the same. to me this is one of the rare moments where in a primary i think electability does have some have some possibilities. >> working here. >> they want to be later. >> they want to beat obama so bad. >> you know what it kind of

reminds me of? it kind of reminds me of old four where jonathan's right. electability, something we talk about and regular people don't care about. what was the argument that kerry made? do we want to eliminate howard dean and it worked. >> howard dean wasn't a known quantity. what newt has that mitt romney does not have is well i won. i did it. i brought back the conservative out of the desert. one person who's been basically trying to figure out what negative do you use against newt. no one negative works. they're hoping it's the accumulation. >> i think the danger of the laundry list like we saw with that restore our future ad, people say this is the same old politics. there's nothing new here. and so, you know, you're trying to put 10 pounds of stuff in a

five pound bag, it doesn't work. >> to your point, what is really threatening for both romney and perry is they're messaging about newt being an insider may not work. you know why? i've talked to a lot of voters. and guess what, when you ask them why they like newt, they cite his experience. he knows the ropes in d.c. >> is he an inside or an insider the insiders don't like? >> i think it is amazing to think that newt gingrich could run in any way effectively as the insiders outsider. but that's what he's saying he is. >> let me ask you this. is this the single best week in the obama re-election effort? >> look, i think it is fair to say that their efforts to take down mitt have had real impact. they would prefer to run against newt gingrich.

although i think they have been sort of caught like a lot of folks have. surprised at newt's surge here. >> the argument i've already heard from team obama yesterday was that they were giddy that the first line of attack was paul ryan. >> no question. >> so they're sitting there going this is great because romney is moving to the right to try to stop newt. even if he becomes the nominee, he's got a longer path. >> and on an issue with medicare that ohio, florida, pennsylvania, all those states have lots of older voters. where if you start talking about fundamentally reforming medicare, we've seen what happens in the past. >> some national republicans say you know what? if you just bring it back to obama care, that if you fight back on the ryan plan with obama care -- >> he said maybe. >> neutralize it. you have to call it that. but that's how you fight it. >> could be the danger of talking about fundamentally referring medicare does politically. we don't know if the answer

works yet. we certainly know part a. that's a good week for obama. >> i agree. it's been their best week perhaps. and they haven't done anything. right? it's just been republican on republican. all right. ron paul secret weapon for romney? >> he's helping him right now especially with the tv ads. it's going to be interesting to see at the debates. does he serve the same purpose? >> will he go after newt like he did perry? he's gone after perry. >> he has not attacked romney. interesting. >> from what i've heard and what i'm told, they genuinely like each other. >> paul can't stand newt going back. >> all right what's the trivia? bring it on. >> here we go. well, with the summit of success, europe takes new steps to solve the crisis. the market rundown is next. and no one in washington is going anywhere until they finish

this deal. christmas coming late to the capitol. but first for jonathan. how much of his own money did new jersey democrat jon corzine spend to win his senate seat in 2000? tweet me the answer @chucktodd. the first correct answer wins. plus or minus 5 million. [ indistinct conversations ] nice, huh? yeah. you know what else is nice is all the savings you can get on cruze and traverse over there. oh! that's my beard. [ chuckles ] it's amazing. ♪ [ male announcer ] this holiday, chevy's giving more. now very well qualified lessees can sign and drive a 2012 cruze ls for around $199 a month.

♪ ♪ and just let me be [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ your ticket home [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday. take an extra 10 percent off ♪ sen♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ut the second at she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪

♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ v.o.: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. ♪

we're just minutes away from the opening bell. so it's time for or market rundown. becky quick is here. yeah, yeah. i know you got the trivia question on the nose. so congratulations. >> thank you. >> i don't want to totally give it away. even though i had a margin of error, the first person in got

it on the nose. >> i got it on the nose and that was luck. i knew roughly in the ballpark. let's talk about the markets. it looks we'll open a little higher this morning. same thing we been telling you for months now, it's all about europe and what's happening there. this is the eu summit. they made more progress than people anticipated overnight. they've got an agreement where 23 of the 27 eurozone nations have signed off on this. addressing the concerns that germany had about trying to make sure people are sticking to their budgets and making sure there will be punishment if they don't stick to those budgets. all use the euro have greated to this. and that's why we saw the futures higher straight out of the gate today. it looked like we were going to open with the dow up about a hundred points. but we have seen that taper off a bit in the course of the morning. an hour ago we heard from dupont. this is a dow component, the

huge chemical company that tends to be a huge part of the economy. lowered expectations for earnings for the full year. they're concerned there is uncertainty around the globe and it's starting to show up with the conservatism in the supply inchas. so they're seeing a real effect of that. and that caused a bit of concern. we lost about half the gains. open by about 50 basis points. it's europe that's driving thicks, chuck. >> one of those fridays. thank you very much. coming up, the newt gingrich pile on. will the attacks really resonate with voters? we'll talk to a guy who knows the republican electorate like none other. he's an elected member of congress. one of the few who knows public opinion. plus why celebrate for just eight crazy nights? hanukkah came early this year to the white house. and a deadly shooting at

virginia tech. a campus familiar with gun violence. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. then i'd be like, you rule! and my kids would be like, you rule! oh, load up the sleigh; this is going to be a great christmas. [ male announcer ] more christmas for your money, guaranteed. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the typical financial consultation ttd# 1-800-345-2550 when companies try to sell you something off their menu ttd# 1-800-345-2550 instead of trying to understand what you really need. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we provide ttd# 1-800-345-2550 a full range of financial products, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 even if they're not ours. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and we listen before making our recommendations, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so we can offer practical ideas that make sense for you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck, and see how we can help you, not sell you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550

try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you.

love it, or get your money back. welcome back to "the daily rundown." just passed the bottom of the hour. final exams are on hold as students and staff at virginia tech try to come to grips with thursday's deadly shooting. a reminder of the massacre there in 2007. apparently walked up to a police officer involved in a routine traffic stop, killed him, then committed suicide a short time later. dotty sandusky, wife of the former penn state assistant football coach insists allegations that her husband jerry is innocent and that the allegations of child sexual abuse are untrue. mrs. sandusky broke her silence after new accusations from two boys, one of which says she was home while he was assaulted downstairs.

and donald trump's reality attempt at a debate might not be big after all. michele bachmann became the final to say no after perry turning down an invitation. just two candidates have said yes. newt gingrich and rick santorum have agreed to attend. we'll see if it still goes on and we'll see if trump really moderates it. the president and first lady hosted a hanukkah celebration at the white house last night admitting they were quote, jumping a gun by holding it 12 days early. my kids wouldn't mind 20 days of hanukkah. he preferred to think of it as extending the holiday spirit. now to the standoff on capitol hill over the payroll tax holiday. president obama warning lawmakers to get the deal done. for more on that and the field, i'm joined by congressman tom cole from oklahoma. serves on appropriations and budget committees. more importantly in my world southeast a former pollster.

so you're a member of congress who might know a thing or two about the voters themselves. welcome, sir. >> great to be with you, chuck. >> let's start with the wrapup business of the end of the year. it does seem as if we know what's going to happen. you guys in the house are going to do the extension on the payroll tax holiday, do the unemployment insurance. but you're going to do a few things to get enough republican votes. the question is how many that get taken out by the senate. give me your assessment. >> that's yet to be determined quite honestly. the thing for us is to prove somebody up here can be functional and pass a bill. once we do that, i think the pressure moves over to the senate. they're not moving a product, so it's more a matter if we can pass our bill, why won't they at least put it on the floor and see how it does. i've got a lot of confidence in speaker boehner. we all want to get to the same

place. we all want the payroll tax extended. but reform simultaneously. if we can do all those things and do it without raising taxes which we believe we can do in the house, that's a hard deal for the democrats to resist. >> that's where you are. but it's fair to say that the entire republican conference where you are when it comes to unemployment insurance. extending the payroll tax holiday. >> there's a lot of angst about extending the payroll tax holiday. but unlike in the past, this is being paid for. at the end of the day, we'll have quite a bit of unity. as you pull things out, obviously we lose votes. and if we have to do that to get senate votes, then democrats are going to have to swallow at least some things they don't like. and they'll have to put votes on the table as well. so i think -- i can see the outline of a successful conclusion here. o an separate track are going

well. so, you know, it's going to be messy. it's going a little tight. i think we can get there. >> one of the things where it may be more functional than it looks. let's go to the presidential race. in a previous life you were a strategist, a pollster, checker, all those things. newt gingrich might say that. that's how he feels about all consultants these days. but you're looking where the republican electorate is. i thought the most significant number out of our state polls last week and we have two more this weekend on "meet the press." was how conservative republicans viewed mitt romney. large majorities are conservative. large majorities believe he's not. >> well, it's a simple challenge. because you can just look back to '94 and clearly to be the presidential nominee of this party today, you've got to believe fundamentally different things than mitt romney believed

in 1994-95. people do think themselves the different positions. he's had quite a bit of executive experience since then. might lead him to approach things a little bit differently than as a senate candidate. that's an enduring problem. he's done well in debates. he's laid out good conservative proposals. i think he's made some progress, but he hasn't quite made the sale yet. at the end of the day, it's going to be a contest. newt gingrich is in that contest as well. he can point to accomplishments during the 1990s. that's a huge asset to create the first republican majority actually passed balanced budgets, reform welfare. those are things that really worked very much an advantage. we all know he's an awfully good debater. he's a bright and able guy. it is interesting. i'd say the two best debaters are now the two finalists. actually the candidates with the longest records.

interesting. >> what's your sense strategically of how -- i don't know what to call it. do you call it a whisper campaign? do you call it panic? even with the conservative elite, if you will, about the idea of gingrich's nominee. if you're mitt romney, how do you harness it without looking like you're the insider? >> i think a lot of this is inside. a lot of it is personality driven. a speaker is a poll-rising figure on occasion. not just in the broad political sense but personally. at least he was during the 1990s. i think from mitt's standpoint, you let this stuff boil and you make your case about you and about what you believe. i try to keep it on the issues. nobody in the republican electorate care much about what people in washington, d.c. think. frankly they've got a low opinion of the republican establishment. low opinion of the city. the idea anybody here is going

to dictate what happens in the primary is ridiculous. >> appears team romney wants to make temperament an issue saying you heard johnson do this this the former new hampshire governor and in romney's positive ads. steadiness, things like that. is that a fair shot at speaker gingrich? >> yeah. well, i think all shots are fair in this business. and there is such a thing as temperament. on the other hand, guys can be pretty mercurial and be effective. i think of a guy like winston churchill and people can reinvent themselves. they can become different politically. so you're really wondering, i think, and republican voters are struggling with is there a new and different newt? and has time in the wilderness religious conversion changed him, deepened him, maybe made him wiser.

and at the same time you're wondering about romney, are these issues real? so that's the real battle. i think it's going to go on a long time. i don't expect either one of these guys to do a knockout punch. and that's going to give each one time to make their case. >> the june 12th ohio primary, maybe we'll all be there. tom cole, republican from oklahoma, member of congress. and you i think successfully did not alienate either there. >> i achieved my objective. >> i'll try again next time. thank you, sir. up next we're rounding out the week with our friday political panel. and a programming note this sunday's "meet the press." candidate ron paul. he's the guy in second place in iowa polls. also senators lindsay graham and dick durbin. check your local listings. first, of course, it's the white house soup of the day. another good one. roasted fall vegetable. you're making everybody happy. you know, the no beef or chicken

soups. can't have that. but not a fish soup either. roasted fall vegetable, i guess th that means a lot of squash. you've watching "the daily rundown." my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. the same whitening ingredient as strips. but that mostly dilutes away within seconds of brushing. hmmm. having the same ingredient doesn't mean you get even close to the same whitening. trust the whitening brand most awarded by beauty editors. crest 3d white. 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. on my journey across america,t? i've learned that when you ask someone in texas if they want "big" savings on car insurance, it's a bit like asking if they want a big hat... ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. this season's hottest games and...sweatbands. [ grunting noises ] ahh! this is gold. [ mom ] woo! [ game ] snaps up the ace. i'll never be popular.

[ game ] next game decides our winner. [ male announcer ] get low prices on this season's hottest games. like kinect sports season 2 for xbox 360 with kinect. rated e for everyone. backed by our christmas price guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. i wish my patients could see what i see. ♪ that over time, having high cholesterol plus diabetes... or high blood pressure... or family history of early heart disease... can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup. and they'd see that it's more important to get their cholesterol where their doctor wants. and why for these patients, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol by up to 52%. and is also proven to slow plaque buildup. [ female announcer ] crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease... or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking.

or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. is your cholesterol where your doctor wants? ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. [ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. the most cynical behavior in all this is that governor blagojevich tried to sell the seat vacated by president-elect obama. >> that was also a sales job there with the prosecutor. daily flashback to this day in 2008 when rod blagojevich was arrested. fast forward three years and blagojevich is now joining the long line of illinois governors who has gone behind bashes. he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. as i noted yesterday a couple days ago, louisiana governor says see, we haven't sent a

governor to prison in over a decade. illinois is now ahead of louisiana. with the new attacks on newt gingrich stick, check out rush limbaugh yesterday. get a sense of why should be nervous about attacking newt. >> the establishment of the republican party is doing their best to take gingrich out. you've given us people who won't go afternoon people. you've given up people who won't go after the democrats. we're not doing it your way this time. >> okay. susan is a former member of congress. and a romney supporter. and jeff johnson is a contributor of msnbc. okay you republican establishment member you, i will start with you. what's interesting about the attack there, i don't know if it was a defense of gingrich.

he's been tough on newt. he was upset about the paul ryan. i think you use it in a video, but he does give voice to where the conservative base is not in washington. >> well, i'm sure that's true. however, i think there are those people in washington who have worked with newt and who know newt for better or for worse who feel quite frankly that we have an obligation to talk about what our experiences are and people like you call us to tell us about the experiences. and you're not going to lie. there's stories -- these stories, these temperament issues that have been documented for many years. that's who newt gingrich is too. the establishment knows newt gingrich because he is the washington establishment person. >> and his office address on k street of all places to visit.

nia, he's what david brooks wrote this morning speaking of establishment. but the right of center columnist. he calls it the gingrich tragedy. why am i not more excited by this gingrich surge? we have one man romney who seems to have walked out of the 1950s and gingrich out of the 1960s. he seems to have every negative character that conservatives associate with the '60s. i can tell you behind the scenes and it's from conservative republicans, moderate republicans, anybody who has had connections with newt gingrich, they are petrified and there is this -- it's personal to them. >> it is. it sounds like it was taken off the poll. he's all about newt. he's self-absorbed. which is what we asked him yesterday when he was down in south carolina. >> oh, boy. he kept his cool. >> he laughed.

it was like a santa claus laugh. as he just said he was going to keep his focus on barack obama. he was going to move forward in this race. i do think, though, this whole idea of the establishment attacking him. if i'm newt gingrich, i might cut an ad that says if washington hates me, then i must be doing something right. >> that assumes he has money. >> right. which we're not sure he does. >> before i go to you, i want to show we found some great clips of johnson in his senior. dan quayle. the 1990 tax deal that of course did give rise to newt as leader of the republican party. >> it does them little good to do an agreement that goes down in flames. >> i felt like a friendly dentist. i was applying a lot of novocain trying to extract a few votes. >> going into the rose garden and supplied support. i tried to get an agreement that fit the values of the republicans who elected me to leadership and the values of the

georgians who elected me to congress. >> it was a lot of hot and heart. and i guess you know me. very direct discussions as to what was in and what was out. and at what level. >> it's just another reminder, jeff, that politics is always personal, i think sometimes. that was johnson in his senior when he was chief of staff. that was the beginning of the rise of newt gingrich. >> yes. and politics especially personal when it's newt. because i think newt does make it more personal. it's intentional. and with all those whether it's republicans or democrats, newt begins to go beyond the policy's piece to poke people. and that's why i think this visceral response is with republicans and why they're afraid. because who knows when he's going to do that again and self-destruct. >> i think the complaint i hear, it's not that he's making his own case. he also makes the case of why you're so wrong.

emphasis on the so wrong. that's what sort of most people nn. nia, jeff, stick around. much more to talk about including rick perry's like the big is watching. we ask, how much of his own money did new jersey democrat jon corzine win to spend his senate seat in 2000. the answer was $63 million. believe it or not, somebody got it right on the nose. it's the most expensive senate campaign waged in history. i think we're close to $200 million to $250 million in less than a decade in political office in new jersey. we'll be right back. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. 12 hour hold challenge. apply fixodent once, and it holds all day. ♪

take the fixodent 12 hour hold challenge. guaranteed, or your money back. ♪

let's bring back the panel. nia, susan and jeff. mitt romney is going to get a lot of help attacking newt. rand paul making the case that

newt gingrich is not from the tea party, he's part of the washington establishment i was sent to fight. then we've got rick perry out with an ad, jeff johnson, that hits both newt gingrich and mitt romney for the health care mandate. obviously perry has real money he's throwing at newt. ron paul is the first guy to throw negative ads at newt because newt is the one standing in their way of winning iowa. is it going to work? >> i think it's going to work for ron paul. i don't know if it's going to work for perry. perry has more money to spend, but i think ron has actually got room to be able to get the people newt's never going to be able to get. ron is getting big numbers with young people in iowa that are showing up because he really is the anti-washington person, and so i think if there's ground to be made, ron paul is the one that i think is going to make more ground with these negative ads on newt than perry will. >> susan, what mitt romney didn't have four years ago in attacking mccain was help. >> correct. >> everybody actually piled on

romney and it was multiple candidates. this time it does at least today, could change next week, all the candidates have that common enemy and it's newt. >> i think that's right. i think your point is well taken that the number have shown that romney is going to stay in the race. who is going to be that other person when it comes down to the two-man race? why not take on newt? i think it does have something to do with newt's vuler inabilities and there is that element of personal and we talked about he not only goes against what -- he not only promotes you but goes against you, i was think being how he framed his disagreement with the ryan budget. he called it social engineering. he gets to viscerally personal. that's what's concerning us all. not only as a candidate but as a president. >> so rick perry yesterday does the marriage hit. >> yeah. >> very directly. and then is now doing some paid advertising. look, he's all in. he's got the money, nothing to lose. >> yeah. >> and it is showing some progre progress. if you're romney you do want

perry to get these numbers. >> yeah. we'll have to see if this works for him. he's still the post oops hangover. this is the era he's living in. >> actually think he's done a pretty good job since the oops. >> i think he has done a pretty good job but i think it still lingers in a lot of these voters' minds. they want somebody on stage in november who can go head-to-head against barack obama. >> they have come across as the two smartest guys on tape. shameless plug time. >> happy birthday to miles christopher johnson, my 10-year-old. >> there you go. that's a good one. >> i can't beat that one. >> i'm going to flip you generations because i was with my dad this weekend the uber politician -- >> the big man. >> and who knows that he loves you, chuck todd. the show came on and he says he is a very smart young man. so -- >> shameless plug away. >> shameless plug, he's watching right now so say hi. >> how do i not say hi to the

smartest man in the history of new york politics. >> i am going to go with the duke blue devils playing at madison square garden. >> what was that double digit loss by? >> let's not talk about it. it was to ohio state though. >> all right. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." we'll see you back here on monday. by then we might have different front-runne front-runners. don't miss andrea mitchell reports at 1:00. have a great weekend. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

sir, can you hear me? two, three. just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck. [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. let's show 'em what a breakfast with wholegrain fiber can do. one coffee with room, one large mocha latte. medium macchiato, light hot chocolate hold the whip, and two espressos, make one a double. she's full and focused! [ barista ] i have two cappuccinos, one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, a medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate, hold the whip and two espressos, one with a double shot. hehe, that's not the coffee talking. [ female announcer ] start your day with kellogg's frosted mini-wheats cereal. the 8 layers of whole grain fiber help keep you full so you can avoid the distraction of mid-morning hunger. no thanks, i'm good.

insurance ... but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month.