. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. good friday morning. i'm chris jansing. well, president obama is standing firm in the face of attacks from congress and gop presidential contenders and getting fiery at a news conference defending his choices. so let's lay it out for you. first, senate republicans blocked his choice to lead a new consumer agency not because they don't like the guy but because they don't like the way the agency is set up. republicans are calling for heads to roll in house hearings,

and they plan to grill even more obama administration officials about everything from gun running to the chevy volt. and there's still no deal to extend the payroll tax cut. >> 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 so see their taxes go up if congress doesn't act. >> amanda terkel is the senior political report from "the huffington post" and robert is the chief for the comcast n netwo network. are these real ideological differents? >> there's no doubt it's election season so republicans are doing what they can to score political points. such as with blocking richard cordry to head the consumer financial protection bureau. republicans and democrats like him, everyone says he's

well-qualified, but basically the cfpb is one of the key stones of the dodd/frank financial legislations. wall street really wants to reform that, basically get rid of it, so republicans are sort of throwing them a bone and saying we're not going to approve anyone for this. >> how do you be against something that says consumer protection? >> it's hard. there's no question. i think republicans have put themselves in a box to a certain degree but the interesting argument is it's not about the nomin nominee. it's the way it's set up. it should be a board. no power should be with one person, right? that's what we've been hearing for a very long time and what republicans are saying. >> agencies all across the government are run that way. >> but the difference is, according to republicans, is wall street should be managed with the whole entire board and not just with one person. >> let's talk about another attack we have heard from the gop candidates. it's about foreign policy and the argument is that the president has thrown israel under the bus. he's being accused of

appeasement. here is how he responded yesterday. >> ask osama bin laden and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda lead whose have been taken off the field whether i engage in appeasement or whoever is left out there, ask them about that. >> hard to argue with that one, isn't it, rocket? >> you can see him get a little feisty there. i'm sure democrats are saying finally you're defending yourself and pushing back. >> is it making the republicans nervous? when he gets into that mode, boy, he's impressive. >> i think this is what republicans should be afraid of in terms of this is the obama that's probably going to be running all next year. don't use the appeasement argument and think he's a wimp. quite the contrary, you need to understand he has a lot of fight in him. >> hissed a minute striti ed aa

under fire for that botched fast and furious operation. >> i think some heads should roll. what are you going to do to clean up this mess? what's the difference between lying and misleading congress in this context? >> if you want to have this legal conversation, it all has to do with your state of mind. >> that was eric holder on the hot seat again. so, i guess, amanda, do the republicans think they're scoring points here? what's going on with all these hearings that they're planning? >> i think they absolutely think they're scoring points on this. this was a program that actually the bush administration was also involved in, but, you know, the gun industry, there are a lot of gun owners in the republican party. this is something that they are definitely thinking will play well with their base, will play well with perhaps some of their donors and they like to see eric holder get a little nervous, get under fire, and he's someone that many republicans have been calling on to resign for quite some time. they definitely are gunning for him, if you will, and want to see him nervous and in the hot

seat. >> it may be politics, but there's also a political calculation you have to make, don't you, robert, in the sense of when is going after something that you think you have an argue about going too far. daryl isa released a letter insisting the highway public transportation system deliberately suppressed knowledge of the danger of the chevy volt's battery to appease the obama administration. >> any time you sound like a lot of noise when you're running for re-election and obviously there's a tough re-election battle ahead. republicans smell blood. they recognize this administration is weak. every attorney general is always in the hot seat. remember janet reno during waco, alberto gonzalez during his situation and michael mukasey. >> comes with the job description. >> the difference here is i a

lot of republicans are taking this personal with eric holder because it does seem like he's kind of shifted his story a little bit and that's evidenced by the fact he withdrew some of his testimony or withdrew a letter a couple weeks ago saying, you know what? what i said before doesn't add up. he said that, not us. >> republicans were never big fans of his. let's be honest about that. >> robert and amanda, thanks to both of you. >> thank you. well, the reaction is coming in after senate republicans blocked the nomination of richard cordray hel su'll succer would succeed elizabeth warren. this is her reaction. >> the consumer financial protection bureau is there for regular families. it's there so they don't get gouged on credit cards and on mortgages and on student loans. but they won't get their full power until they get a confirmed director, and we've now got wall street's best friends in the senate blocking confirmation of rich cordray solely to try to

hinder this agency, to try to keep it from some real -- calling for real accountability over wall street. so, you know, both these pieces are tied together. wall street is still calling the shots for a whole lot of folks in washington. >> president obama, by the way, says he would consider appointing cordray when congress adjourns next friday for its holiday recess. well, no more mr. nice guy. mitt romney is on the attack. his campaign has unleashed the hounds on surging front-runner newt gingrich and romney's super pac has just launched a massive $3 million media blitz in iowa. >> 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 just before it helped cause the economic meltdown. then there's the $37 million gingrich took from health care and industry groups. >> i'm joined now by public relations expert howard bragman, founder and ceo of the pr firm

15 minutes and -- >> and reputation.com. >> it's good to see you. thanks for coming in. less than four weeks to iowa. you know everything is getting geared up. do you think an ad like that can help turn things around for mitt romney. >> i really don't. i told you earlier, i have a theory -- >> and it is. >> -- about this presidential race. everyone is running against themselves. we have two major flawed candidates, romney the flip-flopper, gingrich with decades of bad shihistory, and obama running against a perceived bad record. and before they can beat up each other, they have to fix their own problems. >> but you can't fix, for example, the facts that were laid out in that ad, that there were ethics violations that were found. those kinds of things are your history, they're part of who you are. does it help for the other guy to go after it? >> it's great for barack obama. it's great for barack obama right now. you know, gingrich is an interesting candidate. he's chosen not to go

negative -- >> well, let me ask you about that. he told reporters again yesterday that he's going to stay positive. let's show a little bit of his new ad in iowa. completely different. >> some people say the america we know and love is a thing of the past. i don't believe that, because working together i know we can rebuild america. we can revive our economy and create jobs. >> can you win a multibillion dollar presidential campaign in america in 2011 by being a nice guy? >> no, you can't. you have to have surrogates out. in the end you have to go negative. when he talks about working together, i think he was one of the architects of gridlock in congress, and he's going to have to go back and talk about that history. so -- >> and other people will call him the godfather of gridlock, so i think that he's going to be helped along. i also want to talk to rick perry. he was the shooting star, he fell. obviously, he's had a lot of

problems. now his campaign is under fire from gay organizations over this new ad in iowa. >> i'm not ashamed to admit that i'm a christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every sunday to know that there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate christmas or pray in school. as president, i'll end obama's war on religion. >> something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military. his own staff, by many reports, was pretty split over putting that in there. how does that play outside of iowa? >> it plays horribly. i think on facebook alone there were 300,000 people who disliked it. let me say in the gay community there's a big campaign called no hate where people put duct tape on their mouth and it was based on prop 8 in california. even people who were opposed to gay rights don't think of themselves as haters. they think of themselves as they have a religious reason, a moral

reason. this is just evil, and it's not playing to the people he needs to play to, which is why his campaign is in the crapper. >> howard bragman, in a word, reputation.com is the place you can find him. thank you so much, howard. appreciate it. >> thanks, chris. we've been watching a live briefing from blacksberg, virginia. new details of the shooting at virginia tech of the police officer, derek krause, on campus yesterday. pete williams will have late-breaking details coming up. the wife of jerry sandusky is breaking her silence and coming to her husband's defense. dottie sandusky issued a statement after one of his accusers testified that mrs. sandusky was home during one of the sexual abuse incidents, that he screamed for help, and no one came. dottie sandusky says we don't know why these young men have made these false accusations but we want everyone to know they are untrue. i continue to believe in jerry's innocence and all the good things he has done.

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the republican presidential field is pretty much dissing the donald, passing on the trump moderated debate. both michele bachmann and rick perry added their names to the no list, so it looks like newt gingrich and rick santorum will have trump all to themselves, even though one voter yesterday begged perry to reconsider. >> i have had my bus tour and i really -- i talked to donald the day before yesterday and i told him -- you have a helicopter, why can't it come get you. if you want me, pick me up in your holelicopter, take me to t debate and bring me back to the bus. >> congress pressed jon corzine for answers but mostly what they got yesterday was an apology. a house committee is

investigating $1.2 billion in customers' money that's missing from the now bankrupt firm mf global where corzine was chairman for 20 months. >> obviously on the forefront of everyone's mind, including mine, are the varying reports that customer accounts have not been reconciled. i was stunned when i was told on sunday, october 30th, 2011, that mf could not -- mf global could not account for many hundreds of millions of dollars of client money. i simply do not know where the money is or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date. >> well, get this, congressman rick larsen fired three young staffers after he learned they had been tweeting about drinking on the job, goofing off at work, and, quote, their idiot boss. here is one example. i'm pretty sure i couldn't pass a field sobriety test right now. looking forward to a day in the office. not surprising they were given their walking papers. this afternoon vice

president joe biden is in new york city for a campaign event, and then later tonight he will deliver remarks to honor ernie davis, the first african-american to win the heisman trophy. davis went to syracuse university where biden attended law school. and the president admitted he might be jumping the gun a little bit, but he hosted a hanukkah celebration at the white house yesterday. he insists he's just extending the holiday spirit starting things 12 days early. looks like we can't wait isn't working as a push for congress to take action. senate republicans blocked a bill to extend the payroll tax cut yesterday, and house republicans offered their own version tied to the controversial keystone pipeline. mary kay henry is president of seiu and she's already endorsed the president for re-election. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> you represent more than 2 million workers, and they would see less money in their paycheck if congress doesn't get this done. do you think they will get it done? >> it's completely unclear, but i can tell you what our members

are the most concerned about, chris, is the extension of the ui benefit because half a million jobs are counting on that extension and a million workers, and i was shocked to learn that 7 million people will drop off unemployment next year because of how long our recession has been unless congress acts before they go home. >> does this continue to set up this battle that has been emerging between the 99% and the 1%, really the message that the president is making the centerpiece of his campaign? >> absolutely it does, and we look forward to the fight about the extension of the bush tax cuts because we know the republican leadership next may wants to do that, but we think those tax cuts should be used to get 15 million people back to work immediately. there's an economic emergency in this country. families are suffering, and we as a nation could act to get people back to work now. >> as you know, realistically, mary kay, a lot has been said in

recent years and even the recent decade about the decline of the power of unions. do you think that these are the kinds of issues that are happening right now that will actually mobilize your workers, mobilize other union members to really do what needs to happen in a presidential campaign even with social media and a billion dollars being spent on either side, and that is boots on the ground. >> that's exactly right, chris. i think the decisive difference in the november 2012 election is going to be that people want to participate in numbers like never before because this is about way more than a candidate. this is about the future of this country, and working people all across this country want our country to get back to work. everybody has got to pay their fair share. we want to restore services across this country, and we need to make sure that everybody has an equal shot at the american dream, and that is going to be what this november 2012 election is about. >> well, then i have to ask you about this fake group that sent

out a press release. they said they were seiu and claimed that the union is pulling its endorsement from the president. it got so much attention that you needed to come out and address it. to be clear nothing -- >> nothing could be further from the truth. we stand shoulder to shoulder with this president. we were incredibly proud at what he said in kansas the other day. he made it crystal clear on behalf of all of us that it's wrong, this income inequality, that corporate greed has to stop and people have to reinvest in our country because we want to be a country that cares about each other and looks after each other and leaves the world a better place for our children and grandchildren. >> who is the tougher candidate against barack obama? is it mitt romney? is it newt gingrich? is it somebody else? >> i don't know because i think the toughest is that 99% are going to stand up against the 1% and romney and gingrich are standing with the 1%, and the president is fighting on behalf

of the 99%. so the choice is crystal clear in our mind. >> mary henry, mary kay henry from seiu, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. >> thanks, chris. sad news for michelle dugger and her family. at a checkup yesterday the mother of 19 found out she miscarried baby number 20. the 45-year-old says the hardest part was telling her other children. in a statement her husband, jim bob, said she is resting comfortably at home and they ask for privacy. the dugger family, of course, has their own tlc show "19 kids and counting." time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. rachel weeks, ceo of apparel company schoolhouse, was manufacturing her products in sri lanka. she wanted to bring those jobs stateside, so she partnered with a durham, north carolina, factory. weeks plans on continuing to expand her business locally committed to creating products made in the usa. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc.

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new details this morning in the shooting of a virginia tech police officer on campus yesterday. right now police and university officials are holding a news conference. nbc's pete williams is live on the virginia tech campus in blacksburg, virginia. pete, what did we learn? >> reporter: well, the virginia state police are now confirming publicly what we've been reporting for a while, which is

that the man who fired the shots yesterday killing a campus policeman and then himself was not a student. now, law enforcement sources tell us that this man was in the nearby community of radford, virginia, on wednesday night where he committed a carjacking, drove the car he stole to this area, to blacksburg, ditched the car, took a shuttle bus to the campus and then walked up and with a handgun for reasons that police still have no idea why shot and killed the campus policeman deriek crouse who had been on the force for four years leaving behind his wife and five children. the motive is still completely unclear. now, the police say they know who the man was, but they're not releasing his name. they say that the medical examiner has to confirm his identity and then they'll tell the next of kin. now, a couple other things, chris. they say that the police officer's video in his patrol car captured the shooting, and you can see the image of the gunman on that tape, and they say that matched clothing found

in the backpack of the man who was found dead, now they are confirming by his own gunshot wound, killing himself. but after the shooting and in the brief time that he had run about half a mile away, he apparently took off the hat and hooded sweatshirt that he was wearing, stuck them in a backpack, but still police say they're quite confident that the second person they found was, in fact, the man who shot the police officer. the ballistics also has been done on the rounds that were found in both bodies and they match the same gun. so they're quite confident they know precisely how this went down, chris, about ybut they st don't know why. >> hopefully we will find out. obviously some horrible memories coming back for folks at virginia tech. thank you so much. who is behind voter i.d. law that is are making it tougher to simply go to the polls and vote? ben jealous is next. with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ]

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welcome back to "jansing & co." it's going to be a beautiful weekend. i'm weather channel meteorologist carl parker. we're watching a will system coming through the lakes and the northeast. with that some light snow, some lake-effect snow as well. hea very nice day across the northeast. the winds certainly slackening and 58 in raleigh. quite cold in the northern plains. not bad to the south. very quiet weather in the west as well. plenty of sunshine. that's exactly what we're going to see over the weekend. really dramatic differences compared to last year at this time when it was so cold in much of the east. we will get some showers in florida and some wet weather, needed wet weather in texas, but a beautiful weekend for most of the country and should be a very good weekend, chris, for a retail business as people do that holiday shopping. back to you. >> that's a very important weekend, too. thank you so much, carl. let's take a look at other

stories people are talking about right now. nearly five years after gi disappearing in iran robert levinsonreappeared in a video pleading for help. it was sent in december of 2010 but not released until now. in fact, officials still don't know exactly who levinson's captors are, but they sent a list of prisoners to fre e in exchange for levinson and not match any currently held prisoners in the u.s. is it real or propaganda. iran has released new vyo showig iranian military officials examining what they claim is a high-tech u.s. drone that crashed last week. the aircraft actually shows no damage and some experts believe it may just be a mock up. u.s. officials have acknowledged the loss of an advanced drone that was involved in a cia reconnaissance mission. the pentagon won't comment on the iranian video.

new surveillance video shows two hotel employees dancing and hugging just moments after calling 911 to report an alleged sexual assault by dominique strauss-kahn on a hotel maid. some believe this celebratory dance indicates the assault was actually a setup. hotel staff claims the two men appear to be celebrating a sporting event. the warnings against texting while driving apparently are not working. a new study shows it's increasing, especially among younger drivers. and half of american drivers between 21 and 24 say they have taxed while driving. at any given moment last year, nearly 1 out of every 100 drivers was using a hand held device and they were always driving right next to me. amazing pictures out of hawaii where a lava flow from the kilauea volcano is making its way through of a village. scientists say it will

eventually reach the ocean. why is will ferrell pushing old milwaukee beer in low budget commercials? you won't want to miss these ads when we go "down to the wire" in 20. civil rights leaders are expecting people to march to the united nations tomorrow in response to dozens of tough new laws that make it harder for people to vote either by requiring i.d. or curtailing early voting. leading the charge is ben jealous, president of the naacp. what are you hoping to accomplish with this march? >> we want people across the you don't take note of the fact that their right to vote has been attack this year in a way we haven't seen in more than a century. >> give me some specifics. >> the state of florida pushed 500,000 people off the rolls because they had gone to -- because they had once been behind bars. this is something that jeb bush and charlie crist ten years ago said you know what? we're going to reinfranchise formerly incarcerated people.

>> they paid their debt to society, they ought to be able to vote. >> exactly. and for the last ten years they could. and then this new republican governor comes in, scott, and he says, well, look what happened, right? the democrats took florida. we got a black man in the white house, and he puts it back in place. you know, we went to him and he went to his secretary of state and said why are you doing this, why are you doing this? they said because we think it's very important. we know what the impact will be. >> do we have any good numbers regarding what it will mean? >> in florida that one law, 500,000 people, half of them black, many more brown. the rest basically working class white folks. across the country this year, 5 million people at least have had their votes blocked. it seems incredibly partisan. and it also seems with blatant disregard for the impact that it will have on black people and

brown people disproportionately. these laws like that ban in florida, when you go back do their origin when they were put in place 100 years ago. it was clear they were doing this to suppress the black vote. the impact is the same as it was then. the intent, people are more cagey in their speech but they know what the impact is. >> clearly the support for president barack obama is stronger nowhere as it is in the black community. still, depending which poll you look at, 80%, 90% still support the president. if you're talking numbers 500,000 in a swing state like florida, millions across the country, and the conventional wisdom seems to be this is going to be a very close election, could it be the difference? >> look, right now of the 270 votes that he needs from the e electoral college, 268 could come from the states where these laws have been passed, 268. this could have a huge impact.

we aren't doing this because we're partisan, but we know that, quite frankly, the other side has done this in a very partisan way, and what we're saying is the right to vote is the right that lets us defend so many other rights. when people come after your right to vote, they do it to make it easier to come after wip's right to choose, the rights of workers to organize, to come after your basic civil rights. >> so you have gone to the attorney general and you have asked him to look into this. >> we're vo hoery hopeful he wio the right thing but we're not stopping there. we're going to secretaries of state throughout the country. we're going to state assemblies throughout the country. we're going to the u.n. because the reality is that our democracy here and the protection of minority voting rights here is foundational for the human rights movement throughout this globe. you would not have seen the arab spring and the toppling of gadhafi and mubarak if it hadn't

been for what dr. king did here 40 years ago. that's why you saw all these pamphlets being passed out about how dr. king did what he did. when you attack the ability of working people and people of color in this country to actually cast their franchise without having to pay a fee, without having a take a test, you actually send a signal to the rest of the world, and it's the wrong signal that our country is sending right now that so many states are sending right now. and that's why we're asking folks to join us on saturday, 61st and madison just before noon. >> here in new york city. ben jealous, big day tomorrow. thank you for coming in. a programming note, politics nation is reverend al sharpton is featuring a special series called "block the vote" focusing on voter i.d. issues. 6:00 p.m. right here, don't miss it. this will fire up occupy wall street, our personal wealth

has take an hit. we have the new numbers from the federal reserve. >> americans households net worth in the july to september quarter dropped 4%. that is its sharpest drop since that rocky period we went through after the september 2008 bankruptcy of lehman brothers. so what we saw are essentially during this quarter were stocks, pension funds, they all lost value. the s&p 500 during that period, chris, tumbled about 14%. corporations, however, not quite the same story. in fact, they raised their cash stockpiles to record levels, $2.1 trillion at the end of september. the problem is though it's a vicious circle. lower net worth at the home front can obviously hurt the economy. when people feel poorer, they spend less, and then businesses typically cut back on hiring and expansi expansion. as i said, it is a vicious cycle. >> well, some new jobs created in new york city. huge apple store opening up. >> yeah, in the famed grand

central terminal. and guess what? you can buy personal electronics there without the help of a human being. all you need to do, chris, you slide your iphone across a products bar code and you can just grab the item and then the receipt comes by e-mail. i guess the situation is that apple is really counting on commuters who pass through the station, many thousands a day. you can even order an item you want from the apple store via your cell phone while you're on the train and it will be waiting for you when you get off. it's pretty cool, right? and also the grand central store offers one feature not available in any other apple store, and that's 15 minutes training sessions on apple products for those rushed and busy new yorkers on the go. >> mandy, thanks so much. have a good weekend. >> you, too. and gary marshall strikes again. the man who brought you "happy days," "valentine's day" and so much mores a gathered an ensemble cast. "new year's eve" is his new movie starring michelle pfeifer, robert de niro, alyssa milano,

seth meyers, need i go on? jessica baiel, ashton sucher, zc efron. it's how the lives of several couples and singles intertwine on new year he's aev. "the sitter" stars jonah hill as a suspended college student coaxed into babysitting for the kids next door. ♪ 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. 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.

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good morning. i'm thomas roberts. in the next hour of msnbc, the president still at odds with republican lawmakers over how to pay for the payroll tax cut extension with the clock ticking. no deal in sight. will the president keep congress in session through christmas? jerry sandusky's wife releases a statement if support of her husband. one of the latest accusers says dottie sandusky was in the home when he was being sexually abused. that accuser's attorney will join me. and new details shed on the former rape case of imf director

dominique strauss-kahn. a day before another political debate, mitt romney's campaign is launching a multi-pronged attack trying to cast front-runner newt gingrich as unreliable and unelectable. a an e-mail obtained by nbc news, the romney campaign offers congressional supporters a laundry list of anti-gingrich talking points, including this one. gingrich creates theories, mitt creates jobs. i'm joined now by joanne reed, managing editor of "the grio.com. you have all these marches orders sent out to these romney people. then there's a new romney super pac ad which says gingrich has, quote, a ton of baggage. do you think they're doing the right thing? gingrich has been surging. >> the risk for romney has always been, number one, playing in iowa. if he plays and loses badly, it

will hurt his momentum. if gingrich comes out of iowa and wins big, you don't just have a two-man race. >> they accuse him of being a flip-flopper. >> newt gingrich has a history of being on both sides of the same issues romney is. the difference is the conservative base has decided they trust newt more because of his presentation. >> you have to say also though that, i mean, he's presenting himself as this conservative, but when you really look at their records, i mean, climate change, the wall street bailout, mandated health care, they're really pretty much the same and you can make the argument on stem cells that actually the conservative one is mitt romney. >> absolutely. it's just so ironic that the conservative base is deciding they prefer newt who has a history of being on the democrat side on climate change. did he that ad with nancy pelosi

which now ron paul is hitting him with, and also on the fundamental issues of marriage and family, well, newt is not exactly the poster child for family values given his marriage track record, but, again, it's his presentation that the base likes. they like the fact he seems forward leaning. he seems to be able to go after the president in a way that they feel that romney doesn't seem authentic. >> what is a mitt romney to do? you have to wonder, look, he's got the money. he's got the organization. there's no way, shape, or form that at least in these early states that newt can play catch-up or anybody else for that matter. >> right. well, i mean, newt also has a history of indiscipline, a lack of the behind of money that romney has. he can wait for newt to stumble. i think a lot of what they're going to do is trying to bait newt to be the bad newt. he can be nasty and can trip himself up on his own rhetoric. >> do you think he and donald will go at it if this debate actually happens with rick santorum. >> sort of like a three-man dinner party. not really a debate. >> but you're going to watch. >> who could not watch that,

right? i mean, it's just great tv. >> let's talk a little bit about michael steele. he says he thinks it would be good if there was a brokered convention. we should say for people with really short memories, it went on for a while with barack obama and hillary clinton, although before it was really locked up it became clear barack obama was going to be the nominee. >> the upside to having a long process is both of the candidates get to test their message for a long period of time. they get to build up an organization that's nationwide. that was one of the strengths barack obama had coming out of that long fight with hillary was he had built up a state by state organization because he had to. but you also have entrenched camps that come out of that, and there was a lot of bad blood from hillary supporters that lingered into the convention. in this case you literally have the establishment and the base and they are on totally different pages. if you carry that out through the end, i'm not sure you don't come out with a base that's less

enthusiastic. >> it's going to be interesting. the other thing, we were talking about this earlier with howard bragman, newt the nice guy. and, you know, he wants to stay above the fray. he says he's not going to get down there into politics. here is what he said to reporters in south carolina whot we -- who were asking him about these new attacks. >> 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. and i'm not -- that's how our campaign is going to keep moving forward. >> how long can he keep up the nice guy act? >> i don't think that he can. newt gingrich has a history of being an attack dog. that's how he became speaker of the house, that's the way he conducted himself as speaker. you saw this conference call that was talked about a lot on msnbc where people who worked with mitt came out swinging against him and saying he was not good leader, that os only out for himself. by the way, he's still the guy who wants to put kids to work as janitors in their own school. he can't help himself. he's going to say something that's going to be caustic.

>> the folks who came out -- >> and ron paul. people who have worked with him, his colleagues in the house don't support him. >> why isn't that sticking? >> i think because really the base of the republican party needs to go through this. joe clooklein has an article ou where he talks about this, there's a catharsis that the base needs. they feel the establishment picked john mccain. they feel they want somebody who is a talk radio tape, an attack guy, a guy who will go viciously after the president and speak to i guess what they see as their fundamental values except newt isn't it. he's an insider. i don't get it but i think the base needs to choose the candidate. >> he's getting bad headlines again today about the books he's selling and questions about whether he should be devoting that time and a lot of people think the money from the books that both he and calista are selling at these events are goi not going to the campaign, going to

home. >> it reinforces this idea that newt is in it for newt, to go to f tiffany's with calista. he seems so self-centered. >> so far the numbers look really good for him. good to see you. thank you so much, joanne. newark new jersey's mayor cory booker has a full slate of events today in new hampshire campaigning for president obama. one of the democrats' rising stars, booker is hoping to reinvigorate young voters with stops at three colleges. today's tweet of the day comes from mayor booker, reason number 991 why jersey rocks. nj is the only new state where u don't need the new. no one says york or hampshire but they do just say jersey. [ nurse ] i'm a hospice nurse.

britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions?

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coke's hidden secret, will

ferrell and yawn if you care. for the first time in 86 years, coca-cola has moved its secret formula. it's now being housed in a new vault at an exhibit at coke's headquarters in atlanta. the company's most guarded secret has been tucked away in a bank since 1925. speaking of beverages, you just have to see will ferrell in a new ad campaign for old milwaukee beer. >> doing a little hand fishing here in the mississippi. haven't got any catfish yet but could catch this little piece of america, old milwaukee. >> the spots are only airing in certain midwest pashmarkets. old milwaukee says fare rel approached them saying he loves their beer and wanted to do commercials for free. someone i can't quite see chugging down some old milwaukee, prince charles, and he's chosen a photo from his son's wedding for his christmas card. he and wis ha his wife hold hadr

3-year-old granddaughter. and the beatles were unveiled yet on the 31st anniversary of john's death. scientists say contagious yawning is actually a sign of a person being keenly interested in the other person's thoughts and feelings. it most likely occurs among family members, least likely among strangers. that that case, yes, they're just bored. and that wraps up this hour of "jansing & co." i'm chris jansing. thomas roberts is up next. have a great weekend. hy smile. that's why i recommend crest pro-health clinical gum protection. it helps eliminate plaque at the gum line, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. crest pro-health clinical gum protection.

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his cool until iowa. plus, stand by her man. jerry sandusky's wife breaks her silence with a full-blown defense of her husband saying he's innocent just a day after he was rearrested. and former imf chief really, was he set up by that maid in a new york hotel room? the stair from tory from the su video. i'm thomas roberts. former front-runner mitt romney is ramping up the political attacks against newt gingrich. from capitol hill to key early voting states, romney will try to close this gap with his latest trip to iowa. he may mention the former speaker during an economic speech this hour. one top senate democrat says a 2012 ticket led by newt would give the gop a death wish candidate. joining me to talk about this, former ohio governor ted strickland and republican strategist susan del persio.