done deal. right now the senate is in session. expected to vote on a compromise payroll tax cut deal set to expire in just two months. today, groundhog day, which means this fight will likely be repeated. gop debate fallout. did any of these candidates cross the line? new details on the tough exchange between newt gingrich and michele bachmann. jessica lynch, remember her? an iraq war p.o. wncw. rescued y in the fighting there. she graduated from college last night. we'll talk with her about that and her thoughts on the end of the war. in this week's "office politics" doris kerns goodwin talks about president obama invited her and a select group

for dinner at the white house three times already. good morning, know, welcome to "weekends with alex witt." it's 9:00 on the east soes, 6 a.m. out west. developing now, a crucial day on capitol hill with the senate in session at this hour. senate leaders agreed on a compromise measure last night, ebs tending a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for at least two more months. here's what the senate will vote on today. that two-month extension of social security payroll, language on the keystone pipeline. nbc's luke russert is busy on capitol hill with a good saturday morning to you, luke. >> reporter: good morning, alex. how are you? >> i'm great. i hope you are, too. i guess, are these billings all great? are they going to pass or are there still sticking points? >> reporter: no, these are very much bipartisan bills that will pass the senate later today. the voting's about to start now.

it will go until about 10:30 or 11 a.m. senators really do want to get out of washington, d.c. and start on their holiday break. but there was some contentious negotiations all week, talk about extending payroll tax cut for a year from now. eventually democrats had to settle on two months because both sides cannot figure out exactly how exactly to pay for this. the way this two-month extension will be paid for is fees freddie mac and fannie mae xharnlg will go up, transaction fees will go higher and passed along to mortgage lenders. that's something both sides could agree to. also the reason why this is going to attract republican support is because of the keystone pipeline you mentioned. take a look to what orrin hatch, senator from utah, said about keystone. >> these people are nuts who think we shouldn't put that pipeline in. my gosh, plus 20,000 jobs? are you kidding? high paying jobs? teamster union, other unions want it.

and because the president wants to please the radical environmentalists, they're going to stop 20,000 jobs? i mean, they've got to be crazy. >> reporter: and i spoke to a democratic aide yesterday who said there were some concerns within the party of the environmental impact of keystone but eventually the idea is, look, we cannot hold up a tax cut for the middle class, unemployment benefits about an issue divided within our own party, we might as well go forward on it. look, it basically says the president has to make a decision within the next 60 days. doesn't mandate the pipeline is constructed at all. a little bipartisanship last night, will go through senate today. keep in mind, though, it still has to go through house of representatives. we've seen all year getting anything through the house gop is not the easiest thing in the world. even though this has bipartisan support in the senate, it could still face a little bit of an uncertain future in the house. speaker boehner, we've been told, through aides, has said anything that comes out of the

senate must be approved by the house in the sense they want to approve it in the house gop conference. they to want get a look at it and scrub it. we'll get official cost numbers from the congressional budget office. we're moving in the right direction here. if you're for the payroll tax cut or unemployment benefits, for keystone, but not completely done until probably tuesday of next week, i'd say. >> let's not seal it quite yet. luke, we'll talk to you again. thank you. >> reporter: absolutely. congratulations on getting your show named, alex. that's awesome. >> that's great. >> reporter: a belated congrats. >> i'll work on the luke russert show as your agent. >> reporter: give me a few years. mitt romney and the governor of south carolina downplaying mitt romney's face. nicky haley appeared with romney in greenville after announcing her endorsement of the gop presidential candidate when the conversation turned to romney's mormon religion. >> when it comes to mormon

faith,ly tell you whatever the person's faith, my constituents, that's not an issue of my constituents. what the people of south carolina care about is values and family and faith and what you do and result. >> great majority of people in this country choose people base their leadership capacity and vision for country. >> iowa with just over two weeks until the caucuses, iowan are seeing a lot of negative mail in their mailboxes targeting newt gingrich. rick perry is taking aim at ron paul. while meeting with voters in storm lake, what washgs he said paul's isolationist policy make his nervous, specifically with iran. >> dr. paul talked about that he basically doesn't think that these mullahs in iran are anything to worry about. that iran somehow or another, if they get their hands on a

nuclear bomb, that, you know, that's kind of their business over there. well, that -- that greatly disturbs me. >> during a town hall meeting michele bachmann's husband outlined a socially conservative ag he would use as first man. >> romney will host town halls in south carolina and jon huntsman is holding town halls in new hampshire. joining me is malika henderson, reporter for "the washington post." good morning. >> good morning. >> the forces for the obama administration now, it is to make a decision on that keystone xl pipeline. do you see democrats caving here again? >> in some ways, yes, in some

ways no. i think orrin hatch said it best when he said, you know, there are unions that back this. we're talking about 20,000 job. the problem is with environmental groups who says this thing has not been tested and looked at closely, even the stated department saying this should be pushed off until 2013. of course, the president himself agreed with that. and said that he would reject any deal that came to his desk that included a keystone pipeline. now the white house is backing down, saying that senate and house leaders are moving in the right direction. i think in some ways obama backed himself into a corner a bit in, first of all, saying it was obviously important for these payroll tax cuts to go forward and not expire. and then saying that this keystone pipeline couldn't be attached to it. the republicans, of course, wanted this to happen. it looks like merry christmas, there's going to be some sort of bipartisan deal here. >> let's take a look at 2012 and the race for south carolina

governor, nikki haley endorsing romney. what kind of weight does this carry? >> he began rolling out the endorsement of christine o'donnell, a tea party candidate that doesn't have much of a constituency. so nikki haley, big favorite among tea party, south carolina a crucial state, i'm from that state. i have a little bias, i have to say. going back decades, 30 years to ronald reagan it's always pick the winner, eventual nominee. it's an important to state. so not only have her support, her ground troops there, constituents in that organization that she obviously not up to power herself to the governor's mansion, she'll have that. he'll also have her voice on it out there talking about him, talking about his record, talking about his religion and really humanizing him to those voters in south carolina. i do think there's a cultural

gap that mitt romney is going to face down there in south carolina. partly because he's a mormon. partly because he's a new englander. and i think in some ways newt gingrich, even though he does come with some personal baggage, at least he's got something of a southern background. he, of course, is the former georgia congressman. he'll find some affinity down there. but this i think lays good groundwork for mitt romney to do damage in south carolina. >> i'm glad to know you're a south carolina girl because now i'm noting you as expert. we've had more than a day to reflect on, analyze about the thursday gop debate. although this point do you think it looks worse for any one candidate over another? seemed everyone piled up on newt gingrich but did they get any punches that landed? >> you know, i think they did. particularly michele bachmann. listen, i think in some ways mitt romney owes michele bachmann a box of chocolates or something because she was doing his dirty work in that debate against newt gingrich, pigeon holing him and pinning him down

on freddie/fannie. he got $1.6 million, she said he was trying push these banks into bankruptcy when he had his hand out. one thing that's so interesting, in your introduction you said candidates are spread out, south carolina, new hampshire, iowa, doing campaigning. newt gingrich, not doing anything today. he is holding a conference call at 11:00 to talk about his view of the judiciary. sometimes conference calls either are a way to smooth out something that went wrong. of course, he's on the side of saying that judges can be subpoenaed and courts can be abolished. we'll hear from him but he's not out on the stump, pressing the flesh and kissing baby in iowa, which is necessary to those in iowa who have come to expect it. secretary of defense leon panetta is in liberty, arriving in the capital tripoli. the first pentagon chief ever to

visit libya. he'll meet with members of the transitional government that helped pople moammar gadhafi. yesterday u.s. lifted sanctions from libya and unblocked assets that were blocked. final act in iraq war is wining down as u.s. military is rushing to transfer last remaining troops and eight years' worth of war supplies back to the states. roughly 4,000 remaining military personnel, as well as millions of dollars in equipment and supplies, must be out of the country by now year's eve. a bit later this hour we'll speak with colonel jack jacobs about what that withdrawal means for the future, and the region and our military. >> the death of a florida a&m drum major has been officially ruled a homicide. medical examiner says he was beaten to death with a hazing ritual that left him with bruising to his chest, arms and internal bleeding which caused him to go into shock. university president says he may

step down temporarily until police finish their investigation. moving to the weather this saturday morning, taking a live look now at new york city, it is clear and cool and beautiful outside. folks may be scrambling to the malls today because we're just a week from christmas. what's it going to be like outside where you are? nbc meteorologist bill karins has those details. >> around the country everyone is wondering where's the snow? where is winter? temperatures haven't even been that cold yet. now as we go into the heart of the winter season, sooner or later it has to arrive. so, where is it? let's take a look at the temperature. you notice this morning, there's some cold spots. denver, minneapolis, northern new england, definitely on the cold side. but we're not looking at the arctic cold, the really, really brutal temperatures. have you to go up into northern canada, north of winnipeg, north of montreal, up to the hudson bay to find the cold arctic air. even canada at this point hasn't experienced the harsh winter they're used to. this is a different map i've created. this shows you where the real

true arctic air is over the next seven days. the purple color and then the white, that's the really, really cold polar air. the light blue, it's chilly but that's not the heart of winter. as we go through the next seven days out to next weekend and getting to the christmas weekend, you notice that the heart of the cold air, the purple, that still stays up in the hudson bay. the light blue stays over the northern plains which means it will be chilly but we're not looking at any big shot of cold air any time soon. all the cold air is locked up over siberia and around the north pole. as far as your forecast goes this weekend, saturday and sunday, both days are similar. just showers down there in texas. mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies over much of the country. alex, no snowstorms heading our way. there's really no huge shots of cold air either. it's great for getting holiday errands done but doesn't feel like christmas and the holiday season in a lot of places. sooner or later it will come. just not in time for a white christmas. >> i wanted a white christmas.

thank you. former prison of war jessica lynch weighs in. negative on newt. iowa caucus goers getting loads of anti-gingrich mail. and in "office politics" doris kerns-goodwin talks about exclusive dinners with the president. i joined the navy when i was nineteen. i was a commissioned officer at twenty-three. i was an avionics... tactical telecommunications... squad leader. i think the hardest transition as you get further into the military is... you know it's going to end one day. chase hired me to be a personal banker. i'm a business analyst... manager. i'm very proud to work for chase. when you hire a veteran, you get... great leadership... decisiveness... focus. chase knows, when you hire a veteran, you're hiring america's best. chase is proud to help 100,000 veterans find jobs at home.

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within days all u.s. troops will be out of iraq more than eight years since the invasion. in the first weeks of the struggle private first class jessica lynch became a household name, wounded and captured in an ambush, later rescued by u.s. forces. photographed in images that came to symbolize americans' struggle

with the war and a public's need for a hero. we're fortunate to be joined by her now. good morning to you, jessica. congratulations. you graduated from college last night. how do you feel? >> i am so excited. just to start a new life and a journey and see where life takes me. thank you. >> i'm sure you have wonderful things ahead. let's talk about what happened with you ten years ago when you joined the army. you did it to earn money for college and get your teaching degree. your thoughts today as we talk about u.s. troops being on their way out of iraq as we speak. what comes to mind? >> well, first of all, you know, we have to be so thankful that it's around the holidays that these families, these troops are getting to spend the holidays together. that's really the main thing. some of these troops have been away from their families for thanksgiving, christmas, every

single holiday. that's the main thing we need to focus on right now is just that they're getting to come home to their family and friends. >> your rescue story, jessica, it was used to rally the public support for the war at the time. from your vantage point, where is that sment now? what are the sentiments you hear from people that you meet, such i'm sure a lot of people do recognize you. >> yeah, they do. i mean, i still get a lot of support. people always want to come up and shake your hand and thank you. you know, being a veteran, it's an honor. and i think people recognize that. and it's good because, you know, we still need that. we still have troops that still need a thank you. just, you know, thank you for serving. >> for all those returning troops, though, jessica, what do you think they can expect in the way they adjust to being home with this war finally over? >> yeah, it takes time. it definitely takes time to readjust. in my case it took a little

extra, you know, just being injured and dealing with stuff physically and mentally. but, you know, all of these troops are going to -- going to have to readjust their life and re-evaluate the different lifestyles they're now coming back to. it is going to be hard. but, you know, family, friends, if they let them know they're there for them, then i think -- i think they'll do all right. >> and you mentioned your physical injuries. how are you doing physically? >> i'm doing okay. i mean, i deal with it the best i can. i still have no feeling in my left leg. i still have a little bit of a limp where my back and legs are broken. but, you know, i'm just so thankful that i'm able to be here, that i'm alive, that i am walking because, you know, so many were killed over there. you know, i don't focus too much on the bad as i am just so

blessed to be home. >> and you're a mom now. >> yes. >> what are you going to say if your child wants to join the army one day? >> you know, i'm going to let her make her own decisions. i'm definitely not a military basher. i'll let her make her own decisions. she's only 4 right now so she's not ready to hear everything mommy went through. when she's ready, i think that i will definitely let her know what happened. you know, if that's a decision she wants to make, then i will be -- i'll be there and support her. >> well, clearly private first class, mom first class, teacher-to-be first class, jessica lynch. thank you so much. best of luck to you. >> thank you. michele bachmann is crisscrossing iowa on her bus tour but she's still steaming over newt gingrich, questioning her facts during thursday's debate.

>> thought it was outrageous and insulting the way that he seemed to treat me like i was a student. and i'm not. i'm a serious candidate for the president of the united states. and i had my facts right. he has said this repeatedly. he's just not true. he's memory-challenged me. >> joining me is alison stewart, campaign manager for bachmann for president. thanks for being here. when congressman bachmann said during debate newt gingrich was attacking her facts and it was outrageous, was that a planned rebuttal? >> certainly not. the question was asked and she answered it. the fact remains that several times when congressman bachmann has shown the light on speaker gingrich's record he says she doesn't have her facts straight. well, the truth of the matter is, he's memory-challenged when it comes to many of the issues she has shown the light on, whether it's amnesty, whether it's individual mandate, whether it's the bailout, whether it's

his position on the partial birth abortion. every single issue she has shown the light on, we have provided the documentation to support her facts and she is 100% factually correct on these key issues she's making sure people understand what his record is. for him to simply look at her and say she doesn't understand what she's talking about, first of all, it's insulting, condescending and he needs to answer up to the issues that she's highlighting in these debates and certainly out on the campaign trail. instead of saying whoever holds her feet to the fire is lying or doesn't have his facts straight is insulting and he needs to come clean on his record. >> some have suggested that this is an amounting of, i guess, sexism on gingrich's part. how does the campaign feel about that? >> as i said, it's insulting and condescending. i haven't seen him treat other candidates that way. a few debates ago when it came to the issue of amnesty, which is a key issue in this election, he gave his position on that and

said he's prepared to take the heat for his position. and when michele highlighted his record, he turned around and said she didn't have her facts straight. we understand completely where he stands on immigration. he supports amnesty. he signed a letter supporting the bush amnesty plan. and all we did was produce the document. >> now, i'm -- >> it's insulting for him to not understand his own record. he's memory-challenged. he's used to being a professor and talking down to his stints but we're talking about the president of the united states. serious candidates in this race. and i expect him to start letting the reality meet up with his rhetoric. because what he's saying today does not match his record. >> i'm curious about what happened when a candidate is a front-runner, as your candidate was at one point. now gingrich is the front-runner. do you think it helps or hurt the gop overall when candidates are ahead get torn down by the other candidates? >> let me make it clear. one thing congressman bachmann does not do and doesn't intend to do is tear down any of the other candidates.

she is simply highlighting their record. she is showing the contrast between her record and that of the others. as you will see, as the records are exposed, she's the true, consistent, constitutional conservative in in this race. others up on there on the stage and campaign trail may say they're consistent conservatives, their records tell a completely different story. and that's the great thing about this primary process, is the vetting of the candidates in support for voters who go out there and not just listen to what he had say today but go back and look at their records. where did they stand before? you'll see, as michele pointed out in several of the debates, that what we have with speaker gingrich and mitt romney, one in the same. there's not a dime store difference between the two of them and president obama when it comes to key issues. like individual mandate when it comes to t.a.r.p., many issues people are concerned with. and it's important for people to understand that. >> thank you very much for making those points. we appreciate your time. alice stewart. we want to let you know in

just about an hour we'll also be speaking with senior strategist with the gingrich campaign. meantime, why president obama may have to work harder to re-energize his base in battle state grounds and how latino volters work into the mix. top v neck 3 piece suit dance wear bolo snakeskin boots sequin costume under things stiletto heels skinny jeans houndstooth snuggie pork pie hat oshkosh socks 5% cash back. right now get 5% cash back at department stores. it pays to discover.

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of their son. a drum major at florida a&m university. he was severely beaten to death in a hazing ritual and now the university and highly acclaimed marching band are the focus of a police investigation. we're joined from atlanta. with a good morning, let's hear more about this investigation. what are you finding out? >> reporter: alex, good morning to you. now that robert champion's death is officially ruled a homicide, criminal charges are likely to follow. but as authorities in university have been very slow in releasing information about this deadly hazing. for champion's parents, they say that all who were involved must answer for their action axe. heying was first suspected in the death of drum major robert champion and now autopsy results confirm that suspicion. official cause of death, blunt force trauma sustained during a hazing incident. >> it hurt because i found out that my son had to suffer. and he must have gone through a lot of pain. >> reporter: last month in

orlando, champion performed with florida's a & m famed marching band. hours later he was found unresponsive on the bus. this is part of the 911 call. >> eyes are open. he's not responding. >> reporter: champion suffered from internal bleeding and died within an hour of the hazing. he had multiple bruises on his chest, arm, shoulder and back. >> no kid should go to school, try to learn, try to better themselves, and come back the way my son come back. >> reporter: following champion's death, a fellow band member filed a police report claiming she, too, was hazed. brea hunter says she was hit repeatedly and suffered a broken leg as a result. this week three band members were charged with hazing for the alleged attack on hunter. two deny the allegations while a third is reportedly cooperating with police. >> some people characterize it as hazing. i say beating because you beat her. >> reporter: the hazing scandals have shaken the campus. florida's governors requesting

university president be suspends as the state conducts a criminal investigation. the band itself is suspended indefinitely. its long-time director on administrative lead. so far no arrests have been made in connection to champion's death. >> everybody needs to pay for what they've done. >> reporter: champion's parents are suing the university for what they call a culture of hazing. it's part of the justice they're demanding for the son they to lay to rest. nbc news, atlanta. and the university's board of trustees will meet on monday to consider the governor's request that the school president step down. no word yet on how many students were involved in this hazing or when charges will be filed. >> unbelievable story. let's go to politics, iowa caucuses fast approaching. newt gingrich's presidential rivals are stepping up and sharpening their attacks against the front-runner.

as a result, iowans are opening their mail bocks to a slew of negative letters and pamphlets all targeting gingrich. nbc's campaign embed is in des moines, alex mo. good to see you. give us your -- >> how are you? >> i'm great, thank you. give us an idea of what kind of mailers we're seeing. describe them. >> that's right. as you said, there was a slew of negative mailers in iowans' mailboxes. i saw at least eight and five of them were specifically targeting newt gingrich. one from ron paul, mitt romney campaign, and two from a pro-mitt romney super pact, all targeting newt gingrich. and the one from -- the two from the -- from the pro-mitt romney super pact saying that mitt romney they dant -- barack obama, excuse me, didn't want to run against mitt romney. he wanted to run against newt gingrich. all these mailers are coming and

hitting the new front-runner, newt gingrich. and ramping up their negative ads here in in. >> yeah. but, you know, it's hard for those of us who are osd of iowa to get a sense of how vicious the attack campaign is on the ground there. tell us what it's like for people watching tv and see the slew of tv commercials and open their mailboxes and see all these pamphlets. i mean, how negative is it? >> it's getting more and more negative as we closer. only 18 days left until the caucus. you know, i wafed last night the 6 p.m. news here on our affiliate and just during the commercials alone, in a 30-minute period, there were eight presidential ads and four of those, half were negative. again, targeting newt gingrich. it seems as we get closer it gets more negative but we expect them to take a break as we go into holidays next week and run more positive ads around the holidays. >> alex moe, thank you so much. if president obama's going to win re-election, he may have

to do it without the support of a key group voters but can he? it's time now for "office politics" and this week we took our cameras to concord, massachusetts, to visit doris kearns goodwin, pulitzer prize winner, and now at work on a biography of president roosevelt. to get into the minds of her presidents, she surrounds herself with walls of books. >> this home has history to it. you have built history into the walls of this home. is that inspirational for you? is it just natural for you? >> what the house really became was a house of books. we moved from another house to this house because we had too many books and they were floef flowing the other house. once we got here we decided to build extra rooms on so that books could be sort of organized. so, the room that we're sitting in right now became the library for abraham lincoln, for

history, for biography. and then there's another whole room that's justification. it's actually organized from "a" the author to "z" the auter and a baseball room for my other love. you're surrounded by books, which is part research. i have another room upstairs where teddy roosevelt is now housed. allows to you be surrounded by things my husband and i have loved all of our lives. >> who do you think is the most inspirational president? >> inspirational? great thought. i'm not sure i know. i think it depends so much on the time. no question, if you look at the -- if you look at the human being that abraham lincoln was, he's the most inspirational. of all the presidents i've lived -- and i've lived with these characters for a long period of time. six years with franklin and eleanor. another six with jfk. now i'm into my seventh year with teddy roosevelt. nobody compares as a human being

to abraham lincoln. i felt if i could really understand him, that i'd be a better person because he was unable -- because he was so willing to forgive past hurts. he was willing to surround himself with people who could argue with him. and he just had a set of emotional strengths 37. that i think no other president quite has had. >> pleats get to president obama. where do you think if you can look at the historical night in 2008, when he was elected, grantgrant park, chicago. where does it place itself in history? >> no question, those who lived through 2008, the first african-american president becoming president, the first sense of a whole country seemingly united behind this huge step in american history, no matter what happened after that, that's a night that's going to be huge, i think, as we look back on it 50, 100 years from now. bigger than the first catholic having been elected, bigger than

when the first jewish person is elected president. because history of race has been the problem in our country. there was such sense of hope, such a sense of possibility. at that time, a sense of people on all sides of the aisle feeling this is a good thing for america, that this has happened. >> are there qualities in president obama that you can see, oh, that's teddy roosevelt-like? oh, that's abraham lincoln-like? if so, what are they? >> i do tend to look although these presidents and think, they remind me of my guys. no question, because of the start since obama read so much about lincoln and the first time i ever talked to him, he called me up on my cell phone in '07 when he was still way behind hillary clinton and just said, i've just finished "team of rivals" and i have to talk. i suddenly picked up my cell phone and he said, hello, this is barack obama. we talked about lincoln not bringing in crazy people from his cabinet but rather about his

emotional strengths and how he was able to put these past hurts behind him to not feel the need to retaliation. and i think obama definitely wanted to have that kind of temperament. he also had a sense even then that he wanted to be a president that would be remembered in history. >> on "meet the press" a few weeks back, you talked about the president obama and how he should channel teddy roosevelt. then he subsequently goes to kansas and gives a significant speech in the same place where president roosevelt did. i mean, is he listening to you? what did you think of that is it. >> the one thing about president obama is he really does love history. i mean, identify been part of three history yans' dinners where a group of my fellow historians go down, tell him what our presidents would do so that there might be a teddy roosevelt guy, an icer, jfk, lincoln person. he loves to learn to what other presidents can i learn from. >> have you done that rently --

>> the last dinner was in may. we've had one every year -- no, no. >> there weren't others that solicited your base of knowledge? >> no, and it's so much fun. he always has the dinner -- the table will be set as if it's a certain president. he just is -- he's really good atta kind of seminar situation thinking saying, you haven't said anything. we all talk freely and give ast ttat truman had run against the do-nothing congress. that was a potential move for him to go. we also talked about teddy roosevelt, we talked about fdr. all these characters are in his head. he's one of these presidents that likes history and it's great. >> doris and dinners at the white house. i'll have more a bit later in our show, including what it's like to be married to a man that once dateded jackie kennedy, can you imagine? we'll have more on that. plus, the holiday season is coming. a little yuletide.

in a new survey more than three-quarters of the men questioned said they spend more than $1 sth,000 on alcohol duri the season. when it comes down to calorie consumption, most said they would cut out food first over alcohol. really? cuban ca jun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo tapas puck

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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. new information this morning on the shifting sands in the 2012 battleground states. president obama's strategy could be challenge there had by new numbers on party i.d. changing trends in party makeup that are happening right in those states president obama's targeting, according to the new report. the author of that report joins me from washington, susan page, washington bureau chief for "usa today." good to see you today. good morning. >> great to be with you again. >> so you wrote about these changing party battleground states. what are you seeing? >> well, you know, we're seeing

a very different landscape from the one in 2008 when president obama managed to carry all 12 of the states we identified as swing states this time. now the number of people who say are democrats have gone down, number of people who say they're republicans have gone up. when we ask you about enthusiastic you are, republicans win. which means they're more likely to bother to go out and vote. >> how much do you think that is because republicans are engaged in the primary process now, unlike democrats? >> you know, that could definitely be a factor when it comes to enthusiasm. one of the things we ask is who did you vote for in a contest tweent president obama and mitt romney or president obama and newt gingrich? i have to say against both those opponents, president obama trails just a bit. three points against gingrich, five points against romney. now, it's early. a lot of people not focused on the election yet. that's a red flag for the white house as they look to try to get president obama a second term.

>> you think the campaign should be discouraged by these trends or, perhaps, comforted by the fact he is still ahead nationwide and in many states, despite the numbers you're talking about in these swing states? >> we do a lot of nationwide polling with the gallup organization, but if you're talking about a presidential election with the electoral college it matters more where the candidates stand in these 12 states than nationwide. because there are some very big states with a lot of people like california and new york, that we are quite certain president obama will carry. what's important is if he can carry colorado and new mexico, michigan and pennsylvania. >> well, you mentioned a couple -- particularly the first two states you talked about, colorado and new mexico, the latino voters, where do they rank in all this? they'll be key to several of these states. >> there are two things we see happening with latino voters. one, they're not very attracted to the republican candidates. the rhetoric on immigration by mitt romney and some others has really turned them off. but the other thing we find is that among those groups of voters that are somewhat less energized and interested than

last time. one of the problems when you look at those energy engagement issues, the voters who are least energized are minorities and young people. those are key obama voter groups. the ones most energized are key obama supporters. men, middle-aged people, they are the base of the republican party. >> but, of course, as you said, there's a lot of time between now and the election. people will certainly get all fired up, at least we hope. but knowing all this, what do you think the president's re-election strategy should be going foortd? >> you know, i went to a briefing this week with the president's re-election campaign where they laid out five paths to get to 270 electoral votes and one thing that they say they are very determined to do is have more than one way to get there. you know where we see where ohio goes, they are trying to avoid that situation where they could

win florida and get to 270. they could win the far west states and get to 270. that's their strategy now. while republicans are fighting with each other, they are getting ground operations going in these states. >> all right. susan page, always a pleasure. thanks so much. >> thanks, alex. as of last week, a survey shows that about 40% of americans have reported wrapping up their holiday shopping but some of them may be returning to the stores a little bit dissatisfied. we'll talk about that here on weekends with alex witt. >>y to you. the forecast is simple. chilly in new england.

maybe showers down in south texas, including san antonio. what a gorgeous saturday and a peak at your sunday, it looks like more of your same. mild temperatures continue across the country. enjoy. ity would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪ [ male announcer ] the new united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. [ pneumatic wrench buzzing ] [ slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds.

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the last remaining troops in iraq are expected to leave the country within days now after nine years of fighting and a loss of 4500 lives, they should be home for the holidays. in november, david pitney became

the last one to die there. he will be awarded a purple heart for his sacrifice. retired colonel jack is here. here's the first question. did we win? >> well, if your objective was to get rid of suddam hussein, sure we did. and it came at a great, great cost. we lost a lot of troops, a lot of money, and a lot of prestige and influence in the region. >> so what did we learn from this war and what is the legacy that we leave behind? >> well, i remember after vietnam, the political air was filled with the following. no more vietnams. we're not going to go into anyplace unless we know exactly what we're doing, how we're going to get out as well as how we're going to get in. we have specific objectives that

we're able to achieve. no more vietnams. now we're saying no more iraqs either. it seems like every generation we have to learn the same thing. the military is not the default instrument of power. we better get used to using our better instrument of powers. >> do you think iraq can successfully function as a democracy without a u.s. presence there? >> yes, i think it can. whether or not it's going to is a different story altogether. the sunnis are still conducting terrorist operations. spent the war in tehran. whatever we're going to get in iraq is not going to be what weigh wawe want in the first place. how's newt gingrich garifai

as the target in the republican race? a man of football and faith, you're watching "weekends with alex witt." [ sponge ] the prognosis is bleak. you may need to soak overnight.

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right now, saturday session, the senate just finished voted on the agreement that would keep payroll taxes from rising but not for long. the newt gingrich pile-on. are there punches? are any of them landing just a few weeks before iowa? plus, taking a little time to tebow. why the move is taking the country by storm. good morning, everyone. the senate has just voted on assing the payroll

nbc's luke russert. where do things stand there? >> reporter: good morning, alex. the bipartisan vote will extend the payroll tax for two months. the only real opposition was folks who had a concern about the cost of the bill even though it was offset completely and overall we're going to see included in this vote, a pipeline decision for the president within the next 60 days. and really that was put in to garner a lot of republican support and they were able to get that republican support as you saw with that 89-10 margin. now it's going to go over to the

house where it's expected to pass. but speaker boehner would have a look at it, scrub it, and because it's neutral, higher transaction fees for mortgage lenders at fannie mae and freddie mac. and millions of americans will not see $1,000 disappear from their taxes and those who receive their unemployment benefits will receive those for the next few months. this sets a two-month period where congress is going to have to figure out how to pay for these things for the rest of the year. expect that to be contentious and a gentleman a few blocks down from here, 1600 pennsylvania avenue, to use this issue in the next few months as a campaign issue, talking about how middle-class families should not see their taxes raised. a temporary band-aid here on capitol hill but we've really just gun the debate. >> i'm sure the irony is not lost on you, luke. i mean, groundhog day, that is

when this is set to expire. come on, are we going to be doing this all over again in two short months? >> reporter: not only are we going to be doing this all over again but with much higher stakes. while they were able to figure out a way to pay for a two-month extension, to do nine more nonts months is very weary of anything that they see of new spending, even if it's offset n this deal, they would even just get a two months down was the keystone pipeline decision. if that's not around anymore because it's been put in this bill, what will be the sweetener to get republican support on board? no one really knows the question to that. but, look, president obama can take two months and say republicans are leary are giving middle class families a tax cut and protecting the wealthy. it's perfect ammunition and it's going to be a very spirited

debate on both sides. >> it's not about the bill murray and annie mcdowell movie. >> i've seen it. it's a great, great movie. de ja vu all over again, my friend. >> i know. in just a few minutes, kay bailey hutchison of texas will be joining us. of course, we've heard all of the critiques of the candidates. we're going to talk about this. this video here of cairo shows protests throwing rocks at egyptian soldiers in violent clashes that killed eight people and injured hundreds more. the military took control of the country after hosni mubarak stepped down.

they want transfer of authority to a civilian authority instead of waiting until the election in 2012. in the penn state sex abuse scandal, the judge in the case heard from the star witness yesterday at the preliminary hearing. joining me from harrisburg, pennsylvania, michael isikoff is joining us. >> reporter: good morning. the penn state officials have ruled that it can move to trial. once a quarterback, now a strand. mike mcquery said that jerry sandusky was engaging in extreme sexual activity with a young boy. the boy was up against the wall, jerry was directly behind him in a very, very close position. i believe jerry was sexually molesting him. mcquery slammed his locker door

shut causing sandusky to separate and look him in the eye. the testimony is key according to tim curley, and gary schultz. mcquery acknowledged he never saw actual any intercourse and never intervened. i was shocked and horrified and to be frank with you, i was probably not thinking straight. >> mike mcquery was a great witness. he was very clear, very articulate, very sincere and very respectful. >> reporter: prosecutors also read from the joe paterno grand jury testimony. he said he had only seen sandusky with a youngster doing something of a sexual nature. paterno said he didn't push mcquery for details.

he then press and never took any steps to investigate. defense officials hammered mcquery about why he never told the plus. he said, i thought i was talking to the police. now, al electric, the defense lawyers were frustrated because the judge wouldn't let them question mcquery on what they believe were inconsistent statements that he's made to other witnesses. but he they say once this case goes to trial, they will fully explore that and other issues about mcquery's credibility and they hope they are going to be able to get these charges dismissed. alex? >> the story is a long way from over. thank you, michael isakoff. the senate vote is not the last word on the payroll tax holiday. lawmakers voted to extend it for two months only. so in february americans will be hearing the same arguments again. i'm joined by republican senator kay bailey hutchison of texas who just voted yes on that bill

and the vast majority did. >> reporter: thanks for covering this. >> i want to cover this without being partisan. can you explain to the american people why we have to get to this just to get a two-month agreement here. >> it's because we are so very different in the way we want to pay for the extension of the tax cuts. we do not want social security to start going into a further deficit position. therefore, republicans are insisting that there be some kind of offset and that's where the disagreement is so stark and causing all of these delays. >> do you understand as well as your fellow senators that at a certain point the american public doesn't want to hear excuses anymore? and even explanations? because they just hear noise. they want some real solutions that are not just temporary? >> sure. i totally understand that. but the problem is the people who agree with the republicans don't want to see it solved in a

way that increases taxes and is not paid for or hurts the long-term stability of social security and the democrats want to tax and they want to allow this to go forward regardle of whether it's paid forever. so while people are very, very frustrated, understandably, i think there would be even more frustration if we came to the that most americans are wrong. >> they succeeded in the keystone xl pipeline expansion, whether that goes forward. it's a project that i know you support. there are some who say it's special interests getting their way in washington once again. so what is your response? >> i think that's such an old hat argument. this is something that the union support, they are asking the president to approve this because it means thousands of

jobs, 20,000 jobs is what the union and industry says this will give to our country at a time when all of us want to put people to work. and there's no government expenditure. it's all private sector spending that will create 20,000 jobs and plus 180,000 is the estimate in jobs created with all of the suppliers and the people who would support the construction. so it seems to me to be a no-brainer and the -- all of the environmental studies have been done. everyone is in agreement except the president and a group of people who think it's going to hurt the environment when, in fact, honestly, alex, the experts say that there will be more carbon emissions if we don't do the pipeline because it will have to be shipped out overseas and then we'll have to bring it back in at a more expensive rate and with more carbon emissions. >> well, in further demonstrating how there are two

sides to every coin and issue, according to the "new york times" in an editorial said the pipeline company transcanada, says the project could create 6500 construction jobs annually. they also estimate 6500 temporary jobs. and in an independent study, they conclude it may generate no more than 50 permanent jobs when the work is done. so if the pipeline company itself says only 6500 jobs may be created, why are we hearing this number 20,000 being bantered about? >> the industry and union have both agreed that it's 20,000 jobs. it doesn't cost the government anything and it will provide cheaper energy for every american household. why not go forward with something that's going to give us cheaper energy, more energy,

trading with our partner canada instead of having to import from middle eastern countries or south american countries that are not our friends, why wouldn't we create a job in any way that we can in a way that's good for all americans. >> i'm following those in high profile that are coming out with endorsements. you have yet to do that for any of the republican candidates. do you know who you are going to support? >> you know, i haven't said publicly because i don't think that my endorsement is going to make a difference. i think that there are some very strong candidates in our race. i think we've got to have a strong candidate to show the differences between what we think will spur the economy and what president obama has not done that we think needs to be done in the white house that understands leadership and understands that we've got to put people to work to create

revenue, not more government spending and debt. >> you sure you don't want to whisper it right now? >> alex, i'll tell you on the side. >> okay. kay bailey hutchison, thank you. >> thank you, alex. newt gingrich in the final gop debate of the year. we're going to hear from a senior strategist from his campaign, next. later, the tebowing trend. why is it so popular? here on "weekends with alex witt." ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills.

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now to strategy fallout. this is what was said during the

debate on fox news. >> the easiest sean that's just not true. >> we know that he cashed paychecks from freddie mac. that's the best evidence that you can. over $1.6 million. >> speaker had a revolution against him. i had conservatives knocking down by door because i was the affected advocate for the principles that they believed in. >> i think people are coming around and finding that i am the consistent conservative in this race. they are coming around to find that i'm not going to pander. >> all right. here's now gingrich defended himself. >> the easiest answer is, that's just not true. what she just said is factually not true. i never lobbied under any circumstance. i sometimes get accused of using language that's too strong. so i've been standing here editing. i'm very concerned about not appearing to be "zany." >> well, joining me now, karen

finney and senior strategy for the campaign, david winston. good morning, the two of you. >> good morning. >> okay. david, it looks like newt gingrich would have kind of a tough time coming away unscathed from all of that. what is your take? >> well, clearly he's the front-runner. and so people were sort of focusing on him and so the question is, and what everybody wanted to see, is given the focus, he had a good debate. there were a lot of charges made that gingrich was able to effectively carry. ultimately it was a good debate and when you take a look at the surveys that we've seen, in terms of his standing, he's been able to sustain a good solid lead at this point. having said that, there's a lot of campaigning to do. >> how do you -- newt gingrich is the latest flavor of the month. think about the gop primary

season thus far. it has been, you're up and you're down, you're up and you're down, with every single one. >> well, certainly so far this year, the republican primary process has been sort of an exercise in whiplash, to say the least. but ultimately what you've seen is speaker gingrich has sustained his position here for a longer period of time than you've seen the others and there's a real structure behind that. i mean, people know who he is. he's been a clear leader within the republican party for an extended period of time and i think you'll see and as shown in the latest nbc poll, it's a 17-point lead over mitt romney. so there's some staying power here. >> karen, as a democrat thinking about the re-election campaign, what do you think was taken away from the debate? >> several things. number one, the so-called front-runners, mitt romney and newt gingrich, both have a lot of baggage to overcome and there's a lot unsettled about them for voters to decide if

they feel they can trust. and the trust issue is a huge issue with voters. the second thing is a very long contrast. they are terrible if you're really trying to appeal to a broad swath of the country. let's have a discussion about invading iran. let's go back and have a conversation about the other whacky subjects that were brought up. >> you saw the poll numbers and they suggest that when mitt romney is paired up against the president face-to-face, he fairs much better than newt gingrich does. >> there have been a variety of different surveys that have been out there. there was recently a usa today gallup poll and they did about

the same. there was another survey done and they looked at the top 60 congressional seats and took a contrast in terms of how did romney and newt do against president obama in that particular case newt gingrich did slightly better than mitt romney did against president obama. we're still early on the phase, going to karen's point, at some point in time, what you're going to see is one of these individuals is going to have to go one on one against the president of the united states and debate him. the question for republicans is, who is the best person? >> i guess this question, from a female perspective, karen, 20% of women view newt gingrich positively as opposed to 38% view him negatively. >> yeah. >> do you see a way that gingrich can turn this around? >> well, not after what we saw on the stage the other night. i mean, look, here's the thing, newt gingrich has a very thin

skin and has the tendency to flare-up, a condescending tone that he's taken with michele bachmann. that's the tone that i've seen him take with anyone. but particularly a woman, a lot of time pollsters and men in campaign don't always think about the fact that women see those kinds of things and feel about those kinds of things very differently than men do. just as african and americans and latinos, code phrases go on that they see differently. sometimes these broad national polls don't really show us the picture of what is going on underneath. although, i will say that notice the trend has been newt gingrich's negatives have been going up and actually president obama's numbers have been doing a little bit better as these debates go on. >> david, i want to bring up, though, this female thing and this perception as a result of the exchange with michele bachmann. i spoke with her communication for the campaign and she said

that michele bachmann is still pretty heated up since newt gingrich accused her of not having the facts. this is the second time that he's done it publicly in a debate forum. do you think he should have gone there? >> she wasn't correct. and the speaker in his first year of being speaker, over the years of partial birth and where the speaker stood on it, the first year of speaker, he passed a partial birth plan and the president vetoed it. congress passed it again and bill clinton vetoed it but newt had managed to put together the majority coalition. so when push became president it actually made it through. having michele bachmann stand on the stage and say that he was opposed somehow to the partial birth abortion ban is just -- what are you going to say? you've got to say it's incorrect, because it was. i'm not quite sure how else to address it. >> what about the money from

fannie and freddie? that that is peddling money for influence. somebody who used to be speaker of the house is skirting the rules but you're pedalling money for influence. she wasn't wrong on that. >> the way you're setting thaup, he was not skirting the rules. he was being paid by an entity for advice. >> and being put in a room with certain people. >> well, that would not be correct. >> invitations from some of the events that his foundations have set out to different leaders. >> karen, if you'd like to forward those to me, i would love to see them. >> i'd be glad to send them to you. >> thank you so much. in our one-minute playback, remembering christopher hitchens who died at the age of 62 after his battle with cancer. he was known for his criticism

of the left and right. here he is talking about "hardball" talking about christianity. >> this does not say christian. itself-evident on that committee was benjamin franklin who undoubtedly was an atheist. at least no one tried to be princess diana the nobel peace prize. >> okay. what is wrong with them taking it? >> well, it would be like giving someone an oscar in the hope that he would one day make a good motion picture. >> well, because he's abnormally unintelligent, fantastically uncultured, uneducated and apparently quite proud of all of these things. john mccain is a lot older than he was in january. and it shows. he looks weird. he automatically raises the

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." lawmakers have agreed to extend a payroll tax extension but that bill only covers the next two months which means that the fight will continue in february. i'm joined by debbie was ser man schultz of florida. good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> how confident are you, particularly that the payroll tax extension, will pass the house next week?

>> well, that seems to have the support of house democrats. to make sure that middle class americans, working families don't have to suffer through another $1,000 coming out of their paycheck. just last week, alex, i spent some time in a parlor with my district with a single mom and dad who worked there who just found it so hard to wrap their minds around the notion of another $1,000 coming out of their check right around the holidays. and this was the right thing to do. i hope our republican colleagues in the house realize that. it remains to be seen. >> i want to get, not a partisan answer here, i want you to step back and look at the opinions of the public. can you understand why people are so jaded in washington in. >> i think it's absolutely

confused, sit down, work with president obama and congressional democrats and pass the payroll tax. it's unacceptable and they don't understand how devastating that that $1,000 would be. it's pervasive throughout the whole party. they called to are a payroll tax break a little band-aid. can't decide whether he's for it or against it on any given day. they really -- republicans really don't grasp the struggle that middle class working families are going through right now. they seem to care only about the wealthiest, most fortunate americans. that's just factual based on their record. >> that said, a decision on extending the pipeline, potentially divisive issue for democrats, because some have unions that are for it or some

against it. so did republicans get a win here, enforcing the president, disappoint the republicans have killed the keystone pipeline. forcing president obama to and his administration to decide on the significant environmental, economic, and other big decisions related to keystone in 60 days. the secretary of state, hillary clinton, said 60 days was far too narrow of a window. i think what's happened is that -- she said in that statement that it would be, you know, unable to support it with that short of review. so i think their insistence on shortening the review time to 60 days means that we won't have a keystone pipeline and that republicans would have killed it. if that's what they want, they continually put forward and press for ideas ideological and

rather than pragmatic and workable. there's no sense. >> i want to get your take on senator ron wyden, a democrat. he's been accused of crossing party lines. just on the face, without getting into the particulars of the proposal, some say it dulls a line of who want to end medicare. how do you see this playing out? >> well, i have tremendous respect for senator wyden. i've worked with him on legislation in the past. it's not the first time that he or others have put forward bipartisan legislation that simply is wrong. this is not going to dull any attacks. he is one member. he's certainly entitled to his opinion. but paul ryan, the republican he's co-sponsored this with, has attracted o

attracted one democratic member and that's what that legislation would do. it would allow medicare to wither on the vine, which is what republicans want, and it's unacceptable. >> do you wish you haven't gone there? does it make you mad? because it gives republicans fodder to say that it's a bipartisan proposal. >> in the democratic party, alex, we don't require unanimity. this particular democratic senator, senator wyden, this is where he's been on health care for his whole career. it follows his track record. the overwhelming majority of the americans say that it should be preserved for the safety net that it is, for seniors who, without it, it would be essentially medically bankrupt.

the proposal is misguided, it's wrong, it's unfortunate that senator wyden has devastate senior citizens in this country. >> florida democratic congresswoman and chairman of the dnc, thank you. an investigation into the a&m beating of a drum major, he was severely beaten and died within an hour of the attack. i'm joined by katie sanders, reporter for the st. petersburg times. >> thank you for having me. >> give me a sense of what this investigation means for the community there and the future

of this legendary marching band. >> absolutely. the band is a very big source of pride for not only the city of tallahassee but also the state and we're seeing this week that the student body is really casting a dark shadow on this huge death and you can see when they marched to the governor's mansion and had a protest outside of governor brown's house, his choice -- if he had it his way, james would already have stepped aside. >> we'll see if he does it temporarily. >> the problem here is not only the isolated case but three weeks earlier there was another band member in a hazing-related incident who had her leg broken and she's threatening to sue the school. is hazing a part of the culture at florida a&m?

>> i think it's certainly been a part of the culture and it's hard to control. the band's director, julian white, hasit'seen a problem sin early as 1989 with groups -- subgroups forming in the band, like cliques almost. it's hard to control and they are not sure how to do it. >> here's the thing. when i was in college, a long time ago, certainly, hazing meant you made the stupid pledges drink too much or there was some sort of a raid on clothing, panty raids. they never resulted in beatings or a death. what is the outrage like there in the community? >> well, i think the community is mortified that something like this has happened and as we learn more about how robert champion spent his final hour,

it's very agonizing to read for these people. but the kind of beatings and there have been documented incidents of beatings among members. so the outrage has been there and it's come back again, gone aaway, come back again and now someone has died and it's a major issue. >> beatings, hazings, absolutely pointless. katie sanders, thank you very much. >> thank you, alex. the young soldier blamed for the largest leak of classified materials in history. hundreds and thousands of classified documents have been leaked to wikileaks. if convicted on all accounts, manning could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

a quarterback is quickly becoming a phenomena. tim tebow is being mimicked around the world, spurred on by the website, tebowing.com. jarrett, good morning. >> good morning. >> did you ever expect that this would catch on like this? >> i had no idea. it started like less than a month and a half going in new york and i had no idea it could get to the level that it's gone to. it's amazing. >> where did you get this idea, though? did it pop in your head? my producer was looking at it and he said, oh, bowing. has it been with you for a while? >> it started outside of a

manhattan bar. i'm a die-hard broncos fan. they came back from a 15-point deficit against the dolphins and after the game i noticed that tim was kneeling in prayer when everyone was jumping around. i said let's take a picture of tebow and i thought to myself, what if i made a website of my friends doing this around the world. that's the inspiration. but the word itself is both bow and win. it's unbelievable how it worked out that way. >> i'm curious what you think about why this catches on? it's catchy, or is there anything about religion behind all of this? what do you get a sense from what people are saying?

>> i think i'm like unlike a lot of different means, this has so many different ways of interpreting it. if you're in college, you can giggle at funny pictures. but you can look at pictures like we have a cancer patient who is tebowing while getting chemo. some people find hope through the gesture of prayer. so it's really given people around the world, whether they are intentionally praying or not, the comfort to be in a prayer position. >> jared, best of like with the website. it's very clever. and thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much, alex. it seems snow is to panda is to what cat nip is to cats. the pandas go nuts when they see snow. they roll around it and eat it like we humans eat ice cream. ♪ the weather outside is frightful ♪

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after suffering the worst weekend in three years, sherlock holmes is hitting theaters. is it a must see? check it out. >> you do seem excited. >> manic. >> verging on psychotic. >> i should have brought you a sedative. >> joining me now is dawn. good morning. >> good morning. >> how does it look? >> it's doing well at the box office but not as well as the first moving. compared to 62 million for the first movie. it's not saving the slumping box office. that said, as a movie, robert

downey, jr. is always awesome. it's snap pea dialogue and great action sequences. it has the slow-motion fight scenes that guy ritchie developed in the first movie. >> okay. how about family fair with the chipmunks? >> this is not a movie that is going to cross demographics like "the muppets." it's a very silly, fun movie. if i have to hear the chippettes singing -- >> don't want that to happen. >> no. >> tom cruise "mission impossible". >> this is definitely a movie to put on your must see. it's a limited release in big

cities on imax. going wide on the 21st. critics are saying that this fourth movie is the best of the series yet. people are loving the action and tom cruise. would they go see him in a movie? is he going to be a big draw? the studio is not banking on this. if you look at the studios, it's more of the ensemble cast. it's going to be awesome. >> yeah, absolutely. dawn yanek, who we are going to say good-bye to because you're about to give birth to your first child. >> thanks. in past elections, it's been about god, gays, and a live report from capitol hill on the senate tax payroll cut. [ male announcer ] kinect for xbox 360,

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joining me from washington is thomas frank of harper's magazine. good morning to you. >> and how are you today, alex? >> i'm well. thank you for asking. you wrote, what's the matter with kansas? we spoke about some of the wedge issues. what do you think are the wedge issues for this next cycle? >> well, it's going to be completely different. the traditional culture war issues has taken a back seat to economic issues. this was especially noticeable with the tea party movement where they were explicitly not

talking about culture war issues so they could concentrate on economic ones. you see the same thing with occupy wall street. and so your sort of traditional wedge issues are giving way to economic issues this time around. >> how surprised are you that democrats are not getting more traction for their proposals to have the rich pay more taxes? >> well, you know what, you are talking about the payroll tax cut or highly technical issues. these are things that everybody agrees on in principle and when it comes right down to it, to talk about the very small increases or rewriting the tax code in some marginal way, that's not the thing that moves the millions. i think that president obama and the democrats have to think a lot bigger. i mean, they need to look at sort of experience of franklin roosevelt. it was built in a very similar situation to the one that we are in today. they need to be talking along

the lines that roosevelt talked about in the 1930s. for example, obama went to my home state of kansas and gave a wonderful speech and sort of channelling theodore roosevelt and talking about the division of wealth in this country and how intolerable it's become. all of that is really, really powerful. and the issue that he harnesses that too is fiddling with the tax code. he's got to think much, much, much bigger. >> it was never people in its streets. it was a couple hundred,000 people. it had oversized influence because of the way that they talked about wall street. do you remember in 2009 and

2010? and that's a democratic issue. this is where the democrats could completely retake the field. let's bring law & order back to wall street, you know, and we'll see how it plays out. in our meantime, thanks. good to see you. >> thanks. >> more on the vote today on the payroll tax cut. and then in office politics, talking about having a son who fought in iraq and having a son who dated jackie kennedy. urity - there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪

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breaking news at just past the top of the hour. the senate passes the payroll tax vote 89-10. this bill includes a stipulation to fast track the review of a controversial oil pipeline. just about 90 minutes or so from now, president obama will speak from the white house about today's vote. good morning, everyone.

welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we're going to check in with luke russert who is on capitol hill, first with the latest on the key senate votes. another good morning to you. what's the latest from there? >> reporter: good morning, alex. senate harry reid took to the senate floor about ten minutes ago and said this is the last vote of the year and essentially now the senate has completed their business for calendar year for 2011. what did they do? number one, they passed a two manufacture month extension of the tax payroll tax holiday. working americans will not see $1,000 disappearing from their paycheck. they extended unemployment benefits for another two months. a lot of folks wanted to get that done and that's going to move forward.

with cuts not as one democratic aide told me, also in here, within the next 60 days, president obama has to make a decision on the keystone pipeline. it's going to bring oil sands from canada down to the gulf. labor activists say it can create 20,000 jobs and environmentalists say their not enough information on what the impact will be. and medicare docs will not see a dock in pay. their work is done and it goes over to the house of represents expected to pass the bill because, as you've mentioned, the 89-10 vote, it was a bipartisan vote. the caveat is this is only two months. these things need to be extended for aer y year. it's one that a lot of folks on

capitol hill don't necessarily want to have but a lot of folks believe president obama likes because he's able to go around the country and talk about a middle-class vote tax cut. so business is done here on capitol hill. the house still has to pass it but for lack of better words, business is pretty much complete. signed, sealed, and delivered. and we move on to 2012 which i'm sure will be, shall we say, busy. >> to say the least. any way, senate is done, we have the house still a little bit this week. thank you so much, luke russert. >> take care, alex. be well. >> you, too. mike is at the white house. >> it's saturday. let's talk about what luke was saying and how this can be a good thing in terms of the presidential campaign and -- rsh

not everybody is going to be happy with this deal because the president said over the course of the last few weeks that he would quote, unquote, reject any extraneous measures. the president has fought very hard in appearance after appearance, statement after statement for extension of that payroll tax cut. the president wanted to expand it, cut it in half as well as just simply extending it by the cut of 2% that's in effect right now. you heard luke say that that would be $1,000 in extra taxes. however, now, republicans were successful in forcing the president's hand on this pipeline. it was controversial. to give you a little bit of background, from canada to the gulf coast, a decision expected by the end of this year. at the last minute, the state department, which because of the international border, we're going to look at it further. it needs more environmental

study. particularly in western nebraska. it also had the political advantage of being delayed likely until after the election because it was a difficult issue for the president. it would create jobs, although that number of jobs is in dispute. 5,000 says one study. much more says another study. and environmentalists, a core part of the constituency that the president will be relying on, we saw any number of demonstrations, thousands of people demonstrating in front of the white house. so the republicans have made the president make a decision on this within the next 60 days. and also comment on that pipeline as well, alex. >> mike viqueira at the white

house, thank you for that report. the deal for the payroll tax extension as we've just been told until groundhog day, quick reaction. we're going to bring in the big 3 panel. msnbc contributor megan mccain, a columnist for the daily beast. we welcome you to "weekends with alex witt." >> thank you for having me. >> ladies, erin, what are you hearing about this deal that passed overwhelmingly. do you expect one side to be more satisfied than the others? >> yes. republican senators only get two months, not a year, and want to see it go for a year. now, also as the keystone pipeline decision that you mentioned that mike was just speaking about, republicans are overjoyed that the president is

going to have to make a decision on this. >> megan, it's only two months and when you talk about the groundhog day, that movie out there with bill murray, it's hilarious but the day keeps repeating itself. is it fair that we're going to be going through this again? >> no. congress's approval rating is only a two-month extension plan and really is in layman's terms is putting a band-aid over a stab wound. now we're left with something that neither side is satisfied with. >> goldie, do you think the public should be angry about what is going on in washington? >> absolutely. i've got to agree with megan here. it's putting a band-aid on a stab wound. two months of extending unemployment benefits when you have people in the middle class now living on the margins and living among the poor and

working poor? that's a deplorable situation and then to turn around and tie the keystone project to this? that's the uncon shenable thing that has americans thinking twice about who we send to washington. two months from now americans will be hit with a bill that they cannot afford. you have families living on the margin and this is really one more reason to think about who we send to washington and why. >> erin, do you think it's lost on americans as to why there is the xl oil pipeline deal tied with a payroll tax cut and the extension of jobless benefits? i mean, are these two intertwined? should they be? don't people go, why are we tapping these things together? >> well, that's deal making in washington. there are lots of riders attached to different deals. that's how they get something through that they want by

forcing a decision on something else. that happens on congress all of the time. does it cause confusion with the public? absolutely. >> meghan, your thoughts on that as well? is there a hope to separate things out more clearly and would that make congress more effective? >> i completely agree with her. this is the type of thing that the american public has become jaded over. simply for to not be gross with my description but it's crohn knee capitalism at its worse. >> goldie, do you agree? >> i absolutely agree. the keystone project has absolutely nothing to do with unemployment benefits and this is like holding a knife at the people living on the margins that has nothing to do with any

germain issue what so well. newt gingrich's daughter is coming to the defense of her father. jackie gingrich says her father is not the man critics are portraying him to be. >> one of the things that i think the people don't know about him is that he is much more patient, he does listen a lot more and he's always been very persistent. you've seen that both when he was running for congress and speaker. i think he's really added on top of that a level of cheerfulness and i think you can see that on the debate and campaign trail, he really is the happy warrior. >> joining me is jolene. what else is jackie gingrich saying about her dad? >> that's right. jackie is gingrich's daughter from his first marriage. she's basically showing off her

father's softer side. >> i think part of it is being older, having grandchildren, being in a private sector, worrying about people and trying to make sure that they are on the right path as well and he's a much more faithful person in relation to got. >> he's a softer personality, more able to relate to people and many people being that her mother was on cancer death bed. she told reporters that was absolutely not the case. in fact, it was her mother that

filed for divorce, alex. >> thank you very much for that report. still ahead, office politics. refl refl reflecting on the war in iraq. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." ew. hey, mom? what? pay you? for what? for unloading the dishwasher?! kid, you need to pay me for making this delicious -- whoa. hold on there, mom. kitchen counselor. um, mom, i think what she means is "greasy dishes." yeah. in fact, check it out. cascade complete pacs are the ones with the real liquid top. they fight tough greasy messes better than the other tablet, which can leave more tough grease behind. oooh, clean. there's only one cascade. love it, or your money back. ♪ it's nice to see you [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ this is zales, the diamond store. take up to

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just a short time ago, the senate passed a payroll tax cut extension. the plan passed overwhelmingly with a vote of 89-10. that extension is set to expire in just two months on groundhog day, ironically enough. you know what we're seeing here? there is a clip of the famous

bill murray film of the same name. the senate will be taking up the same exact vote. bill murray can't believe he's waking up with the same day one more time. i'm joined by democratic senator bob casey of pennsylvania who voted yes to the bill to extend the payroll tax holiday. thank you for joining me. >> thanks, alex. >> i'm going to ask you the same question i've asked other lawmakers. i'm looking for the most nonpartisan answer that you can give me. senator kay bailey hutchison gave me one, debbie wasserm wasserman schultz. can you explain why it's taken them so long to pass this when it only pushes it back two short months? >> i'm frustrated as anyone else. you have people blocking the extension of the payroll tax cut that we put in place last year, put $1,000 in the pockets of the average working take home pay

and blocking unemployed insurance. we've got to keep at this, keep working at it. i'm going to be introducing a payroll tax cut bill again. this will be my third version of this. we're going to keep working at it. we've got to extend this for the whole year because it will do great harm to the economy if politicians in washington keep blocking it. >> with this third extension that you're going to write and author and propose, how long do you think you might be able to buy with that one? >> well, i think what we've got to try to do is get an agreement when we vote in 2012 we have an extension for the whole year. here's some of the consequences. if we don't get this done, if politicians down here keep blocking it, just look at one state, for example, a big state, my home state of pennsylvania. the consequence of this is a loss of almost 20,000 jobs in a state that millions across the

country, 160 million workers. >> are you at all concerned that they may have forced a decision on the keystone xl oil pipeline? unions for the pipeline expansion, environmentalists are set against it, two key democratic groups? >> alex, i think too often here we analyze things in terms of who won and who lost. if we don't extend the payroll tax beyond the 60 days, the losers will be the american people. this is vitally important to those 160 million american workers but also vitally important for the whole economy. so i would rather focus on how we can get this done rather than kind of the win-loss calculation here in washington. >> what about this article in "business week" yesterday which suggested that you were willing to back down from calling on avoiding on a decision from that oil pipeline? where do you stand this morning on the millionaire surtax? >> i think it's a reasonable way

to pay for this. if you have folks in washington always preaching, some people preach about making sure that a payroll tax cut is paid for, that's what we came forward with. so i, in my original legislation, said that if you're making above $1 million, your surtax would be 3.25, republicans rejected that and i came back and said, how about reduce that to 1.9%. they rejected that. i think the problem here is that you've got folks in washington that seem to fight tooth and nail for the top 1% or even the top .1% and willing to let taxes go up for workers. a lot of people have their priorities out of whack. the american worker needs a break going into the holidays. the best way to do that is to pass the payroll tax cut extension for the whole year. we're going to work to do that. >> before you go, i want to switch gears and talk about the shocking new report from the cdc which shows one in wife women are sexually assaulted in their

lifetime. that's 1.3 million per year. you have been working hard to get this extended. how would that help women? >> the violence against women has been successful for roughly a generation. we need to reauthorize that and strengthen it. it's an issue that is not going to be solved by legislation, necessarily. but in the end, this is about whether or not men are going to take responsibility, to talk to kids in high schools about how horrific this is and to say very clearly to young men if you pray upon a woman and you abuse her, you commit an act of sexual violence, you're a coward and we're going to come down on you, we're going to prosecute you and put you in jail. that's what men have to do. to make it unacceptable to do that to a woman. and this is at the fault of men. so it's up to men to make sure

that we take responsibility and tell young men that they can't do this and call themselves a real man. you're a coward if you do this and we've got to send a very clear message about that. >> many thanks, bob casey, happy holidays to you. >> thanks, alex. in just a few minutes i'll speak with two people who voted against it. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." all energy development comes with some risk, 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...

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the senate votes to cut the payroll tax in just two short months. i'll be speaking with senators who teamed up to oppose that extension. it's an example of the true spirit of the season. a san francisco single mother of two finds a wallet on the street corner, picks it up and finds it stuffed with more than $1300 in

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developing right now, the senate has just passed the mega bust spending bill to extend the

government through next fall which effect 2iively averts a threat of a shutdown. joining me now is joe mansion and mark kirk of illinois. gentlemen, good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> so you are in agreement, despite being on opposite side of the aisles. you were one of two democrats who voted no along with senator pat leahy. >> we continue to rob social security and i believe that we have an obligation, responsibility, this is the people's money. it's been a contribution from the day is began and last year was the first year that we ever reduced that amount that the

employees put into it and i think it's a crash waiting to happen. i've said it loud acleand clear want to help people find work. but you don't defund social security for the purpose of retirement for people depending on it. you just don't do it in west virginia. >> but the timing right now, sir, this could take 1,000, $1500 out of the pockets of people who need it so desperately. it would not help spur the economy. >> we're willing to do anything else. it wasn't that we were saying we are fundamentally against it. there are other ways to help. but right now i talked to people that didn't even know they were receiving the 2% discount and they knew now that they were receiving it, they would gladly foresake it if we together collectively would do meaningful tax reform.

let's fix it. >> why did you vote no. >> we know the retirement. baby boom administration, 10,000 americans are qualifying for social security each day. we know it will run about $60 billion in the red. it will trigger a loss of $80 billion to social security. the administration says don't worry, we'll backfill the losses with government debt but that government debt no longer has a aaa rating from standard & poor's. >> we're $15 trillion in debt right now. we're saying, let's trust the people who put us $15 trillion in debt. we're going to throw social

security into that, if you will, and we are unwilling to do that. i still feel very strongly against that. >> can you see a situation, senator -- >> remember, you're calling it the payroll tax deduction but for 50 years it was called fica. contributions to social security. one of the worries that i have is that the white house doesn't want to talk about this defunding social security anymore but that's exactly what's happening and i don't think we should ignore the lessons of europe where they are trying to run retirement security programs without contributions. and, remember, social security is not a welfare program. it's a retirement security program paid for by the contributions of its workers and we don't think we should defund social security. >> the way i could have voted, the house sent a provision in there, if you're going to extend it for one more year, it would definitely be over in one year

and the only way it could be extended any longer, taking money away from social security, is if 50 senators would vote in that. the senator was going to accept that language but we never got to that. so there is ways that we're looking to compromise to find a way to help middle class america, working people, people who are unemployed find employment. the best thing that we can do is make commonsense decisions and quit raiding a program that is depended on by so many. >> do you expect any backlash from your constituents to this very short time frame? people saying, really, we're going to have to go here again in february? >> yeah, i think so. i think congress made i sent out

an online poll saying, and the word came back 80% no. i think the american people get it. they support social security and don't want to see contributions reduced. >> alex, this is a two-month extension. let me remind you, we'll be gone for a month of those. so one month we'll be gone for the christmas break so we have one month to come back and fight this fight again and we could have stayed here and done it. >> gentlemen, i hope despite being willing to work and stay a little longer, i hope you enjoy your recess. let's go now to fact or fiction on the senate payroll tax extension. the republican candidates who just had their final debate before the iowa caucuses. it's time for today's edition of fact or fiction. joining me is david hawkings. david, good morning.

>> hi, alex. >> fact or fiction, rick perry was correct when he said that ronald reagan did not create the 11th commandment. >> that's correct. he got it from the chairman of the california republican party back in the mid-1960s back when ronald reagan was a governor. everybody sees it in reagan's mouth now. >> literally iran is within just months of being able to obtain that weapon and ron paul said they have no evidence of that. so fact or fiction? ron paul and michele bachmann, were they both correct in iran's weapon program? >> neither of them was correct. they were essentially -- one was on one side of what the iaea

said. there is credible evidence that iran has been taking steps towards a nuclear device but it's nowhere near months away from being ready. ron paul was underplaying what was said and michele bachmann was overplaying what was said. >> okay. here we go with another fact or fiction, david. according to newt gingrich, he was responsible for four balanced budgets? >> technically that's fiction. because while the budget was balanced for four years under a deal that speaker gingrich in 1997 cut with president bill clinton, he was gone by the time the last two budgets were balanced. in other words, he was the speaker in '97 and '98 when the budget was balanced. then he left and the plan that he and bill clinton worked on kept the budget balanced until september 11th after the budget situation changed dramatically. >> let's go towards the budget

bill. forcing president obama to talk about the pipeline in canada. is that fact or fiction? the state department opposed the $7 billion pipeline project largely because of environmental concerns. >> that's a fact. the state department gets involved because the pipeline would start in canada and go all the way to the gulf of mexico and cross right across the sand hills of nebraska, which are pretty environmentally fragile place and the concern is that if any oil was to leak out of this pipeline, it would really mess up more of the fragile parts of country. >> also, a number of issues involved. fact or fiction, the house this week voted to defund planned parenthood? >> that was fiction. it's horse trading that went into this bill that the senate has cleared and sent to the president. that language was dropped.

so planned parenthood will continue to get its money for another year. >> and we'll continue to see you perhaps for another weekend. well, now for more office politics. my interview with renowned presidential historian with the final u.s. troops leaving iraq in days, i asked her to comment, especially as a mother of a soldier. >> how do you think this war will be viewed in terms of american history? >> i think it's going to be hard for it to be seen in great positive -- in great positive light, unless it turns out that there is a stable iraq and that iraq is not a problem in the middle east. whether the idea behind it that we'd have a democratic iraq, that would be a motivating force, that seems pretty unlikely at this point in time. but the fact that at least it became more stable than it

seemed to be three or four years ago, it looked like it was going to be a huge problem in american his zee ye history. >> yeah. >> it won't be viewed like vietnam. it's certainly not going to be easily having, this is one of the moments that we're truly proud of, although the soldiers who fought in that war, the great little thing that we learned about vietnam was to separate the warrior and the war. one of the saddest things about the anti-war movement, which i was part of, actually, in vietnam, was that we took some of that anger out on the seld d soldiers and they he didn't do that this time. they have known that those soldiers are heroes and i think maybe the real impact of the iraq and afghan knee wars is that we've created a generation of young people who have served in those wars. now coming back into civilian lives and when we get the economy going again, they are really going to contribute to the economy. >> you have a very unique perspective.

many people know that your son joe served two tours in iraq and a tour in afghanistan. so you have a perspective that others do not. if you were to speak for joe, based on your conversations, how does he feel about this iraq war and having served in it? >> well, i think what he feels most proud of and when ayou area soldier, that's what you have to think about. not the macro, was the war worth fighting or not, what you have to do when you're over there is to make sure that your soldiers come through as safely and healthily as possible. for young people like joe who joined up and probably not as many as we would have hoped who joined, especially from ivory league schools like he did, it's a mind turning experience, to get close to people that you might not have known in your regular affluent life like concord and harvard would have been for him and you become a leader and more mature in a way. the hardest thing for us was,

when he was in the war, there were very few people who we knew who also had children in the war because we weren't living in a place where there was an army base, there weren't a lot of people around here whose sons or daughters went. the best part of the story was my other son mike kell wrote him handwritten letter every single day that he was in iraq. that's all i needed to know. the idea that these two kids who used to fight so crazily at 4 and 5 that they had become best friends every day. >> and michael helped sustain joe. >> and michael was involved in the howard dean campaign. he's a big naturalist, very liberal and nothing to do with the fact that supported joe's decision in the war. >> your husband traded up when he met you. there's a picture of him with a very stunning jackie kennedy on

his arms. >> one of the first things that i knew when i met dick was not only that he dated jackie kennedy for a number of years and a picture of him going to a state dinner but a picture of them out on a date and she was still friendly with him when we first started dating and every now and then i'd pick up this phone and hear the voice, hello, is dick there? i can compete with a lot of people but not with jackie kennedy. so i got to know her as well. it was always difficult for me being with her, because i did know about this past relationship, i never felt like we had really talked except for the first time when her daughter caroline got married and we were at the bridal dinner the night before and her son john had given a toast about how there's three of us, caroline and me and i looked at her afterwards and said, that's the thing i would most love, my kids were little then, is for them to be close.

she looked me straight in the face and said, it's the best thing i had ever done. i think as a mother, that was a very strong part of her life. >> doris is at work on a biography of teddy roosevelt. in a moment, this week's presidential debate leftovers. was sexism a factor in the bachmann-gingrich showdown. wits at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

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newt gingrich when he attacks michele bachmann sort of speaks in a different tone and is far more condescending to michele bachmann than the men on this stage. >> look, i am a serious contender this office just like you are. the only thing i could write was, you go, girl. i tweeted that out. >> that was from "morning joe" yesterday here on msnbc. a growing feud between michele

bachmann and newt gingrich. we're also looking at election 2012. could it come down to who is most likeable and tebowing. joining me once again, meghan mccain and goldie and i hope you didn't take that as being sexist because i said girls. here we go with michele bachmann, who was pretty hard on newt gingrich on thursday night's debate. he accused her of getting her facts wrong. goldie, do you think its it's unfair to interpret these nuances as sexist? >> i don't think it's unfair. it's very clear in how newt gingrich addresses michele bachmann in a debate.

michele bachmann might be a lunatic but she's not the lunatic that newt gingrich really is. >> do you think that he's being sexist or not taking her seriously? he looks at her poll numbers and prefers that she wasn't on that stage any longer? >> well, he takes ran santorum seriously, ron paul, others that are not polling as strongly as he is seriously. so why the difference? so i think it was absolutely clear and i think her response was absolutely right. she's as serious as any other candidate in this race running for the presidency of the united states. >>. >> meghan, you've had a back and forth spout with newt gingrich. how do you interpret it in. >> i completely agree with goldie. i think it can obviously be interpreted as sexism. the back and forth that i had with newt gingrich was essentially the same thing.

not that i would compare myself to michele bachmann, but said how could somebody like her have a clue? i think it's it's who he is. and i think it's going to become a huge problem for newt gingrich. a lot of female voters won't vote for him for a lot of reasons. >> so you're saying what you know about him, his reputation, that he has just sort of a reputation of being condasc condascending. >> yes. and that's being shown in these debates. >> erin, do you want to weigh in on this? was he treating her with a sexist attitude? >> newt gingrich has a reputation of being condescending to everyone. so it didn't seem overtly sexist

to me actually. it's just that michele bachmann took it that way. but she was attacking him, so of course she was going to respond. >> we should say that michele bachmann said she felt that he was being sexist towards her. >> not in so many words, you're right. >> again, she's ticked off that she feels he has the facts and he's disputing that. i want to get to the polls, which show americans don't think things can get any worse in this country. the new poll released this week shows nearly 7 in 10 americans say this country is on the wrong track. yet in that same poll when asked whom they would vote for in a general election, the president polls ahead of both of the gop front-runners, mitt romney, newt gingrich. look at the numbers with mitt romney, ahead 47% to 45%, within the margin of error. but a whopping 11 points ahead

of the presumed front runner, newt gingrich. how do you interpret this, erin? >> you know, the public at large doesn't know a whole lot yet about newt gingrich as a presidential candidate. it's being played out at the republican primary level. once there's a nominee and the entire american electorate is paying attention, the polls might look different. >> what about the president's personal appeal, do you think that can carry him through the general election? >> i think it might carry him through, but americans are feeling an awful lot of heat with unemployment and other things, lack of access to health care. just a harder time putting food on the table. but i've got to disagree with erin. the american people know a lot about newt gingrich. they know a lot about mitt romney. the republican primary voters certainly do. and these guys are unable to get sort of a sustained momentum

going. that's because we know enough about them to know they don't hold the same positions over time. i think that's going to be very interesting that this presidency, even though we as a nation face a lot of challenges, that the republicans haven't been able to come up with a viable, strong alternative. i any that's the issue. >> okay. megan, we're going to start with you on the other side of the break. everyone seems to have an opinion about tim tebow and we hope the big three panel does, as well. that's next.

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ut lore clear it's time to talk about tim tebow. he often kneels in prayer at games. this week a group of high school students were suspended for tebowing en masse in the hallway. administrators say they were being disruptive. i'm joined again by my panel.

as we're up against the end of this hour, i'm going to ask you reaction, megan, to this. there's been strong reaction from tebowing from people who love it and people who don't. what do you make of this phenomena? >> i love tim tebow. when we're living in such a materialistic culture where our values are out of whack, he's a great role model. his faith is part of who he is, and there's nothing wrong with those children kneeling and praying in school. that's a big issue, but i'm a proud christian and i have no problem with it. >> goldie, you're nodding your head there. >> i absolutely agree. this country is built on religious tolerance. i love what tim tebow is doing. barring safety issues, they have a right to pray wherever they like. >> erin, goldie, and megan, stick around, everyone, because we're going to extend our live coverage because about 30 minutes from now, the president is scheduled to make a statement

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