what happens to taxes 160 million americans next year. moments ago house speaker john bane boehner and leader cantor responded to criticism. >> all we're asking for is to get the senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do, extend the payroll tax credit for the next year. i'm hoping that they're ready to work because we are. >> leaders across the political spectrum are blasting speaker boehner after the house rejected the senate's compromise and moved to resolve the matter in conference. something democrats now refuse to do. with the clock ticking to january 1st, the deadline, the finger pointing is fast and furious between boehner and president obama. >> i need the speaker and house republicans to do the same. put politics aside.

put aside issues where there are fundamental disagreements and come together on something we agree on. and let's not play brinksmanship. the american people are weary of it. they're tired of it. >> nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell joins me now. we're boing to be speaking with democratic congressman chris van hollen in a moment. first explain to us as we watch the clock ten and a half days to go now, what is going to happen now, and what does all this say about boehner's leadership? >> there is an unusual quality to this kind of scrap they actually do say they want to achieve the same thing, which is extending the benefits and the payroll tax cut and a number of other things rolled into the package for a year. we don't always find them agreeing on the end goal. lots of political under currents have been going on. that has got us to where we are. speaker boehner's leadership has been questioned many the public. one of the things that he and his members tried to do

yesterday is they appeared together when he was speaking some of the comments where you played those with the speaker talking yesterday, you saw dozens and dozens of republicans standing behind him as a sign of their solidarity with the speaker at a time when his leadership is being questioned. can he deliver. that sort of a question. now eric cantor who is his number two can take a more pointed approach sometimes while the speaker is sort of trying to ease things over a little bit in his public statements. earlier today speaker cantor really called out the president. >> we're just a little ways away from the white house where the president sits. why isn't he calls us in? why doesn't he come join us here to try and make this happen. i've heard him say that the only thing that's doable is a 60 day extension. how is that? the only reason why he can say that is because harry reid said he's not coming back to town. >> so the majority leader of the senate harry reid sent a letter today to john boehner saying that i do agree on this goal,

but he does not believe that the senate should come back. he does not believe there should be a new negotiation right now. he would be willing to do that one-year deal. talk about how to get it done after the house passes the short-term extension. so both sides are trying to lay new markers today. republicans are trying to show they're at work. they're waiting for democrats to join them at the table and democrats are again believing they have the higher ground and a more publicly acceptable view, but that still doesn't get us to the answer of continuing the tax benefits. there has to be an end game. when either sign will really reach that is more likely after the christmas holiday when time pressure becoming even greater and they figure out a way to get this done, thomas. >> kelly, thanks so much. we want to go now to one of the lawmakers make working to pass the tax cut extension. maryland representative chris van hollen. you've heard what speaker boehner and eric cantor have to

say. you and congressman steny hoyer demand that the house take a vote on the bill to pass the senate. both sides as kelly pointed out, really want this so badly. and republicans refuse to bend on it. why not settle this in conference? >> thomas, let's ren what both sides are in this case. you have a fight going on between the republican right and the republican far right. those are the two sides that are fighting here because we have a bipartisan bill that passed the senate 89 out of 100 senators voted for it. 80% of the republican senators supported it. you know that republican senators are calling upon speaker boehner and the house republicans to take up that bipartisan compromise. the two sides here are not republicans and democrats, they're everybody on the one hand who wants to extend the payroll tax cut come january 1st. and the house republicans that have hijacked speaker boehner's speakership, the tea party group.

that's where the fight is right now. so the president's absolutely right to say the way to get this done is to take up the bipartisan compromise bill. make sure payroll taxes don't go up on january 1st and use that time to make sure we get a yearlong payroll tax extension. tax cut extension. >> we heard from eric cantor saying he doesn't understand why the president isn't getting more involved. why would he want the president to get more involved with this? does the congress need micro management over this issue? >> we don't need micro management from the president at all. in fact, steny hoyer and i were on the floor of the house this morning looking around. i didn't see speaker boehner. i didn't see eric cantor. the floor of the house is where we transact business. they gavelled us to a close before congressman hoyer and i could offer a proposal to take up the bipartisan senate bill.

we could have this on the president's bill this evening and make sure that 160 million americans don't face a payroll tax increase come january. we could make sure that those folks on unemployment can make sure they can put food on the table and pay the rent. we can make sure that doctors who care for medicare patients will continue to be fully reimbursed. we can do all that today. that's why congressman hoyer and i went to the floor of the house. i know the speaker was in the building somewhere. he was not in the place where we transact the people's business, which is the floor of the house of representatives. >> congressman, the right is saying that the house has done this work. they sent something on to the senate and it was then rejected. which would only buy two months as everyone is saying and they really want 12 months. what's really rolled up into this bill that people can't get behind? >> thomas, let's remember that the house republican leadership originally didn't want any payroll tax cut whether it was

for two months, three months or for a year. they then changed their position. we have always wanted a yearlong payroll tax cut. we propose to pay for that by asking people who have done very well, people who earn more than a million dollars a year to pay a surcharge on the amount of their income in excess of a million dollars. the republicans say no. they're out there vigorously defending tax breaks for the very wealthy. they're out there defending corporate tax breaks. i wish they would as vigorously protect this tax cut for 160 million americans. they can do that by coming together. my point is that we wanted a yearlong extension. they rejected that proposal. instead they said we need to pay for it by raising medicare premiums on seniors. they wanted to cut the amount of unemployment compensation for people who are out of work through no fault of their own. that's why we didn't get the one-year extension. that's why the senate republicans -- i want to stress,

senate republicans blocked the house republicans' bill from coming up for a vote in the senate because they knew it was a nonstarter. they got together. republicans and democrats to make sure the payroll tax cuts were extended in the new year. that's what they did in the senate. we didn't get a vote. we were not even allowed a vote up or down on that senate compromise bill in the house because the republican leadership here knew that the result would probably be the same. that we'd actually get a bipartisan bill through the house. they didn't want a bipartisan bill. again, let's remember this is now a battle not between republicans and democrats, this is between sort of conservative republicans and far right republicans and the casualty, unfortunately is going to be the american people, jobs and the economy. >> congressman chris van hollen. sir, we appreciate your time. we're going to get you get back to work. >> thank you, thomas. >> we want to bring in ezra

klein. as we're listening to everything all these moving parts very fluid. you made the point this is more about more than just the payroll tax extension. house republicans have been playing chicken with important legislation winning all yearlong. are we seeing something different from the left from the democrats pushing back? >> it's not about the payroll tax extension. i think this debate is confusing and deceptive. we heard earlier in the program speaker john boehner say we should extend the payroll tax cut. if republicans wanted to extend the payroll tax cut they could offer up a bill. it could extend the cut for one year, clean. every democrat in the house and senate would vote for. the president would sign it and this would be over. this is about all the things republicans are asking for in return. things like the keystone oil pipeline, discretionary spending cuts. yo you may or may not believe they're good ideas. that is what the negotiation is

about. when the american people keep hearing it's about procedural questions and the tax cut and two months versus a year, that is not the issue at all. >> they got keystone in this two month extension. why isn't that good enough? >> not really. they have an expedited consideration of keystone. it means that the obama administration has to come to a decision on keystone sooner than they otherwise would. this is the point. these are the moving parts of this deal. the payroll tax cut is static. the two sides could easily pass it if they agreed on it. they don't. the question is what will republicans accept in return for the payroll tax cut. the democrats are willing to give them. >> ezra klein, great to see you this morning. mitt romney this morning weighing in on the tax cut battle front and center inside the beltway. >> i'm not going to throw gasoline on a fire. what we really need is a president that's a leader that can stand in with the members of both parties and work together

on finding a common solution. but this president has been intent on attacking. attack mode is not the way that a leader tries to get people to work together. >> howard dean is former governor of vermont. here in our 30 rock studios former rnc chairman michael steele. it's great to have you here. michael, i want to wait with you. you've been waiting patiently. listening to what's going on and how we're hearing what the right is saying about this, we have congressman van hollen saying he doesn't see speaker boehner, he doesn't see eric cantor. >> it sends a message that nobody on the hill is talking to each other, period. democrats aren't talk to republicans. republicans aren't taking amongst themselves. i still haven't figured out or gotten a clear explanation how there was a lack of coordination with the house republicans passing a bill with a one-year extension, which democrats in

the house wanted and the administration wanted. and the senator republicans agreed to a two-month extension which tells me that harry reid either didn't listen to the president, so no one's listening to each other. they're doing the typical washington run up to a crisis moment on new year's eve where they have to make a final decision. and that's just bs at this point. people are sick of it. we want leaders to lead. mitt romney is right here. the president should really put the gun to these guys' head. the leadership needs to get to the membership and say, look, this is too important for us to flake out on. we don't have this in the bill. we don't have that in the bill. all that could be added later. let's give some continuation to the voters out there. the tax payers and the job creators so they know what the new year would begin to look like. >> it's a lot of contrived drama. >> it's noise and it's silly at this point. >> the payroll tax fight has given the president a chance to stand up for average americans across this kuhn terrorism as we

hear eric cantor saying that the president needs to be more involved. i asked this of congressman vanlen. do you think the president needs to micro manage congress over this issue? >> no. this is a fight between the far right wing of the republican party and boehner who can't control his own caucus. look, the reason that you got a deal, which wasn't that great a deal, two months it would be better a year. the reason you got a deal in the senate is senators get if you don't pass this thing 160 million people get a tax increase. the right wing doesn't care. they believe in taxings middle class people. they want to save all the money for their wealthy patrons. the koch brothers and people like that. that's who financed the tea party. this is not two parties who can't get along. this is the far right wing of the republican party trying to do outrageous things, taking over their own party. they're not interested in compromise. that's what you see. guess what? the president is right. they are going -- the american

people are going to blame the tea party for this. >> this is the frustration. i appreciate the governor, but he went right to the talking points. >> not talking points, it's the truth. >> the reality is very simple, the president of the united states said very clearly what he wanted. senate democrats understood that house republicans and democrats uns that. howard, reid put something different on the table. note to the broader point, nobody's talking and listening to each other to actually get down what needs to be done. you can talk all day long about the right and far right having a battle. we get that. we know what the internal machinations are about. it still has to go before a senate that's controlled by the democrats that has not passed the budget in close to 900 days. the reality -- >> membership mcconnell has the power of filibuster. there was a compromise in the senate because mitch mcconnell has the power to stop everything

in the senate. >> cut it however you want. the leadership, the house and senate are not going their job. >> gentlemen, the buck is going to stop with the president. the buck stops with this president. >> can i get my point in. >> go ahead? >> thank you. i appreciate the opportunity. at least somebody keeps order at msnbc. the fact of the matter is, there was a compromise in the senate because mitch mcconnell has the power to stop everything in the senate which he's been doing for a long time. they compromised. 39 republicans voted for that compromise in the senate. it passed 89-10. the house didn't deliver because there can't be a compromise in the house. the far right won't go along with the compromise. they believe that millionaires should get tax cuts not middle class people. that's a fact. >> how would they deliver what the president wanted? he wanted a one year extension. >> excuse me, michael, do you need some constitution alecktures about how the constitution works.

>> this is the point. you're making my point. >> the congress may want something else. the congress wanted something el. they got to have their say. >> they gave them what he wanted. >> they control the house. >> i don't know if this is a snapshot of what's going on on the hill. >> it is. it's the silliness of washington. >> i'm going to talk about what's happening with the gop presidential race. we're not going to find consensus with what's taking place with the payroll tax cut. >> rolling over for the right wing. we're done with that. we're going to stand up to the right wing bullies and we're not going to let them take over the country. that's what this elections about. that's why barack obama is going to be re-elected. >> governor you know what it's like to go through the caucuses in iowa. 13 days to go before iowa. we look at this new iowa state university gazette poll. ron paul is leading the pack 27.5%. newt gingrich not far behind at 25.3%. mitt romney in third place. governor, what do you think of

how this is playing out? do you think that ron paul can hold on to that lead, has the stamina to get through the caucuses and take iowa? >> first of all, that was a poll that was conducted over ten days. we have no idea if ron paul has a lead or not based on that poll. however, i think ron paul could win. he's the best organized. i do believe organization counts from what i've been told from republicans that it's not organization of the candidates that counts quite as much in the republican caucus because the evangelicals provide their own organization so forth and so on. it's incredibly fluid. i think there may be four people that could win the iowa caucuses. santorum, paul, gingrich and romney. i have no idea who's going to win. i think this poll is very interesting and great for shows like this. but you can't do a poll over ten days and have it be an accurate snapshot. >> trorting on the ground is that ron paul does have the best organization on the ground in iowa. >> that's true.

>> meanwhile we have an escalating feud taking place between mitt romney and gingrich. romney superpac unleashing attack ads targeting the former speak. newt saying this isn't fair. here's mitt romney on "the daily rundown" this morning. >> i know that the speaker would like to say look, we shouldn't have any negativity. if you can't handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that's going to come from obama's hell's kitchen is going to be hotter. >> is this really what candidates should be focussing on in the run up to iowa? >> no. i think the mitt romney campaign has to be careful there's a point of diminishing returns with the negativity. you've unleashed many negative ads. there is a saturation point. gingrich has come out with a softer merry christmas ad trying to take a lot of the focus, the edge off of that. i think howard is right about this overall race. it's a four-person race right now. people are underestimating and overlooking someone like a rick

santorum who has done close to 300 home visits in iowa. he's been able to amass something that goes beyond organization and structure that really will hopefully serve him, they think on election night in two weeks. >> we shall see. gentlemen, thanks for your time this morning. >> good to see york, governor. >> thank you. always a pleasure, michael. >> we're going to head to the white house. team obama putting the payroll tax fight to you and asking you to weigh in. we're going to explore that ahead about what $40 means to your household. plus, i hope that package did not require a signature. watch this one. a not so special delivery from fedex. unless there's a lot of grass on the other side of that fence i don't know if that tv's going to make it. every single day. that's why every day we help people across the country get into their first homes. prepare for a comfortable retirement

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well the president's

re-election team is running with the house republicans decision to toss an overwhelmingly bipartisan kbreem on the payroll tax cut extension. by asking americans to say what losing $40 of each och their paycheck would mean to them. we're live at the white house. mike, i want to set it up real quickly. we have a graphic about what this really means to people out there what the $40 people are talking about. i want to get this pup from one person. for a lot of americans $40 is a lot, gas, groceries, utilities, sanity cash. i think for a lot of people when they think about that and break it down to $40 they can start to visualize what's going to have to go in their life. already people are struggling enough. >> sanity cash as opposed to mad money. when you look at tweet deck it compiles all the tweets that you get, your mentions. you click on $40 you can't keep up. it's scrolling so fast. hundreds of people every hour

are pitching in here. this originated with an email to the white house list from a top advisor to the president. $40 it's $1,000 that's at stake for the average american family. if that tax break were to tick back up on a permanent basis. that's by no means a done deal yet. it would be about $40 every two-week paycheck. that's the genesis of this campaign now. you're right, the obama campaign, the white house, the dccc, the dnc they're all kicking into high gear now. this echo chamber here as these tweets continue to pour it. graduate students, elderly people talk about their grocery bills, medicines, things of that nature, it's really wash working to great effect. for the white house it's an intended effect. >> mike, thank you. i appreciate it. gaining ground. rick santorum picks up support from two social conservatives in iowa. and is rising in the polls.

can he actually pull off a win? we'll take a look at that. plus a shocking new twist in the death of an american soldier while on duty in afghanistan. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates.

r. welcome back. eight u.s. soldiers in afghanistan have been charged with the connection of the death of private danny chen who died who was thought to be a suicide. after chen's parents told military officials he was beat and taunted by fellow come raids, the government promised to investigate. it's not clear if the military believes the soldiers killed chen or if they believe harassment led to suicide. officials in the philippines say 1,000 people were killed in last week's massive flash flooding. the storm caught many victims by surprise who were asleep. more rest for the weary. the faa announced new rules to

ensure pilots are not fatigued on the job. a mandatory ten hours off between shifts instead of eight. you can call it a holiday reunion far from home. a trio of veteran astronauts blasted off aboard the russian aircraft headed for the international space station. the crew will be met by others already at the station who say they have hung holiday decorations and they are ready to welcome the company. so we take you back to the battle for new hampshire. mitt romney embark finance a three-day nine town bus tour hoping to win the state where he came in second four years ago. over the last few days romney has been on a media blitz. he says he wants voters nationwide and in particular in new hampshire to know the real mitt. here is more of his interview this morning with chuck todd. take a look. >> they're going to come to know me on a personal basis as time

comes on. so far people have been only seen me in debates. they're fine. but they're a series of 60 second answers. as you run a campaign and people focus on what you're doing and you get chances to speak to people like you, they see you in a setting where you're not confined to 30 second or 60 second answers. you can speak at a more extensive basis. >> joining me from the state where romney was once governor is jennifer donahue a contributor to the huffington post. let's remind everybody back in 2008 romney came in second in both iowa and new hampshire effectively ending his bid for the white house. this recent nbc news poll puts him ahead in new hampshire. in he doesn't win iowa how could this impact the good chances he has in new hampshire? >> well, it's going to be interesting to see who gets steam out of iowa. right now we have a scramble with a lot of candidates lumped in the top tier. we see santorum pick up steam. we see the potential of him

being a sleeper and someone to watch. we see ron paul with a very strong organization on the ground in iowa. we see gingrich maybe having peaked a little bit too early, but still doing well in the polls there. romney with an ad barrage in iowa and in new hampshire. very negative tampa bays towards his opponents especially gingrich who's giving him a run for his money. iowa traditionally the place that willows the field. will we see mitt romney with a firewall in new hampshire is the real question? he's not likely to win in iowa. if he does well in new hampshire, he resets the race the race continues from there. >> let's talk about jon huntsman. what do you think of his strategy of ignoring the hawkeye state and going straight for new hampshire wooing the voters there? >> well to a lesser extent huntsman has done what romney has done which is to avoid iowa.

in part because it's such a heavy evangelical state. both governor huntsman and governor romney are mormon. that's seen by some in the evangelical movement as being not a form of christianity so that's a cap. huntsman also with limited resources has focused on mitt romney in his own backyard in new hampshire. i think what you see with huntsman is the ability to draw independent voters away from romney. he's hurting romney where it counts most in new hampshire where you have over 1/3 of the lek rat registered independent and they can vote as republicans on primary day. >> if we talk about ron paul this latest poll, new poll puts him in the lead in iowa. his camp has purchased more ad time in 00. does he have the potential to be the winning underdog, someone who can chip away at gingrich and romney continually? >> very much so. ron paul supporters are

conservative, libertarian base supporters. their movement they go on message. ron paul's got a chunk of change. he doesn't even need that much money. what he has is organization on the ground. he has true believers that's worth more than mitt romney's millions and millions of dollars. if you can have people who will turn out for you at the caucuses and stand up for you and people in new hampshire who will go out and vote for you, you really have an arsenal of fire power. i think ron paul has that. >> jennifer donahue, great to see you this morning. thanks for your time. we're going to continue to talk about neither side giving ground in the payroll tax fight. that's unfolding as we speak on capitol hill. will your talks go up at the end of the year. plus, women in cairo protesting their treatment at the hands of egypt's military government. we sound off on whether 2011 was a bad year for women overall. but lately we've been using k-y® intense™. it stimulates arousal so the big moment is...

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person march is being planned for later this week in egypt to protest the government's treatment of women. an apology from the military is not enough to quell outrage over recent beatings, jailings and alleged threats of rape against women protesters. yesterday thousands marched in the streets of cairo. women's rights is a huge issue in 2011 from the abuse of women around the world to laws being pushed in the u.s., even with all the talks of women still strug until the workplace. labor stats show off all the jobs lost and gained women only gained 20%. joining me now melissa harris-perry. nice to see you today. >> nice to see you. >> we're talking about what we haven't seen happening for women. there is a lot to discuss from the socioeconomic to the political aspects of all this. as an educator, how would you rate this year overall? >> it's sort of the best of times, worst of times kind of

story. i think this is part of why it's we can miss the worst of times part because there are always elements of very clear women's accomplishments. for example, secretary of state hillary clinton, the idea that a woman could have been first lady and then become senator, run for president and now secretary of state. it makes us think that everything is okay. actually i taught a course this semester, i just submitted grades on women in politics in media. it is stunning how much ground we're actually losing not just -- not making new ground, but actually losing ground in both of those areas. >> a recent interview it was said when it comes to overskoming stigma to progress women are their own worst enemy. is that still true? >> not quite. let's take a politics side for example. 2010 was reported to be the year of the gop women. in certain ways it was. lots of young people. nontraditional people running

for office. yet in 2011 when this new congress came in there were fewer women than we've had in almost 40 years. but one of the things that we know about women standing for office is they often despite having the same credentials as their male colleagues they won't run for office. they'll help their male colleague run for office. >> you brought up 2010. i want to go back two 2008 and hillary clinton and the fact there were a lot of women -- a lot of people assumed that women would rally behind her to be the first female president. that wasn't always the case. >> sure. this is part of what we know about women in politics. women don't vote as a block. they're much more likely to vote based on their region, their partisan identification all of the things that count for men. they are a little bit more likely to be democrats than republicans. and when democratic women are running for office we see gains. but for example, in 2010 leading into 2011 we saw losses in the u.s. house of representatives. >> you said you just submitted grades. is there anybody out there

watching that should be worried? >> no. they're fine. they're wonderful students at tulane. >> professor and nation columnist, melissa harris-perry. nice to see you. so we're going to take a look at how the white house payroll tax cutdown clock looks right now. take a peek. ten days, 12 hours and 19 minutes to go. that is until the tax cut expires unless congress reaches this deal. right now nothing is getting done. the house is calling on the senate to come back into session, come back to negotiate. the senate urging the house to come back to d.c. in order for them to pass the bipartisan bill that was passed in the senate. sounds exhausting, right? that's about $40 in paychecks when we break down the cash figures. the white house chat is going to be having more about what it means to you coming up at 3:00 p.m. today. you can tweet about this with the hash tag $40. a survey of some strategists

shows that they're expecting a wall street rebound in 2012. forecasting that next year will bring up 10% -- a 10% bump in stock prices. their optimism fuelled in part by a slow come back in the housing market. the national association of realtors just announcing the number of people who bought homes last month jumped 4%. now of course, the group also had to correct an earlier error, which now shows the come back overall this year is slower than first reported. let's take a look at how the markets are doing today. after a banner day that we had yesterday, we see a downward trend today with the dow jones dropping by some 78 points. the s&p down by nine. and the nasdaq down by almost 49. well, we'd love to tell you all the good news with the holidays upon us. good will, good outlook, good karma. the grinch appears to be alive and well. take a peek case in point, a utah man won a $380,000 lamborghini in a contest saturday only to accidentally crash it hours later.

he hit a slick spot on the road, slammed into the fence. the silver lining that lamborghini is insured. a fedex spokesman is caught on a home surveillance monitor chucking the come computer monitor over the fence. fedex says this is an irresponsible act and it will not be tolerated. he will be worked with according to our disciplinary policies. this won't be his best day. pedestrians and drivers in providence, rhode island, have a tradition all their own. take a peek at this guy. every december this so-called dancing cop appears. he's got moves down on the ground. he's a retired officer who returns to his post for the holiday to dance it out while directing the traffic. he's got some moves there. now to a follow up story from a story we brought you on friday, a great story. hope floi you caught the 11-year-old on our air talking about how he accomplished the unbelievable mission of making

and sending 180,000 thank you cards to overseas troops. before we let him go, i had the opportunity to ask him what he wanted for christmas. this was his answer. >> i wrote a list. i'm not sure if i'm getting it. but i wrote one. >> what's at the top-the list? >> it's a bamboo from best buy. it's a tablet. >> now we put it out there in the universe. hopefully that's coming your way christmas morning. >> or maybe even sooner. the yourself has responded. best buy workers saw steven on our air. the general manager at one arizona store just donated a bamboo to him shipped out today. next week steven will join us here again to tell us how much he likes it. congratulations and thanks again for your hard work sending those letters to our troops. letters to our troops. back truth is, nyquil doesn'tnc] un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth!

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time now for the poli side bar. new campaign stops for michele bachmann on her bus tour today

in iowa. but you'll never guess where she's campaigning right now? at the god father's pizza. wonder if she's going to get a 999 deal. gary johnson is dropping out of the republican race for president. the reason a lack of exposure. the good news is for his supporters he still plans to run for president as a libertarian candidate. and it's no secret that newt gingrich does not support same sex marriage and that will likely cost him at least one vote, scott around a gay associate professor from iowa asked gingrich how he planned to engage gay marriage. gingrich said acknowledge their differences and said if marriage is the most important to you, then you should be for obama. i think that's perfectly legitimate. rick perry, he can shake hands, kiss babies like every other politician. but while campaigns at a barbershop in iowa he admitted there are a couple of things he can't do. >> you don't even want me to do

this. the last thing you want me to do is give you a haircut. two things you don't want me singing to you and give you a haircut. >> it will grow back. david letterman had a little fun at barney frank's expension after he showed up on the house floor wearing a long sleeved t-shirt and something else. take a look. >> for the holidays we put together a special segment for your folks, it's called barney frank, oh-fer the love of god. barney frank the congressman from massachusetts retiring. the name of the segment is barney frank oh-fer the love of god. >> so yes, we are aware of the importance of community banks. i will repeat what i said at the first i have found surprisingly that not everybody listens to everything i say the first time i say it. >> oh-fer the love of god i think cap churs it well. speaking of god, some religious

conservatives in iowa are backing rick santorum. he's criticizing the 99% on the campaign trail saying quote, i'm for income inequality. i think some people should make more than other people because some people work harder, have better ideas, take more risk and they should be rewarded for it. santorum is expecting a surge in the mostly catholic state despite rising poll numbers from ron paul's camp. we have a special correspondent to "newsweek" as well as "the daily beast." it's good to have you back with me this morning. let's get straight to it. santorum got the endorsement of religion conservative king maker who just asked michele bachmann to drop out of the race and let santorum take the lead. here's what she said about that today. is this the act of a sleeper candidate, what's the -- excuse me, take a listen to this. >> there was a call that was made, but it didn't make sense because my numbers have always

been above senator santorum's so it makes no sense for me to drop out. >> sorry, i was jumping the sound byte there. we talked about the potential the strategy there think that's possibility? for santorum, i definitely do, thomas, it's just a basic process of elimination in my mind. this entire race has been about conservative voters searching for a plausible nonmitt candidate, right? they don't like romney, they've made it clear. romney is at his 20/22%, but he can't get higher than that so the whole process has been, let's find somebody else who maybe can win who isn't him. it started with donald trump. then bachmann got her turn then perry then herman cain then gingrich. all got into the spotlight and were found wanting. ron paul is now in the spotlight. i think there's a question whether he can stand that glare. because obviously he know he takes some positions that conservatives would find

problematic. and when those positions become the subject of attack ads, i don't know that he'll hold up. santorum is the last man standing. and santorum is the real article. and he has been for years. >> you have argued for santorum before, describing him as capable of elevating the political conversation above the personal. but he's polling in the single digits in and paul's star really rising. so how would he be able to beat that going into iowa? >> i don't know that he can. i should also say, thomas, just quickly that i'm on the other side of the political fence. i think all of their ideas are politically bad for the country, but i do have kind of a respect for santorum. because he has been consistent throughout his career with his positions and if i were conservative i would look at the guy and think, hey, he's good on economics, he's conservative on family values and social stuff. he's very conservative on foreign policy. he is the thing, he has traveled the state, too. i would say that this would be an interesting test case, a conventional wisdom has sort of

developed here that traveling the state in retail politics ain't what it used to be. that it's one on a certain other cable network, for example that i think we all know. but santorum is the only one who has been to all 99 counties and he's been out there doing that for months. is it going to matter? will it pay off? maybe it will as the vote gets closer. would also just quickly say in all the polls, large percentages, 60-something say they're not sure yet. >> he has been reported to have a good iowa ground game. "newsweek" and "daily beast" correspondent, michael tomasky, thanks so much. shown to restore visibly healthier lips in just 3 days. neosporin® lip health™. rethink your lip care. when you pour chunky beef with country vegetables soup over it... you can do dinner. four minutes, around four bucks.

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we want to let you ponder over a cool space story. the final frontier, looking a little different these days after yet another new discovery 1,000 light years away. astronomers say they've confirmed the existence of two earth-sized planets in the con stillation lyra. the rocky planets are surrounded

by three more gaseous planets. a surprise to astronomers, who didn't think a layout like that could even exist. that's going to do it for me today, thanks for your time, i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. until then you can follow me on twitter @thomasaroberts. but don't go anywhere, our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. so to save some money, i trained mathis team of guinea pigs to brrow this tiny boat. guinea pig: row...row. they generate electricity, which lets me surf the web all day.

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