primary snag. newt gingrich and rick perry both failed to qualify for the virginia ballot. and they're out of the running in one the big super tuesday states. shopping frenzy. with less than 24 hours to go until christmas, americans are blanketing the stores. one item in particular is sparking mayhem at the malls. and a royal family health scare. prince philip, undergoes surgery for a blocked artery after suffering chest pains. good morning, everyone, and welcome to "weekends with alex witt." it's 9:00 here on the east, 6 a.m. on the west. a merry christmas eve. in a move that could have a direct affect on the 2012

election the justice department will not prove south carolina's con sense voter i.d. law. saying it would make it more difficult for minorities to vote. speaking of polling booths, tough news this morning for rick perry and newt gingrich. both have failed to make it onto the virginia republican primary ballot. virginia voters go to the poll on march 6th, super tuesday. that news coming just as all the candidates head for a holiday breather a weekend off the trail. that didn't stop newt gingrich from launching a last-minute zinger against ron paul. listen to gingrich at a town hall meeting in south carolina yesterday. >> the only person i know who's for a weaker military than barack obama is ron paul. his positions are fundamentally wrong. i do not agree with him, that america's at fault for 9/11. do not agree with him that we can ignore an iranian nuclear

and i don't agree with him that it's okay if israel disappears. >> on a more conciliatory tone the president and first lady are officially on vak in hawaii and releasing a christmas message to the nation today, taking particular note of the end of the iraq war. >> for many military families, the best gift this year is a simple with one. welcoming a loved one back for the holidays. you see, after nearly nine years, our war in iraq is over. our troops are coming home. >> when president obama hits the campaign trail as candidate obama, he won't be relying on campaign cash and former new jersey governor jon corzine. obama re-election campaign has just returned donations from corzine, embattled ceo of now bankrupt mf global. u.s. drone missile attack as long the border with pakistan and afghanistan have been suspended. the cia ordered the halt in drone strikes after last month's attack that killed about two dozen pakistani soldiers. some officials say many of the air strikes are

counterproductive and have strained relations with pakistan. just a short time ago queen elizabeth left a british hospital where her husband prince fi prince philip is recovering from heart surgery. a palace spokeswoman says he had a, quote, a good night. we'll have more on this story later on this hour. tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in moscow this morning. it is the largest protest so far against election fraud. there's growing outrage over the 12-year rule of prime minister vladimir putin, who's running for president in an election scheduled for march. in egypt thousands rallied in tahrir square to denounce violence against protesters, especially women. 17 people were killed this past week alone. about 100 have died since february. a festive city of bethlehem gears up for christmas with last minute preparations. streets are decorated and pilgrims are gathering.

this is the spot christians believe jesus christ was born. fights, vandalism, shooting and arrests, that's what happened at stores across this country all over the shoe. demand for nike retro air jordan basketball shoe created such a rush on stores that police in one city had to use pepper spray to subdue the chaotic crowd. kerry sanders is joining me live from miami. come on! i can't even believe that, pepper spray. >> reporter: it's shocking. >> it is. >> reporter: you know, these items went on sale yesterday. and so there's just this incredible pent-up demand for tennis shoes which i've got them right here. getting these, just to show you on the air, whatever everybody's fiing over, you can see these are not adult size, was quite a chore. our cameraman happened to be at the store shooting and somebody put these back out after they said they were the wrong size.

so he snapped them up just so i could show people what all the craziness is for. sneakers. they catched out for days outside stores across the country in california, in maryland and in washington state. >> i've been out here for about 27 hours now. >> reporter: finally, friday crowds ran in for the so-called gift to get, the air jordan concord '11. jordan, as in the legend michael jordan. he hasn't played with the nba in more than eight years but that doesn't deter his fans. >> it's a classic. it's just -- i mean, they're good looking shoes. >> got my js. good! >> woo! >> mission accomplished. >> reporter: in some shopping centers things got tense. in richmond, california, someone in line fired shots. and in indianapolis, buyers were trampled. no one was seriously injured. manufacturer nike issued this statement. we encourage anyone wishing to purchase our product to do so in a respectful and safe manner.

store owners hope the sneakers lure people into opening their wallets for more than shoes. retail sales this season have exceeded expectations so much, the national retail federation has increased its spending forecast to more than $460 billion, up almost 4% over last year. shoppers are buying smart this year. bargain shopping from the palm of their hands. >> they're using all the mobile technology, all the web technology that they have at their fingertips to -- whether it's research products, compare products, look at pricing. >> reporter: the search for good prices motivated some to wait before buying. >> you get more deals when you shop late. >> reporter: more americans delayed their gift buying this year, as consumer reports says 25% started their shopping this week. up 17% from last year. >> 54% of those we surveyed here at consumer reports told us the reason they procrastinated so long is they don't have enough

money. >> reporter: sheila lopez says she wait this is late to shop every year to get into the christmas spirit. >> i have to buy clothes for the kids, gifts for the kids, santa will bring the rest. >> reporter: well, santa may bring the rest but if not, i know somebody who's going to have these shoes because about two minutes, five minutes after i was on the air at 7:00 this morning showing these up, i guy came up and said, i need those shoes. i have to have those shoes. so, once we finish our broadcast here today, he's taking these shoes home and some boy who wears a size 12c will be very happy tomorrow. >> well, i think you're the santa in this case. thank you very much, kerry sanders, our resident santa in miami. we'll see you again. meantime, the president is starting his first full day of vacations, a trip delayed for almost a week because of the payroll tax cut fight in washington. air force one landed in honolulu at sunset yesterday. the president said hi to a crowd

that gathered for his arrival before meeting up with his family. kristin welker is spending time in honolulu. with a hello to you, i know the president is getting a bit of a late start but people are saying he scored a political victory back in washington. so that has to make for a good vacation and time delay, okay, that's good. >> reporter: absolutely. hi there, alex. good morning to you. certainly positive note to start this vacation. also a good way to start the new year. as you know, he's heading into what will undoubtedly be a tough re-election battle. take a quick look back at what happened during this payroll tax cut, which we saw on friday was republicans, house republicans, giving in to the president and to congressional democrats and saying they would agree to sign a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. this is significant because just about a week ago the senate passed an almost identical bill to extend the payroll tax cut for two months. and house republicans balked and said they wouldn't get behind it, they wouldn't support it. they would only support a bill that extend the the payroll tax

cut for an entire year. but in the days that followed, they got a lot of criticism from members of their own party who said, look, just sign the bill, sign the stopgap measure, and then negotiate a longer extension of the payroll tax cut in the new year. so, ultimately, that is what house republicans did. the president spoke about this just before he left for hawaii on friday. take a listen. >> so, they're going to be some important debates next year, some tough fights, i'm sure, in the years to come. but that's the kind of country i'm fighting for. one where everybody has a fair chance and everybody is doing their fair share. >> reporter: now, as for this vacation, this will be the fourth time that the obamas will have spent their christmas holiday here in the president's hometown of honolulu since he was elected back in 2008. alex? >> thank you very much, we'll seal you again. i'm yoined by chief political correspondent for

mcclatchy newspaper from the fallout of the last-minute wheeling and dealing in washington. good morning. >> good morning. >> your take on all this, steve, is the payroll tax agreement a big win for the president? >> it is a win for the president. i'm not sure how big it is. here's why. it only kicks this down the road two months. at the end of two months they have to vote again to extend the payroll tax cut. more importantly, republicans did get in language that will force a quicker decision on this keystone pipeline. that's a decision the president didn't want to make in an election year. remember, he originally kicked it past the election because either he angers environmentalists by allowing the pipeline or angers yuns by denying it. this will force him to make the decision in two months. >> so where there's a winner question there's going to be a loser question. who's the biggest loser? >> that side's very clear. house republicans lost. everyone knows it. senate republicans know it, democrats know it. they looked -- they looked bad

in the last couple weeks in negotiating this and in the end acquiescing to what senate republicans negotiated. the party is in-fighting over how to handle these things. that's a bad thing for republicans. they're also helping the president reinforce a master story line for the election and that story line from the president's view is, i want to cut taxes for working people. i want to raise taxes on the wealthy. the republicans right now are digging in saying, absolutely no tax increases on millionaires. we may raise taxes on the poor. that's not a good, winning strategy for the election. >> let's take a look at what's happening just to the south of you there in virginia. this morning, newt gingrich, rick perry, failing to qualify for the virginia primary ballot. neither candidate collected the required 10,000 signatures. here's the kicker, it's a painful one for gingrich because he's currently polling in the lead there in virginia. he's got 30% to romney's 25% in the latest quinnipiac poll. we saw your tweets this morning, steve, saying this shows a

complete lack of organization on gingrich's part. tell me all about that. what's behind that? >> this is a rather -- this is a very significant story here on christmas eve in the election. this is -- this is potentially devastating for newt gingrich. to not make the ballot in a key state on super tuesday. a key state that is his home state. he lives in virginia. >> right. >> it is a major state. a state he had the lead. to not get enough ballot signatures in shows he is not running a well-organized campaign. this is a mess-up. more importantly, i think right now, it signals to voters in the states that vote before that n iowa, in new hampshire, south carolina and florida, that he may not be a serious candidate for the long run. this is not a guy who's either organized enough or was taking the campaign seriously enough to be thinking i could win and stay in this for several months. it's -- i think it's devastating for gingrich.

>> what about the rick perry factor? why did he not collect votes as well? >> he's also in trouble. a guy trying to mount a comeback in iowa, campaigning hard, spending a lot of money, not seeing a lot of movement yet, but another southern state where a texan could hope to do well. he's already had a setback in south carolina where the governor didn't enforce him. it's a problem for him as well. what happened is the state requires 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot, the state party. every campaign forever knows, you got to put in a lot more because a lot will be disqualified. the people who check say, that's not a real name or they don't live at that address. so, you put in a lot more. what happened was gingrich just had the slightest margin of error. instead of 10,000 he put in 11,000. and perry was just about the same. by comparison, ron paul, who did make the ballot, put in over 14,000 signatures. and mitt romney, who also made the ballot, put in over 16,000. they were playing it smart. >> steve always giving us smart

discussion. have a good one. >> my pleasure. it's a gorgeous, brisk christmas eve day here in new york. across the country some folks are on the move. you're traveling to see family or getting in last-minute shopping. nbc meteorologist bill karins is right here before he heads out shopping. i hope you're done. >> are you saying i'm a procrastinator? >> i would never say that but get your shopping list out. >> i have to get a gift for my wife but i have to -- >> that's major. >> yes. they say yesterday was the busiest travel day of the year, more busy than the day before thanksgiving. we had good weather yesterday and it continue for today. a lot of the airports and roads, it will be just fine. the only people looking at a little white christmas, west texas. fresh snow coming down from midland northwards to lubbock. new mexico, much of the state has been covered in snow the last week. unfortunately for those in the dallas/ft. worth area, looks like plain old rain. 48-hour snowfall, west texas, a

little in washington state, maybe a tiny bit off the great lakes in upstate new york but not a lot of fresh snow. in other words, if you don't are snow on the ground right now, i can't get you a white christmas. this map shows who has a white christmas. areas in white and blue is where the snowpack is. the green, earth tone, that's where the ground is bare. almost all of the eastern half of the united states is bare. even parts of new england got a little bit yesterday but that's about it. there's been very much a lack of snow so far this winter season. so, your christmas eve forecast, light rain turning into steadier rains for houston, dallas, louisiana, watch out, you'll get drenched throughout tonight into tomorrow. much of the country looks great. your christmas day forecast. louisiana in mississippi, alabama, overall, alex, it's very quiet. he remember we had that huge snowstorm in october on the east coast. that was about it. >> halloween. gosh, what a difference a year makes. remember last christmas? my heavens.

>> nightmare. have a good holiday. >> you, too. later we'll ask our big three panelists what's their favorite holiday movie. you can chime in with that. what is your favorite of those two? you can talk to me on twitter. my handle is @alexwitt. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." coming up, your vote l it count? the justice department fights back against one of the toughest voter i.d. laws in the country. if may be just the beginning of a long election year battle. and a string of good news has experts predicking a 120 2012 comeback fort economy. is some of what optimism overblown? from the shores of afghanistan, to the hearts and homes of everyone back in new england, here's wishing you all a wonderful holiday season. go navy! [ laughing ]

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the obama administration just blocked a strict new south carolina law requiring voters to have a government issued photo i.d. considered one of the toughest laws in the nation could have prevented tens of thousands of minority and elderly voters from casting ballots in next year's election. johnson, now with rick perry's campaign in that state, we'll get to the race in a moment but first of all, the administration's move. what do you make of that? >> this was a south carolina argument that went through general assembly, house and senate, through the process what it was about was phantom votes. we had one county where over 1100 people voted and didn't sign the books. so, it's a long argument about it. i know it's in the courts now. but it was a process that went through general assembly, worked

and now the justices have seen fit to overturn that. >> but the cries of voter suppression, if you look at some stats here quickly. who doesn't have the proper i.d. one in four african-americans. one in five asian-americans and hispani hispanics. 15% of americans who make less than $35,000 a year. can you see why some people are crying out, this is voter suppression? >> i understand but this was a part of phantom votes in south carolina. places where more people voted than signed into the books. it's back to our electoral pros. something has to be fixed here. >> let's get to what's happening a bit north of that state in virginia. rick perry, your candidate, failing to qualify to get on the ballot. what happened? >> and speaker gingrich both. that's not one of the states that i have but i'll tell you i think the republican party of virginia and my friends in virginia and executive committee will take a look and see what happened. i don't think this is the end of that argument yet. >> meaninging what?

you think they can do something to affect the laws and change -- >> the primary is republican parties in virginia to take a look at and certainly kudos to mitt romney's organization getting the 14,000 plus signatures to qualify. i think this is the start of that argument. >> i want to ask what you were doing prior to rick perry. you were part of the exodus from newt gingrich's campaign? >> that's correct. >> what propelled you to take off and leave with rick perry and do have you any -- you got on we hot up and comer, much buzz, and then things went down a bit. >> this is a primary that's been ebbing and flowing. it's just starting. it's been a rhetorical primary, made of debates, nbc, abs, fox, 19 debates, close to 22 debates. i'm sure the democrats won't let that happen when they have a

contest. it's been about rhetoric and not record. back to when i was with the speaker, he certainly is a friend and a mentor and been good to us in south carolina but he ran an unconventional campaign and we'll see how that turn out. rick perry when you look at his record f it becomes a race on a record, have you a guy who's certainly a farmer, air force pilot, successful governor of the 13th largest economy in the country. certainly the debates early on weren't favorable to him but he's changed that. if you just look at records with a race that's going to be about jobs and who created jobs, rick perry was a natural fit for certainly myself and a natural fit for south carolina. it race is far from over. as we talked about earlier, rules have changed in the republican party. this race is going to run further past south carolina even though everyone who's run the nomination in south carolina since 19d 0 and i worked for ronald reagan then has gone on to win the nomination for the republican party. so, we have a history of picking the nominee but the rules have changed now. the delegates in virginia are

going to count in super tuesday. and i think it's going to run a little longer. and you're going to punch a ticket out of iowa. new hampshire never has impacted south carolina's vote. then you'll propel yourself past south carolina. >> speaking of south carolina, have a merry christmas to the other -- the fake usc guy. we were battling about this. >> thank you. merry christmas. >> and to you, thank you. royal family hit with a health crisis this holiday. queen elizabeth's 90-year-old husband prin prince fill lip undergoing heart surge. the question remains, where is ayla. ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪

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up ahead, we'll take you behind closed doors with some of the best known faces of msnbc and nbc news, their thoughts, foiss in the best of office politics. john boehner's leadership on the brink after his side loses a damaging tax cut battle with the white house. what to get for my .

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right now, prince philip is in a british hospital recovering from heart surgery. buckingham palace says the 90-year-old prince was treated for a blocked coronary artery. members of the royal family are visiting him today. his wife arrived by helicopter for a 45-minute stay. nbc's duncan joins me now from london. with a good morning to you, how is the prince's recovery going so far? what are you hearing? >> reporter: hey, good morning, alex. the latest from buckingh ing pa is that the prince had a good night in hospital and the hospital confirmed he was in high spirit. those seem to be good signs. he should, his family at the queen's country retreat where the family traditionally gathers for the holiday season. but yesterday he started complaining of chest pains and was rushed to a hospital around

60 miles away. after tests he underwent a procedure known as artery stenting where a balloon is inserted to remove blockage. it's a minor cardiac procedure but we have to remember that the prince is 90 years owed. having said that, he's a remarkably fit and healthy 90-year-old. in the last year we've seen him on an historic trip to the republic of ireland and gruelling 11-day tour of australia. he's very healthy. whether this will be enough to slow him down, we'll have to wait and see. probably the more pressing concern is whether he'll be home with his family for the holiday season. >> yeah, i was going to ask, any word on whether he might make it back up there for tomorrow? >> reporter: we don't yet know. patients for stenting are kept in for a night or to. it's possible he could go home. but his family has been to see him this morning. all of the children have been around his bedside this morning.

i'm sure that helped lift his spirits. >> duncan, thank you for the update. we'll check in again and make sure the prince is doing well. thank you. well, the search for a missing toddler in maine is now entering its second week. ayla reynolds was last seen eight days ago at her father's home. we're joined from waterville, maine, with the latest on this investigation. with a good and happy christmas eve to you. is there any hope ayla will be found soon? what are the updates? >> reporter: well, alex, happy christmas eve to you as well. authorities sure hope so. pe are poring through close to 200 leads they received from the public in this case. yesterday snowfall, you can see the white canvas behind me, there was a snowfall early in the city and that hampered search efforts a little bit. one new thing we noticed at the house where ayla was last seen is that though have sealed off all the doors and windows to this house. we can tell you that this is the house where justin lives, ayla's father, and he tells police he

put his girl to bed eight days ago o a friday. he checked in on her 12 hours later on saturday morning and she was gone. authorities have scoured the area. they've employed resources such as ka dcadaver dogs, waterways, trails and no sign of this missing girl. they're still calling this a missing person investigation. as far as ayla's parents, there's no formal custody agreement between the two parents. tristin reynolds is ayla's mother and she spoke to us earlier this week and she says she still has hope her little girl will come back home. >> i'm hoping for maybe my christmas present, that would it, that she'll come home. i love her, i miss her, and i want her home. >> reporter: ayla's mother and her parents, the grandparents of the child, were at a candlelight vigil yesterday for the toddler. that was in portland, maine, about 70 miles away. that's where trista reynolds

lives. >> aditi, thanks much. in washington the payroll tax cut deal is done but the political fallout from the hold debacle is just beginning. on the phone with me republican congressman jack kingston from georgia. thanks for being here. happy christmas eve to you. >> good morning to you. it's great to be with you. since i just got home, i'm scrambling to try to find something for my wife. any suggestions? i'm all ears. >> you know, jewelry usually works. there's a lot of places you can probably find some. that's my little bit of advice there. let's talk about what you're quoted in "the new york times" today as saying, that your caucus faced a, quote, real communication challenge. what happened? do wha do you mean? >> well, i think on this one, the policy -- the policy we were standing on, that is to say, the president asked for a one-year extension. many economists said, too much added to the uncertainty of

small businesses' plan, a family plan. i think the policy was solid but we did not get out in front of it. instead we were playing defense. we should have anticipated that maybe the senate would leave town. obviously, there was a big, big interparty communication or lack of coordination. so, you know, i think it's a lesson we learned the hard way and hopefully that we can gain from it. >> we're looking at pictures right now of house speaker boehner. talk about his credibility right now, his leadership skills both inside and outside the house republican caucus. >> well, john is a guy who does have a decentralized management system. he's empowered committee chairman more than we have been in the last ten years, more than we've seen in the last ten years. he listens to all the members, lets them have input. unfortunately, that can be a strength and a weakness. the weakness was that on last saturday, when we had a nationwide conference call of

all the members who were back home in their district, lots and lots of people got in and said, no, let's stand firm. let's show the senate that we can take the upper hand. i don't think that was his real desire but it was almost like a mutiny. a lot of people said, this is what we want to do. how dare the senate vote on their bill and leave town and not go to a conference committee where we can compromise. so, i think that was a weakness. but it also is a strength. that strength is that everybody gets their opportunity to have a s say. on the other hand, john is a smart guy, a hard-working guy. he understands policy. and he does understand politics. he does know which members have the -- who is the most vulnerable, who he need to listen to, who is a blow hard and things like that. >> lots of criticism out there, accusations that the tea party-backed faction took your caucus hostage. do you agree with that?

>> i think to some degree that is accurate. i would not necessarily say took it hostage as well as said, look, this is our line in the sand. we want a fight. this is what we're going to fight for. again, believing that the policy was the right policy. however, because of the communication, and also because of the 11th hour nature of the whole debate, i think that was -- you know, maybe the right decision but wrong timing. that would have been a great stance in october. not on the eve of christmas and the new year. >> okay. representative jack kingston from georgia on the phone before he goes and shops for his wife. good luck with that. thanks for talking with us. >> thanks, alex. we'll also be talking with a congressman from the other side of the aisle coming up in the next hour. but time for "office politics" and a look at the best of our interviews from the race to president to knickknacks in their office. nbc's best and brightest have given us plenty of insight. >> i think romney has a better shot than most of the other

republicans in that field against barack obama. >> if mitt romney is nominee, is there going to be a tea party chal sneng. >> do you think tea party people like people? do you think they like leaders? they don't like leaders. they basically -- -- >> well, they have to pick somebody. right now it looks like romney. >> i don't think they want that job. i don't think they to want pick a president. >> gingrich will be, i think, the weaker candidate than romney just because romney, i think, to that little 5% or of% of the electorate would sound like a more reasonable person. >> if i were to choose the opponent, i would love for rick perry. rick perry, i think, would be the best thing that could happen to president obama. >> the president is saying, actually, you know what, your republican policies, especially on economics, nobody supports them. >> how much of his job creation and stimulus was blocked by the republicans? so he's not going to own it alone. >> they did some gutsy things. they wrote a check to the

automobile industry because they thought it was going to save jobs. and it did. >> it did. that worked. >> not one republican was in favor of it. >> the fine line the president has to walk in his re-election effort is that he needs to do things that get his base enthused while still being the candidate who appeals to a broad swath of the public. basically, everybody in ideological way. the situation with the economy and the country is very bad. so, whether or not it is good politics, the only responsible thing right now is to work on jobs. >> it's the haves and have nots. >> right now we actually have a jobs emergency. >> we don't have a opinion problem. we have a math problem. >> republicans are the people that tell you there is no socialist in america. none. even though medicare is a purely socialistic program, social security. and at the same time, they tell you that the economy is the responsibility of the president of the united states.

that is beyond insane. we have a free economy here. the government does not control this economy. >> you could put any president in there. president obama is the political target to defeat but it's the legislative body saying, absolutely no. >> what you have in britain is the opportunity for conflict every week at prime minister's questions. yeah, it is angry and people have been told by the speaker to sit down and shut up in the house of commons, much rather that kind of open, in my view, ventilation of the anger and the conflict that occurs rather than what we have here, which is press conference, press conference, vote, gridlock. >> looking around your office, what's with the fishing? >> i have a passion. you know, i love the outdoors. >> how much coffee are you drinking throughout the day? i mean, look at your day.

>> those that know won't say and those that say don't know. >> the iraqi national baseball team. our show got them uniforms. so, when all is said and done they sent me the operation iraqi baseball commemorative baseball bat. >> i stopped playing rugby at 46, two years ago. >> inquisitive journalist, athlete and you play the base, too? >> i do. >> what don't you do? >> i don't play the bass very well, i have to tell you that. >> i'm a season ticket guy. i'm home. i feel at home in two places. one, is my home. with my family. the other place is at fenway park. >> here's my thomas jefferson costume. i've got the wig. maybe they would take me more seriously on the issues of the banking system if i had dressed like this. do you think i'd have more credibility? >> grew up on the jersey shore where there are still towns on the jerry shore where they cruise. >> i was going to ask you if you cruised on a saturday night. >> you can still cruise.

on saturday nights, even though i was a poor kid with a dodge dart, i would wash it up. if i had a girlfriend, i would throw her in the throw her in the front seat and cruise up and down -- >> you always had a girlfriend. >> i did not because i suffered from a lack of courage at that age but that's a different story. >> he always had a girlfriend. i'll have a lot more later in our show including a rare glimpse at one souvenir that helped change the election process as we know it. i know you don't want to miss that. that's coming up. in a moment, positive signs about the economy. can we really believe the nation's economy is rebounding? want to wish a merry christmas and happy new year to my mom and dad and all the people back in pennsylvania who have been sending me sxloouf support. [ laughing ] [ cat yodeling ]

honey, check your email! [ cellphone chimes ] [ cat yodeling ] kids! [ cat yodeling ] sing, larry, sing! [ cat yodeling ] we should have got a cat. [ male announcer ] get low prices on gifts to stay connected. order your last-minute gifts at walmart-dot-com and get free same-day pickup on select items. save money. live better. walmart. ♪ but you tonight [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] build your own unique memories with persona beads. now at zales, the diamond store. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion.

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the payroll tax cut has been tended. holiday spending is up. unemployment is down. as president obama is saying, let's not too be hasty. >> we've got an economy that is showing some positive signs. we've seen many consecutive months of private sector job growth, but it's not happening as fast as it needs to. and that means that we've got to redouble our efforts. >> neil irwin, financial and economics reporter with "the washington post" joining me from washington with a merry christmas eve to you. glad to see you. >> thanks. >> are we beingl willed into a false sense of security with those stats? >> i don't think so. there really is underlying strength we've seen the last few weeks in the data. over the summer we had some bad jobs numbers, that debt ceiling debate that was destructive and yet despite it all we've had

europe as an ongoing crisis. >> on the unpleasant reality in the job market that you wrote about this week. >> yeah, the truth is, this is a job market that's getting better, not in a major way but just kind of standing in place. it's kind of frozen in time. what's happening, layoffs have come down a lot. we've seen the last several weeks the number of people filing for unemployment insurance benefits has dropped a lot. we've seen -- we've seen the unemployment rate came down in november to 8.6%. that's masking some underlying trends that are not quite as good. what's happening is companies aren't hiring but not laying off. >> but here's what's interesting. according to government stats, the same number of people were seeking work today as they were

in 2007 the jobless rate would stand at 11%. >> yeah, that's right. part of the improvement we've seen in the unemployment rate is a result of people dropping out. labor force. >> they give up. >> yeah. the job market's bad, i'm going to just work at home. not do anything. i'm going to take care of my kids. so, what will happen is as the economy gets better over time, people are going to come back into the labor force. that's going to be an upward pressure on unemployment, even as the job market looks a little better. >> what do you think has to happen before we can breathe a sigh of relief with the economy? >> you know, i think what we have to do is get through this process of working through this overhang of debt we have. once the housing market bottoms out and mortgage debt becomes more manageable, once we have kind of a self-reinforcing cycle where incomes are rising, more demand for business products so they have to hire and that becomes a cycle, then we're in good shape. we're not there yet. we're in the middle ground where we're muddling along. it's better than collapse but not the same as a real rebound. >> thanks so much. >> thank you.

you can just imagine the light bill for this holiday display. you'll find it in canberra, australia, featuring 331,000 lights. if you strung out all those lights, they would measure 18 miles long. those lights, they would measure 18 miles long. the homeowners put on that display to raise money for charity. and about that electric bill, they wouldn't even say how much it costs. everyone believes in keeping their promises once a year. but we believe in helping people take steps to keep them every single day. that's why every day we help people across the country get into their first homes. prepare for a comfortable retirement and protect the people and things that matter most. at genworth we believe every day is the right day to take a step toward tomorrow.

well, this necklace is awesome. honey, you're getting a necklace! see what i mean? i'll surprise you. please. [ male announcer ] the only place to go for last-minute christmas gifts. walmart. when you pour chunky beef with country vegetables soup over it... you can do dinner. four minutes, around four bucks. campbell's chunky. it's amazing what soup can do. ♪♪ ♪ if you're like my patients, you want to hear you've done a good job caring for your mouth. that's why i recommend a rinse like crest pro-health multi-protection. it helps you get a better dental check-up. because not all rinses provide all these benefits. so be ready for your next dental check-up. crest pro-health multi-protection rinse.

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'tis the holiday season. that means holiday parties on capitol hill. lawmakers have to watch they don't drink too much but also have to watch what they eat. this is not a weight thing. it's an ethics thing. hamburgers are not allowed but

swedish meat balls are. paul singer is here from roll call and joins me from washington. it's kind of funny, but what is behind these rules? >> what is behind these rules is jack. free meals, free gifts, congress passed new rules saying you can't take things of value from anybody who lobbies. then the question came up, what about the lobby and et next committee and cannot accept at a hollywood party. >> you mean somebody is trying to figure out the value of burgers, meat balls, versus pigs in a blanket and hot dogs? >> absolutely. yes. what they say is things of

nominal value you can accept but that means something that is not a meal. as long as you can eat it on a tooth pick, it's nominal value and not a problem. my favorite part of this is in the memo is, what if somebody sends you a fruit basket. they say, the staff can eat less than $50 worth of fruit each as long as they don't accept more than $100,000 from this organization. >> this is awesome. this is taxpayer dollars at work. >> what if somebody breaks the rule? congresswoman, congressman, what happens to them? >> well, in theory, you can be fined, you can get a complaint against you by the ethics committee. the problem is, it's like the speed limit issues. if you're going 55 miles an hour and wearing a seat belt, a cop won't discover that you have a

dead body and a heroin in your back seat. this is how you determine if you're a ethical person. what if you took $1,000 bribe from a lobbyist? that they will never get to. >> yikes. have a meatball on me. have a good one. >> thanks. merry christmas. >> you, too. bad news for gingrich who has failed to make it in the ballot. how is this going to impact his campaign? plus, letters to santa. americans are answering that

call. falling short. both newt gingrich and rick

perry fail to qualify for virginia's gop. the release of the retro air jordan sparks fights and vandalism and arrests around this country. look at that mess. royal health scare. the queen of england is by her husband who underwent emergency heart surgery. good morning, everyone. you're watching "weekends with alex witt." it's 10:00 a.m. out east and 7:00 out west. newt gingrich and rick perry failed to make it on the virginia primary. the republican presidential candidates did not submit the 10,000 signatures of registered voters to get on the ballot for the march 6th primary and that is, of course, a huge deal for

candidates like gingrich. for more on the jid yent virginia battle fail, i'm joined by holly barry. i don't understand and i'd love an explanation as to how a major candidate can fail to qualify for a ballot. it's pretty clear. >> right. i think everyone is wondering that question. but the fact is that this is largely at what has been a larger problem for newt gingrich. while he surges in the polls, he trails in the donations. >> is there anything that he can do about this? >> the campaign has suggested that they will challenge the ruling and i think there has to be questions of whether perhaps the rules were too stringent. i mean, rick perry also did not make the ballot and that's really surprising. he has money. he has organizations. >> yep. >> so you have to sort of wonder what is going on here. >> so were you surprised about

this about newt gingrich. the small tiny offices that he has and money issues, did this come as a surprise? >> somewhat. the fact is that gingrich campaign has been telling reporters that they are raising more money, that they are setting up much more organization and you are seeing things like that in states like north carolina. it's not that so surprising. >> if appeals don't get worked out, we have mitt romney and ron paul. but a two-man race in iowa, it's very good if you look at the numbers there. he leads with the iowa state university poll. 28% support there. he's facing some new scrutiny over inflammatory comments that he made. found in these old monthly and said, order was only restored after the 1992 l.a. riots when it came time for the blacks to

pick up the welfare checks. here's another one. 95% of black men in washington were semicriminal or entirely criminal and one calling martin luther king day, quote, annual hate whitey day. >> that is not good. >> he says he did not right these. >> right. he says he didn't write them but the way the campaign has handled this whole mess has not been great. he was walk walked off a television interview when they brought it up and at the same time, it's coming up so late in the game. i wonder how it will affect his surge in iowa. >> do you think newt gingrich raising questions about this, fundamental issues that should be looked at with ron paul, does this help his campaign? >> i think dating back to the last debate that we saw, ron paul spouting off some of his foreign policy positions,

arguing about iran, not necessarily being a serious nuclear threat, i think some of the positions that people like him for, you know, the strong anti-government message, they are sort of hearing these things and then on his foreign policy and then hearing more about his newsletters, i think there's a possibility that many people will second guess their support of him. >> but when it comes back to organization, he's been huge there in iowa. >> right. >> we're talking about ron paul, of course. do you think that will be enough to sustain through this controversy? >> perhaps. you know, ron paul's people and his supporters have accused the media of ignoring him all throughout the campaign. >> right. but at the same time, ron paul has been raising money. erases money better than almost any candidate in his field, aside from mitt romney and rick perry. that makes him a serious contender because he's going to have the money and organization.

if not, it could stop the momentum. >> holly bailey, thank you for being here. safe travel home. queen elizabeth just left the hospital where her husband prince philip is recovering from a blocked coronary artery. the largest protest and weeks of demonstration against election fraud. tens and thousands are rallying in moscow today and demanding new elections and increasingly angry at vladimir putin. he's facing strong opposition in elections scheduled in rush that? march. state media says if the son of kim jong-unwill be unveiled in blood and tears. they are still in morning for

kim jong-il. his country has ruled that country since 1948. it's christmas eve in the holy land. bethlehem is getting ready. christians believe that it's built on the very spot where jesus christ was born. >> led to arrests, trampled shoppers, it's a short property in the limited release of air jor jordans. >> i actually tripped over a girl that fell. i jumped over them and kept running. >> well, the demand for the nike air jordan created such a rush that police in one city had to use pepper spray to subdue that chaotic crowd. let's go now to the three biggest money headlines generating the most money for you this morning. retailer victory. online shopping shortcomings and

hamburger wars. vera gibbons is joining me to help make sense of all of this. thank you for stopping by. this holiday season is shaping up to be bigger than expected, right? >> very good. it hasn't ended yet. people are still out there shopping. yes, looking better than anyone expected. the weekend sales there, 5 512 52.4 million. online sales up 50%. retailers, some of them, in fact, are claiming victory. it's been better than anyone expected it. going into the season, people were worried about the economy. we spend if the deals are worthy of us. >> i understand in terms of online shopping, there's some consumers that are not happy. what's the problem? >> that's right. the online retailers were not prepared for the kind of

business -- >> the volume? >> the volume. i think they were also sort of busy undercutting one another. there were computer glitches. walmart customers had difficulty checking out on black friday. there were execution issues. what really irked consumers, they didn't try to make amends. they sent around an e-mail saying, your order is not going to be fulfilled. >> i had that happen. it's really annoying. >> it's really annoying. people who ordered from best buy right after thanksgiving are now getting e-mails saying your order can't be fulfilled. >> okay. wendy's or burger king? >> it's going to be wendy's. there are 53 million higher than burger king. sales on track for $8.42 billion. people are saying that's because burger king has been stagnant. wendy's has upped the ante.

they are offering premium offerings. the ingredients are better and they are actually willing to pay a little bit more for the food there, too. >> all right. >> you're not a fast food person. >> not really. but in and out burgers. >> those are the best. >> vera, thanks so much. advice of what to do if you need to return any gifts in the next 24 hours. >> let's go to the weather update. bill karins is here with the latest. >> kids dreaming of a white christmas, only a few spots as we go throughout the day today and tonight. as we look at the weather map, this is new mexico and west texas. midland, el paso, they've had some snow. you're the lucky ones. this is a 48-hour snowfall map.

the gray is where we could expect to be one to three inches and then the white is three to six. you notice the bull's eye over west texas but that's it. no other snow is to be had. except for maybe in the extreme northern rockies. so this is the current snow cover map around the country. the blue shading shows you where there is snow on the ground. only 30% of the country is going to be seeing a white christmas. much of the east coast, northern england, areas as far north as wisconsin and minnesota, not looking at a white christmas. as far as the christmas eve forecast goes, texas is the only storm on the map. rain develops from san antonio to houston. the travel map looks great. yesterday was a great day for travel. today it looks very nice, too. a final look at your christmas day forecast. no snow really on the map. we will be watching rain and maybe heavy rain in places like louisiana and in the pacific northwest, that's where we will

see light rain moving on shore. overall, it's a mild weekend travel. >> a lot of travelers will appreciate that. thank you. house speaker boehner finally approved the tax cut extension after a week's long standoff. plus, letters to santa that's going to bring tears to your eyes. how san it is making dreams come true for kids in need. >> i would like to say merry christmas and happy holidays to my husband and two daughters. i love you and hope to be home before your birthday, trinity. i'm so proud of the things that you guys have done and i really can't wait to get home and see you. after the war, as a japanese coming back from camp,

he started a little store on main street in seattle. of course they needed some money, and bank of america was the only bank who would talk to my father. and we've stayed with bank of america. we have four stores now, three in the pacific northwest and one in oregon. my parents would not believe how popular it is now. fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. [ cat yodeling ] honey, check your email! [ cellphone chimes ] [ cat yodeling ] kids! [ cat yodeling ] sing, larry, sing! [ cat yodeling ] we should have got a cat. [ male announcer ] get low prices on gifts to stay connected.

order your last-minute gifts at walmart-dot-com and get free same-day pickup on select items. save money. live better. walmart. ♪ and just let me be [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ your ticket home ♪ [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. ♪♪ ♪ if you're like my patients, you want to hear you've done a good job caring for your mouth. that's why i recommend a rinse like crest pro-health multi-protection. it helps you get a better dental check-up. because not all rinses provide all these benefits. so be ready for your next dental check-up. crest pro-health multi-protection rinse. [ male announcer ] try any crest pro-health rinse. complete satisfaction guaranteed, or we'll buy it back.

it's been a tough week for the republicans. after a dramatic week where it looked like republicans may have blocked the payroll tax extension being passed, they finally said yes for two more months. joining me is tom davis who is also former chairman of the congressional committee. you guys have done battle before, i'm guessing. >> well, actually, we were chairs at different times much i was chair in '96, '98, but we were on different sides. >> gentlemen, welcome. happy holidays to you both. tom, i'll begin with you. some people are calling this

payroll tax cut deal a christmas gift for the president. did the gop misplay its hand? >> well, i think the house republicans have a better policy argument. that's, let's extend it for a year rather than two months. they were losing the political argument. they did the right thing. they folded and will come back in february and cut their losses. at the end of the day, though, when you go a year from now, you're dealing with a presidential campaign, i think this will be a blip. i hope it's been a learning experience for the house republicans. >> the "new york times" says that the democrats are making robo calls by house republicans that it is targeting. what else do you think the democrats are going to do with this? >> this is a lot like what happened in 1995 when gingrich shut down the government. we were in a deep hole, the democrats at that time. we got revived by that particular fight. the republicans looked bad as a result. clinton was re-elected as president. democrats made a real run at taking the house back. we picked up nine seats. i think the democrats are going to ride this for a while.

republicans looked like they were for higher taxes, democrats looked like they were for lower taxes. >> tom, we begin with you as we check with the candidates. newt gingrich is getting ready to hammer home jobs and growth. he still says he's not going to go negative. will this propel gingrich further in the polls or do you think he may have crested? >> it's hard to say. what he doesn't have is a lot of paid media behind him. when you take a look at the points that his opponents have, ron paul, mitt romney, they are up on tv a lot more. 30 appearances you don't reach nearly as many people. >> alex, look, he suffered a major blow by not qualifying for the virginia ballot. >> they are going to appeal that. it may not be the end of story. >> good luck.

it shows that they are very weak, organize glags is important in iowa. not being in the ballot in virginia is a real blow to him because that's on super tuesday. i think gingrich is in trouble. he's on a slide right now. >> can i ask you about mitt romney? he's not had the same ups and downs. if you look at the race like the tortoise and the hare, it's like he's been the slow and steady, not minding being number two throughout the majority of what has happened so far. now he's got the endorsement from the elder president bush. he's got the establishment which appears to be lining up behind him even further. do you think he is the biggest threat to president obama? >> well, i think -- >> he's clearly showed stronger in the polls. i'm sorry. i didn't know if you were asking me. >> i'm asking you, martin. go ahead. >> he's clearly polled better than any other republican against obama. this is going to be a very interesting race if romney's the nominee. it isn't locked up yet. despite gingrich's misstep,

right now he appears to be the strongest candidates against obama. >> do you want it to be romney? >> that's why you go through the primaries and conventions and you still have to get through new hampshire with huntsman making his bid to get there. but there's no question, romney polls the best at this point against obama. he is ep accepted by the widest group of people who don't like obama. he is the establishment candidate but you've got half of the republicans that don't like the establishment. they are in rebel general at this point. that creates a problem for them. but let me say this, romney has the organization and money to last this thing out and under the new rules where you have proportional voting, he's in it for the long haul and you've got to call on the favorite. >> i want you both to weigh in on this. you were saying today, as reported just this week, more than 2 1/2 million americans have left as republicans and

have reregistered as an independent. >> an independent can't be elected as a president. if he runs, that independent could drain the votes away from one of the major candidates. that happened with ralph nader with al gore and ross perot draining votes from the independent, george h.w. bush in 1992. the country's unsettled. i will tell you one thing, though. the tea party looks like if they continue to behave, that's going to be a drag on the republican party in the coming election. i don't know how that's going to sort out in the house of representatives. >> you have a thought you want to sort out? >> i do. both parties have failed the american voters. when you look at the last 12 years, you've had 9/11, stagnant wages, katrina, as they look at the political party in both establishments, it's driven voters in droves into the independent column and creates a very volatile electorate where

they rejected the republicans in 2006, in 2008 and i think it creates a lot of volatility. >> it's going to be one interesting election. >> gentlemen, happy holidays. thank you. there's just ten days to go until the showdown in iowa. the lead over romney is thinning. i'll be speaking with rick green about what the candidates need to do. plus, be a real-life elf this holiday season. in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... in years. they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records.

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"weekends with alex witt." no doubt you'll need some tech help. you can go online for help. one of the best websites, the tech support guy. it's free and there are volunteers about software games, phones, and of course computers. keep that in mind. this christmas eve, santa is giving one last read to children from around the world. take a listen to this one. dear, santa, i ask that you will forgive our debts and we will try to be good to make it on the nice list and stay on the nice list. i'm not even sure if you are real. sorry, but i don't have a christmas tree. i don't have a room. my grandpa's bed fills the space. patrick reynolds started a program to help kids like the girl in that letter. >> merry christmas. >> tell us what be an elf is

doing for kids like hanna. >> a few years ago, a friend of mine said, i go to the post office and get letters from santa class for kids asking for clothes and food that are kids in real need and the post office for 99 years has been giving those letters out to the public. it's not widely known. i thought, how come more people don't know about this. i started the website "beanelf.org" to help with the santa program and be an elf has responded to letters but the real mission is to let people know about it and get people like you talking about it. >> yeah. well, patrick, a lot of the letters that we read, they are not kids asking for these incredible superlatives. >> i have a letter here in front

of me from a little girl named hanna and she says, oh, santa, my mom don't have money to buy us gifts. i just want something for christmas. it doesn't matter what. but please, oh santa, send us something. things like that will tear at your heart. at this point, of course, it's too late to go down to the post office and get a letter to santa claus and get it there in time for christmas. but what you can do, associated press published a story that you can go down to kmart or a walmart and there are lay away programs. so secret santas, still today can pay off somebody's lay away account. there was a man who paid off all of the layaway accounts at a walmart under $100 and he spent $15,000 of his own money.

and those families are going to be very happy on christmas because they've been calling them all, somebody paid off your lay away account. it's moving people to tears. but i think there's still time to pay off someone's layaway account. >> that is a great idea. the layaway idea is a great great. merry christmas. >> merry christmas. coming up, it's being called super, super saturday. there's still time for the last-minute gifts. details on the hot gifts and the mad rush to get at it. and mitt romney wraps up his new hampshire bus deal. the super-pac is launching against newt gingrich.

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fights, vandalism shootings,

and arrests. that's what happened to stores across malls on friday after the release of a shoe. a limited release of air jordans. this mayhem led to pepper spraying and one door was torn from the hinges. carry sand ders is joining me this morning. what is happening with this shoe? >> reporter: they have not had this problem in south florida but these are the coveted shoes. we've got the kids' version here. it's the air jordan concord 11. and they went on sale yesterday and people have been fighting to get these shoes in richmond, california. some shots were fired in indianapolis. some people got trampled. thankfully nobody was seriously injured. but as the shoes have gone on to

sale, you, probably like me, are wondering why everybody is so crazy for these shoes. first of all, people don't buy these shoes to wear them. they buy these shoes to collect them. so literally taking them out of the box is already a no-no. they want to keep them in pristine shape. and apparently some of the people lining up -- because consider michael jordan retired eight years ago. there's people fighting for shoes and they have never even seen michael jordan play basketball. you help me figure out what the craziness is but we have one gift that is the it gift and this is the it gift, alex. >> and somebody is probably standing over your shoulder waiting to take that, right? >> reporter: they saw me hold these up at 7:00 in the morning on the "today" show and within five minutes somebody was saying, can i buy those shoes from you? i said, look how tiny they are. they said, i don't care.

my son will grow into it. they are $80. if you buy adult ones, they are considerably more. what this is is if you look beyond the one product, things are looks, according to retailers, better than certainly last year. they are expecting $460 billion in sales. and there is this extra day of shopping because christmas is on sunday. so this is not just super saturday. it's super, super saturday. >> kerry sanders, thank you. people traveling is up 1.5% from last year. air travel is down a bit about 10%. some 84 million americans will be traveling by car this holiday, despite the gas prices,

and $3.20 a gallon, which is about 20 cents higher than last year. and with the crowded roads comes a warning about distracted drivers from transportation secretary ray lahood. >> people need to take it upon themselves to put your cell phone and texting device in the glove compartment when they get into a car. you can't drive safely when you get a cell phone in your ear. republican presidential candidates are off the trail and taking a break before the iowa caucuses just days away now. so what is the end game look like on the ground? in iowa, i'm joined by rick green, the editor of the des moines register. hello to the both of you. thanks for joining me. >> good morning. how are you, alex? >> i'm well. hope you guys are, too. rick, what do you think has changed on the ground in the

last week since you and i spoke after you had gone with the endorsement with the des moines register? you endorsed mitt romney. are you seeing any ripples as a result of that in. >> the polls are starting to tighten. the numbers are starting to surge. we've seen newt gingrich numbers starting to slide. it's going to be very interesting in the next eight or nine days. the candidates are off until next tuesday. there's an incredible barrage of advertisements blitzing the airwaves here in iowa. the candidates are going to be out in full force. >> let's take a look. dan ta is in new hampshire. does mitt romney have the state locked up. >> i think romney has locked up 30% of the vote and maybe he'll go as high as 42%.

depending on what happens in iowa. there is still potential for newt gingrich to take such a battering over the last couple of weeks. if he comes back and wins iowa despite all of the negative ads and so forth, he'll come here to new hampshire with a full head of steam and the race will start to be framed as romney versus gingrich, which would only help newt out here in new hampshire. >> you didn't mention jon huntsman. what is going on? >> well, i think huntsman is reaching his core vote but the problem is it's not quite in the mainstream of the new hampshire republican voters. he's reaching some independents, some liberal to moderate republicans. he's having a hard time reach into the romney is a solid candidate and so romney is not as weak as jon huntsman would like at this point. >> okay. i want to pick up on this solid

candidate and that concept, rick, because ron paul has been gaining ground in iowa. if he does pull off a win there, there is some talk that it can hurt iowa's credits. that iowa ceases to matter because his odds of winning the nomination are so slim. >> i think there's a major debate going on about that. we've heard it from operatives around the country. i've got to tell you, if anybody has any question about whether or not iowa is relative, yesterday's des moines register, from the vice president of the united states, joe biden weighing in on governor romneys and while a lot of people are focusing on dr. paul's status in the state, what his numbers look like, i think iowa's incredibly relative, not only this year but i've got to believe it's the same thing for another four years out. i will tell you ron paul's

numbers are strong. he's got a great game here and it will be interesting to see what unfolds in the next eight or nine days. >> i'm curious, dante, what is your prediction? do you think we'll wrap up before super tuesday which will make a mess in virginia that was talked about with regard to newt gingrich and rick perry's campaigns not even qualifying to be on the ballot? do you think it's going to be over and done by early march. i think they literally have to run the first caucuses and primaries. he's got to do well across the board. i think if he slips in south carolina, somebody beats him there. florida will be important. mitt romney still looks as if he's having a hard time convincing most republican primary voters, that he's their guy because once you leave new hampshire, the territory gets a little more unfriendly towards mitt romney.

>> all right. dante, rick green, thank you for spending the holiday morning with us. appreciate it. >> thanks, alex. well, there's a big weekend at the box office. details on the must see movies this holiday weekend and the ones that you must avoid. plus, the fallout from speaker boehner. joining me in the studio right here on "weekends with alex witt." ♪ i don't need anyone else in my arms ♪ ♪ but you tonight [ male announcer ] this is your moment.

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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. france has agreed to pay for 30,000 women to have risky breast implants removed. the potentially faulty implants have been pulled from the markets after concerns that they can rupture and leak silicone. they are asking the manufacturer to be responsible for this. hollywood is hoping to score some gold at the box office this weekend with two family friendly films hitting the theaters, including "tin, tin."

so is that a must see? and also, the darkest hour. joining me is alicia corals. and you know what? you're wearing the gold. you have it all going on. >> trying to be fest stiff. >> gold and red. we work together. but what about this "tin, tin" movie? >> we gave it three out of four stars. steven ste steven spielberg produced it. >> the kids in france love him. >> they love him. it should bring in big money at the box office in the u.s. >> what about "we bought a zoo"? that one looks wonderful. it's a different role for matt damon. >> yes. he bought it after his wife pass

aid way. it's a family friendly film. >> reception has been pretty good so far? >> reception has been pretty good so far. it also stars scarlett johansson. it's a feel-good kind of movie. >> all right. that's good at the holidays. "the darkest hour," let's talk about that. these are aliens that you can't see? >> they are aliens that you can't see. it's about what happened after that. aliens you can't see. it's put out by summit. >> look at the way that they just evaporate them. >> it is geared for the teenagers sick of the parents at the holiday time and want to hang out with their friends and see some aliens. there you go. >> all right. if you say so. thank you for the advice. thank you. >> thank you. what's your favorite holiday movie? here are some of your tweets.

ed davis says, it's a wonderful life sends an important message to all of our family and friends. "love actually" makes me want to chase someone through the airport at christmastime. and christmas vacation. i think he's on vacation. that may be why, thomas. keep talking to me. my handle is @alexwitt. congressman gerald nadler. i'll speak to him about the payroll tax that has finally come to an end. and thousands gather at the birth place of jesus. merry christmas to my beautiful daughter elizabeth and my parents back be home in missouri and to my dog mary bell. i joined the navy when i was nineteen.

i spent four years in the military and i served a tour in iraq. all the skills that i learned in the military are very transferable into the corporate and real world. chase hired me to be a personal banker. the 100,000 jobs mission has definitely helped me get my foot in the door. chase is giving opportunities to vets who don't think that there's any opportunity out there. chase and these other companies are getting a great deal when they hire veterans. chase is proud to help 100,000 veterans find jobs at home. easy. name some things that aren't on your list. jumper cables, camo anything, a power drill -- ooh! [ male announcer ] the only place to go for every guy on your christmas list with great deals throughout the store. walmart. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups.

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president obama claiming a win this weekend after republicans extend his payroll tax for another two months but the fight is far from over. joining us now is democrat of new york who just came a little bit of his district to join us. good morning. >> good morning. >> have you seen the movie "groundhog day"? >> no. it's bill murray playing a role where the same thing happens over and over again. here's my question to you. is this what will happen come february regarding the payroll tax holiday? is this something that will just get kicked down the road? >> i don't know that it's going to get kicked down the road. it will be the third time in effect. there's an old greek proverb that says, they certainly did not behave rationally. they show where they are coming from. when we extended the bush tax

cuts last year, including the tax cuts that they wanted not to extend, the republicans insisted that the tax cuts for people making a million had to be extended and without paying for them. until you get to middle class and lower income taxes, then all of a sudden you have to pay for it. that's what this debate was all about. they couldn't find enough money to pay for this tax cut. in february we will have the same debate over again. >> so what's the strategy going to be? >> i know what it should be. >> which is? >> repeat what we did a few months ago. we'll extend the tax cuts to the middle-income people and pay for it in the republicans insist on paying for it. by putting a 3% surcharge on taxes for people over $1 million. and choose between taxing income

over $1 million a little more and giving everybody else a tax cut or letting the millionaires and billionaires keep their entire tax cut and the middle class loses their tax cut. >> how do you expect to work with the tea party backed house freshman who are quite an entity to have to work with in the house and do you think they learned a lesson here? have they been humbled at all? >> well, i don't think that they have been humbled and i don't think they have learned a lesson. the question is whether they will submit to discipline by the leadership which knows better than -- which would not have committed this political suicide had it been their role. >> but put yourself in john boehner's shoes, though. >> well, i don't know. if i'm in john boehner's shoes, i think i would have an impossible job and hope that the electorate take care of that next november. he can't help that, obviously, but the american people certainly can. these people, many of them are -- they don't believe in

government at all. they don't care about deficits. all they care is about government doing nothing and everybody acting on their own. they really believe in using the threat of deficits to destroy government action. a lot of republicans believe in that but they believe in it much more so and it's very difficult to work with such people. >> well, let's hope that america is more productive on that front. happy holidays. >> happy holidays. straight ahead, a royal health scare. plus, the best of office politics. we'll bring you the favorite moments of the year. first, a special look at everyone here at msnbc who helped renew the news each and every day. three, two, one -- >> cue the music.

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countdown to the caucuses, ten days before the first presidential votes of 2012.

how are the candidates fairing for the battle of iowa? plus, shop to it. time is running out but can shoppers count on last-minute deals? and a fountain pen that made a sweeping change at the voting booth. good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. a merry christmas eve to all of you celebrating. here's the latest from the news out there. newt gingrich is lashing out at virginia's keeping them off the primary ballot. the quote has a failed system. the state republican party says that gingrich and rick perry have failed to get what they need to get on the primary for virginia. and donald trump has changed his affiliation from republican to

independent. log before super tuesday, joining me from nashville, tennessee, mike huckabee to victory in iowa in 2008 not in line with any candidate this time around yet. good morning to you, chip. >> good morning. >> i'm going to get to iowa in just a second. but how is this going to play out? >> if goes into the case, can newt gingrich or rick perry actually win the nomination if they can't get on the ballots? look, getting on the ballot is a very tough process. four years ago we had 10,000 sikt signatures is a lot but not

when you're working for a year to get that done. they've had plenty of money to do this and it's a big problem. mitt romney can say, i'm organized, i can run in all 50 states. i can be president of the united states. virginia people scratching their heads. >> we're going to see what happens as this plays out. the gingrich campaign will challenge this. we'll see if things are changed by march 6th. let's get to the fact that how difference does this look from what you were dealing with in 2008. >> it really was a two-man race between mitt romney and mike huckabee four years ago. now you have six candidates competing really in iowa and the super pac and it's very muddy out there. it's tough to see who is moving and who is not. you have your top three, dr. paul and mitt romney and newt gingrich and then governor perry and senator santorum and

bachmann who determine if newt gingrich, the conservative of those three, falls down below the polls, can they pick up and finish like a train and break into a second? >> you've mentioned that newt gingrich is ramping up the game and doing it pretty fast. do you think that can put him up on top? >> yeah, unfortunately it's a little too late. you've seen in the polling where the crowds are not as big as they have been in the past and as we've seen in the past year, you go down fast and fall down fast. one of the other candidates that have taken advantage of that and finished in the top three. >> there have been people out there in iowa who long to see mike huckabee in this race. do you wish, chip, that your

former boss was in this contest? >> certainly he was my favorite all along. he's probably still my favorite today. he was talking about the huckabee family, nothing says christmas like ribs on the smoker and i know he's enjoying it. watch with interest because he wants to make sure that we beat president obama in the fall. >> chip, you hope you're enjoying your holiday as well. smoked ribs or not. >> thank you. president obama is finally joined up with his family in hawaii. his vacation trip was delayed for about a week as lawmakers fought over that payroll tax extension in washington. now as things have settled, the president can enjoy at least a few days off. the overwhelming consensus is that the president scored a huge win in that fight. i wonder if he may have jinxed this now that he hears this

playing out. >> we're all thinking that he may have jingxed it. i was traveling with the president on martha's vineyard during that week we saw the fall of tripoli, the uncharacteristic east coast earthquake and then of course the week capped off with hurricane irene so of course is been a busy couple of weeks in d.c. us a mentioned, lawmakers have been fighting about a tax cut. republicans wound up giving in to him and congressional democrats and also congressional republican party who say, sign a bill to extend the payroll tax cut for two months and then

during the new year and house republicans were really pushing for. president obama talked about this before he boarded air force one to come to honolulu. here's what the president had to say. take a listen. >> there's going to be important debates next year. tough fights, i'm sure, in the years to come. but that's the kind of country that i'm fighting for, one where everybody has a fair chance and everybody is doing their fair share. now president obama is facing a tough election battle in 2012 and this is not a bad way to start the new year. as for this vacation, alex, this is the fourth time that the obama family will spend their christmas holiday here in the president's home down of honolulu since he was elected back in 2008. >> hopefully it will be a calm and quiet vacation for the president. keep your track shoes out there ready. >> reporter: i will. >> thank you.

>> reporter: merry christmas. >> you, too. the largest protest so far against election fraud in russia. growing outrage over the 12-year rule of similar mir putin. it's christmas in bethlehem. nbc's martin fletcher is in b bethlehem with the latest. >> this is christmas eve in bethlehem. the atext is attention here is on the people and although there are many pilgrims here, they are not spending much money in the shops, of course. it's a time of economic boom for bethlehem. one of the problems, of course, is the war that surrounds them despite the celebrations, something that people cannot forget. israel's security wall around the city makes it impossible for people to come through here without a path that makes it very difficult for the merchants

to make money and for the people outside to join the people from inside in their celebrations of christmas. nevertheless, the minister of tourism here calling it the christmas of hope. alex? >> a shopping frenzy over a pair of basketball shoes leads to arrests. >> jumped over him and kept running. >> yikes, people were trampled in stores and police had to use pepper spray to subdue the chaotic crowd. let's turn to your holiday weather and for that we'll turn to meteorologist bill karins. >> we only have a few spots that

will get snow throughout the day and tonight. as we look at the weather map, this is west texas. midland, up north, just south of lubbock has been getting snow on interstate 20 has been getting snow and even near el paso. it's not an area that would typically to have a white christmas but these are the lucky ones. the gray is where we expect one to three inches and then the white is three to six. you notice the bull's eye over new mexico and texas, but that's it. there's really no other snow to be had. except in the northern rockies in northern idaho or northern portions of washington state. so this is the current snow cover map around the country. the blue shade shows you where there is snow on the ground. only 30% of the country is going to be seeing a white christmas. much of the east coast, no white christmas for you unless you're in northern new he can gland. wisconsin and minnesota, not looking at a white christmas. as far as your christmas eve forecast goes, texas is the only

storm on the map. rain develops from san antonio to houston, heading up into louisiana. showers in florida. the travel map looks great. yesterday was a great day for travel. today it looks very nice, too. a final look at your christmas day forecast. no snow on the map but we'll be watching heavy rain in places like louisiana and in the pacific northwest, we'll see light rain moving on shore. but overall, alex, i mean, this is a mild christmas weekend and it looks like for traveling, a-plus weather. back to you. >> also good for shopping. thank you very much, bill karins. the no-drone zone. how does that impact the fight against militants. it's a royal scare, queen charles and queen elizabeth paying a visit to an ailing family member. happy returns. that's next on "weekends with alex witt." >> i'd like to wish my friends and family a merry christmas and

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right now prince philip is recovering from emergency heart surgery. he was treated for a blocked coronary artery. joining me now from london, with a good day to you, how is the recovery going so far? everything okay? >> good morning, alex. i think it is going okay because bucking him palace said that he had a good night, he's in good spirits, but he's eager to leave. which if you know the prince, he's quite famous for being to

the point. what is interesting at this time is his family went to visit him. we saw the queen and all of his children arrive at the hospital. you might think that's quite normal for someone to visit an elderly family member but they are royals. the last time he was in the hospital with a chest infection, he refused to have any visitors the fact that this morning the family that this was a serious scare. what actually happened is the family was gathering at the queen's country estate east of england for the holiday season when he started complaining and then had an artery operation. a balloon was inserted to remove any blockages. that was yesterday and as i said, this morning the palace said he is doing well. but, of course, he is 90 years old, alex. >> right.

exactly. >> thank you u. duncan, there in london. thank you. >> so what to do with all of the gifts that you don't want this year? with 83% of retailers keeping the same return policies that they had a year ago, can we expect happy returns for consumers in a funny shopping moment with mitt romney, he said gift returns are not an option for his wife. >> christmas accomplished. she won't be taking it back because it's too hard. >> that's one way of handling it, buy it from very far away. good morning, vera. >> good morning. >> they have dropped their restocking fees? >> yes. target and best buy have dropped their restocking fees. the bulk of returns that we're seeing happens to be in electronics. it's going to cost manufacturers $17 million to restock and repackage the items.

good for consumers, bad for retailers. you're also seeing them crackdown on party dresses unless they have the tags on them. people get them for a party and return them after the fact. fraudulent returns cost $3.5 billion after the holiday. >> that's a lot. amazon, 30 different product return policies depending on what you bought. >> it's very confusing. >> some have lenient policies. >> right. >> like who? >> staples, sears, kohl's, costco, you can bring back just about anything at any time. even free technical support is offered as well for many electric front nicks and offer extended warranty coverage. that's what people don't know about. of course, l.l. bean, they are always very good about taking stuff back. no questions asked. >> what about if you're the kind

of person walking back in the store, you have that present under your arm and they look at you? are there any little tips that you can give? >> they don't like serial returns. they can look you up and see that you return a lot. just pack your patience. you really need to do your homework here. you need to have a receipt, of course, even if the store doesn't require it because some of them will look up the transaction electronically. have the receipt. most merchants will give you 90 days but you need to know the window for things like electronics because generally you only have a couple weeks to do that. even though they have done away with the restocking fees, others have not. special orderses, appliances, 15 to 20% plus of the purchase price. so do something to prepare for it. >> you've got to do your homework? >> do you. >> vera gibbons, merry christmas. >> you, too. >> listen to this. a new retail survey shows there's more five finger

discounting going on. shoppers are going to steal $1.8 million this holiday season. 6% more than last year. jacksonville, florida, pet store surveillance shows a puppy with special medical needs. thankfully it's been returned by somebody who bought it. the man who returned it may be getting reward if his story checks out. i'd race down that hill without a helmet. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol's stayed down. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease.

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merry christmas eve to our troops overseas. cooking up a fantastic feast over in afghanistan. president obama thanked our troops and we thanked them as well. wishing them all a happy holiday and a very happy christmas eve

dinner? in drone attacks have been suspended. last month's attack killed two pakistani soldiers. are we giving up too much in the wake of that strike? joining me is the military analyst colonel jack jacobs. also being here on this holiday, are we looking like losers now in the war on terror? what are we trying to do with these drone strikes? >> very interesting question. if our objective is to get rid of high-level al qaeda and taliban operatives, particularly those operating in the border zone inside pakistan, we've done a great job. we've knocked off lots and lots of top level leaders. leaving as targets lots and lots of lower level asem blajs of foot soldiers the ratio of attacks, given the collateral

that we have from time to time is not worth it, that's why we suspended it. cia is doing some of them. military is doing some of them. we need to get better coordinated and we can't seem to positively involve the pakistanis and that's a big problem. >> what is to say about this complicated action. tt diplomatic dance that we have to engage in a nuclear power. >> the pakistanis have the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world. that's troublesome. i and a lot of people are concerned that there is going to be a coo involved in pakistan. one of those guys, one of their cohurts will rise up. we don't know how to deal with

it and one of the reasons that we stopped using drone attacks against mid- and low level is we want to get better relations. >> what about iran? are we strengthening the attack by doing in. >> perhaps so that drifted off. it's a last generation drone. they've got some information from it. but we're not going to stop using the drones particularly over both pakistan and iran. we're having some success and we're using economic means. but we're not going to stop surveillance of iran. that would be a very bad idea and i don't think we're going to do it. >> colonel jack jacobs, thank you. >> thank you.

it's the 11th hour for shoppers out there. was it worth the wait? we have a live report on that. plus, what a billionaire has learned from this piece of art. it's part of "office politics" here on "weekends with alex witt." [ male announcer ] new vicks nature fusion cold & flu syrup.

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fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. with fights, vandalisms, shooting, and arrests, that's what has happened across this country, all over a shoe. after waiting online after several hours, rowdy shoppers stormed the shoe stores after a limited release of air jordans. this led to pepper spraying and one door was torn off its

hinges. kerry sanders is here. >> reporter: this is what people went crazy for. in richmond, california, trampled, thankfully no one was seriously and much calm and here on this final day, looking around for that most important gift, my favorite part is talking to the guy asking him, i don't know, i just need to buy something. a very busy day. the national retail federation believes that things are going to be up about 4% over last year and that may be because there's at least among some consumers a

sense that and that folks are out buying, including these. now, these are -- boys' size 12c. our cameraman got them yesterday. as he was reaching for them, ssh else was reaching for them and they decided it was the wrong size. these tiny little shoes, $80. the adult size, close to 200 bucks. >> whoa. all right. boys will be boys, the way you guys all trample over these kinds of shoe. what can i say? you're one of our favorite boys. it's all good. thank you so much. happy holidays. >> merry christmas to you. >> thank you. let's go to politics now and look back at some of the statements and misstatements that have been made in terms of the hot button topics. medicare, taxes, attack ads

which brings us to today's edition of fact or fiction. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. very cdemocrats and a frequent that they have made throughout the year about medicare. fact or fiction. republican policies would not end medicare. >> that's a fact. the house republican budget, the so-called paul ryan budget that has been hammered on all year actually did propose reinventing medicare and turning it into a somewhat privatized system, but only for people who are today older than 55. in other words, people now on medicare, 65 and older, wouldn't change at all and wouldn't even change the -- the same system would be in place for people older than me. so it would not have changed. >> all right. let's get the basic republican

position fact or fiction, raising taxes on the middle class kills jobs? >> that's fiction. millionaires who make more than $1 million a year, a relatively small amount of those people. one in seven, one in eight, get even a quarter of their income from small business operations. like doctors, lawyers, operators of barbara shops. the vast majority are closer to the stereotype of the occupy wall street crowd. they are hedge fund managers, ceos, executives at very big companies. but not the small -- only a relatively small amount of small business types that could actually create jobs on whether they pay or don't pay taxes. president obama wants higher

taxes on high earners. teachers pay higher tax rates than president obama. >> that was a fiction. that is -- that's a clear misstatement by the president. the president, who makes 400,000 a year as president, has paid essentially more than double the affected tax rate that a typical $50,000 earner, teacher would say make 50,000. a teacher making 50,000 who was trying to support his whole family, or her whole family on that amount of money. >> it is the day before christmas and in oregon just where santa is in fact, he's about to get to cambodia. lieutenant frank grass is with

u.s. element and joins us from colorado springs, colorado. good morning to you, general. it's great to have you here. how are you able to track santa? >> good morning, alex. we're able to track santa through our radars, our fighters, as well as our space satellite system that we use every day to protect the skies over the united states and canada. >> i understand that you have been doing this with norad, tracking santa for 50 years. not you specifically. you're not old enough to do it for 50 years but times have certainly changed. you can use it to earth track santa. >> command of the united states and canada, it was able to

receive a phone call, the wrong number posted in a local newspaper, call this number if you want to talk to santa. and ever since then we kind of grew starting in 1958, standup of norad for continental defense and the u.s. participate each year. we've grown to over 1200 volunteers. >> well, i'll tell you, thank you very much. he's gone from cambodia to louse. we're tracking it as well. thank you very much, general. it's time now for more "office politics" and our favorite moments this year. i had access to some of the wisest minds in politics. here's what some of them told me

about the political year ahead. >> you just got to find some way to find common ground. that is not an impossible art t happens all the time in the business world. it happens in much of the political world. it just has not happened now. >> we don't care about your partisan differences. i don't care that you signed the pledge to somebody. i don't care that you're protecting your relationship with aarp. we want you to do things. >> in the last 30 or 40 years i have not seen it as bad as it is now. i think what happened is it has a lot to do with campaign finance. it goes dollars for dollars and go home on the weekends and used to be that they stay in washington on weekends. >> i think it should have been possible for both parties and here i blame the republicans for not accepting the fact that the wealthy have to. >> they don't call. he never calls. that's the message. members of congress, i keep

asking, when did you hear from his last? he doesn't like the company. >> the president goes before the congress recently with his american's jobs act. forget the fact that we don't get from congressional cooperation by going on national television and speaking to both houses of congress. but the day afterwards he goes and eric cantor, the leader in the house, campaigns and next week campaigns speaker of the house, also republican. they are not stupid. they understand if that's the way that they are going to play the game, you are going to have a deadlock. >> how does the president win next year? >> there's only one way. the republicans have to nominate a loser. >> i think romney has a better shot than the other republicans in that field against barack obama. >> one of the things that people like when they see him on television, he doesn't take any

crap from the press and i think people admire that. >> other republican pollsters tell me that they believe the drag on a mormon candidacy in republican primaries is as much as 20%. meaning before you even open your mouth, there is as much of 20% of the republican electorate that under absolutely no circumstances would vote for a mormon candidate. i think he will win by one of those tiny margins. he'll get 51% of the vote. >> i'm not sure he's able to move the country. he had that ability as candidate and then the day he was innug grated with the mall filled with people, he sent us all home. >> you know, the one thing about president obama is he really does love history. i've been to three historian dinners where a group of my fellow historians go down and visit him and he loves to listen to what other presidents can i learn from.

>> so this is my great grandfather at the detroit red wings two times stanley cup winn hall of fame. in this ad, if you look closely, he's got the camel in his left hand and cheeseburger in his right hand. >> you have the pen in which he signed the and given him the actual pen or at least one in 1965 because my husband wrote the famous speech that was delivered to a joints session of congress. >> i would love to put this in my office but i would be busted. what is this? you and mike barnicle. >> i had some time and decided to just go to malawi and see what i could do. i found a guy with a very small operation who had one of these

desks as an example of what he could make if someone could come along and finance. >> what is it about that painting there that has you putting it on the wall? you see he that from where you sit every day. >> yes. >> what does that say to you? >> that everything is essentially chaotic but somehow or another you can make sense out of chaos. >> that's what that says, too? >> that's what it says. >> making sense of all of the chaos out there. do stay tuned for more office politics each week right here on "weekends with alex witt." it's one of the favorite things we do. straight ahead, the big three. going to talk about it next. would love to say merry christmas and happy holidays to my family, especially my wife holly, my son charlie, and daughter clair. my folks and my in-laws and just all of the wonderful family and friends that have supported me

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it's time for three topics, three talkers. we're looking at the gop in disarray after a disastrous spot on the payroll tax, a holiday treat. let's just say it involves rudolph, muppets, clark griswold. ca karen finney and robert. friends all three of you. thanks for joining us. >> good morning. happy holidays. >> i want to start right now

with the end of your theatrics. bob, is there anything that republicans say went right for them or was this protracted fight a giant political miscalculation? >> yes and yes. it was a giant political miscalculation, no doubt about it. but they have now forced the hand of the president, he's going to have to make a decision on that pipeline while he was no matter what he did, it's going to be wrong and that's part of the deal. so they didn't entirely lose this battle. >> meaning it's going to be wrong either way. you have environmental lifts and unions on one side. >> that's correct. >> there's a large narrative here which involves the tea party, too. in addition to the payroll tax cuts, it looks like scott walker's recall election is going to happen in wisconsin. in ohio, governor john kasich with collective bargaining. do you think republicans miss interpret their mandate sometimes?

>> i don't know he if they miss interpret it but i do think that sometimes they overreach and they really don't listen or look at the polls. and that's a good thing and a bad thing. look, the good thing about it is that these individuals are very pure. they know exactly what they believe. but the bad side about that is that there's no compromise or middle of the road thinking and taking into consideration other people's points of view. so it really is a mixed bag there. we'll see what p has in wisconsin and we'll also see what happens in ohio. people like leaders who stand up for what they believe in but also like leaders who are able to listen and compromise as well and look at ronald reagan as someone who was able to stick with his beliefs and also go into a compromise as well. >> karen, we have two months until we see this fight again in washington and the gop has time to improve now. are there any fears that the victory for the democrats might be short lived? >> i think those on the left, democrats are hoping that it doesn't. we're hoping that the lesson that was learned out of this, we saw democrats in congress and the president in lock step.

they were very clear there was a bright line in the sand about what we were not prepared to do when it came to 160 million americans. so what we're hoping is, that's the lesson learned. we're behind you. we will be with you if you stick to your guns. so stick to your guns. i think within that, though, we're going to see more turmoil on the republican side. and you're hearing things that the tea partyiers are saying and we'll have to see how this plays out and the dysfunction within the republican party. if the democrats can keep their act together and stay unified. >> next we'll hear what people's favorite movie is. we'll hear it next on "weekends with alex witt."

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what's the trait you most deplore in yourself and the trait you most deplore in others? >> laziness. >> you're latzy? >> you know, it's interesting. there is a deep down -- under all the work i do, i think there's a laziness in me. it's probably from growing up in hawaii. it's sunny outside and sitting on the beach. >> i'm not sure if that's lizineliz laziness. i'm back now with karen, bob and robert. with another welcome back,

karen, i'm going to let you go first. the right jumped all over this. what is your reaction to that? >> of course they did. if you look at president obama's record, obviously the guy is not lazy. if you look at his life story, he's not lazy. i think he was talking about things like picking up his socks and i remember an anecdote when he mentioned something about that. so give the guy a break when it comes to not picking up his socks or leaving his coffee mug around the house. >> robert, you're the republican. it's hard to imagine anyone truly think that any u.s. president is lazy. >> probably a poor choice of words. i'm not sure if it's laziness. look, he likes to relax. i remember times when ronald reagan was depicted as lazy when he would spend a month at his

ranch. presidents have a right to relax. but that word gives it the connotation that you're lazy because you're calling yourself lazy. >> i can't imagine anyone having called george w. bush has being lazy when he was on that ranch. it was like 100 degrees and he would be out there clearing brush and moving stuff around. i'm like, what are you doing? you need to relax. any lasting fallout to this, bob? >> well, i was more interested in the question. at least you didn't ask what kind tree he wanted to be. >> like, if you die, what would you want to come back as? oh, here we go again. >> this is one of these really hard hitting interviews that we all know and love. in any case, if he wants to say he's lazy, that's fine. what's more important is what somebody accomplishes, no matter how hardworking.

>> let's look at our favorite holiday films. robert? >> chevy chase "national lampoon of christmas vacation." it was so interesting. some of the undertones about family dynamics. a little raunchy but one of my favorites. >> what does that say about you? bob, what about you? >> well, it's a any case, anyth muppet. if we're going to get serious, i

would say the story about the world war i -- >> i saw that one. it was great. >> we're probably seeing a variation on that now with congress gone. >> thank you for that one. karen, what about yours? >> got to say i agree on the muppets. who doesn't love the muppets. but my favorite was "rudolph the red nosed reindeer." it's such a great classic, just a great story about friendship and being different and everybody has their place in life. and santa gets the job done. >> yeah, he does. who doesn't love burl ives? >> that's also classic. thank you so much for joining us. i appreciate it and happy holidays. >> merry christmas. >> that's a wrap, everyone, on this christmas eve edition of "weekends with alex witt." wishing you all a happy holiday,

whatever you're celebrating. and we're going to give you a look at the people who bring you msnbc all year long. thanks for joining us this year. see you in 2012. make it a good one, everyone. this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home.

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