>> great news. i we learned that today on the jobs front. yesterday we learned willie great news on the manufacturing front. >> yeah. >> let's hope bit by bit, piece by piece this economy comes back together. >> 8.5%. moving in the right direction. >> great news. >> i'm sure that i've said that's great news like i did when it dropped to 8.6%, i will told for a month or two why i'm stupid, why actually it's bad news that the rate is going down. >> no, it's good news. >> it is great news. >> it is "morning joe." see you on monday live from manchester, new hampshire. stick around now for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. he's already there. well, the big breaking news on jobs this morning. employers added a net of 200,000 jobs in december. country's unemployment rate hit its lowest level again in almost three years. the jobless rate falls to 8.5%. we'll have full analysis in just minutes and later in the show reaction from the top economic adviser to president obama.

>> and here in new hampshire it's a contrast between pick rick and kick rick. can santorum navigate some granite state crowds who don't like his social stances? and we're less than 100 hours from actual voters going to the polls. which one of the republican six pack will make the toughest attack on leader mitt romney at the weekend debampts good morning, it's friday, it's january 6th, 2012. let's get right to the first reads. the president insists the economy is on the right track, and the latest numbers from the labor department seem to prove it. unemployment is down 208.5% as economy add 200,000 jobs in december. some other inside the numbers. transportation, retail, manufacturing, construction, all of those sectors added jobs last month. in fact, december was the sixth straight month that the economy added 1100,000 jobs or more. that hasn't happened in nearly

six years. we're going to have more on those numbers straight ahead. let's get to the first reads on the political front of the morning with a doubleheader debate weekend ahead. the question is can can rick santorum catch fire here in new hampshire? yesterday we saw the two santorums, the santorum who has a serious shot to challenge mitt romney for the party's nomination and the one that can be marginalized and thrown off message. like bill clinton and john edwards who had early primary success talking about their humble beginnings, santorum can talk about his roots with some authenticity >> i went to catholic grade school, and that was part of my formation as, you know, the nuns, you know, beating my hands and doing all that. i've still got some scars from the rulers, but that was sort of, you know, that -- that moral foundation, if you will, through the church and through school and through that -- that love of country. my grandfather is a very stern, tough guy. i mean, he was tough. i mean, you work in the mines

until you're 72, he had a scoliosis in his back, and he was sort of hunched over, just a big strong man, but, you know, he smoked everything all day long. oh, my, pipes, is i gas, cigarettes, i mean, just, you know, his whiskey in the morning with his coffee, i mean, he was just a whole different breed of cat that -- that -- that, you know, i -- he was a larger than life figure for me. >> you know, it's a real contrast with mitt romney whose attempts to connect on that level when the ordinary folks, blue collar republicans, by talking about his family, have fallen a lot flatter in the past. >> i didn't grow up poor, and if somebody is looking for someone who has grown up with this broc ground, i'm not the person, but i grew up with a dad who had been poor, and my dad wanted to make sure i understood the lessons of hard work. i'm in this race not because i grew up without means but because i understand what it

takes to get america working again. >> just remember, campaigns are as much about gut connection as head connection, but there's also the other santorum. though he's try to actually deemphasize social issues in the first couple of days in new hampshire, yesterday he was drawn into a combative exchange over gay marriage at a college stop and seemed to compare same-sex marriage to polygamy. >> how about the idea that all men are created equal and like the rights to happiness and liberty? >> okay. so are we saying that everyone should have the right to marry? >> yes. >> everyone. >> okay. so anyone can marry anybody else. >> yeah. >> okay. >> so anybody can marry anybody else, so anybody can marry several people? >> no. >> stop -- this is not -- we're

not going to do this. we're going to have a civil discussion or we're going to move on to another question, okay? thank you. so -- >> and it actually got a little worse in that back and forth as things went on. it was a flashback to santorum when he was senator who sometimes could easily slip into mark, easily look like not the happy warrior. finally, how aggressively will the five not romneys on stage this weekend take mitt romney on? newt gingrich has floated a non-aggression pact with santorum, but yesterday that hand's off approach seemed to be fraying a bit. >> if you think of us as partners, he would clearly and historical experience have been a junior partner. he's not a bad person. if you look at the total level of experience, i think that i am substantially more experienced than rick is at actually running a very large government operation. >> and santorum suggested last

night that teaming up is a no go and is prepared for his own contrast campaign to become the conservative alternative to romney. >> i'm not looking to -- to structure any kind of deals with anybody. when i have contrasted myself, i've tried to do so respectfully and i will contrast myself with the other candidates in the race. >> romney has stayed out of the race having surrogates do some santorum attacking for him. >> believe me, earmark spending is the gateway to corruption, and that was practiced when republicans were in the major y majority. senator santorum and i have a strong disagreement, a strong disagreement that he believes that earmark and pork barrel projects were good for america. >> of course, the change there. we had heard john mccain go after santorum in interviews and did so with me, but that was at a romney rally itself yesterday in south carolina. now, one more thing. did mitt romney actually win iowa? after a cbs affiliate report yesterday that a rural county alongside the missouri line in

iowa may have put up 20 too many votes in romney's column. now the iowa republican party issued a statement saying the party is still in the middle of a two-week certification process, quote, party officials will not respond to every rumor, innuendo or allegation during this two-week process. that said, iowa gop officials do not have any reason to believe the final certified results will change the outcome. of tuesday's vote. >> santorum said some vote may have been miscounted in his favor as well, and he considers iowa a tie. we'll see. by the time we find out who might have won, we may already be down to south carolina. so back to the other big news of the day, and it's on the economy which added 200,000 people to the work force last month. mark zandi is the chief economist for moody's analytics and always the guy we want to turn to first to help explain it it, so, mark, this is a bigger number than we've seen in the past, another dip in the

unemployment rate. numbers up everywhere. what else can you tell me about this report? >> yeah, really good news. not only top line numbers, 200,000 plus employment growth, but the job gains were very broad-based across lots of different industries. the declining unemployment now is several months and running and that's very encouraging. wage growth, you know, it's very low by historical standards but it's holding firm which is also a positive so all the numbers are -- are looking much better. i mean, we've obviously got a long way to go here to dig out from the great recession but it looks like we're on our way. >> now, there is still this issue of not as many people in the work force looking for work. explain that part of the unemployment report. >> yeah. the decline in unemployment is due at least in part to weak labor force growth. it's due in part to more jobs which is unambiguously positive

and it's also due to less people of in the labor force, and that's more difficult to interpret. it could be good or bad depending on what's on. a less positive interpretation would be that people are discouraged, and they are stepping and looking for it and can't find it, stepping out, and therefore not counted as unemployed. fortunately if you'll look at the details of the data, that doesn't appear to be happening. that's not what's going on here, so my -- my sense of it is that the weak labor force growth, you know, while would i like to see more labor force growth, i don't think it's a significant negative, so net-net, the decline in unemployment is real. >> whales could it be? is it something that the labor forces essentially shrunk. i saw somebody already saying if the labor forces were the same sizes it was three years ago unemployment rate would be at 10%, what do you mean by that kind of math? >> yeah. some of it is demographics, you know, the aging of the population. people will leave. more people are going to retire and leave the labor force, that's part of it. it could be that -- that the expiration of emergency unemployment insurance benefits

for some workers, you know, some workers have now been unemployed for a long time. they are running out of the 99 weeks of benefits you can get under emergency ui in some states, and the result is that they are stepping in and now working, finding a job. they are not in unemployment. that's weighing on the labor force. you know, we've seen big recent declines in the participation rate of female workers, you know, female participation is up. it's a conflufns thinence of th >> mark zandi, moody's analytics, thanks for helping me break it down. >> thanks, chuck. >> mitt romney's southern charm continues in south carolina. romney is just wrapping up a rally with two bold-faced names lending their support, south carolina's governor nikki haley and senator john mccain and romney repeated his attacks on president obama and blamed the president on the unemployment

rate and dropped this morning to 8.5% as he was doing his row. >> remember, early in his administration, he said, look, if you let me borrow $787 billion, why, we'll be able to keep unemployment from going above 8%. well, it went past 8% and hasn't been back since three years later. >> nbc's peter alexander is watching it all in south carolina traveling with mitt romney. >> hey, chuck, good day to you. we're standing in front of the peanut warehouse here in conway, south carolina. this place built 110 years ago to store tobacco. they call that porch back there strom thurmond's porch for those people who like south carolina trivia. a short time ago this place was hostinging the mitt romney campaign event. his campaign officials said the event today and spaghetti dinner tonight reinforcing the fact that this is the only campaign in their words that has the ability and organization to campaign in two states, new hampshire and south carolina, in a single day.

for romney's challengers though, this really is the romney firewall, the place where they hope to prevent romney from running away from this race. mitt romney has to go through the gauntlet of back-to-back debates this weekend where one analyst puts it where he'll likely be treated like had a political pinata. yesterday he enjoyed being up on the stage with nikki heal, a tea party favorite works came to prominence with the support of sarah palin. there are two endorsements still out there specifically here in south carolina, that of the two senators, lindsey graham who many people would suspect would follow john mccain in supporting mitt romney and almost also jim demint, a tea party face for many social conservatives in that region. one endorsement that still really matters. today like noah's ark mitt romney leaves here with nikki haley and heads up to new hampshire, and that's where we're going as well. chuck, back to you. >> thank you, peter.

tome team obama's take on the unemployment numbers and mitt romney skipped ahead to campaign in south carolina while his challengers gang up on him here in new hampshire. could romney win the granite state but still lose the expectations game? new hampshire snorkely ayotte joins -- snorkely ayotte joins me next. we'll hear more from the president about these jobs numbers today because i think he has something he wants to remind people about on that one. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you

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>> i would say that if you're in south carolina with days to go before the new hampshire primary, you would pretty much feel that you've got it wrapped up, and that would be taking the voters here for granted to. earn the vote here, you can't do it from charleston. you've got to do it from newport. >> well, jon huntsman is not too happy that the front-runner in new hampshire has been splitting his time with south carolina, and so is mitt romney taking the grant grani granite state for granted? senator kelly ayotte joined him yesterday. before we get to the campaign, your reaction on the jobless numbers. >> we're still in a position since the president has been in office we've not seen unemployment go below 8%. i think it's a real possible problem for him. that's why it's going to continue to be the driving

problem in the election. i endorsed mitt romney which plays on his strengths that he knows how to get the economy working. >> the unemployment rate has gone from 9.1 in august to 8.5, that trajectory continues in the next six months and it will be below 8. >> for the american people i'm glad that the trend is going in the right direction but the problem is this. you know, you think about the stimulus and having to borrow, you know, close to 800 billion plus from china and the administration had promised that it would go below 8%, so i think for the president still we're still way too high of where we need to be for people to feel good about our recovery. >> all right. let me ask you about the campaign. jon huntsman's comments there. >> yeah. >> others, too. you know, this is not -- this is a little bit unusual for the new hampshire front-runner to suddenly be in south carolina for basically half of yesterday and half of today. your reaction to that? >> my reaction i was with him yesterday at salem town half. great reaction. you can see the enthusiasm in the crowd.

he's coming back this afternoon so he'll be back in new hampshire campaigning hard through this weekend and through the primary and he's been here, chuck. i mean, he's been here a tons, and so he's really made the commitment to new hampshire and is not taking anything for granted. >> yesterday, i want to play you a back and forth. senator santorum had with a college student about gay marriage. first, let's take a listen. >> shouldn't two men have the same rights as a man and a woman? >> what about three men? >> i'm not talking about that. >> we're asking you how do you justify your belief based on these high morals you have about all men being created equal when two men who want to marry? >> well, what about three men? >> that's not what i'm talking about. i'm talking about giving them the basic rights that you give you and another woman. >> new hampshire, it is -- gay marriage is legal here, and i know that there's an attempt to repeal it. you favor that attempt. do you buy senator santorum's argument here that, you know, once you -- once you legalize

same-sex marriage then, you know, why not then legalize polygamy? >> i don't, and i think really the issue -- the focus of this primary is on the economic issues, and while certainly among republican voters there are strong feelings on the social issues, but the focus on new hampshire in terms of the number one issue is going to be spending, size of government and how do we get people to work, so i really think he's getting off message there. >> going back to what new hampshire is doing, what do you do to the couples -- same-sex couples that have married if -- if the law is repealed here? >> what -- what do you mean what do you do? >> well, i mean, that's a legal issue that would have to be addressed. >> you're a former state attorney general, where do you go here? >> usually you have to -- traditionally in a situation like that in the law you have to grandfather people and rely on the law as it was, and certainly that will be an issue that the legislature will address if they choose to change the law, and,

you know, bringing it back to the presidential campaign to have that dialogue yesterday when i can tell you the big issue on voters minds here, including in the republican primary, is how are you going to get the spending in control, you know, with the $15 trillion of debt. i saw it in my campaign, and so i think for strump antorum to g that discussion, doesn't help him in the push to tuesday. >> what does mitt romney have to do here? obviously he's going to win. he wants to win, but does need to be a sizable victory? >> well, i think, chuck, a win is a win. >> sure. >> and there's no question. he's got a strong lead here. as we get closer to the primary, it's going to close up to some extent. it always does because there are voters that make up their mind at the last minute, but if you look at the history here, there hasn't been a republican nominee that hasn't won either iowa -- republican nominee who wins south carolina that hasn't won either iowa or new hampshire so if you look at where the other candidates, are they real very

to perform much better than they are right now. >> and one more question when it comes to romney. there is this sense that the "boston globe" editorial said it, other criticisms are that he's too cautious, that he's been very almost too careful, doing everything correct, checking all the correct boxes and never going too far, whether it's his tax plan or some other things that he's does and what do you say to that? >> i saw newt gingrich's ad claiming that he's timid. here's what i would say, i wouldn't call someone timid who runs as a republican in massachusetts, i mean, think about that, chuck, and i also -- when you think about how governor romney, he had the courage to actually praise poll ryan's medicare plan, and, you know, i can't say the same for speaker gingrich. he played in the democrats narrative on this. mitt romney has the courage to take on the issues, and he will do that and turn our country around. >> senator ayotte, we'll leave it there. see you on the campaign trail. >> sounds great.

>> reaction from wall street with the release of the new jobs report and much more coming up here in new hampshire, including live coverage of a santorum town hall. but first today's trivia question came from one of our viewers. name four past new hampshire primary candidates for president who were the subjects of oliver stone films. tweet me the answer @chucktoad and @dailyrundown. three of the four answers are easy. it's the fourth one that's the trick. the answer coming up on "the daily rundown." it fits! fantastic! ring, ring. progresso. they fit! awesome. thank you. [ man ] ring, ring. pro-gresso. they fit! okay-y... okay? you don't understand. i've been eating progresso because there's... 40 flavors 100 calories or less and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay. is there a woman i can talk to? [ female announcer ] tell your story at progressosoup.com for the chance to win an ultimate makeover in hollywood.

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>> live pictures here of jon huntsman campaigning in concord, new hampshire. newt gingrich, rick santorum and ron paul finally back on the trail, all stumping in the granite state today. amitchell will interview jon huntsman today at 1:00 eastern on "andrea mitchell reports." he is still stuck in high single digits. we're just minutes away from the opening bell, so it's time for the market rundown. cnbc's becky quick is here.

well, the jobs report looks like, you know, all of those estimates were actually right for once. >> yeah, they were. in fact, the estimates were even on the low side of things, chuck. this was a very strong report by just about every measure. we looked at the number of jobs that were created. it was 200,000 for the month of december. economists were only predicting 155,000 even though trade hers been looking for a higher whisper number. the unemployment rate actually dropped to 8.5%, than was a big surprise because a lot of people figure that had that number would actually tick higher after we saw some big drops in previous months. now it was revised for november from 8.7% to 8.6%, but still, showing very steady progress at chipping away at that number and that has a lot of people very enthusiastic. the traders on wall street, yeah, you would think they would be cheering this and they did initially. saw the dow pick up by 30 points from where it had been. at this point it looks like the market is going to open relatively flat and there's two things can you say about this. one is they are disappointed with the metrics they are seeing in the jobs numbers, and the other is they are concerned

about europe and while this report is a very good report, a lot of good numbers here, still very concerning things, and there's still a lot of work that needs to be done, chuck. one of the examples they point out is when you look at people of long term employed, people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, that number came down, but it's still 5.56 million, and that's a huge number of people who are still looking for jobs, who are still looking to get back to work or looking to find even more work. >> all right. cnbc's becky quick at cnbc headquarters. thanks very much. >> bye. >> well, rick santorum back on the trail this morning, keene, new hampshire today, and can he get back on track after yesterday's clash with some college crowds? we'll go there next and the obama administration will respond to the breaking news on the jobs report. they can't respond until after 40 minutes past 9:00 on the east coast. the chairman of the president's council of economic advisers will be here. you're watching "the daily rundown" live from manchester, new hampshire. just four days until the primary. we'll be right back. phillips' c.

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>> few other stories making h d headlines this morning, five nato service members were killed today by a pair of of roadside bombings in southern afghanistan. nato has not disclosed the nationalities of those troops. the air force academy has charged three cadets with sexual assault in separate incidents that allegedly occurred over the past 15 months. the charges come just a week after a pentagon report found increases in such attacks at the military academy. indiana house democrats are on day three of blocking a bill that would make indiana the first state in more than a decade to enact so-called right-to-work legislation. democrats are refusing to come to the floor and provide a quorum. i swear this is not a flashback from a year ago january. joe kennedy iii, the son of former u.s. kennedy joe kennedy ii has stepped into the political arena as he considers a run for running for barney

frank's seat in massachusetts. this is the first of the third generation of kennedys to try to seek elective office. all right. with just four days to go until the new hampshire primary rick santorum has nearly a non-stop schedule again today. right now he's kicking off a town hall meeting focusing on faith, family and freedom. nbc's ron mott is at an event in keene, new hampshire what. a day he had yesterday. we saw the good and what some might say is the not so good in santorum. what are we seeing this morning? >> reporter: hey there, chuck, good morning. what we're seeing is his entourage keeps getting big and bigger and that will happen when you come out of nowhere in iowa with with the surprise finish. still waiting for him at the public library. a crowd downstairs, an overflow crowd, not sure of the number, probably more than 100, 150 people. take a link side. they will hear a message about trying to restore family values and morality, the freedom and

faith tour he kicked off in iowa, partly very successfully there. yesterday he ran into a little bit of a roadblock at this 2012 college convention in concord when he was asked to defend his position on gay marriages hand that got into answer change with some of the younger people in the audience. we can say this message about morality and what not is playing very well with the older crowd, but as we saw yesterday not so much with the younger folks. back to you. >> all right. ron mott, we'll be following t.santorum another very busy schedule today. ron, thanks very much. up next, we'll round out the week with the political panel and the new hampshire expectations game. it's the battle for second place, and don't forget this sunday on a special edition of nbc's "meet the press," david gregory will moderate the final presidential debate before the new hampshire primary and the final debate for at least two candidates on the stage. the nbc facebook debate airs live at 9:00 a.m. on sunday. don't miss it, the last debate before the primary.

before, before we go to break, the white house soup of the day, one we haven't seen in a while. chicken mushroom. i wonder if it's brothy or a milk-based one. i've got to check it out. you're watching "the daily run don, only on msnbc. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. i have a cold. and i took nyquil but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] sorry, buddy. truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. what?

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well, it's a battle for second place here in new hampshire, and everyone is the underdog. >> i know by the poll that came out the day after the -- the iowa caucuses that was taken before iowa, we were at about 4% or something like that, so we're going to move up. >> there are any number of ways to describe underdog status. david against goliath would certainly be one of them, but we're clearly an underdog. >> clearly more of an underdog than i was, as you put, it when we were riding the wave.

>> there was an underdog character, super underdog? phil musser is a former senior adviser to the pawlenty campaign and is now a romney supporter and a senior writer for "newsweek" and "the daily beast" join us. welcome all. i think the question now is what are the debates going to look like, a full-fledged pile on mitt romney? if it is, we may hear things like this from newt gingrich. >> i think we'll do better in new hampshire than people expect because when you start to describe a massachusetts moderate and you remind people of his record, suddenly they go, oh, yeah. he's not a conservative. it's a joke for him to call himself a conservative. it's a "saturday night live" live skit. >> so beth, do you think it's going to be a pile on mitt romney type of doubleheader debate weekend. >> certainly gingrich is going that direction. i mean, he's trying to frame it

as a two-man race between them even though that's a little bit of a stretch considering the fact that he came in fourth in iowa. i think that gingrich also needs to worry about some of the other guys in the race. he needs to worry about santorum in particular. he needs to get the social conservative republicans who voted for santorum in iowa, that brand of republican, to get behind him, or he's -- or he's in trouble. >> phil, if you're -- if you were advising the romney campaign and you're not, you're a supporter but not an adviser right now, would you be preparing for an onslaught or thinking that it may be like every other debate where they would just ignore mitt romney. >> i think you're preparing for an onslaught. this is the final quarter, so i think you're preparing for attacks from all areas. i think you know where they are coming from. one of the things that's uniquely interesting here is that kind of the health care attack on mitt i sympathy baked in. people in massachusetts and new hampshire, they have heard about this for a long, long time. calling mitt a massachusetts rod rat in a state where 40% of the vote might be independent churngs 60% might be republicans.

i find that kind of quizical, if you're going to attack them there are other ways to do it than focusing on romney as a moderate and the reality is fourth place doesn't cut it for newt here. >> and that's what's interesting, lois, we'll see rick santorum in a way we haven't seen him before, treated by a front-runner by the debate moderators. in a way he'll have an opportunity to respond quirk and sooner, and there will be some contrast. if you're a newt gingrich or a jon huntsman or a ron paul, that is battle for second place so why not go after santorum? >> because i think that romney is the real issue for them. i mean, santorum still -- even after his big push coming out of iowa, he's only gotten a two-point -- >> depends on the poll. you're seeing it but not enough. >> you'll see a two-pronged attack. one are the guys that want to come in second in new hampshire, but then you're seeing all the people that are speaking to south carolina which is newt and

santorum. >> right. i think you'll see attacks on ron paul, too, because they will say, wait, he doesn't have electability, he's a fringe candidate. get out of the way and let us get in there right behind mitt. >> it's interesting. i want to play this -- this sound bite from yesterday where you see santorum playing for values voters. here's what he said. >> the guy asked a question he said don't we need -- he said we don't need a jesus candidate, we need an economic candidate. and my answer to that was we always need a jesus candidate, someone who believes in him, right? >> powerful phrase, helpful phrase in a place like iowa and south carolina, but we should not forget there is a -- there is a values voter electorate here in new hampshire. it's not as large as it perhaps was in 1996 but if santorum coalesces that, that could get him to 20 or 25. >> it could be helpful.

i just think he needs to be careful. this is an election about the economy. he doesn't want to be pigeon holed as the gay rights abortion guy, and in iowa he did a pretty good job of straddling that fence, though like you pointed out, there were a lot more voters in iowa that were more research theive to those kinds of values messages. >> this seems to be an odd balance that i think the romney campaign may have to strike with santorum. they know how easily they can can get him off an economic message. he was very discipline d the first couple of events he did here, really trying to stay off the social issues like he did in iowa. talk more about the blue collar and get more of a values conversation. frankly sounded almost like john edwards and bill clinton to me. >> right. >> he's got a nice narrative to tell about the way he grew up, but he gets thrown off message very quickly. if you're romney, do you try to do that? >> well, you know, chuck, i went to see santorum speak yesterday and what i was struck by was the lack of discipline around the organization. this is a time when republican primary voters are wanting to say -- look at their leaders and

say that's the president, that's the guy i want to follow. santorum came into a liberal audience with no music, with no trappings of any kind of growth and proceeded to have a wandering message that did not talk about mitt romney, and at the end of the day he argued about gay marriage with a bunch of college kids can, that's not what you want to be doing four days before the primary. >> very quickly, that seemed to be the rick santorum that some of us in washington, he could get thrown off message. >> he's really long-wind, and he's wandering, just like phil says. asks a question, i'll take questions for an hour but then he takes three because he spends 25 minutes on each question. >> very detailed, i'll give him that. >> and he did not want to get into a fight with a kid on gay marriage. that was not good. >> you'll be coming back, but we have this weird, the white house says the white house can't speak about the jobs report until 8:40. trivia time. asked to you name the four past new hampshire presidential primary candidates who were the subjects of oliver stone films. three of the answers were pretty

easy, jfk, nixon and, of course, w., but it's the fourth one that was had a little tricky. it turns out the disabled vietnam war veteran depicted in the film "born on the fourth in july," he filed for the democratic presidential primary in 1992 right here in new hampshire. remember, it's only $1,000. he stated when he filed he was not running as a politician but as a writer, as an artist and a voice of his conscience. we'll be right back. you're watching "the daily run don," only on msnbc.

perhaps the biggest story in the 2012 campaign may have come from the bureau of labor statistics. we expect to hear from the the president on today's labor report, it is 11:40 eastern time event. the latest sign that the job market is getting stronger. alan krueger, chair of the council of economic advisers and the president's chief economic advisers joins me now. mr. krueger, let me start with the report.

200,000. it seems that every expert says it's a pretty solid report. anything in this report that gives you concern? >> well, you know, i tell you every month, whether the news is good or bad, that you want to put the report in context, not make too much out of one month's number, so i try to step back and say how does this compare with other numbers that are coming in, and i think it all suggests that the economy has been moving in the right direction. we've had 1.9 million private sector jobs created over the last 12 months. the -- the policies that the president has proposed to try to strengthen job growth i think have been work, and i think this is a sign that we need to continue those policies. >> at what point is job growth -- at what point or what are you looking for in job growth that you say, you knowy what, we need to restore the full payroll tax, that we shouldn't be keeping this payroll tax holiday going.

what do you cut that off so that we're collecting all the money you need for social security? >> well, chuck, you know, the problems that created the recession were a long time in the making. and they're very -- very, very big problems. they caused a deep hole in terms of jobs and it is going to take a while for us to climb our way out. i think what's important is that we get on to a path, which is sustained, where we have stronger economic growth, stronger drive growth, and just looking over the next year given some of the headwinds that might be coming our way from europe and elsewhere i think it makes a great deal of sense to continue the payroll tax cuts to the end of the year, extend the unemployment benefits and other components of the president's american jobs tax. given high unemployment among construction workers it makes sense to invest more in infrastructure, put construction workers back to work. given the number of layoffs for

teachers i think it makes sense to give state and local governments more money to help retain teachers in the classroom and police and firefighters. just looking over the course of the next year and given the size of the jobs gap that started in 2008, this kind of support for the economy i think continues to be needed. >> very quickly do you have a sense of what you expect the job growth rate -- not the job growth -- the overall gdp of the united states, what it's going to be in 2012? what's your sense at this point? >> well, we at the council of economic advisers together with omb and the treasury department make forecasts twice a year. this is part of the budget process. when the budget comes out in february we release those forecasts so i don't want to get ahead of the budget forecasts. if you look at the private sector, look at the consensus of forecasts, the consensus is for gdp growth to be moderate in the

coming year. forecasts are imperfect. the world has a lot of uncertainty. and given this environment, i think it makes sense to have some insurance and try to strengthen economic growth and job growth by extending the payroll tax cut. >> all right. we'll leave it there. council of economic advisers, thank you for coming by this morning. >> thanks, chuck. nice to be with you. >> all right. let's bring back the panel. phil, let me just talk to you quickly on these jobs numbers. you're a romney supporter. romney's favorite line these days to say the president took all the stimulus and promised it would be under 8% and it's not. at the rate we're going, it could be under 8% before the republican convention. it does change the talking point. you know, is that not a concern? >> there was a lot of hedging in that commentary from mr. kruger at the cea as you heard. >> you would expect nothing else than the spin. >> no doubt. but look. i'm not going to sit here and say job growth is a bad thing. it's terrific. i think everyone who is an

american would say that's good progress and i'm sure all the candidates for president would probably put it in context where we need to be ultimately to get the economy humming and the kinds of different growth plans and tax approaches that the republican candidates would put forward i think would supercharge the ability of the eek irto grow more quickly. that's the argument you'll probably hear. secondarily, you know, one set of numbers does not a trend make. >> sure. >> but let's hope it's a trend. right? >> there you go. it's been five months of a consistent trend there. i'm going to talk about personal narrative and storage. we know presidential campaigns are usually not about issues. at the end of the day there is always this gut connection a little bit in some form or another and that's probably one area where mitt romney has struggled and where i think rick santorum has a chance of sort of catching him on this. there is this personal narrative that he tells very well and listen to how -- here is an example of how romney tries to sort of sell personal. it is a little bit awkward. take a listen. >> i love this country. as a boy i was taken around the country by my parents in their car. it was a rambler.

and we went from national park to national park. i loved the beauty of the country, that wonderful hymn "america the beautiful" and "oh, beautiful for spacious skies." i saw the mountains and the canyons and the amber waves of grain. i love america. >> you know, he doesn't talk about a coal miner grandfather. that's rick santorum. he doesn't talk about humble roots. he even said, i didn't grow up poor. the personal narrative has been a tougher thing for mitt romney to come up with it's really hard for him. it's naturally hard for him not to expose himself but he could talk about his wife and health care. >> right. >> his wife has m.s. i'm sure there is something in the family -- i mean, they can't be perfect. he needs to find something, you know, maybe he doesn't have the coal miner but maybe he met a coal miner. but driving around the national parks, you know, is not quite what people -- >> you know, personal narrative. that was something tim pawlenty had and something you would sell to me.

like look. he is going to be able to talk about being the regular guy. mitt romney has a harder time selling himself as the regular guy. you, you know, now that you're on team romney i understand. >> i've had the privilege to work for a lot of great politicians and political leaders and to work for governor romney and i can tell you as a leader and thinker and somebody who can bring consensus he has got the full package. i think he is a leader at the end of the day. you know, he has maybe a -- i don't have any problem with his characterization of driving around the national parks. i drove around the national parks with my family. i think he's trying to make a connection. i think the voters so far are rewarding him with a pretty good positive result on it. let's see where we go before we judge him on the national parks rift. >> but newt gingrich, he struggled to do this as well. i think the alternative to romney at some point is probably more the gut connection they're trying to make and that's what santorum keeps trying to pull. he said basically go with your heart. >> right. if you talk to voters i've talked to so far, a lot of them say that about romney. they like him but they just

don't feel it. they don't even know how to put their finger on it sometimes. you know, what it is about him that doesn't win them over. whereas i think santorum has had more success with that, though what happened yesterday wasn't a good example of that. >> for sure. all right. lois? >> please read my piece today on santorum's electability in "the daily beast." >> please read. any reply? >> there you go. >> phil? >> i'm going to make a plug for a little local grass roots group called we the people. di a forum last night and it is run by jennifer horn and fred barnes and congressman steve king and i did a panel on it. it's a great group. we the people.com. support them. a great group. >> he came to new hampshire? >> trying to keep the process in cement. >> there it is. beth? i'm going to plug our national journal forum saturday. >> rick santorum is coming. >> it's at 9:30. you don't need a ticket. just come. >> i'm plugging the final debate, 9:00 a.m. right here, sc edition of

"the daily rundn. we'll see you right back here from new hampshire on monday to go over the post game of the big debate. next on msnbc chris jansing and company and of course at 1:00 don't forget andrea. have a great weekend. we'll see you on the trail. g me. wait, what? fret not ma'lady. i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute. ah, well played sir. download the free hotels.com app and get exclusive mobile deals. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. this is mary... who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. so she was thrilled that her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply and would always be there to answer questions about her health.

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