go. two more big debates and all the anti-romney candidates are attacking mitt romney and each other on the trail. that's coming up. and one of jon huntsman's daughters, abbey huntsman livingston, and a woman who knows what it's like to be a presidential candidate's daughter megan mccain. they join me this hour. washington state may be the next state to take on gay marriage allowing it. we'll speak with the governor there and talk about how she is going to be introducing her own bill. she joins me this hour. hi everybody. we have a lot to get to this morning. i appreciate your time. i'm thomas roberts. we start with our breaking news this hour. the economy this morning and the unemployment rate dropping to its lowest level in nearly three years. now at 8.5% that's down 0.1% from last month. employers added 200,000 jobs. big numbers here. president obama is expected to talk about today's jobs numbers before he speaks at the newly formed consumer financial protection bureau later this hour. but there's no doubt, none at

all, that this is positive news for the obama administration. we get a quick look at how the markets are reacting to this. let's take a peek at the boards for you. the dow is down though by 52. the standard & poors down by almost four. and the nasdaq as we see just there changing to the green up by 0.2. so a mixed bag as we're watching the markets closing out the week this morning. jared bernstein is a senior fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities. he used to be the chief economist and economic policy adviser to vice president biden. he is also an msnbc and cnbc contributor. for the past six months the economy has generated 100,000 jobs or more each month. this hasn't happened since april of '06. can the president take full credit, full credit for this that the economy is on the rise, it's solidly building back up? >> look, presidents always take full credit for improving economies and get full blame for ones that are getting worse. >> right. >> and certainly though i think the president can in fact point to many of the measures that he

and also the federal reserve hit very hard with back when he took office. one of the charts i made this morning looked at just the horrific job losses if you go back to 2009 and compared them to the gains that we made over the full year, 2011. now we have full year numbers. 1.9 million jobs in the private sector over the year. that's a sharp, sharp swing from the big negatives being posted when the president first took office. sure he'll be hitting very hard both on interventions that helped get us here but also on the fact that congress continues to block him from trying to sustain, from building on what we've got so far. >> let's take a peek back over the year or so for all of 2011, 1.9 million jobs were created for december, 23,000 jobs as we break this down we're adding in manufacturing, 50,000 in transportation, another 28,000 in retail, 17,000 in construction. when you take into account though that some of these might

have been seasonal jobs, jared, these are definitely signs that an economic recovery is solidifying but signs are really a long way off though from an actual economic recovery, correct? >> right. i wrote something this morning about the jobs report called the good, the bad, and the ugly. the good is that we do have a bit of a positive trend behind us as you mentioned in your introduction, thomas. the bad is that some of these jobs, by the way, of those transportation jobs, about 40,000 were messengers, couriers, certainly associated with some of the seasonal activity but also not particularly great jobs necessarily. although on the other side you've got the manufacturing. the bad, you know, some of these levels are still very hot. 8.5% unemployment. it's a gain off the past few months. but it's still too high. the ugly? well that's congress. the question again, are we going to -- back to this kind of self-inflicted wound mold instead of building on some of this momentum we have so far? >> you're talking about congress. house speaker john boehner had

this to say about today's numbers. it is unfortunate the white house and senate last month created even more uncertainty for small businesses by declining to enact a full-year extension of the payroll tax credit. i'm hopeful senate democrats will finally work with us. so that's what we get in reaction to all of this, jared. president obama won the payroll tax debate last time around so why are republicans going there especially now on the heels of looking at these positive december numbers? >> it's a little bit like the arsonist complaining about the heat from the fire. so, yeah. i think that the issue to watch going forward as i was just stressing coming off of speaker boehner's comments there, these guys come back and they immediately start to scrum around as to whether they can take this two-month extension on ui and payroll tax break and build it into the year extension that everybody says they want. they're going to start fighting over how to pay for it right away. the question we have to watch for and again it really restounds whether we can sustain, secure, build upon some of this. i think pretty good momentum we

have is just how dysfunctional these guys are going to be when they start mixing it up around those extensions. >> jared beranstein, great to see you. thanks for your time. i want to pass along the programming note president obama will speak about the december jobs report when he talks less than 30 minutes from now. he'll be heading over to the consumer financial protection bureau to applaud richard cordre's controversial appointment as head of the bureau. we'll have the president's remarks live at 11:40 eastern and then will talk with vice president joe biden's son bo biden, delaware attorney general. that is coming your way too in the next half hour. new scrutiny for surging presidential candidate rick santorum today. despite nearly edging out mitt romney for the top spot in iowa cracks are starting to show in his political armor. the former senator's stock is slowly rising in new hampshire with tracking polls over the last week showing him inching up to 8% from 3% in the granite state but he is nowhere close to romney's 41% lead. his family values message is still not resonating with young voters there. santorum was booed during a heated exchange with the new

hampshire college students at new england college yesterday when he compared gay marriage to polygamy. >> how about the ideas that all men are created equal and the rights to happiness and liberty? >> okay. so are we saying that everyone should have the right to marry? >> yes. >> yes. >> okay. so anyone can marry anybody else? >> yes. >> okay. so anybody can marry several people? >> no. >> stop. no, 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? [ applause ] >> thank you. so --. >> meantime republican front-runner romney is feeling so confident he started the day in south carolina flanked by two high profile supporters governor haley and senator john mccain

who won south carolina in '08. nbc's ron mott now joins me from keene, new hampshire where rick santorum campaigned earlier this morning. ron, what kind of reception is rick santorum getting in keene today after the controversial comment the moment that he had yesterday at new england college? >> well, good morning, thomas. he had a group of serenading protesters out here. i'm not sure whether the former senator was able to hear what they were singing about. some of his positions. i think they got into the room next door. he just wrapped his comments here. he's on this so-called faith, family, and freedom tour. he kicked it off in iowa and parlay thaed to great success there. he is trying to replicate it here. he had a little trouble yesterday with some of the young people. the room downstairs to hear this speech, largely an older crowd and i think the message about morality is hitting home with that crowd. he is seeing a little bump here. as you mentioned, everyone seems to be plaiying for second place. mitt romney enjoys a sizable lead.

we have four days to go. whether the other candidates can close the 25 or 30-point gap will remain to be seen. i think they're playing for second. ron paul who took the day off is back on the trail today and rick santorum has got a lot of these events planned today. he is trying to hit it hard going into the final four days and of course the big debates coming up this weekend, there is a local debate and our debate on "meet the press" on sunday very crucial we think going into the final hours for tuesday's primary. >> full court press there in new hampshire. nbc's ron mott. thank you, sir. i appreciate it. santorum's substantial pay bump after leaving the senate is also being scrutinized by his detractors who say he is a washington insider, masquerading as an every man conservative. now when he left his u.s. senate seat in '07 his net worth was estimated between $550,000 and $1.9 million. according to his most recent personal financial disclosure form filed in september of 2011, his net worth was between $1.2 million and $4 million. much of that money coming from advising, from the advising industry and lobby firms working

as a conservative commentator as well. i'm joined now by journalist and msnbc contributor karen hunter, tony fratto former white house deputy press secretary and cnbc contributor as well. both joining me this morning. it's great to see both of you. tony, i want to start with you. rick santorum came to washington in 1990. this on the heels of a grass roots campaign against those washington insiders. now it appears that he's become one and this is the same kind of battle newt gingrich has tried to do. he is not a creature of washington. he is trying to make himself be an outsider. how does rick santorum battle against this when the financial reports now are coming out showing that maybe he was an insider after all of this time? >> it's hard to say. inside or outside he was a u.s. congressman and senator for most of -- for 15 years, so i think it's calling yourself an outsider is not really right. but look. you know, members of congress, you leave, you know, the senate or congress you're going to make

more money than you were making in the senate. that's not really unusual. it's not what voters are going to be focused on, thomas. i think they're rhealy focused more on what their policy issues are right now. and i think that's causing a little bit more of a problem for rick in new hampshire today than any questions about how much money he made when he left congress. >> he caught a lot of flack yesterday from the kids at new england college about social stances really getting off message when it comes to economic issues. i want to talk to you about newt gingrich. he is catching flack about statements he made about african-americans and foodstamps. take a look at this. we'll talk on the other side. >> if the naacp invites me, i'll go to their convention. and talk about why the african-american community should demand pay checks and not be satisfied with foodstamps. if the naacp invites me to come speak i'm going. if any of the ethnic groups, if the latin american group invites me to come speak i'm going. >> every american of every

background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness. every american of every background should have an opportunity to get a job not be dependent on foodstamps. every american of every background should be able to go to a school that actually works where they get educated. i'm for actually conservatives going into the poorest neighborhoods of every ethnic group in america and helping every american have a chance to pursue happiness. now i think it takes a lot on the part of the elite media to distort that. >> let's give the breakdown of how it looks. the racial breakdown of who gets foodstamps in this country and you see white, nonhispanic there at 34%. karen, what is your reaction to this as he goes down this really sticky road? and how he can explain himself? >> well, he doesn't care to explain himself. he is being very clear and sticking to his guns. now that santorum has established that blah is the new black perhaps he should change his dialogue a little bit. it is disturbing because newt

gingrich is very effective at staying on his message and delivering it in a certain way even though as we just saw it's highly disruptive. i think it's divisive. i think it's disturbing that this man is using this as his platform. but it tells you something about the republican parties. what is the obsession with black people? what is the obsession with denigrating black people? why are you even -- why is that an issue? 12% of the population when the majority of people are out of work? i mean, thankfully the numbers are going down but what this is obsession and what is it telling us about the republican party and their obsession with race? >> the other thing they're obsessed with is getting in people's bedrooms. >> it is very bizarre. >> are they jealous? what is it? >> finally i want to get to you about we've got the debate coming up this weekend. who do you think really needs to be the standard? obviously a lot of eyes are going to be on mitt romney. >> sure. >> do you think now we'll see rick santorum come to the center of the stage where he's been on the periphery by the curtains? >> look, you cannot win the

nomination unless you actually win a primary. and so, you know, rick santorum could say he tied in iowa but it was only eight votes but mitt romney won iowa. he's going to win new hampshire. probably by a fairly substantial margin. he's running a fairly flawless campaign right now getting out in front in south carolina. if he should win, you know, should go 3-0 it's going to be hard for anybody to get out there and make a case that they should be the nominee ahead of mitt romney. >> actual tly there was a correction. there were 20 votes romney didn't get in iowa so it may be up for debate. >> we have two weeks until the final numbers come in. karen, who do you think, you know, tony is saying mitt is running a flawless campaign. he has the money to do it and success breeds success. >> all of that. it may but they still don't like him. robert e. lee himself can come out of south carolina and endorse mitt romney and they're still not going to like him. i think he's got a real problem that the majority of the conservatives in his own party don't like him.

and santorum seems to be and as long as they stay on that race thing they're going to galvanize that whole base and i think he has a shot at south carolina. we'll see. if he wins south carolina, it's a whole different race. >> we shall see. karen hunter, tony, thanks so much for joining me today. i want to point out nbc's david gregory is going to be hosting and moderating the final presidential debate for tuesday's new hampshire primary. the nbc news facebook debate airs this sunday on nbc. a special edition of "meet the press" and right here on msnbc starts at 9:00 a.m. eastern with the post debate analysis with chris matthews. straight ahead for you on msnbc, did mitt romney actually lose iowa to rick santorum? as karen was just telling us about. turns out the final vote count may be all wrong. she was stealing my ts. it's a good day for jon huntsman with a big endorsement with a major ad blitz coming up in south carolina. can the ultimate underdog become the rick santorum of new hampshire? we'll speak with one of the daughters of jon huntsman and will washington state get its own crack at legalizing same sex

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welcome back everybody. new polls show newt gingrich flagging romney, nearly untouchable ahead of the new hampshire primary coming up next week. that didn't stop newt gingrich from taking aim at mitt romney earlier this morning. >> i think as people look at his record and they imagine him debating obama, obama is going to laugh at him. >> so gingrich questioning romney's ability to beat president obama in a general election. 48% of those who voted for romney in iowa said that beating obama was their number one, number one issue. all right. so remember on wednesday morning we were talking about those precious eight votes that gave mitt romney the margin of victory in iowa?

well, it turns out the vote count may be a little bit off. one man in iowa who helped tabulate the results says he believes that a typo may have inflated mitt romney's vote total by some 20 votes. iowa gop chairman says the party doesn't have any reasons to believe the results of the one county will change the outcome of tuesday's vote. now, david fighting goliath is the way some people are seeing this how one presidential candidate jon huntsman describing his campaign heading into its final stretch before the new hampshire primary. take a listen. >> we're clearly the underdog going into the final stretch. and i'm very clear with the people of new hampshire about being the underdog. but i also know that this state has a history of coming around and embracing and supporting underdogs. i sense that may happen again. >> joining us now from new hampshire this morning is jon huntsman's daughter abbey

huntsman livingston. great to have you with me this morning. thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me on. >> absolutely. let's get straight to this. mitt romney's hometown paid for the boston globe -- hometown paper the boston globe endorsed your dad yesterday calling him the best candidate to seize this moment in gop history, best prepared to be president. a new poll is showing him toward the bottom of the pack in new hampshire without much movement over the last few days. daurd has put a lot of eggs in the new hampshire basket. do you think he can get enough of a surge in these final days? >> look, there are so many polls out right now. we're not really focused on the polls at the moment but really focused on our ground effort here. that's where we're really seeing movement. people are connecting to his message. he has hundreds of people out at his town halls. that is our main focus and what really matters. the only poll important to us right now is on january 10th. >> so new hampshire is the second least religious state in the u.s. according to a 2008 gallup poll. your father is one of two mormons in the race for president. yet he is emphasizing religion

far less than candidates like rick santorum and rick perry who strongly courted evangelicals in iowa. entry polls found some didn't vote for mitt romney because of his religion. we know your dad has said that iowa picks corn and not presidents but with that as an example does your father have a national electability issue because of religious conservatives? >> you know, i think the electability factor is his biggest strength. i don't think religion will play much of a role. i think people will focus on who can actually lead the country and be president? that is what my dad's greatest strength is. he has the ability to bring people together. he's running on his record. he has the best place for jobs in utah as governor. he served as ambassador. he studied asia for over 30 years. he brings foreign policy to the race where none of the other candidates really do. i think he brings things to the table that make him the most electable and most able to beat obama come november. so, you know, i think that's

going to be the main focus. i don't think religion will be part of that. >> he certainly has an impressive resume but why do you think your father isn't resonating so far when it comes to catching on fire on the trail? do you think it's because he hasn't picked a fight with one person yet, one of his opponents? >> i think the last few months people have been looking at the theatrics of it all. people are wanting a sound bite to light your hair on fire. my dad's a realist. he is going to be honest. he cannot stand in front of the american people and say something that just can't be done, that can't get passed through congress. so when people go and make that vote here on january 10th they'll say who can actually be president? who can actually do what they say they're going to do? i think my dad represents that. so no matter what happens, i'm very proud of my dad for always being honest about what he believes and who he is and, to me, i think that makes the truest leader of all. >> abbey, we've seen you and your sisters on the trail really active in giving interviews and social media, twitter in particular. throughout your dad's campaign, has this been effective in helping your dad get his message out there especially with

getting his message to younger voters? >> absolutely. i mean, twitter is kind of the new thing this election cycle. we're having a great time. my sister and i know my dad better than anybody so if there is anyone out there talking about what he represents and who he is it might as well be his own children. we're having a very good time. i don't think anyone is going to see the impact of what we've been doing on the ground until january 10th. we are very excited for the next few days and having a wonderful time doing it. >> abbey, great to talk to you this morning. thanks for your time. i do appreciate it. i want to point out though the huntsman family making their rounds on msnbc today. mary kate huntsman abbey's mom will be coming up in the next hour with alex wagner. then at 1:00 p.m. jon will be a guest on "andrea mitchell reports" so we look forward to that. my thanks to abbey. the unemployment rate ticks down another 0.1% to the lowest rate in nearly three years. president obama talks about the december jobs report coming your way in a few minutes. plus, washington state's governor says it's time for marriage equality there. will washington become the

seventh state in the union to approve same sex marriage? and joran van der sloot expected to plead guilty to murder in peru. full details ahead. # follow the wings. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

welcome back. there are just six states around the nation where same sex marriage is in full effect. but if the governor of washington has her way that number could increase by one. the governor said this week it is time for marriage equality in washington state. she plans to introduce legislation next week which would legalize same sex marriage and the governor says simply it is time. it is time to do the right thing. she joins me now. governor, it's great to have you here this morning. i appreciate your time especially coming on the heels of the press conference that you gave on wednesday. you were honest. you haven't always supported the idea of gay marriage. you've said that through your own personal struggle with

religion made you question this. why have you come about and changed on the issue? >> you know, it has been a journey for me personally. i have struggled with my role as governor and what's the position of the state versus my own personal religious beliefs. and i've come to understand that, you know, i can honor and respect religious freedom. the state doesn't have to tell any religion who they marry but at the same time the state cannot be in the business of discriminating and so it's been a journey for me. it's been a journey for my state beginning in 2006. we now by voters have full domestic partnerships. that's not equality. it's time the people of the state are ready. i'm ready. i feel better about this now than i have in seven years. >> governor, you mentioned in this news conference on wednesday that america in itself has made strides in racial and gender equality as well as in the realm of equal rights for women, people with disabilities, immigrants, and those of different religions. so do you see the fight for marriage equality as a part of a

civil rights movement of modern day times? >> you know, as i listened to my own daughters and the younger generation talk about the discrimination against gays and lesbians and marriage in particular, it reminds me of the fight of the '60s for racial equality all across america and the arguments are the same. the idea that domestic partnerships are somehow separate but equal. we learned that argument doesn't work in the '60s. it doesn't work any better today. it's time for us in the state of washington where we embrace and respect diversity to understand it's our greatest strength. i can't -- i cannot look at a child of a gay couple and say somehow the love of your parents is unequal to in the eyes of the state of washington the love of a heterosexual couple. it's time in washington state. i hope it's time in america to step up to equality today. >> the washington state legislature gets back to work on monday. governor, good luck with getting

this passed in washington state. we'll be watching here and hopefully get to talk to you again soon. >> absolutely. thank you. >> he not only wasted government money he made it more difficult for entrepreneurs and innovators to come up with the new ideas of the future. this president doesn't understand how this economy works. it's time to get a president who does. >> this is a man who took broken companies and fixed them. we need washington fixed. >> all right. so that was mitt romney and the south carolina governor haley stumping in the palmetto state today part of romney's effort to win over ultra conservatives in that state who have opposed him in the past. arizona senator and former presidential candidate john mccain also spoke on behalf of romney. he won south carolina back in 2008 during his bid for the white house. >> when rick santorum sponsored earmark after earmark i went down to the floor and fought against those. my friends, earmarks are gateway

to corruption. >> i'm joined now by daily beast columnist and msnbc contributor megan mccain. also we'll point out the daughter of senator john mccain. megan, it is great to have you here. also i want to talk to you about coming off the heels of the governor's interview. your father has really been vocal in the support of mitt romney at least in support of him now. so how do you think that's going to carry in the state of south carolina especially getting the endorsement of nikki haley who is a tea party favorite? >> i think nothing but fantastic. my father won in south carolina. he won in new hampshire. there has been some criticism of him but he is still the last nominee for president. he is still sort of a lion in the senate and very well respected. it can do nothing but help mitt romney. >> by all accounts this will be an awkward relationship for people that are political junkies. certainly people even casual observers who watched in '08 to know it was a real slugfest for your dad to get the nomination. >> the thing about politics is you can be brutal enemies one day and then the next day after you drop out you can be best friends. i was on the trail with mitt

romney and his family for a very long time and we got to know each other and he has a wonderful family. he is a statesman. i actually like him a lot. he has a fantastic personality off camera that i hope he sort of brings on camera at some point as he still campaigns. >> they call him the 25% man. so do you think he can break that number? >> oh, yes. completely. i think people just need to get to know him better. i think the more you get to know people like, you know, rick santorum, the less you'll like him and i think the more you get to know mitt romney the more you'll like him. >> since mitt romney has been running all this time and not just in this election but a long time don't you think he has made a name for himself for conservatives to be able to make a consensus to get behind him and support him? because their number one objective, number one is to beat president obama. >> it should be the number one objective to beat president obama and if you nominate someone like rick santorum i guarantee you we will lose. i feel like if he is nominated on that day i might as well have given the election to president obama. he is a very electable candidate. we are living in ten use times especially when it comes to the economy. i think mitt romney is a stable,

statesman like leader. i really like him and have for a long time. i said i was on team romney like two years ago. you know, ever since then i have stayed on his, supported him, continued to support him and i think he'll be a fantastic candidate. >> certainly not on team santorum. >> no. >> as we've heard you say over and over again. when you see yesterday what happened at new england college and him getting grilled about how he feels about same sex marriage -- >> as he should. >> they really gave it to him good. >> they should. obviously it's no secret i've been a supporter of marriage equality for a very long time and lbgt rights and it is a big part of who i am and why i love being part of politics. it is a very controversial thing for a republican to do. i don't think it should be. there is a difference between being against marriage equality and equating same sex marriage to beastiality. >> polygamy. >> it is so dated and so gross and i don't care where you stand on your religious beliefs it is far off the course of main stream america. and it's enough for me just to say good-bye to him. >> i want to talk to you and show the pictures. you posed with your mom. this is the second time around doing this?

>> yes. i've done it twice. my mom came with me and we took the picture. i love it. it is so beautiful. i'm going to frame that and put it in my apartment. i convinced my mom. she was privately for marriage equality and i told her you have to take a stand publicly and my father is hopefully the next one i can work on. he is sort of coming around. he is 75 years old so it as little bit different but i was very proud to do it. i am a huge supporter of marriage equality and i'm not going to stop fighting for it until marriage equality is passed in this country and everybody can get married however they want. >> it is a beautiful picture. >> thank you. >> certainly frameable by all accounts. great to have you. >> thank you. stick around because we'll be speaking coming up about president obama going straight -- oh, wait. we'll show more pictures of megan. good thing you're already here. we'll talk about president obama. he is going to be speaking about the controversial recess appointment of cordre coming up from the consumer financial protection bureau. we expect the president in just a few minutes. we're back with much more here on msnbc after this. [ monica ] i'm away on a movie shoot

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welcome back everybody to the live event we're watching unfold this hour. the president is going to be making a stop at the newly formed consumer financial protection bureau. this just two days after president obama made his recess appointment of richard cordre to the head of this new agency. also, the president is going to be talking about the big job numbers that we're seeing from the december jobs report, 200,000 jobs added. the unemployment rate dropping to 8.5%. we'll get more now about this recess appointment though on richard cordre from attorney general of delaware. that is the son of vice president joe biden, bo biden. great to see you this morning. thanks for your time and your patience. i know you've been standing by patiently but explain to all of us why it was so important to get ahead at this new agency, someone to helm it and get it started. >> look, this has been too long and i am incredibly proud of the president for making this

appointment. the american people need a watch dog, someone standing up for their rights and looking out for their best interests. and delaware, we receive tens of thousands of complaints in our consumer protection division on a yearly basis. 30,000 last year. and we hear time and time again the same kinds of things. we need a watch dog nationally to do one thing and wake up every morning and go to bed every night thinking about one thing. how we protect consumers. how we protect people who are trying to buy a home to finance their next purchase, how they deal with any purchases they make along the way in the economy. this is an incredibly important person to have and the right person in this position. >> the recess appointment was made while congress was not in session. we just want to remind everybody about that bo because a lot of republicans called this illegal and referred to it as loophole government. do you think that is going to over shadow the start to cordre's tenure, the start to

very important work that you point out needs to be done? >> i hope not. richard cordre is one of the leading consumer protectors in the nation. as a former attorney generally served with him. he was attorney general of ohio. he woke up and went to bed every morning worrying about and making sure consumers are given a fair deal. too many consumers are not giving -- given a fair deal. that's what richard is going to focus on. you have soldiers returning from iraq and afghanistan and the first thing they see is a pay day lender outside of the base. richard will make sure the pay day lenders are kept in line. he is going to make sure soldiers and sailors along with holly petraeus who is working with them aren't foreclosed upon when serving in iraq or afghanistan. richard cordray will make sure people foreclosed on can get a fair shake and can get someone on the line to talk to. we hear this time and time again the same type of bologna coming from some of these institutions. we need a watch dog. richard will be a fair and wise and aggressive watch dog on all of these things. >> is the biggest problem from

republicans about what the consumer financial protection bureau is going to do is that it is going to report with the federal reserve? >> yeah. look. the federal reserve and occ and other federal regulators, their primary mission is not to protect consumers. their primary mission is to make sure that they guarantee the sol jensy and safety of the financial markets. we don't have anyone up until now, richard cordray, whose primary mission it is to make sure that they defend and stand up for the rights of consumers. this is not a democratic or republican issue. as many republicans that come to complain to me about being ripped off dean fwrauded fraude democrats. this goes across political lines from tea party party to 99% people and the people in between which is the vast majority of americans who come to my office and come to the ag's office, republican and democrat across the country saying the same types of things. right now as we speak we have institutions that are foreclosing on people at the same time when they're telling them they can actually stay in their home if they pay a lesser, you know, it's called dual track

but the banks are saying that people right now, look, for 90 days you pay $100 less we're not going to foreclose on you. guess what happens on the 95th and 100th day? the bank still forecloses even though the borrowers kept their bargain. that kind of stuff cannot happen. we need a watch dog in addition to the 50 ags. richard is going to be incredible, an incredible champion of consumer rights. >> bo biden attorney general of delaware. great to have you on with me this morning. thank you. >> thanks, thomas. >> absolutely. i want to point out we are watching that live camera coming to us from the consumer financial protection bureau where we expect the president to be talking this morning about his recess appointment. richard cordray addressing staff there. as soon as that happens we'll have it live for you. we do predict that the president is going to be talking about that. great jobs report coming from december of 2011 as well as adding 200,000 jobs dropping the unemployment rate to 8.5%. i want to give you a quick look at other stories that are topping the news now. joran van der sloot could plead guilty in the murder of a young peruvian woman. he was in court this morning for

the start of his trial but proceedings were postponed until next week. the 24-year-old you'll remember is accused of killing 21-year-old stephany flores in her lima hotel room after the two met in a casino in may of 2010. five years before that he was the last person seen leaving an aruban night club with 19-year-old natalee holloway. she has never been found. three cadets at the air force academy face sexual assault charges. the three unrelated incidents happened over the last three weeks. all of the cadets remain on campus. still, two are attending class. 33 sexual assaults were reported at the academy last year. penn state will introduce its new football coach. introductions start tomorrow according to sources. new england patriots offensive coordinator bill o'brian is in final talks with bsu. joe paterno who coached the nittany lions for decades was fired months ago after his long-time assistant coach jerry sandusky was charged with sexually assaulting young boys.

and a texas teen who was mistakenly deported to colombia could return home soon. the 15-year-old ran away from home in november of 2010. months later she was arrested for theft and gave police a false name. the name of a woman who was in the u.s. illegally. turner was recently located in bogota. immigration officials are working now to successfully bring her home. and as a new video surfaces showing casey anthony her parents say they're worried for her safety. george and cindy anthony issued a statement saying they're worried this video diary will put their daughter in harm's way. anthony is currently serving probation for check fraud in an undisclosed location in florida. she was acquitted last july of killing her daughter caylee. the unemployment rate drops to 8.5%. this means companies are hiring once again including small businesses. what small business owners are looking for in the new year this 2012 presidential election? we'll talk about that coming up. .

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welcome back. breaking news coming to us from monticello, minnesota. take a look at these images where in the left middle of your screen you can see that a large, big rig target truck has run off of i-94 eastbound and slammed into the frozen waterway there off of the side of the highway. we understand that the driver escaped with only minor injuries. no other cars are reported to be involved. but just amazing pictures of how far you can see that target truck making its way. you can see the trail mark behind it all the way off of i-94 eastbound slamming into the frozen waterway there. again, no injuries to report. good news on that front. again, we want to pass along keeping a close eye on the consumer protection bureau in washington, d.c. president obama expected to arrive any minute addressing the staff including their new boss. that is richard cordray. we'll bring you that as soon as the president starts to talk. stay posted for that. you know from now until the last

vote is cast on november 6th you are no doubt going to hear the word small business more times than you can count. the presidential candidates are trying to court small business owners by telling them how their platforms will help main street. j.j. ramberg is the host of msnbc's "your business" this weekend and she is launching a new segment called smallbiz sounds off where she takes a look at real issues affecting small business owners and which candidates are resonating on those fronts. great to talk to you today. small business is obviously a buzz phrase a lot of viewers perk up to. >> we get the jobs report today. the first line in eric canter's response is small business. the second line in his report is small business. the candidates -- he is not the candidate. they are talking about this left, right, and center. so what we've done is we've collected 25 small business owners from around the country, different industries, different political leanings, to basically be our reality check. tell us what's important to you and how the candidates are responding to what's important to you. so this week we got, we kicked

it off and got a sense of what people are thinking in general. take a listen. >> i'm not looking so much for small business, small business. i'm looking for candidates and leaders that are looking for ca leaders who say we are business friendly and here is what we will do to create a more friendly business environment in the next four to five years. >> for me it is not so much who is friendly to small business, but who is looking out for the middle class, because the middle class is the entrepreneurial class. >> it is not a red or blue candidate i'm after. i want a red, white and blue president. >> so, throughout the next ten months, we are going to be out there asking these 25 people and all of our twitter followers, this is what the candidate said, what do you think? tell us the truth. >> great to see you jj ramberg, host of msnbc your business. jj, thanks again. we're back after this. when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief?

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welcome back, everybody. still waiting on the president to be speaking pretty soon, coming from the consumer protection bureau in washington, d.c. talking about the appointment of richard cordray. an unemployment rate dropped to 8.5%. mike, where do we expect the president to start this morning? is it going to be about the recess appointment of cordray or about the stellar jobs report from december? >> that's a tough choice for the president because both of them are things he really wants to talk about. yes, there was good news on the economic front and you can expect the president right off the bat to talk about the unemployment rate sinking two tenths of a percent, the lowest level in years. 24u7b,000 jobs as he reported on net, mostly in the private sector. the public sector lost jobs.

the president certainly going to be happy about that although you can expect him to add the usual caveat. economic times are still tough and we do need to extent the payroll tax cut and the white house has been hitting on that point earlier today. but the main point here, scheduled very late yesterday is this trip. it is only about a hundred feet, maybe 200 from where i'm standing, across 17th street here in washington, d.c. consumer financial protection bureau where richard cordray is going to be installed as the new director, obviously a new controversial recess appointment. as far as republicans are concerned, congress is not technicallily in recess. that is a point they are going to argue. that is a point the white house is happy to let them stand back and make a proceed youral argument and cordray will be looking into payday lenders, mortgage originators, student loans, other things not done until the agency add director

and you can expect the president will hit hard on that and emphasize all of those points. >> when they look at them and say, this is loophole government at its best, are they the ones with the upper hand and how to fight back when they look at how other administrations handle recess appointment. >> it is true that maharry reid and the last two years of the bush administration, they are called pro form sections in the senate, blocked president bush from making recess appointments. notably the controversial appointment of the u.s. ambassador, nominee, john bolton. there are a number of senators who have come out and said, other democrats alike, who says cordray has the best track record, attorney general in ohio, other positions that speak to his ability to hold this position here. protecting consumers in this

newly-created agency, or this commissioner, this board. this was created of course, part of the dodd-frank legislation that republicans have fought tooth and nail and republicans want to repeal if there is a republican elected president. the white house points out they are not against cordray, they are against the cfpb. that is not grounds to deny the president his nomination. >> just so everybody understands, that's where a member is sent in every third day to bang the gavel. that is someone from maryland to virginia, just driving. they don't have to fly back. >> reporter: and it always does. >> it always works. >> reporter: and it really is a show, there's nothing that happens. the constitution states -- the constitution relatively vague on recess apointments and that's the wiggle room they have here, legally and constitutionally. it does state that both houses have to go on recess to allow each other to go out for a

period lasting longer than three days. so every three days the house and senate come in, bang the gavel, wave their hands around a little bit. it doesn't take more than 30 seconds, usually, then they good out. the white house called that a sham. and a gimmick. again, democrats have done the same tactic to block republican recess appointments. it is has also a moot point, thomas. this is really a political fight, a political position taken by the president, showing his supporters, consolidating democratic base. this is a position very dear to him. this is something they have been asking him to do for the past three years, since the outset of his administration and it brought a lot of satisfaction from those quarters over the last of the last two days since he made that move, thomas. >> so mike, explain to all of us how the white house is going to talk 200,000 jobs added in december and it is not a fluke. it can be maintained for a potentially solid 2012 and they

can continue seeing this growth every month. >> reporter: it is almost a paint by numbers feel over the course of the first friday of every month. each and every first friday of every month when the unemployment numbers for the previous month come out. what we have now is the december numbers that came out at 8:30 this morning. there is a whole ritual that surrounds it. but it was announced that the number came down from 8.7, revised figure to 8.5%. what we have seen every month for the past year or two or three, is the president come out and say, we are still fighting for the middle class. we are still working to bring numbers down. we inherited a very bad position or very bad situation from the previous administration. the economy was hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs. stop me if you heard this one before. on months like this, when the number does go down by a significant amount and there is good news, they are very careful not to declare victory on the economy by any way, shape or form. because the economy, the jobless rate goes up. jobless rate goes