good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" live from new york. i'm in for ed and as he would say, let's get to work. the strategy mind the war on women. >> i love you, women.

>> there is no war on women. >> anti-abortion bill into law. >> there is no war on women. >> women don't care about contraception. >> don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die. >> governor mary fallin, wait a minute. you're female and republican? >> i love you, women! >> the role of feminism. >> since the republican statehouse and u.s. house takeover in 2010, we've seen unpress dated legislative attacks on women's reproductive rights. on the war on women, they haven't just gotten mad. they've gotten elected. ushered in a record number of women to the house and the senate. a record number of women ran for the u.s. senate last year, 20 democrats and 16 republicans and now hold 20 out of 100 seats,

which given that women are half the population sadly is a record. 16 dems and 19 republicans, plus three women who serve as republicans from guam and washington, d.c. even though they drink the gop milkshake, there is one place where republicans have the upper hand. they have more women serving as governors. on the gop side four women are currently residing in governor's mansions, january brewjan brewe arizona, susanna martinez in new mexico, mary fallin in oklahoma and maggie hassan in new hampshire. republican gubernatorial advantage in 2014.

36 states are set to hold gubernatorial elections next year. and according to rutgers university, 37 women have filed or are likely to file for races. set to feature high-profile women running as democrats. >> a lot of people are considering what they want to do in the future if they can be of greater service. >> you? >> i'm among those people. >> today, i am proud to announce my candidacy to be the 48th governor of this great state. >> the only pennsylvania woman in the u.s. congress. now she wants to become the state's first woman governor. >> i think people are very ready. i feel very ready to run and to be governor. and i think so do men and women across the state. >> so democrats are trying to

cash in. sometimes hilarious, but often disastrous attempts to reach out to women. house speaker john boehner has resorted to offering tutoring sessions on how to speak to women. pro tips, don't mention rape. even the optics of change. republican women have been making more and more appearances on camera during the party's press conferences as if to make the point that republicans do have a binder full of women. and here they all are for you to look at right now. of course, the catch is women republicans do tend to highlight are those that -- like sarah palin, or michele bachmann, when not running tore president is serving water to the main folk. nicki haley and jan brewer, not

the expanding health care for our state because she doesn't like freedom at all. in order to be a high profile republican woman, much like being a high profile conservative black or brown person you have to buy the blue plate special and say the entire script and sometimes even with more extremist gusto than the guys. that's because you still have to serve the base of the party, which is very, very far to the right. it's your job to reassure that base that their views really are broadly shared, including by the targets of some of the harshest conservative policies. when coming to getting the votes of older and married white women, that strategy actually works. president obama won just 21% of nonmarried white noncollege women. it's also getting more secular, more nonwhite and more single,

bad for republicans. president obama won 51% of the votes of single noncollege white women and 50% of single noncollege women. 96% of african-american women in 2012. while a mid term is not a presidential election, tends to draw viewers that think and look like the republican party, nationalize elections in the state and gop policies drive more young, single, minority and educated voters to the poll in 2014 than came out in 2010, republicans warn women might turn out to be their waterloo. i want to know what you think. tonight's question is, do republican women candidates really represent the women of this country? or go right to our blo blog @ed.msnbc.com. joining me are terry o'neill

and contributor zerlena maxwell. i'll start with you. do democrats have a strategy for whoo'ing women voters that goes beyond abortion? >> i think so. they went above and beyond and started talking about birth control, which is all women. that's not republican or democratic women but all women. focusing on the fact that we should be able to control our reproductive health, which includes birth control, not just abortion, that's the winning issue for democrats and where we should focus all our attention. that has the ability to attract the most broad coalition of voters. >> you have to get beyond the abortion debate. it is not a slam dunk even among women. it's still sort of a 50/50 issue in the country. have democrats made a mistake focusing so much of their war on women rhetoric by not broadening it out, as zerlina said, to hit the idea of contraception?

>> i think they are moving into the contraception realm. it's interesting that the democrats are moving into the economic agenda for women and really trying to draw, i believe, a sharp distinction between democrats and particularly going on in the house of representatives and republicans as economic issues not just fair pay for women, equal pay for equal work and paid sick days and paid extended leave, but child care, which we haven't seen be an issue in a long time, and the minimum wage. lifting up the wages of women. as zerlina says, the democrats really do need to go and put a spotlight on the birth control issue. >> zerlina, one of the constant con undrums for democrats, unlike the election years of 2012, what message do you think

will work with women? will that cohort care more about abortion issues or do they need other issues to target them? >> i think the virginia gubernatorial race say point of clarity for democrats. one of the things that happened in that race was black women. black women made up the gender gap. if we're focusing more on people of color, low-income women and women that are making minimum wage, that's the place to start to win in the mid-term elections next year. i'm also looking forward to seeing how hillary clinton factors in to getting, you know, democrats excited and engaged, particularly the women democrats running next year. >> whether or not, it has been alarming, the extent to which republicans have been not shy at all about going after reproductive rights specifically, not just on a national level but in the state. even going to localities and going after reproductive rights on the local level and that g n

granularity and whether they're missing that point. >> that is backfiring against the republicans. in albuquerque, new mexico, for the first time ever we had a flat-out criminalization of abortion care before viability. a direct contradiction to roe versus wade. they put it up on a ballot measure, a referendum. we defeated that. its allies defeated that by 60%. we had a ten-point margin. 60% of voters said no, we don't want that kind of restriction on abortion care. yes, the republicans -- there's a number of municipalities, too, in virginia, that are trying to criminalize abortion. i think it's going to backfire significantly. it's really interest iing to se

what happened in virginia. and, in fact, in many ways that gubernatorial race, ken cuccinelli, mr. transvaginal ultrasound against terry mcauliffe, who said i will keep the abortion clinics open, make sure that women have health care, that they have birth control. i will make sure that women have the things that they need. by campaigning that way, terry mcauliffe was able to win. it is very important to recognize that he won -- it was really the african-american women vote that won the day in virginia, but it was also young voters, men and women, who are with us in this fight. that's an interesting demographic, i think. >> things like michigan where you have anti-abortion, states like pennsylvania, ohio. but democrats have not had good success in getting younger voters and minority voters out of mid terms. is it enough to talk about the republican war on women? young women need to come out

with issues. >> i think we need to connect reproductive rights with justice. preventive health care, that's an economic issue for women and families. that's not just a women only issue. as you broaden it out and talk about how -- making sure i have access to birth control so that i can have control over my destiny, going to college and not getting pregnant when i don't want to, that's an economic issue for women and families. also, we need to do a better job as democrats to explain what trap laws are. they will be the defacto end of roe v. wade if they don't get on offense on that. in texas with wendy davis, that was actually a loss for democrats. >> these laws that require adhere to a certain set of policy that is are impossible. >> it ends up closing clinics and there are 20 clinic force 6,

million women in texas. trap laws, framed as making it more safe for women really just defacto end your constitutional right to abortion. >> terry, it's interesting. mentioning wendy davis, as zerlina just did. one of the other issues that republicans have is not just policy but tone. whether or not people agree with the idea of abortion being legal, the idea that she's being called abortion barby, the way she is talked to and talked about by republicans, is an issue. how does that strike you, leading oon organization that is by and for women, that she is being dismissed as a barbie doll? >> that, too, will backfire against republican. i've seen it already, in fact. and we did that when sarah palin was unfairly attacked as a woman as opposed to -- we attacked her for her policies all the time but not because she was a woman.

the attacks on wendy davis are clearly misysogenistic and i thk that will back fire against the republicans. it's happening in texas. yes, you have tens of millions of women who are affected by these trap laws, anti-abortion laws. you have hundreds of thousands of women who have been mobilized by this outrageous attack on women's access to basic health care. and what's happening is that the more -- this is really interesting, i think. the more the republicans go after birth control, right, which they're doing this in the courts right now. it's not really out there in legislative -- as a legislative realm. the more they go after birth control, the more people see them going after birth control, the stronger supports for the whole range of reproductive health care services get. it's a really interesting phenomenon that we find in the

polling. women are becoming more and more mobilized because we are learning more and more about what's going on state by state. 2014 -- the trick for the democratic party, the trick for my organization, democrats or republicans, we're trying to get women candidates elected. the real effort is around turnout, getting our demographics to the polls to vote and stopping voter suppression efforts. texas is a great example of voter suppression efforts that have completely gone national. that's bad for the republican party. >> in one way in which the voting rights issue dovetails with reproductive rights, those voting rights laws, especially in texas, do affect women. >> women of color and the voter suppression affect women of color. we're under attack from multiple angles. >> thanks to both of you. remember to answer tonight's

question right there at the bottom of your screen and share your thoughts on twitte twitter @edshow. still to come, the nightmare after christmas. republican revolutions for 2014. plus, congressman steve king's nordic track. trenders is next on the ed show. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro. female announcer: it's time to make room

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time now for the trenders. you can find the show on twitter @edshow. media nation has decided and we are reporting. here are today's top trenders, voted on by you. >> i'll be on our best behavior. >> number three trender, polar protest. >> meet an environmental lawyer with the center for biological diversity in washington, d.c., spending the holidays in hawaii to trail the president.

>> president obama gets an icy reception on the links in hawaii. >> that snake in costume where president obama spent several hours and even shouted hey, polar bear. >> we've been all over the country, trying to remind the president say no to keystone. >> melts the habitat, contributes to global warming and ultimately leads me, the polar bear, to extinction. >> republican congressman steve king. >> christmas dinner. >> save the neck for me, clark. i don't know about the cat. but i sure am enjoying it. >> today's top trender, scrooge. >> happy holidays. >> say what? >> merry christmas. >> this time of the year. >> wishing you a very merry christmas and a happy new year.

>> while a million american wallets are spread thin. >> the season of giving is upon us. >> it's the holiday season. but why do we have to have ice in our veins. >> i think all of us should count our blessings. >> festive season of the yeerks mr. scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute. >> stop receiving their benefits. >> i believe work should begin with what republicans should have done before. >> christmas is a habit of giving back. >> goodwill. >> humbug. >> and joining me now is senior fellow at media matters. eric, do you see signs out there in the media that republicans are attempting to message the other side of the unemployment insurance debate, meaning let's not redo this? >> they clearly don't want to renew it. it was just explained, they're

going to expire this saturday. ten consecutive times it was renewed and this was the first time. the larger message is there's a war on the poor. it's not even the poor. the war on food stamps, the war on expanding medicare in this state. the war on unemployment benefits. this is a much larger push. fox news and rush limbaugh all the time. this has been a message of the republican party for decades. talk about ronald reagan and the welfare queen, always this idea that people aren't working aren't really trying, the government shouldn't be helping. that's not what we should be doing. the republicans are taking this to a new extreme as paul krugeman wrote. this is at a fever pitch. we see coordination between the republican party and the right wing noise machine and their target, this time of year, amazingly, is giving in charity. >> it's interesting. democrats don't normally

coordinate very much. >> no. >> but there is actually an attempt right now. >> right. >> take advantage of the holiday season to message against this idea of not renewing unemployment benefits. i want you to take a look at a new ad that's coming out and get your take. >> do you know who had a merry christmas? the richest 1%. that's who. american republicans in congress made sure of that. for those facing tough times, 1.3 million americans were stripped of jobless benefits. folk whose want to work but can't find a job, kicking them to the curb at christmas. merry christmas, from the gop. >> is that effective? >> i think it's effective. again, the republican party seems to be immune from popular argument. if you look at the polling extending unemployment benefits is very popular. bipartisan support. increasing minimum wage is very popular, bipartisan support. gun vote on background checks,

90% support it. the republican party is in that sphere where they don't really react to their own base or public polling. they have adopted this sort of radical obstructionist strategy that it makes it hard for even efforts like this to appeal to common sense and appeal to people to reach out f you're in the bubble they've been hitting this point particularly since the day barack obama was inaugurated. poor people have it really good in this country and it's the government's fault. >> sort of the advancing of the wall street argument, saying this guy is essentially handm e handmade -- >> absolutely. it is ratcheted up in a whole new way with barack obama in office, in particular with the tea party. that's been part of their -- instead of going after big business the way some of us thought the tea party might go after, they decided to go after

poor people. >> you study media for a living. extent to which you said that bubble can't be penetrated. at least some conservatives -- there are people on the right, conservatives who are also suffering, who are also unemployed, who also need this extension. >> exactly. >> how do you suppose it is that that message can't penetrate even for people like that? >> 11,000 people who are going to lose their unemployment extension benefits. a lot of them watch fox news. just out of demographics alone, fewer of the right wing media listen to rush limbaugh who will lose their benefits come this saturday. there always seems to be this disconnect. i'm part of this larger bubble or it doesn't afscme. it's okay. if you look at the unemployment and long term unemployment, it's

affecting everyone. it's not a story about minority america but people who can't find jobs the last four or five years, since the crash. >> now, do you know, as you're reporting, is there any money behind that ad or is it intended to go viral online? >> my guess is that it's probably intended to go viral. it will definitely be in some districts, california districts, i think i read. but, again, we don't -- democrats don't have the money. they don't have the -- they can't turn up the heat like this. it should be an effective method and particularly this time of year. it's going to get a much larger right-wing media trend, which is poor people are the target even during christmastime. >> ultimate christmas story. >> talk about a war on christmas. >> absolutely. >> thank you very much. >> my pleasure. secrets of the 2014 playbook

and the dems half time report. you're invited to christmas with the palins.

welcome back to "the ed show." we love hearing from our viewers. in ask joy live, our first question, if you were to advise president obama next year, what would be some of the things you would advise him to do? >> good question. i would advise him to sign an executive order that would raise the minimum wage for federal contractor workers. that's something the president can do right now that would affect hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are staffing the museums, the guys doing coat check when you go over to one of the national mall museums, working in the fooed court. that could affect a lot of people right now and lay down a marker on minimum wage that rrks would be forced to respond to. the other thing i would advise the president to do? he should give a major speech on

the idea of inequality. republicans tune out everything president obama says. that's granted. it's baked in. inequality is the guiding issue of our time. it's a huge issue. the pope has weighed in on it. a major speech on inequality, also laying out the difficulties of getting legislature through congress to change it or upend it would do a lot to reinspire people who supported barack obama in the first place and lay down a marker for the rest of his term on what his priorities are. from troy, when is speaker boehner going to retire? and who will take his place? interest i interesting question. nobody who climbs the greasy poll to get that speaker's gavel ever give it is up willingly. nobody ever retires unless they get a huge corporate job that pays so much money it's worth walking away. as long as he keeps getting re-elected in ohio, he will keep that speaker chair. i think eric cantor is waiting

right there to grab that gavel. hey, joy durks have a nice christmas? nice question, john. yes, i did. my family is healthy and happy and santa claus is good to us, regardless of his race. my christmas was terrific. thank you. rapid response panel is next. i'm josh lipton with your cnbc wrap. dow rising 122 points, notching its 50th record close of the year. s&p is up 8 points, also at a new high. nasdaq gained 11 to close at its highest level since september of 2000, helping propel stocks higher. welcome news about the labor market, filing for first-time jobless claims fell more than expected. claims dropped 42,000 next week, hitting the lowest level in

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no rest for president obama, even while on vacation in hawaii. the president signed seven bills into law today, including the budget agreement negotiated by senator murray and chairman ryan. also the national defense authorization act for 2014. but the republican party continues to place blame. if you can believe this, all on president obama for not enough getting done in 2013. >> the president's health care law continues to wreak havoc on american families, small businesses and our economy. >> he has rewritten the constitution for himself and as part of his effort to fundamentally transform the united states of america. >> the president and house

democrats try to hide for years that millions of americans would lose the coverage that they like. >> okay. let me get this straight. the 113th congress passed its 58 laws in 2013, the lowest on record since 1947. president obama signed bills. he doesn't write them or pass them. but it's his fault almost nothing got done. okay. see how that works? cnn/orc poll released today indicates three-quarters of the public has been a do-nothing congress. the current congress is the worst in their lifetime. the lackluster 2013, it left no shortage of agenda items for congress as we head into 2014. immigration reform, extended unemployment benefits. how about a jobs bill? the first item on their agenda might be to start with the man in the mirror. joining me now is rapid response panel. jimmy, apparently it's president obama's fault that the republicans can't get anything

done in congress. explain. >> right. remember when your grandmother said if you pointed to somebody you had three fingers pointing back at you? that would be the problem. they blame the president but actually they are the ones who aren't doing anything. they come-on tuesday, do some stuff on wednesday, do some votes on thursday and they got on their planes and scatter like roaches, the building is empty and the american people will lose their unemployment benefits. that's a problem on saturday. don't blame the president because he hasn't sent a bill -- what the president did send up, last year the president of the united states, a democrat, sent a tax bill up to the congress that would lower the corporate rate from 35% to 28%. they at any time even act on it. now if a republican congress can'ta act on a bill to lower the corporate rate by 7%, what can they do? >> the building is empty might actually be the slogan for the 113th congress.

you might have borrowed that from a bumper sticker. ruth, the inspirational leadership of senator ted cruz. i want to play you something that he had to say on a houston radio show on friday and get your reaction. >> we've got an incredible opportunity to retake the senate in 2014, to retire harry reid as majority leader. and the number one thing republicans could do to mess that up is to refuse to stand for principle and if the house turns around and passes a giant amnesty deal that doesn't secure the border and grants amnesty, they might as well go and put harry reid for majority leader bumper stickers on the backs of their cars. >> what ted cruz is now saying in his role as inspirational leader is that the worst thing republicans could do is pass immigration reform. >> that's a nightmare for republicans. all we can do is sit and watch

them have this internal fight. speaker boehner almost lost his majority over shutting down the government. this perception of the congress does nothing is one problem they v the other problem is that they badly need voters who abandoned them in droves and need to show that they can do something to rehabilitate their image with women and minorities. where republicans are right now in the polls, ted cruz notwithstanding, they're doing a little bit better. they seem to -- they appear to be willing to govern a little bit. and the republicans responded well to that. boehner is not in the kind of trouble he was at shutdown. gain some seats in the house and so their strategy is to try to freeze time in the hopes they can hang on to this they can't alienate latinos or women any more than they already have. they want to appear to govern but don't want to appear to do

too much because they don't want to scare people again. >> what republicans want to freeze time on is one thing only. health care. they just want to talk about health care reform for the next nine, ten months. is that enough of a strategy to gain seats in the house and the senate? >> i think they will definitely gain seats in the senate. i don't think it has anything to do with health care. the reason i don't is mary landrieu, mark prooir, they all voted for health care three years ago. they're on record for that. it's not like -- listen, they would have all retired if their numbers were so bad that they would not be able to win re-election. i don't think health care will be the main drag on those senate races. i do think that the senate democrats will lose some seats. ted cruz is dead wrong on this. if all he wants to do is talk about health care, the bigger problem is once you have 3 or 4 million to sign up for that and it starts working and people are

paying those monthly premiums, then guess what's going to happen. the system is is going to work. all they can talk about is how it's not working. but it is working. they better come up with something. they better come up with a jobs plan. they better pass immigrations bill. republicans legacy for the next 30 years is fon, as ruth said. there are a lot of -- they better try to lower the cost of college tuition. what do most of million class families care about? whether or not they can pay to send their kids to school. i don't know of any bill that is have come out of that chamber that have said anything about that. they can complain about health care from now all the way until november next year. if health care is working, they better come up with an agenda as opposed to just talking about health care. that's not going to help them. >> ruth, isn't that part of the danger? if republicans focus solely on the health care reform law, hoping that the website crashes again, i guess, before the november elections, then it leaves open a big opening for democrats if they choose to take it on things like unemployment

insurance, the minimum wage. are democrats organizing themselves around the idea that they can actually nationalize those issues? >> yeah. unemployment is say no brainer. to cut people off unemployment a couple of days before christmas is is just a brutally bad politics and it's terrible for people. and the democrats are hitting back against republicans really hard on that. that's why the republicans will have this very interesting problem when harry reid has said will he bring up the extension of unemployment again first thing when they get back to washington. let's see if they are going to vote against a stand-alone bill to extend unemployment insurance to 1.3 million americans who need it badly. that's nuts. the health care thing, they don't want health care to work and they were handed this gift in the form of these website glitches so they could hammer away on that. they don't want it to work because it's going to be really successful for people to see they can get health care, as jumy points out. >> as important as health care and the unemployment issue are, what is more important than duck

dynasty? i have to switch topics for just a moment. honestly, seriously, we are learning there's a state senator from alabama. the official and unanimous support of the entire state of alabama. i want to read you part of his resolution. it says phil robertson and his family's admirable stance on marriage, family and faith reflects the meritious ideas of the fine citizens of the entire state of alabama. your thoughts? >> i dated a couple of gay guys from alabama. he is right, they are all fine. listen, this is the sort of stuff that you can sit back and you can want to be stuck in the 19th century. or, hell, for that matter, the 18th century. the bottom line is the war is over. you lost the war. i'm from the south. i've moved on. and if you want to watch a bunch of guys that look like zz topp on tv, go ahead and do that. at the end of the day, i'm pretty sure your party is going to die.

if you don't start appealing, as ruth said, to everybody else in the country, guess what, the only people you'll have as your buddies sitting in alabama are zz topp and that's not helpful to your party. >> i'm wondering if the state of alabama, when he said the entire citizenry, includes black people. >> there are democrats in alabama. there are a lot of them actually. >> and black people. jimmy and emily ruth connor, thanks to both of you. touting exceptionalism, yeah, about that, the yuletide is receding on this particular brand. afghanistan in 2009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote.

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a merry palin christmas. palin dropped by fox & friends. she brought a treat better than christmas cookies. family photos.

>> in alaska, little gold mining town where my dad was teaching school and coaching basketball and that's my older brother and older sister. and then that was on a college break. we were all in college at the same time i home for an alumni basketball game in alaska. >> that's the key, isn't it, as we look at another picture of the family. there they are. >> not so fast, palin. we learned some important lessons on monday about all the activity in those pictures. i had to break out the good book, not hers of course. >> certain parts of the bible also appear to preach against christmas trees. here's jeremiah 10-10, it reads for the practices of the peoples are worthless. they cut a tree out of the forest and a krastsman shapes it with a chisel. like a scare crow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak. do not fear them. they can do no harm nor can they do any good. a christmas purist wouldn't want

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welcome back to "the ed show." so you know how republicans always say that the private sector does everything better? and maybe we should, say, replace the post office with

fedex and u.p.s., about that, i'm going to get personal for a moment. i'm one of the people that got burned by the delivery mess this christmas. i want my $23 back, amazon. in that case, they made a promise it couldn't keep. both of these private sector companies blamed a website for the increased demand. no one is calling for u.p.s. and fedex to be called down as republicans called for the repeal of the obama affordable care act. there was a demand just like there was a demand for the christmas presents like the presents we were supposed to get christmas eve. $23. that's why the deadlines have been moved. there are still people trying to sign up for insurance. managing editor of think progress joins me now. i know i'm dealing with the extra $23 i paid extra to get my

presents. but do you see an irony in conservatives not jumping up to scream bloody murder over this failure of the private sector in the case of the shipping? >> i hear you on the shipping. i had wedding photos that didn't come until today. so i understand we're all very frustrated. but you're right. it is ironic. where are the hearings and the calls for accountability and all that? i think one of the benefits of having the government service and uspc, the delivery service there is there's more transparency. there's more clarity. you can just have more accountability in general. and i think when it comes to the health care law, you have a government structure. you have private insurers working hand in hand to deliver health care. but here, again, it's an example of the fact that private isn't always better. private sector has issues. the government has issues. and no one's calling for the repeal of fedex or u.p.s. people just want to deal with the problems.

unfortunately health care has become so politicized as soon as there's one mistake you have days of hearings and a push to get rid of the whole thing. >> and people forget how complicated and aggravating it is to sign up for insurance even at your job. it's always complicated. so these extensions have brought complaints. who's getting the extra grace period? >> these are the people who are already in line, who tried to sign up but were having an issue. they're given more time. it's ironic to me after months of hearing how difficult it is to sign up for coverage, of all the troubles people were having that the administration is being criticized for making it easier for people who were already in line to get coverage. they're getting hit no matter what they do. but certainly they're trying to kind of stretch the time, kbif people as much as possible for coverage that begins on january 1st. >> just by way of debunkment, if

people don't make the deadline, does that mean they cannot get health care at all? >> no. they'll be able to. this open enrollment period goes through march 31st. so if they sign up, for instance, in january, they'll get coverage the following month. so there's still a lot of time for people to go ahead and look at their options and enroll. and now hopefully it's easier than it was back in october. so, you know, i think the administration wants a strong number to begin in january when they release numbers for december which already look pretty good. and then moving forward to march, they think they can get close to that 7 million number, 7 million enrolled in the exchanges. >> and that 7 million in the exchange, that's not including medicaid enrollment. something like 4 million people already. why do you suppose that's undersold? >> you know, that's really a great story. you're right. the 4 million people, low income

americans who've never had coverage in the past who are the most likely to be uninsured now finally have insurance. i mean, it's undersold partly because there's this great i think distaste towards medicaid in a lot of political conversation. it serves low income americans, low income americans don't tend to vote a lot. it's not a big constituency for it. it's always being cut in one way or another, but it's very efficient. medicaid has been signing people up since 1965, so they know how to do it. they're good at it. clearly i think the exchanges have a lot to learn from the success of medicaid. >> and of course the exchanges are through private companies. >> the single payer system here, that's the one that's working. >> absolutely. igor, thank you so much for your time. truly appreciate it. >> thank you. >> all right. and that is "the ed show" for tonight. we really appreciate you joining us. "politicsnation" is coming up next with the reverend al sharpton. and that starts right now. rev, how you doing?

>> good, joy. how are you? good to see you. >> doing very well. hope you had a merry christmas. >> i did. we did. we spent all day feeding the homeless and the poor and seniors there in harlem. so had a great christmas. good to see you. and thanks to you for tuning in. i'm live tonight from miami. tonight's lead, republicans reveal their new year's resolution. block all economic solutions. in less than 48 hours unemployment benefits will run out for over a million americans. it's been decades since congress refused to renew long-term jobless benefits. when the unemployment rate was this high. this is not politics as usual. it's the result of a heartless, mean spirited party. and now families