>> the hangover ii, cooper, galifianakis, clinton. >> maybe he'll make the movie better. >> i learned that willie and hewitt shuler can talk in sports metaphors. >> is not half as good as willie geist, but ideal christmas present. >> parents, do not buy it for your children. >> there are lots of naked people in that book. >> stay tuned for the daily rundown with chuck and savannah. the newly elected members of congress arrive for their or yen tax. there's still a lame duck congress to get to first. that starts today. can anything substantial get done in the next few weeks? think tax cuts. plus, sarah palin.

reality star. celebrity. her new show debuted last night. savannah is off this morning. also, the president's afghanistan timeline. is their 2014 year, date, deadline now rellistic, and billionaires, much of them fu funded their own campaigns. let's get to the run down. we're going to start with the lame duck congress. veteran democrats are hoping to use their last few weeks to strike a deal on the republican tax cuts. president obama came back to the plane on air force one just minutes before landing to reiterate what his position is. we know what his position is. wants to make the middle class tax cuts under $250,000, permanent, then either get rid of the tax rates for the wealthiest or strike some sort

of deal. kelly o'donnell joins us now. look, we know a deal's going to be struck. david axelrod accidentally said that last week and then had to retract it. but we know there's going to be a doeal. is this a deal that will be struck thursday r when these guys get together at the white house? >> the president has said he will not negotiate in public until he gets to have that conversation. then you have another option of finding perhaps another number to be the line. could it be a million dollars as was suggested by chuck schumer. so thursday seems to be the most pivotal day in trying to solve this. can they get it done that quickly? we have thanksgiving around the corner and resolving this is one of the biggest issues for the the white house and congress. both want to say they got something out of the deal. >> so this stuff has to emanate from the house. we know it's a house bill and

these things on taxes. outgoing speaker nancy pelosi can probably get whatever bill the president needs, but is she going to wait to see what harry reid can deliver first before sort of making democrats ones that did survive re-election, making them vote on something that may not ever see the light of day? >> well, that makes a lot more sense now than it did before the election because there were times when pelosi wanted to check the boss fxes for her cau to say we got things done. cap and trade, health care, on and on. those were many, more tough votes for some members who will will be here for a short time. reid's got more votes today than he will in the new congress so working together now makes more sense. >> one other thing. big day, a trial starts on capitol hill today. charlie rangel and he's

defending himself. first of all, tv cameras are going to be open. this is going to be open to the public. >> it is. first time since 2002, james traf cant went on the trial. these are violation of house rules. 13 against now 21 term congressman, charlie rangel. he's been facing these ethical problems for quite some time. he had a legal defense, a very pricey one. they parted ways a couple of months ago and he is a lawyer himself. he may be defending himself today. >> defending your life. kelly o'donnell, quite the day on capitol hill. it's going to be quite the week. thanks very much. >> good to see you. "the new york times" reports this morning that the obama administration may have a new plan to end american combat mission in afghanistan by 2014. this as the president of afghanistan is calling on the united states to reduce its military presence in his

country. nbc's jim miklaszewski is live at the pentagon. now all of this has to do with the fact that the president is headed over to the nato conference in portugal later this week where this is going to get unveiled, correct? >> that's right and it's important to remember that korkt u.s. military and pentagon officials, this is not a plan to withdraw all forces by 2014, but instead, to get the afghan government up to the point at the end of 2014 where they can take over the responsibleties for security, governorance and development. a sizable force is likely to remain behind in afghanistan for some years to come much like the current situation we're looking at now in iraq. >> all right. and one other thing about what we've heard about 2014 versus 2011. is this a way to sort of begin is slide away from the 2011

deadline that the president hinted at earlier? >> there was a lot of confusion about that deadline next july. which quite frankly, you know, there was some ambiguity coming out of the white house and we think purposely so for some political considerations by the white house, but it's clear now that in july of 2011, that would be the beginning perhaps of a transition of handing over power to the afghan government in terms of providing security in some of the lesser contested provinces there, but not a withdrawal date. >> a beginning to start talking about a withdrawal. all right. >> the house that jack built. >> we're going to need a whole glossary of terms to understand what 2011 means. thank you. british couple has begun

enjoying their first day of freedom. for 388 days, paul and rachel chandler's family is refusing to discuss the price they paid for their freedom. where is the couple right now? >> in kenya, they're resting and recovering after 13 months of captivity. they say they'll be heading back to captivity, but there isn't space. they just learned rachel's father died. the last five years have been -- they traveled across central somalia. they did a press conference where they talked about how happy they were to be alive, then they were flown to kenya. they're an elderly couple. 57 and 60. though they are well, they are frail and bony. they were forced to spend time in solitary confinement and pleaded for their lives at

gunpoint on a number of occasions. they were moved around a lot. lived in tents, ate very little. they were told every ten days that they would be free ed. >> they won't talk about a ransom, but something was paid, was it not? >> that issue is really controversial. the british government is saying that category cal, they don't pay a release. the family refuses to discuss details because they're worried it could encourage other kidnappings. it's been reported that almost a million was paid in two installments. the first part was raised by the family during the summer and the rest came through private sources as well as the somali government. no official confirmation of that. >> all right, in our london bureau with us. thanks very much. big news ahead on wall street today. u.s. retail sales jumped 1.2% in october.

that's the biggest gain in seven months. with just 20 minutes to go before opening bell, let's check in with becky quick and see how the markets are reacting to that. this is pre any sort of holiday buzz. sort of post back to school. this is good stuff, no? >> this is very good news, chuck. this is also a surprise to wall street because they were only looking for a gain of about 0.7%. this is about twice what the street was expecting. people are back out, shopping and spending. it's before we even get to the holidays, so wall street's taking this in stride. it looks like we're going to have a stronger open this morning. so far, futures are up by about 0 points and it's because of what we're seeing. maybe the consumer is feeling healthier than expected, but also because of a big deal. about 7:30 this morning, we get the news that cat pillar is

buying a mining company. they're paying about $8.6 billion. that makes this the largest deal caterpillar has ever undertaken. it is a mining equipment company and they are riding this commodities boom. it also plays into the whole talk from the fed with qe 2, more money floating, pushing the commodities prices higher, this is a real bet from a dow component that this is something that is here to stay. all the mining stocks are higher on this news, check. >> we have always heard the president say how caterpillar goes so goes the country. becky quick, thanks very much. all right. more than 100 new members of congress learning the layout on capitol hill today.

they'll figure out that what a number means doesn't match the floor. all of those weird id owe sen tristies. what advice will they give? we will ask one. brian baird will join us. plus, sarah palin's alaska. what is her new show revealing? first, a look at the president's schedule. actually we'll do the vice president today. little downtime after that ten-day trip. he's got to swear in two new senators. chr could switching to geico really save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?

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we can come off the largest devastating loss for the democratic party in almost a century and to be able to put speaker pelosi as minority leader, it's unacceptable for our party. if it comes down to this coming week and she doesn't step aside, i will challenge her. >> that was heath shuler, who says he will throw his hat in the ring and challenge nancy pelosi. he is prepared to lose over 80 new republican members are kicking off freshman orientation this morning. many in swing districts, which went republican for the second time in 50 years. the retiring congressman from that district, brian baird, is with us. also, the author of the new book. we will get to that in a moment. thanks for joining us. since we started off with hearing your colleague there, heath shuler, saying he would like to see nancy pelosi, you

have made no bones about it. you said you would not be voting. if you had a vote, which you do not, you would not vote to return her. why? >> the results are the main reason. as heath said, you like at the outcome we had on election night. i think that calls for a change. a change that's more inclusive of the democratic party and that has a better ear for what's happening in the street. >> but is heath shuler really the best alternative? this is a guy from sort of a republican leaning district that doesn't speak for the progressive wing of the party well at all. there's some talk had she stepped aside, steny hoyer wouldn't have had the votes and we would have this very public, idealogical fight. >> the best would be somebody who does two things.

listening to all sides rather than just to people that don't agree with that person. >> name a candidate. >> i think steny would be a good choice. ron kind, that probably jinxes him with the speaker, but he is that kind of person. very bright, very articulate centrist who listens to all sides. >> why do you think we're not seeing more? heath shuler really represents a minority of the caucus. the blue dogs. a shrinking part of the caucus. i hear plenty of gripes, line quotes, anonymous house democrats that don't want to see nancy pelosi come back, but they admit they're going to vote for her. >> they're counting votes. they're going to say, if i'm going to lose, what's the point of coming out and saying i'm going to disagree with our minority leader. we need people in our leadership position who do not mind being

disagreed with and who invite that. we haven't had that for a while. i wish we would. >> i want to mention, president obama came back to the back of air force one before it landed yesterday. the audio's terrible. so i'm going read you the quote. he said -- you know, you came in, you've seen both sides of this. you came in in '98. a year of republicans overreaching. you saw republicans then do overreach in '05 and '06. they lose the majority cht did democrats overreach? >> i think so. number one priority was jobs and

two, jobs, if we were going to do health care, we should have done it in small bites, but jobs should have been the priority and i think we did overreach. now at the same time, i think there's credit deserved. had the democrats said we're going to let you fail, the democrats would have been swept into office then and now in huge numbers because the economy would have been in terrible shape. but we've created conditions that the republicans are going to benefit from. they've got good news. $1.8 trillion of money in capital and businesses. retail sales are going up. the economy is poised to recover, but now for the bad news. the deficit exceeded all discretionary spending. >> what did you think of the deficit report? >> i think they did a great job. senator simpson and erskine

bowles put forward a great proposal. we're going to cut taxes and balance and budget and maintain farm subsidies, you can't do all of it. >> let's talk about a vote you are still going to have. it has to do with the bush era tax rates. what would you like to see brought to the house floor that you'll be able to vote on? >> middle class tax cuts need to be sustained -- >> sustained or made permanent. >> sustained for now. there's no such thing as permane permanent. here's the reality. if the deficit exceeds all discretionary spending, republicans are talking about giving the top 20% of income, the richest people of america, 60% of the tax breaks and at the end of this month, unemployment benefits will expire. >> you would rather see something that kept the middle class tax rates and nothing --

>> we need to make some adjustment to the estate tax. some adjustment to estate, but higher level capital gains, higher percentage rates on the very, very wealthy. if we don't do this, we're passing that on to the kids and these folks who said, boy, we're going to lower the deficit, fight the debt. >> what's going to get voted on the floor? >> i hope we'll vote on something that extends breaks for a year, two, three. >> and then tax reform. >> right. >> are you going to run for office again? >> very possibly. >> are you going to do what jay ensley did? represent two. >> my goal now, i've got twin five and a half-year-old boys and they vote they want time with their dad. >> we hope to visit with you again, share your wisdom. up next, inside sarah palin's alaska.

is that what viewers and voters wanted to see from a potential 2012 presidential nominee? and $144 million on a failed bid for the u.s. senate. for governor. what else could meg whitman have bought with that cash? but first, our washington speak. statuary hall. the room south of the rotunda. it was the meeting place of the u.s. house for more than 50 years and now is an exhibitispa 50 states have contributed statues. we'll be right back. [ breathes deeply, wind blows ] something wrong with your squeegee, kid? uh, i'm a little sick. sick?! you gonna let a sore throat beat you? you're fearless! ahhhhhhhhh! atta boy!

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hour long political ad. that's what people are asking about sarah palin's new show which debuted last night on tlc complete with an actual mama bear. will see stee mama grizzly help her approval ratings? norah o'donnell watched the show. >> i was here late last night. the producers of the show say it's not a reality show. they say it's a family adventure show, but there's no doubt it is an advertisement for alaska and highlights her as this rugged outdoors woman. in the first episode, is former vice presidential nominee is is the ultimate frontierswoman. watching bears wrestle.

>> it was amazing to watch this grizzly protecting her cubs. >> fishing for salmon. >> who's going to catch the first fish? >> even scaling dangerous glaciers. >> you've always wanted to be a rock climber. >> a rock climber or rock star? >> will even a tv studio inside her home. her husband playing camera man and confidant. living next door is joe mcginnis. >> todd and his buddies got out there and built a 14-foot fence. this is what we need to do to secure our borders. >> tlc called the series a docku travelogue. >> this is giving campaign advertising for someone who

perhaps will have a presidential bid. >> palin's political standing has taken a beating recently. a new poll shows the number of americans viewing palin unfavorably hit a new high. 52% view her negatively, making her the most divisive off all the candidates in the 2012 republican field. but is a reality show the way to prove presidential rediness? karl rove said no -- palin's response -- >> those standards have to be high for someone who would want to run for president. >> palin invites the cameras inside her home although bristol is absent for the first episode, palin's feisty side kick takes center stage. >> mom is super busy.

she is addicted to the blackberry. >> and cameras catch a teenage boy trying to sneak upstairs with palin's 16-year-old daughter, willow. >> this gate is not just for trig. no boys go upstairs. >> later this month, palin embarks on a 16-state book tour and she's going to make two stops in iowa, one in south carolina. chuck, as you know, key states if she wants to run for president. >> she's skipping new hampshire. iowa and south carolina would be two of the first four she could do really, really well in. >> stay tuned. seven more episodes and a book tour. >> kate gosselin, i talked to her. >> will there be a crossover? sarah palin's got eight, jon and kate go to alaska. coming up, republicans making historic gains in state houses from coast to coast. what will the impact be and how

it could be felt for a decade to come. plus, what else could meg whitman, carly fiorina and the others have done with the millions they spent on the campaigns? and the president's advisers looking to iraq as the model for withdrawing from afghanistan. first, today's trivia question. what newly elected member of congress once worked as a referee for an nhl farm team. if you can ref hockey, you can go to conditionigress. >> ♪ >> ( laughing ) >> yay! no! no! no! no! aah!

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take control of the house. the bush era tax rates set to expire on january 1st and an ethics trial is now underway for charlie rangel. he is asked of 13 violations, among them, the failure to pay taxes on a home in the dominican republic, misuse of a department for political purposes and improper use of government letterhead. he has categorized those as mistakes, denying that any amounted to some form of corruption. he is defending himself as he does not have the money for the high priced lawyers he was once using. stocks are looking to bounce back after their biggest weekly drop in three months. retail sales posted their biggest gain in seventh months. it was a big surprise to a bunch of folks. a big jump in auto sells was a main driver. a major breakthrough for the search for the missing family in

ohio as 13-year-old sarah maynard has been found alive. she disappeared with her mother, brother and family friend. the teen was found bound and gagged in the home of a 30-year-old man by the name of matthew hoffman. he is in custody facing kidnapping charges. another square for qantas airlines. an emergency return was forced to sydney. there were no injuries. it's the fourth aborted qantas flight in two weeks. the airline says today's incident is unrelated to an engine that exploded earlier this month. in china, a fire engulfed a high-rise building in shanghai killing eight and injuries scores more. no cause has been given for the blaze. as we reported, campaigns

surpassed the $2 billion mark in spending for the first time in a midterm. that's just cameras. the dailybeast.com crunched the numbers from some of the most expensive races particularly from those who didn't succeed. meg whitman, carly fiorina and linda mcmahon shelled out $217 million in their failed races. whitman spending $144 million could have paid for the tuition for more than 23,000 california residents at uc berkeley or the cash could have funded more than 15 million school lunches and for you commuters, 217 million could have paid the toll for more than half of the 50 million vehicles crosses from the new jersey to new york over the george washington bridge every year. there you go. republicans won a whopping 680

seats. they'll soon control 54 state chambers, including 19 they flipped from democrats. and the biggest in fact might be felt in the redistricting fight leading into the 2012 elections. dan, on one hand, we have seen these big gains for republicans in the state houses, but what has changed from 2000 -- 2001 to 2011 in who controls the map? do republicans have more control than they had in 2001? >> yes, they have more control and they are home run prepared to do something about it this time than they were last time. we are now in such a period of hyperpartisan ship that every advantage a political party gains particularly on something as crucial as redistricting, will likely be taken to the max

in the way they apply it. >> we know tom delay did things in texas, took a couple of times they redid it. we saw a similar attempt in georgia. the last time around. where do we expect that republicans really think that they can just sort of block out democrats for a long period of time? z >> well, chuck, as you know, it's very difficult to project forward for an entire decade. a lot of things get run over by population changes and shifts. in the short-term, i think that particularly in states are losing seats, democrats are going to come out on the short end of that fight and in places where republicans see big gains, you know, texas is going to gain a lot of seats. what happened in texas two weeks ago, paul burka wrote

opportunity just political genocide. republicans can expand their control not simply of the legislative chambers of the white house, but also the the congressional delegation. i think you'll see efforts like that all around the country. >> you're going to have one thing different from 2001 where republicans controlled the entire process, which is the justice department. it was a republican-controlled justice department in 2001. it is democratic in 2011. what does that mean to these redistricting maps, virginia, north carolina, georgia and florida? >> it means that the justice department could step in and intervene under the voting rights act to protect some of those minority districts. the majority minority districts and we'll have to see how that's played out. in the past, republicans, i remember several decades ago when republicans cooperated with

nigh n minorities to try to do that. i don't know at this point what will happen at the state level depending on how these governors republican ledge republicans try to do things. the justice department role could be significant in some of these. the south is so consolidated that we're talking about a different calculus now. >> i know the state of florida passed a redistricting measure. how much impact is this going to have, florida's been one of the most famous gerrymandered states and yet it's always at a very republican -- republican control of the map process. how is that going to change in florida? >> to the extent that any reform takes some power away from the

legislature, you are likely to get a fairer map built out of it, but in a place like florida given what we know about the politics of the state, you would say that the republicans are likely to be advantaged at this point. >> all right, dan balz, nobody's watched more of these fights. it's going to be a mess. antho arizona and iowa are the stars because they do it so fairly. thanks very much. trivia time. what newly elected member of congress once worked as a referee for an nhl farm team? the answer is patrick meehan. he spent two years in the nfl and became a referee. coming up, with the exit strategy in afghanistan starting

to take shape, what lessons can be learn frd the u.s. withdrawal from iraq? plus, a fragile new government in background. the former u.s. ambassador to iraq joins us next. zblnd and twont, a special two-hour event, "beyond borderlines." it's hosted by lawrence o'donnell and maria teresa kumar. but first, the white house soup of the day, the president's back, so what do they welcome him home to? lentil soup. i guess they decided not to do me, so that would have been unfair. ♪ ♪ ♪

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surprisingly, he has had some interesting things to say. kelly, it's all yours. >> it begins with drama and we sort of expected that. charlie rangel has appeared before a committee of fellow house members. these are colleagues of his. evenly divides, republicans and democrats. he's facing 13 violations of house rules. not criminal conduct, but violations of house rules. he says he doesn't have a lawyer. his very expensive legal team left him in september. he hired them for a period of a couple of years. he says he has exhausted his funds, more than a million dollars and doesn't have the money to pay for a lawyer today. >> i object to the proceeding and i, with all due respect, since i don't have council so advise me, i'm going to have to excuse me from these proceedings because i have no idea what this man has put together.

over two years that was given to me last week and i just hope that the history of this committee in terms of fairness will be judged for what it is. so, with all due -- >> and when he is talking about this man, he is referring to a lawyer who works for the committee who would be acting like the prosecutor. it sounded like he was going to put forth a motion for summary judgment, basically saying there's enough evidence here to bring this to a complete resolution today. that's the feeling we got and certainly the feeling rangel got. one of the members said he was concerned about rangel not having a lawyer and asked the committee to step outside to discuss. then rangel talked with reporters ever so briefly. you can imagine the cameras and

reporters in that room. >> i wish i could make a statement, but as you know, they have gone into recess to consider my remarks and i don't think it's anything that i can say -- their response from my request. >> and just to remind people, charlie rangel has been accused of doing some things with his office raising funds that he shouldn't have, using government stationery, not paying for taxes, having rental apartments in new york that broke rental control. he says he has made some accounting errors, but never did anything to enrich himself and says the mistakes were not intended to be any kind of affront to the house.

chu chuck? >> all right. i have a feeling we're going to get some news in the next 30 or 40 minutes to see if the ethics committee will somehow grant a delay. thanks very much. well, let's move on to iraq. with 50,000 u.s. troops now left in that country, the obama administration is looking at how the u.s. withdrawal from iraq might be a model for afghanistan. this weekend at a nato summit in po portugal, the u.s. will reportedly present a plan for ending the u.s. combat mission in afghanistan by 2014. so, are there lessons to be learned from iraq? with us now to discuss this and the formation of a new iraqi government, the former u.s. ambassador to iraq. i have to start with the news of the weekend and that is this on again off again agreement to form a new government. it seems as if this is a lot shakier than the administration presented. i want to play for you a sound bite from senator lindsey graham from over the weekend on his

concerns about what happened. >> i think i'm in the wing that wants to look outward and have effective engagement throughout the world, so that's why i'm glad to see that president obama's backing off this idea of leaving in 2011, talk about 2014 and make everything iraq. mr. allowy, the biggest vote getter in the recent elections, who is a shia, who married up with sunnis to give a different investigation for iraq, has said this new government is a joke. if he feels that, that's disappointing. it's very important we get a government formed in iraq that's inclusive, that represents the results of the iraqi election, and that is a reliable partner with the united states and the region. so i've got concerns about this new government, but we need to stay involved effectively involved, and i'm in the camp of the republican party that wants to work with president obama, to end it well in iraq, to get it right in afghanistan, contain

iran through effective sanctions. >> ambassador, do we have a fair government that has been formed in iraq? >> well, first of all, we have a government that includes soon new is, shia, and kurds, including mr. alowi's party. the fact he has taken off for lon do done and doesn't like the agreement, everyone else is engages on this including senior sunni politicians. so, yes, indeed, i think we've got a way forward. it hasn't been pretty. it sure hasn't been an efficient amount of time. it's gone on for eight months but i think we're moving forward. >> you know, there have been some concern by some of our folks on the ground that said, hey, you can't rule out violence following the formation of this government. what's your sense of the situation, of the security situation, on the ground right

now? >> well, first of all, the security situation is better. it's got a lot of problems. and you're quite right, you can't rule out violence. but it's all politics, all the time there. and so politicians are meeting. president barzani from kurdistan was down in iraq dealing directly with the issuesingssue the same room prime minister al ala maliki. they're working this through. it's good news. as someone who worked it myself, it's frustrating, but frankly, listening to some of your descriptions of the u.s. congress, i'm not sure it's a whole lot different. >> fair enough. i want to go to afghanistan. we know there's going to be a plan presented to nato in the coming week. is iraq a model here? it's the surge and then withdrawal, what happened here, is this a working model, in your mind, as an analyst.

i know i'm not presenting you as an expert on the situation on the ground in afghanistan, but is this a fair model? >> believe me i know more about afghanistan than i ever wanted to. i can tell you what has been done in iraq is indeed a model in the following sense, after the security situation was calmed down it became politics, and the u.s. was very much engaged in getting various sides who don't like each other a lot, don't exchange new year's greetings but nonetheless sitting down in the same room and trying to work stuff out. i think that process has actually begun in afghanistan. and i think the inspiration for it is from iraq. >> and i've got ask you one final question, afghanistan, we have karzai saying he wants to see some troops pulled out fairly as soon as, a presence lowered sooner, we hear about 2014. is karzai political cover for general petraeus and president obama to start pulling some

troops out in 2011 but then leaving a decent sized force through the end of the mission? >> i think karzai has a similar dilemma that prime minister maliki has had over the last four years. he needs to show he's in charge. 4 needs to show he knows what he's doing and leading the country and it's tough to do when you have americans all over the place talking about what they're getting done rather than what he's getting done. his effort to try to show that, in fact, the u.s. is leaving, is part of his political process, at the same time he wants us around because of the security situation in afghanistan still very dicey. >> like anything, it's, all politics is what you're saying. ambassador chris hill, sorry to cut you short here. we'll get you back on again. good to see you. >> thank you. >> and we'll be right back.

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that does it for a monday edition of "the daily rundown." keep track of us all day on msnbc with the latest on charlie rangel. we'll see you tomorrow. i'm meteorologist bill karins with your business travel forecast on this monday. the troublesome weather's in the deep south from new orleans to atlanta. that's who's going to see heavy rain today, tonight and tomorrow, that will move through the carolinas and up the east coast. airports are okay today, boston, new york. but tomorrow's the troublesome day. in the great lakes and the west, the only problem area is seattle. mom, new shoes?

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