word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> i'm chris hayes in for lawrence o'donne. in 2008 voters wanted change and they got president obama. republicans are now in charge of the house. that's pretty much where the complaining stops. >> this was a difficult election to say is the least. >> after the ugly campaigning, a triumphant gop and the tea party revolutionaries. >> we've come to take our government back. >> democrats and republicans will decide who will lead their congress. >> our great leader nancy pelosi. >> joining reid, mcconnell and boehner. >> ladies and gentlemen, the next speaker of the house, john boehner.

>> look at that, democrats stick by nancy pelosi by a 3 to 1 margin. >> why are you the best person? >> because i'm -- >> besides her being targeted -- >> i'd like to see what your ratings would be. >> and instead of change from the republicans. >> president obama's bipartisan meeting to talk about tax cuts and other issues has been postponed. white house said that mitch mcconnell and john boehner requested the delay. >> what happened? you guys are just too busy tomorrow? >> speaker elect boehner, you may want to check with him on that. >> are you serious? >> if the president invites you, you postpone and you get there. >> the risk is on the republican side. >> stay humble. >> for the first time now, our republican colleagues are going to share in the responsibility. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes filling in for lawrence owe 'donnell. house representatives voted today to stick with nancy pelosi as their house leader. >> i'm proud to be part of this

leadership team, our consensus is we go out there. it's about fighting for the middle class. i look forward to doing that for this great leadership team. >> pelosi won the democratic leadership by 150 to 43. overcoming a challenge if you could call it that. from heath schuler. >> it wasn't about our -- winning or losing this race, it was about truly making a difference within our caucus, to ensure that the moderates are heard within the caucus. and that we have a seat at the table. and i think that's what most of america would ask, that our caucus move in that direction. >> on the republican side, members elected john boehner as house speaker and eric kantor as majority leader when the next congress gets sworn in in january. the white house had hoped to host a bipartisan meeting, but had to postpone it until november 30th. republicans said they had a

scheduling conflict. joining me now are congressman rob andrews and congressman allen grayson. gentlemen, thank you so much for being on tonight. >> good evening. >> i want to ask you about this leadership vote, there was an earlier vote to postpone the leadership vote. that came out with 68 people voting to postpone. it might symbolize there's a bit more dissatisfaction with the leadership team than was reflected in the final vote. what do you think about that? >> i think what the american people want to do is talk about getting back to work, getting through this housing foreclosure crisis. i don't think they want us to spend another two weeks arguing with each other about political events in washington. most of us felt strongly, let's choose our leaders, get back to work. >> congressman grayson, what kind of action steps do you want to be taken to deal with the foreclosure crisis?

i know it's been particularly bad in your district and obviously in your home state of florida? >> 68% of the people in orlando, which i represent owe more than they own on their homes, and i'm one of them. my mortgage is higher than the value of my home. in a situation like that, people are looking for rekpoevry in the mortgage market. one thing that has to happen, we have to continue to have the government underwrite mortgages. the government has been underwriting 95% of all mortgages in the past two years in the united states. the republicans want to take government out of that business, which means there will be no underwriting of mortgages in the united states. we're looking for ways to spur the housing market, so, for instance, we can bring back the housing tax credit which expired. and we can do other things like that, to encourage and coax the market back to life. >> it's interesting, there's some polling numbers i want to give you gentlemen, because i think it reflects on where the public is, vis-a-vis congress. which is one of the least trusted institutions in the country. there's a new nbc wall street journal poll 22% believe there

will be real change, 73% believe there will be some, or not that much at all. i think that's a sense of the way congress works. do you think that's what those numbers show? and how do you convince people that is not the case? >> i think you pass laws that would actually fix real problems like allen grayson just talked about, there's a reason why we didn't pass some of them in the past two years, his name is mitch mcconnell. >> yeah. >> there were proposals that would have helped a lot of those people in allen's district to get out from the crisis they're in. they could fix the country's problems or put us in a political fix from which we could not escape. i really do believe they chose partisan advantage in the election over fixing the country's problems this is what you get. >> there's clearly a kind of structural incentive for

republicans to obstruct. i think they've been essentially doing that, and then rewarded at the polls, i wonder if you think -- if you can see on the horizon what would change those political incentives. either of you, it does sort of seem like they chose this tact where they were going to do anything they could to vote against the president of the democratic party. why change? >> well, of course, it will change when they're punished for it. i think what people are going to soon realize, the reason why republicans hate it so much, they're so bad at it. they're going to drive the country back into the ditch the president talks about so often and maybe this time over the cliff. >> i think there's a change that's already occurred for at least one republican. one of their new members from maryland ran on repealing the health care bill. got up at the freshman orientation and demanded his government funded health care start now, and not when he's sworn into office. so he's obviously had a conversion about the government

sponsored health care, now he wants it. >> anyone who gets the bill for cobra has that conversion. >> well, i think his comments were cobra like a snake. this guy ran the repeal in the health care law. the first vote he casts is going to be to take health insurance away from waitresses and bus drivers and people working in supermarkets. he wants his right now paid for by the taxpayers. go figure. >> can we talk about the tax cuts for a moment. that seems like agenda a right now in terms of what's going to happen or not happen. what is the sentiment of the caucus? i mean, speaker pelosi, soon to be minority leader pelosi has been pretty firm about it, the white house has signalled maybe a compromise. what do you want to see happen? do you want just a vote on the middle class tax cuts? >> well, i think we need to make it clear to people what the choices are? the choices between president obama's middle class tax cuts and the republican george w. bush tax cuts for the rich.

the average millionaire gets an $85,000 tax cut under the republicans plan. if you just took that money, which is $100 billion a year, just for the millionaires in this country you could create 3 million jobs creating a decent wage, $30,000 a year. do the marriage. we're allowing each millionaire with u.s. government tax money to buy a class ae mercedes-benz each year. >> i think we should take a separate vote on retaining the tax cuts for the middle class, and then a separate vote on retaining them for the wealthier people in the country. let's see where people stand. the idea of borrowing money from the chinese and others so the wealthiest 2% can get tax cuts, i'm not for that. >> we have some polling on that, there's a 49% are saying they don't want tax cuts for the wealthy. 46% want to see the tax cuts for the wealthiest.

what's -- how do you gain this out in terms of what goes over to the senate. this has been an issue in the lame duck session. >> i think one of the mistakes we've made the last few years. we have senate phobia. we worry too much about what they're going to do. pass what i just said, put it in their laps and let the public evaluate what they're going to do. let's do that. >> what do you think about that? >> i think what we're seeing here is class warfare, where the rich are winning. the rich have been winning this class warfare for a long time now. we have republicans say they would hold up extension of people's unemployment benefits, benefits that are keeping people in their houses, not living in their cars, just so we request extend the tax cuts for the rich. what are they thinking? let's ask expose them once and for all. >> congressman grayson, you're going to be leaving congress after serving two terms.

what surprised you most about the way congress works. being an outsider, being inside it, and seeing it up close. >> i think the senate is utterly dysfunctional. but the house under nancy pelosi reflected a head and a heart. this is someone who created an environment that was a supportive environment. she never took out the rubber hose on anybody, as far as i can see, yet consistently whenever she needed those 218 votes -- in order to accomplish what president obama wanted to accomplish, she got those votes. and to me, that says it all. she has a head and a heart. if not for her, if not for flancy pelosi herself, we would not have health care for all americans today. >> i think that's true. >> thank you so much for joining me this evening, really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. coming up, republicans say they're going to ban earmarks in their quest to solve the debt problem.

what they didn't say is banning earmarks won't solve the debt problems. a debate on what they are and where they should be ahead. senator murkowski has just proclaimed her victory and will join us for her first interview next. >> i want to thank each and every one of you. i want to thank all alaskans for helping us make history. it is truly, truly, truly remarkable. e been bad at this in the past, so i've come up with some mnemonic devices to help me learn your names. hello, a "penny" saved is a "penny" earned. oh, that's 'cause fedex ground helps you save money. that's right, penny. do you know ours? heavens to betsy. dwayne the bathtub. magic wanda. yeah! what's mine? uh, you're a dan fool. oh. it's just a device, dan. you can't take it personally. yeah, i suppose.

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senator lisa murkowski has beaten the odds and defeated joe miller in the alaska senate race. she declared victory moments ago, you'll see her first interview in a few minutes. a fight over earmarks, is it just a waste of time? pendabilit, innovative technology, and inspired design.

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the coalition to ban earmarks led by tea party favorite jim demint scored a major victory on monday when mitch mcconnell agreed to reverse his position. >> make no mistake, i know the good that has come from the projects that i've helped support throughout my state. i don't apologize for them, there is simply no doubt that this practice has caused americans to view it as a waste of out of control spending that every republican is determined to fight. >> republican senators met last night and agreed to a two-year nonbinding earmark moratorium. they join president obama and

john boehner who also supports the ban. senate democrats haskill and udall are still holding firm in their support for the funding mechanism. >> i believe we have a constitutional obligation responsibility to do congressionally directed spending. i do not feel comfortable turning that over to the people downtown. >> joining me now, democratic representative from ohio, tim ryan, and vice president of taxpayers for common sense, steve ellis. gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. thank you. >> you've been very vocal about earmarks. i want to quote you something senator murkowski said today. she said an earmark moratorium will not reduce the level of spending by one cent or decrease the deficit. we recognize we need to stop out of control spending. the logic seems pretty impeccable to me when it seems we're talking less than one half

of 1% of the budget. >> it's still $15.9 billion. and clearly, you're not going to get one to one complete savings. if you eliminate earmarks, you try to reduce some of the spending and reduce the scope of the budget to that same level, you're going to save billions of dollars. we have a big hole and we're going to do everything we can. congress should be looking in the couch cushions to save money. >> it seems to me the problem isn't actually the level of spending, but the degree to which the mechanism is open to abuse. i mean, it doesn't seem to me you're going to reduce spending? >> you're not going to reduce spending, i think we've made changes over the last couple years where this process is transparent.

these earmarks in the middle of the dark night. everything has to be up on the website. we post all of ours. it's not going to save money. but the bottom line is this, i'm an elected representative from youngstown, ohio, akron, ohio. there's nobody out in downtown washington looking out for the regional development for youngstown, ohio. we've had success bringing back targeted earmark business for bioinnovation, hooking up with the cleveland clinic. some real key things we're investing in, that somebody in downtown washington has no idea what we're trying to do. so to take that responsibility away from an elected representative i think is wrong. >> but to push back on that for a moment. i mean, the bureaucrats downtown are presumably -- you know, we're talking about essentially the machinery of the executive branch. it's the civil servants and the appointed people in the executive branch who are making decisions in the other cases, right?

and we think those are legitimate. why is this different? >> i think it's okay for them in the general sense. i think it's important for a locally elected representative in the united states of america in 2010 to be able to say, if this money's going to get spent anyway, why can't a locally elected representative take a small portion of that money as you said, half of 1% of the entire budget and this money's going to be spent anyway, why shouldn't they have the responsibility of carving out a small piece. i'm on the appropriations committee for example. we steer billions and billions and billions of dollars. and to say that somehow a locally elected representative can't just shave off a few million dollars for a targeted investment in their own congressional district, i think goes against the constitution of the united states. and doesn't save any money. you're elected to advocate on behalf of your district, and as long as it's clear and transparent in the american

people, in everyone else, and watchdog groups can see what you're doing, and posting on your website, i think it's legitimate legitimate. >> what do you have against youngstown? >> i have nothing against youngstown. absolutely nothing. so, no. actually, the issue is, as the congressman points out, he's on the appropriations committee. the vast majority of the lawmakers are not on the appropriations it committee. we're making funding decisions not based on project merit but political muscle. money that's going to youngstown is money that's not available to somewhere else, and it's money that wasn't available to congressman ryan or youngstown before he got on the appropriations committee. we certainly supported every change that's gone on as far as making the information more public and more available. but it's still not transparent. it's on 500 different websites if you want to try to track all that information. we don't know why one project

gets picked and another one gets left behind. lastly, a couple years ago, congress bought 10 new c-17s that the air force didn't want. if we had cut that from the budget and allowed it to go to deficit reduction, we would have saved billions dollars. you can save money by cutting earmarks, it's not just money that's going to be spent automatically anyway. 1234 i want to close -- we have a short amount of time, senator graham said, i maintain the right to seek funding to protect national security or where jobs of south carolina are at risk. in other words, i reserve the right to earmark even though i've voted against this moratorium. if we're going to be back here in six months, what do you predict? >> senator mcconnell put his finger up to the political winds to decide to support this.

it's going to be up to the american public, people who are concerned about earmarks and having more transparent spending to hold congress accountable and actually make sure we're spending our precious tax dollars wisely and appropriately. >> congressman ryan you get the last word. >> two things, you take the pentagon, for example, it's good to have elected representatives outside of the bureaucracy of the pentagon picking specific projects that they say by being out in the field this is something that the war fighter needs. this is an investment that we need. and i think it's important to have that, and secondly, i do sit on the appropriations committee, and i do have a slight advantage and have in the past for directing some money. i don't sit on the energy and commerce committee, so, you know, someone there has the ability to basically amend legislation, opportunities that i don't have. if you're on a different committee, have you different opportunities to do different things. i think it's been critical for our community with the investments we've been able to

bring back. youngstown is one of the top ten best cities to start a business, in part because we have been able to bring some money back home and stimulate the local economy. >> congressman tim ryan represents youngstown, ohio. gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. >> thank you. write-in candidate for senate in alaska, lisa murkowski has just declared victory over the candidate endorsed by sarah palin and it appears she will keep her seat. there could be another financial crisis headed our way. thanks to banks trying to make a quick buck. one of the lawyers issuing the warning and trying to stop it from happening joins us ahead. [ heather ] businesses need a reliable financial partner. one who can stay in sync with their moves. my job at ge capital is to get bobcat all the financial and business support they need. we provide financing for every bobcat dealer in north america. together, we've rolled out over 100,000 machines to small businesses all over the country

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in politics, you can argue about a lot of things, taxes, the role of government, foreign policy. there's one thing you can't argue, math. unless you're joe miller. the math is now completely against him. with only hundreds of ballots left to count, lisa murkowski leads miller by over 10,000 votes, that includes about 8,000 votes miller is contesting. even if he got all the ballots left to count he cannot win. just moments ago, senator murkowski declared victory against the sarah palin-backed tea party candidate. the senator put her re-election hopes in the hands of voters staging an unprecedented write-in campaign.

the results are even more unprecedented than the campaign itself. the murkowski campaign posted a message online today thanking supporters. they said you couldn't do it, but you proved them wrong. miller's campaign site still reads, it's not over yet. joining me now in her first interview since claiming victory, the first senate candidate to win a write-in campaign since strom thurmond, lisa murkowski. thank you for taking the time to talk with us tonight. >> thank you. it's an historic moment here in alaska, so we're excited. >> it is. i want to take a minute to listen to what your opponent joe miller had to say earlier today. >> we also want to make sure that going-forward, that the state of alaska imposes the statutory standard, we don't end

up having in the future, the same sort of thing we had in this race, where you have an unelected bureaucrat that makes the call. we have one super voter right now, that's applied inconsistently the standard they developed just 36 hours before the count began. less cautiously optimistic obviously. but also true to ensure the integrity of the state of alaska. >> i'm sorry, joe, do you want a recount? >> we may ask for a hand count of our ballots as well. >> does it not sound to me like someone who's ready to give you a phone call, concede the race. >> all i can tell you is, over 100,000 alaskan voters have correctly filled in the oval and written in lisa murkowski, that's a pretty affirmative act of the electorate here in this state. and joe is saying, well -- trying to blame this, that or the other thing. the fact of the matter is, even

if we were to throw out every one of the ballots he has challenged, he still loses by the count. so he had said several days ago, that if the numbers don't line up, he's not going to drag this out. he's going to have to make that call. but alaskans have clearly spoken and they have put it in writing. >> so you lost the primary. and largely because conservatives mobilized against you. the gop establishment sort of ran away from you, there was talk about you not being given your committee assignments. i wonder what your relationship is like with mitch mcconnell and other members of congress as you head back to washington. is it going to be business as usual when you get back? >> well, i've been in the senate now for eight years. i developed some great friendships, i was back there this week. there were a lot of hugs and congratulations, and good strong showings of support not only for my republican colleagues, but for my colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle.

i'm working for all alaskans, i have to be working with everybody in the united states senate to accomplish our goals for alaska's agenda. i'm looking forward to doing just exactly that. >> now that you've declared victory, i want to get your take on legislating going-forward. there's two items that are going to be coming before you in this lame duck. one is going to be a vote. carl levin's announcing they're going to try to bring a vote to the floor on the don't ask don't tell policy. and the dream act, which would allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for financial aide and go to college. do you support the repeal of dadt and the dream act? >> based on what i've heard, i'm not convinced we go to either one those issues in this lame duck. there's a lot of contention, obviously in terms of what will be on that schedule that's still being hammered out now. those are two areas that have

their own level of controversy and discussion. it remains to be seen where we go with it. we have a lot of work to be doing, that's for sure. >> they are important issues, though. which side are you on? >> i'm sorry, i've got background. >> do you support whether the book comes up or not? do you support the dream act whether they vote now or a year from now? >> i think that what we need to be doing right now in this lame duck is making sure we're focusing on the issues that the american people expect us to be dealing with. that's jobs and the state of the economy. i'm not convinced that the dream act comes up. i'm not convinced that don't ask don't telecoms up. i think we need to work on keeping the focus on the bush tax cuts that are going to be expiring. we have that obligation to be doing that.

i don't think we're going to be dealing with some of these other issues that bring again their own set of controversy, and will just get us wrapped around the axle trying to push something flew at the very end of a very short session, when we have an awful lot on our plate when it comes to dealing with jobs and our economy. >> senator murkowski from alaska who has just declared victory in her senate race. thank you for joining me, appreciate it. >> thank you. bristol palin is working it on the dance floor, mama grizzly said she is toying with the idea of running for president. it's the biggest financial scandal no one raised an alarm about until now. what you don't know about the foreclosure crisis still to come. ♪ ♪ [ growls ]

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who would you pick to teach the youth of america about the virtues of abstinence and safe sex? how about bristol palin and mike "the situation" sorrentino? bad idea. unless the idea was to convince teens into staying away from anything remotely sexual. they start with sit and b. palin. and points out the word abstinence includes the word abs. >> excuse me, miss, have you ever had a situation with the official situation? >> excuse me, sit. >> oh, snap, b. palin. >> you mean to tell me girls actually fall for that line? >> i mean, come on, if those words don't work, i have the situation. >> i hope you're committed to

safe sex as you are about abs. >> i know you're serious about that abstinence stuff, but b. palin, are you not going to hook up before you're married? >> for real. >> for real for real? >> for real for real for real? >> i just want to make sure if you end up in a situation -- >> i'm not getting myself into another situation. i know how hard it is to be a teen parent. >> i totally respect that. i respect abstinence, it has the word abs in it. >> i'm worried about you and practicing safe sex. >> i practice a whole lot. >> i'm talking about the safe part. >> we got the safe part down pat. magnums. i might be able to spare one. >> i'm good, i'm avoiding situations.

>> the situation's under control. >> well, i'm glad we agree on one thing. pause before you play. >> pause before you play, that's the most important thing. >> you have to think before you play. >> by the way, we counted for you, some variation of the word situation is used 18 times. i can't believe you're still watching after that video. speaking of the palins, sarah palin says she's going to run for president. she wants trustworthy people on her campaign this time. we already knew subtlety was not her strong suit. banks cutting corners, forging documents all to make fast profits, it could cause another financial meltdown. mom, have you seen my green shirt? ♪

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foreclosures by the nation's banking industry gives the ticking timebomb that could bring about an even bigger financial collapse. we'll talk to alabama attorney bubba grizzly who's taking on the financial industry in court. and later, palin industries in full effect. is this a campaign rollout of a new product or a new product rollout or is there no longer a difference? [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is norma. who's inundated with all the information coming at her concerning the medicare part d changes this year. so she went to her walgreens pharmacist for guidance and a free personalized report that looks at her prescriptions and highlights easy ways for her to save. because norma prefers her painting to paperwork.

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the past? think again. in fact we're still trying to digest the rotten fruits left by big banks and their fraudulent mortgages. we're starting to see how poisonous our financial system is at the core. it turns out that underneath that little iceberg tip of exposed evidence lies a fraud so gigantic it literally cannot be contemplated by our leaders for fear of admitting that our financial system is corrupted to its core, with our big banks filled with mortgage-backed assets. democrats in the house took some action today by upholding the president's veto that would have made it harder for homeowners to stop foreclosures. they were opposed by all but five republicans. that's just the beginning of what has to be done. and joining me now from pensacola, florida. the man on the front lines of

the battle, bubba grimsley. thanks for being with me tonight? >> it's nice to be here. >> i spoke to you last week. people have been monitoring a little bit -- they hear there's these robo signers out there, and fraudulent foreclosures. what is the fundamental issue at the core of this, when you go into court and a bank is trying to -- a servicer is trying to foreclose on someone, what are you finding? >> the biggest thing we're finding is that the banks have done a really good job as of late at arguing that everybody that's in a foreclosure is a deadbeat. we're not finding that. we haven't had anybody show up so far and say, hey, we don't want to pay for our house, and we're seeing in the press that you can get a house for free, could you help us with that? what we're finding is that everybody that comes to us has a

similar story that they were going along with life and something got in the way. they tripped somewhere along the sidewalk of making their house payment. the next thing they know, it's snowballed into some enormous debt, they can't imagine how we got to that number, now the bank is foreclosing own them. if that's not the situation then they wanted a modification, and the bank told them we can't because you're not in default yet. so if you want a modification, you need to stop making your house payments for 90 days and then we'll give you a modification. oddly enough the foreclosure takes place before the bank ever gets around to modify the loan. >> wait, you're saying, the servicers are telling people that are current on their mortgages that were underwater on their homes, trying to get aide through a government program to modify the terms of their loans, they're being

instructed to stop making payments, to become behind in arrears on their mortgage so that they can qualify for a modification, and then when they do that, they get foreclosed on? >> absolutely. happens every day. and the foreclosure folks, when you get involved with a servicer and the servicer tells you, don't worry, you're working with us on a hamp modification, you can disregard the foreclosure notices. the next thing you know, the sheriff is knocking on your door saying you need to move out. and people are saying, wait a minute, i'm working on this hamp notification program, and the bank knows nothing about it. >> foreclosures seem like a bad deal for everyone. the family loses out, the bank then owns a home that presumably it doesn't really want to own, it's got to sell it, investors aren't necessarily happy. why are there all these foreclosures that the servicers are creating out of junk late fees or deceptive practices? what is the financial incentive

here? >> well, the servicer isn't making any money off servicing the loan. it's kind of a break even business in the best of times. but the big money in servicing is when you forecloesh on the house. now, i know there was testimony yesterday at the corning ap oversite panel that's just not true. if you get into depositions with servicers and find out what their fees are, the real fees come in the broker/purchase opinions and the appraisals that we do once you fall behind. and the fee itself, and what you're going to find is that -- go look at bankruptcy court. you're going to go to bankruptcy court and find out that everybody in chapter 13 has a motion for relief of stay file that at some point in their bankruptcy. and what half of those folks do, is they pay that 800 or 1200 or

$8,000 fee depending on what jurisdiction you're in, whether it's a judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure stay, and the servicer gets that money when they file that motion for relief of stay, and then they get another bite at the apple a few months down the road. so when they file their second -- >> they're rolling up these fees the whole way through. finally and quickly here, people hear this and say i'm sure this guy has a few clients. how big is this problem? how big is the fraud we're talking about here, based on what you're seeing in terms of foreclosure court? >> well, what we're seeing is that in every one of these loans, it's a running joke in our small circle of lawyers that do this, that if we ever find a securitzed loan that was actually done correctly, the bank followed the contract on their side that we would bronze it and hang it on the wall.

we have roughly 200 cases filed throughout the state of alabama, from one end to the other, and we haven't found a case yet that we had to turn down because the bank had everything correct. >> bubba grimsley a real estate attorney who's taking on the big banks and foreclosure fraud. thanks for coming on and explaining this. the former half term governor of alaska has a reality show, a job as a tv pundit and a new book coming out. why would she give it all up to run for president? [ coughs ]

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since quitting her boring government job as the governor of alaska, sarah palin has

earned plenty of cash, about $10 million according to forbes. other estimates put it even higher at $12 million. it's a lot more than what she was making as governor for sure. from her book "going rogue" to $100,000 speaking engagements her tlc realitity show, not to mention her job at fox news, quitting her job proved lucrative. >> if you ran for president, could you beat barack obama? >> i believe so. >> then there's also this hint in an interview the new york times magazine did for their upcoming edition. palin says, i'm engage in the internal deliberations candidly and having that discussion with my family, because my family is the most important consideration here. yes, the organization would have to change. i'd have to bring in more people. more people who are trustworthy.

is she really going to run in 2012? or is she just using her political celebrity to cash in? jing joining me now, alex wilder. how are you? >> good, thanks for having me on. >> i'm of the theory that basically what she's doing is monday tiesing her celebrity, and a key part of monetizing that celebrity is everyone to agree on the fiction that she is still a viable political figure, because that's sort of the punitive foundation of her celebrity, but that she's actually not going to run for president. why am i wrong about that? >> i think if you look at the behavioral patterns, they're pretty sophisticated for someone who's just putting up a front. she has over $1 million on hand in cash at sarah-pac. if you look at the expenditures through the third quarter of last year, she's spent $1 million on consultants. and only $250,000 on republican candidate candidates.

then you look at how she endorsed, winners in iowa, new hampshire and south carolina which are all key states for a republican nominee. i think this is someone who is being very calculated. sarah palin has shown herself to be very unconventional in other areas of her life. with this, she's taking seriously. there's a real possibility that the dog sled has left the building on it. >> let's talk about the endorsements for a second. i think the record there is pretty mixed, in terms of people she endorsed. there was a christine o'donnell endorsement, that came in late. and that did not pan out very well. >> there's the joe miller endorsement, which has blown up in her face. what is the thinking behind the strategy she's pursued. if there is a long-term political strategy in the endorsements she made. >> she picked people who were moderate -- terry branstad is now the winner, he did not need her endorsement. he was up by the time she endorsed him.

nikki haley, her endorsement made all the difference. sarah palin has r7s in high places if she decides to run for 2012. >> because she has this book coming out, we're seeing her talk to talk to members of the lame stream media as opposed to communicating through facebook. i'm a little upset about this, because here's what it says to me. it says to me as a politician, there's no incentive to actually communicate with media outlets with whom you do not share a business model, an audience, a political perspective. once you have the market incentive to sell a product then have you to go talk to people like the new york times magazine. that seems like a really bad precedent.

>> i'm not trying to judge, but i think a lot of the stuff that's happened vis-a-vis sarah palin and the media is a disturbing precedent. my favorite quote in the new york times sunday magazine story that's coming out this weekend, she says, i just tweet, that's how i roll. it's sort of like -- >> did she then say hash tag real talk. >> she speaks in hash tags. no, i think, this is someone who's become arguably one of the most if not the most powerful voice in the gop via facebook twitter and limited messaging with conservative outlets. she herself in the article in the new york times says she wants to talk to more outlets, she wishes she was out there, they maish they make the fact that they want to do more interviews. i think, you know, it's curious she gave the new york times an hour long sitdown.

it's unprecedented as far as palin media. maybe that's to your point that she's trying to sell more books. or maybe it's because she's realizing as a political candidate, she needs to engage with something other than fox news. >> looking ahead, if you're right and i'm wrong. if she is actually going to run. and i would also notes that running is going to be complicated from the prospective of her balance sheet. she can't run for president while she has all these sort of conflicts. we'll see whether she just disengages. what should we look for her to be doing strategically, politically in the next few months, very quickly? >> well, i think one thing is,and this is -- she doesn't have a campaign staff. she doesn't have a press secretary. she doesn't have field operations, she's going to have to start having to hire staff. she's going to have to a real people she can trust, but designated persons that are on staff that can really manage a campaign.