perhaps to share some views of the over 50 years of friendship that we've enjoyed. >> by unanimous consent, mr. lewis is now recognized. >> thank you, madam chair, mr. ranking member, members of the committee. i want to first state that i'm here to say a few words about my dear friend, my colleague and my brother charlie rangel. i must state up front that i don't know the facts in this case. i've known mr. rangel for more than 50 years. he's a committed and dedicated hard-working patriotic american. he fought in korea for our country. he returned home and got an education and went off to law school. he served the city of new york

and the state of new york. he's a hard-working public servient. when the call went out in 1965 to come to selma, alabama, to help people who have been standing in unmoveable line, who cannot register to vote. he came to selma and walked with us including dr. dr. martin luther king jr. all the way from selma, to montgomery alabama, for the right to vote. he sponsored and passed progressive legislation to end the vicious and evil system in south africa. he's always been a champion for those who have been left out. and left behind. he had traveled in breadth of

america for those who didn't have a voice. my colleagues, i must tell you that charlie rangel is a good and decent man. i know this man. i thinkç i know his heart. i want to thank you, madam chair, mr. ranking member, and members of the committee for allowing me an opportunity to say just a few words. >> representative john lewis there of georgia, a long-time friend of representative charlie rangel for many years. >> and there you're hearing charlie rangel addressing now his committee that is going to decide on punishment for his conviction on ethics charges, 11 of them. andrea mitchell takes over from here. andrea? >> thanks so much, contessa, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. president obama calls it a national security imperative asking vice president biden to

work night and day to get the nuclear arms treaty ratified before more republican senators are sworn into office at the beginning of this year. first let's go to luke russert on the hill to bring us up to date on what's going to happen next with charlie rangel. we've of course looked at seeing the penalty face with john lewis testifying to the character and history of his friend charlie rangel, not to the facts of this case. >> reporter: it was unexpected to see john lewis next to charlie rangel. he decided john lewis next to him would be who he would bring to this sanctions hearing. and john lewis gave a very powerful statement about how he's had 50 years of friendship with charlie rangel and charlie rangel has been a hero to the city of new york and done a lot for his country by serving in korea and being an absolutely invaluable member of the civil rights movement. and it will play into because

now if you're trying to compare this to a trial, this is going into the jury deliberation about what the punishment will be. that's why john lewis spoke there. let's backtrack and talk about what occurred today. charlie rangel appeared before the committee for first time since monday when he so famously declared to all of us on capitol hill he was going to walk out because did he not want to be without counsel. he protested the fact that the trial of his ethical problems was going to go forward. it's gone forward and came to in &q=uq a one-day trial. even hopefully a lot of members have told me they would like this to be over by tomorrow afternoon at the absolute latest. what's quite interesting today, you had republican ranking member joe bonner of alabama very much go after charlie rangel in terms of comparing what he is in fact guilty of in his ethical violations of not paying taxes and having rent controlled stabilized apartments

for longer than should be necessary. he almost was trying to make it political in the sense of saying, if a small business owner had not paid taxes for 17 years, would they get the sort of treatment charlie rangel has gotten? possibly not. another thing we picked up on here, which was also quite surprising, was the fact that rangel went before this committee actually said that his sloppy accounting practices were wrong, admitting fault to a degree. putting some pressure against the media but not as much as he had in the past and saying that at the end of the day that's what he was sloppy of and sorry he was being overzealous trying to help out his community, not doing anything intentionally illegal or wrong, andrea. >> luke, thanks so much. i know you're going to bring the details to us as we wait for the jury as you point out. the ethics committee to come back with it. let's bring in david gregory for

more on the future of start, which was the big focus at the white house today. let's talk about what the president did. all of former secretaries of state and defense they could muster, jim baker was there, madeleine albright, trying to point out that this should be bipartisan. and the fact that every republican push from reagan to bush 1 to bush 3, should push a russian arms agreement. >> the substance of that, this is a part of the outreach to reset the relationship and bring down nuclear stock piles and put inspection regimes in place in order to do that. the stagecraft is more interesting saying this is a bipartisan. foreign policy is an area where we should cooperate and to call the bluff here, what are you prepared to do?

are you going to get things done? why would you block something like start treaty, you look overtly political or tactical. those are the screws they are trying to put to jon kyl of arizona. >> let's watch. >> this is not a democratic concept. this is not a republican concept. this is a concept of american national security that has been promoted by ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, bill clinton, george w. bush and now my administration. >> saying that ronald reagan said trust but verify, in fact from the white house perspective and we'll hear from dennis mcdon oug, they say this brings

verification, puts people back on the ground inside russia. russia has the weapons. what does the counter argument? >> the question overall is what the limits are and how necessary it is at this particular point. and so this substance is going to be a subject for argument, but the immediate political i m imperati imperative, this want to do this before it becomes a more republican senate. the way the president is framing this is very much bipartisan, has an appeal to get something done in the realm of foreign policy, which is not a big area of dispute right now. and that's where you're seeing maximum effort here on the part of the white house to put as much political pressure as they can. you heard the president say, this is going to be his top priority for this lame duck session. >> joining us no, savannah guthrie. hang with me just a second. you were with the president on

that trip and he's leaving for the natoç summit in portugal le tonight and will have a meeting with medvedev. their concern is what is our relationship with russia if he is not able too deliver? >> reporter: not just a today issue and the start treaty, although it is significant, it is not just thissish why but the ability to cooperate on a whole host of issues such as iran. the president says if he can't deliver what does that do internally for medvedev's politics with putin. the stakes are extremely high both as a practical matter and in terms of foreign policy and also politically for this white house. there's significant frustration. senator kyl has blocked this. i did talk to one senior u.s. officials who said they do believe that kyl's objections are substantive, not accusing him of being politically

motivated but others are, including the new york times today, in a scathing editorial. no question as david mentioned, they are up against this political clock as well, come january, it's a much more republican senate and that's why they are trying to put the pedal to the metal. >> the new york times editorial lays it out there, it says, the treaty is so central to this country's national security and the objections from mr. kyl and the whole republican leadership are so absurd that their limitless desire to deny president obama success. they like to claim they are the paerlt of national security. we can only hope other senators will decide security interest will trump political maneuvering. are we seeing not just in the european and asia reaction the fact that south korea snubbed the president on this treaty

after mismanagement at the white house level some would argue, but that those at home are following the dictate of mitch mcconnell who said to the national journal that his prime ujráháo deny president obama a second term. >> even if you don't believe in that point, if you're a republican the price for cooperation has gotten higher as they think about a congress that is going to be controlled by republicans in the house and become more republican in the senate. and so for senator kyl who has substantive objections to the treaty, he wants to be heard. there's a change in the balance of power come janna changes the landscape of how they do business. >> savannah and david, let's look quickly at the new poll. those poll results certainly reaffirm where this country is that people by 61 to 33 are happy with the results of this election. how much change do they expect? not a lot. 22% not much change or a lot of

change. not much change 73%. will it be a period of division or unity. 76% think division, 19% think unity. >> the country in effect was not just voting economic anxiety but a statement about the role of government in the economy at this particular time. there is a desire to slow down. i think there is more desire for gridlock and more control on what a government does. the potential is still for the president and republicans to break through that and counter all of expectations by getting some practical things done. i think that poll doesn't necessarily capture the fact that americans want con instructive engagement and tangible results. >> 52% of those polled believe congress should put the policy not the president. how is the white house reacting to that? >> reporter: in many ways it

puts a fine point on the results of the election being a total rejection of president obama. some would say theremy be an opportunity here in the sense that if voters are looking to congress to get things done to set policy, then that also puts the honous on republicans to get something done. perhaps that's theç silver ling they'll be looking for in a poll that has a lot of clout. >> savannah guthrie, thank you so much. david gregory, always home and "meet the press" on sunday. >> we're waiting for the top of the program for more on that. bobby jindal will join us to talk about the republican party and some of his complaints about the administration in the gulf oil spill as well as our political round table. >> possibly another republican candidate that is becoming a bigger field. >> right. >> what's at stake with the new arms treaty? deputy national security adviser

dennis mcdoneoug from the white house. you can find me on twitter at mitchell reports. only on msnbc. let's support the small business owners getting our economy booming with the first ever small business saturday. on november 27th, shop small. it's going to be huge. [trumpet playing "reveille" fades to silence] ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers.

call or click now for an agent or quote. whoa! that achy cold needs alka-seltzer plus! it rushes multiple cold fighters, plus a powerful pain reliever, wherever you need it! [ both ] ♪ oh what a relief it is!

republicans swept into the house by winning independent voters, the white middle class, minority, college-educatedç whites. democrats have their work cut out for them. ron brownsteen, editorial director, you've been digging through the statistics coming out of this election. and this profile of the new elect tore rat is pretty overwhelming. >> democrats still did well

among minorities and still did well among young people, but both of those turned out in smaller numbers and republicans dominated in the white elect tore at. a number that's been matched twice in the history of polling going back to 1952. the effect has been, they were strongest especially on the blue collar working class community somewhat better among the upper middle class voters along the coast. that was important looking at this and forward to 2012. democrats avoided the worst along the east and west coast. in the middle of the country, they really were put back on their heels. only three states that doenl touch an ocean in which democrats now have a majority of the congressional delegation, which is a pretty remarkable statistic. >> they've lost the whole central part of the country, not just the farm belt, but the battle ground states most importantly.

>> in many ways this congressional map after this election looks like a presidential maps in the 80s and 90s where the democrats were strong along the coast and the big hart heartland in the middle is red. once you get over the san francisco bay, can you drive coast to coast without going through a democrat controlled district, several routes that would get you there. especially where the democrats were pushed back were in these predominantly white and blue collar districts. republicans hold 80%,ç the working class, blue dog democrat is gone from the caucus. it's a by polar caucus. not a lot in the middle. >> one of risks there for nancy

pelosi having a more liberal caucus which put her back in control, is that it's going to be more marginalized in terms of the broader pop you house wants. >> you have people in the room from the centrist districts who are expressing the views of their constituents. right now there are democratic caucuses tilted in several directions. two-thirds of the democrats are in seats that are at least 30% minority and overwhelming in safe seats, 165 are in districts where obama won 55% of the vote. there are very few democrats left from truly marginal districts and the democrats that are will face more pressure than the last two years to break from the party and side with the republicans. >> is this doesn't touch on all of the statehouses that have elected republican governors and

state legislatures who make the congressional districts safer -- >> that challenge for the heartland is very real. on the coast, upper income well educated whites with a bare minimum of blue collar whites often enough to win. in the middle of the country there are not enough of those voters to win. you have to be competitive in the working class white community. and overall in this election, they votes 64-34 for the republicans. they don't have to win the voters but they can't be anile lated with them either if they are going to build a competitive map in the house or elect tore ral college. >> great to see you, thank you. >> coming up. republican governors calling foç new leadership at the top. you're watching andrea mitchell

reports only on msnbc. to be a leader in this company. [ william ] after a couple of months, i was promoted to department manager. like, wow, really? me? a year later, i was promoted again. walmart even gave me a grant for my education. recently, he told me he turned down a job at one of the biggest banks in the country. this is where i want to be. i fully expect william will be my boss one day. my name is william and i work at walmart. ♪ until the combination of three good probiotics in phillips' colon health defended against the bad gas, diarrhea and constipation. ...and? it helped balance her colon. oh, now that's the best part. i love your work. [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. i won't. ♪ [ female announcer ] clear some snow. ♪ or spread a little warmth. maxwell house gives you a rich full flavored cup of coffee so you can be good to the last drop. oh. about what?

uh, they don't really think you're an exchange student. what? they think you're a businessman, using our house to meet new clients in china. for reals, player? [ woman speaks chinese ] they overheard a phone call. [ speaks chinese ] something about shipping with fedex to shanghai. and then you opened a bottle of champagne. that was for a science project. [ man and woman speaking chinese ] i'm late for...soccer... rehearsal. [ man speaks chinese ] you and i are cool? i'll be home by curfew. [ male announcer ] we understand.® you need a partner who can help you go global. fedex. >> ♪ >> ( laughing ) >> yay! no! no! no! no! aah! >> that's your water? it's bad water. isn't that right? >> healthcare that goes everywhere.

a struggle for control of the committee could be ahead. there is quote, broad agreement that rnc chairman michael steele has to go. with me now is jonathan martin for politico. it looks beautiful out there. how is the conference? >> reporter: it's a tough job. t tough assignment, i volunteered my services. >> you deserve it. >> reporter: these conferences, andrea, as you know well have sort of what's taking place for the republican view and what's happening behind the scenes. it is always behind the scenes that is more interesting and consequential that is trying to who is going to be the next

chairman of the rnc. they don't want it to be michael steele for two more years. the looming question is who. there's no consensus as to who they want as an alternative and that's starting to worry some folks in the party. >> what about about what haley barber had to say, to defeat an incumbent president, the rnc has to operate at absolutely maximum capacity and this year they operated far below that in terms of fund raising and grass roots organization and building strong self-reliant state parties. is he leading the charge behind the scenes against michael steele? >> reporter: he is one of the key players, a former rnc chairman himself. the outgoing chairman of the rga, somebody bottom line who has a lot of swat within the gop. he has for months not been happy with the rnc but now going

public trying to stir up more a campaign against steele. he is behind this and talking to his fellow governors, trying to figure out who -- going forward the question is if steele does not run or even if he does run, who can they mount to take him on? >> earlier this week, we spoke to saul from michigan and others are lining up to go against him. >> we're hearing the chairman of the wisconsin gop, taking a harder look at it now. a donor, former co-chair, also nick a yerz, they talked about governor rick perry, there are names out there. but there's no one consensus candidate yet.

that's what's going to be fascinating in the days ahead. it does appear that steele is being weakened. his path is narrowing if he doesn't want to run for re-election. you can't beat something with nothing. there is nobody out there that is capturing big mo. >> as you do this hard duty out there, jonathan and wait for them to come up with a candidate, maybe there will be a recount and you'll have to stay out there. >> reporter: aç few more days. >> thank you very much. jonathan martin from politico from san diego. up next, we'll talk to governor elect john kach. then den is mcdonough, you can find me on twitter at mitchell reports, only on msnbc. i was young, i was in shape, and i had a heart attack.

you need to do the preventative things that you need to do for your heart health. for me, it means an aspirin regimen. before you begin an aspirin regimen. speak to your doctor.

bankers are known to be a little bit in love withen. themselves.. trust me. are we going up? we can get the next one. i'd like to get your advice on hedging - risk... exposure. what makes us different? for 300 years we've chosen to focus on our clients. what a novel idea. topping the headlines on andrea mitchell reports, the

general motors -- returned to active training on wall street as ceo dan akerson rung the opening bell. the initial public offering could generate $23 million for gm and taxpayers will get a good chunk of the bailout back. the not guilty verdict on most counts for the most guantanamo on trial, casts shadows over trying suspects in federal court. ghailani was acquitted on one count but convicted on others for the twoç bombings that lef 224 people dead. the conspiracy conviction means he now faces 20 years to life in prison. and a new study on marriage shows 39% of americans believe the institution is becoming

obsolete. that according to a pugh research sent per poll. in 197 -- 52% of americans, 18 or older are married. that's an all-time low. in the oval office, they were not shying of reminding president obama of the power of the latino vote. they are disappointed that congress has yet to pass immigration reform and one of the key constituencies feeling ignored by the party. lu luis gutierrez met with the president. what did he tell you about your desire for the dream act which would give college graduates or those who completed two years of college and military service the chance for becoming legal citizens. >> we said we have an opportunity, harry reid is all

in. he has this primed up and ready to go in the senate. speaker pelosi we're working on, we have a list we're working on today. there are a lot of votes to get this part of a comprehensive immigration bill. the dream act passed. let's not waste this opportunity to help a million and a half young men and women who serve in the military or go on and get their college degree and earn legalization. they came here as children, shouldn't hold him responsible. he said it's a great down payment and it's something to work with in the lame duck session, i'm with you, let's coordinate our efforts. >> is that enough? are you getting lip service from the white house? >> you know, andrea, great question. you know, i don't know. i expect not. i expect not. i expect that this president understands that california was left standing, arizona was left

standing,ç colorado was left standing, that there were many critical seats, those three senate seats, at least in which latino voters came out. and there are other congressional seats in which they came out and made a huge difference. more more than than the politics, there are a million and a half young women, didn't do anything wrong, came here as children and gone on to become successful in educational careers and want to join the military of the united states of america. what's wrong with giving them a path to legalization if they do one of those two things? >> congressman, there are a number of other issues. you've just re-elected nancy pel ploescy, what about as we've seen the much more liberal caucus being out of touch with america and not in a good position for 2012. >> i'm going to continue to support increasing the minimum wage. when people tell kids that are 23 and 24 years old they can't

be on the health care, i'm going to defend those things. when they say we're going to extend unemployment compensation, i'm going to be -- today what happened the federal government will get money back from the ipo offering on wall street from gm. already paid back seven and tens of thousands of americans are working on building cars. right now gm is finally saying to toyota and honda and foreign car manufacturers, we're here to stay and bringing back a thriving industry. we've done things right and i don't think it's what we did. i think it was ineffective team communicating what we did. >> luis gutierrez. thank you very much. >> president obama will be meeting with russian president medvedev during the nato summit. now the future of start is in limbo. >> there is no higher national security priority for the lame

duck session of congress. this is not about politics. it is about national security. this is not a matter that can be delayed. >> deputy national security adviser den is mcdonough joins us from the white house. you had quite a star packedç room. republicans and democrats, it seemed like i was listening to ronald ragen when he was talking about trusting. what is your response to jon kyl's criticisms that this treaty would be bad and lessen our ability to defend the united states? >> i don't think -- it's always good to be with you. thanks for having me on the show. i don't think that's exactly what he said. i don't think he said it will make us less able to defend the country. i think he said that in fact not raise a lot of substantive concerns publicly. what he has said he's not aware of timing on the schedule. now the majority leader came out yesterday and said he would make time for this. and so we've spent the last several months addressing what

we understand to be senator kyl's concerns. we think the treaty is a good one. you heard that from admiral mullen and democrats here today. and you've heard it from all of our uniformed military leadership. we think it's the right thing to do. one of times i've been on your show you and i spoke of iran. unfortunately the iranians will not take time off of their nuclear program for the next several months while the congress takes a look at this treaty again. so what we want to do is keep on -- russians on our side as it relates to that iranian program. we think we can do that by the congress and senate going ahead and ratifying this treaty. >> if it's not ratified in the lame duck, you face a new senate km has more republicans opposing this treaty. the new york times editorial, the party of national security question mark, talking about the republicans, the world's nuclear

want to bes should send a thank you note to senator john kyl. after months of negotiations with the white house, he decided to try to block of lame duck senate from ratifying the new arms control treaty. so the "times" is arguing this is politics, this is not a nashlt national security argument. >> i think you heard from the president, we do not consider this an issue of politics but an issue of national security. every president since ronald reagan submitted an arms control treaty to the senate and seen it overwhelmingly ratifiedç by th senate. we continue to believe that senator kyl and all of his colleagues in the senate will do that in this instance too. we're not counting the votes this year. what we're worried about is looking at the iran nuclear program and lebanon, where you heard medvedev say the syrians

should stop meddling in lebanon. these are things we can work together with the russians on. and we believe it behoofs the senate to do that and ratify this treaty. >> i've got to ask you about the terror trial in new york. you had ghailani found guilty of one charge which would keep him in prison for 20 years. but 284 charges for the bombings, this was mitch mcconnell on the floor the of the senate. >> the acquittal of accused terrorist ghailani of all but one of 285 charges of conspiracy and murder is all the proof we need that the administration's approach to prosecuting terrorists has been deeply misguided and indeed potentially harmful as a matter of national security. >> is this the end of the

administration's ability to try in civilian courts these terrorists? and are we now going to have to revert to the military system? >> one is obviously with the ga lancaster -- ghailani case, that's an ongoing matter and wouldn't be appropriate to get in the middle. we're going to use all elements of our national power, including article iii courts. we're not going to sit and wait. we're going to continue to take the fight to al qaeda, be that on the arabian peninsula in east africa or south asia or southeast asia. this case involves something that happened fully 12 years ago. we're going to stay on the offense so we do not see republicans of this kind of heinous attack. that's what we doç here day in and day out and that's what we're going to continue to do. >> i know you've got to go. i want to quickly ask you about

what we know now about this new threat to germany of an airplane from namibia. is this something we should be concerned about? >> i don't have a lot on that particular threat stream to share with you guys today. what i can tell you we're working closely with the european colleagues as it relates to the issue that now is about six or seven weeks old. when we release our new travel information for american citizens traveling overseas, same thing as i just said, we're going to see on the forward lean to make sure we're not waiting but out on the offense and making sure that these kind of heinous attacks cannot happen again. >> thank you so much, denis mcdonough on a busy day from the white house. now to politics, john kasich joining us where he's participating in the conference. congratulations i haven't seen you since you were elected. we know you well from congress,

former house member during the glory days under newt gingrich. it's great to see you now finishing this election season on a big high. >> yeah, it's good to talk to you and make sure you tell that guy that you live with i said hi, would you? >> well, we never talk about the personal stuff. but let's talk about michael steele because as you well know, haley barber and others have been very outspoken about michael steele's record in not doing enough on the fund raising, the resignation just yesterday by a key member of the rnc. what's going to happen with this election and with michael steele's future? >> well, i think andrea, i'm going to talk to the people in my state how they feel about it. but frankly, for me at this moment in time, it's the farthest thing away from being a priority. my priority is that to get the

state of ohio moving competitive and create jobs. i've been out here at this conference. afd every time i see a busines person, i almost tackle them to the ground to ask them, can they bring business to ohio. michael steele is at the bottom of my list. creating jobs is at the top. >> would you like to see republicans in congress work against the president and sort of set him up for 2012? or do you think the people want to see people working together? >> joe biden called me when the election was over. the president made 12 visits in ohio to beat me. biden basically lived there and called me up to congratulate me. i said, look, joe, let's get beyond the election stuff let me tell you, you cannot raise taxes on dividends and cannot raise taxes on the capital gains and raise taxes on anybody because you're going to hurt the economy. i'm hopeful they are going to work that out. what i would like to have from

congress and the white house is to have them set our people free so we can design our job training programs the way that worked for us and medicaid programs. you have to cut the strings and let each state fashion their own solution to the difficult problems and we have to begin to push aggressively for a national recovery. i hope we're going to get motion on movement of these taxes. >> do you think that was the right thing? it seemed like a little bit of snub, more than a little bit of a snub? >> well, i'm not even aware of that. i know on december the 2nd, a lot of governors elect are going to go to washington and meet with the president. they called me and asked me if i would go. and i said yes immediately. when a president asks you to go to a meeting, at least for me, i went. i don't know why they said they couldn't do it today. i doubt it was a snub. i can just speak for myself but

bottom line is you'd like cooperation here from everybody but we're not going to cooperate principle. we shouldn't. that's not what people want. they want us to stand on principle. it's possible to stand on principle and reach agreements. that's the way i've always run myjuju(urjju and way i'll continue in the future. >> thanks so much. the incoming governor of ohio, john kasich. good to see you. >> thanks, andrea. >> hear what happens if the president cannot get congress to pass the arms treaty. ell ellen touser joining us. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics...

a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function

so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, including celebrex, may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you've had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor about your medical history and find an arthritis treatment that works for you. ask your doctor about celebrex. and, go to celebrex.com to learn more about how you can move toward relief. celebrex. for a body in motion.

about how you can move toward relief. [trumpet playing "reveille" throughout] let's support the small business owners getting our economy booming with the first ever small business saturday. on november 27th, shop small. it's going to be huge. [trumpet playing "reveille" fades to silence] president obama called the in calvary to try to get the nuclear arms treaty ratified. joining me now ellen tousher, you know congress so well and the perfect person to work on this from all perspectives.

how are you going to get it done? >> this is the senate that has had not 900 questions answered, 18 hearings, multiple conversations with secretary clinton and the white house. this is the senate that should vote on it because it is the one with the most information. i think we've been hopeful from the beginning that we we've been hopeful from the beginning we could have gotten it done earlier in the year. now we have a few weeks left in the lame duck, and we're hoping for a vote. >> it will be much harder to ratify. youç will have fewer democrati senators and supporters in the next senate. what's at stake if you don't get it done? >> it's not how many senators will vote on it. we think on the merits and on the substance it will pass. but the problem is next year we have to start all over again, because we start with a new senate. so we end up doing another 18 hearings and things like that. >> what's the downside? >> frankly, as the president said, this is a national security perspective imperative

because of the relationship with russia. we have reset the relationship. we have moved forward. but we are using russia to help supply our troops in afghanistan. they were very, very helpful with what we think are very significant sanctions against the iranians, and we have a big agenda with the russians. new start is the first piece of it. if we can't get that ratified it's difficult to move forward. >> in terms of the argument this is going to weaken us on missile defense -- >> i was the chairman of forces on the house services committee. we did missile defense. we're spending $10 billion this year. the president's investments in modernization is second to no president. the biggest investment is $80 billion over ten years and our missile defense is $10 billion. it's everything that everybody believes we should be spending. these are red herrings. the substance is there. we're hoping to get the cooperation we need to get a

vote. >> ellen tauscher, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and coming up next, what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? ♪ when you're responsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can count on.

riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade and check my investment portfolio, research stocks, and set conditional orders. wait, why are you taking... oh, i see. hey max, would it kill you to throw a guy a warning bark? [ dog barks ] you know i wanted a bird. [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed.

so which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? chris cillizza is managing editor of post politics.com and a contributing editor. are you getting on any airplanes? >> i am not, but the president is. this is very shortly after he returns from asia. heading for a nato summit. topic number one, afghanistan, and this is a tough one for the president. this is almost a decade long nato commitment there. support is starting to wane a little bit. certainly in europe, but also here in america. this is president obama's -- he is taking this on. if there's going to be foreign policy on the ballot, it's going to be about afghanistan. very important he tries to keep

the european allies staying the course. >> and a new poll shows only 44% think we're doing the right thing there. 50% think we should not be involved. >> and those numbers, andrea, those are not numbers the president wants to look at as he gets on a plane to fly over there. we saw what happens when american public sentiment turns against a conflict in a foreign country. in iraq, badly damaged president bush's presidency. president obama invested troops, time, energy and political capital in the war in afghanistan, and he needs to show the american public we can win it. >> and he needs a better foreign trip than his last one. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us online and on twitter at andrea mitchell reports. to st

to try lifting one of these. a unique sea salt added to over 40 campbell's condensed soups. helps us reduce sodium, but not flavor. so do a few lifts. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ ah, it's stinging a little bit more than usual! yeah, you'll get used to it. the longer you keep your high mileage car, the more it pays you back. get castrol gtx high mileage. it helps engines last longer by fighting the main causes of engine failure. i think a dime went up my nose. yeah, it happens. don't change your car. change your oil to castrol gtx high mileage. its more than just oil. it's liquid engineering.

right now on "news nation."