a long. >> powerful people in the pentagon go out to montana f recreational opportunities. >> euphemism. >> i learned paramedics and national guardsmen are still sifting through the carnage at the oprah winfrey show yesterday. >> the oprah part. >> you get that emotional over a new volkswagen. >> 9:00, as we watch all the weeping fans of willie geist and oprah, willie, if it's way too early. >> it is "morning joe." stay tuned for "the daily rundown" with chuck and savannah. >> crisis in the korean peninsula, north hits south. now what? our guest pentagon spokesman with the latest. airport uproar, will the tsa's slight adjustment to procedure tamp down the patdown

uproar? save the date the royal family announces who, what, when, where. november 23rd, on2010. i'm savannah guthrie. chuck todd is off. conservative readers rejoice, sarah palin kicks off her book tour. what banks are doing to make money off their customers. we'll get to that. first, breaking news on the korean peninsula. president obama was awakened by his national security adviser t with the news the north attacked the south. two koreans reported dead. this is where it happened an island near the disputed maritime border with the north. this picture shows buildings in flames after being hit by north korean artillery. jim miklaszewski is live at the pentagon. i know you've done a lot of reporting talking to officials. what did they tell you?

>> reporter: here in washington and in south korea are calling this act by north korea provocative and, quite frankly, alarming. this was a regularly scheduled exercise by the south korean military there on that island to the west of the korean peninsula. they started firing the artillery after informing the north koreans in advance of the time and date. shortly after north koreans opened up with about a three-hour barrage of artillery shells that struck the island killing two south korean marines and, in fact, wounding some civilians there. according to u.s. military officials, the shooting has stopped. this particular incident appears to be over for the time being. nevertheless, it's very disconcerting. it's interesting what the u.s. military is doing. that, quite frankly, on the surface is nothing. there have been no orders for movements, repositions, reinforcement, troops in south korea. they don't want to exacerbate the situation, send a message to

north korea that might be misinterpreted, that would only in flame it. according to one senior military official nobody is interested in escalating this incident. nevertheless you can bet there will be strong protests and condemnations. as the white house has done, you know that, savannah, the president, white house issued the statement condemning the act and ordering, or at least telling, north korea to halt its aggression and these provocative acts. savannah. >> the latest in provocative actions from the north. we'll get the latest from pentagon spokesman in a few minutes. thank you. president obama is hitting the road today. his first domestic trip since the midterms and taking the vice president with him. john harwood is cnbc's chief white house correspondent. john, i know the white house views this as a twofer. when they go to kokomo, indiana, they can view this.

>> the president is making the point stimulus and chrysler paid off big time despite the charges he attracted by those steps that he expanded government and spending and deficits. of course the president has gotten in the last 24 hours an uncomfortable reminders of the depth of the economic pain. velma hart, the woman who became the face for disappointed americans when she told the president she was exhausted at our cnbc town hall meeting in september has now lost her job. she was laid off last week. she told me she now has more of an appreciation than what she ever did before of what millions of people have been going through. >> could it take me two years to find a job? that's a scary proposition for my family. right now i want to focus on the positive and be optimistic and assume somehow things will work out. >> savannah, velma hart told me she's a data driven person.

the data tells her the economy is getting better. just like president obama she's hanging onto that prospect and hoping better times are coming soon. >> it really brings it all home. so many people recognize velma at this point. john harwood, thanks for your report this morning. sarah palin hits the road tonight kicking off a big promotional tour for her new book. nbc's norah o'donnell chief washington correspondent for nbc jins joins us. norah, i feel like i've read the book, you've been reading me these excerpts. >> just got my hands on it, america by heart, reflections on family, faith and flag. there's a lot in here that could be used for a handbook for 2012 campaign. why do i say that? because how she attacked not only president obama and first lady on their patriotism but goes after a lot of different people and just in vintage palin fashion she likes to touch on pop culture, weighing in on

everything, whether it's "american idol," praising the country star toby keith, even talking about the 19th century french philosopher de tocquevil tocqueville. there's a lot of controversial and buzz. one of the new things out attacking hillary clinton for what she calls bra burning mill taens for th militantsey, for her comment saying i could have stayed home and bake cookies and teas. some of us like to do that, some say we could do that and have a successful career. some would say on this thanksgiving she's not serving up turkey, she's serving a lot of red meat. there's a lot of politics here, stuff that can gin up her base. we know from polls the base likes her. the problem is with independent voters if she wants to be

elected. i have to say while she's been blanketing the airwaves not only with her own reality show, she made a surprise appearance on dancing with the stores. i couldn't keep up. she went further than i think she's gone in other interviews saying she is, in fact, considering a run for president in 2012. >> well, as you say, a lot of red meat in the book. this is somebody i knew from covering her campaign relished the attacks on politicians, kind of hold their nose and do it. she liked it. the other thing i noticed she's going retro, reviving old controversies from the '80s, murphy brown, hillary's comments in it early '90s. >> touching on all of it. she calls herself a feminist but wants to draw a line with some feminists she does not agree with. >> norah o'donnell covering all of it for us. thank you, norah. the escalating conflict in north korea is having an impact on futures. add that to the growing list of

concerns affecting the market. becky quick has our look what to expect when the opening bill rings in about 20 minutes from now. good morning. >> good morning, savannah. you can expect a lot of red arrows when that opening bell rings. we've seen stocks under pressure this morning. it all started out with korea because investors don't like uncertainty. there's nothing more uncertain than something you see in situations like what's happening with south korea right now with north korea. as we speak the futures are down by about 90 points below fair value. that's not a good sign. investors have been running to safe havens. the dollar has benefit freddie this, been up sharply across the board. u.s. treasuries have been a place drawing some of those dollars. symptoms around the globe have suffered. the only stock market that isn't trading lower is tokyo. that's because they were closed for a holiday. we also got economic news here just in the last 35 minutes or so when we heard the third quarter gdp was revised. looks like growth was stronger than had been initially expected in the united states, growth of

2.5% versus 2%. there are some positive signs if you look through the report, consumers were spending by much stronger levels than we originally expected. consumers make up about two-thirds of the economy. consumer growth at 2.8% is the fastest pace we've seen since the fourth quarter of 2006. that's a little bit of good news. concern was business inventories were building up. that could be putting a little bit of a misreflection into some of these numbers. not bad news and bern expected growth. savannah we'll send it back over to you. >> on the eve of black friday, i bet retailers are hoping retailers keep those pocketbooks out. thanks, savannah. north korea spoiling for a fight or attention. either way, how will the u.s. respond. next, geoff morrell with us. the royal announcement everyone is waiting for live from london. a look at the president's schedule, as we mentioned, he's on the road with the vice

president. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. i'll get steve. steve! hello. hehe sorry. we're doing a tea party. we have cookies and raspberries. awesome. what's the first thing to do at a tea party? do the tea. okay. i can do that. put it in your cup. ladies first. thank you. men with skirts second. introducing cisco umi, together we are the human network. cisco. love you guys.

[ malhis day starts thwith his arthritis pain.. that's breakfast with two pills. the morning is over, it's time for two more pills. the day marches on, back to more pills. and when he's finally home... but hang on; just two aleve can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is steven, who chose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

two big questions about the impending royal wedding have now been answered. word from the royal palace about where and when prince william will marry his fiancee kate middleton. stephanie gosk joins us from westminster abbey. stephanie, not to take your news from you, isn't that the place where it's going to happen? >> yes, it is, savannah. it's happening here. we kind of already knew. we got the date friday april 29th, a spring wedding. that is also perhaps coincidentally planned on the roman calendar, that is the

feast of st. katherine day, kate middleton will be pleased about that there's a lot of discussion in the palace over the last week, the last day, prince william was pushing for spring, palace wanted the summer because of better weather. the prince won out on that. the cost of the wedding will be split among the family and middletons. we've heard as high as $40 million, perhaps even more. the security, however, that's from the procession and everything else that's involved in that will be covered by the taxpayer. there's some problems here in this country. some people upset about the economy and concerned that's going to fall on their shoulders. overall there's great excitement for this wedding. savannah. >> indeed there is. stephanie gosk, i guess you have to stay there, camp out until late spring. we'll be checking in with you early and often. thanks. >> that's right. i better buy some new coats. >> exactly. and a tent, too. all right, stephanie, thank you.

moving on now in other news, south korea on the highest military alert short of war after north korean officials unleashed a barrage of fire on south territory this morning. north korea began shelling a small island in the south early this morning killing two marines and wounding 16 others. geoff morrell, press secretary and deputy assistant for defense. how is the u.s. and pentagon responding to this latest provocation by the north. >> we got home at midnight from bolivia, the secretary of defense did. i can tell you he's obviously been briefed on the situation on the peninsula. he's monitoring it closely. he's expected to have a phone call with his counterpart in seoul this morning. i would really refer you to the statement that came out of the white house this morning, strongly condemning the attack, asking the north to halt its belligerent behavior, making note of the fact they need to

abide by the arm stis, we will honor our alliance with the south and determined to promote peace on the pens l.a. it's a concerning development but not, frankly, out of pattern for the north lately. >> mik reported from the pentagon, look, we don't want to take direct action right away for fear that will be seen as a mutual provocation and escalate the whole thing. that is a concern? >> we take this very seriously just like we took the sinking of the ship earlier, where the north murdered some 40 south korean sailors. they were asked "the new york times" story of the weekend about the uranium enrichment capability the north would be developing about why the north would do this. his answer to any question with why to north korea my answer is

the same, i don't know. this is an extremely unpredictable government in pyongyang. they do things you could not possibly have predicted in a rational world. >> that being the case we know there's a new sanctions regime against north korea. people say it's one of the toughest, if not the toughest sanctions regime ever. other countries are enforcing it. this still happens. you still have the provocation, the sinking of that ship. the building, it appears, of an uranium enrichment facility that's working. is this not all evidence that the sanctions aren't working? >> it's hard to pile more sanctions upon the north than are already there. and yet it seems as though they are not foolproof. we've always known they are not foolproof. this is a regime determined to bypass the sanctions, to not abide by its international obligati obligations. that's been demonstrated by the fact it's trying to be a proliferator of weapons, dealing with countries under sanctions.

this is not out of keeping with their belligerent and unpredictable behavior. >> let's talk about afghanistan, a report about somebody purporting to be a senior member of the taliban at these so-called reconciliation talks not being a member of the taliban at all. i know nato and isaf is not directly involved in the talks but how is it an imposter can come in and have multiple meetings. >> i've read the story. i don't know the veracity of it. obviously the reportes is respected reporter from the "times." he has never met with the individual the "times" says is an imposter. further he says "the new york times" is not a trusted news organization in his estimation and the afghan people should not pay heed toyota. regardless of that, the point you made there, this is an undertaking, the peace talk, reconciliation talks, that is being operated by the afghan

government. we are facilitators or have been in the past for the safe transportation of people in order to meet with the afghan government. this is their process. they are in the lead. we've also said for a long time, savannah, we think the situation on the ground, secure situation, has to change a little more before we see real progress in terms of high-level reconciliation. >> is that something ambassador holbrook said on "morning joe." let's play it and we'll talk about it. >> i know negotiations when i see them. there's no negotiation going on. there's nothing that comes close to that word. all this press talk, and it is heavily press talk is discussions about talking about talking about the possibility of talking. >> do you agree with that assessment? >> i don't know. i'm not privy to what the status is of these discussion. secretary gates, chairman mullen and others and to some extent general petraeus, that we need to keep the pressure on the taliban more than we already

are, change the dynamic on the ground more than it already has in order for them to feel the pressure enough to finally come to the negotiating table. >> how much a part of that is what we learned in nato, lisbon, the transition of forces are going to be taking place over a series of several years, the end of 2014 the target date. this just felt like a little bit of writing ling out of the initial july 2011 -- >> i don't know why it would, savannah. we've always said july 2011 was not us exiting afghanistan, it was the beginning of the condition to drawdown forces. >> you know everyone short-handed it getting the withdrawal and different officials admit something different to all -- some say it was wholesale significant withdrawals, others saying not so much. >> anybody that follows this closely knows the afghan war was not going to end in 2011. the president never suggested

such. we always knew this would be a lengthy process. there was far more work to be done than we can achieve over the next 11 months. we don't know what the conditions will bear in july of next year let alone at the end of 2014. so we have a lot more work to do. but i should note that the security situation is changing to the extent we're seeing a lot more reintegration, low level fighters giving up and wanting to end their alliance with the taliban and join the government. >> let's jump to two other topics quickly, the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. does secretary gates agree essentially with what president obama said, republican opposition is nothing more than politics. it's met with concern senator kyl has raised. >> it would seem if s.t.a.r.t. is defeated a big setback in terms of national security. we would have no verification, as we don't right now, of what

the russian nuclear forces are up to. we would have to divert assets, intelligence assets badly needed elsewhere in order to try to monitor what they are doing on the ground. the political impact is potentially very damaging in russia. they have been very cooperative in regards to afghanistan, allowing us to transport supplies along the northern distribution network. the iranian sanctions regime could not have been done without russian support. >> so the allegation that kyl is pursuing his own political ends and not caring about any of those national issues? >> i'm not in a position to make a judgment. i would say he feels strongly about adequate investment and modernization of the nuclear arsenal. that would almost certainly be in peril if defeated. there's no way senate democrats are going to support spending billions and billions more on the arsenal if there is not a treaty as well. >> they are in a worse position

in january, fewer democrats in senate. >> this is above politics, or at least it should be. this is essential for our nation's security. >> we're out of time. thank you. happy birthday to you. we won't tell your age. >> thank you. >> to washington speak, stem winder, a rousing or stirring speech. this word goes back to the 1800s when the stemwinding watch was the new item. geoff morrell wasn't born there. it was so popular it came to be known as excellence and first rate. if you have washington speak you would like us to clarify, send us an e-mail at daily rundown@msnbc.com. it's that time of year. time for campbell's green bean casserole. you'll find the recipe at campbellskitchen.com. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™  fifteen percent or more on car insurance?

does a former drill sergeant make a terrible therapist? patient: and that's why yellow makes me sad. i think. sarge: that's interesting. you know what makes me sad? you do! maybe we should chug on over to mambie pambie land where maybe we can find some self-confidence for you. ya jackwagon! tissue? crybaby. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. 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! i've been looking at the numbers, and i think our campus is spending too much money on printing. i'd like to put you in charge of cutting costs. calm down. i know that it is not your job. what i'm saying... excuse me? alright, fine. no, you don't have to do it. ok? [ male announcer ] notre dame knows it's better

for xerox to control its printing costs. so they can focus on winning on and off the field. [ manager ] are you sure i can't talk -- ok, no, i get it. [ male announcer ] with xerox, you're ready for real business. [ male announcer ] with xerox, did you know a problem in your heart can cause a stroke in your brain? it's true. an irregular heartbeat, called atrial fibrillation, or afib, can make a blood clot form, here, in your heart, that can break free and go straight to your brain where it can cause a serious stroke. having atrial fibrillation gives you a 5 times

greater risk of stroke than if you didn't have it. strokes that are twice as likely to be deadly or severely disabling as other types of strokes. if you, or someone you care for, have atrial fibrillation, even if you're already taking medication, there are still important things you'll want to know. for a free interactive book call 1-877-904-afib, or log onto afibstroke.com. learn more about the connection between atrial fibrillation and strokes, and get advice on how to live with afib. and with this valuable information in your hand, talk to your doctor. call 1-877-904-afib today. now the ongoing backlash over controversial security patdowns at airports just before tomorrow's thanksgiving rush.

tom costello covers aviation for msnbc news. he's live at the airport. tom, as i understand it from your reporting early this morning there's been a slight change in some of these tsa procedures? >> reporter: yeah, i think that's how i characterize it, slight, a tweak here. for the most part people selected for controversial patdowns are those that opted out of full body imaging scanners or those that tripped the metal detector, then subject to a patdown. however, a small fraction of people have been randomly selected for a patdown. the tsa is telling us they are pulling back on that. they are reducing the number of people who might be randomly selected for a patdown. they have clearly heard the uproar here. i think it's fair to say the administration, tsa homeland security has been rather caught off-guard by the uproar, public anger over these patdowns. however, let's put this into context. the tsa tells us only 3% of all travelers ever have a patdown.

of those people who are selected for full body scanner only 1% opt out. so we're talking about a very, very small number of passengers who are being inconvenienced or selected for the patdown to begin w polls show most people support full body scanners, patdowns are more controversial. the administration, homeland security trying to find a balance between security and privacy. clearly they have heard the message. >> tom, let's rewind for a couple of weeks. you covered this so closely. it's almost clear on its face whatever the communications rollout was, whatever the education process was as part of these new procedures it was woefully insufficient. what did the tsa announce? >> what the by the way sources tell us this was decided upon in july, congress was advised, in october, late october, early november they started rolling this out. the whole idea was they are acutely aware that al qaeda continues to target aviation. they have done it on civilian

aviation and cargo planes. they believe they needed to address this hole in the security blanket. you may say, wait a minute, isn't this enough security already? listen to this, tsa inspectors have managed to smuggle through these checkpoints weapons and drugs and contraband. and they believe that it was a significant threat. if their own inspectors could smuggle it through, terrorists might be able to smugette it through. that's why they ramped up security. they are not reducing patdowns just those randomly selected. one note here, tomorrow is allegedly this opt out day in which these internet calls for people who too protest the scanners, create more patdowns and choke the checkpoints that cause havoc on thanksgiving day. so far this week we've seen no sign of it. tsa and airlines are all hoping there's a very miniscule number of people participating.

they point out the planes are leaving whether you're on it or not. they don't want people to miss their thanksgiving holiday because of these protests. >> you'd have to be highly motivated to miss your own flight for the protest. tom costello covering all of it for us. busy week every year, even more so this year. appreciate it, tom. thank you. coming up networks, built by the bank, big banks raking in the dough. how they are hiding the fees and some say getting around those new regulations meant to protect consumers. watch out wall street, the financial world is reeling as the fbi cracks down on insider trading. who is about to get caught with the old hand in the cookie jar? first the question from the almanac of american pom tigs. what current senator made his first foray into electoral politics sponsoring a successful referendum reducing the price of dentures? the answer coming up on "the daily rundown."

if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. 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'm gonna get my hair cut ♪ even if i have to cut it myself ♪ ♪ i'm gonna get my hair cut ♪ even if i have to cut it myself ♪ ♪ but it makes me out of breath ♪ ♪ when you say ♪ ♪ love is a game -♪ a game for two -[ ring ] ♪ love is a game i want to play with you ♪ [ female announcer ] introducing the dell streak 5 pocket tablet exclusively at dell.com and best buy.

u.s. markets are now open after wall street was rattled yesterday as the fbi raided three hedge fund giants on suspicion of insider trading. the firms allegedly earned millions by making illegal trades using secret nonpublic information about mergers. how far does this investigation stretch? nbc news justice correspondent joins us now. pete, tell us where these fbi investigators went and how potentially large is this investigation? >> first, just to be clear there's been no government allegation against those specific firms. this is part of a wide ranging investigation of insider trading that really stretches from coast-to-coast of it has picked up speed, though, in the last couple days after there were reports over the weekend started by "the wall street journal," many news organizations about

some of the focus of the investigation and the fact that the investigators were moving their investigation into a new phase. it's been no secret the u.s. attorney in new york believes what's called insider trading is a serious problem on wall street. this particular investigation seems to be looking at what are called hedge funds and the expert groups that advise hedge funds. the experts that are middlemen taking information from the industries on which they report and study and passing it along to the hedge funds. the question here is whether they got inside information. of course that would be illegal, information that the general public can't possibly know, that only company insiders would know. it's illegal to trade on that. the justice department says it's possible some investigations -- some arrests in the wide ranging investigation could come in the next month or so before thend

of the year. he's called insider trading on steroids. it's a big deal. once it becomes public, the stock in some of these big companies has started to dim a little bit. >> i bet there's a collective shiver going down the spine of wall street today. pete, thank you for the latest on that investigation. >> all right. don't look now but banks are already fighting aggressive ways of skirting the new credit card fee laws and potentially getting into your pockets. an they say they are laughing all the way to the bank. lisa myers has the details. >> hey, savannah, good morning. the government recently cracked down on banks imposing tough regulations, himming what they could charge customers for credit cards or overdrafts. so are consumers paying lower fees now? in many cases no. banks have found new ways to rake in money. what put peggy over the edge when her son, a college student,

was charged $2 just to check his account balance before he with drew money from his bank's atm. >> to try to be a responsible banking participant they penalize you for $2. that's wrong. >> when he used another bank's atm, he sometimes paid $6 or $7 to get $40 in cash. all the fees have eaten away at money he earned over the summer. >> $2.95, $2, $2.50, $2.95, $2. >> it's insane. >> reporter: the last straw they added a fee of $8.95 for what had been called totally free checking. she said parents can't teach kids to trust banks. >> now you have to warm them of the scams and anything else and diming going on. >> fees have gone up across the

board this year. >> fee increases were seen on everything from monthly service charges to overdraft and atm fees. >> the number of americans enjoying free checking has dropped from 76% to 65%. if you want an account that pays interest, the average minimum balance required to pay fees has soared from $511 to $3,883. some consumer watching statements closely learned the hard way. margaret was shocked to discover she was charged $6to $12 by her bank jpmorgan chase because she didn't use her debit card enough, basically an inactivity fee. >> it makes me angry because they are charging me for not spending my own money. >> reporter: eventually months of service fees and a new annual fee drained her account triggering an overdraft fee. in all she paid $118 in fees on an account she didn't use once

this year. >> reporter: the banks are making huge profits off small potatoes, hundreds of millions of small potatoes like me. >> a chase spokesman said, "we encourage customers to check their statement every month to ensure they are aware of all the activity, including service fees." the banks argue they are merely charging customers for the services they use. and with increased regulation industry spokesman says costs of banks have gone up necessitating higher fees. >> reporter: what do you say to consumers who feel they are being gouged. >> shop around, understand when a fee will be charged and you can work to avoid fees. >> reporter: talbot warns consumers can expect more fees when it comes to the use of their debit card. he said new regulations limit the ability of banks to recover costs of providing debit card

services. that mean has to come from somewhere, which means, savannah, it will come from us. >> lisa myers, thank you. moving on, a major advance in the fight against the spread of hiv. scientists say a pill already used to treat hiv may also work to prevent infection in gay men. chief science and health correspondent, bob, tell us about this study. >> this has a lot of people in the aids world excited because it has the potential of preventing a lot of people from getting infected. this is a study of gay and by sexual men over a period of one and a half years. it found, as you said, taking the pill can prison infection. the overall infection prevention was 44%. but those who reguligorously add to a regimen it was 70%. these groups, it's only been tested in men and we assume it

will work with women and there will be studies find out. if a woman suspects her man is cheating and he won't wear a condom, she can take a pill, gels have the potential to do the same thing. these can cut down on the rate of infection. if you can keep people from getting infected in the first place, figures from the u.n. show there's still 33 million people in the world infected with this plague. anything done to cut down on the rate of transmission will be an enormous amount of progress. >> this pill truvada is already out being used to treat hiv. potentially this is one of those cases where it could start being used for this. >> this study will only increase it. people will go to their doctor. the pill costs $1,000. but in poor countries the

generic version costs $15. that's where it will make a big difference. this is one of many things. no vaccine has worked. we have treatments that aren't a cure. so as a result, people are looking for anywhere they can to cut down the rate of infection. this could be an important new way. >> our chief science correspondent. >> savannah, happy thanksgiving. >> you too, bob. thank you. let's do our attractive yachlt it's g -- trivia. it's got a bit of a bite to it today. that had to be popular. oregon senator ron widen. not smiling in that photo. coming up, the white house struggling with its message president obama hitting the road to try to reconnect with some of the people he says he lost touch with in the first two years. so is president obama's communication problem president obama? we're going to get into that.

but first the white house soup of the day. i have trouble pronouncing this. i think it's ribollita. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. if only chuck were here. [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]

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. >> ( creatreature inhalihaling ) >> (>> ( branches hes breaking ) > ( horse hse hoofs beatieat) >> ( horseorse nickeringring ) >> ( trainrain whistle ble blow) > ( engine ine revving )g )er of progresgr take adv advantage of of exced valueslu of aud audi event.t.

the request for foreigner. of all the gin joints it turns out it was the saloon in san francisco that installed the first jukebox way back in 1889. it cost just a nickel to hear the song of your choice. well, president obama tries to reconnect with the american people today. in just a few mince he's heading to indiana with the vice president after suggest the day

after the party's midterm shellacking, to borrow his word, that he has to some degree lost touch with the voters. >> there is an inherent danger in being in the white house and being in the bubble. folks didn't have any complaints about my leadership style when i was running around iowa. so i think there are more things we can do to make sure i'm getting out of here. >> here now "washington post" white house report ann kornblut and former clinton administrations director. welcome to you both. the president diagnosed his own communication problem the day after the midterm election. don, as a former communications director, what do you think he can do? are trips like this out to indiana the answer in terms of reconnecting? >> it's one of the great mysteries, why someone so good at selling hope in the campaign has been so bad selling confidence here as president. one of the big issues is, we all

when we were young learned about show and tell. if you think about it campaigns are all about tell, about talk, speeches, debates, interviews. being president is about show and tell. i think president obama has not done enough showing of how he has performed in office. in particular when you set success as being long-term comprehensive legislation of health care, all these things, and you work through that process for months and months and months on end and you're not showing people other things you're doing on their behalf on a regular basis, you really lose people. >> what's an example of that. i think it's easy to talk about it in an abstraction. how could he show, for example. >> the much reviled clinton administration when we talk about small ball, it was never either-or. clinton administration had welfare reform, 20,000 new jobs, first balanced budget in a generation. throughout the course of all of that we were going out every day

with the president going out and show people how you can do school uniforms, help people in schools, communities, homes. it's important to do both. >> it seems like this white house does not like the idea of gimmickry in any way, shape, or form. but has that kind of high-minded principle hurt them in some ways? >> isn't all communications in some way gimmickry or boiling it down in some way you can understand as don was suggesting. midnight basketball clinton got ridiculed for. it stuck in my years all these years later. president bush had tax families. it was fun to mock the people he would bring out to demonstrate how the tax cut worked. we've seen this white house do it a little bit, health care families. during midterms he was going and sitting in people's back yards and talking about their problems but hard to lock into anything memorable for people to seize on and understand. it's difficult when you're talking about things like the deficit or now the s.t.a.r.t. treaty, not easily accessible. they have to make it accessible.

>> one issue we talked about, the long-windedness, shall we say, of president obama and whether that undercuts his message. let's play a small example of the president answering a question at the news conference saturday. >> a couple of messages i just want to send to the american people. number one, the second message i want to sendpeople. the first message. the second message, the fourth thing, this goes to your specific question. that answer, i think, was 6:45 long and we can poke fun of it and the president wants to be thorough, to his credit. but on the other hand, is he missing an opportunity by being so wonky that he's not coming up with pithy, quick, lack of a better word, sound bity phrases. >> six minutes, that's practically just him getting going. we have seen him give 17-minute answers to questions and he has gone on for 20. there were times when i want to chart his answers and there's a part c to the number two and,

look, he remembers a lot. that's why we saw him talking in that press conference he gave right after the midterms in the 1099 form in health care. most people watching, most people except for us getting paid to do this don't have time to listen to a 17-minute answer. >> less is more. almost always. second, effective presidential communication is about very different than legal briefs, which sounds like what we're doing here. the final thing is, rule of threes. it's a good idea, just keep it in three. not four, five, six, a, b and c. >> ann and don, thank you. >> thank you. coming up in the "shallow end" it is down to the wire on "dancing on the stars." we'll tell you what bristol palin is doing to influence the vote. well, dancing, i assume. follow us any time on twitter.

before we go, let's take a dip in the shallow end. season 11 of "dancing with the stars" is nearing the end. fan favorite bristol palin is pulling out all the stops to win that mirror ball trophy with some cage dancing. what a way to close the deal. with her mother in the audience, no less, bristol's cage dance was a tribute to the musical "chicago" cell block tango which she said she never heard of but she probably knew this song. ♪ you broke my heart because i couldn't dance ♪ ♪ you didn't even want me around but now i'm back to let you know i can really shake them down ♪ >> there's jennifer grey busting out the old classic dirty dancing song earning her perfect

scores for the night. bristol, once again, at the bottom of the leaderboard. the winner will be announced tonight. we'll tell you tomorrow so you don't have to watch it or anything. coming up next on msnbc, "chris jansing & company." at 1:00 don't miss "andrea mitchell reports." have a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow. i couldn't conceive this as a heart attack.

the doctor leaned over and said to me, "you just beat the widow-maker." i was put on an aspirin, and it's part of my regimen now. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go see your doctor now. 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 cl. [ 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.

a dangerous military escalation. north korea launches multiple strikes against the south korean island and threatens more attacks. with nuclear weapons now in the picture, what could this mean for tens of thousands of u.s. troops in the region? mark your calendars for the global event of this young century. we just learned it will be a spring wedding for prince william and kate middleton. who will get a coveted invitation? plus, she's all over the airwaves. >> would you even do another interview with katie couric. >> i swear to you, i will not waste my time with her.