hey, welcome back to "morning joe." time to talk about what we learned today. willie, what did you learn? >> i just learned that dallas cowboys were getting michael vick's autograph. >> i learned that everything in china is indiscriminately up and for some reason that's bad news for china. >> vladimir putin's weird. i just don't get it. >> if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." but right now it's time for "the daily rundown" with chuck and

savannah. let the voting begin. the senate depose first on the obama tax compromise beginning today, but what happens when it gets to the house? and that deadly storm that slammed the midwest, it isn't over. it's still canceling flights, it's sfanarling travel. it deflated the roof of the metrodome in minneapolis. it's moved football games and now, guess what, it's headed east. and it's been a year in the making. what a year it's been. it's the 2010 chavanna awards. the highs and lows of the 2010 campaign. we're awarding the best candidate and the worst campaign. >> it's like we reached into the '70s and found our theme music for the chavanna awards. >> i'm chuck todd. >> and i'm savannah. >> for those that don't get it, this is in the umpteenth word to spell the word hanukkah.

right now, what we have our eye on today, we'll start with republican politics. rnc chairman michael steele holds a conference call at 7:30 tonight to announce whether he will seek re-election. a lot of people think he's going to say he won't, but chuck, he's got a few surprises in him, probably. >> he's michael steele. you know who he is, and you never know what he may end up doing. we're also keeping an eye on a federal judge in virginia who's expected to rule today on whether the new health care law is constitutional. 25 lawsuits are pending across the country, challenging that federal statute, specifically on the mandate. this one in virginia, a lot of legal experts say, was well filed. >> exactly, something to watch. it may have ramifications for other lawsuits. finally, the u.s. envoy for afghanistan and pakistan, richard holbrooke, is still in critical condition today in a washington hospital. he underwent two rounds of heart surgery over the weekend.

he was in the operating room for over 20 hours on friday and saturday. our thoughts are with him. >> absolutely. and perhaps the one piece of good news is that he was stable enough to do the second surgery. >> yes, indeed. >> our thoughts and prayers with him. absolutely. we'll get to the rundown now. the white house predicting that once the senate votes on this tax deal this afternoon, house democrats will fall in line. >> we believe that when it comes back to the house, that we will get a vote and that we'll prevail there. because at the end of the day, no one wants to see taxes go up on 150 million americans on january 1st. >> kelly o'donnell is nbc news capitol hill correspondent. kelly, good morning. i guess the senate gets started today, but all the suspense really still is in what the house will do. >> reporter: exactly. the phone lines have been burning up from leaders in both chambers and the white house, calling members to see where they are. and we have every indication that it should go through easily in the senate.

this is the first step vote. and it's an important sign, of course. but on the house side, there was a real moment this weekend that seemed to change the shifting sands. when chris van hollen, who's part of the democratic leadership team, said that he didn't think his members would get in the way of this passing. but that really set off kind of looking at this in a new way, and even his office late last night sent out a release saying, no, there was a little bit more to it. he still wants to fight and believes that many liberal democrats want to fight for a change in that one piece that's a real sticking point, and that is the estate tax. van hollen says he's looking to bring it back a little bit, so in his words, it would be $25 billion for just over 6,000 families that would benefit. he would like to take that out. the white house has told us and certainly democrats on the senate side do not expect much change. there might be a tweak here or there, but any substantiative change, the white house indicates they don't think that's going to pass. so van hollen is trying to split the middle there, saying he

doesn't think it will be derailed, but still wants to fight for that piece that matters so much to liberal democrats. >> we're going to have chris van hollen on in a minute. he's going to unveil and talk about this compromise a little bit more. kelly, let's walk through the schedule today. 3:00, the vote to basically end a filibuster. you get over the 60 vote, and then everything from there becomes a simple majority on all parts of the this tax bill, correct? >> reporter: there's different way the clock kicks in, so the senate could vote wednesday or tuesday. then the house takes over. they'll have a meeting tomorrow night to get the lay of the land. it will play out over the course of the week, but certainly 3:00 is a key moment today. we'll be watching that closely, and to hear some of the tone of the debate as well, to see where people are feeling about this. and we'll watch it carefully. and if i could just add one point of personal privilege, which they like to say here, i love the chavannah awards.

>> if there were a chavannah awards, you would be right at the top. >> you would be one of the nominees. not that we can single out anybody. incoming house speaker john boehner has been known to let his emotions get the best of him at times. and it happened again and again and again. this time on "60 minutes," the republican admitting there are some things he just can't talk about without tearing up. >> i can't go to a school anymore. i used to go to a lot of schools. and see all these little kids running around. i can't talk about it. >> why?! >> um, making sure that these kids have a shot at the american dream, like i did. it's important. >> well, boehner was responding to leslie staal's question about why he gets joked up so often, so he choked up again.

by the way, sticking with republican politics, very quickly, savannah, we're all focused on the divide here on the democratic side, but watching the republican vote today is going to be fascinating. mitch mcconnell promised a majority. it's going to be interesting. >> interesting to see who votes no. in afghanistan, several suspects have been arrested following a suicide attack that killed six u.s. soldiers. they died when a mini bus packed with explosives detonated outside a city outside of kandahar. the taliban immediately claimed responsibility for that attack. now to the big story in the midwest. the weather, even by minute standards, this weekend's snowstorm packed a wallop. more than 17 inches of snow fell on the twin cities in a very small amount of time, just 24 hours. enough to punch a giant hole in the metrodome's inflatable roof.

the weather channel's scott williams is live for us in minneapolis. is the worst over now, as far as accumulating all of this snow as fast as they did? >> reporter: yes, chuck and savannah. the snow has stopped falling, but not before about 17 inches fell here in the twin cities. public schools are closed in the twin cities, and right now we are dealing with the bitter cold. windchill values as i am talking are about 20 degrees below zero when you factor in the wind. highs today will stay in the single digits and folks are continuing to assess the damage, of course, at the metrodome. amazing before and after pictures. of course, typically air pressure keeps that dome inflated. but the heavy snow and wind over the weekend caused the dome to collapse, the fourth time in the stadium' history. and repair crews are on their way to assess the damage. no word on how much it will cost or how long it will take to

repair the damage to the metrodome. now, the game originally scheduled for monday night between the vikings and the giants. that will take place at detroit's ford field. tickets are free to that game, so a lot of folks are lining up this morning in detroit to get tickets to that game. existing ticketholders will actually get preferred seating along the 50-yard line. so somewhat of some solace there. now, as far as the scheduled home game here at the metrodome, that is december 20th between the vikings and the bears. they are already looking for an alternate site for that game. back to you, chuck and savannah. >> the weather channel's scott williams in a chilly minneapolis this morning. those pictures are amazing. >> unbelievable on a sports business side note, the vikings desperate for a new stadium, i think maybe have their -- have a little bit of evidence to show why they need one. >> exactly. well, there are some still unanswered questions this morning about the suicide over the weekend of mark madoff, the

son of the imprisoned financier, bernie madoff. defenders claim he helped stop his father's ponzi scheme, but others say he reaped the benefit and was under increasing pressure to pay the money back. nbc's jeff rossen is following this story for us from new york. jeff, good morning, what's the latest? >> reporter: hi, savannah, hi, chuck, good to see you. a couple of nypd officers just walked into mark madoff's apartment building a moment ago in downtown manhattan and then walked back out. a pretty open and shut case as far as the police investigation goes on this, the local police investigation. the official autopsy results are in. this was a suicide by hanging. and what appears to have happened, according to sources and people who are close to mark madoff is that he was sort of becoming unraveled in the past several days. visibly depressed. he had been sued for tens of millions of dollars many times over the past year, but another lawsuit came in just a few days ago, and this time his wife and his children, his young children, were all named in that lawsuit. apparently that took a very big toll on him.

on friday, just a couple of hours later, he went into the parking garage here and gave the attendants a $400 tip for christmas, a little bit early for that, they said, and said good-bye to them. the attendant said he looked fine, but then he went back home and a few hours later on friday night, a headline in "the wall street journal" talked about how the feds were actually closing in on possible criminal charges against mark madoff and his younger brother, andrew. and then hours later, overnight around 5:00 a.m., he shot off some lawyers to his wife and and said he loved them and to take care of his family. then he hung himself inside his apartment here with a dog leash. so there's a lot of questions right now about how close the feds were to criminal charges. remember, he's denied any involvement or acknowledge in the ponzi scheme for his father. bernie madoff was told behind bars about this. unclear what his reaction was. unclear if he'll ask to go to the funeral. ruth madoff, who reportedly lives in florida -- by the way,

mark has not spoken to bernie madoff or ruth madoff, his mother and father, since 2008, when bernie madoff was arrested. she's apparently heartbroken by this and blames bernie for all of it, chuck and savannah. >> unbelievable. jeff rossen for us on this tragic story, and the fact that he did it, what a message he wanted to send, to do it on the two-year anniversary. >> clearly he wanted to say something even more than just the suicide. jeff rossen, thanks. coming up, the president's tax cut deal facing its first critical test today in the senate. but that's not the biggest hurdle. the biggest hurdle still remains. >> we're not beginning to hold this thing up at the end of the day. >> well, that comment had congressman chris van hollen having to clarify later in the day. up next, he join us for "the daily rundown" interview for a little more clarification. and move over, oscar and emmy, we are bringing you the first ever chavannah awards this week.

today we'll have our picks for the best and worst candidates of 2010. and a bit later on, the tweet of the year. it's exciting times here. with the music straight out of the '70s. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule today. busy one. i know someone who's very excited about this lakers event at 2:45 p.m.. >> last year a lot of bling. remember that? >> yeah, weren't the kardashians there? >> oh, yeah, multiple kardashians were in the house. i don't know if that relationship is still going on with lamar odom. oh, we're told by our producer it is. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. of course she would no. [scraping] [horns honking] with deposits in your engine, it can feel like something's holding your car back. let me guess, 16. [laughing] yeeah. that's why there's castrol gtx... with our most powerful deposit fighting ingredient ever. castrol gtx exceeds the toughest new industry standard. don't let deposits hold your car back.

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well, all eyes are on the senate for today's 3:00 p.m.

test vote on the tax deal compromise. >> democrats in both chambers expect passage before the end of the year, but some house progressives are planning to fight the deal's estate tax provision. and republicans are refusing to consider any changes or attempts to scuttle the deal. congressman chris van hollen is chairman of the -- outgoing chairman of the campaign committee. the ranking member in the next congress on the budget committee. he joins us. >> good to be with you. >> i have to ask you immediately, because you put out a clarification after, you said yesterday -- yesterday morning, we're not going to hold this thing up at the end of the day. okay. but then you clarified. you think people -- did we overread what you meant there? so this is not a done deal? >> no, it's not a done deal. some people had misinterpreted the house caucus to suggest we were going to block any vote coming to the house for a vote. >> you'll bring a bill to the

floor. will you bring the senate bill? >> as the democratic caucus said, this bill in its current form sun acceptable. it will come to the floor of the house in some form. and it will be open to changes. and people will have an opportunity to work their will. so i just wanted to clarify the point that the democratic leadership in the house is not going to take the bill, put it in a tradrawer and say, we're n going to have a chance to debate this. >> but your objections are not on something that's just a marginal piece of the deal. it's really a key concession democrats, the president made to the republicans, over this estate tax. i know democrats want a lower rate. by white house aides will tell you, you take away this estate tax, if you take out that part of the deal, it unravels the whole deal. is this a deal breaker for house democrats? will you vote against it if this same estate tax provision remains in this deal? >> it makes it much more difficult for democrats. and that's why there's going to be a concerted effort --

>> more difficult is a vote against? >> i think. here's the deal on testate tax. and of course, this was negotiated behind closed doors at the end of the day between the white house and senate republicans. and we've never put to task this question. do we really want to add $25 billion to the deficit over the next two years for the benefit of 6,600 estates k estates? there was a clear and obvious compromise on, a compromise that had been in the congress for years, but instead of taking that compromise, the administration gave senator kyl who's been the champion of this bonanza tax break, they gave him that concession. but when people focus on the facts, they'll recognize what the white house got for that is very little compared to what they get. >> on the senate side, there are moderate democrats who support senator kyl on this estate tax

provision. wasn't the dye already cast? >> there are certain republicans who support certain parts of the kyl estate tax, but the overwhelming number of democrats in the senate and the house recognize that this particular deal on the estate tax is an unnecessary giveaway, at a time when we're facing these big deficits. i mean, literally, it boils down to $25 billion for 6,600 families. if you do nothing on the estate tax, on january 1st, it reverted to the pre-bush estate tax levels. that's $1 million exemption. everything above that, 55%. the one compromise, instead of taking the obvious compromise on this, they instead gave kyl something that does not have support. they have not been able to get this through the congress. >> do you have somebody in the united states senate that's going to offer this up as an

amendment? as soon as cloture is invoked today and they get over their 60, do you have somebody that's going to introduce this as an amendment before it gets to the house? >> chuck, it's not clear yet exactly what amendments are going to be introduced in the senate. we will be talking to the senators to see whether we can move forward on that. but at the end of the day, i mean, this is something that we think needs to be addressed. it to be clear. other members have other legitimate concerns, but i do think this has become the focus of most of our -- >> i just want to understand. is this your line in the sand? if this provision is in here, you can't support it, period. >> chuck, as of right now, if this provision stays, and i think it should not stand and it should be debated, i will have a very difficult time -- >> that's not, i have to say, that sounds like you're basically saying, i'm reluctant to -- >> as of now, i, individually, intend to vote against it if it's in there given all the other issues at play, you know, obviously, every member has to take into account everything when it comes right down to it.

but, again, you got -- what we want is a clear debate on this issue. because i think the merits are clear. and, you know, there's all this, you know, push on house democrats, join the bandwagon. we're not, you know, the narrative has been, you know, we haven't adjusted to the post-election reality. we can't compromise. that's just not the case. we understand tough decisions need to be made. but why don't we put this question to the test. are republicans really willing to hold up tax relief for millions of americans, middle class americans and others in order to provide a $25 billion hit to the deficit that benefits 6,600 estates at an average benefit of $1.8 million? we've never had that debate. >> congressman, you were one of the six-pack, the people that were supposed to be negotiating a tax compromise, you mentioned a few minutes ago, the contours of this deal were actually

worked out behind closed doors between the administration and senator mcconnell. do you think the negotiations you participated in were a sham? do you think the white house iced you out and double crossed you? >> i don't think they were a scam. the timing on this is important. the fact is that they were useful in terms of understanding all the different elements that different parties want to put on the table. but in terms of any trades that were being made, those were not made within that context, because those negotiations were going on at a time, number one, the white house was voting for middle class tax cuts, and a few days later, the senate was voting on the package. so in the meantime, there were the back-channel -- >> do you regret, at the end of the day, the white house wanted this debate on the taxes six months ago and you guys decided you couldn't put your moderate members through another tough vote. do you regret that now? >> chuck, some day the whole history of the back and forth in the congress and between the congress on the white house on exactly that question will be told. >> why not today? no time like the present.

>> there were many in the house that were looking for a slightly different presentation of the vote in the house and hoping the white house would get behind it. but that is monday morning quarterbacking. i understand some folks at the white house are saying, you should have done it earlier. there were proposals that some of us gave to the white house that we believe could have broken the logjam earlier, but again, history will tell that story. >> congressman chris van hollen, good to have you here. >> good to be with you. >> thanks for coming in this morning. can coming up next, get excited. you'll probably want to stick around, congressman. it's the first ever annual chuvannah awards. we're crowning winners from the best viral ads to the worst candidates. >> and with appearances by the spoilers. >> we'll also have the big spenders. >> and that guy from south carolina, whatever his name was, you remember him. >> and from the possessed farm animal category, the demon

sheep. but first, our washington speak, the estate tax. this is a tax on the transfer of property after your death. in the president's deal with republicans, individuals are exempt from the estate tax up to $5 million per person, and the maximum tax rate on estate is 35%. this is a higher exemption and for a lower rate than most democrats want. >> if you have some washington speak you'd like us to clarify, perhaps pooes de resistance, send us an e-mail at dailyrundown@msnbc.com. and from, i knew my business would never be the same. [ male announcer ] when businesses see an opportunity to grow, the hartford is there. protecting their property and helping them plan their employees' retirement. ♪ beer or bread?

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are bringing you the chuvannah awards. that's team chuck and savannah, aka chuvannah. our picks for the best and worsts in politics. >> first, the best candidate of 2010. the nominees are scott brown. remember, he did get elected in 2010. it was a year ago. he was one of only five republican state senators in the massachusetts statehouse. and lo and behold, he became a u.s. senator. scott brown rode his populist message regular guy persona and that omnipresent truck to victory. >> and jerry brown. three decades after his first stint in the california governor's mansion with a very non-flashy, le-tech, low-planning campaign, jerry brown proved conventional wisdom all wrong. the more money meg whitman spent, the biggest spender ever,

the more voters looked to jerry brown, the ultimate insider, who has held nearly every statewide office ended up as an outsider lands him on our list of best candidates. >> and finally, ron johnson. he managed to make wisconsin forget he was the millionaire and russ fieingold was a maverick. it ended feingold's 18-year career senate. and he was very disciplined, amaze fwli disciplined and he got in very late. >> all right, envelope, please. >> here it is. who's going to get it? >> scott brown. >> wow. >> he set the trend. it is scott brown. he set the trend for the year. and in fact, scott brown's victory is what got a guy like ron johnson into wisconsin. it got some of these guys, it convinced them, okay, maybe this is -- >> let's show you the seminal

one-liner from scott brown and how he did it. >> bush/cheney this, bush/cheney that. you can run against bush/cheney, but i'm scott brown, i drive a truck, it has over 200,000 miles on it now. you're not running against them, you're running against me. >> well, moving on. the other side of greatness is mediocri mediocrity, and unfortunately, it's that time. the candidates that overpromised and underdelivered, the worst candidates of 2010. our nominees are -- >> you've got to start with charlie crist in florida. from a top tier vice presidential hopeful in 2008, a governor with well-known presidential ambitions to a guy in three weeks will be unemployed. he began the cycle as a shoo-in, but never overcame marco rubirus momentum. both in the republican primary, then tried to be an independent, then in the end was looking to democrats. >> let's stay in florida for

another worst candidate nominee, that is alex sink. another florida underperformer. was not able to beat a guy who settled with the justice department for $1.7 billion for defrauding medicare and sent his mother to the final primary debate as his stand-in. and then that video surfaced in which seemed to show sink cheating at a debate, looked that way, anyway. in a change election when democrats counted on alex sink to take the governor's race in a key 2012 state, alex sink failed to deliver. it lands on our list. >> and finally, joe miller, because if your private security team arrests someone, anyone at a campaign event, you're probably in trouble. his erratic campaign and refusal to answer questions about his history made him the first candidate to lose a u.s. senate race to a write-in candidate since 1954, a pretty impressive feat. on friday, by the way, alaska superior court judge dismissed miller's complaint that misspelled write-in votes should

be tossed out. >> and the winner for worst candidate -- >> this is tough. this was a very close election. >> we had some competition. it was close. it's alex sink. >> it's unbelievable. think about it. you lost to a guy who defrauded medicare in florida! okay? more people on medicare perhaps in the state of florida per capita than any state -- >> and you and alex sink kind of had a moment on our air, did you not? >> it was the beginning. a lot of people responded going, oh, my god, she may be in bigger trouble than many people realized. >> let's play the clip. >> what kind of governor has charlie crist been for the state of florida? >> well, we're in really difficult economic times. the governor made his own personal decision that he didn't care to run for re-election. >> has charlie crist been a good governor? >> well, i'm not here to evaluate. >> what are some things you'd like to see done differently? >> well, to contrast, governor

crist has been in politics his entire life. i have not. >> all right. alex sink, sorry, i feel kind of bad about it, but worst 2010 candidate in the chuvannah awards. and it's not over yet. in the shallow end, we'll reveal a bonus chuvannah, tweet of the year. we were excluded from qualifications. of course, it was about even close. coming up, harry reid rolls the dice on internet gambling. >> he says it will help the economy, but his critics say the only people it will help are those vegas casino bosses. and politics without labels. it always makes you good to say it. we'll tell you how new york city mayor michael bloomberg are trying to do this in new york today. >> labeling politicians, we would never do that, right? like best and worst. today's trivia question from "the almanac of american politics." which two sitting senators attended the same high school as

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all right. now to a game of political poker, literally. senate majority leader harry reid wants the lame-duck congress to legalize internet poker. he says it will improve regulation and allow the u.s. to collect taxes on a multibillion dollar industry. >> but critics charge this is a giveaway to the big casinos, the very ones that backed the nevada lawmaker's re-election campaign. michael isikoff has been looking into this. so what are the details here? what does reid want to do and why do critics say this is essentially payback time to the big casinos? >> this could be the sleeper story of the last couple of

weeks of the session. reid circulated a bill quietly, didn't publicly announce it, a bill that would legalize internet poker. and do it if a way that would give preferential treatment to big las vegas casinos. in fact, it almost guarantees that initial licenses would go to well-established casino operators in the united states. the guys who are going to get this are mgm resorts international, hara's cesar's entertainment. these are the companies that were pouring money into reid's re-election campaign. in fact, there was this super-pac set up, patriot majority pac that was flooding the air waves with attack ads against sharron angle, $375,000 went from those two casino companies that are well positioned to get these initial licenses. that's what has people so outrage about this. >> would this be the first nationally legalized gambling? because this would be a federal

government legalizing governmam. >> in 2006, jon kyl, you know, at the behest of conservatives slipped in this measure that basically outlawed internet gambling in the united states. said credit card transactions couldn't be used. what's happened is, and this is the argument for it, for what reid is trying to do. booming overseas industries -- >> caribbean in particular. >> -- have shot up. in the caribbean, europe. billions of dollars going overseas. reid and the casino operators saying, hey, we want part of the action. originally, they supported this, because they saw internet gaming as a competition. now they're saying, we want in. >> isn't the real issue less about whether to legalize internet gaming, but more about how this law seems to be written, especially for the casinos that helped reid as opposed to say other indian gaming interests that might want to get a piece of the action. >> exactly. indian gaming, state lottery foreman, and he said, this is

going to cost massachusetts alone $100 million in state revenues over the next few years. >> so he wants the state of massachusetts to be able to run their own poker -- >> right. he wants to team up, he's saying, this will all go to the vegas casinos. that's the objection. >> they're missing jack abramoff, aren't they? >> that's right. the indian tribe, where's jack abramoff when you need him? >> by the way, a lot of internet action on the chuvannah awards. >> thank you, michael isikoff. all right. let's do our trivia. which two sitting senators attended the same high school as supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg? >> well, the answer is new york senator chuck schumer, and in vermont, senator bernie sanders. all three attended james madison high school in new york. and here's a little bonus for you, because he might run for n rnc chairman, former senator norm coleman also went to that

high school. you had a democrat, an independent, and a republican who all went to that high school in brooklyn. up next, they're calling it no labels, so what's the chance they can turn it around? tom davis joins us next. but first, the white house soup of the day, big 15 bean soup day. google 15 bean, you can find out what the 15 beans are. >> and how many are beans and how many are nuts or legumes. repairs are fast and they're guaranteed for as long as you own your car. boss: hey, that's great! is this your phone? gecko: yeah, 'course. boss: but...where do you put...i mean how do you...carry... waitress: here you go. boss: thanks! gecko: no, no i got it, sir. anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

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well, activists from across party lines are launching a new political start-up today. >> the group is calling itself no labels and calls on politicians to move beyond ideology, put aside titles, and do what's best for the future of our country. former virginia congressman republican, tom davis, he chaired, of course, the national republican congressional committee, and is a featured speaker at today's launch in new york.

he's also president of the republican main street partnership. all right. let me start with this group, congressman, because, you know, it's always easy to do this, oh, when it's politically easy. so you're not in power, for instance. i look at the list of folks involved. charlie chris won't be in power pretty soon. it's good politics for joe manchin, who's trying to win in a red state. you know, when does this become hard to be involved with a project like this? >> well, i think it's hard for most people who hold office, frankly, because as you know, you have litmus tests, a lot of party pressures, particularly in primaries and the like. and i think that's why most of the folks, senator lieberman and mayor bloomberg being exceptions, find it a little more difficult to participate in something like this. but i think probably the majority of american people have seen politics getting more polarized over time, more litmus tests, more partisanship and

they're really looking for answers at this point. they're looking for a work product from the congress that they haven't been able to deliver in the last ten years. >> so how do you look to enforce this movement? so when politics become divisive, what does this movement plan to do about it or say about it? >> as we saw in the primaries last year, one of the difficulties is in both democratic primaries, moderates have fled both parties in droves, each party has become more left or more right, making it more difficult for centered candidates to win primaries or to win elections. lisa murkowski, of course, broke that mold with a write-in in alaska. this is a group if you sat them in a room, they don't agree on everything, but feel that we need to take away the partisan shields and put no labels on people. where they can come to the table and address these problems not as a red or blue team, but for the red, white and blue.

and i wanted to bring a nationwide network of people that do that. >> it can sound good in theory, but i guess i would ask you this. isn't the real problem not enough centrists being elected, but isn't the real problem that a liberal democrat and a conservative republican who are principled in big liberals and conservatives, who win their primaries, you know, can't compromise on one issue. i mean, isn't the issue really, let's get the conservatives and liberals in the room, but give them the room to compromise? >> exactly. you want to give them cover. so that they can move that. we've just seen this with the liberal democrats over in the uk, where they all signed a pledge saying they wouldn't raise taxes. we're asking people to set aside the labels, you know, set aside some of these things where you can get across the table. we have huge problems ahead of us, particularly on the deficit, that it's going to take, i think, some compromise to get there. and there needs to be a

political body that's going to support people who are willing to do that and get there. >> okay. congressman, before we let you go, we've got to ask you a little bit about republican politics. as you know michael steele, the rnc chairman, has scheduled a call for tonight where he's going to announce whether or not he plans to seek re-election. what's your take? i think the expectation is that he won't. what's your take on how the republican party should move forward from here? >> well, i just don't see how he gets elected. i don't think he has support within the committee, given the financial posture. you know, i think he ought to declare victory at this point and give them a nice retirement dinner and move ahead. what the party has to understand is we weren't elected in these midterms. this was basically a vote against what was there. we were the opposition. now we've got to earn our stripes. and we did it with a lot of swing voters who had voted against us in '06 and '08. they're not sold in the programs and we're going to have to make sure that we can continue to appeal to these independent voters if we're going to take back power in two years.

>> one final question on no labels, are you going to spend money to protect candidates that take your pledge to be no labels? are you going to spend millions of dollars to help them? >> well, i think they're going to be a -- i think there will be hundreds of thousands if not millions of people nationwide that are going to be paying attention to this. that at this point, really, money doesn't do this as much as grassroots, net roots, the kind of things both the left and the right have done pretty well. the center's done a pretty bad job with that. i think they're just trying inf. it's not a political party. we have strong democrats participating. but it is a network to inform people about who's really sincere about solving these problems and who is sticking to party labels and the plenls and the ideology sometimes that stood in the way of getting solutions. >> former congressman, tom davis. appreciate it. coming up next, one set of chuvannah awards was not enough.

it's our favorite format, the best tweet of 2010. >> lighter side. the more serious in the middle. lighter side at the end. follow us on twitter. we're getting plenty of complaints who was left off the list. we have best candidate and best campaign. >> and worst campaign. >> calm down. four more days. >> the candidate you hate may end up on the list. >> or the candidate you love may end up on the hate. follow us. we'll be right back. for strong bones, i take calcium. but my doctor told me that most calcium supplements... aren't absorbed properly unless taken with food. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. citracal. 

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don't say we don't know how to create drama and excitement. before we go, a dip in the shallow end. clearly, you're too busy following us on twit, mostly chuck to pay attention to the other goings on on the website. but today we're showing our gratitude for the artistry that has worked its way into 140

characters or less. we'll award a chuvannah to tweet of the year. >> some awards were done at a previous ceremony and that's why we're happy to do this. consider it the contemporary haiku. sarah palin, she invented a word, refudiate. misunderestimate. english is a living language. got to celebrate it. >> not yet. shn. shakespeare's dictionary, across the pond elites refudiate given the stamp approval by the oxford dictionary who named it word of the year. >> how about that? >> for her uncanny ability to manipulate the media in dozens of characters, sarah palin, you're a chuvannah nominee. >> next up, snooki. senator john mccain, thanks for having my back. i'm going to make you part of my family. grandpa snooki for president! it started this odd love affair, frankly, between john mccain and

snooki. >> remember, snooki got the zeros, it's not 0s, it's zeros. final nominee, p.j. crowley. americans should heed our travel warning and avoid north korea. we only have a handful of former presidents. >> that's what it is taken to get these guys free, is to send a president over to north korea. >> the best tweet? >> we're giving it to p.j. crawley. it's a government official who had the sense of humor to do something like that. >> a little sass from the state department. >> it's an official twitter account to do something like that. we're impressed. easy for palin. easy for snooki. harder to cross that line. >> p.j., you get this piece of paper. congratulations. that's if for "the daily rundown." >> next chris jansing. >> "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow, another exciting day of chuvannah. >> 3:00 p.m., the big senate

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