this time will not be settled until the actual convention for the reason that while romney will be the spinach they need to win, he is just not their tup of tea. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us and join us monday for more "hardball." have a great weekend. i'm craig melvin on msnbc, freaky friday. holiday shoppers not packing patience, but pepper spray. some stores opening before turkey day was even over. have we taken it too far? washington shops for a solution to the country's massive debt with the super committee. what's next? the mystery deepens. the prime suspect in aruba's latest missing persons case may be a free man. many retailers all across the country r hoping to go from the red into the black. according to the retail

federation, 152 million of you are expected to shop this weekend. things got ugly in california today. one shopper actually pepper sprayed fellow shoppers at a wal-mart in los angeles. she reportedly pulled it out to have less competition from the crowd. even a few kids got sprayed. we go to florida. hey there. >> how are you, craig? no pepper spray and no violence. all peaceful. long lines and hard to find a parking spot by now. we have not seen, however, what you can call black friday madness. not here at malls around the country. this would be what they call an average holiday season in terms of sales with growth in sales up to 2.8%. you can expect that of course after the recession we went

through up until 2009. here like i said great spirits and retailers doing everything they can to lure customers in. abercrombie and fitch had a shirtless male model which i am getting tweets on. i am commenting on that quite a bit and other stores with great discounts and most door busters have been over by now and people are still walking in. there is quite a bit of shopping going on starting today. black friday all the way through the weekend up until they call cyber monday on monday when people who couldn't get the shopping done this weekend will be visiting family members and get to do their shopping online. >> shoppers have been out for a few hours. are the shelves bare? >> what was that? >> the shoppers have been out for several hours. are the shelves bare there? >> there is definitely shoppers

everywhere around here. the shelves are still packed. still sales everywhere. not like we saw earlier in the morning where all the door busters were getting people in. things are quiet and busy. not quite peaceful. not violent. >> good. that's what we like to hear. we will check back in with you later. holiday shoppers scooping up bargains today are an essential part of the economic recovery. they re leased the numbers showing an anemic .1% increase over last month. the eweakest in four months. in the manhattan mall in new york city, what's the latest. are consumers opening their wallets? >> definitely seeing big crowds here, but a lot of the people are buying in big numbers. that was what retailers were hoping for when they planned this year's black friday as you

said, an essential part of turning the economy around is getting people in the stores and getting them to buy. so far we are seeing big numbers not only here in manhattan, but throughout the country. at the flagship store here, 9,000 people waited overnight for the midnight opening this morning and at malls like this one here in manhattan and across the country, lots of people are coming in not only to take advantage of the sales, but they are buying. a lot of people with bags and taking advantage of the sales. deep discounts were a huge part of the store's philosophy and approach to black friday. some of the sales are better than ever. the early openings were also part of what they were offering. many stores for the first time opened thanksgiving day. some as early as 9:00 p.m. that was a new approach that seems to have worked. a lot of stores reporting that the early sales and the door busters that started as early as last night did a lot to boost early sales and get people in the door.

of course there other approaches that they are using including online shopping and still a very big draw for people and stores are now actually sending sales directly to people on their smart phones. sending special offers only available on mobile sites to get shoppers to not only come into stores, but to purchase online. some people saying this is simply gone too far, including a lot of retail employees. one part-time target employee in nebraska started an online petition and got 200,000 signatures asking target to keep their store closed on thanksgiving day so they could enjoy the holiday with family and friends. target complied saying we didn't want to open that early, but feel the pressure on to do so because of competition. a lot of retailers feel they need to keep up with the other stores to keep shoppers in the door. their approach seems to be working. we are hearing great numbers

here on black friday and we expect crowds like this to continue as the day continues. >> janelle kline, thank you. speaking of spending, congress comes back to town monday to survey the wreckage of the failed super committee with the plan for tackling the debt crisis, but more battles loom as president obama wants them to extend the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits. kristen welker is live for us this friday on the the white house. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. how are you in. >> very well. republicans promising to prevent $600 billion in cuts and set to kick in in 2013 with the president vowing to veto. are we looking at another battle? >> we quite possibly are. the president has been adamant that he is going to veto any sort of effort to try to get it

delayed. you have a number of senators, john mccain and lindsay graham saying they are working on legislation and innocent you have democrats saying look, we are not going to agree to anything that only has cuts in domestic spending. a lot of conflicting interests and the white house trying to make the argument that the cuts don't go into effect until 2013. there is plenty of time to get a balanced deal, but it looks like we are shaping for for a standoff which would not be unlike what we have seen in the past weeks and months. >> the blame game that started after the failure of the super committee, there were folks who said that the president should have been more engaged, especially perhaps he could have swooped in and saved the deal. what's the white house say about that? >> it's interesting. the white house has started to push back against any notion that the president did not show

enough leadership on this issue. they are making the point that several members of the super committee contacted the president and said look, we don't want you to get involved. this will slow down the process. they are making that quite clear. really the analysis on the president's role still being debated. you have people saying it's a good thing he wasn't involved. now the super committee and congress owns this failure. then you have other people, gop candidates saying this is absolutely a failure on the president's part and he should have shown more leadership towards the end of the process. the president turning a page next week. he is hadding to strand on, pennsylvania. he will be there pushing for congress to push parts of his jobs bill which is what we have seen him do as of late. craig? >> from the white house on this friday, thank you. >> thanks, craig. >> a quick programming note to pass along, following the

failure of the super committee, the guests on "meet the press" will include new york senator schumer and chairman of the policy committee. grover norquist has been called the 13th member of that super committee this sunday on "meet the press" on nbc. up next here on msnbc, not 2008 anymore. how can president obama carry the swing states that he ran away with last time? plus, get your motor running. a little known fact about black friday and all that and lots more. straight ahead here on msnbc. ♪ ♪ i think i'm falling ♪ i think i'm falling ♪ i think i'm falling [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ for you [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday.

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president obama facing a

tough fight in swing states he carried in 2008 in places like north carolina and virginia that voted democratic for the first time in decades. the president is expected to be competiti competitive, but in pennsylvania and michigan, mr. obama may have a harder time. we cover the whis for "the washington post." good friday to you both. unless the economy picks up soon, is there anything the president can do in states that i mentioned that have been hit especially hard? >> i don't think the white house is expecting the economy to dramatically change between now and next november. there is not enough time for unemployment to change in a huge way. what they are trying to demonstrate is it's headed in the right direction. people don't think the country or economy is up in the right direction.

they are convincing voters the president is doing all he can. they are taking things he can do single handedly rather than counting on congress which has been deadlocked. >> let's turn to the republican battle here. newt gingrich making headlines in the last debate bying issing that illegal immigrants be allowed to remain because they are raising ma'am families. especially in the south and out west. >> it's going to hurt him in iowa and be a bit of a challenge in south carolina. newt gingrich talked about this six weeks ago. it wasn't noticed because he wasn't in the top tier of candidates. most of us ignored it focussing on rick perry, but conservatives and cultural conservatives. it will be a challenge for him.

it probably won't hurt him in new hampshire and florida, but definitely a problem. >> what are is more surprising, the surge of newt gingrich or the fall? the fall of rick perry. >> the fall of rick perry was probably more of a surprise. his rise was faster and his fall was precipitous after that florida debate. it happened the next day. newt's rise has not been a surge, but a slow climb at the expense of the others. he is familiar and they have been watch his strengths and weaknesses for sometime. i think if he were to decline, it would not be a same fast drop we have seen from pick perry and herman cain and michele bachmann and others. if he had a weakening, it would be slower. >> let's turn the attention to the swing states we were talking about. new hampshire and iowa republicans getting all the attention right now. which states are going to be

most critical for the president? >> interestingly iowa and to a lesser extent new hampshire. iowa certainly. michigan and pennsylvania are important, but democrats have won them. the president is spending a lot of time in pennsylvania thatting ises they are worried about it. they probably need to lock that down. places like ohio and florida certainly. as you mentioned, obama campaign and the white house have and they would argue they have a number of paths to the needed 270 electoral college votes. among the states that will be important is virginia and north carolina and they would argue colorado and other concern states where hispanic voters are on the rise. they would say that the big industrial mid-western states may not be as important and they have other ways to get there. we will see if that's the case. >> much attention has been paid,

especially right after last election that is shifting and changing demographics in the country and how instrumental they were in giving the president a victory when we started look it is at the number of hispanic voters and you started looking at the whites that flocked to urban areas over the past ten years. do we think of the same demographics will be as important or less important this time around? >> they are just as important and the key states continue to change. take the obama outlook, for example. they think they can put three more states in play. as ann mentioned, they think they can lose. and still have another path to victory. they are looking at georgia, arizona, and texas. >> do they have a shot in georgia? >> they believe they have a shot and say they have a shot in texas and i don't believe them. >> i don't either.

>> a shot in georgia. >> they might have -- they point out there were a few points within striking distance, but i share steve's skepticism. >> atlanta is not that big. thank you so much. appreciate you guys joining us on this friday. >> thank you. >> up next, rage and revolution. we are live in tahrir square where tensions are boiling over ahead of critical elections. our man on the scene, next. so i took my heartburn pill and some antacids. we're having mexican tonight, so another pill then? unless we eat later, then pill later? if i get a snack now, pill now? skip the snack, pill later... late dinner, pill now? aghh i've got heartburn in my head. [ male announcer ] stop the madness of treating frequent heartburn. it's simple with prilosec otc. one pill a day. twenty-four hours. zero heartburn. no heartburn in the first place. great. you can put a force field on him and be invisible!

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massive protests in tahrir square. tens of thousands of egyptians demanding they hand over power ahead of elections there on monday. a live look right now. this is the seventh straight day of demonstrations there. 40 protesters have been killed so far. nbc is joining me now. let's start with the names of the new prime minister.

the military council and what is that going to mean for the protest behind you? >> i had a chance to ask some of the protesters behind me and still in the tens of thousands late in the evening. the vast majority will tell you two things. this individual was a man who served under the former regime and not bringing the youth and the vision many would like, but more importantly a systematic problem. he will not be given the powers that he needs in order to put er egypt on the right path. they are saying it doesn't matter who the person is. it matters the authority he is dell getted. they are not convinced he is given the power he needs. >> for folks who have not been following as closely as us, walk us through what led to what we are seeing behind you. we haven't seen scenes like that in egypt for months until this past week.

>> that's a good question. it started ten months ago when the military assumed control saying they were going to lead the country to a civilian government within the course of six months. we are well beyond the course and people behind me don't feel that the military has put this country on the right path to clear and fair transition to a democratic process. what they also argue is that the military has consistently tried to carve out a piece for itself in the new constitution and trying to give itself powers that exempt it from civilian authority. the past week it started off with a deadly confrontation against the forces and the military killing. 38 people and it just angered and fuelled the people more to come back. >> we heard a loud explosion behind you.

the didn't seem too phased by it. is that the norm or do you know what that was? >> you can hear the sounds of people chanting. it's a festive atmosphere and what we have been hearing is fireworks. they have been going off in the heart of tahrir and i'm sure that's what it was. >> before i let you get out of here, the latest in the three american students. what do we know? >> one of the mothers has toll us they should be released saturday morning from police custody and should be on a flight back to the united states and arriving by the end of saturday u.s. time. >> our man there in the middle of it all in cairo. appreciate your work, sir. have a good night. >> you too. >> two more of jerry sandusky's accusers according to an e-mail. at least one of the children is said to be a family member of sandusky. the allegation was reported in a

local newspaper. the former defense coach. denying the new claims as well. joining me to talk about it, good friday to you, sir. thanks for stopping in. what do you newest allegations mean? >> it's the latest to layer on to this case. now for penn state, one of the big moral questions is keeping this within house and not shining the light on jerry sandusky, what could happen and these could be victims and they more may not have been avoided had penn state done more. if they beat wisconsin and won the title game, they could win the rose bowl down in orlando or

are there people who are screaming from the mountain tops, no, no, no. the guys on the field shouldn't be punished as a consequence of what's happening. >> in the world of college football, these games are still held as sacred. usc has a postseason ban because of reggie bush who had payments in all of that. they couldn't go to a bowl game, but they have not recused themselves and we may have an awkward situation of having to deal with a subject and celebrating at the same time and having the tornado happening around them. >> they continue to be out on bail and the new ak occasions could prompt him to be remanded into custody. >> if they bear the fruits alleged, he will have to be.

his lawyer said that a& he was donor to the foundation. this is another chapter of how the heck is this guy out among us? >> in that town they have the connection. so many said they have to bring in from the outside. thank you so much for your time. have a great weekend. coming up, from hot electronics to cool cars, what will be your big buy this black friday? we will check on the markets and see whether the shopping was enough to make it a happy holiday on wall street. you are watching msnbc. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth!

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tried to deep-fat-fry their turkey. 15 succeeded in setting their houses on fire. at christmas, there was a lot of driving over the river and through the woods. and a little bit of skidding on the ice and taking out grandma's garage door. so while you're celebrating, allstate will be standing by. trouble never takes a holiday. neither should your insurance. that's allstate's stand. are you in good hands? ♪ >> american officials and concerned families are a wading the american students arrested in egypt's tahrir square accused of throwing firebombs and security forces fighting with protesters there. back here, a sure sign of the

holiday season in the nation's capital. the white house christmas tree arrived this morning. it is a 19-foot bals am fir that came all the way from wisconsin. that tree is destined for the blue room where it will be the centerpiece of the holiday decorations. wall streetening early and ending the worst week since september. the markets have been battered as governments and here in the u.s. tackle massive debt. introducing occupy black friday. protesters who have been directing anger at wall street have the largest group of retailers. in idaho, consumer zombies are hitting the mall not to shop, but in silent protest of what they claim is no longer a free market. shoppers obsessed with black friday deals are getting out of hand. look at this new video of florence al, alabama where police have to use a stun gun

two times to subdue a shopper at a local wal-mart. that guy was arrested an hour after wal-mart opened the doors last night. public drunkenness is just one of the charges he faces. people are moving along in an order leeway when it comes to scoop up deals on electronics. joining me now from best buy in burbank. >> it was door buster specials like a 42 inch tv for $199. they opened their doors at 11:30 p.m. last night. the single best selling item is an xbox 360 for $199. 300 of those have sold so far and they are continuing to sell fast. tvs and gaming consoles are the popular items, but we are seeing a broad variety of items in people's carts. we are seeing older shoppers picking up ereaders and printers and families with kids snagging

the gaming consoles as well as laptops and dvds and many ever saying best buy is the one-stop shopping for the holidays this year. electronics retailers are expected to see a 6% increase in sales and part of that is because of the fact that electronics are gaping on other types of holiday gifts. one of the items we are seeing is tablets. we have android tablets for $179. plenty of kipdles and amazon reports the number one item today is the kindle fire. despite the competition and the fact that apple does not discount the tablets, the ipad 2 is expected to have 62% of market share over the holiday season. thanksgiving day online sales were actually up 39%. we will have to see whether those numbers are cannibalizing

instore sales or whether shoppers are spending more and spending more sooner in the holiday shopping season. this particular best buy is expected to see a 25% increase in sales from black friday and one thing's for sure it seems like midnight openings are here to stay. >> julia boorstin out west. thank you so much. in the mood for a new set of wheels? turns out the holiday season is actually a great time to buy. we cover the auto industry for cnbc from illinois. >> it may sound strange, but black friday this year is turning out to be one of the best days of the year to buy a new car according to the folks at true car.com. the average discount off the sticker price for a 2011 new car is 9%. for some models, the models with a large amount of inventory in the system, the discounts could be up to 26 or 29%.

two factors are driving the discounts. the inventory of 2011 models. 20% of the vehicles you see on the lots and in the show rooms are 2011 models that the dealers are trying to move out before the end of the year. combine that with the fact that we have a three-day weekend with relatively mild weather from coast to coast and you will see more traffic into show rooms. there is still a fair amount of pent up demand in the system because you have people who in the past might have bought a car, but because of the recession they held on to the vehicle and it's looking at a car that is three, four, five years old and in the past, people might have traded in. as a result many are looking at this weekend to be the best weekend for buying a new car. that's the story from here in park ridge, illinois. back to you. >> thank you. on to politics now. president obama was masterful at raising money in the 2008

campaign by using the internet for small donations from thousands of voters. heading into the reelection bid, the president once again raking in huge amounts of cash and more than $86 million in the last six months. will money be enough in a year when sunni-americans are struggling to make ends meet. director for president obama, she joins me now from since nato this friday. thanks for being here. >> happy black friday. >> happy black friday to you as well. quick million in six months. where is that money coming from? >> what's significant is a few weeks ago, the campaign received their one millionth donation. that's six months ahead of schedule from where it was four years ago. it's not the size of the donation, but the number of people who donate. they are excite and giving money

whether it's 10 or 20 or $25. they are likely to go to a phone bank or knock on doors and that's what this campaign has been about. >> there folks out there who have criticized the president for the money he has raised from wall street and he raised huge sums of money from wall street. at the same time he has been very vocal in terms of criticism of wall street. investment banks specifically. how is a campaign going to be able to reconcile those two things? >> when you had one million contributions, it's clear that the campaign is driven by people across the country and not wall street. let's take mitt romney. he has a huge percentage of contributions coming from wall street. from lobbyists and special interests. >> here doesn't spend as much time criticizing wall street as the president. >> the president is clear that

there is too much excessive greed. he has taken step of steps like the financial reform over the key accomplishments. his position and drive is not going to change. i can't speak for everyone who contributed. everyone has different motivations. >> out raising his eight republican rivals combined. 46% of the money from small donors and $200 or less. is he going too to repeat the phenomenon of raising piles of cash the way he did in 2008? >> absolutely. this campaign is driven by people across the country who can give $10, $20 and $25. that has not changed. it does drive a strong contrast between someone like the president and mitt romney who is getting a huge percentage of contributions from people on wall street and special interests. it may be his economic plan is geared towards the top 1% and not the 99%. this is the beginning of the campaign.

we have a lot of time to go, but i think there is no question his campaign will continue to be driven by small donor contributions. >> the 30 party groups emerged as a result of the supreme court case, citizens united. what role do you think these groups will have on this presidential election? >> the groups on the republican side, the president's position was clear. he was opposed to the steps taken by the supreme court and his position is consistent. he continues to feel that way. there groups on both sides and dominant on the republican side that are putting hundreds of millions of dollars or likely will over the next year towards defeating candidates. that's one of the reason yes it's so important that people in their homes and people who were thinking about how they can contribute, they should give $10 or $15 and they can fight

against the special interest groups. >> do you think the president will refuse any third party group offers to run advertising for his reelection campaign? >> it doesn't work that way as you know. a lost these groups are not allowed to coordinate with the president and the campaigns. they do spring up and fight on behalf of republican positions and what they stand for. that's where the majority of the money is right now. some groups on the democratic side and not something the president can control or stop. that's why he fought so hard. >> thank you so much for your time this afternoon. enjoy it. >> new details for the missing woman in aruba. could the man she was traveling with be set free after spending the last four months in jail. it may be chilly in iowa, but gop politics sure heating up. we will have a full report as we countdown to the caucuses. most ?

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the case of robin gardener who disappeared three months ago in aruba. today a judge ordered the release of gary giordano, the last person to see her alive. he could go free as soon as tuesday. from the very beginning, do we think that tuesday is the day he goes free? >> it's very possible. the prosecutors are saying they will appeal. it may be a holiday here and in aruba, it's just another business day. it happened here and he has been locked up for 111 days and still not charged with anything. prosecutors asked the judge today. we want another 30 days and keep him in jail another 30 days. the bombshell ruling from the judge saying no. if you don't charge him now, he is released from jail on tuesday. it is as mysterious as they

come. robin gardener on vacation, seemingly happy with gary giordano. one moment enjoyinginging a restaurant in aruba and the next, missing, never to be seen again. giordano maintains his innocence, but police won't let him go and prosecutors will try to convince the judge to hold him behind bars another 30 days. >> we have sufficient information that mr. giordano is not telling us the truth. >> he sticks by his story that he and robin were snorkeling in aruba. she was swept under by the currents and he managed to get out of the rough water. you can see giordano looking for help in this surveillance video minutes after she vanished. >> the greatest challenge is trying to prove what happened to her. did she run away or walk away or was she murdered? >> they searched the water. and the rough derain surrounding

the beach where robin was last seen. they brought in cadaver dogs. they even staged an elaborate reenactment at and no sign of robin. just this week, the dutch royal navy searched the sea again. >> we have the divers going in the water who use robots to search for the body. >> the lawyers say the case against him is thin. >> all the proof that i have seen, everything that i have seen clears gary giordano and confirms his version of the facts. >> but now with today's hearing, experts say the heat is on. >> i think the aruban government and investigators under intense pressure to solve the case. we know what happened in the natalee holloway case. we know there was no one charged in that. i think the aruban government are going to do everything they can to try to get this one

right. >> so once again, that really game-changing ruling from the judge in aruba that gary giordano will be released on tuesday. putting together the papers right now. we are talking to them and they are looking for an emergency hearing. they feel like if garry is released, he flies home to maryland, he could be gone for good. they could charge him, but there is the extradition from the u.s. we will keep you posted. >> likely not the end of this story. >> of course not. >> a parade of celebrities invaded the courts to testify in the phone hacking scandal. they include hugh grant, jk rowelling who share horror stories about how they were treated by the notorious tabloid press. michelle kosinski has more. hey, michelle. >> you are right. bad behavior by the press is what everybody has been hearing about over and over again in the jaw-dropping stories from

celebrities. how low will tabloids go? stop the presses. it's the paper's own scandalous deed that have celebrities lining up. >> it's terrifying running down a dark street with ten big men chasing me. the fact that they had cameras was legal. >> siena said they would spit the her for a story. >> there was a very sick child i was playing with in the corner of the room who was pretending to shoot me and i was pretending to die and we were playing a game. somebody took a picture and cut the boy out and said i was drunk. the damage is done. >> then police showed her the evidence that news the world harked her voice mails.

>> all of my telephone numbers that i changed, my access numbers, pin numbers, passwords and e-mail that was used to later hack my e-mail in 2008. >> others like billionaire j.k. rauling have battled tabloids for years. >> such a sense of invasion. it's difficult to explain to people who have not experienced it what it feels like. the twist in the stomach. you wonder what do they want? >> help us reach our goal. >> it almost reads like a weird fantasy goffle. the publisher addresses took notes and found a note from a reporter in her book bag that got a stolen copy of book five before it was published saying her child revealed the ending and that guide was based on her ex-husband. >> they kept him alive to die at the proper moment. >> that are misinformation

caused real emotional hurt. >> that still affects the big stars, saying something should change. they left the flash bulbs. there restrictions on the press here, but it could be a fine line between trying to impose more standards and preventing the press from exposing things that would be in the public interest. it will be interesting to see what the government ends up doing. it's true what's in place is not always a deterrent. craig? >> what if anything the government ends up doing. michelle kosinski from london. up next, red or not, here it comes. the iowa caucus is 40 day away now. who is racing ahead and falling behind? when we come back. i'm falling ♪ ♪ i think i'm falling ♪ i think i'm falling [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ for you [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store.

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iowa voters will travel to caucuses and kickoff the processes. my favorite columnist. let's talk about iowa. first of all, let's start with the hawk eye state and some have claimed that relative experience is in no way commensurate with the make up and size of the state. caucuses and random sequencing to go every year. i believe it is fundamentally indefensible. what happened to her campaign. >> i think she is an interesting one to watch. she has drifted down. she went from being one of the leaders to falling back in the

middle. unlike perry and and unlike what i predict will happen to newt gingrich, it is not been a horrible divulgent from the past, but she sort of got less attention. that means when the search for a post newt gingrich and anti-romney begins, michele bachmann is not one they have turned to. many expect them to do that and whether or not you see a resurgence in the next couple of weeks. >> or nationally? >> i don't know that she is say place nationally. >> mitt romney had not spent 8 great deal of timo that state. will he win over voters that values face time with voters? >> he has given it a shot. one thing in the caucuses, nobody is getting a lot of face time with voters. gingrich and cain have been running what appear to be book campaigns. they are barely there and very, very little on the ground work.

they are big in the media and the debates have been a huge play. one thing people are saying is maybe we are seeing the nationalization of the primaries. we are seeing the fox news campaigns where all the voters are getting not retail politics, but deciding based on the national showdowns and people said the debates have been an ongoing reality television show. frankly it's fascinating. >> it help fun to watch. always insightful and we will have you back and talk about super committee stuff and political things as well. thank you. that's going to do it for this hour. stay with us. lots more coming up. we are just getting started. a top american express executive talking about why you may not want to spend all of your cash shopping today. more troops, not less in afghanistan. making a very big request to washington. all that and more, straight ahead. hey buddy, wattaya lookin' a-oooh.

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right now on msnbc, holiday spirit and christmas arriving at the white house as the president slams a super committee for playing scrooge. forget black friday, a top business executive told us when to get the real deals and more troops to afghanistan. what one of the nation's top commanders is asking for this holiday. wall street ending early this black friday. also ending the worst week since september. the markets have been battered as governments in europe and here in the united states struggle to tackle massive debt. here's a look at the markets. the dow, s&p and nasdaq closing down with the failure of the super committee to come up with solutions of the crippling debt. triggers are set to kick in that decimates a wide away of programs from school lunches to the defense budget. with republicans trying to eliminate the triggers,

president obama promised to veto any bill that comes to the besk unless the cuts remain in place. so where do we go from here? bob franken is a syndicated columnist. let me start by reading something that should be familiar to you since you wrote it in the latest column. here it is. the psychological damage from the super committee, did shed hope is expected to be minimal for the worst of reasons. truth be known, no one had much hoping the effort would succeed. we expect failure from d.c. if that's the case, can we expect the same result when is congress extends unemployment benefits as well? >> when you were saying a moment ago, where do we go from here, it's the election and that's what all of this is about. the problem that the super committee had is that there was no hammer and absolute requirement that anything be

done. so nothing was done. the problem is that there is kind of this accumulation of disgust that occurred in the united states. it will be interesting to see how all this plays out and how it plays out next year. people play politics. i didn't say play fiscal responsibility, but play politics with the facets of this thing that are supposed to go into effect. >> when you look at the super committee and the consequence of failure, who does stand to lose more? would it be republicans or would it be the white house or would it be democrats in congress in? >> first of all the probable answer is all of us. as far as the political ramifications, it depends who plays it best. that's a cynical use of the word. you have the whole idea of tax increases and you have an uncertainty that the democrats

will be making as much as they can out of the fact that the wealthy aren't paying what a lot of people believe they should be paying in taxes. the republicans are going to be trying to make as much as they can out of protecting against the defense cuts and they are going to be continuing to say that there should be no taxation and they will be hearing the word job killing a lot. what you will be hearing is probably a predictable mantra from both parties. >> we want to bring in karen hunter who is an msnbc contributor. good friday to you. let's start with the failure of the super committee. how likely is it going to impact the republican primary race? >> it's going to impact them tremendously. congress is trending it with 13% and americans are completely disillusioned by congress and it is negatively going to affect the republican party. they don't have an answer for this. many people are blame them and obstructionist views for the reason why this is happening.

i think a lot of it is falling coupled with the fact that president obama is going to have the ability to be able to spin this in his favor. >> there those who having issed that the president never really wanted and now that it failed and we have this do nothing congress standing in my way. do you think there is anything to that argument? >> not in the president's head, but it definitely plays to his strengths which are going out and talking to the american people and putting the blame fairly on congress and how they have already said one-term president. we don't want him to succeed and all these other things and it makes it look like this president is trying hard for the american people and congress is failing. >> let's bring in kristen welker at the white house. kristen, the president promising a veto and promising to veto any bill that tries to go around his

automatic triggers set to kick in in january of 2013. i imagine the white house is gearing up for a prolonged fight once again. >> absolutely, craig. despite that veto threat, a number of lawmakers are talking about the fact that they are working on legislation to get around the triggers because they don't want to see the deep cuts in military spending. you have senators like john mccain and lindsay graham saying we are working on this. on the other side, democrats are saying we are not going to sign off on anything that has cuts to domestic spending. you have a standoff there. president obama saying she going to veto anything that tries to get around the cuts and makes the point that these triggers don't actually go into effect until 2013. there is still enough time to get a balanced deal on deficit reduction in this case. >> i want to come back to you here. there those on the right and the left, many folks in fact who said the failure of the super

committee ultimately could be a very good thing depending on the politics. what's your take on that? >> you know, i can't see anything being good when it means job for american people being lost or not gained. people's unemployment benefits not being met. i think at the end of the day, people need to figure out why they are in congress. john kerry came out and said look, grover norquist is the 13th member on this committee and has been really instrumental in making sure nothing gets done. it makes a lot of us feel that congress is not working for us. they are working for their own sfl interest. i don't think it benefits anybody really. >> i want to bring you back in. poll after poll, year after year, you ask folks how do you feel about congress collectively and you ask them how do you feel about your individual congressman and often times, the opinions are very different. most folks say congress, they

are a do nothing bunch, my congressman is trying to make a difference. what do you think it will take for the masses to rise up and say we should fire the lot of them. >> there has been traditional throw the rascals out concept when it comes to congress. the advantage of the incumbency seems to have fallen by the wayside a little bit. i think it is overtaken by the general disgust at the u.s. government in l of that. what you have is this cumulative negative feeling that has taken over and there is just this belief that really nobody can get the job done. karen was right. one would think as one could have thought for sometime now that the democrats and the president were on the good side of these issues. democrats have a propensity to steal defeat from the jaws of victory. you can't help but wonder what the democrats will take advantage of this. one other point and that is this

very conversation sort of gets to the cynicism that seems to have gripped this country. we are talking about it in terms of how does this play politically? the problem is that there an awful lot of people who are desperate and that seems to have been forgotten by all of us having these conversations. >> that's true. >> i will give you the last word and how do you think it plays out? january 2013, what do you think we are looking at in terms of some type of massive budget deals? deficit reduction deal? >> i flay happens, but ultimately it's going to be a very big political game. it's going to benefit this president and i think he will win reexlection as a result and unfortunately the american people are in the losing end of that. if we don't rise up and say enough across the board and it's not about partisan politics and getting us jobs and fixing the economy, we will continue to be in the situation. >> karen hunter and bob franken, thank you so much for cutting

your black friday shopping early. we appreciate you. supposedly the most wonderful time of the year, right? what on earth is going on? check out this new video from florence, alabama. police using a stun gun to subdue a shopper at a local wal-mart. they had to use it weiss to get the shopper under control we are told. the guy was reportedly drunk. we are all pretty dumbfounded that a woman pulled out pepper spray on shoppers in los angeles. reportedly used it to get a competitive advantage. nbc's kristin dahlgren has the story. >> quite the dramatic start to black friday. we heard about people who plan out how they are going to attack the shopping sales, but police say this woman literally attacked her fellow shoppers with peppy spray. it happened just after 10:00 when the store opened here.

a line of people waiting to get xbox 360s. one woman said she was behind the suspect in line for two hours waiting for the store to open. this woman was brag being having pepper spray. she never thought she would use it and police and fire officials are now saying that not only did she use it, but she wasn't defending herself. she was useing it to get in a better position to get the items she wanted and keep other shoppers away. 20 people injury and 10 directly by the pepper spray. another 10 were injured trying to get away from this woman. all minor injuries. authorities say it could have been much worse. meantime, the woman fled the scene and police are at this point still looking for her. >> out in california, kristin, thank you. >> anxious retailers are aggressively courting the 152 million people expected to shop

this weekend. while the unemployment rate remains high at 9%, americans seem to be ready to shop. in florida, what's the mood like there? >> i have to tell you i am surprised that here we are peaking right now in terms of crowds of traffic. even though earlier this morning stores opened earlier than ever before. we are hearing clapping. i'm not sure what's going on, but -- >> they are cheering for you. >> it's not for me. i'm guessing it's santa claus who came out. this mall is very busy. it's hard to get through the hall ways and that despite the fact that door busters have been long gone since noon today. stores started opening at 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. macy's opened at midnight and shoppers were extremely enthusiastic and busy throughout the night.

like you said, nearly half of americans will be shopping this weekend. of course good news for retailers, but even better news for the shoppers since experts forecast that it will be the shoppers who will be victorious at the end of the day with extremely aggressive retailers with mark downs greater than ever before. i'm not sure what's going on here, but people are happy. >> it must be jolly old st. nick. earlier we heard from julia boorstin and the big ticket items and the more popular items. she mentioned that tablets and a few other electronics are wildly popular with shoppers. what are you seeing in florida? is that the same? >> that is definitely the same, but i haven't done the studying across the several different tablets, but several the ipad 2 is popular. the sales at the apple store are not that impressive. the ipad, people are saving up

to $60. in comparison to the full price is not that much. there was a long line before they opened. folks are tapping into the technology these days. i spoke to young guys who bought a playstation for $200, including games and they were very excited. it seems like half the price of what it usually costs. not too sure on that one. i have seen a lot of electronics. >> with the screaming crowd there. >> i wonder who it is. i hope it's santa claus. >> come back and tell us. we are all interested as well. >> i will tell you. >> from mobs at the malls to the goal of a million man march in egypt. how protesters are reacting. the very latest on the state scandal and word that one of jerry sandusky's accusers is a member of his family. came to lo. they came to see us in florida...e to lo.

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they hope it will be a million man protest against the military's leaders and new prime minister. this is the americans who were released and remain in custody with no clear answer on when they will return to this country. in tahrir square with more. >> reporter: good afternoon, craig. they called for a million strong protest on this friday they dubbed the saving of the egyptian revolution. they have been here since the early hours of the morning. part of the seven days of protest and all that anger and frustration directed towards the supreme council. the military rulers of this country. they have been anger bide how

the military has charted the course on the course to democracy. over the past several months, they tried to carve out for itself a unique place in egyptian society. it was a well-respected institution, but they want to retain powers and begin on monday. that scared a lot of people here, believing that the military was not genuine in transitioning control over to a civilian government. the protesters behind me are now demanding a hand over from the military to a civilian government for itself part. coming under intense pressure and growing international criticism, including from the white house has appointed a new prime minister. that prime minister was an individual who served under the former president who was ousted from power in february. the people on the street when is you ask them what they think of the new prime minister, the first thing they say is it's not

about the individual, but a systematic problem. the military is not genuine about handing over power to a civilian government. this prime minister will simply be a civilian face to military power. this comes after a tumultuous week that left 38 people killed. it was the worst round of violence since the ousting of former president mubarak. on monday, parliamentary elections, the first parliamentary elections since the end of the revolution scheduled to take place. the military insists they will take place on time despite this week's security. the people behind me convinced that they will not necessarily bring the desired out come, but none the less an important stat. they are expecting a large turn out all across the country. back to you. >> in tahrir square in cairo, thank you, sir. straight ahead, what we learn about a top general's request for more troops in afghanistan.

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call the number on your screen or visit our website to apply. >> jerry sandusky's attorney is bushing back against two new claims against the football coach. one of the accusers is said to be a family member. nbc's jay gray live from the penn state and live with the latest. jay? >> and that fact was confirmed by jerry sandusky's attorney. he told us that yes, in fact one of the two new accusers is a family member of the sanduskies and that's interesting because we saw jer we his wife yesterday get in the car and fake a drive. the first time we have seen the couple together in public in more than a week and since the changes came to light that a family member is accusing jerry sandusky of sexual assault.

>> i understand there have been questions about the role of pennsylvania's governor that he played in the investigation. what do we know about that? >> you are right in the questions and they are getting louder. you have been here and you understand this is a small town and people want to know why the governor who was the attorney general at the time and the top legal man in the state system. he was involved with this grand jury investigation when it began. he was also a member of the penn state board of trustees. never according to members of the board said anything about the investigation. you talked to legal observers and experts and they say look, he will tell you he couldn't do it because it jeopardized the investigation and he was afraid it would be illegal to talk about. they looked at the statutes and they could having issed they take a look. he didn't have to talk about the investigation and perhaps they should have taken a look at sandusky. some believe that maybe it was

incumbent upon them to tell them. he however said he erred on the side of caution and didn't want to jeopardize and that's why it didn't come to light. a lot of people frustrated because they go further and said if he said something, we could have prevented the abuse of the. that's where they stand with that. >> the lines on a bus and they are headed to wisconsin. a make or break game and the winner plays michigan state for the big ten championship and the winner going to the rose bowl. there has been talk around the country that if state gets an invitation to the rose bowl or the capital city ball, whatever bowl, they should not go. what are you hearing there in state college about that talk? >> this is an area that loves its football. they will go out of their way to point out, there is terrible accusations and kids that we need to take care of. they were not a part of this and should not be punished. if they go to a bowl game and

win the big ten championship, they should be allowed to do this. the coaches said if they do, they'll go to a bowl game. it's interesting if they win the game tomorrow, they go to the big ten championship. if they win that game, they accept the trophy that up until this scandal had joe paterno's name on it. >> that's right. from state college for us, thank you. >> next why one u.s. commander is set to ask for more troops in afghanistan. we will go for a live report. plus -- picking up the pieces from the super committee's super fail. what president obama said should happen now.

> welcome back to msnbc. topping the headlines, the fbi is investigating whether a bombing found is connected to a phony craigslist jobs ad. man who answered the ad has been found dead. you can expect to pay more at

the post office january 22nd in addition one-cent stamp increase, they plan to triple the price for overnight express mail boxes. the price for priority mail would slightly increase and the postal service said they need this to recoup $5 billion lost in the past year. folks now are starting to look like christmas. they arrived at pennsylvania avenue. it's a 19-foot bals am fir from wisconsin. occupy black friday. protesters who were collecting anger and angst at wall street are targeting the largest retailers. in idaho, so-called consumer zombies are hitting the mall not to shop, but in silent protest of what they claim is no longer a free market. it promises to be a big week ahead in washington as congress returns to start to pick up the

super committee. the race resumes in earnest. ezra kline and policy analyst and a columnist with "the washington post" as well. thanks for coming back to join us, sir. let's start with the super committee. i enjoyed your pieces where you talk about perhaps even legislatively it may end up being a big win for the obama white house. >> look at it this way. imagine if they went to the republicans and said it will be five trillion and $4 of that and it will be tax increases mainly on the rich. of the $1 that is spending cuts, half will ob defense. that is vastly more progressive than any democrat put on the table. because of the triggers, one is from the expiration of the bush tax cuts both of which happened on december 31st, 2012.

that is precisely the deal that republicans offered democrats. they set up both of the triggers and the republicans agreed to the second one. they thought they could get a better deal along the way and maybe democrats will give that to them, but if they don't, they will end up with a final reduction plan that is visitly to the left of anything they thought they would wind up with. >> let's take a look at two closer battles. the battle to extend the tax cut at the end of the month and the battle to extend long-term unemployment benefits as well. how do we think they will play out? >> they have to happen quickly. the handicapping is the tax cut is a likelier win for unemployment insurance in part because the tax cut affects every working american. it's worth say figure we don't get them, it's not just a d.c. battle. the forecasters will try to figure out what they lock like. if we don't extend the pieces, we could shave 1 to 2 percentage

points off. that's quite a bit we are scheduled to grow at 3%. you take two 2% off of that, we may be bakz in recession and it's partly our fault. >> that is something of the two that seems to have gotten traction. do we think that's something that is a shoe in? >> is it likely to get extended and it's true, but a lot of republicans are saying we can't extend this without having made the deal. this is the big point of leverage for republicans at least until the end of the year. you can expect them to use it. what it will be is unclear. a lot of them have talked about diffusing or getting another win out of the payroll tax. >> let's turn to the horse race. gingrich, bachman, santorum all have events planned. next week the campaign restarts in earnest. newt gingrich ahead in a lot of major polls s. this the beginning of newt gingrich or is

this the beginning of the latest blip? >> i'm assuming we are in the middle to end phase of newt gingrich. it seems unlikely to go on longer. this is an unusual primary and perhaps it will go on further. a lot of folks don't want to vote for mitt romney and they can't figure out who they want to vote for. perry is down and cain is down and mitt romney has not picked up the voters. they have gone to gingrich. do they go to romney or michele bachmann or take another look at perry? where do they go. >> where do they go? >> i don't know. >> that's the first time i heard you say that. >> it's important to say. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. good weekend to you. >> folks, if you need a new car, you may want to drop everything and hit your local auto dealers. turns out you could get discounts of up to 20% off today. it's black friday. covering the auto industry for

cnbc in park ridge, illinois. >> it may sound strange, but black friday this year is one of the best days of the year to buy a new car according to the folks at true car.com. the average discount off the sticker price this year for a 2011 new car will be 9% and for some models, the models that have a large amount of inventory in the system, the discounts could go up to 26 or 29%. two factors are driving the discounts this weekend. the inventory of the models, about 20% of the vehicles you see on the lots and the show rooms are 2011 models that the dealers are trying to move before the end of the year. combine that with the fact that we have a three-day weekend with mild weather from coast to coast. you will see more traffic into show rooms and don't forget, there is a fair amount of pent up demand in the system. you have people who in the past might have bought a car, but

because of the recession, they held on to the vehicle and it's looking at a car that is three, four, five years old and in the past, people might have traded in. they are now starting to do that. as a result many are looking at this weekend to be the best weekend for buying a new car. that's the story from here in park ridge, illinois. back to you. >> phil, thank you so much. after this, a conversation you do not want to miss for the vice chairman of american express. listen closely. this guy could help you save serious cash on the other side of this break.

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>> developing news we want to pass along. we learned that the three american students arrested in egypt have been released. they are now leaving for a flight home here to the states. they were accused of throwing firebombs at forces fighting with protesters there. this is day seven of protests

and 40 people have been killed so far. the three american students who were arrested in egypt have been release and they are getting on a plane headed back for the states. much more coming up in the next hour. attention shoppers. black friday is not the only hot day for shoppers. tomorrow marks small business saturday. even president obama is getting behind it. edward gilligan is the vice chairman and the sponsors of small business saturday. why should shoppers hang on to their money and head out tomorrow ned of today? >> save a little energy and holiday budget for shopping small tomorrow. small businesses are at the heart of the american economy. if you go back 20 years, they have created 2/3 of the jobs in the country and we think it's critical to help small businesses. last year and now again this year, we created this day that becomes a movement of shopping small. >> what kinds of deals might we

see in the small businesses? >> when you think of small businesses, they compete on value. sometimes price, but many other aspects as well like being local and having unique stuff and not having to fight holiday traffic. there is a package of valley that small businesses offer. in addition when you shop small, you keep the money in the local community. i think it's up to each business to figure out how to compete. on top of it, american express is adding incentive. a merchant will give you a credit tomorrow. >> that's a good deal. there has been a movement afoot for sometime. occupy wall street picked up on it and most recently the movement to abandon in some cases retailers in favor of the smaller mom and pop stores that you talk about. what are the concerns that folks expressed in the past? it's a lot cheaper to buy

something at wal-mart or target versus going to a locally-owned place around the corner. >> it might be. we are noting issing to abandon that, but think about the businesses on main street that are right around the corner from you and save some of your holiday budget for them. it's important to support small businesses. they create jobs and fuel the local economy. they help real estate values if you have a driving small business community. >> what has american express seen here over the past few months or year in terms of looking at the economic slow down and small business and how it has been impacting and affected. what have you seen? >> they are seeing a resilient economy and lots of things to be concerned about. consumers and small businesses continue to spent. we are investing to acquire new customers and put more value in the products. small business sadly is one of the major thingses we are doing.

through the third quarter, we are seeing spending grow by double-digits. >> people are still buying. >> people are still buying. they are value conscious and borrowing less, but still spending. >> thank you so much. small business saturday. >> that's right. shop small tomorrow. >> appreciate your time, sir. >> thank you. >> celebrities strike back. the hacking hearing is giving the rich and famous a chance to sound off on the press. plus, mystery in aruba. why the man suspected in the disappearance of his traveling partner could walk out of jail in a few days. ♪ i think i'm falling ♪ i think i'm falling [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ for you [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday.

a parade of celebrities invaded the courts to testify in the phone hacking scandal. it included hugh grant, j.k.rowling. >> hey, craig.

what a turning of the tables here. now it's bad behavior by the press that we have been hearing about over and over again in the jaw-dropping stories from the celebrities. >> how low will tabloids go? stop the presses. now in britain it's the paper's own scandalous deeds that have celebrities lining up to tell all. >> it's terrifying running down a dark street on my own with ten big men chasing me and the fact that they had cameras in their hand meant it was legal. >> photographers would spit at her for a reaction and then at a charity event for sick children -- >> there was a very sick child i was playing with in a corner of the room who was pretending to shoot me and i was pretending to die. we were playing a game. somebody took a photograph in the mirror and cut the boy on out of the photograph and said i was drunk. by that point the damage is

done. >> police showed her the evidence that news the world hacked her voice mails. >> all my telephone numbers, the three i changed and my access numbers, pin numbers and passwords and e-mails used to later hack my e-mail in 2008. >> others like harry potter author who was not a victim of hacking had battled tabloids for years. >> such a sense of invasion. it's difficult to explain to people who haven't experienced it what that feels like. the twist in the stomach as you wonder what do they want? what do they think they've got? >> draw your swores and help us reach our goal. >> for almost reads like a novel. the publisher address took nude photos and found a reporter inside her daughter's book bag and got a stolen copy and said her child revealed the ending and that guy was based on her

ex-husband. >> we kept him alive to die at the proper moment. >> bring him to me. >> that are misinformation caused real emotional hurt. >> that are still affects these big stars, saying something should change. they left to flash bulbs. >> there restrictions on the press, but a fine line to trying to impose more standards and preventingme the press. it will be interesting to see what the government does. it is clear what's in place now is not always a deterrent. craig? >> thank you so much, michelle. appreciate that. today in aruba, a judge has ordered the release of gary giordano, the last person to see robin gartner alive three months ago. he said that gardener was swept out to sea while snorkeling. they were on vacation in aruba.

jeff rossen has been following the story from the beginning. this is just the latest chapter in what has been a very long story. >> a lot of developments of dev. this story has moved forward quite a bit even just this morning. gary giordano, by the way, has been in jail for 111 days, still not charged with anything, mind you. prosecutors asked for another 30-day extension while they continued to investigate. well, that hearing ended this morning in a bombshell decision. giordano's lawyers now tell next news that he will be released tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. because the judge denied the prosecutor's request. that means if prosecutors don't appeal. by the way, they say they are appealing, they want to go to the high court on monday, gary giordano could walk free and fly home to maryland, like i said, next week. it is as mysterious as they come. robyn gardner on vacation seemingly happy with gary giordano. one minute enjoying a beachside

restaurant in aruba, the next, missing, never to be seen again. >> gary, over here. >> reporter: giordano maintains his innocence, but police won't let him go. and today, prosecutors will try to convince the judge to hold him behind bars yet another 30 days. >> we have sufficient information to say that mr. giordano is not telling us the truth. reporter: giordano sticks by his story that he and robyn were snorkeling in aruba. she was swept under by the current and he managed to get out of the rough water. you can see giordano looking for help in his exclusive surveillance video just minutes after she vanished. >> the greatest challenge for investigators is trying to show what happened to her. did she run away? did she walk away? was she murdered? >> investigators searched the water and the rough terrain surrounding the beach where robyn was last seen. they brought in cadaver dogs and

staged an elaborate reenactment of the crime at no sign of robyn. just this week, the dutch royal navy searched the sea again. >> we have the divers gone in the water. we use row boats to search the water for the body. >> reporter: giordano's lawyer says the case against him is thin. >> all the proof i've seen, everything that i have seen clears gary giordano and confirms his version of the facts. >> reporter: but now with today's hearing, experts say the heat is on. >> i think the aruban government and investigators under intense pressure to solve this case. we know what happened in the natalee holloway case, we know there was no one charged in that. i think the aruban government are going to do everything they can to try to get this one right. >> so here is what's happening now. prosecutors are basically trying to beat the clock. gary giordano would be released

tuesday night from aruba. they need to get in to see the high court to appeal the judge's ruling today before that happens. problem is, the high court usually meets on wednesdays. and if they can't get in before that, craig, they have a problem because by then, gary giordano will already be gone. and by the way, prosecutors fear that if he heads home to maryland -- if he gets back -- if he comes back. >> giordano's attorneys, what are they going to say? what would they say at a hearing like this on monday, wednesday, or whenever. >> at a hearing like this, they're going to tell what they told the judge today which there is no body. robyn gardner has not been seen dead or alive. there's no direct evidence. yes, prosecutors say we think he's lying, his story doesn't add up according to our reenactment the way we see things, but without any hard evidence, without a body, even prosecutors admit this would be a very tough murder or manslaughter case to prove. and so that's what they're going to say. you've had this guy locked up

for 111 days, you don't have enough information to charge him, charge him or let him go. >> jeff, you've spent a fair amount of time covering this story and other stories, as well. from -- for someone looking from the outside just at the investigation at that bizarre reenactment -- >> right. >> -- in aruba. it sometimes looks like it's sort of a group of misfits down there. >> right. >> conducting these investigations. what don't we know in this country about how they do business down there? >> it's a very good question. they do business a little differently than here. they don't have the same resources, their police department is not as big. they're not used to handling murders and crimes like this. like we are. and that's why you hear so much about natalee holloway. remember, they are very motivated to solve this case. this would be the second missing american unsolved down in aruba. they don't want that. and that's one of the reasons that they want to keep gary giordano there. they feel the longer he's there, the closer they become to

solving this case because they can catch him in more lies, they can keep questioning him. once he's gone, they think he's gone. >> has this story at all changed since he's been in jail down there? >> no, he has stuck by his story. he was talking with investigators quite a bit in the very beginning, then he sort of clammed up according to prosecutors saying, look, i've already answered that question, i'm not answering that 100 times. you can't necessarily blame the guy, but the way prosecutors spin it is that he stopped being cooperative with them. they just say what he's saying, the fact that they were snorkeling, she swept away, he just walks away, they just don't think it's believable. >> when you hear the story, it does strain belief. >> it does. >> jeff rossen, you're headed down there this weekend? >> live on the "today" show on monday. >> safe travels. appreciate your time on this friday. appreciate yours, as well. don't go anywhere, though, we've got a lot more straight ahead. i'm craig melvin, thanks for being with us this hour. when we come back, though, we'll have one of the students pepper sprayed at uc davis.

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metamucil. down with cholesterol. and welcome back to msnbc. we are seeing more than just crowds at the stores today. how about pepper spray and stun guns? we've got it covered on this sunday. also occupy protesters hitting the shopping malls, as well. we're going to tell you all about that and we will also talk to one of those uc davis students pepper sprayed on that viral video. and brand new developments on the american students arrested in cairo during the protests. developments their families are sure to be happy about. for many retailers, it is do or die time across the country right now. retailers hoping to go from the red into the black. according to the national retail federation, 152 million folks are expected to shop this weekend. according to the ceo of macy's

there are 10,000 people lined up a midnight at the flagship store. but in other parts of the country, things getting downright out of hand. check out this video we got in a short time ago in florence, alabama. police there using a stun gun not once, but twice. to subdue a shopper at a local walmart on thanksgiving night. the 22-year-old man was arrested for among other things public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. in other parts of the country, shoppers seem to be getting along just fine picking up their bargains. we're in florida stationed there all day. lily, good afternoon to you. >> reporter: good afternoon, craig. and i must solve this mystery. it was not santa claus earlier when we spoke, it was a flash mob. a beautifully choreographed flash mob dancing to rihanna's "we found love." >> did you participate? did you dance with them? >> reporter: i can't say i did, but it's funny because they were

quite young. and we started noticing parents standing around the rails here on the second floor and sure enough it was a flash mob. that was a lot of fun giving shoppers a break since they've been crowding the hallways making it hard to walk through. and steadily growing. first we came this morning at 5:00 a.m., things were pretty much okay. i was thinking, okay, this is not going to be one of those madness of black friday. but sure enough past noon people started coming in and now it's actually pretty hard to walk around. and that's even though all the door dusters were done at around noon or 1:00 p.m. the latest. and the fact that like you said before, stores like macy's started opening their doors past midnight. we spoke to the folks at macy's and they said the reason they opened at midnight was because people were asking for it. consumers wanted to get in there early and they say this may very well be a practice that's here to stay if people came in and when they see the numbers coming in on monday. >> did macy's, or have any of the other stores talked about whether opening early -- whether

it was too early to tell whether that had been something that worked? >> well, i've been asking, and what they say is we have to see what the numbers reflect. but there were enough people last night lining up at midnight and svventura, as well. it's not just single people or older adults, but children, as well. whole families were here through the night shopping. so it might be a practice that more stores that might take after next year and the years after that. >> thank you so much, appreciate it. >> thank you. holiday shoppers scooping up bargains today are an important barometer of the economy's overall health, as well. the federal government will be watching the numbers very closely to see how confident consumers are feeling in the midst of these tough, difficult economic times. slow wage salary growth, stubbornly high unemployment growth with retailers pulling

out their best deals, there may be hope yet. janel klein at the manhattan mall in new york city. you've been there most of the day. what's the mood like out there? >> reporter: well, the mood certainly is excitement. there's quite a buzz in the air as you might expect for black friday. but i think that definitely it was a lot different this morning during those door busters than it is now. by which i mean to say a lot of people are coming out early, early this morning, some stores as you know opened earlier than ever, as early as 9:00 p.m. last night and shoppers wanted to take advantage of those deals. they knew these were some of the best prices they would probably see on some of these items all year round. so despite the economy that everyone's keeping a close eye on, they wanted to take advantage of those prices. now we are seeing people still coming out. you can see there are still big crowds here. however, people are maybe buying a little bit less. they're probably spending a little bit more carefully because those prices are very good are not the record-setting

prices and sales that they saw this morning during that door buster period. that, of course, as we're hearing was one of the strategies the retailers were using this year as they tried to market themselves for black friday. not only those early sales, but also marking those prices way down, maybe some sales even better than they've ever been in the past to try to get people through the door. the idea being if they can get them in the stores hopefully they can get them to buy more. we certainly saw that here in manhattan this morning with people carrying five and six bags earlier today. now as i'm saying probably a couple of bags. but people being a little bit more careful and wanting to take advantage of a great day of sales. >> janel klein, thank you. speaking of spending, congress comes back to town monday to survey the wreckage of the failed super committee which fail to come up with a plan for tackling the nation's debt crisis. but more battles loom as president obama wants them to extend the payroll tax cut and

jobless benefits. nbc's kristen welker live at the white house. and kristen, let's start with the super committee, again, republicans promising to prevent $600 billion in automatic cuts to the defense budget that are scheduled to kick in in january of 2013. the president vowing to veto any attempt to derail those cuts. what's next? >> reporter: well, looks like we could be headed for another standoff, craig. you have republicans saying that they're actually starting to draw up legislation to try to get around those deep cuts and defense spending. legislators like john mccain, lindsey graham saying they've already put the wheels in motion. on the other hand, you have democrats saying, look, we're not going to agree to anything that only cuts domestic spending. and the president is saying, look, i'm going to veto anything that tries to get around these cuts. so already a lot of tension building up. the white house also making the point that, look, these cuts don't go into effect until 2013.

so there's still plenty of time to try to find the balanced approach to deficit reduction. what's interesting, craig, is that congress wrote this into law in the first place, now they're trying to write their way out of it. so we'll have to see what happens. but certainly when congress comes back, there'll be a lot of discussion and debate around this very topic. >> on a lighter, much happier note here, i understand the big white house christmas tree arrived this morning, is that right? >> it certainly did. a 19-foot tree arrived here earlier today. it will be housed in the blue room here at the white house. quite lovely. and it will be decorated by volunteers all across the country, and then the first lady is going to unveil it next wednesday to military families. and what's going to be really neat about that is that the kids after the unveiling will go off with some of the chefs here at the white house and the florists and have a whole demonstration of arts and crafts and goodies

here. i have something interesting to show you, we got our hands on the official white house ornament this year. it is the 2011 ornament, and i think we can zoom into it and the theme is from teddy roosevelt's administration and if you can read the writing it's, i hear there are some kids in the white house this year. that's the reference to the fact that teddy roosevelt had six kids in the white house when there hadn't been kids in the white house for quite some time. it's really a neat sort of historical reference. this is the official 2011 white house ornament. just one of the things that those military families will be able to see when they come here to the white house next wednesday. craig? >> excellent. kristen welker, thank you. >> reporter: sure. thanks. up next, rage and revolution. tensions are boiling over in tahrir square days ahead of critical elections in that country. and the newest developments this afternoon on those three students arrested during the protests in egypt. we'll have it all right after this. ♪

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protesters in cairo not letting up this afternoon. crowds have swelled in tahrir square where night has fallen. demonstrators gathering to voice their opposition against the country's military leaders, and the new prime minister who was appointed -- all of this ahead of monday's elections. with us on skype from cairo, egypt, abigail hauser. good evening to you in egypt. why are protesters gathering today? >> reporter: well, this is the eighth day of protests. many of them came to reject that the military council's new appointment of a cabinet. which was supposed to be a

concession to these protesters. instead, many of them rejected it and are still calling for the military council to step down. >> the elections we're talking about are set to happen on monday. is there a chance those elections in egypt could get pushed back? >> i think there's a chance they could be pushed back, but the transitional authorities have said that they do plan to go ahead today, the military council announced that the election process will -- each vote will last for two days, so it'll extend monday and tuesday, and it'll happen in three phases until march. that's meant to encourage voter turnout, but it's unclear if that will work. >> i know you've talked to a number of the protesters on the ground there in tahrir square. what are they saying? what are you hearing from them? >> the protesters are divided right now. many of them say that they do

plan to stay in tahrir until the military council agrees to either a timetable to see civilian rule or transitions immediately and selects a civilian authority. but the test will really be who steps down first and whether this truce in force right now between the egyptian security forces and the protesters actually holds. >> abigail, what we're seeing again, this is a live picture in tahrir square where thousands, tens of thousands of protesters have gathered there. this is, as you mentioned, the seventh of eighth day straight of these protests. we know that 40 people have been killed, lots more injured there. all of this highlights what has become a fairly complicated relationship between the people and the protesters of egypt and the military government that's in place. talk to me a little bit about the transformation of the relationship between the military and the people of egypt.

>> reporter: well, that's an interesting point. in the beginning of the revolution, or the beginning of the uprising last winter i should say, what we saw was an incredible amount of support on the egyptian street for the military, which people saw as this apparatus stepping in to save them from hosni mubarak and to preserve peace. and we heard chants of people in the army are of one hand. that popular support has disintegrated largely for a lot of people. and that's what we're seeing in tahrir now. people are questioning the military's intentions and the military's right to authority. the question is, however, will enough people support those demands to actually force the military to step down? >> abigail hauser for us in cairo where elections are set to happen on monday. you be careful out there. >> thank you, craig. up next on msnbc, not 2008 anymore, so how can president

obama carry the swing states he ran away with last time around? we'll talk about that and a little bit later, the very latest in the penn state scandal. and word that one of jerry sandusky's new accusers is a member of his own family. orth u? what are the to-do's we'll check off and the prices we'll brag about? there are plenty of reasons to resist the snooze button this weekend. and whether we're online or in the aisles, those reasons can be standing in our kitchens and laundry rooms for years to come. ♪ more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. update your laundry status, too. right now, this washer or dryer is just 549 bucks each.

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president obama faces a tough fight in several critical swing states that he carried back in 2008 in places like north carolina and virginia which voted democratic for the first time in decades. the president is expected to be competitive. but in states like michigan and pennsylvania that have been hit especially hard by our stagnant economy, he may have a much harder time. bob franken is a syndicated columnist, mia is a reporter with the "washington post." thank you for being with us on this friday. >> good to be here. >> there's a report out today that vice president joe biden is going to be given the job of keeping huge swing states like florida, ohio, pennsylvania, in the win column for president obama. is that because the president

himself is having such a difficult time connecting with jewish voters in florida and those blue collar white voters in pennsylvania and ohio? >> in some ways, yes. and let's remember, this is exactly the role that joe biden played in 2008. he's from scranton, pennsylvania. and he was there quite a bit in 2008. so this is a reprize of his 2008 role. and of course, it is because president obama has had trouble with those blue collar voters. joe biden with his blue collar roots in pennsylvania, his amtrak riding ways will be able to connect with this go around. >> they send folks to the swing states to try and appeal to them? >> exactly. >> bob, let's talk about the gop contest here. let's talk about newt gingrich making headlines in the last debate by suggesting some illegal immigrants be allowed to remain in this country because they're raising families. how likely -- how likely is that going to hurt him in some of the

gop primary swing states? especially in the south, and especially out west? >> well, if you're talking about making it through the primaries, he's probably going to have some problems with that. as a rule, the base of the party has some very negative, negative impressions about illegal immigration and illegal immigrants with the prevailing view seems to be that the harsher the treatment the better. here comes newt gingrich along. somebody who is trying for that very same base and he says something to put it one way could be sacrilege. something so interesting about newt gingrich, and this addresses what you were talking about with mia is that newt gingrich is often times labeled as the person who saw to it that bill clinton got reelected. and now he is considered a factor possibly the nominee running against barack obama. so the question is, will history repeat itself? will he be the best friend, so to speak, that the democrats have? >> let me pick up on what bob

just said there because newt gingrich is at the top of a lot of polls these days and a few months ago he was pulling around 4% or 5% in most national polls. do you think that newt gingrich has staying power? or do you think he's the latest flash in the gop pan? >> well, it could be he does have some staying power. i think one of the differences between rick perry and newt gingrich and, of course, we remember rick perry also had problems with his stance on illegal immigration and that really caused him problems in the polls. but i think newt gingrich at least is a better articulator of ideas. and this might make the difference in terms of whether or not his stance on immigration hurts him with the base. in iowa, it certainly could. we saw rick perry plummet in the polls because that's a big issue out in iowa. i think it depends on if he's going to go to these early states. he hasn't been out there and the noex in iowa want a good look at him in new hampshire, south carolina, but i think bob is exactly right. if he is the nominee, i think

the democrats could possibly take the summer off because he is a very divisive figure in the general election. and i think they would be pulling for newt gingrich nominee on the republican side. >> bob, last question here. this is something we've been talking about throughout the afternoon. 270, of course, that's the number of electoral votes it would take to win the presidency. there are a number of different ways to get there. most people concede that there will be states that the president does not win this time around that he was able to pick up in 2008. talk to me a little bit about the erosion. where can the president sacrifice in terms of the battleground map? which states can he afford to lose? and which states will he have to pick up in order to win the presidency? >> well -- >> to get reelected? >> well, there's almost a mind boggling possibility of combinations. but i think that there's some variables that we have to talk about. first of all, who is the republican nominee? is this somebody who is going to get the apathetic democrats back

off of their chairs, a polite way to put it, and out there marching for barack obama again? the last time around, they were participating in history. this time all of that feeling that excitement has been worn down by the realities of governing and perhaps feeling that obama has really accommodated the republicans far too much. >> bob franken, you're alluding to the enthusiasm gap that a lot of people have talked about. >> i am. and i think that's going to affect a lot of states. you also have realities, for instance, you mentioned michigan. well, the democrats are going to be the ones arguing that they rescued the auto industry. you also have a situation in neighboring ohio where the labor unions are very, very much involved. they smell blood because they were successful just recently. so you have a lot of variables that are going to influence a lot of these swing states. >> bob franken, thank you so much, thank you both, appreciate you spending time with us on this friday. >> thank you, craig.

more trouble for jerry sandusky this week after two more boys stepped forward to say they were abused by the former penn state coach. according to an e-mail from sandusky's attorney, at least one of the children is said to be a family member of jerry sandusky. the allegation first reported in that local newspaper. with us now here in the studio is pablo torre. let's start with these new allegations. what do they mean for jerry sandusky? and what do they mean for the penn state football program? >> it's the latest previously unimaginable wrinkle in a story in a story that is as complicated and tragic as any i've ever seen in sports. and for jerry sandusky, the key detail here, besides even the family member connection is that these are the first two current children under the age of 18 that have come out as victims. and so in that scenario, for penn state, we begin to think what do they know? what could they have done? and could this have been prevented? >> sandusky out on bail, but some folks think these newest

allegations could prompt him to be remanded into custody. your thoughts? >> he should be and i think he should have been a long time ago, and we look at how he got out on bail, the judge who gave him that was a donor to the second mile, his charity and knew jerry sandusky. and judges since have recused themselves from ruling in his case. >> shortly after the allegations came to light, i -- i spent some time on the air talking to a professor at penn state university. and the professor's major point of contention was basically, listen, this is awful, despicable, deplorable, but there are still good professors here, still good students here, please don't continue to punish the university for the potential sins of one man. do you think that penn state is ever going to be able to reclaim its reputation? >> no, this is a drop of ink at the very least in a very clear glass of water. and we know what happens when we

mention penn state going forward. and yeah, again, the 99.9% people at penn state are good people, no reason to doubt them, but the leadership and how that power dynamic was perpetrated throughout the years in terms of protecting the football program protecting the reputation at the risk of god knows how many children is something that we can't really contextualize. >> thank you so much for your time, sir. >> thanks. coming up, it's been a wild black friday, folks, from pepper spray to stun guns, shopping taking to the extreme. we'll have a wrap of the details on all the drama around the country this weekend. and while many on a spending spree, as we know there are others, lots of others who barely have enough of what they need. a serious conversation with the reverend jesse jackson about inequality in this country. that conversation straight ahead. i'm serious, we compare our direct rates side by side to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful!

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topping the headlines right now, a major development involving an american woman who disappeared three months ago in aruba. today, a judge ordered the release of gary giordano, the last person to see robyn gardner alive. giordano could go free as soon as tuesday. the fbi's investigating whether a body found in akron, ohio, is connected to a phony craigslist job ad. one man who answered that ad has already been found dead. and you can expect to pay more at the post office starting january 22nd. in addition to a 1-cent stamp increase, they plan to triple the price for overnight express boxes. it will increase 3%, as well. the postal service says it has to recoup about $5 billion lost in just the past year. and finally, here's a sure sign that the holiday season is in full swing here in the nation's capital. the white house christmas tree arrived this morning. it's a 19-foot fur that came all

the way from wisconsin. the tree is destined for the blue room where it will serve as the center piece of the holiday decorations at 1600 pennsylvania. holiday shoppers are scooping up the deals for the hottest electronics of the season. cnbc's julia boristen has been watching it all. >> it was door buster specials that drew a line of 1,500 people to this best buy when it opened the doors last night. the single best selling item at this best buy is an xbox 360 for $199. 300 of those have sold so far, and they are continuing to sell fast. now, tvs and gaming consoles are some of the popular items this year, but we're seeing a really broad variety of items in people's carts. we're seeing older shoppers picking up e-readers and printers and we're seeing families with kids snagging those gaming consoles as well as laptops and dvds and many of the

people we're talking to are telling us that best buy is really their one-stop shopping for the holidays this year. electronics retailers specialty retailers are expected to see a 6% increase in sales and part of that is because the fact that electronics are simply gaining on other types of holiday gifts. now, one of the hot new items we're seeing this year is tablets. there's an aces tablet on sale for here $179. we're seeing plenty of kindles on sale and amazon reports the number one best-selling item today is the kindle fire. and despite the competition and the fact that apple does not discount its tablets, the ipad 2 is expected to be -- to have 62% of market share over the holiday season. now thanksgiving day online sales were actually up 39%. we'll have to see whether those numbers are cannibalizing instore sales or whether shoppers are simply spending more and spending more sooner in the holiday shopping season.

this particular best buy is expected to see a 25% increase in sales from black friday. one thing's for sure, it seems that midnight store openings are here to stay. >> julia boorstin for us out in california. thanks, julia. while some are spending away on this black friday, we all know too well that the economy is going nowhere. millions of americans are out of work, the super committee couldn't manage one idea of how to tackle the mountain of debt we face and the gap between the rich and poor continues to get wider in this country. and with that as the backdrop to the 2012 election, it's no wonder that congress is frozen in gridlock and the american voters are very angry. congress' approval rating at an all-time low. reverend jesse jackson, president of the rainbow push coalition. belated happy thanksgiving to you, sir. >> to you, sir. >> let's start with occupy wall street. you've been a supporter of the

protest movement. but in reality, other than letting off some steam, what have the demonstrators, what have the occupy demonstrators accomplished specifically? >> occupy is a spirit, it's an idea, it's going into the inequality gap, and it is suggesting that you have americans on a shopping spree, they have been bailed out, subsidized. but on the other hand, 53 million americans are feeling insecure. 49 million are in poverty, and 25 million are unemployed or chronically so. so there's this gap. students at uc davis are saying tuition is rising and student loan debt is dpreart than credit card gap. >> what do you think is the next step for the movement that you mentioned? how do you take the spirit as you put it? and how do you take that? and how does that spirit congeal into some sort of -- political movement? or does it?

>> well, it is evolving in consciousness. i remember so well about the king's last movement was a poor people's campaign, a march to occupy the mall to make a choice between a war on poverty and healing at home rather than war in vietnam and killing. his argument was too much money in the hands of too few people and too many unnecessary wars without money left for education and health care left us morally and spiritually bankrupt. well, we're there again. so we must address these inequality gaps. it's significant that these protesters must be seen as canaries. they're saying there's poverty down here, there's home foreclosures down here, there are church foreclosures down here. there's pain that must be addressed in a very direct way, not an indirect way through some tax cut plan. >> let's talk specifically now about the growing gap between the rich and the poor. you ran for president twice. if you were president today,

what would you do differently to turn things around? >> first you have to address the gross unemployment in a direct way. >> how? >> you cannot have -- well, a tax cut means that those who have been subsidized by the government will make their profit and if they determine there's something left, they'll hire some more people. direct jobs is like roosevelt -- it's like johnson's war on poverty. those are basically -- they must be resurrected in a direct way. >> so a federal government jobs program? >> absolutely. it will not be a state's plan, it will not be a corporate plan. the federal government has some obligation to address bottom up. when you address bottom up, you put people back to work, guess what? they generate revenue, they purchase, they buy taxes. you will not deal with those through some plan with indirect spending or indirect investment.

we bail out the banks directly. when they were of over the to because of the foolish and reckless spending, we give them zero interest loans, we bail out the banks directly. we bail out the insurance companies, insurance fees are rising, uninsured is rising. so for the wealthiest 1%, they got bailed out directly. >> i had a guest on here a short time ago and we were talking about fund raising for this particular election cycle. and we talked about the amount of money that the president has managed to raise and how much of that money has been raised from wall street bankers, from some of the very folks that the administration has criticized so very often. what's your take on that? should the president in one breath be criticizing wall street as much as he has and in the very next breath be showing up at fundraisers and accepting large checks from wall street donors? >> we must, in fact, review the

public financing of campaigns. when people give big, they expect big returns. too few are giving too much and have too much control. they're purchasing politicians. and so it's based upon capacity, not idea capacity. and i would hope that the commitment by the congress and by the president would be to restore a real commitment to public financing of campaigns. >> the reverend jesse jackson. >> and i tell you these high expensive campaigns have an impact on distorting our needs in america. >> reverend jesse jackson, always a pleasure. thank you so much, sir. >> thank you, sir. up next, we're going to tell you who occupy protesters are directing their anger at on this black friday. and with frustrations running high across the country, how the president's prospects for reelection looking less than a year away. we'll talk about that, as well. lots more. congratulations.

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from wall street to black friday, today the movement directed their anger at america's largest retailers calling for people to boycott our annual friday shopping spree we have every year right after thanksgiving. meanwhile at uc davis, students continue to call for the resignation of the school chancellor there. the chancellor maintains that the university police officers defied her orders not to use force against the students there. with us now case whooetly, one of the students who was pepper sprayed at uc davis last week. how are you today, sir? >> doing all right. doing all right. >> the video, of course, has been viewed millions of times now. it's going viral, but for folks who have not seen, i think it's important we talk about it. i know this is tough for you to see again. >> yes. >> i do want to show folks precisely what happened on campus last week. take a look. >> you're shooting us for sitting here? no, that's fine, that's fine.

>> close your eyes! close your eyes! >> ahh! >> stay back. >> close your eyes! protect yourself! >> he's not resisting. >> he isn't resisting. >> shame on you! >> he's not doing anything! >> in case -- if i'm not mistaken and correct me if i am, that's your voice being heard there asking at the beginning of the video, are you spraying us and we're not doing anything? >> yeah, they were going to ask if they were going to shoot us, we had no idea they were going to spray us. >> walk us through quickly here. what happened before what we just saw there? >> so basically we were having an occupation on the quad. we were protesting the 81% fee hikes that we're facing over the next four years, we're calling for a general strike.

essentially we had an occupation on the quad, we had intense set-up and a circle around the tents. the police came in and threw the tents away and we thought everything was over, but then we sat down, linked arms and basically said, no, this isn't right. you have no justification for what you're doing. there's a policy, but if there's no justification for the policy, then we're going to disobey it, and we disobeyed it and they told us they were going to shoot us. >> they said they were going to shoot you? >> that's why the students started chanting don't shoot students. i thought they were going to use rubber bullets or pepper spray balls, but no, they used it to our eyes. >> there was no, none of the protesters had thrown rocks or anything? >> no, there was nothing like that. i mean, in the past we've had a lot of hate crimes on our campus, had a lot of incidents like these before. it's never drawn this attention before. but really we're here to protest the fee hikes, we're here to protest the police brutality

that's going on, the hate crimes that occurred on the campus and the police just ignored, call them incidents of bias, and ignore them, sweep them under the rug. these things are continuing on and on and no one's really doing anything about them. >> chase, what's been the reaction since this video went viral? >> well, it's -- i've talked to my parents have talked to people in australia that have seen us on the front cover of their news, it's on the russian times. at uc davis, the chancellor keeps apologizing and apologizing, but she won't actually have a conversation with the students one-on-one. she never has these things. basically she e-mails, reports out, and when she has to apologize, she comes out, says a nice apology, and retreats back to her office. at the same time, we've been talking about resignation for a long time, whether or not it's the right thing to do. i'm not sure. they might just put in a new chancellor who does the exact same things. we want democratic reform, we

want a chancellor democratically elected. >> before i let you get out of here, i do have to ask -- and i'm sure you're aware there are reports out there that the reason that the police on campus used pepper spray is that they were surrounded by students and that they felt threatened. any truth to those rumors at all? >> if you call students on the ground linked arms, if you call that threatening, then, yeah, there is truth to that. but i don't find that threatening. i find us sitting there trying to protect our fellow students. they called the students in the middle of the ring of police officers prisoners. when you call fellow students prisoners, that's when i'm willing to sit down and get pepper sprayed if that's what it's going to take to basically express my frustration. i would like to say one more thing. >> sure, go ahead. >> for the general strike on monday at the uc system, we at the food collective are donating food to the cause, we're asking for donations at foodcollecting.org so we can make -- shut down the meeting

and shut down the 81% increase they're proposing to put on us. >> case wheatley who has become the face of the movement. appreciate your time. >> thank you. president obama, masterful at raising money in the 2008 campaign by using social media and the internet to pull in small donations from thousands of voters across the country heading into his reelection bid, the president once again raking in huge amounts of cash. more than $86 million in just the last six months. but, will money be enough in a year when so many americans are struggling to make ends meet? former white house deputy communications director for president obama joining me live from cincinnati, ohio, on this friday. jen, good afternoon to you. >> good afternoon. >> let's just start with the state of the obama reelection campaign as we get closer to 2012. what is the state of the campaign right now? >> well, every election is a choice, as you know. and i think what is important here is the president is fighting for working people.

he's fighting for the middle class. and if you take a look at his record, and the issues he cares about, whether it's extending the payroll tax cut, which will be a huge issue in washington the next couple of weeks or making sure unemployment insurance is extended, these are issues that people across this country really care about. and it's really hitting home as the economy continues to recover. >> jen, you've got the talking points of the administration down pat. i'll give you that. but what you're saying, those messages haven't really been resinating with a lot of folks in large swaths of this country. a lot of blue-collar workers in this country who voted for the president the first time around have been very vocal about their frustration with his administration at this point. 25 million americans are unemployed, that's a conservative estimate. a lot of folks when polled say they're not happy with the direction the country is headed. why do you think that the president's message hasn't resinated more with these people?

>> well, there's no question that with the challenges we faced in our economy, many of the president inherited and he's been dealing with for the last three years, people are frustrated. and they don't have time to worry about politics and pay attention to that. but what's important is where we going moving forward, and what path are the candidates presenting? and if you look at the contrast between the candidates, you have mitt romney who has been on both sides of the issue on the payroll tax cut. he's been for it, he's been opposed to it. his own plan for the economy would help the highest income. he wants to extend those tax cuts. he even says that putting more money in the pockets of the middle class is not his focus. and then you have the president who today we have put millions of people back to work, there's still more work that needs to be done. and he'll be talking about that on the campaign trail next year. but this is really about who is presenting the better path forward. >> jen, thank you so much. have a great weekend. >> you too. from iowa to new hampshire

to south carolina, it may be winter, but the gop primary season heating up, and we've got the man at the center of it all in south carolina. state party chairman chet connolly with us after this. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪

the republican presidential candidates are now just 40 days away from the iowa caucuses. and those, of course, followed quickly by primaries in new hampshire and south carolina. no republican since 1980 has become the nominee without winning south carolina, making the palmetto state perhaps the most important on the calendar. chad connolly, rather, chairman of the south carolina republican party. good day to you, sir. >> hey, how are you doing, sir? >> i'm well. let me start with a question i posed to ezra klein earlier. iowa, new hampshire, those states, do you think that the role they have taken on in the primary contest is a bit outsized? >> well, no, i don't think so. they've got their role and we certainly have ours. i do believe it's a time that the winner in iowa may not be

the winner in new hampshire. and may not be the winner in south carolina. >> what makes you think that? >> well, i think that we have a unique place. like you just said, we have a 30-year track record of picking the eventual nominee. iowa's all about organization and turnout. new hampshire's that new england republican, and then south carolina brings in the three parts of the conservative platform, the social, fiscal, and military conservatives into one. >> at this point, which candidate do you think has the best chance in the palmetto state? >> i've been the guy who has been the leader cheerleader for all of them. i've been saying any of our candidates is better than the guy in the white house. i do think it's wide open. i think right now -- >> really? is it wide open, chad, or probably down to two or three people at this point in south carolina? >> i think it's wide open. here's why, because a lot of them are just now finding the state and getting here. a lot of them have made the crisscross efforts across the

state. but now we're starting to see some campaigns really ramp up and get here. >> mitt romney presumed by many to be the inevitable nominee. what are his vulnerabilities among south carolina voters specifically? >> well, so far, you know, i've been telling governor romney's folks that he needs to get here a whole lot more often like several others do. i think he's polling really well here, he's certainly got the name i.d. from having campaign before. i think he's going to fair a lot better than he might have expected in the beginning, but he does have to get here a good bit more. >> newt gingrich has taken a radical stand on immigration for republicans saying there's illegal immigrants in the country for a long time and who have families, should not be sent home. how is that likely to play in south carolina specifically? >> well, you know, the speaker has been here an awful lot. he's been making connections and just this past couple of weeks, he's opened up five new offices across the state. he'll be here looks like quite a bit to try to explain it. >> what surprised you so far

this political season with your potential nominees? >> i think what surprised me was maybe we were a little bit spoiled four years ago. you'll remember in south carolina we had so many candidates on both sides here a lot. and they spent a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of resources. hired people on the ground. this time it's certainly been a slower ramp-up time. and that's probably been the biggest surprise. >> there have been 11 debates so far. there are a number of debates to go. are we hearing too much from the candidates this primary season? have there been too many debates? >> no. look, this is an important time in our country's history. we're at a crisis and a cross roads, and i believe the debates are providing a great service for the american people. they're getting to know these candidates, getting to vet them out. and i think, i've been telling the campaigns this, in south carolina, the voters here, our primary voters have a high bar of expectation. you know, i can't tell you how many --

>> chad connelly, i'm going to have to cut you off, sir, i appreciate your time, and i appreciate yours, as well, folks. thanks so much for watching. "hardball" up next. ♪ i think i'm falling [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ for you [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday. take an extra 10 percent off smal l bue an extra 10 percent off sinesses are the smal lifeblood of our communities. on november 26th you can make a huge impact by shopping small on small business saturday. one purchase. one purchase is all it takes. so, pick your favorite local business... and join the movement. i pledge to shop small at big top candy shop. allen's boots... at juno baby store. make the pledge to shop small. please. shop small on small business saturday. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha

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