like miss nike and all that. >> wrap it up, it's time to go. >> willard, should we call him willard? >> we got to go. >> as long as you call me pierre. >> all right, willard geist, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> "morning joe." stick around for "daily rundown" with mr. chuck todd. has the race to become the official not romney candidate been won by newt gingrich, the former speaker? nabs a big endorsement. the publisher who made the call. plus, what will your paycheck look like in january? some kind of compromise on extending that payroll tax cut that is set to expire at the end of this calendar year? both sides are digging in for yet another december fight. for world history books, 2011 will be seen as the most consequential year in the arab world in decades. the fall of egypt's mubarak, of

yemen's sali, we've seen gadhafi's downfall and libya form a new government and today, major new developments. democratic elections in egypt and the beginning of the end of the rashad regime in syria. this is "daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. happy to be back. let's get right to my first reads of the morning. just 36 days to iowa, yes time to measure in days not weeks. sprint to the caucuses and republican race to challenge mitt romney is in full swing. the latest anti-romney candidate, newt gingrich whose campaign was left for dead in the summer starts a three-day swing through, not iowa, but south carolina this morning with a big boost. the endorsement of the allegedly, conservative new hampshire now manchester and also managed a swipe at romney saying "gingrich is by no means

the perfect candidate. we would rather back someone with whom we would disagree than one who tells us what we think we want to hear. no guarantee a victory. gingrich trails romney by 27 points in the latest granite state poll. since 1976, the union leader has picked just two eventual nominees. rona ronald reagan in 1988, but the paper has given shots in the arm to insurgent candidates before. most notably pat buchanan in '92 and '96. on the trail yesterday newt's rivals were quick to say the race was too volatile for this endorsement to matter. >> it looks like, you know, newt's the guy right now as the chief foil against romney and i think they just latched on to that train. >> i'm getting whip lash watching these people going up and down. it would have been unthinkable a month ago to get the endorsement of the union leader. >> i plan to meet with the union

leader. i faded from first to third and that's not exactly fading all the way down to the bottom. >> made an endorsement that i'm looking forward to is the one in iowa here on january 3rd in the caucuses. >> you know, like the only polls that matter are the one on election day. >> joe mcquaid will join us in a few minutes to explain the newspaper endorsement process. >> can he survive even 36 days of national scrutiny? in this wild year, it's premature to count anyone out. herman cain is trying to bounce back from his foreign policy stumbles and voter concern over sexual harassment allegations by hammering his one message that got him to the top in what the campaign calls 9-9-9, the movie. >> the federal tax code is an overgrown monster, but it's not even a cool monster. it's a dorky, mechanical monster. the 9-9-9 plan is enough to

bankish squirrelly -- >> back to basic there's and rick perry is hoping for a second look. starting to neutralize his immigration problem by rolling out the endorsement than joseph arpaio that illegal immigration opponent. he will be in new hampshire with rick perry tomorrow. we'll see, it's been interesting to watch it. immigration, just like 2007, it defined the primary debate, almost knocked mccain out of the race, but he did eventually survive. immigration is something that romney did use against mccain four years ago, trying to use it, again, successfully, it seems, against perry. will it work against gingrich? it does seem to be the one issue that does have residennous withe base that seems to benefit romney. one group that thinks romney is the guy left standing, national democrats. the dnc does what none of romney's primary opponents do just five weeks out from iowa. they're going up with an ad against them.

the ad is running in six markets. a very marginal bye. milwaukee, columbus, raleigh-durham, pittsburgh, washington, d.c. they are putting it in the swing state markets. here is a taste of it. >> from the creator of "i'm running for office for pete's sake" comes the story of two men strapped in one body. mitt versus mitt. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose. >> the right next step is to see if roe v. wade overturn. >> we put together an exchange and the president's copying that idea. i'm glad to hear that. >> obama care is bad news. >> i can tell you this, every day that president obama or the dnc attacks mitt romney is a day that the folks in boston smile. the mitt romney campaign wants this contrast sooner, the better because they think it does help with those skeptical conservative primary voters. all right, now, that the

super committee has gone bust, congress has another chance to get something done before christmas. the biggest items on the agenda, reaching deals on government funding and the payroll tax cut. luke russert is nbc's reporter there on capitol hill for us. >> this is a rough fill in for you. >> absolutely. it's good to have you on that side. >> that's right. no drew bledsoe, tom brady situation yet. >> with the yet. let's start with the payroll tax fight. we know the senate will come up with a fight today, but they have what republicans call is a poison pill on it because how they would pay for it would mean raising taxes on millionaires. what is the status of this debate? >> over the weekend, jon kyl said on one of the sunday shows that the republicans don't necessarily believe in raising the payroll tax cut because they don't think it creates jobs. it depletes the social security trust fund and then dick durbin coming right back at him and saying, that's interesting. republicans supporting tax

increase in an election year. so, both sides kind of see this as something they can use to their advantage, politically. democrats saying looking how hypocritical the republicans are. in terms of what is going to happen, it will really come down to 11th hour negotiation that we've seen all year. i suspect president obama will get involved according to that source that i have spoken to on capitol hill. john boehner, harry reid. you saw the way forward with the poison pill and the surtax, that's not going to go anywhere. basically it comes down to what you have to do in the house before the end of the year. you have government funding that runs out around december 16th. we have to figure out a funding bill by then? you have the medicare doc fix which delays cuts that doctors will get from medicare and the payroll tax extension and unemployment benefits. all those add $300 billion from the deficit. so, the question becomes, what is going to be involved in these negotiations and what are democrats going to have to give up to get the unemployment benefits. >> let's talk about the give ups.

what's out there that democrats seem to be willing to give up in trading off for this payroll tax? >> the thing we heard the rumors all along is that perhaps you lesson the cut to the defense programs that would be targeted by the sequester. >> they want to go for the sequester. >> that's something that we heard. john boehner said he was morally bound to the sequester and president obama said he would veto anything that touched it. so, okay, if you don't go there. then we have to match it with spending cuts other places. there's also talk that the supercommittee had identified close to $200 billion in cuts, $300 billion in cuts up to $600 billion based on who you talked to. you can touch those in exchange for unemployment and payroll tax extension. the point being that the supercommittee punted, democrats will have a lot of pressure to get this passed because obama sees payroll tax extension as very much important part of the economy. >> all right, the senate's going to do the symbolic votes, but

will the first actual vote of what the legislation might come out? >> i suspect it will probably come out of the senate first, you never know. depending on what boehner can get through his conference. there are guys that don't want to see anything out of the debt. not to mention the government funding bill and how rogers is crafting could also be considered a spending bill adding more. they're not happy with that. >> the rhetoric of a $1,500 tax increase. luke russert, i'm most disappointed about what happened, this is what happens when you play college football on friday. nothing good happened. congrats. >> thank you very much, i appreciate it. >> thank you, luke. let's turn to the other big story around the world. thousands of egyptians are opting for the polls over protests today turning out in huge numbers. lines everywhere to vote for a new parliament. the question, will it do anything to loosen military script on power? aman is live for us in cairo.

seems to be more excitement today than tension. is that fair to say? >> absolutely, good morning, chuck. that's a very good question about what's at stake here, not about the outcome, but the process and more importantly, legitimacy. that's what's at stake for the millions of egyptians that are voting. no one is holding their breath to expect an outcome today or in the next few days because this is only the first day of a six-part voting process for both the lower house and the upper house. that will last well into 2012. but, really, it does test the legitimacy in egypt. if there is good and clean process, that is good news. the polls open eight hours ago, only two hours left. so far no major violations. 90% of the polls opened on time, a few innocents of violence and nothing to disrupt the overall process. chuck? >> walk me through the process a

little bit. how many days of voting and when will we know preliminary results and who are the two or three major parties that we expect to win a lion's share of these seats? >> well, we're expecting definitely the party belonging to the muslim brotherhood, the freedom and justice party to have a very strong showing because they're tamong the most greased organization in the country. another party known here as the free egyptian party, a liberal party also expected to do very well in the showing. so, it's really about the coalition of parties that emerges. this is the first time that these parties are actually able to run really free and fair campaigns. when we're expecting the outcome, though, that's still several weeks away. we're talking about 27 in egypt today and only nine are going to the polls. 18 million voters. and the same thing will happen in three weeks' time and in another three weeks' time and then, again, the same process over the course of another six

weeks in the beginning of 2012. so, you're really looking at about march before you have a fully functioning parliament that is up and running and start making some laws in this country. >> all right, in cairo for us. terrific report, thanks very much. we're going to have more on the upheaval in the middle east, including what's going on in syria as the arab league approves unprecedented sanctions and president assad. is he the next leader to fall? up next, the inside story on the key new hampshire endorsement for newt gingrich. joe mcquaid right here to explain the pick. and whether mitt romney is in for a rough ride from his newspaper. first, look ahead at the president's schedule today. he's hosting a u.s./european union summit. so much to talk about in that, particularly when it comes to the economy and the future of the european union, if you will, on the monetary policy.

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it's been an amazing year, if you really think about it. the revolution that began nearly a year ago brought down leaders in egypt, morocco and now uprisings in syria and a new series of protests in egypt threatening more change. deputy international editor for "time" magazine joins me now. i don't know where to begin. on one hand, amazing to see what we're seeing in egypt today. so, i'll end with that. i want to start with what's going on in syria. the arab league sanctions, the possibility that more members of the assad army may flip sides.

are we talking assa d-d d days g numbered? >> you listed the different countries where change have come since the start of the arab spring and every dictator lasts longer than the one before. so, mubarak lasted longer and held out longer than ali and gadhafi held out longer than mubarak. sala of yemen held out longer and i think we'll see that assad in syria is going to hold out for a few more months at the very least. he has a certain amount of support at home. it seems that quite a lot of people out of fear or out of genuine appreciation are reluctant to join the uprising against him. these sanctions may be the tipping point. they may now encourage people in the military and people in the

regime to now say, okay, the world is cutting assad out, it's time for us to do that, as well. >> based on your reporting, these members of the syrian military that are supposedly flipping sides, is it dozens, is it hundreds? you know, how much is it happening and how organized is this now sort of syrian militia, if you will? >> at this point, if i had to guess, i would say the free syrian army, which is one of the most prominent armed groups against assad would probably be in the hundreds or lower thousands. but many groups. one of the features of the uprising in syria is that it is taking place all over the country. not one tahrir square where all of this is concentrated. local groups everywhere. some of them are armed and some are peaceful. very difficult because we're not allowed into the country, very few independent observers. we depend on this little trickle of information that comes out

from youtube and from the internet. >> one would assume that might start changing if they start losing some grips on some cities. so, the arab league's announcement of economic sanctions. one would assume the next step is some sort of military intervention led by the arab league, would they be ready to do that? would they enforce a no-fly zone, for instance? >> i'm not sure the arab league is ready for military intervention. much more violence by assad against his people for that next step. even a no-fly zone may be hard to get together. but that doesn't mean that the sanctions don't have teeth. they are very powerful. the other thing is that it has now opened the way for syria's neighbors to give openly to give shelter to the forces against them. jordan came out and announced today that it had about 100 of the free syrian army defectors who had taken shelter in jordan. i think you'll see much more of

that come out into the open and that will be an encouragement for people who are rising up against syria. >> very quickly. what are you watching over the today and the next few weeks in egypt when it comes to how these elections are being conducted? >> i'm on my way to egypt tonight and i think it's fascinating to see how this election plays out. you had, i had to be mr. tahrir square himself, you know, it's going to be, it's going to be wonderful, but also going to be sobering to see how this election plays out. it is extremely, extremely important. egypt is the where it turns. if egypt can pull off a clean, mostly clean but fair election, then that gives heart to protesters everywhere across the middle east, not just in syria, but in other countries, as well. that's where my eyes will be heading and that's where the eyes of the world will be for the next few weeks.

>> bobby ghosh, always good to get your perspective. up next, why the paper picked newt over mitt. plus, live pictures here of "occupy los angeles" where time is up for protesters but many demonstrators say they won't go. mayor antonio villaraigosa is joining me. today's trivia question. this is a good one. which current senator graduated from high school in libya? tweet me the answer. the first correct answer. everyone have their new blackberry from at&t?

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editorial board endorsed gingrich on sunday. all this while mitt romney is off the trail today. joe mcquaid is the publisher of the "new hampshire union leader." we want to refer to it as "manchester united leader." nice to see you. >> nice to see you, chuck. >> was it a close call? >> not really. the call took a while to come to as it did with mccain in 2008. we have known gingrich for a long time and he's just at the head of the class and i think he showed that in the debates, so-called. >> would you, did you want to see a sign of life in his campaign before you made the call? i mean, you've never gone with the grain, if you will, very rarely do you go "with the grain" where the establishment might be. but outside of pete dupont, it

does seem every time you try to endorse a candidate that you think could win. if gingrich would not have shown a sign of life, would that have given you pause? >> it may have. but, you know, we weren't endorsal him a month, two months, three months ago. the timing and course of events, the people of the state really make up their minds in the last six weeks or so. i think there was a poll last week that said exactly 16% of the people who intend to vote are strongly committed to their candidate. but, no, if he was, if he was flatlining this week, i think we'd probably invoked something like the buckley rule where we want the most conservative candidate who has the best chance of winning. it's interesting. you mention dupont and steve forbes. we back people who didn't make it, predecessor backed people

who didn't stand a snowball chance in hell understanding what the country and the state would do rather than what they did. >> that was always interesting to me. the one that never fit in that group, i thought, was mccain, but was that you invoking the buckley rule four years ago at the end of the day you looked around and said, you know what, got to go with the most electable conservative? >> yeah, yeah. and for the time, i think gingrich is the guy for these times and i thought mccain was the guy for 2008. you remember, he's the one who successfully argued for the surge and the surge work and, ironically, that gave obama the opportunity to get in without discussing much on foreign policy and then the economy tanked, so, mccain was toast. it's all about timing. >> now, obviously, mitt romney yesterday on c-span you refer to him, he's sort of like a

favorite son. he, obviously, spends a lot of time in new hampshire arguably, i think, living basically more of a resident of new hampshire than he is of boston these days. was he ever in play. were you ever considering him? would you be comfortab with romney as the standard-bearer of the republican party? >> not as comfortable as gingrich. we looked at romney. i think romney has grown a lot as a political candidate. he seems a lot more comfortable in his skin and working the crowds and dealing with people one-on-one, but there is still something lacking there in, i don't know if it's makeup or basic philosophy. i think it's still too much of you want this like bob dole said. you want to be reagan, i could be reagan. >> but too much of that, i mean, that is why i think you didn't go with bob dole in either '88 or '96. >> oh, right, yeah.

again, we went with buchanan in '96 and buchanan actually beat dole which was a message i think new hampshire conservative voter was sending to the nation and they didn't pay attention to it, perhaps they will this time. >> you mentioned in there that gingrich is not the perfect candidate. was there a perfect candidate that didn't run or somebody closer, somebody else you would have liked to have seen jump in the race? this is who you have to choose from. but were you pining for somebody else? >> no, there wasn't anybody in particular we would have liked to see more of them jump into the race, but once they're in, then they've got to perform. the talk currently has been of chris christie of new jersey and we met him a couple weeks ago when he was up here stumping for romney and we like that guy very much on first impression, but you know how it is. once they get in, then the shots are taken and they've got to withstand the fire.

i think a lot of these candidates are finding out that the national political scene is nothing like the state political scene. >> that's for sure. well, joe mcquaid, publisher of "the union leader" one of our partners for the msnbc facebook debate we have coming up the sunday before new hampshire. joe, good to talk with you. >> you, too, chuck, take care. the deadline has passed, but the "occupy l.a." protesters are standing their ground. how far will the lapd go. the mayor himself, mayor villaraigosa will be here. pakistan says it won't be business as usual with the u.s. any more. we've heard this before. how serious this time? you're watching "daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ female announcer ] find yourself sometimes cleaning up after your dishcloth? bounty extra soft can help. it's super durable, and in this lab test bounty extra soft

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fire attack that killed two dozen pakistani soldiers over the weekend. the strikes went on for nearly two hours despite its pleas for a cease-fire. nato says the incident was unintended and is promising a full investigation. and syracuse assistant basketball coach bernie fine has been fired after a third man came forward accusing him of sexual molestation. while the accuser' account of the 2002 incident is being called into question by his own father, what is more, the accuser himself is facing a sexual assault charge in maine, but he had this recording with the wife of bernie fine, that is a sorted and twisted tale up in syracuse. well, at least three people have been arrested this morning for refusing to leave the "occupy l.a." ground in los angeles. the city gave protesters a deadline of midnight last night to clear out of their camp. protesters, though, held their ground for several hours past the deadline. right now police have declared

the gathering "unlawful assembly" and arrest anyone remaining on the ground. joining me now, l.a. layer, mayor antonio villaraigosa. you're threatening to arrest anyone remaining on the grounds. are arrests happening right now as we speak? >> as you said, there were approximately three people arrested, it was not for failing to leave the camping ground, but not obeying orders to get out of the street, as i understand it. look, we've made it absolutely clear and i think there is broad agreement among the occupiers that it's not sustainable to be at that city hall park space indefini indefinitely. since friday, we've been passing out fliers to make sure that people know that at 12:01 the park would be closed. it is now officially closed. we have been sending social service providers and health providers through the park to advise that this morning there will be 50 beds opening for the

homeless. we're opening another 870 beds on thursday. we're working to make sure that they're as orderly and peaceful a departure as possible and, as you said, i think people are fairly aware of that. >> now, it's my understanding you were looking for alternative space and you presented this -- who did you present this plan to and why did they -- what were the reasons they gave you for refusing to move to an alternative location? >> well, we've been -- we've been talking with these people for weeks now. we have because we've said from the beginning in the city as much as people have said all across the country that they've put a light on the growing disparity between wealth and poverty in america, the growing concentration of wealth and the evisceration of the middle class. it's not their objectives or that we've taken numbers with, it's just the fact that camping

out there is not healthy. it's -- it's not safe. and it's become more and more chaotic. we haven't had discussions about alternative space. they proposed a space that we thought was inappropriate, but we did talk to them about some space where they could continue their movement, continue to raise these issues, but not do so at city hall park. >> are you supportive of the movement? >> i, i'm empthetic, very empthetic with some of the issues that they have raised. i also made it clear, it's important and we're proud of the fact that they've been peaceful in los angeles. the images you've seen across the country have not happened here. we're proud of that. that's been because they've been committed to a peaceful demonstration and because our police have been very restrained.

by the way, i'm very proud of how our officers kept the peace this evening. it could have gotten out of hand. it was very noisy and unruly, but in the end, also peaceful for the most part and our officers really conducted themselves in a way that made us, make us all proud. >> how are you paying for this? you have estimated that this has cost you $120,000 so far on one end, that sounds like a lot of money to some people individually. that doesn't sound like a lot of money. that low balling it or is this costing more and more, particularly what you're trying to do right now which is to move them semiforcibly? >> well, remember, they have been peaceful here in los angeles. so, we haven't expanded the kind of resources that they have in other parts of the city. as this goes on, that cost will rise and, yes, that, you know, it will have an impact on public services. it is a lot of money.

but, my hope is that they'll continue to be peaceful and understand that departures eminent. that this is not sustainable and, as i said, in our discussions with them, they were very clear that it's not sustainable to be there indefinitely. the fact is, it's becoming more and more of a public health and public safety concern for all of us and that's why we've asked them to leave. >> you talked about providing a number of homeless beds. how many, in your estimation, how many members of this movement are homeless. what is the makeup of what you understand of the "occupy l.a." encampment? >> well, the original occupiers were not homeless for the most part. but since then, there have been homeless who have come to the park probably somewhere around 100 people, that's why we're

providing 50 beds. today by thursday 870. we're working, we don't have an exact number on that and then there are just a number of other people who have come since then. but somewhere in the neighborhood of about 100, maybe homeless. we had a fair, a health fair last saturday. as i said, we had social service providers there all weekend. we're working to make sure that they have the services they need. obviously, in l.a. and around the country, we like more services for the homeless and we've worked hard to try to reduce that homeless population and need some help from the federal government, frankly. >> do you expect this to be clear? do you expect this encampment to be cleared by the end of today? >> i expect that this encampment will be cleared when it's safe for our officers and the

demonstrators to do so. we want to make sure that everybody knows that the park is closed. that there are services available, that are alternative ways to protest. by the way, we will be opening up the steps of city hall for protests. they just can't camp out. >> all right. los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa. thanks for joining me this morning. we'll be following up. appreciate it. well, the mail boxes in iowa are now filling up. republicans are kicking their campaigns into high gear. the countdown is on. haley barbour's warning to pr republicans. first, white house soup of the day. really, this is what you welcome me back with? tomato. come on. at least give it a little roasted red pepper tomato. how about turkey and tomato. trust me, i have plenty of turkey in my refrigerator, i'll

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newt gingrich may have won a big new hampshire endorsement this weekend, but some believe it's iowa where he's the favorite, although he has yet to spend a penny there on paid ads. over the weekend, mitt romney was one of the candidates to bombard the state with some direct mail pieces touting his record on immigration and social issues. continue to downplay his chance s. >> of course, you know, you devote your resources as the right place to spend time, but i'll be running ads in iowa and spending time in iowa and also here, south carolina and the first four states are important. >> msnbc political analyst michael steele and karen finney

a former communication director for the democratic national committee and dan is the washington chief correspondent and author of everybody's must read these monday morns "the take." it's 36 days. we were just talking. i had operatives who were veterans of campaigns shaking their head going, this is the weirdest feeling of a month out from an actual presidential caucus state where you still have no idea where this race is going. >> you have some idea where it is going, but you have no idea why it is operating the way it is operating. the way campaigns are operating defies everything we know about campaigning. at this point, you expect some engagement. the only engagement we see are in debates and much of that came earlier in the debates and not even in the recent debates. i think a lot of these candidates are afraid to go after somebody for fear that it will boom rang against them. >> it's interesting, gingrich versus romney, michael steele, they have the old cold war

mentality, but here's what mitt romney did say about newt just a little comparative in that interview, take a listen. >> again, the speaker spent his time working in government and working in washington. i spent my time working in the private sector. i think my background is more in line with what america needs right now. >> that's the contrast you have to make. >> what the primary voters want. so, clearly, mitt still has a problem connecting with the base, the base, as we've all seen, is on this endless trek to find -- >> anybody but romney. i think the union leader endorsement sort of symbolized that in a big way. second time around. mitt sitting on the sidelines, they don't want to be part of him. how does he go into the next 36 days? i think you'll see him step up his game a little bit more in new hampshire. he will be looking over his shoulder a little bit there, he doesn't know where the bottom will come from, likely the union leader in protecting their endorsement.

newt has an opportunity here, though, to do what others haven't done and that is to really put down a foundational building block that will propel him into the next three states after new hampshire. >> it seems that mitt romney only has one source of help when it comes to trying to win this nomination and it comes from your former employer, the dnc. they're up with ads today and i can tell you, this i can tell you this, every day that the obama campaign or the dnc attacks mitt romney, stewart stevens, matt rods they smile, well, that is the best thing they have going for them because the one message they can send to the base. >> well, somebody's got to. it goes to the other point we were talking about, they are circling each other, but no one is engaging in the way that you would expect. i think to the advance point of boomranging, the overall feeling is we have to beat barack obama, but on our side, we have to take him on and you have to lay the foundation of your narrative against your opponent pretty early on. i would expect to see some of that old newt opposition

research making its way back out there pretty soon, though. >> you know, it's easy and it's funny. the old, this is a case where if you're newt, do you want that a little bit if democrats start circulating that because what i've been visualizing this morning is what was newt saying and doing in october of 1994? what was mitt romney saying and doing? one was talking about leading a revolution. one was denying he was a conservative republican. that is a contrast. >> denying even that he was favorable to the reagan/bush era. >> yes. >> that is part of the problem. and the base of the party is still resistant or at least a good part of it, but the romney campaign has been on a methodical, relentless march. they've done it at their own pace and stepping it up now and stepping it up in iowa and they're going to try to get this thing wrapped up as quickly as they can, but they're prepared. >> you have the feeling that the only ones that understand the

delegate rules that you created here, all right, stick around, we'll talk a little obama after break. we asked, which current senator graduated from high school in libya? i didn't know this. i love this trivia question. answer, retiring senator kent conrad. he graduated from wheelis in triply before gadhafi took control. follow the wings. you name it.

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all right. let's bring back the panel, michael, karen, dan. president obama today is busy with an eu summit, the united states european summit but wednesday going to scranton, pennsylvania. a love this, "wall street journal" through a profess, third year in office, comparing trips to presidential swing states that presidents running

for reelection made, obama, bush, clinton, 2011, president obama, 54 events in 42 days in swing states. bush, 49 events in 34 days, 1995, clinton, 40 events in 24 days. if you presented all three, dan, i would have assumed bill clinton would have been the leader on this front. it's barack obama. >> yes, it is. partly because they have moved very dramatically over the last few months to campaign mode. >> absolutely. >> and they set up an operation in chicago, as you know, very early in the year, and much of that operation is aimed at organizing the key states, and so they'll put the president into those states early and on and that's what they've been doing. >> michael, the republican union wants to say, see, he's a campaigner in chief. it would be odd if you travel the country, wouldn't yo go to where there are undecided voters on your policies? >> particularly when you have the economy that the president

has and the policies that he is having a hashd time articulating voter to support them. he's going to go there, reinforce that message, i'm fighting for you and i've tried -- i did this on health care, i did this on the war on terrorism. so he's making that case. the problem is that the numbers just don't help him. when you look at missouri and pennsylvania's a question mark and ohio's a question mark for him, he's got to -- really got to fight hard to hold the ground he's got because he'll lose north carolina, he'll lose virginia, i see, going into '12. >> karen, you know, the criticism of the president over the last, i'd say, 18 months, when it comes to selling his policies, is he doesn't. >> that's right. >> he is trying. >> right. >> so -- >> i mean that's -- >> that's the glass half-full, half-empty. >> you attack him for not selling and then he goes out and sells it but he sells it in key states. i think it's helped him not only

in the bigger picture but congress. look at who some of the republicans are from the states. >> i have to go. dan, shameless plug? >> outlook piece in the weekend sunday "the washington post," five fifths about newt gingrich, wonderful. >> michael? >> cancer treatment center of america, i'm on their board, i wanted to let everybody know. good place to go if you need cancer treatment. >> all right. >> dan balz piece on sunday, looking at changing demographics, inspired a piece i wrote for "the hill" tomorrow how that tracks with voter suppression efforts and demographics. >> i want to do a shameless plug to boston whdh, reporting that barney frank, long time democratic member of congress, is not going to run for re-election. we'll have more on that coming up in the next hour. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." see you back here tomorrow. stay tuned for "chris jansing & company." she'll have the latest on barney frank.

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