fishing industry. none of the fishing areas will be in the district i would be running in. i can't walk away from people i have grown close to. between two countries where my constituents have strong ties. i have three. one of them stays the same and that's israel. there are other issues i have worked on that would become politically irrelevant or of diminished relevance. i don't want to be torn and my obligation to exist iing some o them in areas that i am not very familiar with.

i would like to be your congressmen for two years. i will be a couple months short of my 75th birthday after the conclusion and i have always said that i would not be serving elected office at that age. some people can do it. i know my own capacity and energy level and it would have been a mistake. i would have had this very difficult situation in which i would be going to people in belling ham and other areas and saying please, let me be your congressman and let me work on your problems. that's an important part of this job that i have always taken very seriously. but, the most important ones are never resolved within a year or two. and ask them to trust me with being their advocate on their

problems. i will have 11 months to work on your issue. if you have a reej nam problem, and i have worked on regional and economic issues, none of those are done in 18 months or two years. >> ach more than three decades in office, massachusetts congressman and liberal lightning rod barpy frank has announced that he is not seeking reelection for a 17th term in congress. he has been an iconic member of congress. he has been a long time adversary when they were back in congress of newt gingrich. he goes all the way back to really the first member of congress to openly declare that he is kay.

>> whether you like him or not. >> he works very this is someone who has had a bit of continue sercy in his career. barney frank is the first openly gay, someone who declared himself as openly gay while serving in congress. now there are others in congress serving with him. the fact that he is coming out now saying that he is not going to run. as he said because of redistricting and how he said the idea of running for a 17th term with 325,000 new constituents at a time when he is enmeshed in the concerns of

his -- was a bit much to take. >> it could be an indication that democrats do not think they will retake the house. why else would the committee unleash a new ad? take a look. >> from the creator of i'm running for office for pete's sake comes the story of two men trapped in one body. two midsts willing to say anything. >> the president is copying that idea. i'm glad to hear that. >> obama care is bad news. >> see it all at mittvmitt.com. >> why go after romney? are you assuming that when all is said and done that romney is

going to be the nominee? >> i don't think we are assuming that. look what's happening with newt gingrich. he continues to struggle to get 75 to 80% to support him. he is running himself as the presumed nominee. he is attacking the president. last week he had a very deceitful ad that he put up attacking the president. and so we are going take the opportunity to do that. >> you seem to be enjoying this so much. look where you are putting this at. should have been a gimmi pot. now are real battlegrounds. >> this effort is bigger than the add.

the add is in a number of key states. we're also holding events around the country where the ad is not running. we have got a big campaign. a lot of people are going to show the longer video the brett, andrea, of mitt romney's shape shifting over time is really jaw dropping. there was a story today and change that position for political reason. the well is deep here. >> you're only spending $14,000 on this. i know you have got money. you just don't feel like spending it and counting on cable news to recirculate this? >> not at all. that report is inaccurate. that is not how much we are spending? >> we are spending more than that.

the point here is not just about the ad. it's about the millions of people who will get a chance to see this video and website over e-mail. events that we are having and state parties arn the country are holding events today for local news. we have a lot of ways to get to voters and get the message out besides the ad. the ad is in a handful of markets for about a week or a little less than a week. you wouldn't expect it to ad up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. people will see it that are tuned in in the markets. >> i can tell you it's more than 14,000. >> that could be a big number.

>> first of all the add portrays mitt romney as a flip-flopper. let's have you go at it. why aren't they correct? >> first off, this isn't really an ad. it's more of a video. last summer, the democrats broadcast that president obama can't run on his record so they're going to have to do a campaign of personal destruction and kill mitt romney. what we're seeing now is exactly what they said they were going to do. >> want to ask you about the union leader. of course the endorsement of newt gingrich. they say gingrich is by no means

the perfect candidate but we would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what we think they want to hear. that is clearly a slap to mitt romney. >> we're proud of the strong endorsements we have in new hampshire. we have governor and a lot of strong conservative support in new hampshire. >> you know, governor romney knows this is an important election and he wants to take his message directly to each voter. >> i want to ask you about a bloom berg article.

>> is -- with that history, is that similar to what we are seeing now in the match up between newt and mitt romney on immigration? >> governor romney discussed his position on immigration and illegal immigration extensively in the last campaign. that's nothing new. he proved that he does not support amnesty or illegal immigrants cutting in line between those who are trying to come to this country lawfully. if you look at his record, he vetoed for illegal immigrants. and so, you can look no further than his record to see that he has been completely, you know, for legal immigration but governor romney thinks that we

need to turn off the magnet. >> he certainly, there is so many quotations out there. >> it certainly seems that he has been on different sides of the issue. >> he invites all immigrants to apply for citizenship and see if they can come here legally. however what he doesn't support is a special path for them to jump in line in front of people who have been waiting. that's the key difference here. >> okay. we will have to leave it there to be continued. we'll ask a top democrat about battle fatigue on capitol hill. have a question you want me to answer? join me for a live web chat between 2:15 and 2:45. this is andrea mitchell reports

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topping the headlines now, it was a record setting kick-off for the holiday shopping season. the national retail federation says that the stores took in an estimated $52 billion. will cyber monday now match that record? 123 million shoppers are expected to take advantage. deep discounts and special deals offered by online retailers. buyer be ware making sure that consumers are protected. seizing websites for allegedly selling counterfeit goods. it is difficult to process because sellers are typically operating from overseas. >> congress is back in session today for the first time since the super committee dissolved.

now lawmakers only have a few weeks to decide on whether or not to extend the payroll tax cut holiday. we are joined now. want to talk about the super committee. first, what about barney frank? is this an example of democrats not only feeling battle fatigue but feeling they are not going to recapture the house? >> i think it's exactly what barney grank set it was. 6 terms, 32 years. he would have to introduce himself. look, we're going miss the wit and wisdom of frank. i am confident that democrats will pick up that seat. >> at the same time you have big

challenges shaping up. house members as well as the presidency. the payroll tax cut. just yesterday john kyle on fox news sunday expressed republican opposition to extended the payroll tax cut. >> the payroll tax doesn't go into general revenue. it supports social security. you can't keep extending the payroll tax holiday and have a secure social security. we don't think that is a good way to stimulate job creation. >> holiday saying that it was only temporary, not a term nant payroll tax cut. why is john kyle wrong? >> well, senator kyle is wrong on both counts. first of all, the social security trust fund is held entirely harmless because there is an automatic transfer of funds into the social security

trust fund to make it whole as if all the payroll tax moneys were going into it. number two, the head of the non-partisan congressional budget office as well as other economists have made it clear that the tax holiday did, in fact, keep the economy from getting worse. if we don't extend it it could very well make the economy worse. if all of the sudden people had thousands of dollars less in our pockets to spend. >> are you going be able to extend um employment benefits. >> i certainly hope so. the congressional budget office

chief testified that one of the most important things to try to keep the economy going is to make sure that those folks who are out of work through no fault of their own. that they are looking for work that those folks have their unemployme unemployment. every dollar they get is a dollar they go out and spend in the economy. small businesses can sell goods and services and they can then hire people. if you pull that support out from under families who are hurting in this very fragile economy you will not just hurt them, but everybody in the entire economy. i hope on the payroll tax extension and boost were able to deal with these things. unfortunately our colleagues were unwilling to go along.

i hope they change their mind. >> just briefly, when do you think the show down is really going to happen. you were supposed to go out next week. >> it would be a huge mistake for the country for us to go pack our bags before we dealt with the very important issues. if we don't act, on january 1, every working american will see a tax hike. so people would have extra in their pockets during this fragile economy. that is what we should be doing and the same holds true for unemployment compensation. congress should not.

>> coming up the politico briefing. >> and after a 20 day journey, the capitol christmas tree has arrived in dc. the 65 foot white fir comes from california's national forest. house speaker john boehner will lead the tree lighting ceremony next tuesday. and the finishing touches are being put on the rock felller center tree. don't miss the star studded tree lighting on nbc. i'd race down that hill without a helmet.

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>> topping the headlines right now, syracuse has now fired long time assistant basketball coach after a third alleged victim alleging past sexual abuse. a newly released tape reportedly has fine's wife discussing the issue with one of the son's accusers. >> in los angeles, occupy protesters defied the mayor's midnight deadline to leave the area. after a stand-off for hours, several officers were sent home. police say they will not raid the camps any time soon. four people were arrested. >> in pakistan, more tension as protesters are rallying against nato and the u.s. following an air strike. nato and the united states are both investigating, blaming the incident on friendly fire. pakistan says that the attack

continued even thaf pleaded with coalition forces to stop. >> and egyptians turned out in huge numbers to vote in parliamentary elections. the first since mubarak was toppled. will it lead to real political change? we are joined now from new york. great to see you and thanks so much. we see this extraordinary scenes in egypt of people lining up to vote. >> you have the egyptian military trying to still rule the country. >> it's a dangerous thing and a scary thing for americans. respect the enthusiasm in the

voting today and not back military rule. >> we did see a slight change in the administration's pos chur over the holiday weekend putting out a statement on sfrid that indicated that it was important for the military to take a step back and for there to be a full transfer more quickly, too. close ties to the military. billions of dollars plus the whole relationship with egypt at stake between egypt and israel at stake. >> that's true. and the administration. it. >> it called for the egyptian military to step back and let the elections take place. the concern is israel.

and other countries where islamists -- this would be turkey and the elections there. actually moderated them. it is a scary thing for the united states. allow the iz laums to participate. when they have to rule, generally iz laumists become more moderate. their hard line doesn't produce jobs. and you know, basically trying to crack down, you know, go the old -- isn't going to make israel secure either. let the iz laumists participate in. >> and numbers of people, the huge protests over last weeks. >> i'm not. i think you're seeing the desire among -- the united states has

been offering aid programs, educating on egyptians for decades now. many of these are young lawyers who have gone to american backed universities. and now they are pushing for these ideals that they have talked about for decades. it's all about money and economic problem. they don't want to give that up. things are going much more smoothly, there. the egyptian military is not willing to give up the economic holdings and they have botched this transition. the obama administration is trying to get out, back the egyptian people and i think that the turnout today shows the desire for democracy, not for military rule.

ss. >> do we see anyone coming to the forefront? >> i'm tsh fairly popular on moderates. democracy is a messy process. sit a messy process in the united states. there is an old saying. i think that's the case in egypt. someone will emerge with time if a -- and we have to sort of let the egyptians find that leader. they will emerge. sit a big risk but i feel like we tried aauthoritarianism for te kads.

>> thank you very much for joining us from new york. as egyptians head to the polls, a more violent situation is purportedly showing new attempts by the military to crush the uprising there. thomas frmpb riedman is the prize winning author. thank you so much. great to see you. >> thank you. >> you know this area better than any of us. first what you think might be happening in sire ya. >> there are two arab states, really. there are ones with homogenous populati populations. the transitions there were relatively peaceful. and then you have multiethnic societies that are called tribes with flags.

there, getting everybody against dad is really impossible. it is an offshoot of shiiasm. it tends to be rule or die. in power or dead. >> can that be decisive? >> what it could happen is it could get them to say you know what? we can cut the best deal that we can. that is one possibility. the other is it may get them more entrenched. they will fight to the bitter end. >> as we look at egypt what we have seen in the last couple of weeks has been extraordinary. the violence particularly against journalists as well.

both sides taking action against western and egyptian journalists. women have been particularly targeted. can the elections really lead to a good result? we were just talking about the factions and whether an iz la-- islamist party is a good one. >> all kinds of stuff is flying out. real bad, ugly stuch. you're going to see them competing together. the bottom line is stability has left the building. now we're going to get two kinds of instanbility. the other could have a very negative slope. we don't know which it's going be. >> i want to talk to you about your book and the most recent

column about president obama. the way the president has approached deficit reduction, his own deficit commission, and you know, where we go forward. >> the country gets it. i think the american people have a real respect. they get it. we have a really big problem and i think that americans are ready to fix that problem at the scale of the problem. one it really is a plan that is going to fix the problem. that's going to require spending cuts. second, it's honest in that it's fair for everyone. the rich are going to pay more because they had two very good decades. everyone is going to pay something. the president's own deficit

commission for $4 trillion and tax increases and spending cuts to really balance the budget at a level that is sustainable going forward. i think it's there. the president has walked away from his own deficit commission. >> how does he walk back to it now? do you understand how he abandoned it? many people feel -- >> pure politics. he wanted him to go ahead first with the republican plan which was -- called for very severe -- >> fell off the cliff? >> and obama can say down there, run against that. that's good work if you can get it. look at the polls. obama is at 45%. tell me, how is that working for you? the republicans have been trying

to block them? they really have been trying to block the president. how do you trump that by leveraging the rest of the country? the country is out there to be leveraged. the plan is there. it's a bipartisan plan that already has republican support and democratic support. to me it's the natural place to start. he walks it back by one day saying given the context, it's time to look at it again. obama says we're going to get some republican support. the whole economy feels different. >> you better than anyone knows, first told us about globalization. because the world is flat, because europe matters, there is a disaster down the road in europe almost inevitably. they will not be siynchronized.

the aftershocks could really take us down but if what you are suggesting happens, maybe it won't be so bad. >> we need to be the rock of stability. america, europe, the arab world, and china and india. all four are shaking in their own way and they have never been more interconnected. this is a time to get our house in order. i tell you the public is there. they are ready to be led by the president. >> in your latest book, what are your real concerns? what have we lost as a country? >> we lost our ability to act collectively. all the challenges we face whether it's education, infrastructure, dealing with the deficit, they all require collective action. we can do this again. we have done it before.

>> you are so tough minded. i love the fact that there is this great optimistic. thank you. and up next, rock center's harry smith takes us behind the scenes of the largest cheating scandal in american public schools. >> and prince williams also known as lieutenant william whales co-piloted this helicopter that came to the rescue of a russian cargo ship. two were bulled to safety. five others are still missing. achoo! [ male announcer ] and common tissue can make it burn even more. puffs plus lotion is more soothing than common tissue, and it delivers our most soothing lotion for every nose issue.

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coming up, we will get reaction from the surprise retirement announcement from barney frank that he is out. what does his departure mean or what could it mean for democrats? plus with just five weeks away,

some are predicting that newt gingrich and mitt romney could have a long drawn out battle. plus bill clinton's new interview praising newt. we will play it for you. >> and kansas governor said a student was supposed to apologize today. how did it get to this? brownback vs. a high school kid? >> when scores on standardized tests went up year after year in atlanta, georgia, the transformation attracted national attention and large amounts of money. that dramatic rise in test scores also raised lots of questions. on rock center tonight, harry smith reports on the country's largest school cheating scandal. here is an excerpt.

>> bob wilson is a former decalb county district attorney. in august of 2010, the governor appointed them to a team of special investigators and early on they visited a school where a teacher confessed. >> she said there was cheating. it had been going on since '01 and she laid it all out. >> it wasn't the students that were cheating. it was the teachers. it was the principals. and one of the ways they cheated was by using a number two pencil, especially the eraser. >> there were parties at which teachers would get together on the weekends when these tests were supposed to be in a secure location and they would get together and change answers. >> no question -- >> hang on one second. like get together, teachers would get together at a house.

>> someone's home, yes. >> and they would literally sit there together and change answers on these tests? >> yes. >> on the tests taken by first through eighth graders. impossible to achieve without help. the investigators found 178 teachers and principals had cheated in 44 different schools across the atlanta system. >> the sense in this community now is dr. hall knew about this stuff and her number one priority was to sweep it under the carpet and protect her image? >> i did not know and if i ever kn knew, it would have been dealt with. >> wow. harry smith is a correspondent. it is so breathtaking. great to welcome you to our show for the first time. how could she not know?

>> there are lots of questions that are difficult to answer. we pressed dr. hall on that question over and over and over again. what seems clear to me, though srks that once we started working on the story last summer, we found that incidents like this have been popping up all over the country. teachers are so motivated to get their scores up because of no child left behind, because of other structures that have been put in place. schools are punished if the schools don't perform well enough. and a lot of schoolteachers and principals have given up on the kids and said we oar going to cheat our way to success. >> if the federal dollars go to the schools where tests show improvement, how do you get around that? do you have to change the whole system? if we can't trust our teachers and principals to care about the kids then where do we go? who do we trust? >> what is interesting here is there is a lot of success to be

looked at in atlanta. and perhaps dr. hall's biggest sin is there was a cancer in the school system. several thousand teachers work there but only 178 have been implicated in this. there was a cancer there. it grew and it was festering. her biggest sin was not to focus in on it and cut it out. what becomes clear i think to me is we talked to teachers and educators. as you look through the school systems you have to find the things that are really working and emphasize those things and make sure that those kinds of practices are widespread and find the places where there is abject failure and make sure it is rooted out. >> we can't wait to see the rest of your reporting tonight. thank you so much and thanks for being with us. >> what political story will be

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>> which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? a white house reporter for "the washington post" joins us now. first of all, we are looking at newt gingrich in south carolina. he has a new endorsement there and the endorsement from the new hampshire union leader. this is bill clinton. an interview with news max. conservative website talking and praising newt gingrich. >> he's articulate and tries to think of a conservative version of an idea that will solve a legitimate problem. for example, last night i watched the national security debate last night. newt said two things that would make an independent voter say well, i got to consider that. >> do you think that was genuine bill clinton praising newt gingrich? they were sometimes partners and

sometimes adversaries in power, but they were the opposite sides of the impeachment. at the same time some democrats might want to see him in there longer and give mitt romney a hard time. >> absolutely. who would know better than bill clinton with the track record of newt gingrich. you're right. there is a reason we haven't seen either the white house or the obama campaign going after newt gingrich. he would be a blessing and not very much disguise for them. a lot of democrats are enjoying seeing him give him a run for his money and weaken romney a little bit not because of the endorsement, but he raised a lot of money. the campaign said in september he is opening up new offices in south carolina which is a state that he can make a play for and adding staff. this is a pretty remarkable turn around. >> indeed. he has been living off the ground and debates and now he

may get additional support and infrastructure as he was out of the union leader and to south carolina tonight. great to see you. thanks for joining us today. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next. >> in our next hour, we are following newt gingrich on his way to south carolina, the state where he has hired at least nine new staffers, but does hiring staffers or the big endorsement matter when he has $300,000 on hand? our political panel will weigh in on newt and bill clinton's comments on him. we have the new dncad going after mitt romney. what's it all about? a mom is locked in a battle with authority who is removed her child from the family home and placed the kid in toft foster care after authorities said his

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>> developing news right now on "news nation." newt gingrich may have gotten a big endorsement. even president clinton in a new interview is willing to give newt some credit. >> he's articulate and tries to think of a conservative version of an idea that will solve a legitimate problem. >> here's the question. where is the money newt will need to survive and beat back mitt romney? barney frank announces the time is right for him to leave congress. the economy is fragile, but holiday shoppers give retailers the biggest black friday boost in recent years. what does this tell us about the willingness to spend in hard time at