nominees. in our daily fix today, tonight the republican candidates are facing off for the last time before votes are cast in iowa, 19 days from now. as mitt romney kicks his attacks into high gear, newt gingrich has a new ad trying to appear above the fray. >> these are challenging and important times for america. we want and deserve solutions. others seem to be more focused on attacks rather than moving the country forward. that's up to them. >> chris cillizza is managing editor of post politics.com. chris, we've seen an extraordinary face-off now, mitt romney going after newt gingrich, a couple of very major endorsements and slams of newt gingrich. and questions about whether gingrich is truly engaging. what are you looking at tonight going into this debate? >> andrea, this is the last chance that lots of voters in

iowa and elsewhere will get to see newt gingrich, mitt romney and i'll throw ron paul in there. we shouldn't forget ron paul, because i think we might talk about him more on january 4th than the other two guys. to see those people on a stage together talking about the issues of the day in comparing positions. i call this the kitchen sink debate. if you've got an attack out there, now is the time to do it. because we are as we mentioned, 19 days from the iowa caucuses, this is your last chance to really drive home that message. remember, we're 19 days from iowa caucuses but a lot closer to christmas and new year's when lots of people tune out. i think a major opportunity for the likes of mitt romney newt gingrich, ron paul can rick santorum get momentum or rick perry? there's so many fascinating storylines to follow out of tonight. >> mitt romney leading into this debate going on tv talking to "the new york times" and going after newt big time.

let's watch. >> zany is great in a campaign, great on talk radio, it's great in the print. it makes for fun reading. but in terms of a president, we need a leader. he's a great historian. if we need a historian leading a country, people would find that attractive. he's a wealthy man, a very wealthy man. if you have a half million dollar from tiffany's you're not a middle class american. >> now, a couple of points. first of all, "the new york times" introduced the word zany in his question and mitt romney picked up on it. what is the strategy in attacking newt gingrich for being too rich? >> what's interesting in that, andrea, talk about a kitchen sink, mitt romney dropped every attack you can drop on newt gingrich. one he didn't was about whether newt gingrich is conservative

enough or he's a flip flopper. all of the things he talked about, wealthy, went to washington to do well. zany, all of those things have to do with temperament and character. they do not have to do with issue stances because mitt romney knows he's not likely to win a race versus newt gingrich by trying to get to his idealogical right. they are focusing on temperament and character. and my guess is you'll hear a lot of that in the debate tonight. >> chris, thank you very much. newt's republican rivals aren't the only ones going on attack. chuck todd is nbc news chief white house correspondent and host "the daily rundown." they are really engaged and when you see the national review and washington examiner and mitt romney -- >> it's the conservative establishment now. before it was the washington establishment. now you're seeing -- but it is notable that national review went out of its way to say don't

pick gingrich but -- >> they didn't have a suggestion on who to support. you assume eventually they'll get there with romney and certain members of the national review editorial board are pro romn romney. isn't that the problem in a nutshell. he can make the case of who shouldn't be the nominee. but he can't make the case that it should be him. he's sitting there -- we have news, ad tracking service and what is a reminder of what mitt romn romney's advantages are the romney super pack has now placed ads in florida, at the end of january. >> they are looking in the longer run. >> that's the next fire wall. >> listen to this, mitt romney placed his first tv ads in south carolina as well. this is our tracking service that we have at nbc news. we're able to tell these folks before the campaigns want us to

know. >> is there anything significant, i noticed a note in new hampshire that there were reports of robo calls to independent voters asking what do you think of jeb bush? >> this would be anybody. don't forget this could be anybody. it's so cheap to get a robo call machine. >> isn't there a part of republican establishment that we all know saying where do we find another candidate? we know we don't want newt gingrich, can we persuade jeb bush to change his mind? >> you'll remember this. i feel like not sense the spring of '92 when tlrn there were a lot of democrats vocally wringing their hands about bill clinton, is there somebody else we can go to, maybe give the nomination to perot. we're hearing the same talk from serious republicans who are quietly saying, maybe this is a serious effort, maybe it's a gad fly. we've got -- there's one report

and then all of a sudden we have a small town mayor who facebooked another thing, same thing they were polled about jeb bush. we know what i would call -- i don't want to say hsz haley barbour but people like him who have not endorsed and who are very concerned -- >> hanging back. >> they are concerned about newt. if romney can't do this, they have to find somebody else. >> the national review, we fear that to nominate former speaker newt gingrich the front-runner in the polls would be to blow this opportunity that they see with a vulnerable incoming president given the economy. >> if newt gingrich gets through this all the way till june. he will look like a different candidate in june having survived a gauntlet like that and proven to his except ti skeptics that he can be disciplined. if he gets to june, let's not assume what his poll numbers

look like today are what they'll look like in june. >> his poll numbers may not be different but i recall what he said to david gregory all the way back then that he knows he's got a problem with his own lack of discipline. >> this is what he has to prove. mitt romney not getting out until newt gingrich actually has the 1,000 -- number will eventually be 1500 he'll need until he gets that mitt romney is not getting out of this race. >> this is proportional in these early states. >> up until april 1. >> this is a different deal, not winner take all. so the cal can ykalg husband. >> if it is, i'm lost. >> top senators are now getting closer to forming deals that could prevent a government shutdown and renew the payroll tax cut. this as the president issued a stern warning again today. >> congress should not and

cannot go on vacation before they have made sure that working families aren't seeing their taxes go up by $1,000 and those out there looking for work don't see their unemployment insurance expire. >> nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell joins us now. are they going to ruin your weekend? >> reporter: we're optimistic. there is a change in tone here that you can only interpret from that positive signs. we had had so much bickering over whether or not the payroll tax cut could be extended. is there a package to do that as well as averting a government shutdown? well now what we're hearing is that the negotiators working hands on for ways to bring this together, they have much closer, they hope within sometime this afternoon to have really an update for us that would be substantive. it looks like things are getting better. we are not hearing the same rhetoric about this one wants to shut down the government, that one wants to shut down the

government. all of that has cold off, which was a promising sign they can get this done. that may not mean they will be holding hands by the end of the day. there seems to be a clearer path for how to resolve those issues and that is probably what the american public would like to hear. definitely more bipartisan talk and definitely more of a sense of cooperation than just hours ago. it's a positive change. >> it's a positive change i think perhaps for negative reasons. i think they are looking at the same polls we have, the nbc news wall street journal poll showing historically low levels of approval, respect, whatever for congress. >> speaker boehner said the american people want to see us, meaning members of congress, earn their paychecks so they do appear to be tuned into that and they also realize that everyone suffers if there is an extension that fails for unemployment benefits, for example or the payroll tax cut. there aren't people jumping up and down wanting to see that and

a government shutdown creates huge problems and no one benefits from that. do they still take us to the brink. they have a pattern of that but they can also figure out a way to resolve it. the white smoke has not been sent up yet but there are signs that they are working together cooperatively and we may have something by the end of the day that tells us how it gets done from here. >> thank you, kelly. on a solemn note, the u.s. marks the end of the war in iraq. who will fill the vacuum once the troops are gone. we'll talk to dianne feinstein. can congress get it done? the race to avoid a government shutdown with roy blunt. we have a brand-new website, nbcpolitics.com. this is andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru

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to all of the men and women in uniform today, your nation is deeply endebted to you. your dedication, your commitmen to this mission has been the driving force behind the remarkable progress that we've seen here in baghdad and across this country. >> leon panetta in lag bad marking the formal end of the united states war in iraq. the conflict lasted nine years climbing nearly 4500 american lives and injuring more than 31,000 troops. following this traditional and symbolic casing of the close of the colors, s defense secretary joined military leaders in honoring service members while being candid about the road

ahead. dianne feinstein chairs the committee on intelligence. thank you very much. your thoughts about the withdrawal. there's been a lot of criticism from john mccain and others about us withdrawing too quickly and not negotiating a stronger agreement. even if we were permitted by iraq to keep 20,000 troops there, we would not have done that, is this opening a vacuum that iranian supporting militias can move into and create a greater spehe. >> if they wants us out and that's the case but we have no legal grounds to stay, the war is essentially over and history will show whether a stable independent iraq can in fact be developed. are there still challenges?

absolutely. nobody knows, the al sadr's moment, a shiite, who knows what will happen. we'll have to wait and see. but the country has a government. it is working its way into democracy and hopefully it can become both stable and independent. >> what is the next step in the region. we're leaving, we're in kuwait, elsewhere, but what do you see as our greatest challenge in iraq? >> well, right now all eyes are on iran. i think whether iran continues to move low enriched uranian to enrich it or if it's going to begin enriching it, that will kind of launch a new period in this saga. i think iran is a great potential danger to the entire middle east, certainly to israel and to american interests.

so obviously iran is a big feature. the rest of the middle east, the elections in egypt, whether egypt's parliament becomes dominantly muslim brotherhood, whether that takes a kind of extreme islamic, we don't know. what happens in tunisia and bahrain and king of jordan, what happens to assad in syria? all of these things remain with question marks on them. it is from my view one of the most potentially dangerous and volatile times that we live in. >> how much of an intelligence loss do you think we've suffered because of the drone that crashed in iran? and why didn't we do something to blow it up? >> i really -- it's difficult to answer those questions but if you're asking me from my view of whether we lost a lot of

intelligence, i suspect that's minimal. >> do you think we should have done something like others have suggested we should have bombed it even though it was on their territory, that we should have sent a stealth fighter in -- >> the reasons that are classified, that would be very difficult to do. >> senator, i know there's a lot of fighting right now on the hill. you in particular are concerned about agreements that are being forged that's would permit in the defense authorization bill would permit the indefinite detention of american citizens being held. you fought against it and the white house is willing to cut a deal. this is a deal between senators levin and mccain and others. you and rand paul, thinking about separate legislation now to try to fix this. >> yes. the good news is senator leahy has agreed to be a main co-sponsor of this legislation. i'll take it as chairman as intelligence. he as chairman of the judiciary.

we hope mr. paul, mr. lee, senator udaul, gill brand as well as others will go on this legislation. it will essentially prohibit the holding of an american citizen or a legal alien resident from being held without charge or trial. i think that's very important. and the only thing that could change that would be an act of congress. and that would be whether we're operational under a declaration of war or an authorization for the use of military force. so -- >> are you disappointed that the white house is willing to go along with this indefinite detention? >> i think there were some changes in the bill that were helpful to getting the white house's support. and that is that the military presumption is still there

however the interrogate period is not to be interrupted, as i understand. what the administration has wanted was not unreasonable. it was flexibility. the ability to evaluate somebody once they are arrested and make a decision on the evidence, whether they are charged in federal court or whether they are charged under military law and tried by a military commission. that's the best of all worlds and that has worked well for the united states. mirandaizing people, you can't do this, this is terrible, has not been an impediment. we have reviewed virtually every case. >> looks like you're moving forward picking up very powerful co-sponsors as well. dianne feinstein thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, andrea. is newt too wonky for iowa. the political briefing up next here on "andrea mitchell reports". girls are growing up. take a look at the new white house portrait.

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the iowa caucuses are 19 days away. newt gingrich's closest rivals are hitting him hard with television ad. he has hardly responded until now. they are only airing one atd and that has some asking if he has enough ground game to win in iowa. is he making a real effort? we notice he goes wonky things, talks about brain science, doesn't seem to be doing the retail politics that iowa demands and certainly not taking to the air waves, at least so far. >> there's no doubt he's not running a conventional campaign in iowa like you said, you don't

see him responding on air to a lot of attacks. two different attacks from a pact associated with romney and perry and one from paul. he's not spending as much time on the ground talking to caucusgoers. his strategy has always been different. he doesn't have the big staff, never going to be able to assemble it in time. until recently didn't have that much money. he's trying to run through debates and getting publicity for his surge to front-runner status. it might work. very unorthodox year for the campaign. a lot of things unfolding differently than in the past. it's possible it works but also possible it back fires and somebody who has much better organization, rick santorum, ron paul will do better by defying expectations come caucus day. >> ron paul came within a whisker of defeating michelle bachmann in the straw poll in

august. he seems to be better organized and has the largest crowds of any of the candidates. >> better organized, the base loves him, a lot of caucus goers love him. he's no doubt ee he's probably going to finish in the top two. he has as good a chance as anyone else to win iowa. for newt, that will hurt. otherwise a lot of this hoopla starts to die down because it looks like mitt romney will win new hampshire, should win new hampshire and if it's ron paul or rick santorum or someone else winning in iowa, suddenly newt gingrich doesn't look like the front-runner he does today. the question is, did he peek too early? no you have mitt romney taking a very passive approach to being hyper aggressive, doing interviews and going after kark flaws and it seems to be

working. there's some evidence that newt gingrich's numbers are starting to go down and the numbers are soft. he definitely it appears to be working and romney had to do that because romney's numbers in his own right are pretty soft. >> well, it's 19 days from now, we have 'debate tonight and it will be interesting to see whether mitt romney is as tough in this debate as recent interviews, he's taking gingrich seriously. >> there's no doubt. i bet you tonight he does go after him to draw the sharp contrast. romney clearly made the calculated decision three or four days ago he was going to get more aggressive. that came after donors talked to us and complained on the record, he's got to be more aggressive. and show that there are clear differences between the two. he's done that and people think it's been effective. he'll continue to do that because mitt romney has a chance to do well in iowa too.

particularly in it's close. if you have four or five people getting in the high teens low 20s, there's no reason mitt romney couldn't defy expectations, maybe not win but do better than people think he will do. >> that's all you have to do, is better than expectations zpl that's often the case. >> take care. >> coming up next, more on the ron paul factor and the republican race plus education nation, the impact poverty plays on performance in the classroom. tend me your thoughts on facebook and twitter. this is andrea mitchell reports, only on msnbc. but lately we've been using k-y® intense™. it stimulates arousal so the big moment is... (announcer) k-y® brand intense™ - intensifies female satisfaction. i'd like a decaf 360 calories please. i'll have a triple iced 410 calories please. you know what... i'll have this instead. [ female announcer ] swap one thing a day for a yoplait light at around 100 calories. it will add up to amazing.

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topping the headlines right now, chicago bears wide receiver sam herd is facing charges for allegedly trying to purchase cocaine and marijuana from a texas drug supplier. he was arrested yesterday. travel search site kayak has been the second company to pull tv ads from "all american

muslim" the move comes one day after lowe's was pressured by a florida family group to pull its ads from the show. kayak thought the show quote, stunk" and were not bowing to pressure from activist groups. putin is ruling out a new vote in the disputed russian parliamentary elections and says protesters are only trying to destabilize russia, however he did say the protests reflected a rise in public activity which he now welcomes. in france, today, the former president was found of embezzling public funds to finance the conservative party he once led. he was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, they took into account his age and declining health. can republicans overcome their electability problems? some members of the establishment doubt it, on both sides. >> i have never seen a guy, and i've run a lot of elections,

never seen a guy change his positions on so many things so fast on a dime. >> we're going to be endlessly talking about newt, what he said yesterday, he took that back. what he said last year, it's going to be about the i had yoe sin krascys of a candidate. david winston, former adviser to john boehner is now officially as of yesterday a senior strategist with the gingrich campaign and vin weber a special adviser to the romney campaign and fred served as finance chair to the mccain palin campaign and join us now. first of all, why newt and are you a leading indicator of where the speaker was leaning because he was praising newt gingrich yesterday and very glowing terms? >> first let me be very clear. what i'm doing is no reflection in terms of john boehner's preference. he says he's staying neutral to this. what i'm doing with newt should not reflect at all in terms of

where the speaker is at. having said that in terms of overall, the reason i decideded to go with newt, i worked with him when he was speaker. i was director of planner. we accomplished a lot of good things with a lot of members in terms of balancing the budget, cutting taxes, all of those things and those are problems facing the country today and i wanted to see if i could help newt in fact get into that position to do that again. >> vin weber, mitt romney was attacked by rudy giuliani. what do you say to david winston and other gingrich supporters who were very struck by that face-off on "morning joe" between rudy giuliani and bill bennett. >> i would say to dave winston, newt is lucky to have you because he is one of the best. but i think you made a mistake. >> why is he wrong? gingrich is ahead in the polls,

running circles around mitt romney. >> i'm not so sure on that. i watched the polls the last week so, particularly in iowa. my sense is that newt is beginning to fade. particularly in the early states, particularly in iowa. i don't think he'll be the nominee. i think he had a surge and captured the interest of the country for a while as did bachmann before him and herman cain before him. at the end of the day mitt romney is the guy who built the 50-state campaign that could fight the nomination fight and campaign that could beat barack obama next year. >> fred, there's talk that the republican establishment is concerned about newt gingrich and seen him before be undisciplined. where is the smart money going to go? >> i would have no idea where a republican establishment -- >> you're right. >> i'm happy to be this close to the establishment. >> as close as you'll ever get. >> with one respect from what vin weber said, i don't think

david winston made a mistake. anybody who works for one of these candidates is doing a right thing for america. >> i know you think it's good for the party to have this healthy debate and campaign. in the end you'll have to make a choice and you know mitt romney well. can newt gingrich sustain the lead -- >> i don't think he can. first of all, what american voters are looking for, what the conservatives and center right is looking for are the best conservative who can beat president obama and become president. that undeniably is mitt romney, furthermore, when you look at the proportionate vote that comes up, you have to be prepared to sustain yourself over an extended period. mitt has to supply lines, got the organization, the funding and he's got the discipline to stay the course over a long term. i think he is best suited to win the nomination. i believe he will win the nomination. i think he's best suited to beat

obama. >> fred, that's a close as you've come to tipping your hand. david winston, what about the argument that newt gingrich cannot sustain this and mitt romney can? >> i think again, it depends on what survey you look at at this point. if you look at the usa today gallop survey, look at the key swing states, newt gingrich and mitt romney were about the same. if you look at the democracy score poll, taking a look at the 60 most competitive districts, newt did slightly better than romney did. where we're at, there's a lot of campaign left to go. one of things i think you've seen six months ago everybody thought newt gingrich was dead. and now most of the surveys you see he's leading. where are we going to be in three months? it's a lot of campaigning yet to do. >> let me just suggest one place we won't be in three months in this campaign is herman cain and this was jon stewart's take on

barbara walters interview. >> what kind of cabinet position might you like if it were possible? >> department of defense. >> what? >> that was so ballcy it made barbara walters do a reporter's equivalent of a spit take, she has faced down dictators and presidents and movie stars, sherri shepherd told her she wasn't sure if the world was round. she was able to suppression her inkred ult but five minutes with herman cain? >> have we heard the last of herman cain? >> absolutely. he made a mark with a folkscy demeanor and plan that had some merit to it but he's finished with the campaign. he said he's spended, i think he's out. i think we have great candidates left. i think gingrich is doing a good

fight but i think romney will prevail. don't count out huntsman, he's still there. >> moving up in the polls in new hampshire and could be hurting romney there. >> not going to win there. romney will win in new hampshire. i'm not so sure oo newt gingrich will win in iowa. the latest poll showed him only ahead of ron paul by one point. i know caucus states, i'm from one. ron paul has the advantage in terms of intensity of organize. if he's only a point or so behind, he'll beat gingrich. >> thank you. the gop all-stars, appreciate it very much. >> and on capitol hill today heartbreaking testimony from the real victims of this great recession, homeless children. with 48% of our schools failing to meet standards, these teens put a spotlight on the pain that so many i am pofrished young people are feeling across america. >> we lost everything. it affected my attitude because

i lost my friends over and over again. i was afraid to get close to people because i knew we had to move again. >> i've seen my dad cry in the last month more than i have in my entire life. when i see my father cry it hurts me a lot because i know he is trying his best and it still isn't good enough. >> i would have loved someplace to live that was safe, warm and consistent. a healthy place to do homework, go to school, work and eat and live my life. >> michelle rhea, is the former chancellor of public school and founder and ceo of students first. the testimony brings home, first of all this new center of education policy reporting that 43,000 schools, 48% nearly a half are failing to meet the federal achievement standards set out in new child left behind? >> it's very very clear that we've got huge systemic problems. and i think the video clip shows that we've got a number of kids

and families out there who are really struggling. it's up to us as educators and leaders of the school districts to put in place policy that's will help the situation. when i was in d.c., for homeless families and kids, we put in place a policy that ensured even if a family did have to move from shelter to shelter that the student could remain at the same school. that they would have a home base to look forward to every day. and i think those are the sorts of things we need to be looking at. >> there was a provocative op-ed from two professors from duke and new york times education editor fisk who pointed out that poverty really matters. since they can't take on poverty itself, they should provide students with the social support and experiences that middle class students enjoy as a matter of course. over the last decade it became fashionable to school improvement to accuse anyone

raising the poverty issue of letting schools off the hook. isn't that the case? this is something that a group i'm involved with, has made a big point of. what happens in the home and these are kids without homes, really does matter. you can't put schools to a test if kids are coming from entirely different experiences. >> you know, you cannot deny the fact that when children are coming from troubled households or from poverty that they present real challenges to the schools. i mean there's no doubt about that. but it's very very interesting. there's an author named amanda riply who has been traveling around the entire globe looking at the most highly effective countries in terms of their education systems. one of the things she notes, if you look at finland, one of the top country's educationally, the way they look at poverty is opposite to the way we look at

poverty in the states. here in america, we say well because kids are coming from poverty and because the issues of poverty are so intractable there's nothing schools can do about it. what they do in finland, they say because poverty is such an incredibly intractable problem, that's why all of our schools need to be excellent. because that's the best hope we have. and when you think about it, i really believe that the most effective tool that we have to fight generational poverty is education and making sure that children are actually receiving an excellent education, that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to be productive members of society and break that cycle. >> michelle rhee, good to see you. first anniversary of students first and we welcome you back. up next, senator roy blunt who has just van quished the tea party to join the republican leadership on the hill. how close are lawmakers to striking a deal to avert a

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i'm tamron hall, for years joe arpaio has been accused of targeting -- now the federal government says he went too far and accusing arpaio, the toughest sheriff in america much racial profiling. we'll have more on a scathing report and what it means for arpaio. they are calling it the holiday hangover, many of the push who rushed in and bought up everything they could on black friday, now some of them realize they need that money and are returning these items in record numbers. we'll take a look at the impact of the holiday hangover on retail sales market. plus, we'll have the latest on the debate coming up tonight, a big review. will mitt romney use the so-called z word tonight. and on capitol hill, senate

leaders are trying to hammer out deals to extend the payroll tax cut and keep the government up and keep unemployment insurance going. roy blunt from missouri joins us now. this week he was elected as the republican conference vice chair defeating tea party favorite ron johnson of wisconsin. congratulations and thanks for joining us. it sounded like the tone was shifting among the leaders on capitol hill. is there an agreement that is being forged? >> i think so. i think clearly the end of the year is here. we've known these moments were coming from weeks and months now. one thing that i have trouble with and a lot of members of senate do, why don't we have a plan that actually works toward a better conclusion that the conclusion that we seem to be reaching now at the last minute every year? but i do think that we're at that moment and both the spending bill which is too many bills put together, we got four

bills passed independently and other combination of things that have to be done, i'm hopeful that that happens here in the next handful of days and maybe quicker than that. >> one powerful motivator i was thinking could be some of the data you see the polling as well as we, one of the questions was whom do you blame? do you blame the president? only 6% of those questioned blame the president for failing to work on agreements with republicans on capitol hill. so he has managed to reshape or reframe the debate with his attacks on congress, whatever he's been doing the last month and a half seems to have worked for him. >> nobody including the president can feel good about their approval numbers right now. his numbers are lower than any president's ever at this point in the presidency and congress is lower than any congress at any point i think. there's plenty to be concerned about. people don't think that the federal government is getting its work done because the federal government is not getting its work done and we have to have a better answer to

the problems we face than the one that's coming out of washington or the congress or the administration right now and the american people know that and every >> you think the pay row tax will be extended and in a form that the president will not have to veto? >> that's right. it's not an idea that i think is the best, but i think 72 senators have voted now to extend the payroll tax one way or another so surely the minority and majority leader can take 72 and get 60 out of them. i expect that's going to happen as will the extension of the payroll tax and the current payment structure for doctors and the unemployment benefits based on the minority leader said just this morning. >> congratulations on your

leadership post and thanks for joining us and we hope you are right and that peace and hear money are going to break out on capitol hill and good will towards men and women. thank you very much. what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next. ♪ ♪ mom? dad? guys? [ engine turns over ] [ engine revs ] ♪ he'll be fine. [ male announcer ] more people are leaving bmw, mercedes, and lexus for audi than ever before. take advantage of exceptional values during the season of audi event. take advantage like many chefs today,alues i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy's flake.

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. it's the manage editor and we are seeing moves from the romney campaign with a new ad up and talking about budget cuts and spending and discipline. he is starting to in south carolina and going to florida. looks like he's in it for the long run. >> hoe absolutely is and romney told us any time you have the candidates's wife and talking about delicates which ann romney did yesterday, that tells you something. i think the romney campaign is better off with a longer campaign. the organizational and

fund-raising resources matter more. you are right. iowa tonight, sioux city tomorrow morning and greenville, south carolina, the upstate where lots of republicans live and florida. south carolina will be tough. he finished distantly out of the running last time even though he spent a lot of time there. that has to be a romney state. >> that are has to be a fire wall. >> absolutely. >> he is still combatting gingrich by florida. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow, the former budget director and the national journalist major garrett join us. follow the show online and on twitter. my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next. >> great to see you. we have details of a three-year investigation into one of the most outspoken law enforcement

officials in the country. many of you know him. he interjected himself into the immigration and presidential race. now she accused of violating civil rights of latinos. richard engle and jack jake sobs give their thoughts on the ceremony in iraq as 4,000 forces were there prepared to leave in the coming days. an investigation after a fraternity issues a who would you you rape list? it is unbelievable. authorities are now involved. next on "news nation." so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash.

what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ] try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back.

. developing news on "news nation." a call for cooler heads to prevail as the threat of a government shut down lingers and congress realizing voters are not in the mood for another crisis. the moment has come. the united states flag furled nine years after the start of the war in