night? what about mit? romney stays above the fray. saving his fire for president obama. >> in the real world, some things don't make it. and i believe i've learned from my successes and failures. i've learned the lessons of how the economy works. this president doesn't know how the economy works. i'm willing to create jobs. it helps to have created jobs. keeping the lights on. congress avoids an 11th hour deal to avoid shut down now. and penn state coach tells a packed courtroom what he saw jerry sandusky doing with a boy in the locker room showers. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. in our daily fix today, the republican candidates piled on newt gingrich. but missing from the brawl, mitt romney. is that because he has a super pack and is spending millions of dollars in attack ads to do the

job? we have an msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics. thanks so much for joining us. let's talk about how the second tier candidates at least piled on newt. did they do any damage? >> i think they did. she scored some hits on fannie mae and freddie mac. and the other thing, you mentioned this in the opening. i haven't seen that much written in the report about it. i do think it's interesting. he was very dismissive of her. very dismissive. at the end she said i'm a serious candidate, you need to take me seriously. i think it's always dangerous to be dismissive of the only woman on stage. you know, i think newt gingrich does not view michelle back man as his intellectual equal. but you have to be careful not to let that kind of thing show. and he didn't do as good a job in this last debate as he had done in the past. >> yeah. women tend to react to that, to being patronized.

>> yeah, i can understand why. let's take a way at the look at bachmann got back at him and the various explanations he has given us just what he did to make all that money. just watch. >> speaker gingrich took $1.6 million and the bidding was to keep this grandiose scam of freddie mac going. >> speaker had a con seventive revolution against him when he was the speaker of the house. it's very, very dangerous. some people say it could go to extreme. it becomes fascism. big business and big government get together. >> with that audience, that iowa audience, the fact that newt gingrich was working with this government supported enterprise, this gse, does ron paul make, you know, get some traction for his argument that he is part of the taxpayer problem? >> sure. i think michelle bachmann gets some, too. newt gingrich spent too much

time trying to explain government sponsored enterprises like fannie mae and freddie mac and explained why things like the tennessee valley authority and a republican primary in this day and age, people don't want to hear why the government is good. they want to hear why the government is bad. i think we saw too much newt the philosopher and the college professor as opposed to newt the politician last night. that is never a good balance for him. >> of course, you also have gingrich sort of making up or giving explanations, i should say. such as a credit union that people in iowa use very frequently is the same as freddie mac. well, that's not the case. having a government mortgage guarantee or credit union is not the same as having an subsidy which fannie and freddie had. >> you know, i think he tried to fudge it a little bit a few time. the other one that struck me in

addition to the one that -- the example you pointed out is when he tried to delineate between being a lobbyist and what he did for these organizations. it seems to me that while he may have not been a federally registered lobbyist for the average person watching that debate, there is that -- that's a distinction without much of a difference. again, newt gingrich has a way with words, we know that. but those words, at least past the pro log, can get him into trouble. i think he may have given the romney super pact rick perry, ron paul, michelle bachmann and rick santorum fodder for the last two weeks when they're looking for opposition research in terms of television ads. >> speaking of the rock any super pack, mitt romney was above the play as we point out. that's because he partly because he has this super pack. and they're spending millions of dollars according to our ad tracker. this is a lot of money on iowa television. >> yeah. $3.2 million, thank you first read nbc team for those numbers.

but, yeah, that's a huge amount of money. remember, this is not new york. this is not california. it's not even florida in terms of money. $3.2 million in a small state with the media markets are not that expensive. you're seeing the negative newt gingrich futures all the time. i would add, you're also getting negative ads from ron paul and rick perry hitting newt gingrich and mitt romney. the throw away to that, gingrich, 200,000, $275,000 media buy with a positive ad. his numbers are not going to go the direction his supporters are wanting them to with that kind of disparity. >> ron paul seems to lose the audience certainly on iran. because he was sharply critical of the president's policies and of any policies that would challenge any of his convening republican policies on iran. let's watch. >> we ought to really sit back and think and not jump the gun and believe that we are going to

be attacked. >> i think i have never heard a more dangerous answer for american security than the one that we just heard from ron paul. and i'll tell you the reason why. >> i think this wild goal to have another war in the name of defense is the dangerous thing. >> he is consistent. he's true to his word. but that could be the real achilles heel with him. >> i know. i do a winners and losers blog post after every debate. i named ron paul a loser. he talked too much time about doing foreign policy. i think on economic policy, he is one of the best mess efrpger are for the republican party with where the republican primary electorate is today. on foreign policy though, you can take, i'm not arguing the merits of ron paul's approach to iran. i'm saying he way out of step with the average primary voter. when he starts talking about noninterventionism as he describes it, it's simply not

where the party is today. >> thanks so much for our daily fix. and mitt romney went after president obama's foreign policy in the republican debate. especially when it come to the president's request that iran return the wreckage of a drone that crashed in iran. >> timidity and weakness invite aggression on the part of other people? absolutely. a strong america, a strong america is the best ally peace has ever known. this is a president that the spy drone being brought down, he says pretty please? a foreign -- a foreign policy based on pretty please? you got to be kidding. >> dennis ross served under five american presidents, most recently president obama's top adviser on iran and middle east at the national security council. you just left the government. thank you very much. this is our first interview. great to see you. dennis, talk about a drone. nobody saw you for all the years you were in the obama

administration. you were flying aren't world doing secret negotiations. but never doing anything on camera. so it's great to see you coming in from the cold. >> nice to be back with you. >> speaking of iran, there was a little bit of a flurry today. we want to put this to rest. a little record keeping here. russia announced that hit confiscated some radioactive materials in luggage on a flight to take ron. it turns out that from my reporting at least u.s. officials are saying that this seems to be 18 pieces of metal that were radiating sodium 22. it is most often a medical isotope. so the initial read so far from american officials, obviously intelligence, is that it's a good thing that russia announced this and confiscated it but that it's not part of anything that was intended for iran suspected nuclear weapons program. >> it's not something that would lend itself very easily or directly to the nuclear weapons program. but it is an indication that the russians are actually quite vinl lant on this.

>> speaking of iran and what is in our interests. we've had such a tumultuous relationship in the past year with the u.n.'s iea report which was very disturbing. support from arab leaders as well. then the alleged attack, the assassination against the saudi ambassador here. are we approaching some serious red lines? we're hearing a drum beat from the republican side other than ron paul that we should be taking a much tougher line with iran. >> i don't think we're taking a soft line. i think iran is envisioning where they're discredited in the region. they're completely out of step with what is happening in what i would describe as the asia wakening or the earthquake is taking place in the arab worldmeworld. number two, they're isolated internationally. you get a vote 106-9 against them and they should be protecting diplomatic facilities and then after that they go ahead and allow the assault on the british embassy in tehran.

i think the impact of sanctions growing on them ever more. an indication of how bad it is for them. their president said we sneeze at the sanctions and then a to you weeks in the parliament, he said this represents the most severe economic onslaught on any nation. that suggests that, in fact, they're hurting quite a bit. i would say this is hardly the sign that somehow there's been a policy. there is a policy designed to increase the pressure on them so they pay a price as they measure the price. the poent to change their behavior to exist. >> i heard there is some pressure coming from hard-liners on capitol hill. for the president to do something, to do something militarily in an election year against iran that time is running out, is time running out against iran? >> well, i think a, they certainly continue to make progress on their nuclear program. it is not where it was projected to be by a long shot.

nonetheless, it is progressing. so one has to be vigilant. one has to be concerned. the consequences of iran with nuclear weapons would be quite severe. >> can we stop this? leon panetta suggested that last week that a military strike would only set them back a year or two and actually would not be terribly helpful. >> well, i think there is, in fact, the ability to set back their program in a way that reminds them of the futility of their efforts. they're not interested in pursuing something that costs them a lot and gains them nothing. now they continue to view the pursuit of this program as something that is important to them. but the price they're paying right now is something that is also clearly worrying them. can we stop them? can we step them back. our objective has to be to get them to change course in the nuclear program. and don't live with iran with nuclear weapons. that can't be the outcome. >> are we in sync with our

allies. we are broadcasting live in israel as well. >> i think it's a very important question. and my answer is generally yes. do we have the same assessments as israelis? absolutely. do we think the iranian program is what it? >> could israel take action without us? >> absolutely. they could. >> we should -- no one should assume that israelis make their decisions based on what we say to them. they take into account the relations and interests. the fact is they view iran as doing the threat. at the endst day, they will react on their own decision making. >> dennis ross, great to see you. we hope this is the first manufacture conversations. thanks so much. >> i look forward to them. thank you. >> still ahead, house intelligence chairman mike rogers about iran and the end of war in iraq. but first, former white house budget chief, how real are the early signs of recovery? don't forget, can you get the latest political news at nbc's

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a jobless claims and initial jobless claimed fell to a 3 1/2 year low last month. that is the lowest it's been in more than two years. can it be sustained? joining me now, a real expert, peter orszag. he is now from citigroup. and we understand it's your birthday. happy birthday. we should have had a cake. >> who gave that you information? >> celebrate that. happy birthday, peter. thank you for spending part of it today. i don't know if i would have spent my birthday here on the set. are we seeing good news? are these signs, i gather that there are some initial reporting

because the bureau of labor statistics does the next month unemployment numbers begins to do it ahead of time because they were afraid of the shutdown. some of the numbers coming in are fairly positive according to some reports. >> look, we're having a good fourth quarterment reta. retail sales are up. it's in the contempt of coming off a very difficult year and i think we're going into a year that's going to be full of drama. because this situation in europe is far from resolved. we have a lot of political transitions going on including here. and we have the continued deleveraging process of continuing to work our way out of the aftermath of the financial crisis. so glimmer of hope. we're far -- this is far from over. >> in fact, the markets seem to be reacting to the fact that what was, you know, a big breakthrough in europe last week, last friday was really temporary. a temporary fix. a band-aid relying on political decisions to comment your take on that? >> there is a lot of drama

that's going to need to happen in europe. we're far away from clarity both with regard to exactly how that pact will work, whether it will be fully adopted. what steps the individual countries will take to try to get the deficits under control. and most importantly, exactly what the european central bank will or won't do to try to maintain liquidity and prop up the markets in sovereign debt. >> and in germany, merkel has one take on this. the rest of europe another. the head of the imf had this to say at a state department meeting yesterday. >> there is no economy in the world whether low income countries, emerging markets, middle income countries or super advanced countries that will be immune to the crisis we see not only unfolding but escalating. >> so that is a pretty stiff warning that what happens here is not -- we can't be protected

from what happens in europe. and these glimmers of hope here could be extinguished by european crisis. >> i completely agree which is why it's so important that europe acts aggressively, much more so than is happening to date. so we are, again, we are far from out of the woods here. and i suspect that the 2012 is going to be full of drama and volatility and ups and downs as every little move this way and that way creates actually will be great for your business. there will be lots of news to talk about. >> not so good for country. >> does it matter if the payroll tax is extended? >> in the midst of that, the last thing we want to do is create a big fiscal contraction here in the middle of next year. it is important to extend the payroll tax credit. >> what about the continuing resolutions and threatened shutdowns and the signals of government inaction? all of our data are that there

is just no confidence anymore in our government institutions. >> we are living if an era of hyper polarization, unlike anything that has existed in post war era. i don't think a lot of official washington has fully kind of come around to the fact that centrist policy making, where you used to legislate, does not work anymore. and so there is a regime shift or a model paradigm shift that needs to happen. the country is becoming more polarized. the middle has disappeared in the house. and that's where you used to legislate. it doesn't exist anymore. >> and, in fact, what we saw this week were, you know, signs that the senate leaders wanted to come together. but that john boehner could not rally the troops because of all of the, you know, the new class of freshmen, elected in 2010. >> i suspect this will continue. think about what the world is going to look like at the end of 2012 and early 2013. we'll have the tax cuts expiring. the defense cuts are coming

onboardment and we're going to have the debt limit hitting again. so whoever is elected in the united states here in that crucial first period of the first 100 days is going to face a trifecta of a fiscal mess in a hyper polarized congress because there's virtually no prospect that you're going to get a lot of centrists elected during elections next year. >> peter, i wish you weren't so gloomy. >> i try to smile while being gloomy. >> it's always great to see you. enjoy the rest of your birthday. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and coming up next, newt gingrich, what is the real record of his health care plan? a reality check in our political briefing right next here. >> and former pizza executive turned republican presidential hopeful herman cain tops google's list of fastest rising political searches in 2011 rounding out the top three, congressman gabby giffords and the obama jobs plan. when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief?

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newt gingrich is facing scrutiny over his former health care consulting firm n 2009, his pack rally criticized obama's stimulus bill as blatant pork. at the same time, gingrich supported major part of the bill that provided federal subsidies for electronic monitoring and records and would potentially benefit his own clients. roger simon is here. "the new york times" also worked on this, roger. this is quite a big deal. he was one of the big opponents of the health care. but he never disclosed what his own company was doing. >> it is a big deal. if there is one rule in washington, it's that if you're bought, you stay bought. even as a "new york times" article would indicate, newt gingrich is saying you can't buy me, you can only rent me. what he did was take his firm and take 100 of thousands of dollars that advocates for certain policies. that's fine. but then now that he's running for president, he decides he doesn't like those policies

anymore. and the big one, as you say, was electronic record keeping. there is really little to be against in all of electronic record keeping. not only does it save money, it saves billions of dollars, but if you go in, you have your gallbladder removed at hospital a. they might follow procedures that are different than hospital b or c or d or e. which procedure is best? which saves the most lives? which prevents from you going back to the hospital? we don't know. we don't have electronic record keeping. we could have that if hospitals shared. that's called comparative record keeping. comparative effectiveness. >> people got money to do this from the stimulus bill. >> right. >> and from the health care bill. it was all part of the same -- >> sure. >> and these were companies like microsoft who were benefiting and were paying the gingrich consulting firm for advocating. >> big bucks. they paid big bucks. big bucks was in the bill.

$19 billion for this record keeping. so if it's so good, why is newt gingrich suddenly against it when he took money for it? well, conservatives don't like it. they think it will lead to rationing. if procedure b doesn't work well, insurance companies won't pay for it. if you go to the extreme, you say the next step will be death panels. so newt has turned 180 degrees is against it now. >> now this only feeds the narrative that michelle bachmann was hit ago way on last night about the money that he took. he says it's not lobbying. it's very hard for him to explain what is lobbying and what isn't lobbying. it is sort of like dancing on the head of a pin. >> you know, it's back to what i think truman used to say. if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is a duck. if you take money to advocate a position before lawmakers, is that not really lobbying?

he's not a registered lobbyist? he just seems to be playing one on capitol hill. seems to be the same thing. >> roger simon, great to see you. happy holiday it's we don't see you back for them. and up next, how do you spell patronizing or does newt have a woman problem, meaning the way he handled michelle bachmann last night. this is "andrea mitchell reports." i can see who's on my network people! lance? lance? yes, yes you are next. all right. dave, i'm in. ♪ katie! what are you doing, sweetheart? supplementing my allowance. how long have we been gone? [ male announcer ] get low prices on the latest 4g phones, starting at $28.88. save money. live better. walmart. ♪ imagine me and you, i do ♪ i think about you day and night ♪

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and no longer leaking large amounts of radiation. the plant still remains vulnerable. it may take years to decommission. and the barefoot bandit pleaded guilty to dozens of theft and burglary charges today. colton harris moore is sentenced in a washington state courtroom. he is the teen who broke into dozens of homes and stole boats, cars, and planes across nine states. he was on the run for more than two years. the 20-year-old has already pleaded guilty to federal charges. and diskras slugger barry bonds is in court facing a possible 21-month of prison time today for obstructing a federal investigation into steroid use. bonds' attorneys are recommending probation. the prosecution is asking for 15 months. court experts say he could even be sentenced only to house arrest. and that would be in his beverly hills estate. not exactly hard time. a penn state assistant football coach gave shocking, graphic testimony in court today

in which he says he witnessed a sexual encounter between jerry sandusky and a young boy in the football team's showers. he says he told head coach joe paterno about it the very next day and did meet with the university officials. gary shultz and tim curley about the incident a week or so later. curly and shultz are facing charges of perjury and failure to properly address his allegations. nbc's michelle franzen is live outside the courthouse in harrisburg, pennsylvania. michelle, thanks so much. i know this has been dramatic, troubling, emotional testimony today. what can you tell us from what mike mcquery said and his demeanor? >> it was the first time mike mcweary spoken publicly after giving his grand jury testimony several months ago. as you mentioned, it was graphic and detail and still under oath. mcquery says that he saw and heard noises coming from that locker room on campus. the penn state campus in 2002. he said he witnessed after

hearing noises in the shower room, he said that he saw jerry sandusky with a boy in the shower and said that he believes that jerry sandusky was molesting the boy at the time. he said he was shocked at what he saw. he left locker room immediately and called his father and sought advice if his father. his father said that he told him to contact joe paterno, of course, the head coach for penn state's football team. and he said that he had a meeting with joe paterno and then about ten days later he had a meeting with penn state officials. of course, tim curley and gary shultz. they are the penn state officials who are facing perjury charges here in miand mcquery's testimony is the center of that hearing today. we're expected to hear from more witness this is afternoon. but certainly mcquery's testimony, andrea, very damaging to day. >> michelle, is in any kind of cross-examination or is this simply the prosecution laying out its argument for probable

cause to continue the case? >> reporter: well, prosecutors certainly are trying to lay out their case. but defense attorneys did have a chance to cross-examine. it was very limited to what the prosecution had asked. so they did get a chance to question mcqueer yes. they asked whether or not he took notes or just his recollection of that. but certainly the defense's cross-examination is very limited in that scope because prosecutors are just trying to show a judge that there was enough evidence to move forward. defense attorneys, though, maintain that penn state officials were not told by mcquery in detail what he laid out today. >> it's a very low, legal threshold, indeed. michelle frans franzen, thank you very much for the report from harrisburg. and back to politics, can mitt romney explain all his shifts on social issues over the years to conservatives? last night he did try.

>> he personally, as governor, issued gay marriage licenses. i don't think that is an accurate representation. >> i want to make it very clear, i have been a champion of protecting traditional marriage that continues to be my view. like ronald reagan and george herbert walker bush and others, my experience in life over, what, 17, 18, 19 years told me that sometimes i was wrong. where i was wrong, i tried to correct myself. >> bob shrum is a democratic strategist and professor at nyu and susan mull inaonthl molinar. newt gingrich was very much on the defensive. the second tier candidates going after him. mitt romney trying to stay above the fray. how you would rate the debate? >> i thought romney had a very good debate. he didn't have to do any of the attack. he didn't have to bear any of that burden. there are some signs in iowa now that romney is getting stronger.

gingrich is getting weaker. there are polls. we have to wait and see how they come out. i think long term the romney's explanation of the flip-flops isn't very good. the truth is he's changed on issue after issue after issue that go to questions of conscience. i don't think that will wear well, at least in the general election. but right now i'd say he's recovered from what could have been a near death experience in the republican nominating process. if he wins iowa and there's now some chance it appears that he will, i think this will be a very, very short process. >> if he wins iowa, it could be partly because ron paul, actually, i think hurt himself with the iran, the foreign policy stuff bob and susan. it just seems as though he really lost the audience in talking about that. let's talk about women. first of all, i want to play for you something that may have been a little bit overlooked because of the debate. this was newt gingrich on iowa public television explaining when asked about his marital issues in the past.

>> it wasn't that i felt i was bigger. i felt that i was so tired and i had tried to do so many things that i felt empty. it's a common challenge that nurses have. they spend all day taking care of other people' at the endst day -- i think i got to the point where i was overreaching. >> that's newt gingrich. >> overreaching? >> explaining adultery because he was tired like a floor nurse, likage emergency room nurse like, you know, women who are juggling so many things. >> i have nothing to say to that explanation. bob, help me out here, buddy. that's an amazing stretch as opposed to admitting which i think, you know, he's handled. didn't seem to bother him. >> i thought he moved past it. >> to sort of say you're just so important, so nurturing, you're giving so much of yourself that there is nothing left, i mean my

goodness. that is way -- i guess ate louz him to sleep at night. but it certainly seems like a less than clear cut explanation for why people cheat on each other. >> but the other thing is the way he handled michelle bachmann. truly bob and susan, bachmann went after him over and over and over again. but was his tone dismidisive? >> i'm talking to -- it was the moment of, you know, women versus men in this debate. women all over the country heard that dismissive. somebody says something about you in a debate, you fight back. you say you're wrong. you got your facts wrong. it was the way he did it. he wouldn't even make eye contact with her. and i heard dismissive before. and that is exactly what he did. he dismissed her out of hand. and good for her. that was a stunning part in the debate where she, you know, was

able to stand up and say, look, i'm standing right next to you on this same podium as a presidential candidate. and i deserve respect. and he was not giving it to her. >> we've also got poll numbers, bob, showing that 38% negative, 20% positive. down the line, that is a problem for him given the high percentage of women who vote and how important that is in a general election. >> oh, sure. he's got -- it appears, some general election problems. i think we ought to be a little careful here and not write him off immediately because the lesson of this year has been that things are volatile. it's got to come to a conclusion in iowa and then new hampshire and south carolina. but i thought he handled michelle bachmann very badly last night. i think he should have been serious with her. i'm not sure she did herself a favor saying i'm a serious candidate for president. she sounded defensive. but right now, michelle bachmann, ron paul, rick

santorum are the best surrogates that mitt romney has. because conservatives in iowa, fairly or unfairly don't think that romney's conservative enough. they've been shopping for other alternatives. they looked like they were spilling on newt. they still may. but to the extent votes go to the other people, that's going to end up helping romney. if he can win or come close in iowa and then win big in new hampshire, this might be the opposite of what people have been expecting the last couple of weeks. it might be a short process instead of a long one. >> if he does have the endorsement today in south carolina, she had other own problems. but that is an important tea party based endorsement. it is south carolina, bob, to your point. he might be able to staunch the bleeding that we've been looking at. >> i'd say the place he should worry about most is south carolina. i think he's smart. south carolina is the first place he has to worry about. i think he's smart to take a couple days off. he's been criticized for it.

leave iowa, go down there, get her endorsement. she does have some problems in terms of ratings. but obviously she's an asset. florida, there's going to have huge impact on florida from what happens in those first three contests. right now i would say that romney who looked confused and campaigning looked confused about how to handle all this is doing the best they can. and it may work out very well. >> and just finally, susan, you worked with newt gingrich. we still are waiting to see any of the former members other than bob walker who halls always been the wing man come to his defense and endorse him. >> i don't think that's going to happen. those of us that serve with newt and lived through that history have great concerns over what happened at that time. right? he helped to elect a republican congress. he also helped to re-elect a democratic president through a lot of his actions. and so i think there is some serious concerns in the republican party that he could help to re-elect another democrat president. i was just thinking, i know this is a stupid line, but men are

not going to go to bars anymore, they're going to hang out at emergency rooms to hit on all the overworked nurses. >> susan? susan, do him a favor, endorse him. be generous. go ahead and endorse newt. >> i'm sorry. that was just too funny. >> thank you for joining us from the west coast. thank you very much bob and susan. and on a serious note, we have lost a major figure in literature, in writing, in journalism. he had a slashing witt, a piercing intelligence and the intellectual head. the courage to wage war with all of those including the most sacred of all, christopher hitchens. he has now lost his long battle with cancer. vanity fair editor said there will never be another like christopher, a man of ferocious intellect who was as vibrant on the page as he was at the bar. the best-selling author of "god is not great," provocative

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hi, everyone. coming up, to former freddie mac and fannie mae ceos are among the highest ranking figures to face charges they misled taxpayers and the government during the housing bust. this is a big story. we have details. over an hour, a chicago bears player heads to court over drug charges. many wonder how this young player could be accused of being a major player in the drug war. plus, investigators are looking at whether other nfl players may be tied up in the allegations. plus, the uproar from florida a & m university as students are very angry as the governor tells the president of that university to step down. news nation is 15 minutes away.

. >> the house just passed a massive $1 trillion spending bill to keep the government funded. major garrett national journal's congressional correspondent joins me now. >> yes. >> they've done it? >> they will do it in a second. they're voting now. it will be a wide -- large bipartisan vote. that deal is done. >> now the senate has to vote. the not may take it up today or tomorrow. >> probably take it up today. the last remaining bit of drama is extension of the payroll tax, 2%. not the larger package that president obama originally proposed. unemployment insurance into next year. and keystone pipeline which has now become the defining issue for all republicans. thrown in at the last minute. but they want this issue dealt with. they want to require the president to decide within 60 days whether to approve that plan. >> the president said he'll veto it. i mean he signaled it. >> he said he would reject it.

he doesn't want it. he considers it extraneous. he has not used that precise word neither has the administration policy. and the republicans in house and senate want to call his bluff, if you will. >> and this is john boehner's attempt to give his caucus the hard-liners something, something for going along with all the rest of them. >> and they do believe on policy that this decision should be made now and should be made affirmative. this keystone pipeline should ab proved. there have been changes in the way we flow from canada to the gulf of mexico and republicans say that we should take seriously the canadian prime minister's promise. if the united states doesn't approve it, they'll send the pipeline west and no jobs and no economic development will come to this country. >> the problem is it divides the president's constituency. environmentalists on one side and labor on the other and the jobs issue. and energy security. >> and energy security. so it's very complicated for the president. although, i will tell you this, andrea.

sometimes your spiedy sense takes over. i have begun to wond fert president didn't make this decision and delay in the summer betting that down the stretch when we would come to this time republicans would demand him putting it back in. and maybe back in and maybe useing it and we don't see it now. the leverage to get payroll and unemployment insurance, giving a chip to them that he was going to use. >> are they that smart? >> i don't know, but this may be playing out differently than republicans suspect. it feels as if they are being realed in. i'm not saying that and i can't say that for sure, but my gut said it feels like this in ways it never felt like before. they have been accused of playing checkers. one move and never chess. it feels like more of a chess game to me. >> major garrett and his spidey sense. who had the worst year in washington? that's next. ♪

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>> well, it wasn't herman cain who had the worst year in washington, not just the week, but the year. that was a video christmas greeting for herman cain. i wanted to share that. >> he could have had the worst year. he was up there for when we considered it, but you followed this and i followed this, i don't think we could have given it to anyone other than the institutional congress. a disasterously bad year for congress. it will be posted soon on the website. we had low collectations for them and we managed to link under them. the budget debate. the debt ceiling and the super committee that wasn't. we were on the verge of another shut down amid polling thatting issed we were in the used car dealership journalist category.

there is never a place you want to be. >> you don't want to be worse than that. it struck home with me when rick perry was talking about a proposal for a part-time congress and i was thinking aren't they a part-time congress? >> 150 days in session. in truth, they didn't do all of that much. the country expected big things because we have big problems. the smallness of congress is what stood out. i say one in quotation marks, won them the worst year in washington. not a good time to be in congress or have rep in front of your name on the ballot. >> see you next week and thanks so much. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online and twitter at mitchell reports. my colleague has a look at what's next on "news nation." >> very a great weekend and mitt romney gets a major nod and nicky haley endorses him with 18

days to go before the iowa caucuses. ron paul's big moment regarding iran at last night's debate. >> you and i really fear about what's happening here. it's another iraq and war propaganda going on. we are arguing to me the greatest danger that we will have a president that will overreact and we will soon bomb iran and -- >> there was applause in the audience, but many believe this may have curbed the enthusiasm paul supporters have for him in iowa. the nfl player due in court within the hour on drug charges. he could have been one of the top drug dealers in the city of chicago. the nfl on pins and needles because more players could be implicated. it's coming up next on "news nation." for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america.

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he looked them both in the