the elephant. >> this weekend, joey graduateed from the university. >> just graduating. >> i asked him about that red thing around his neck. >> you didn't have one of those. >> so anyway, also our thoughts and prayers go to those who sacrificed in the iraq war for the last eight years. final troops out this last weekend and we salute them for doing a great, great job. failed by too many in washington. >> absolutely. >> way too early. what time is it? >> time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. >>. >> king jung ildies and leaves his young son in charged of the impoverished nation. how soon before he tries to prove himself.

house republicans prepare for a last showdown. even after the senate republicans reached a deal, snatching gridlock from the jaus of victory. by the way, the paycheck is on the line. newt gingrich goes after the judiciary. a popular boogie man in republican primaries. he will ignore supreme court rulings and wait until you see how he forces judges to testify before congress. it's monday, december 19th, 2011. let's get to the first read of the morning and it begins in north korea. jim jung ilturned his country into a state by starving and imprisonings his own people ha died. [speaking foreign language] >> that was a weeping anchor reader announced the death of the man known as dear leader on

state television late sunday. according to that report, kim died of a heart attack after 17 years of rule. even his age is not known for sure. he had been in bad health since suffering from what was believed a stroke in 2008. kim's chosen successor, his youngest son, kim jong un. they conducted a short range missile test. he was elevated to senior military post and groomed as the heir apparent. they worried that a power struggle or the need to prove himself could lead to attacks on the south. the white house said we remain commitmented to stability on the korean peninsula and to the freedom and security of our allies. the president spoke to president lee at midnight our time. in washington meanwhile, it's

deja vu all over again when the white house and congressional republicans would come to a deal and the game is stalemate on saturday. the senate passed this bipartisan compromise that extended the payroll tax for two months and jobless benefits short of the one-year goal, but by sunday after house republicans were briefed by the leadership, speaker boehner said it must be changed. the republicans in the house would support nothing less than a one-year extension. >> how can you do tax policy for two months? the president said we shouldn't go on vacation without getting our work done. let's do this for a year. >> the president said he would gree anything senate republicans approved. >> to play games with the middle class tax cut is very, very unfair. speaker bane in the presence of harry reid and mitch mcconnell

said let mitch mcconnell negotiate it. he did and there was an agreement. >> last week boehner said this. >> if the senate passed, i am committed to bringing the house back within 24 hours to deal with whatever the senate does. there is absolutely no interest in trying to be striking about this. >> boehner was careful and never said he would support whatever senate republican deal was cut. that certainly was what he was trying to apply at least a lot of people heard that. the house is scheduled to take up the senate bill and leaders expected to fail. they could take up an amended version or vote to take it to congress and force a smaller group of senators and members of congress. in a statement the white house scolded house republicans, telling members to stop playing

politics and get the job done. moments from now, the director will join me to talk about where we go from here to keep in this in mind. this was the number two leader in the house. he had been signalling he was not in favor of this extension even before senate republicans had passed it. he was sending those signals and members of the house republican conference were sending the signals and the deal was done anyway. that's one issue and another reason white house republicans may not want to do it, they got pummelled in public on this. they got hurt in the poll numbers even more. do they want to do it in two months. the race begins the last full week of campaigning before christmas. newt gingrich who is no longer surging and taking incoming from his rival in his first sunday show appearance in nearly two years, mitt romney called gingrich an unacceptable risk based on his past. >> he is unreliable and zany. i wouldn't think you call

mirrors in space to light highways a practical idea. >> candidates in the back of the pack on bus tours. they scheduled an open conference call on saturday and trumpeted an issue that is popular with conservatives and that is going after the judiciary. on sunday he took the argument to television saying if elected, he would make judges more accountable and force them to appear to explain their decisions. >> how would you enforce that? would you send the capital police to arrest him? >> if you had to or instruct the justice department to send the u.s. marshal. >> an issue very, very popular and with republican primary voters. here's one other stat. the romney super pack has over $700,000 of negative ads on the books. newt gingrich has $21,000 of ads

set to air. that's a 34-1 ratio. the iraq war came to an official close over the weekend. they question whether going war in the first place was the right decision. take a listen. >> going back saying what we know now, would we have invaded or not. at the time we department have the knowledge we have now. >> we will find with great sadness we lost several thousand young americans and many thousand more wounded undertaking a project we couldn't do. >> back to breaking news. the north korean nuclear crisis in the wake of kim jung il's death. the host of "andrea mitchell reports," the chief washington correspondent for the new york times to experts in the area. andrea, let's start with who really is in charge of north korea this morning. >> this is a collective leadership most likely and the military more so than the new

leader. he is woefully unprepared and young and untested. that's why there is concern there will be provocative acts. you saw the one short range missile and the fire didn't land anywhere. the main issue to try to keep the south korean response if there is provocation to a minimum to get the chinese to intervene with their influence and this could be a very long transition. >> has there -- with other countries, you send a split between the civilian and the military leadership. what was kim jung il's relationship with the media? >> kim jung il put a military first policy in place. that meant almost all of the goodies that came into north korea that went to the military. that kept them together. he kept enormous funs together

and the u.s. crack down on some of them during sanctions in the bush administration to pay off military leaders of the political views. the problem with kim jong un,he is in his late 20s and he doesn't have a deep relationship with any of these gentlemen. a few of themming issed that there might need to be a region. the bigger issue behind a split apart from any items, we never before really had a nuclear armed failed state. north korea is a failed state. >> now though. >> it only got the first nuclear test in 2006. it was a fizzle and did another one months into the obama administration. they think they have enough fuel for eight or ten weapons.

the big fear is if you get a split, who is in control of that material? we don't know. >> andrea, i get the sense of how good or bad is our intelligence and how much is a full reliance? >> we rely on south koreans and the chinese. we don't have great transparency. we did know he was dead. the neighbors were all surprised. he had what we believe was a stroke in 2008. he had heart disease and cancer as david has written. according to american intelligence. we have been surprised over and over again by the fact that they have parallel nuclear program that is when they do tests, we have been surprised by the facility in syria. >> use the facility that the north koreans built in syria. the u.s. didn't have a clue until they dropped photographs. >> you reported that the u.s. officials have have been war gaming this scenario for years.

what would happen when he died and what would the transition be? they are putting it into action. what does it mean? >> almost every scenario from north korea collapse that people think of that seems credible start with kim jung il's death. some play out over nears and some over a shored e shorter period. we don't know how long this is going to take. until two years ago, what did the cia know about kim jong un? one picture. that's it. >> you brought it up. >> that is a big concern for china. it's what does real china in and it's one of the leverage points we have. the last thing they want is this flood of starving people. the contrast between north and south in 2006 with bill

richardson down to south korea, i have been there and i have flown. i have never done the drive. the contrast with the primitive society. people using hoes and rakes in the dirt. it's 17th century. >> this guy is going to keep us busy all week. >> i think for years. scary stuff. >> thank you both. up next, white house communications director and more of the white house reaction to the death of kim jung il, and what's going on on capitol hill and the issue of gridlock being snatched from the jaws of victory. plus -- we have a lot more on the presidential race. stay tuned. this is "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. what makes scottrade your smartphone's

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the u.s. was in touch with allies and created stability. the white house communications director joins me now and we invited dan, but what you can me? has there been any new updated alerts or anything that the u.s. presence in korea? what can you tell us? >> no updates from what you heard. we are closely monitoring the situation. the president is informed of these reports by the chief of staff and working closely with

the allies to ensure that we are focused on the stability in the peninsula. >> in the statement, you mentioned south korea and japan. it does not mention china. does that mention there is no communication by the president and vice president with the chinese? >> not at the presidential level. i am not sure yet whether we had contact with him in a different level. we are talking with everyone as quickly as possible. >> i top the move on to this dispute going on between the house and the senate and the white house. here's what speaker boehner said on "meet the press" when it comes to his push to say no two-month extension. let's make it a year. >> if you look at the house-passed bill, we did everything the president asked for. we had a couple of policies that we believed would create jobs in america. things like the keystone pipeline and pulling back

regulations, but we paid for this and offset it with reasonable reductions in spentinspent i ing. we can find common ground. it's just the usual let's just punt. kick the can down and we will do it later. >> speaker baner is sharing the president's position of let's do a one-year deal now and not wait for two months. what's wrong with that? >> speaker boehner's position on sunday was not what he had on saturday when the 89 senators came together to pass a two-month extension. let's think on that. the republican leadership, you can't get 89 votes for apple pie, but they did this with the understanding that the house would approve this two-month extension and speaker boehner got on the phone with his caucus and tried to sell it. he reversed his position and

putting danger on a tax increase of $1,000 of the americans in like 12 days. >> you know for sure that mitch mcconnell and john kyle had boehner sign off on this deal? >> this was almost done publicly. the speeblger told senator reed to negotiate with mitch mcconnell. you have been in washington enough time without there being an understanding of the house leadership. in fact in that conference call, it is reported that speaker boehner urged his caucus to pass this and call it a victory and a good deal. when the tea party folks like alan west and it would have a damaging effect on our economy. not extending the tax cut would

put us in n an uncomfortable and high concern. this is entirely on speaker boehner and the house. they are the one person standing in the way of this tax cut for americans. >> it is speaker boehner's job that counts as well. he didn't have the votes or he wouldn't have done what he did yesterday. what is your preferred -- you believe that there a mo ma jority in the house and not a majority of the majority? >> correct. leader pelosi said every democrat will support this. you only need a couple dozen to do it. i found it inconceivable that you have a couple of republicans to vote for a tax cut for the middle class. he may be unwilling to buck the tea party, but clearly a good opportunity it get it passed in the house. >> what is your preferred -- if this is an issue for him and he is not going to bring a bill to the floor that he doesn't feel

will be a majority of the republican conference, what is your preferred method? do you want him to amend it? do you want him to vote to say let's go to conference which in washington speak means the senate and the house bill and a bunch of these guys getting to and try to hammer out a deal and you can't filibuster i believe. it might be that you can do it with a quick vote in both house and senate. >> our position is they should pass this two-month extension. this is the right thing to do and provides a rock solid guarantee to the american people that their taxes are not going up. it's interesting. you said does it have a majority? she not the speaker of the caucus, but the speaker of the house. he needs to lead enough people to join the democrats to do what he knows is the right thing to do. this is sitting here to get done. everyone can know their taxes

are not going up on january 1st. >> do you think he doesn't want to lose conservatives from supporting him? >> i am not an expert on the house republican caucus, but it seems clear that when people call the shots, they are the folks in the tea party on the right. they revolted and the speaker went to their desires. he knows it's not in the best interest of the country. >> more in the house bill they pass? >> there elements that we are comfortable with. one of the things is the fact that just a few months ago senate, the house and the president agreed on spending levels. we shook hands and made a deal. the house bill breaks that deal. three months later. we are not going to abide by paying for a middle class tax cut by cutting initiatives.

>> i have to leave it there. thanks for coming on this morning. >> thank you. >> newt's attack on the courts. how much and how well will it play with conservatives. the death of kim jung il, triggering instability on the markets. how wall street will open. in a 2000 visit to north korea, madeleine albright gave kim jung ila basketball signed by which nba all-star? "the daily rundown." the first correct answer will get it. i'd race down that hill without a helmet.

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>> we are minutes away from the opening bell. how much is north korea playing

into it? >> it looked like they would have a big impact with the passing of kim jung il, but in the asian marks, that was a huge concern. it was weighing on the european marks, but things have shaken off and the dow will open up by about 25 points or so. we are worried about europe as we are every day. the talk in europe is that there is going to be a conference call among the eu finance chiefs to come up with the 200 billion euros with the funds. the uk said forget it, we are not putting any more money into the funds. we will be getting updates happening in the afternoon and europe that is happenidly approaching. the other thing is the housing market. we will be getting the national association of home builders building sentiment index. we will be getting housing

starts from the commerce department and realtors's home sales for november. i bring up some of these home sales issues in the housing market because it's a key one for the markets to be watching. it's what a lot of people say including warren buffett needs to see improvement in the jobs picture and the senate bill that was passed in terms of what they want to see happening to pay for the payroll tax cuts being extend and puts a bit of a levy and sur changes on both fannie and freddie that could make mortgages cost about $17 more a month for any new mortgages and that is overlooked for the talk about what's happening on capitol hill. if you tax and put extra fees on mortgages, you are probably not going to see improvement in home prices any time soon. >> very, very fast, when will the market respond to what's going on? >> right now they are expecting that they will see something that happens before the end of the year.

if not, look out. this is the time of year when we get into thin trade figure something doesn't happen this week. you are talking about thin trade. >> lots of overreaction. >> it's a lot of money that wouldn't be going into the economy. >> up next, florida congressman connie mac and how he sees the payroll tax and plus, romney scores the endorsement of the "des moines register." that's "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. tors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain... two pills can last all day. ♪

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. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. a few other stories making headlines, syria agreed to allow arab observers as part of a deal to end the government's crack down on demonstrators. they signed the deal with the arab league after members threatened to ask the un to intervene. in cairo egyptian soldiers

called to an end to military rule killing at least three protesters in tahrir square. they are trying to topple the state. >> america's war in iraq is officially over. the last convoy crossed the border from iraq into kuwait before dawn on sunday morning. this just in. nbc news learned that newt gingrich will pick up the endorsement j.c. watts jr. probably arguably one of the more prominent members of the class of 94. days away from christmas and the holiday deal is not done over the weekend, they passed the cut for two months and the house republicans are expected to defeat the plan after the house speaker described the effort as "kicking the can down the road." congressman, can you support

this compromise deal that mitch mcconnell and marco rubio in the state of florida did? >> no, i can't. this is the same gamesmanship that has been happening in washington and i think everybody is fed up. everybody had enough of this. we are going to do a two-month extension. that's not fair to the american workers out there who is trying to plan for the year for next year. we are going to say here, we will let you keep that money for two months. then we will do this all over again. we should be able to extend this for a year, no problem. it doesn't seem that the white house or the democrats want to continue to create issues that shouldn't be there. >> why did senate republicans sign off on this? did they communicate with the senate republican leadership some a lot of people were left with the impression that when harry reid and mitch mcconnell could negotiate to, he would get it done.

>> here's the thing. they didn't ask me. >> sorry that the problem. he didn't ask the conference before? >> the speaker and i wasn't sitting at that table. i can tell you this. when i'm back home in the district and around the state of florida, people are tired of this gamesmanship. they had enough of this. >> which part is gamesmanship. somebody could look at this and say no, house republicans are playing games. they thought a deal was cut and now the senate went home. >> the senators you know would not have gotten out of town. >> u.s. floridians think it's a game when they extend for two months and they will say you bet it's a game. this is on the senate. as much as they try to tor tray this, the senate decided they will do this for two months. this is the same thing we had

with the tax policy and the debt and the deficits. it's this short fix and this new commission. let's get our job done. you comfortable bringing this to the floor? >> that's the prok progative of leadership. i think it should be voted on. >> if you are for or against the state. >> 'not? the people should know where we stand. the fact that the senate was to continue to play games and only think about this. this is the american worker out there who earned this money and they are being told we can't really agree on anything woo we will do two months. you for the extension? >> yeah. >> some say hey, as much as it is helpful, it does take a lot of money away from social security. >> that's a false argument. everybody know that is the trust fund is rated all the time and filled in with general revenue. it's a seive and not a lock box as people think.

it leaks out money through the entire federal budget process. >> fair enough. let's move on to politics. you endorsed mitt romney. why not newt gingrich and who will be the better conservative? >> first of all, i think mitt romney has what it takes and what this country news. we need someone who understands how the economy works. understands how job creation works and it's not the government that creates jobs, but individuals and risk takers and the entrepreneur. mitt romney understands that. i am comfortable in supporting mitt romney for the presidency. you comfortable with newt gingrich as the nominee? >> less comfortable. my choice is mitt romney. whoever the nominee is, we will work for to try to beat obama. obama believes that government is the answer to every problem we have instead of believing in the individual. >> polls show you are way ahead

with your republican challengers. again, i endorsed mid-romney and we are clear. >> you were a no and a yes. >> a friend of mine was in the race a& not being able to beat senator nelson who was a lock step liberal with president obama. i decided that we will make this and we can't afford to have senator nelson and barack obama. >> thanks for coming on. busier topics than we expected when we invited you last week. merry christmas. >> can newt shakt fallout over freddie mac. our political handle is up next, but first white house soup of the day. greek lentil stew. this is not a good year that we

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on this date in 1998, the house approves two articles of impeachment against president clinton, only the second time in american history the president has been impeached. the first was andrew johnson in 1868. >> rivals continue to play up ties to freddie mac on the trail. avoided understanding this scathing editorial in the "wall street journal." >> i will let the lawyers decide what is and is not lobbying. when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, typically it's a duck. >> we earned the editorial by

not stopping and handling this from day one. the facts are i didn't get that kind of money and went to a consulting firm and had officers and the share i got was relatively small. >> he is washington bureau chief for the comcast network and staff writer covering national politics. the author of the take. welcome all. listening to newt there talk about his consulting firm. >> it was his. >> now we know why haley barber didn't run. it is tough to be able to make that argument. my name is on the firm. >> didn't get much of those. we saw them and he tried to run. >> tough to make that. you write today on the gingrich campaign. it is now in the fourth and potentially decisive phase. the 30 was rebirth and fourth, testing is now under way. how is he doing? >> not particularly well.

he is up against the onslaught of money in iowa. he has little money to come back at it and doesn't have debates to put himself forward. the debates were the vehicle for his rising and doesn't have that over two weeks. he has to fight in this old fashioned way. >> every report you have out of iowa, every republican that opens their mail box and get pounded and you turn on the tv, it's this giant ad by romney and ron paul. it's all hitting newt. >> i sat there to see what it was like for the voters and watched the evening news. it was constant. i saw a single newt gingrich ad and it was sort of a positive spot which was nice, but up against three of those romney super pack ads and three of the ron paul ads.

there is this shadowy group of christians against gingrich. they go to every newt gingrich event and put flyers on people's cars. there two groups doing this. iowa caucus goers cannot avoid all the attacks. >> it's interesting to me to watch newt over the weekend shift gears and go after judges. we are familiar with what resonates with conservative voters. here's what he said about the fight and what to take to the judiciary. >> our judges are above the rest of the constitution and one of the three coequal branches. >> are the rest of us obeying the law? you have to say this is a nation of laws. >> we do, but i will go back to lincoln who think with respect to the law. lincoln explicitly instructed his administration to not

enforce dread scott. >> very jars to hear speaker gingrich talk about weakening the branch of government, but bashing judges is popular. >> two things conservatives love to hate. abortion and gay marriage and thus in the process, judges obviously control that or decide on that on the basis. >> absolutely. >> to a certain degree newt is speaking to the base and talking their language. the question is whether or not the independent voter out there looks at newt gingrich as the reason why they can't vote he is two in the weeds. >> they may be tough in new hampshire. mitt romney yesterday had to deal with what is his conservative achilles heel in health care. here's how he answered the question yesterday. >> i like what our state did. it was right for our state. i will let others pursue their

paths. >> that's four years ago. >> i like what we did and i'm proud of what we did. i won't texas what they have to do or california or new york. i think the ideas we put forth work. >> once again, he tried to walk that line and doesn't fully come out against the mandate in general as an idea, but he is up against it as a national federal mandate. is he ever going to satisfy some people with that answer? >> no and his assumption he has to ride through this. he found a comfortable place to be which is to say not flip flopping and to say what i did was wrong and i changed my mind. also to say i am where everybody else is on the obama health care plan and i have a better plan for what you do without that than anybody else. >> freddie mac or health care. what's negative resonating most with conservatives? >> i think the problem is you

see newt gingrich defending freddie mac where romney backed off to a point where it seems to be splitting hairs, he has an explanation that can plausibly claim to be attacking obama care at the same time. >> with mitt romney for a second, what he is trying to do is speak to the social conservative and said what i did was interesting for my state, but may not be good. he is trying to say it's a state right issue. that's what a lot of them like. they like to hear about state right issues and toughen up the crack. mitt romney is trying the best he can. >> we will talk a little bit about gingrich's circuit. we asked in a visit to north korea, then secretary of state matlin all bright gave kim young il a basketball with a signature

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let's bring back our panel, robert train and molly ball and dan ball. we were just actually talking off camera about this issue of can some of these evangelicals get over some of the personal indiscretions. gingrich has initiated his family on the trail. here's his daughter sort of doing a testimonial for her father. here's what she said. >> i can talk about him as a father and what kind of man he is, and i think also, more important, i can talk about how he's changed since he was speaker. i think a lot of people have in their mind the image they had, or at least the way the media portrayed him when he was

speaker, and i think how he's changed as a person and a father, and i think most importantly, as a grandfather, since that time. >> robert, it's interesting to me that she points out he's changed as speaker. she understands why a lot of people didn't like that guy. >> that's her father. obviously she has a personal opinion about it. i think what's even more telling is that mary ann gingrich, his second wife, is still very much alive and still very bitter at her former husband for leaving her for calista. the question is whether the second wife comes out and contradicts what the daughter says. it's a very messy thing for some social conservative to say, i can't get my arms around this and i can't support this. >> it doesn't matter. gingrich has to have members of his family out there testifying on his behalf. >> on the one hand, this is something on a lot of people's minds. they know about it, and when you

bring the family members out and the daughter out, it risks putting it in people's faces who weren't thinking about it already and rehashing all that drama, rehashing the cancer story and all that bitterness that people really would -- if they're going to vote for newt mostly have to ignore. >> you know, dan ball, we live in a society where the number one comedy on television is "modern family," which, it is what it is. the grandfather, the patriarch who left his wife and ended up marrying a younger woman. how much does this resonate anymore? >> i think in gingrich's case, the history is known very much to voters, especially activist voters in iowa. for some it's a dealbreaker and for others it isn't. i don't think minds are going to change over the next couple weeks on that front. >> dan, i want to ask you about this quick standoff real quick.

boehner-mcconnell. what do you think? >> it's a repeat of earlier this year when boehner thought something and he realized the caucus wasn't prepared to think the same way, that he had to back off the at least implicit arrangement that he had with mcconnell. >> another case where we're finding out about a split between boehner and canter and boehner not wanting to exploit that. >> since we've been talking about newt gingrich's family, i will shamelessly plug something i wrote over the weekend in an interview with newt gingrich's sister, who is a gay activist. >> shamus plug for a man who has a book coming out next month called "the age of austerity." he's been prolific, too, writing up a storm and a very good poker player.

>> follow me on twitter. >> that's it for the daily rundown. coming up next, jansing and company. she'll talk with jack kingston. don't miss andrea mitchell reports at 1:00. she'll have what's going on in korea and she'll also have budget analyst jack lew. bye bye. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates.

. a major showdown over the bottom line in your paycheck will come to a head today when the house votes on that payroll tax. we have jack kingston who doesn't favor this deal, and chairman debbie will both weigh in. first, television this morning shows people sobbing in the streets in learning of t