extension demanding a longer fix. >> all of this needs to be done in the right way. you know, i've been around here for a while. i've seen congress kick the can down the road. it's time to stop the nonsense. >> but today, harry reid says he will not renegotiate. with us this hour, jack lew and richard lugar. plus, newt's war with the courts. scoring points in iowa, but how did the rest of the country react to this threat? and jimmy fallon brings together the ultimate weekend update dream team. >> it's time for a good old fashioned weekend update joke off. >> oh, did somebody say --

>> it was the best indeed. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. in the daily fix, no longer surging. newt gingrich is taking heavy fire from republican rivals focusing on whether he is steady enough to be president. >> he has been unreliable in those settings and zany, i wouldn't think you'd like mirrors in space to light highways at night to practical or a lunar colony, a practical idea. >> gingrich remains undeterred, saying he would round up judges if he didn't like their rulings. >> how would you enforce that? would you send the capitol police down to arrest him? >> if you had to. or you'd instruct the justice department to send the u.s. marshal. >> chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com. chris, how does this play? what is newt gingrich's

strategy? is this a basic appeal to the iowa voters? >> yes, remember, judges is very much a touch stone in general from a supreme court on down. for conservatives. look, the problem for newt gingrich i think is unless you watched face the nation yesterday, you may not have heard that because he's just not spending enough money on ads in the places where it matters like iowa, meanwhile, people who have negative messages on them, the mitt romney super pack, rick perry, ron paul, everybody else is piling on and so i don't think it's any surprise given how he's outspend his numbers appear to be coming down a bit. >> by something like 34-1. is that the number we saw earlier? >> and that's the problem is that you know, i would say that the problem for gingrich way back when before his campaign imploded was he didn't like fund raising. it may wind up being the problem at the end of his campaign. you have to raise money to put

ads on tv. 34-1. no one can win a race being outspent like that. >> chris, cillizza, see you later in the show. and developing now. the death of the north korean leader, kim jong-il. and the national security implications for the united states and korean peninsula. with us, richard lugar of indiana, former chairman of the committee and a leading expert on all things happening overseas. this is truly a game changer. this is a transition to a young man who is untested, unproven and senator, we don't know exactly what the north is going to do in order to prove that he can be the leader of this hermit kingdom. >> no, you certainly don't, but at the same time, we've known that kim jong-il was in bad health for some time. the third son, who is apparently taken hold, is either 26, 27 years of age. and totally unproven and very few public demonstrations of his

ability to control the situation. so, this means that for all of the surrounding countries, there is the fear of north koreans pouring into their countries quite apart from the instability generally of a people that have not been well fed. as many as 2 or 3 million having died in famine a couple of years ago. it's a chaotic potential and i suppose this is the reason why the world is in a state of watch and anxiety. >> what should the united states do? there are diplomats right now from the united states in beijing. they were apparently on the brink of a new food agreement for north korea in the hopes that they would be a resumgts of the nuclear disarmament talks about possibly a suspension of their uranium enrichment program. is everything now frozen? >> i think it will be interesting whether the potential diplomatic talks that

were abl about to occur can occur and if they can, we should proceed with them. with whoever the north koreans senn to the table. the situation with the food is critical not only for the lives of north koreans, but likewise about nuclear weapons and other situations of military significance in north korea. we need to get on with those talks very rapidly. >> two other points. is it possible that the military will sort of treat this young man as the regent and take control, try to take control? are they in charge in any case and what is our best advice to south korea if there should be provocations from the north? missile tesing and the like. is it important for south korea to retain its cool? >> of course, but it can only do so with very strong backing by the united states. and preferably likewise by the

chinese, the japanese, everybody in the area. this is not simply a bilateral situation. it's one in which the world is watching and china and the united states are at the focal point, but others are going to have to help. >> turning to domestic policy here, you've been the prime mover on the senate side for the advancement of the keystone pipeline and for doing it, a deadline within 60 days. that's now attached to the payroll tax extension, but we see that speaker boehner has balked and they are not going to go along with the senate's deal. what is your response to this? >> that the keystone pipeline creates jobs. it is the single most important thing the president or anybody else could do right now to create 20,000 plus jobs plus tens of thousands coming on on top of that. investment by canada of $6.5 billion in our country. a degree of oil independence we

have never had before. it's a no brainer. this is why republicans and democrats, by 89 e votes, voted for the bill. and they had the the disagreements that are very sharp on how long to extend unemployment compensation. or the other aspects, but the unemployment compensation wasn't going to make it without there being a very affirmative jobs program. that's why i introduced the bill, got 41 cosponsors. >> at this stage, the whole thing could be jeopardized if there is a dispute between the house and senate over the term of the extension if it's two months versus a longer extension. the whole thing could go down. with it, the pipeline. >> that's correct. so i'm very hopeful that that will not occur. i'm hopeful, maybe without basis, the house of representatives will pass the

bill the senate passed and it will do so tonight. speaker boehner is under anonymous pressure. he's gotten a lot of feedback from many republicans. who say we just don't like it. as a matter of fact, many republicans would say we don't really want the extension of the unemployment compensation or the rest of it any way. but i'm hopeful that our majority, republicans an democrats today will proceed because it seems to me this is best for the country as well as for all the individuals who are effected. >> republican senator dick lugar with a message to the speaker that you really want his advise to be ignored and you want that vote to take place tonight. thanks so much. good to see you. >> thank you. for more on the payroll tax cut showdown on capitol hill, we are joined by the white house budget director. thanks again for being with us. i know it's a cold day out there, but i want to bin pin

down what happens next. if the speaker has his way, reid says he's not going to renegotiate. does that mean people will have an increase because the tax cut will not be extended and unemployment benefits are are running out? z . >> the house has a chance tonight to pass the cut to make sure we don't see taxes go up on january 1st. to see that we don't have 2.5 million unemployed people fall offov of unemployment benefits. senator reid and mcconnell negotiated an agreement. everyone would have liked to have done it for a full year. they could agree to do it for two months and come back and finish the work next year. the house should do the same. the house still has a chance to do the right thing today. >> what happens if it goes down? is this an empty threat from harry reid or is he really going to let the whole thing collapse? >> we're in a very peculiar

place right now. we've had in the senate, democrats and republicans agree we have the president, we have democrats in the house in agreement. and we had the speaker of the house go into a caucus meeting on saturday where at the beginning of the call, he by all reports, was trying to encourage them to stick with the deal and by the end of the call, was saying he would weigh against the deal. i think there's some work to do today. the republicans in the house have a choice. they can follow the tea party members of their caucus and take away a tax cut or they can do the right thing and pass a senate bill. >> now, what do you say to democrats and republicans, people on both side of this argument who argue that the social security trust fund is endangered by extending the tax cut? >> the social security -- has said flat out this will not be the trust fund in jeopardy. it is a short-term measure. it is to replace funds in the

trust fund. it would do an enormous amount of good for our economy, both in terms of helping 160 million americans have more money to spend and in terms of creating more economic activities so that others have jobs in the beginning of the year. bipartisan basis, there is a broad agreement this is a right thing to do. if you go back to 2009, at the beginning of this mrks, the payroll tax cut was actually a republican idea. you go back to 2010, last year at this time, we worked together in a bipartisan basis and it was by adopting a republican idea that we had a compromise to get the payroll tax cut in place. it's a little bit puzzling that we're now in a place where house republicans are standing alone. we' where senate democrats and republicans, the white house and house democrats want to do the right thing and there's part of one caucus that is saying no. >> bottom line, do you have a head count yet? >> you know, i think that on both side, they're working today to figure out where the votes are.

everything i've heard, the democrats are overwhelmingly in favor of this. i think there are a lot of republicans who left to their own devices would want to vote for this. >> thank you very much, jack. up next, the iowa ground game. two weeks to go. who benefits if voters remain split? and still ahead, north korea's uncertain future and you can get all of the news at msnbcpolitics.com. we're kind of a quiet couple. yes. 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.

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two weeks from tomorrow, iowa votes with a crowded field of conservatives vying for a ticket to new hampshire. mitt romney now has the endorsement of the des moines register, called romney the best

choice to lead and slammed a few other contenders. in a response, newt gingrich claimed to be delighted by what he called quote a solidly liberal paper and he escalated his attack on the judiciary. john harwood is cnbc's correspondent and writer for the "new york times." first to you, the ground game there. what is the impact so far of the register endorsement if you can see how people are lining up and what about the fact that so many conservatives on the field, can't they divide that field and mitt romney actually do better than people might expect? >> well, i think it is also been the romney game plan to do better than people expect and so, no matter whether that's winning or coming in a close second or a good third given he's not put a lot of space time in the state, he's really played a no lose kind of game here in iowa. i think the register endorsement

is only an upside and it says people who have had the chance grill him. >> i know you were there in the room, the contrast you saw, questions policy questions in the way some of the others, perry, for instance, did. >> perry was just before romney and he came in rather slow. he took a long time to answer questions. it was as though he wanted fewer questions that he would need to answer. his responses were rather rambling and his energy level seemed low. romney arrived early. it was rapid fire. he said, i'm not going to take long on my opening statement. i want to give you a chance for more questions and they came from all corns. from the economy to social issues and he was just hot. on top of every single one of them. i saw newt gingrich as well. a little slower, but a man who listens, takes an opportunity to express a new idea. he's not afraid to express a new

idea. >> speaking of not being afraid to express a new idea, john harwood, what is your take on this attack on the judiciary? is we saw the reaction of the audiences in iowa. popular with them. it doesn't play as well though to a national audience. >> no, it doesn't, but i think what newt gingrich has found during the course of the campaign, is that that beyond going after other republicans, which he doesn't want to do by targeting the media in the debates, he's got some reliable targets that will allow him to be a unifying figure within the republican party, but attract some conservative votes. but as ann was just indicating, mitt romney has picked the right time to get hot. if he was hot in the register interview and is delighted to get that endorsement, don't be fooled. newt gingrich would love to have that endorsement. mitt romney's setting himself up well in a race where things have

happened so quickly, this is the right time to take off if that's what he's going to do. >> there's a new cnn poll that has a tie between gingrich and romney. so that is a significant slowing down of what had been the gingrich surge. >> think about what, how quickly things happen in this race. a week ago, you and i were talk about the new nbc "wall street journal" poll that showed newt gingrich 17 points ahead of mitt romney nationally. while he was taking leads in iowa, south carolina and in florida and the fact that gingrich's momentum has been interrupted, has been reversed in some ways, he's more vulnerable because of his lack of organization, so you live by momentum and die by negative momentum, shows that newt gingrich has some work to do if he's going to sustain the strong push that he's gotten towards the end of the year.

>> and ann, you've been right on target with your predictions of turnout. do you have any sense yet two weeks out what the turnout will likely be in iowa? >> i don't, but one of the exfactors, you have to get respect to ron paul's organization. you see him marching steadily up yard in the poll. if it's the big turnout, it could be a good sign for ron paul in that he's brought a lot of new people into the caucuses. if you doubled the number of caucusgoers, it's still a very small portion of the electorate. ann, thank you. and john harwood, our friend from cnbc. thanks so much to both and president obama is making a big appeal to the gay and lesbian communities. the politico briefing up next. car insurance, it's a bit like asking if they want a big hat... ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak...

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in our politico briefing today, the white house is making

a concerted effort to mobilize gay and lesbian voters and their supporters, a key source of continributions and votes. it's part of an elaborate sales pitch to sell the president for lbgt rights. hey, joe. is there any chance they will try to build on the repeal of don't ask don't tell and actually move the president's position on gay marriage? >> well, that's the foundation, a lot of gay supporters are expecting. because they do have a decent record so far. based on the repeal of don't ask don't tell and the nondefense of the defense of marriage act, so a will the of supporters are anticipating the president is close to making that next step and they're saying that it won't mean a thing unless they can wear that ring. that's their position that the other steps are somewhat incremental unless they get the full right to marry in all 50 state. >> he's really improved his

record as far as a lot of people in the activist gay community is concerned. at the same time, this goes against what he said were his core beliefs. throughout his political history, he has opposed gay marriage. >> he has, but not as adamantly. when he was running for the u.s. senate, the advocates have produced position papers that indicate the president was in favor of gay marriage. that he would support an amendment, but he has since walked that and said that he believes a marriage is between a man and woman. he supports civil unions, which is not quite the same thing, so he has regressed a little bit and that's what a lot of the activists are pointing to. saying hey, back in 2004, you were in favor of this. now, you're not. what happened? the president's response is unevolving. i have gotten an earful of these issues.

they believe that that's an indication he's edging closer to their position. >> well, the question is, how quickly will he evolve and we should just point out that civil unions just does not cut it in terms of those who believe that the legal religious and other s aspea aspects of gay marriage are a different thing. up next, is kim jong-il's sudden death a game changer for the region and the world? and we're live in cairo where police and protesters are clashing for a fourth straight day. send me your thoughts on facebook and twitter. [ female announcer ] where will you be when you have to change your pad? now with stayfree you don't have to worry. inspired by athletic wear, only stayfree has thermocontrol to wick away moisture. so you're dry and comfortable up to 8 hours. stayfree. it's like having portable navigation. a bluetooth connection. a stolen vehicle locator.

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heading for a broad speck tum of states. accumulations predicted of six to 16 inches. at the military hearing for private bradley manning, reporters have been ordered out of the courtroom as pross get into classified material of widely published information. he is charged with treason, accused of being the source of government e secrets famously revealed to the world by wikileaks. today's testimony focused on the forensic xham nation of his computers. people in the philippines, have been buried in a -- around 45,000 people have been displaced from their homes. president obama has issued a statement saying the u.s. is ready to help the recovery process. and today, egyptian military police opened fire on protesters, calling for an end to military rule. the fourth straight day of violence there. at least 14 people have been

killed. many more attacked, including a woman who was stripped and dragged through the streets of tahrir square. eamon, i know we've got a big satellite delay, but tell us what's happening now. >> egyptian military is going on the pr offensive, not showing any signs of remorse. now, all of this coming after some very disturbing footage and images being beamed across the world and really led by activists to show what happened over the course of the past four days and one very notorious image, a woman as you mentioned, being dragged across the street as a soldier pounded on her chest with his boot. all this really underlying the tension with the military and prodemocracy protesters who say they are no longer competent enough to run this county tr. they want the military to hand over leadership to a civilian

government, but there's no indication the military's going to concede that kind of power anytime soon. >> thank you so much for the update from cairo. in north korea, remaining the hermit kingdom, telling foreign countries they cannot send delegations to next week's funeral for kim jong-il. it will be the first test for kim's successor, he's inheriting one of the world's most dangerous countries. take a look at this image from 2005, showing the sharp difference from north and south. the north is cloaked in h almost total darkness while the south shines as a leading democracy in leading economy throughout the world. victor cha was chief negotiator under president bush. p.j. crowley severed as state department spokesman and david albright has visited the north

several times and in fact, you were there only three weeks ago. you've seen signs recently that we were moving towards some sort of resumption of talks, diplomats in beijing that were supposed to be doing the first steps towards that today. this put everything on hold. >> one of the tests of the stability of the succession will be if the negotiations bear some fruit. in one of the legacy now of kim jong-il was to have a very prosperous 2012 and part of that is to have better relations with the united states, so we'll see if the negotiations pick up. i would assume there will be some number of weeks where nothing will happen, but i think the north koreans want to improve relations with the united states. >> victor cha, you were involved in the last go around in that

mrks under george w. bush. there were setback after setback and accusations of lying and cheating on the nuclear program by the north. why should the u.s. believe it will be any different this time? >> it's a fair question. i think you're right that the obama administration was looking to reengage and this week was going to be a big week, inning, for north korea for other republicans. it's all been put on hold and if we are ever to get back to that point, i mean, i think there are leg legitimate e questions about what the purpose of all this will be or will we simply be buying the same parts for a third time. >> as bob gates famously said. p.j., you've watched this over the years in different administrations, democrats and republicans have wrestled with the challenge. democratic and republican presidents. former president clinton once told me that they were prepared to take steps towards normalized relations. that was the logical output of madeleine albright's signature

visit, the first meetings with kim jong-il and time ran out. because of the bush versus gore legal dispute, president clinton decided to focus on talks on the middle east rather than go outside the country for a lot of reasons. you couldn't do both the middle east and north korea and time ran out and then the bush white house reversed whatever momentum had been taking place. but at the same time, the north was cheating, so -- >> and it remains a very difficult challenge. and the fundamental question and certainly you know, the world has evolved since november 2000 where president made that difficult calculation. and my question for the north korean leadership in light of kim jong-il, his departure from the scene, but he's survived because he had nuclear weapons. what are the implications, we look out and see hussein gone,

syria and iran under siege and the compelling lesson is that these are things central to their long-term survival, which is really their primary and exclusive focus. >> is their bargaining chip. you have a military background as well. p.j., is it likely that the military will have even more power under this regime? what do we know about this young man. >> i think there's been an evolution. now to kim jong eun, it's a collective leadership. it's not just about one guy. so the military does have a prominent role to play as do the elites that will surround kim jong-il. this transition will take months if not years and we'll see once they reemerge whether they're in the same place that they were last week or whether they're now in a much more conservative place. >> david, you're the nuclear expert, they've had tests that have fizzled. what is the level of

sophisticate or their nuclear program? >> it's hard to figure out but i wouldn't surprised if they put a warhead on a missile and launched i. their program has moved forward. there's no doubt about it and as victor noted and you noted, they have cheated on past agreements, so anything we do moving forward is going to have to be loaded up front with robust verification and the north koreans know that. whatever the obama administration can get done with negotiations, whether those negotiations are going to succeed or not should become apparent early in the process so it's not strung along. >> they fired a missile test, a short range missile, in recent days or hours. it's hard to tell what the timing was, but just before the announcement of kim jong-il's death. was that a signal, a warning sign? can we see possibility of other provocative actions that would put south korea in particular

and japan on edge? >> hopefully not, but they are a military power and they are going to send signals they're tough and don't mess with us. i would expect some more, hopefully, they're not going to do it in a way that provokes south korea to respond in kind. i think the north koreans are going to have to be very careful. >> p.j., i see you nodding as well. >> they have turned the other cheek, courageously so. early this summer, there was a lot of concern within the state department that should north korea go through another cycle of provocation, that south korea would respond in kind. i think that's where the collaboration's going on as we speak is to make sure that you know, if north korea decides to do something provocative because they figure they have to send a signal that the regime is still in charge, that we see this

prompted attentions. >> in fact, the first thing president obama did at midnight our time was to call the south korean president. what about the starvation, the level of economic failure there and the fact that there could be refugees coming south to south korea as well as to dhchina? >> i think it raises the whole question of can they hold it together. you could not have picked a more difficult scenario to affect this leadership transition. broken economy. starving country. it just doesn't get any worse than that. for the united states, the questions are right. there's this denuclearization that has been stopped and will it restart. but the broader question is in the weeks or months ahead, if we see one bit of evidence in the news that something is amiss in north korea with regard to leadership transition, we're not worried about denuclearization. we're worried about nuclear

weapons and that's a whole new problem an texture to how the administration has to think about north korea today. that it really didn't have to think about it seriously until kim jong-il's death this weekend. >> the fact is that the hermit kingdom still is a hermit kingdom. so little intelligence. we had no warning. neither did their neighbors, neither did the north korean people. we knew he was sick. we knew he had had a stroke, but we were not getting very good intelligence from the chinese, i'm told, about just how sick he was. they at least had eyeballed him. p.j., why do we have such difficulty with intelligence here? >> for the reason you outlined. unlike virtually any other part of the world, arab awakening as your report on egypt points out, this is a very insulated, opaque country. i think in the long-term, can they continue to have this mote

surrounding north korea, no. in this information world, more information is going to come in and it will destabilize north korea over the long-term. in the short-term, i think the best case scenario here is there's a relatively smooth transition. >> and this is all happening in the middle of an election campaign here so the president will not have as much running room as we otherwise might and no matter what steps he takes, you're sure to hear if the other side as well. thank you very much. and up next, fighting prejudice. with punch lines. rock centers harry smith joining us. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults.

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have from the white house briefing room. that is the countdown clock the white house has put up saying the house republicans are standing in the way of the deal that would extend the payroll tax cut. there's no shortage of sharp words coming from democrats this hour. >> trying to negotiate with speaker boehner is like trying to nail jell o to the wall. >> the latest from valerie jarrett will join me live. and who is kim jong eun? so litting is known about him. we're continuing to follow new reaction on the impact of the death of kim jong-il. plus, the snow's already started to fall out west. that's coming up at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. mark twain once said that laughter is the most effective group of -- a group that young

muslims are taking to heart. harry smith of "rock center" has their story. >> is there really anything funny about being a muslim in america these days? >> it could be more challenges. they could give hurricanes muslim names. that would help. >> he thinks so. >> hurricane mohamed is coming. run for your life. mohamed's a killer. >> dean is a comedian, also a muslim born in america. a lot of americans hate you. >> i'm not sure how many actually hate me. but i don't know what you're getting at. the only thing that i counter is by reaching out to people and trying to dispel the misconceptio misconceptions, the lack of fakihs they have. >> we went along as dean and fellow muslim comedians toured across the american south. in comedy clubs. >> you just need to trust me.

>> on the streets. >> how you doing, ma'am? >> and in chance encounters. doing their best to win friends and influence people. pilgrims armed with punch lines in hopes of shattering a few stereo types. they call their tour, the muslims are coming. nearly half of all americans a mitt to feeling some prejudice towards muslim. in a funny way, the comics are fighting for their civil rights. >> i just love saying nbc's harry smith. so, this is fascinates, but how do they steal themselves against the hurt? the slurs? >> it's interesting because all humor is braced in gree vens. as they went down there, we were on the street with them in a couple of small towns and people would drive by and say some unpleasant thing, but as dean

says in the piece, people very rarely bring that prejudice to your face. so what they're trying to say is get to know us. get to know who we are and see if we can break down some of those prejudices and preconceptions. >> at the same time, harry, it's very hard to penetrate that kind of sort of subtle prejudice. and the people who might come to a comedy club might be more open and welcoming than some of the really rock hard prejudice people. >> i think they're well aware of that, too, and the fact that the tickets were free. certainly didn't hurt and all the places were packed, so these have got to be moderate to progressive folks coming to see these shows. at the same time, they'd go out and do these daily sort of events out in the streets in some of these small towns, just trying to encounter folks on the street and say we're not here

to -- we're here so you can get to know us better. ask us anything you want and quite honestly, there was some very fruitful an spirited conversations that took place there. maybe that's not the way to reach 300 million americans, but perhaps it's a start. >> and how do they support themselves? this is an expensive venture going across the country. even on a budget. >> surely it is on a shoe string and it's interesting because we asked where the funding was coming from and interestingly enough, they found common cause with a couple of gay activists who saw the prejudice that they had experienced in decades past and said we're seeing some of the same thing among, with muslims today and so, we're going to help you bankroll. they of course hope to turn this into a film and some other things and advertise their costs

that way. >> step by step, one person at a time. don't miss harry's report tonight on nbc and now to the state department where hillary clinton is giving her response after meeting with the japanese [speaking foreign language] >> we both share a common interest in a peaceful and stable transition in northern korea as well as ensuring regional peace and stability. we have been in close touch with our partners in the six-party talks today. [speaking foreign language]

>> president obama and president lee spoke last night. i spoke with foreign minster kim early this morning and we are also reaching out to beijing and moscow and of course closely coordinating with or japanese friends. . >> secretary of state hillary clinton pointing out that they are working with china and russia and the different japanese and the south koreans to try to make sure that there is a unified response in this very troubling transition, the sudden transition with the death of kim jung il. we'll be right back. using k-y® intense™.

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which political stories will make headlines in the next 24 hours. i think it will be the house vote at 6:30 tonight. >> i will be quick. what we expect and what john boehner said is they will reject the compromise and the ball will be in the senate's vote. harry reid is holding the line saying they have to pass the two-month extension. we were back to being happy 2011. >> deja vu all over again. thanks for everything. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports" and my colleague has a look at what's next. >> a lot going on. we are waiting to hear new reaction from the white house now that republicans say they plan to stand in the way of the deal that would extend the payroll tax cut. that's what's showing in the briefing room that said if congress doesn't act, you see if

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i'm tamron hall and the "news nation" is following developing news. worldwide reaction to the death of north korean leader kim jung lil, and worries over who will take his place. thousands of north koreans cried in the streets after learning of their leader's death. north korea is urging the people to rally behind kim jong un, his 27 yore old son and aarent. hillary clinton held