choosing to kill friday, i got to say that's kind of weird. now it's time for "the last word >> breaking news. i spoke to former nebraska senator bob kerry today on this little thing. and he's not ruling out a run. >> gallup's daily tracker today has president obama's approval ratings up. >> the upward trend is good news for the president. >> for the first time since july. >> in the meantime, of course, the republicans are doings battle largely with each other. >> none of them look very strong compared to president obama. >> there's really three primaries going on here. >> this is the final push. >> this libertarian primary which paul is going to win. >> ron paul may win this whole thing. >> if the weather is bad and it's real tough to get out, ron paul will win. >> and moderate primary, gingrich and romney are scrumming for. >> newt's new tact,'s attacking mitt romney as a massachusetts moderate.

>> he's trying to come down and pretend to be a conservative. >> i believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country. >> speaker gingrich is a desperate candidate. >> he has more baggage than the airlines. >> newt gingrich did not make the ballot in virginia. >> three folks who are running as strong conservatives. >> gun todting is santorum. >> shotguns for christmas. >> we need a solution. >> that's the reason i call for a part-time congress. >> no republican has won the hearts and minds of the republican base. >> where is tim pawlenty right now? because he would be the guy you turn to. today was a good day for the

obama re-election campaign. but it was a tough day for the democratic party. the good news for the obama campaign is that the republicans running for president continue top savage each other. newt gingrich is saying the worst things he can think of about mitt romney comparing him to ted kennedy. romney is comparing gingrich to lucille ball an influential conservative columnist bill crystal is now officially begging someone, anyone to be run for the republican nomination for president. as the republicans continue to attack each other, they continue to drive up the negatives of every republican running for president. something newt gingrich had always insisted republicans should not do, right up until he started doing it himself. as president obama's re-election continues to look more likely with the help of the republicans, his ability to govern in a second term was hurt today when it became a bit more likely that those same

republicans will take control of the united states senate next year. senator ben nelson, the democrat from nebraska where democrats are an endangered species made this announcement today. >> it's time for me to step away from elective office, spend more time with my family and look for new ways to serve our state and nation. therefore, i'm announcing today that i will not seek re-election. simply put, it's time to move on. >> nelson, who won re-election income twimpl with a miracle lus 64% of the nebraska vote, will be virtually impossible for the democrats to replace in nebraska. in fact, the situation is so hopeless in nebraska, that the democrats are looking to new york for a solution. that is where bob carrey, former democratic governor of nebraska and former senator from nebraska who held nelson's seat before

him now lives. >> former nebraska democratic senator bob kerrey is considering a run. you mentioned the word difficult. it was going to be very difficult for democrats to hold on to this seat had nelson stayed and run for re-election. it's going to be difficult for them to win it, probably even harder but if they can get someone like bob kerrey at least it makes it competitive for them. >> i called bob kerrey as soon as the nelson news broke today. it took him a few seconds to understand what i was calling about since it turned out i had awakened him at 2:00 a.m. in india. he said he would love to move back to nebraska, that he's thought about it lately. but he has not thought about planning a race for the senate there. which we were at the -- so which means that the last word here, we officially interpret as at least at 2:00 in the morning in end yab while half aware, bob

kerrey is leaving the door open. he also said he thought ben nelson's retirement was a big loss for nebraska. that was not exactly the sentiment of a senate democratic leadership aide who told nbc news "nelson will be the least missed member of the democratic caucus next year." that certainly echoes the feelings of many liberals who have been frustrated with his unreliability as a supporter of the democratic leadership's agenda in the senate. but there would be nondemocratic leadership agenda in the senate if the democrats were not the majority party. the last democratic president, bill clinton, had two democrats in the senate from the nebraska when he began his term. the president obama was lucky to have even one. ben nelson cast the most important vote that the a senator can cast when he voted for their man for majority

leader. ben nelson has voted with the democrats 82% of the time this year. the republican senator from nebraska has voted with the democrats 8% of the time this year. that is what's at stake in democrats holding on in any way they canning toing that nebraska senate seat. a nebraska democrat cannot possibly vote like a new york democrat in the senate and expect to hold on to that seat. if bob kerrey doesn't run for that seat, nebraska is virtually certain to elect another republican to the senate who will vote for mitch mcconnell for majority leader and vote against the democratic agenda. if there is one. at least 90% of the time. as frustrated as liberals have a right to be with ben nelson, they also have much to thank ben nelson for. such is the complexity of the

politics of governing. ben nelson managed to hold on to a democratic senate seat in a state where george w. bush beat john kerry by 33 points, in a state where john mccain beat barack obama by the 15 points. republicans were always desperate to get ben nelson out of the democratic majority in the senate. in 2004 before the democrats got the majority, karl rove saw it coming, and he offered ben nelson the job of agriculture secretary. that would have allowed nebraska's republican governor to pick nelson's replacement giving the republicans a senate seat. ben nelson turned it down. if ben nelson had accepted that job in 2006, democrats would have fallen exactly one seat short of winning control of the senate. ben nelson's seat.

in 2012, the republicans need to pick up just four senate seats to win back control of the senate if they can hold on to all ten of their incumbent republican senate seats. the democrats now have eight difficult seats to defend. including nebraska. the republicans only need to win half of those seats. mitch mcconnell's road to majority leader just got a little bit easier today, and the prospects of president obama being able to govern in a second term got a little bit harder today. joining me now richard wolffe, author of revival, the struggle for survival inside the obama white house and msnbc analyst karen finney, former dnc communications director. karen, speak to this question of the complexity of the politics of governing versus the politics of campaigning. in campaigning, you can just leave the opponent dead by the

side of the road, but the complexity in the politics of governing is the person who is in your way today may be your ally tomorrow, which is something that harry reid always knew about ben nelson. he's not with me on this vote today but he's with me most of the time. that's something that it seems to me the retail consumer of ol -- politics have trouble grasping. >> people understand it and just don't like it. >> there's that. >> but don't get in the building behind me as we well know, that's how it is. if we want to change that, there are other things we could be doing. think about the number of times, it's true, when you think about joe lieberman, right? it's sort of like we hate the fact that we need him, but the truth is we need him to caucus with the democrats to get us to the numbers we need to get to be in the majority. i think with regard to ben nelson specifically, while obviously him voting for the health care legislation and

certain other things, you mentioned 82% is helpful, i don't think the math actually changes all that will much either for the democrats or the republicans in the d sec or the nrsc. in that, i think the republicans were expecting this was going to be a pickup for them. i think it was always going to be a hard seat for democrats. the one thing in the math that i think is potentially helpful is that we've got ben nelson sitting on $3 million that could be used towards whoever the democrat might be. i think it may be ugly republican primary. i still think it's going to be a very tough seat for democrats to hold on to, and it means we've got to start looking other places and not just worrying and thinking what can we hold on to but how do we change the nature of the map a little bit. >> absolutely. the map really has to be studied now. richard, i would think that i see a difference between is the ben nelsons of the democratic party and the joe liebermans. let's remember joe lieberman to hold on to his seat needed to get re-elected in that will right wing state of connecticut.

where getting re-elected for a democrat is a whole different ball game than getting re-elected in nebraska. and so the passes i'd be willing to give to a ben nelson or a nebraska or a montana senator say in order for them to hold on to their seat are different from the way i'd feel about a connecticut senator. >> right. the another factory you've got to put in there is the personal politics. joe lieberman has has what you can only describe was a personal problem with barack obama. and that's played out in his votes and how difficult he's been for his president. ben nelson, and this may seem strange, but ben nelson back in 2006 would only invite one democrat to the campaign with him. not many people know this, but that one democrat was actually barack obama. and the time when he was seen as a centrist moderate in the party, nelson was very happy to be seen even though there's not a lot of diversity in the nebraska but he was very happy to campaign with him, got a big event, a big response.

and obviously, people's attitudes in nebraska to president obama have shifted over the years. and nelson was going to face' re-election fight with some of the nice things he had said about the president thrown back in his face. but that personal politics meant that he also had some leeway i think with this white house because he had been good to obama and lieberman hadn't. that's another big contrast between the two of them. >> karen, am i wrong to be feeling more confident about the president's re-election as the republicans continue to attack each other and less confident about harry reid's ability to hold on to a democratic senate? >> i think we don't yet know what the story of the senate is going to be. i'm actually a little bit more optimistic. i agree that i think the president's re-election prospects continue to look better every day the republicans open their mouths to talk. so certainly that has been helpful. but i think with regard to the senate, i mean, again, i think that we have to kind of pay

attention to what's going on with voters. i feel like one of the lessons i learned last time after 20 years in politics during the 2008 cycle is voters are very unpredictable. i think they will again this cycle be unpredictable. they're angry, frustrated. when people are angry and frustrated they do things that are not predicted all the time by polls. so i think we're going to have to pay closer attention. one thing i will say when it comes to the senate race and just in general, the idea that we're talking about bob kerrey, i have great respect for him but i think it shows the wholly shameful inadequacy my party has done in developing talent further down the bench. we should not be talking about somebody who hasn't lived in the state for ten years as a way to try to hold onto the leadership in the senate. >> absolutely. it seems it's always that way for the democrats. there's a sense of panic and because they haven't done that homework you're talking about. richard, the stakes for president obama are high. a republican senate loses pat

leahy as the guy who's running your senate confirmation hearings for supreme court justices and replaces him with jeff sessions who i don't think -- i don't even know if he would give the president's nominees a hearing. >> you've got to the assume that the honeymoon lasts for a couple days at least. this president had a hard time getting many nominees through a democratically controlled senate. some of them serious and some of them not serious at all. it is unpredictable. let's also not underestimate the republicans' abilities to shoot themselves in the foot here. hawaiiy reid was looking at a terrible set of prospects in the last election. the republicans chose a tea party candidate, a jim demint backed candidate in nebraska. that could come back and hurt them. very hard at this point to say okay, we know where this is going because nevada looked horrible for democrats two years ago. >> thank you, richard wolffe for that sign of hope. i forgot about the tea party's

ability to throw the away republican wins in the senate. karen finney, richard wolffe, thank you both very much for joining me tonight. remember newt gingrich's promise to run a positive presidential campaign? big surprise, it's all over for him. and that's coming up next. and the black list that tried to rewrite the story of hollywood, the truth has won out. for the writers of one oscar winning classic. that's in tonight's rewrite. [ male announcer ] what makes you trust a company?

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there's only one thing better than knocking a bird down. it's watching your son knock a bird down. so this was his first hunt. so it was pretty exciting to be out here. >> strong tradition. >> it was great. we enjoyed it and he got shotguns for christmas and so this was a little good practice for him.

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with the mitt romney, rick perry and ron paul campaigns and super pac spending millions to flood iowa televisions with attack ads against newt gingrich, newt has decided the time has come to violate his pledge to run a positive campaign. today in iowa, newt responded to an attack ad from the romney campaign that called newt of all people an unreliable conservative. >> to have somebody who was a massachusetts moderate who said he did not want to go back to

the reagan, bush years who voted as a democrat for paul tsongas in '92, who campaigned to the left of teddy kennedy who recently said i'm sort of a moderate pragmatic guy, to have him run a commercial that questions my conservativism? >> newt's counterattack follows a report from the "wall street journal" today revealing that in april 2006 newsletter from the newt's health care consulting company praised romney's massachusetts health care law. a fear tour entitled "newt's notes" read in part we agree entirely with governor romney and massachusetts legislators that our goal should be 100% insurance coverage for all americans. the individual mandate requires those earn enough to afford insurance to purchase coverage and subsidies will be made available to those individuals who cannot afford it on their own. we agree. strongly with this principle.

a gingrich spokesman told "the wall street journal" that the newt's notes essay was not written by newt himself. newsletter authorship didn't seem to concern newt when he criticized ron paul earlier tonight. >> as people get to know more about ron paul who disowns ten years of his onus letter, says he didn't realize what was in it, had no idea what he was making money on, had no idea that it was racist anti-semitic called for the destruction of israel, talked about a race war, all this is a sudden shock to ron paul? there will come a morning people won't take him as a serious person. >> newt also responded to "the wall street journal" report. >> the difference between romney and me is i have now concluded, i'm prepared to say publicly i concluded just as the heritage foundation did that idea didn't work. romney is still defending the mandate that he passed. >> today, the gingrich campaign

also dealt with the fallout from failing to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for virginia's presidential primary. newt's national campaign director wrote on facebook on saturday, newt and i agreed that the analogy is december 1941. we have experienced an unexpected setback but in the end, we will stand victorious. mitt romney responded today in new hampshire. >> i think he compared that to was to pearl harbor? i think it's more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. so i mean you got to get it organized. >> after new hampshire, romney headed to iowa where he gave a speech attacking president obama just after romney received the endorsement of the "boston herald." we have referred in the past to the clown car nature of the republican field as ego driven candidates like donald trump

flirted with the process only to be followed by the often engaging but deeply flawed candidacies of her man kaine, rick perry, michele bok mon, ron paul and finally newt gingrich. there is no long -- this is no longer a parlor game. there is only one candidate in the republican field with the integrity, experience, organizational strength and intelligence to beat barack obama and that man is mitt romney. joining me now politte coat senior political writer maggie habberman. thanks for joining me tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to stipulate i did not write any of what i just read on then teleprompter from the beginning of this segment to right now was written by r.j.fried on this staff. i'm disowning every word of it however true it may or may not be. >> you were just reading along, that's good. >> this thing, this newt thing of they think his newsletter says in newt's notes that we love the individual mandate for

100% of americans and their line today is newt didn't write that. >> right, just called newt's notes but he didn't write it. it was an interesting litany as you were presenting it, especially over the last few days. they have had a very tough time. the newsletter story was very damaging. that goes to the heart of what his whole case has been against rimny which is that he's a flip-flopper. he is now taking a weasely position of saying he didn't write this. this appears as newt's notes and very importantly endorses romney care. he goes on in the interview to say well, you know, the difference is i've said that was a bad thing and he has not said that's a bad thing. essentially he's saying romney ought to take another position change. a lot of republicans would like to see mitt romney disown romney care. the one thing he has been adamant about is he won't do that because that would be another flip-flop. most importantly, gingrich has now spent an entire day completely off message. this is another wasted day heading into the iowa caucuses

where his negatives are rising because of this onslaught of negative ads that he is not responding to. he's finally responding today going and breaking his pledge as you said of relentlessly positive. this is the problem with making pledges like that. you have to stick to them and then you resign yourself to not fighting back. that's what he has done. >> maggie, are the other candidates who are -- the nonromney candidates who are attacking gingrich, are they making a mistake by destroying gingrich so that they just open up the road for mitt romney. >> no, i think you can make the argument either way. i do think that there is one case to be made. they need to knock votes away from newt gingrich because they're more likely to get his votes than mitt romney. it is true romney is the man to beat at the moment. the other man is ron paul who has been coming under fire. he's coming under fire everywhere newt gingrich strongly. that tells you where paul is in this race right now. the newsletter's crisis for ron

paul's campaign is coming at a very bad time in the final week up to the caucuses. this is not something they seem prepared to deal with which is surprising because it came up in his 2007 run. they have known about it and have not come up with a good answer for it. there's no way of saying i disavow it is going to satisfy people. it is as gingrich said a year's worth of writings under the name the ron paul newsletter. it is hard to say that has nothing to do with me. >> but how much of a problem is that stuff in a republican presidential primary? >> i think it's a problem because ron paul is not really that known a commodity in iowa, even i think among hard-core republicans and very conservative republicans. i think a lot of that stuff goes beyond the pale. when you pair it some of the things he has said in the more recent debates, one of the final debates he had a seven-minute soliloquy talking about iran and how he didn't believe in intervention there to prohibit iran from getting nuclear weapons, that that would be a

very good idea because he doesn't agree with that foreign policy, this is not the kind of thing most ite wa caucusgoers know about ron paul. they know about the populist stands he has taken, him and the federal reserve. these are all layers to paul they are not familiar with and it's a problem. >> maggie, before you go, i want to be fair to you. is there anything that has appeared in politico with your name on it that you did not write and would like to disavow at this time? >> i'm all in, thank you. i stand by what i wrote. >> mag a habberman of politico, the honest one among us. thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> coming up, finally a credit where credit is due. but way too late for the man who deserved it. the hollywood black list gets a rewrite. and everything ron paul wants you to forget about his ideas on domestic governing foreign policy and raw milk. that's next.

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>> according to my calendar, this was the night where we were supposed to be discussing what would have just been the donald trump moderated debate. that turned out wasn't going to happen because the republican candidates, as crazy as they are, were not crazy enough to join a donald trump moderated debate. in order to divert attention from the colossal collapse of the idea of a donald trump

debate, donald trump switched his party registration. his spokesperson says trump registered in order to preserve his right to run as an independent after the finale of "the apprentice" in may, if he is not satisfied with whom the candidate is. that's a quote from donald trump's spokesman. the trump lies will, of course, continue. that was his attempt to divert attention from the ridiculousness that did not happen tonight. one of the candidates who death penaltyion -- who diddion donald trump is ron paul. is ron paul too zany for iowa republicans?

as people get to know more about ron paul who disowns ten years of his onus letter, says he didn't really realize what was in it, had no idea what he was making money on, had no idea that it was racist, anti-semitic, called for the

distruction of israel, talk board of directors a race war, all this is a sudden shock to ron paul? there will come a morning people won't take him as a serious person. >> frp to get is the republican nomination. >> he won't. >> if he were, could you vote for him? >> no. >> when you're too weird for newt gingrich, you are wicked weird. joining me now is e.j. deon, washington post columnist and brookings senior fellow. e.j., the heat is on ron paul. i think the republican candidates never thought they would actually have to take serious questions about if ron paul is the nominee. >> no, you know, and it's true. i am up here in new hampshire and i used to be last week, i was in iowa. and in both states, republicans are talking about ron paul along with romney as having the biggest organizations and certainly a real shot at winning iowa, and if not a shot at winning new hampshire, a real

shot at coming in second. they are petried of ron paul. newt gingrich has especially good reason to be worried because you know, strong showings liking that from ron paul could knock him right out of the race. >> e.j., if you're in new hampshire i'm sure there is interest there about ron paul's views of raw milk. i think we have some tape of him talking about that. let's listen to that. >> isn't it sort of strange that we live in a country today where if you choose to buy raw milk, you're inhibited by the federal government to buy and drink raw milk. i mean, i'm all for raw milk. i think you should make your own choice on whether you cink raw milk or not. >> ej, i've never had the pleasure of raw milk. i know people who grew up on farms and got the first taste of raw milk and they say it's pretty great. but the let's say that was one of the choices in the average grocery store in america.

there would be a few problems here and there with the quality of that over time. >> you know, i think that ron paul may be useful even to people who fundamentally disagree with him because everyone says boy, i can't stand government. let's get government out of everything. let's just get rid of the food and drug administration, right? let's sell anything that anybody claims does something good for you, even if it's got poison in it. let's sell food even if it causes outbreaks of all kinds of troubles. i mean, even with regulation, you get that. with regulation, you get a lot less of that. and so i think if ron paul got the republican nomination, we would finally have the fundamental debate about the role of government that we need to have as a country and i don't think a majority would end up on ron paul's side. >> he told brian williams in the debate that the brian moderated that yeah, he doesn't think we

need any auto safety regulations, that the consumer, you and i would know which cars would safe and we would buy the safest cars and the market would solve that, showing he has no understanding of the history of how the automobile industry did nothing for safety till ralph nader forced them to and ralph nader forced the government in effect to force the auto industry to do that. >> right. you know, this is the old libertarian position that the market will take care of it. well, maybe so but only after a lot of people get killed in a lot of auto accidents and then people would stop buying a particular car. the other thing about this libertarian paradise is they say oh, well let people sue each other. do they honestly think the courts handling tens of thousands of cases about auto safety or getting poisoned by bad food, do they think that's more efficient than regulation? i think that is what ron paul is arguing. >> msnbc contributor ej dionne thank you very much for joining me tonight from new hampshire.

you might want to the try the raw milk. >> i'll look around for it. >> thanks, e.j. coming up, your gifts to the children of malawi as this christmas weekend slows down. the donations did not slow down. you gave even more. that's coming up. and the film that launched audrey hepburn's career finally gets another credit. an official credit. a credit it richly deserves. roman holiday" gets a new written by credit. that's in the rewrite. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain.

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go national. go like a pro. in the rewrite tonight, the story of a man who co-wrote an oscar winning screen play and why it took so long for him to get the full recognition he has always deserved. and the holiday weekend did not slow down your generous donations to the kind fund. i'll have more of your online comments coming up. ea pig: row.. they generate electricity, which lets me surf the web all day.

guinea pig: row...row. took me 6 months to train each one, 8 months to get the guinea pig: row...row. little chubby one to yell row! guinea pig: row...row. that's kind of strange. guinea pig: row...row. such a simple word... row. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

♪ >> no, no, no. i can -- >> oscar winners audrey hepburn and gregory peck in the 1953 film classic roman holiday". miss hepburn took home the oscar for best actress in that role and now 58 years later, the screen writers union, the writers guild of america has

rewritten the official writing credits on that movie, finally officially recognizing the contribution of dalton trum bow to the writing team that wrote roman holiday". in 1947, dalton trum bow was black listed as part of the hollywood ten, a group of writers and directors who were accused of being communist sympathizers. they were brought before the house of representatives committee on un-american activities. dalton trum bow, like the other nine, refused to cooperate with the committee. here the ten men stand with their attorneys in january of 1948 just before they were arraigned for contempt of congress. dalton trum bow was convicted and served 11 months in prison. after that, it became impossible for dalton trum bow to work for the studios as a credited screen writer. trum bow wrote the story for roman holiday" while in exile in mexico. his friends and writing partner

eyen mcclellan hunter acted as the front man for the team taking the official writing credit and secretly sharing the payment with trum bow. in mcclellan hunter himself was later black listed. in 1992, the academy of motion picture arts and sciences voted to add trum bow's name to the writing credits of roman holiday". the academy then recognized that the film was really written by dalton trum bow and his partner ian mcclellan hunter along with john diten. it was too late for dalton trum bow to enjoy. he died 60 years earlier in 1976. the sons of the writing partners trumbow and mcclellan eventually became members of the guild themselves and eventually pursued a correction in the guild's official writing credits of roman holiday". it is the credits that the industry considers the official history of screen writing. chris kaiser, president of the

writers guild of america west, the president, said it's not in our power to erase the mistakes or the suffering of the past, but we can make amends. we can pledge not to the fall prey again to the dangerous power of fear or to the impulse to censor. even if than pledge is only a hope, and in the end, we can give credit where credit is due. in acknowledging the contributions of dalton trum bow, ian mcclellan hunter and john diten to the writing, the wga has at last and at least told the truth. that fact is a tribute to the friendship of two fathers and then two sons and to a thing we can hold on to which is that friendship was stronger than and outlived the hate. >> i have to say good-bye. i can't think of any words.

>> don dighton.

on last thursday's show, melissa harris perry introduced you to this guy. >> i use the word aggressively generous.

it is -- the comments just on the video have been like donated. they just say donate and say i just took a kid off the floor in malawi. to know you could possibly make that effect in the world by making a video is truly incredible. >> that's evan pushac who created a project for awesome video about the kind fund, kids in need of desks. his video was seen by over 200,000 viewers on youtube and helped push us over the $1 million mark in how much we've raised since we began reminding you almost two weeks ago of our partnership between msnbc and un you sef to deliver desks to african schools. i met evan this afternoon in los angeles and was able to thank him for his work. his brilliant video was entered in the project for awesome, which has now raised 14,269 dollars for the kind fund and that $14,000 is in addition to

the $142,116 that we have raised since friday afternoon when i knowing how you feel about me, up yours, too. family. we were so happy to see your y. success with this project. and thanks for including your daughter in the video.

i have two daughters myself. and kim posted this. i gave a gift of a desk in my mother's name who is a retired school teacher. lawrence, you need to promote this all year long. kim, you're absolutely right. we do tend to promote it much more heavily around the christmas season because the spirit of giving is in the air. and because these gifts do make perfect christmas and hahn na ca gifts especially for people on your list that already seem to have everything or just tough to pick something out for, but they also make great valentines, they make great birthday presents anytime of year, and throughout the year, unicef will send an e card when you go to the last word desks.msnbc.com or call 1-800-4 kids to donate a desk. they will send an e card to the recipient of your choice acknowledging that gift in their name. teresa isaacs wrote this. every year in december, i have

extra money that would have gone to buying my mother her birthday gift. it's been ten years that she's passed and this year, i bought a desk in her honor after raising five kids, one with special needs, she taught herself computer skills and went to work in a school helping kids. it's a great wait to honor her. and we're very glad that danny glompb has taken notice of the kind fund. he tweets this. great job to unicef and lawrence o'donnell of msnbc for their work with the kind fund providing decks to kids in malawi and adding work for the community. everyone at the last word is thrilled that danny glover is watching the show and he's right about desks providing work in malawi. the disks are made at factories in malawi using african materials and so before providing a proper place for kids to sit in classrooms, these desks are providing jobs to workers in malawi who can then reliably feed their families.

sheila sent this e-mail to the last word. i grew up in zambia, and know the courageous spirit of the people that you are trying to help. i appreciate the fact that this is not just a handout but an opportunity for the people to work together to help each other. giving the resources to create the jobs allows the workers to become productive and contributing members of the community. it also allows the people involved to experience a genuine feeling of self-worth for the children, it is an opportunity that they will all seize. my husband and i have donated four desks again this year and will continue to keep this program as our charitable contribution. and finally there was this. from david sappyer. watched your video today with my son joe. i always try to instill in my two boys just how well we have it and how important it is to keep our own disappointments in

perspective. that we have a responsibility to help others who are far less fortunate than we are. thank you for helping me reach my son. he said we should give whatever we could afford. we gave five desks. david, as parents we're always looking for those teachable moments for our children. and you just sent five desks into a malawi classroom where they will be used for years by two or three students at a time. dozens and dozens and dozens of students will be given a better chance to sect to the teachable moments that occur in those classrooms. thanks to you and thanks to everyone else who has contributed to the kind fund. tax tip, there are four days left to make a tax deductible contribution for this year.

if you have anything left to give or if you're looking for an extra deduction to evan puchak and danny glompb and everyone else who has tweeted about the kind fund or spread the word "in" any way and especially especially to those of you who have told me you simply can't afford to make a donation now but you've done everything you can do to spread the word, i can never thank you enough. tonight live from minneapolis,