>> it's nice to see you from the lovely ground of java joe's. >> i want to focus on the rick santorum momentum. a couple of things, we see that he's polling in third place. this is definitely a place santorum has not been of as yet. what do you attribute this to? the fact that rick santorum practiced good old passioned politics? >> i think there's both in play. rick santorum has done the hard

>> it's jonathan capehart, i'm glad you mentioned michele bachmann. what happened to her? she was the flavor of the month back in i believe it was july or august. and she's from iowa, she's also been on the ground there. why hasn't she caught fire? is she dead in the water right now. >> i'll answer the last question first, she as dead in the water as can be. as you guys probably know, her iowa co-chair soren sen defecteded from her campaign and

moved to the ron paul camp. that has caused a minor controversy out here. i was at michele bachmann media availability that she aallegeded that the reason he left was because he was offered a bunch of money by the paul campaign to switch. she claims he told her that in a telephone conversation a couple of days ago. he is denying that. her own political director is denying that.ç i asked her today if it's the case that she was told about this two days ago, which is what she said at this media availability, why she did not announce that it time they were trying to bribe away her co-chair? she refused to answer and walked a way. i think there's a reasonable chance the 10% or so of the vote she has now will evaporate quickly and migrate to other candidates, quite likely it could end up in rick santorum's column and make him --

strengthen his position even moreover the next few days. >> i thought that defection was weird. and this is not the first from the bachmann camp. it sure of endeared me to her who has put in so much time and here is this guy a turncoat at the ron paul event. to me it almost worked in her favor but i don't know if you read the situation like that. >> endearing is strong language but i think all of this just reflects the real sort of chaos in the segment of the republican party. i would say whatever happens in iowa, very, very particular environment there, very low unemployment, the way in which they vote is different. i don't see it representative of the larger national landscapes, i think that's important to keep in mind. >> i want to ask you john, when we talk about rick santorum, the

focus is usually his position on gay rights civil76)ó unions abortions and so forth. there are interesting policy prescriptions that he has if you will. one of them is a reliance, real belief that young adults should get a high school diploma and graduate and get married. he said for -- he said what two things will guarantee you will not be in poverty from america, this is obviously a very traditionalist view of american society. to what degree are folks in iowa unpacking rick santorum's policy positions? is there a closer look that's being given to him as a candidate? >> i think alex, i think that set of policy prescriptions are not just traditional view of american society and american family life but they have a lost of economic basis and the fact -- and we can make value judgments but it is true in general that intact families who

do graduate school and proceed into also into intact families tend to do better economically in america than those from broken homes and single mothers. there's been a lot of debate for the past 40 years and what kinds of things the government can do that don't seem excessively intrusive to encourage those kind of outcomes. republicans have embraced them and a lot of centrist democrats embrace those things over the past 20 or 30 years. i think rick santorum's rise -- i'm not sure how much iowans are familiar -- i tries often to get people to look at the economic prescriptions and foreign policy prescriptions as well where he feels as though he has a lot of strength being very conservative on questions of islamic jihadism and question of iran.

one of the weird things about santorum, in the last des moines register poll for second choice he was coming in only 4%. so he didn't have a big reservoir of people who even had him on the mind. yet, if you believe the recent spad of polls he is surging from out of mind to for many people their top choice. what are you seeing? >> well, i think i'd make of it. don't let any of them give you a hard time about that sweater. >> we're not giving him a hard time. >> charting new territory.

>> it's courage. it's courage and vision and i applaud ari for the sweater. i'm sorry if that came across as an indictment of a great shawl neck sweater. john, continue. >> alex wagner is a bit of a sar torial snob. that's great ski wear there. but to your actual point, look, i think that one of things, you know because you organized here, the way the campaigns organize is they talk to voters and they say -- they try to put people in one of three cat grryes, you're a one or two or three. oneç means you walk through a wall to vote for the person. two means you're kind of -- you're solid but not completely solid, we should probably send a car to make sure you get to the caucuses and three means you're not solid at all. it has been the case for a year across the campaigns there have been an unprecedented number of threes in everybody's column.

everybody looks at their support and their support feels weaker than they would like it to be and weak by historical standards. i think that that's another way of slicing it. a lot of voters who didn't have -- who didn't have santorum as thish second choice, they were also in the three category for the first choice, which means they are basically free agents and shopping for a candidate. and santorum has a lot to do with the fact that none of them could feel the love that they needed to feel for rick perry or michele bachmann or newt gingrich. >> feeling the love in cold iowa. is the state taking the gop off message? we'll get into that after the break on "now."

new reports tell us mitt romney is planning a precaucus party in iowa. he is spending the night next tuesday and scheduled national tv interviews the morning after the caucuses. wendy, this would be a sign of confidence, would it not? >> without question. the question is is he planning the party too soon. he needs to win iowa and be big if he wants to shut it down. then he goes to new hampshire and i think the game is over. brings a co-herance to the party policies, it's got to stand for something. >> i completely agree with that. i think it's more and more important because the economy is coming back. that gives obama an advantage. republicansç have to congeal around romney, love him or at least accept him and get on with things. >> iowa has really changed the dialogue to sort of social issues sort of conservative

bread and butter, not the economic dialogue that the republicans -- >> how much are socially conservative and libertarian at the same time? how do you tell them how to regulate and what to do in the bedroom and if they should be married. then you have ron paul, get out of my life. it was a little bit unpredictable and maybe we shouldn't take is as seriously as we are. >> john, you're over there, whags what is the mood like at ron paul headquarters versus mitt romney headquarters? >> i think both campaigns are on high. there's no question as you pointed out that the romney decision to stay here is do the morning interviews after the caucuses reflects a very high degree of confidence. not just on the basis of the public polling we saw yesterday, the times cnn poll that put him ahead. i think they believe they have a good chance of winning caucuses. it is a very risky thing to do

to stay here. if somehow he comes in second, it wouldn't be quite so bad to ron paul. if he somehow slipped to third it would be quite embarrassing to have him here then off in new hampshire where he must win but reflects a high degree of confidence. the paul people believe that they are a campaign of destiny. and i was in a ron paul -- >> a campaign of destiny should be the new slogan. sorry. continue on. >> no problem. i was at a ron paul event last night, veterans rally he did and i think it's been true all year long thatç the crowd strength s been very minimal, has been to most republican candidate events, ron paul has been the exception. last night he had more than 1,000 people at the iowa state fairgrounds, they love him. the people behind him are a very energized army. and ron paul is feeling his oats every stop he went to he pointed

out that there's more cameras and more people. he feels as though he has momentum and that he also has a ground game here that unlike anybody else's is going to be able to turn out their supporters on caucus night in big numbers and they believe it's a two-man race and i think they are probably right. ron paul very well could win or come in a close second to mitt romney and that's how he feels. >> a clean shaven army of ron paul -- >> i believe what we have at this point where the campaigns have better polling than the media does. i think romney's staying is either they expect to win decisively or come in second to ron paul. if they were worried about coming in second to gingrich or other people we've heard about previously, getting up that morning in iowa having lost to someone who could take the nomination would not be a strategic move. they are putting a strong bet down either winning or if paul comes in first, what they say to the party and establishment, here's your choice, we are the

only credible front-runner. >> can i just john a question. for me my issue with ron paul is the whole mess with those horribly offensive newsletters from the '80s and '90s, is anyone talking about this? orç has it actually helped. >> i will interject and say briefly highlights from a special issue in racial terrorism, the newsletters analyzing the riots. order was restored when it came time for blacks to pick up welfare closets. homosexuals were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities. is anybody talking about this stuff in iowa? >> i think that some number of people are talking about this in iowa and all people who are not going to vote for ron paul. he is a candidate who has a very high floor and also has a very clear ceiling. i think it's inconceivable that

ron paul will get more 25 or 26% of the vote. he will not get less than 23 or 24% of the vote. that puts him in a field to win or come in a strong second but there are 75% of iowans, the note people who not vote to ron paul if they had a gun to their head, they are receptive to the kind of messages you're referring to, but those people again were never going to vote for ron paul in the first place. it's not having a negative effect in the way you can see newt gingrich tumbling by 20% over the course of a couple of weeks. that's not going to happen to ron paul because 20 to 25% of the people who love him, loveu=i him. there's nothing to say to dis sway him, even though listening to him, you think he's an old man inç the park feeding stale

bread to the squirrels. >> i think many people think it, not saying who. >> it's wendy shiller. i want to ask you something about foreign policy and this brewing problem with iran, right and oil and embargoes. ron paul is so isolationist and if he actually comes out of iowa with momentum and goes to new hampshire where it's nice friendly place, what happens to the gop, things really heat up with iran and obama will make decisions, what does that do to the gop to have this guy running around saying we shouldn't do anything? >> well, i think you know as you know, there's a strong isolationist streak in the republican party. there has been for a very long time. i'm constantly reminded of the '96 campaign that i covered and spent time watching the rise of pat buchanan. he did very well in new hampshire. we're not seeing that kind of

strength from ron paul yet in new hampshire, though if he wins here he will get a boost going into new hampshire. there will be a debate much like the debate between pat buchanan and bob dole in 1996 between the dominant wing of the republican party which is not crazy isolationist and this other piece of the republican party. that will get litigated in new hampshire and south carolina. i think ron paul actually you'll see in south carolina in particular where there's a strong military culture and a lot of veterans you'll see the foreign policy debate get aired out in a way we haven't seen and expose the fault lines in the republican party. i don't think it will make ron paul any more electable and make mitt romney probably seem ]eát party e the views that ron paul holds in terms of withdrawing troops from korea and germany, for instance. >> the oracle from iowa, thank you for your time and wisdom as always. the blurring of the lines of

2012. we'll get into the redistricting of next year. that's next on "now." [ male announcer ] in 1924, an italian chef came to ohio. people loved the food... begged for the chef's recipes. but, in a twist that made history, he gave it to them to-go. real italian seasoned meat and vine-ripened tomatoes. his food became famous. and soon, so did he. hello, i am chef boyardee. [ male announcer ] and his legacy of quality ingredients and no preservatives is still in every bowl. a real great chef. with real great food.

all eyes are on the 2012 race, the electoral districts are shifting. dennis kucinich will face 14 term congresswoman marcy kaptur. the reason? the legislature voted earlier to kpin their two districts. we talk about voter i.d. laws which we'll get to later in the show. redistricting is an issue if we're talking about the democratic process. i want to talk -- one thing that seems too defy logic is why states have -- leave it up to the legislature and the party currently in control to redistrict -- basically draw the battle lines.

it would seem to serve you not so well depending on where your party is at. >> it's about self-preservation. give it to the legislature to protect themselves and protect their jobs and you would hope idealistically speaking protect the constituents. it's about maintaining power for the individual or individuals or the party that's running things when they happen to be in power every ten years when this happens. >> or both parties, two-party system. they cut deals, right? majority does do thing in majority favor but minority goes along with it. it completely denies voters' choice and makes it hard for third parties. it is a mistaken line that they have the system. that's why we have it. >> it's going to lead to incredibly polarized politics that we're seeing in iowa and seen this election. it's going to get worse going forward as census date it is ç parsed and this becomes more and more common. there ought to be laws against it actually.

>> we look at what happened in the payroll tax cut fight and highly charged and partisan the atmosphere is. and you have these districts that are one party or represent certain interests, it almost becomes impossible to to have any compromise on the hill because you have folks representing one point of view. how is that not mr undermining the notion of democracy where you're placing a hole in the tires or kog in the wheels. >> what is democracy good at? it's bad at protecting minority rights. it's good at helping ambitious people get into office but it's bad regulating their ambition because they get to pick their own voters. if you look at supreme court precedent, the court has been very hesitant to tinker with this. there were cases about whether competitiveness should be an issue because if a district is

more competitive it is to your point, it's going to be less partisan. and may have actual more competitive races that people think on the abstract are good for democracy. and the court has said, we don't think that's a good rationale. if you look at the last 50 years, the only time they've done something good in the area is on race, where they said you can't use the districts to deny people candidates based on race because that's a sensitive and and an area -- recent history is better. when you get into competition and partisanship, the court resisted efforts to regulate redistricting. >> the supreme court will be taking up the issue of redistricting in texas which is1 a battle largely centered around minority communities and states gaining four seats because of population growth and 85% has been in the minority communities but the districting plan put forward by the legislature would decrease the number of minority communities -- would decrease the districts from 11 to 10. which seems like clear jerry

manderring. >> under the voting rights act, the department of justice had a role in ensuring -- that is the one area, who knows what this court will do. that's one area that's been better. >> your point about democracy is interesting, gerri mannedering denies the legitimacy of government. we've had this incredible swing between the private and public sector. government -- people need to feel they can trust government decision, otherwise we'll go into several more years of -- >> the supreme court is taking up this along with few very incendiary topics which we'll talk about more after the break. what will the new year bring for health care? we'll talk about those and more next on "now." [ coughs ]

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when generations of immigrants saw the statute tu of liberty for the first time, they were coming to a place where anything was possible -- >> that's mitt romney talking about immigration in a new ad released this morning. next year the supreme court will take up immigration and health care putting those divisive issues at the center of the campaign. mitt romney on immigration, the rest of the ad features people of the same skin tone, which is white. >> mitt romney has a real problem on immigration, he's been forced to go to the right early in the process. i think it just completelyo0 @&% 'qu5átj latinos in the democratc column. the pugh center cameç out with poll more for the democratic party. if you alienate latinos, you have a real problem and make states like arizona in play. these are real states, new mexico, i think you're giving away a lot of territory before

the campaign gets started. >> here's the thing. it's not like president obama is seen as a savior or good on immigration as well. the hispanic community is very upset with the president and administration for the deportations. >> 400,000 in the last three years. >> folks aren't happy about that. but when you put the president's record in what he's doing up against the rhetoric coming out of the republican party, as that pugh report shows, latino voters, hispanic voters go right over to president obama. >> i think it's actually the poll you're talking about, obama gets 68% and romney gets 23%. it's worth talking about the trend lines. mccain did 31% and bush did 34% in 2004. i can only see those numbers going down based on the polls we have. the rhetoric is as jonathan says, so pointed, the reference of illegals and this turning off

the magnets and you have ads like that -- >> don't forget anchor babies. >> going to your point about how the republicans once again manage to give obama ground. with payroll they make them look like a tax cutter and now making him look like a pro-immigration candidate. >> not even pro immigration but toll rant. >> toll rant. i do feel it's beenç divisive rhetoric and to the detriment to the party in the long term. when we talk about the economic underpinnings of having a draconian administration -- you. >> it's huge, ask anybody in silicon valley and they are furious. there's no research showing even low level immigration, it's sort of a net economic wash. immigrants even at the low levels do not cost us more than they give us in benefits. but at the higher level it's a huge competitiveness issue and

these immigrants that get engineering degrees they have options now. they can go back to china. the government will pay $100,000 bonus to do that. they don't need to stay here, anymore. >> and that point, illegal immigration is down at historic levels because there are no jobs. the supreme court will be taking this issue up specifically in regards to arizona's immigration law. i believe they are taking it up next spring. how does this change the race? if you have mitt romney or whoever the nominee is facing off against president obama. how does this change the dynamics of the race? >> i think there have been made up racial sort of fake controversies we can all remember over the last couple of years that reverb rate and really fade and everyone says i can't believe we are talking about a supposed black panther fox news party. then we have the real stories,

the doj looking at the racial component. and i think they have a real staying power. they matter in policy and what the president says about them because they are not something that you campaignç on. you are actually going to have to deal with this and the arizona law is suspect because it's taking a class of person, whether or not they are noncitizen, taking a class and giving them different treatment. that's something the courts tend to give a heightened scrutiny towards. >> if you look at iowa where the population grew by 84% over the last decade and nonimmigrant population grew by 2%, it's a very incendiary sensitive subject for iowans but other parts, new hampshire, for example, it's not so much of a hot button issue and negotiating that will be hard for gop nominee, let's say it's mitt romney who has come out of the gates in iowa with this fiery rhetoric then has to pivot back

to a nu ansed position. >> it used to be the nixon strategy, go to the right then move back to the middle when you get in the general election. the republican party has veered so far right their pivot back to the center leads them for to the right. the republican party will not survive if it continues down this road because the latino population is the fastest growing population in the country and also they vote. as that the pugh report says if the republican candidate does not meet the -- the number of votes that john mccain got, they will not win. >> as demographic issue it is certainly one they are em employing questionable tactics around. let's talk about health care for a second, that is the other hot button issue that the supreme court will take up next year and

>> it's unclear that the court will in fact repeal -- or start -- allowing mandate or appealing a mandate. they may say no one is affected by this yet. it goes into effect two years from now and we have a standing idea if you don't have an injury, you can't make a ruling. it's unclear what they are going to do. the irony would be if they struck down the mandate but also struck down the arizona immigration law. which would confuse politics, right? i think people will receive benefits from the healthcare bill, particularly the unemployed college graduates on their parents' insurance. millions of americans will benefit by the time november comes around. i think republicans might back fire on them because those people getting a benefit won't get it anymore. >> if you look at the polling on this -- i've been citing a lot of polls but why not.

the foundation poll, the opinion of the health care reform law is unfavorable. at the end of the day when asked what they would like congress to do? they say expand or keep it. once there's greater familiarity and transparency how this works, i think you'll see an american population that embraces it. >> i agree. i think we're move from the notion that freedom equals private. clearly that wasn't working. we have the most expensive health care in the work and worst health outcomes. with so many people falling into poverty and one out of three fall into poverty because of a medical çemergency, that points dropping and they are seeing it as a corporate competitiveness issue. we're competing against global companies that don't have health care issue to grapple with and it's something that -- >> it's especially interesting in the numbers that show one or two americans live at or near pover

poverty. a bad medical bill could set them under. after the break, the year of unions, the protests and progress made in the last year. that's next on "now." when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief? try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first...it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. see how fast it works for you. get a coupon in this sunday's papers. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you want a firm bed you can lie on one of those. we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. it's really shaping to my body. once they get our bed, they're like,

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more than anybody we're standing up for the middle class, the hard working taxpayers and people i respect. >> scott walker defended himself against critics who want to throw him out of office. at issue is his controversial law limiting the rights of labor unions. scott walker is fighting for his life is the appropriate term here but facing a significant recall vote. they need 540,000 signatures they are at 500,000 signatures, there's a lot of disgrunted wisconsinites who think egs

taking draconian steps. where do we see the power of unions there was kneecapping down earlier this year. i wonder as we have the conversation about income and equality and focused on the working class, where do you feel the unions are in terms of power? >> i think that it's easy to be glib about "time" saying this was the year of the protester, right and easy to say -- >> or celebrate it and not be glib at all. >> what does it even mean? right? any device like that comes with criticism. but i think it is actually completely true in wisconsin what you had was a union driven grass roots pushback to the most powerful people in the state and washington was slow to understand it and most of the media i think was slow to understand it and it had a big impact. then obviously the sort of grass roots national component was the occupy protest. same pattern of what i just said and eventually a huge impact and this is not what i would call

professionalized politics, it's not what all of us around the table often have to deal with and write about. this is grass roots politics and it has had a tremendous impact because it dovetails with economic unrest that's widespread. >> is that true? you agree. i disagree, so you go first. >> i agree because i think it does ring and chime with the economic issues at the moment. the fact is that laborer, not only in this country but every rich country has been losing its share of the pie since the '70s. we didn't notice it so much in the boom years but now we are. unions earn a better moment than they have been in years -- >> now at the end of the year. >> and but the key is working with government working with corporations. in germany, for example, where unions are very effective, they sit on the boards of companies and help to work out labor negotiations, that's why germany has done so well. we can take a page out of that book. >> this isn't amateur hour.

occupy wall street and wisconsin and ohio which is the more remarkable thing for the unions, 3 million people came out to vote to protect marketing rights for union workers in ohio. >> there was a difference between wisconsin and ohio. part of the reason that folks are giving ohio a second look is precisely because john kasic expected policemo4úsú!vóqçoñ3 t and firefighters which cuts very close to home. there's a belief in what they q1"jjut jobs and that basically kasich was trying to curb their rights with everyone else's was a real touch point for the movement. >> and they are public unions. >> that's something scott walker didn't do in wisconsin. he picked one set of unions to go after and exempted others but what ended up happening was a backlash where all unions came out and pushed against him. i think one of things that we also must keep in mind is that they are going after collective

bargaining but they were also taking away benefits that were already promised or given. when you heard the debate about what was happening. i remember mike barnicle said on "morning joe", back then, let's take a step back. remember these aren't people who stole anything fs this was what was promised to them. we have to keep that in mind when we talk about this issue. when you see what's happened in wisconsin and ohio and all over the country, that a movement, the labor movement which many people thought as you were saying is sort of dying and no one really noticing, found a second wind. >> i agree with jonathan, this is an element of the social contact. the difference between a salary and defined benefit pension is supposed to be the timing. the difference is not supposed to be that one you have in your bank account and the other is a giant question mark. that doesn't help us as a society and help us do their planning. it's wrong. it's wrong. we understand businesses make

decisions and they don't have a ethical component. they have to do what's efficient. you have to honor labor contracts and i think this fight has been exactly asç you've bo said to split the different members of labor and get -- >> public from private. >> public from private which helps ee maciate it. when i was in minneapolis and we're working together saying we understand what they are trying to do and we're trying to ban together but it's difficult when you look at the arrayed forces against them. >> really an interesting debate to be having especially as we look at stagnaturing wages for the working and middle class and importance of labor unions in preserving a certain amount of money in these pockets. coming up what now, the island of samoa is five hours behind us now. tomorrow at this time they'll be a day ahead of us. how all of that adds up after the break.

i'm andrea mitchell, coming up next, it's five days to go before the big iowa caucuses and the republican field is anything but set. rick santorum is the latest to surge in the polls. will it last? we'll break it down, the iowa ground game in our daily fix with chris cillizza and mitt romney'ses rising expectations and the rising tensions with iran, what are the political risks for president obama. coming up less than 15 minutes now. oh it's clearance time! yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how to walk. she is taking up valuable cart space. aren't you, honey? [ male announcer ] it's our biggest clearance event of the year where our prices are even lower. save money. live better. walmart.

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welcome back, it's time for what now. a real life lost on the tiny south pacific island of samoa which is moving forward in time with its neighbor toek lau, they will not celebrate friday december 29th, they will skip needily to saturday. this is a bid to get the island closer to the pacific time zones

where they have more trading partners. >> i can't wrap my head around this, still. so they are dumping friday all together or just tomorrow? >> there will be no friday. >> tomorrow or forever? >> just tomorrow. >> that's what i didn't get. >> to catch them up and then they are -- >> tomorrow is saturday.ç okay, no lost fans here. >> this is the most american world, time is shifting towards asia. >> this is the economic lesson to be learned here. >> it feels like a novel. >> vor hess, if you kind of admit this is made up and take out a day, does the whole society crumble because people realize everything is made up. >> professor shiller? >> time is construct. we're moving on. federal prosecutors are preparing criminal charges in the bp oil disaster case. we talk about energy and national security.

do you guys think this reignites a national conversation around environmental issues or energy? >> i completely think it is, $100 oil which will be the future makes it more economically possible to go in extreme areas where most of the nonsort of politically charged i'll is now, really deep under ice or under the ocean. these topics are going to get bigger and bigger and you know there's going to be more problems in the future. >> we talked about key stone at some length, obviously the situation in iran. there is a national conversation about the cost of energy in this country. bp is one of those -- there's been a lot of rhetoric about why the administration is not a bigger proponent of administrative drilling. it's almost as if as we look back on the year and time past stretched though it may be, bp seems like a very long time ago in terms of our national

conscious about that. in that way it'sç opportune we would be looking bat and repercussions and where our energy policy is at. moving on to lighter topics sort of if, if this were halloween, scott brown would be going as underdog, which is not officially a character in any cartoon. he is now positioning himself as the underdog. >> she was going to be painted as this elite liberal from cambridge and ran one ad, one commercial that shows her whole background, incredibly effective ad, she's doing really well. >> underdog was a cartoon character. >> the cape. >> i watched it every morning. >> not a nerd. but the other thing about scott brown, remember, he was one -- he was the first senator during the payroll tax cut fight when the house didn't do what the senate did. he immediately like ran for the microphones and said, i don't

think that they are playing politics or not doing the right thing. we know why he did that because he's in a very tough race for re-election, a seat held by senator kennedy for 44 years. >> alex, i think this is the most important senate race that's going on. national implications and up-ends the cliches we like to have. the tea party is right wring and predictable. no, he was an early tea party favorite in an obviously blue state and as jonathan pointed out, taking different positions on economic policy. elizabeth warren can't get confirmed will be out on the far left? no, she's a mainstream economic populist who represents 70 to 80% -- >> if you look at the polls, ç yeah, taxing millionaires to get us out of the recession or do stimulative spending or help us cover unemployment benefits, all of those things strongly supported. maybe one day people thought those were far left but they are not if you care about what's out

there. this is a race that has interesting and important ideas on both sides. >> and gender. it will be the first female senator elected from massachusetts and for such a liberal state, i think they are overdo. >> there's mentioning that scott brown keeps referring to her a professor warren, but as professor wendy shiller can tell you, professors know from what's real. thanks again to ari and wendy for coming on the show. you can follow us on twitter, andrea mitchell reports is next. welcome back, i missed you. >> thank you so much, alex. up next, the final push is in iowa, the race is fluid with more than 40% undecided. we'll talk to romney campaign senior adviser finnstrom plus ron paul's views on foreign policy raising eyebrows. why has immigration emerged

as a decisive issue for iowa.