d.c., all day long, of course, becky, jim cramer, brian sullivan, maria will be holding lawmakers' feet to the fire in direct interviews about where they stand on the fiscal cliff and how they'll do their part to rise above partisan politics and reach a deal. earlier on "squawk box," erskine bowles, the co-founder of the fix the debt campaign, co-chair of fiscal responsibility and reform was asked about the progress he thinks both sides were making. >> i think the atmospherics are getting so much better. we've kind of gotten out of the ka kooky theater and gone to dancing the tango with those two guys. any time you start to tango you got a chance. >> joining us this morning from newton, mass, greg manke, economic adviser to the romney campaign, former chair of economic advisers under george w. bush now an economics prof s professor at harvard and ron johnson, director at the institute for new economic thinking and a senior fellow at the roosevelt institute. skwre, good to have you both