so this means reid, obama, boehner, and mcconnell continue to chat. >> chris cillizza, the odd dynamicu'll correct me if i'm wrong, is that the president needs john boehner, does he not? but for boehner, where does he go? with whom can he negotiate? harry reid can't speak for the house. >> right. i would say this, i think he needs john boehner because if they do want to try this 250000 and above bill they need the republican leadership to be willing to put it on the floor for a vote, and that includes john boehner, and then the question, michael, is can they peel off 20, 25, 30 republicans. it's the exact opposite math but can they take a handful of republicans, add them to the majority of democrats, and is boehner okay with passing something like this with what would certainly be if it was the $250,000 or above a minority of the majority. so, you know, a lot of it does still lay in boehner's hands though i think his leverage is significantly reduced. does he bring the bill up and is he okay with a minority of the majority. that's not something we've seen in the modern era of the repub

i'm chris cillizza in today for chuck todd. we start with speaker boehner's stunning defeat last night. his own party pulling the rug out from under him with just 11 days to go before we go over the fiscal cliff. boehner and his team spent the better part of the week trying to round up support for his plan b to avoid the cliff but in the end there weren't enough republicans willing to pass it. so at 7:45 last night the speaker convened house republicans, said a prayer, broke the news, and sent everyone home for the holidays. the majority leader eric canter relayed the news to reporters. >> no vote today? >> no. >> will there be a vote tomorrow? >> no. >> are you ditching plan b? will there be a vote today? >> no. >> what happened tonight, mr. cantor? >> a statement from boehner came almost simultaneously. he said the house did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass. now it is up to the president to work with senator reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff. the

. >> and "the washington post's" chris cillizza. i think you've been reupped.ou're all over the place. you're the greatest. the absolute best there is in this -- >> let's be careful talking about the president outside the beltway in virginia. >> this is why i want you and chris on. what is the president hoping to get done? what's his time frame? does he believe in the cliff or does he think it's a bungee jump? >> no, he truly believes in the cliff. he has been getting -- and he's getting economic warnings from his own team that say, don't believe the congressional budget office, which is kind of rosy about this, who says it would be a tough 2013 if we went over the cliff but things would get better. he is getting updates saying, no, no, no, we will go into recession. >> therefore, let's go to the therefore now, can he arrange a credible, reasonably progressive deal before christmas, before the 21st? >> here is where we're at. i think now we know what the book ends are at this point. the book end -- the worst good deal he's going to get and i think -- that's rig

chuck todd is nbc's chief white house correspondent and political director, and chris cillizza is managingr of postpolitics.com. gentlemen, i know we all saw this. this is what we used to call the topic sentence. i think this was the most telling, action-oriented piece of what the president said last night up in connecticut. let's listen to it now. >> in the coming weeks, i will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. because what choice do we have? we can't accept events like this as routine. are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage? that the politics are too hard? are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom? >> chuck todd, you know, gun control was probably not in many politicians' songbook going into this coming year, but now it is. reality, reality checks, reality bites. do you think the president has give

joining me now our end of the year gaggle for most of the show, contributor and managing editor, chris cillizza and perry bacon. stephanie cutter with president obama and kevin madden for governor romney's campaign. we asked all of you -- first of all, hello. >> hello. >> happy new year and all of you to pick. i threw out a dozen and asked you to pick two. again, not going to do the 2016 conversation now but we will in a few minutes. chris -- >> holding off. >> who are the two that jumped out at you thinking 2013? >> so i'm a little nerdy and focused on, you know, down ballot races and picked michael bennet, the colorado senator, the new head of the democratic senatorial campaign committee and tasked with trying to again keep a democratic senate majority, going to be difficult. you have 20 seats up. ten republican seats up. >> wants to be senate majority leader and why he's doing this. >> right. they asked him two years ago and said no. >> why pence? >> so i think mike pence, a guy that spent time in congress, the governor of indiana. i think he's a guy we underrate in terms of his influence. w

. >>> chris cillizza is back.today looking at the golden globe nominations. >> yes. >> a lot of political subjects. steven spielberg and daniel day-lewis, of course, for "lincoln," extraordinary movie. >> great movie. i saw it this weekend with my wife. >> and ben affleck is nominated for "argo," of course that interview with him, and "zero dark 30" coming out soon, causing a lot of buzz because of its controversial take on the hunt for bin laden and "game change," the hbo series with -- inspired by the book by our friends, heilman and halpern. >> man, if those guys don't have big heads already this is just gonna make it worse, you know? >> it's gonna make it a whole lot worse, say nothing of sigourney weaver and jeff daniels in "newsroom" and "downton abbey." >> our a favorite. thanks so much. >> a plug for "homeland" very quickly. great show. >> "homeland." >>> that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell report." >>> tomorrow, joe lieberman and jeffrey goldberg joining us. >>> tamron hall has what is next

i'm chris cillizza in for chuck todd. with sweeping tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect at midnight, even lawmakers are now publicly pessimistic about the ability of congress to, well, get anything done. at best, democrats and republicans will patch together a limited, short-term deal to avoid the most immediate economic impacts of the fiscal cliff. with 15 hours to go and counting, members of congress are disgusted and embarrassed. >> when the future of the country, you know, rests in the hands of 70 and 80-year-olds who have jet lag, it's probably not the best thing. >> something has done terribly wrong when the biggest threat to our american economy is our american congress. >> the senate will reconvene at 11:00 this morning, but after a day of public gamesmanship and little obvious progress behind the scenes on sunday. >> there's still significant distance between the two sides, but negotiations continue. >> i want everyone to know i'm willing to get this done, but i need a dance partne

. >> good day, i'm chris cillizza in for andrea mitchell live in washington. behind the bluster and the rhetoric, what happens going on behind the scenes in the budget negotiations? and big breaking news in this town. senator jim demint, a tea party favorite and conservative icon, is surprisingly resigning his seat at end of the year. join me to talk about all of it, chuck todd, nbc's chief white house correspondent, political director and host of "the daily rundown and kelly o'donnell. chuck, to you. let's talk about not necessarily demint about what this means in the broader movement. he went to the face of the tea party movement, the face of it in the senate. it stunned me when i heard about it. what's your reaction? what does it tell us about the tea party and the conservative movement generally? >> what a leading member of the conservative movement said to me, which was, jim demint made the decision to resign his senate seat to become the ceo of the conservative movement. if there was a way to become a bigger player in the conservative movement, that is w

segment, nbc news political director and host of "the daily rundown ,"and "the washington post's" chris cillizzack to you, chuck, for this question. let's just be, as you always are, but i'll be as well, totally analytical. what has skunked the republican name in this country in the last several months more than any time before? what's wrong? >> well, what's wrong is you've got to realize it's not been several months, it's been several years. the trend data is unmistakable. this has basically been in the wrong direction for the republican party going back to 2005. they've had a small blip in 2010 when they won control and the president was pushing an unpopular health care bill. that was their moment that they were able to get power again, get back into government, but if you look back, this has been a five-year trend of a very slow erosion, and by the way, you don't just see it in polling. if you look over the last ten years, but particularly the last six years, in exit polling and people who self-identify with the republican party, there has been a slow percentage over time that trended down. i

chris cillizza, we have a lot.n according to josh rogan and his blog saying he's going to join the foreign relations committee. he is on arms services. he has enough seniority to try to get on to foreign relations which means he would be on the committee that is confirming susan rice or john kerry. >> that's right. >> or whoever the nominee will be. we know the mri on rg3 was better than feared. not an acl but a sprain and we have to find out whether or not he's going to play next week against the browns. >> probably the biggest news in washington is the state of rg3. just moments ago nikki haley said she would not be appointing a placeholder and whoever she does appoint and looking at this media availability tomorrow in charleston and will be someone she believes running for the full term in 2014. it adds to the scott of pick, speculation at the moment. >> all right. and our wishes are with rg3 and thank you very much. that does it for this edition of "an dree mitchell reports." tamron hall has a look at what's ne

chris cillizza is filling in for her. good afternoon, mr.i don't know what those words mean but assume they're compliments. >> $5 compliments. >> i'll take them. >> coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," jim demint is out. the tea party leader announces his departure from congress. what does it mean for the senate and the future of the republican party? chuck todd, gop senator leader john barrasso and more. congressman john larson on what role house democrats can play in the budget negotiations. and the latest on the showdown in syria and defense secretary leon panetta's warning for president assad with former ambassador nick burns. male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. conditions people over 50 experience. crest pro-health for life. so jill can keep living the good life. cr

. >>> chris srisihris cillizza is >> they put out a statement saying we expect more in washington tomorrow. unclear to put out an extended statement and questions from the press or not. we know the president of the nra will be on with david gregory on "meet the press" so a big weekend to see what the nra plan to do going forward. >> exactly. i'll be on the program, as well. thank you for the plug and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague tamron hall has a look at when's next. >> hi, andrea. plan "b" basically stands for be real. and house republicans get ready to bring boehner plan to the floor for a vote. senator reid says it's got no chance of passing the senate. what's the possible solution? >>> democratic congressman pass quell and congresswoman swartz will join us. tomorrow, the nra holds that big news conference we have been waiting for. will the organization announce support of gun control legislation? that's the gut check question of the day. the only underarm treatment for low t. that's right, the one you apply to the underarm. axiron is not for