chuck todd and john harris. we have the heavy hitters. her's the question. nationwide, gingrich is at 36, way ahead of where romney has been nationally. romney below that 25%. he never gets above a 23%. ron paul, the libertarian is at 12. he's irreallevant to the debate. chuck todd, i have a theory. the more they attack newt, the better he looks. he looks more blooded, tougher, nastier with more dirt on his uniform. it's what he wants to look like. >> it's the rush limbaugh theory. more the establishment. >> a broken clog twice a day, we're talking rush. >> george will, david brooks, peggy noonan. now we have the superpack. that is the risk here. if you don't knock him out now, what does not kill him will only make him stronger as this marches on. that's why this is a risk strategy. the people have no choice. they can't let him get ahead of steam in iowa but it comes with risk. iowa is a place that whoever is the perceived conservative has the upper hand. >> isn't this definitional, john harris? if you get into a boxing match, you make him into a boxer. ever

and nbc's chief white house correspondent chuck todd. also joining the conversation this morning, iowa'sepublican governor, terry branstad. >>> good morning. what a difference a month makes. newt gingrich is now the undisputed front-runner in the republican race, he's atop the polls in iowa and new hampshire, and look at this, this morning we have new results from our nbc/maris poll, south carolina and florida, it is gingrich going away in both of those states. as the front-runner, gingrich bore the brunt of the attacks in last night's republican debate in iowa and here with us live this morning, dr. ron paul, the texas congressman and candidate for president, of course. dr. paul, welcome back to the program. >> thank you, david. good to be with you. >> did newt gingrich do anything to diminish his chances in iowa last night? >> well, i don't know whether he did it. but i think because he had to face a lot of serious questions about, you know, his change in positions, and what he has to defend, i would think that he shouldn't have gained

his own numbers and sharing them with our chief white house correspondent and political director, chuck todd. chuck joins us now from des moines. good evening, chuck. >> reporter: good evening, lester. for the entire year the question hanging over the republican race is who is the alternative to mitt romney? today we spent the day with the once surging newt gingrich who days ago looked like he locked up the anybody but romney slot but was now struggling. newt gingrich now acknowledging his slipping status in iowa making the case that a close fourth could be enough. what do you have to do here in iowa? >> you have to be in the top three or four. >> reporter: you have to win iowa or new hampshire? >> and south carolina. every single one. >> reporter: for gingrich it's about trying to become the lone alternative to mitt romney, and romney is doing everything he can to keep the former speaker down here. today a telling exchange over romney's health care mandate. >> i knew he supported the plan in the past, and i believe he supported it until he got into the race this year. maybe before that he c

all right. >> there is. >> chuck todd in atlantic. thank you very much. >>> first it was banks and credit card companies that triggered outrage over new customer fees. now the nation's largest wireless phone and internet provider says it will start charging a fee to millions of customers who pay their bills online. you heard that right. they want you to pay for the privilege of paying your bill. it's got more than a few people more than a little steamed. pete williams is in washington with the details. pete, good evening. >> reporter: verizon is calling this a convenience fee. it means customers who pay their wireless phone or internet bills directly to verizon online on the company's website will be charged $2 each time for the privilege of paying their own bills. the new fee goes into effect in mid january and applies to subscribers of verizon wireless. the nation's largest wireless service provider. as word of it spreads it's coming as an unwelcome surprise. >> $2 is a lot when it sums up through the years. >> if there is extra mon

i'm chris cillizza in for chuck todd this morning. let's get to my first reads of the morning. we begin with the massive game of political chicken that is going on in our nation's capitol. in a last-ditch effort to extend the tax cut and unemployment benefits president obama called boehner. boehner wouldn't bend. with most of the conduct cuss leaving orrer are gone, chances of a deal appear slim. mark murray joins me now. i was saying, before we came on, this is second verse, same as the first. we've been here for the last 24 to 48 hours which is essentially the house says we're not doing it the senate says we're not doing it. and certainly feels like house republicans are on an island at the moment. you're got senator republicans, democrats united in congress, the "wall street journal" editorial page saying this is not a good strategy and they need to change it. how can they -- is there a way out of the corner they've backed themselves into? >> that's the question we don't have an answer to now. yes, democrats hold a political and pr advantage now. talk to any republican outsi

chuck todd at the american legion post on the campaign trail tonight. thanks. >>> we have an unusual story tonight to report about what the army thinks really happened in the case of a young private whose body was found in a guard tower in afghanistan in october. danny chen, an asian-american from the chinatown section of new york city had committed suicide but the military's investigation further found that chen had been the target of ethnic slurs and physical attacks at the hands of his fellow soldiers. tonight eight of them have been charged with manslaughter and other serious crimes for allegedly driving danny chen to take his own life. >>> with more citizen video coming out of syria these days during a very bloody week, the obama administration is using very strong language about what is happening there, accusing president asad's government of mowing down its own citizens. more than 200 are now dead there it's believed since monday. >>> we'll take a break. up next as we continue on a wednesday night, on the ground in afghanistan with americans in u

thanks, chuck todd for waking up early. >>> now to 2012 politics. newt gingrich continues to top the field. the former house speaker is looking toward the general election focusing his attack directly on president obama and called the president's speech "wild rhetoric." >> he represents a hard left radicalism. he is opposed to free enterprise. he is opposed to capitalism and opposed to everything that made america great. we'll have the candidate of food stamps, the finest food stamp president in american history in are barack obama. i want to help every american have a better future. he wants to make sure he levels americans down so we all have a mediocre future. >> with larry kudlow. a new poll shows gingrich surging to the top with 37% support. that's up 15 points from mid-november. mitt romney holding teddy at 22% but 15 points behind newt gingrich. that again a national poll. the iowa caucus is less than a month away, what you want to focus on, gingrich continues to lead there. the latest "the new york times"/cbs poll shows him with 31% support.

chuck todd recently sat down with shirley and began by asking him about the genesis of the book. >> whatanted to do, chuck, was to take the reader and try to put them in the moment and see what america was going through in that historic moment, the 1st through the 31st eyes of the parents, grand parents or great grandparents. many wonderful book written about franklin roosevelt, eleanor roosevelt, the cabinet earthquake the war department, what was going on with the gems in that period but never a from the perspective of the american people ultimatelying the ones asked to make the sacrifice. that is what i try i had to a much accomplish. >> the morning of december 7th, isolation of america was at peace, december 8th, internationalist america was at war and became forever an altered country. the defining moniker of the country majority moving from an isolationist point of view. >> yeah. we go -- that is really the bright line, december 7th, between the america of the past and the america of the future. you know, from the time of washington, 'cause he in his farewell -- >> it was not a sta

. >> coming up, chuck todd will join me from iowa where he's been spending time on the gingrich bus. to brief us on everything we need to know about the big day next week. and in the rewrite tonight. when the republican presidential campaign makes it to california, they've got a very hot issue waiting for them. it's going to be on the same ballot their names will be on. it's a proposition about pornography that will test how much the republican candidates believe all their anti-government, ain't regulation rants. >>> news for our final update for the year on the kind fund. this bills and delivers desks to kids in african schools. unicef has counted $351,626 in additional contributions. now, much of that is unicef catching up with the flood of online contributions that poured in over the christmas weekend. the total, we have raised this christmas season is now $1,469,639. and the total we've raised since beginning the program last year is $3,883,638. a jump of more than $350,000 in the last 24 hours of counting. that is enough, that total that we have now is enough to build an deliver

. >> coming up, chuck todd will join me from iowa where he's been spending time on the gingrich bus.to brief us on everything we need to know about the big dayç next week. and in the rewrite tonight. when the republican presidential campaign makes it to california, they've got a very hot issue waiting for them. it's going to be on the same ballot their names will be on. it's a proposition about pornography that will test how much the republican candidates believe all their anti-government, ain't regulation rants. this is lara. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. 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. [ female announcer ] get an aleve coupon in this sunday's paper. not financially. so we switched to the bargain detergent, and i found myself using three time

chuck todd and peter alexander are in iowa tonight. we begin with peter in mason city. peter, good evening. >> reporter: harry, good evening to you. one sign that mitt romney's campaign is gaining confidence and looking forward to the opportunity to win here in iowa next week is today they announced they will host a party after tuesday night's caucuses and stay overnight to do tv interviews before heading to new hampshire where romney is heavily favored. before a large crowd in this iowa city that inspired the broadway play "the music man". >> i feel like breaking into "76 trombones" but i will not do that now. >> reporter: frontrunner mitt romney focused his closing argument on patriotic values. >> o beautiful for patriot dream, that sees beyond the years. >> reporter: while many iowa republicans are still searching -- >> see how they interact with the crowd. >> reporter: carlin erickson is leading toward romney because he can win though her political heart lies elsewhere. >> even though i love michele bachmann and would like to see her maybe be vice president or whate

and so it goes. >> chuck todd tonight. thanks. >>> we have an unusual story tonight to report about what the army thinks really happened in the case of a young private whose body was found in a guard tower in afghanistan in october. danny chen, an asian-american from new york city had committed suicide but the military's investigation further found that chen had been the target of ethnic slurs and physical attacks at the hands of his fellow soldiers. tonight eight of them have been charged with manslaughter and other serious crimes for allegedly driving danny chen to take his own life. with more citizen video coming out of syria these days during a very bloody week the obama administration is using very strong language about what is happening there accusing president asad's government of mowing down its own citizens. more than 200 are now dead there it's believed since monday. >>> we'll take a break. up next as we continue on a wednesday night, with americans in uniform in afghanistan and some are now openly gay. many said

chuck todd, i have a theory. the more they attack -- i was going to call him nietzsche, because he is nietzsche. the more they attack newt, the better he looks, because he looks more blooded, tougher, nastier, with more dirt on his uniform. and that's what he wants to look like. >> that's the rush limbaugh theory. that's what he said this week. the more establishment attacks him, and it's been brutal -- >> even a broken clock is right twice a day, talking about rush. >> george will, david brooks, peggy noonan, then you've mad member of congress. there's a whisper campaign, and now it's sort of a megaphone campaign. now we've got the super pac. and that is the risk here, right? which is, if you don't knock him out now, what does not kill him will only make him stronger, as this marches on. so that's why this is a risk/reward strategy. i think the romney people have no choice. they have to figure out -- they can't let him get out of steam ahead of iowa, but, boy, this comes with risk, because iowa is a place that w

are i'm dying to get your opinions on this because it's just so ludicrous that chuck todd rather than analyzing what newt gingrich had to say which is like hey you just said that every single palestinian is a terrorist which is a completely crazy statement because people are going to like this one because he's not afraid to say what he thinks but he cannot isn't that what chuck todd does though he kind of skirts all the issues and it's like i don't want to tell you what i think but this is what the polls are telling me if you can hear that you said is a blatant lie you know maybe we should follow not only went over the polls for i'm not kidding like ten minutes i was like who watches this is so boring that's what the news media is focused on now it is you know they're focused on how will the statement play in the polls rather than analyzing what the statement is and for better or for worse that's what the people want to see you know people seem to tune in to programs that analyze who's up who's down you know what how this is going to play in the media scandal effects that i didn't kno

it's where we begin tonight with our chief white house correspondent and political director, chuck todd. hey, chuck, good evening. >> good evening, brian. you got that right. as the republican campaign appears headed to a two-way contest, the man they ultimately have to beat flew out to kansas to lay out what some aides said will be the cornerstone of his case for re-election. the president rolled out the obama version of prairie populism today in a small kansas town, identified with a famously progressive republican. >> in 1910, teddy roosevelt came here to osawatomie, and he laid out his vision for what he called a new nationalism, of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him. >> reporter: mr. obama again cast himself and the democratic party as the protecters of a middle class under republican assault. >> and their philosophy is simple, we are better off when everybody is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. i am here to say they are wrong. >> reporter: and in case folks missed the reference t

i'm luke russert in for chuck todd who son a very -- or well earned vacation. first read of the morning. it looks like there will be a tax cut for christmas after all. five-day standoff came to an abrupt end on thursday when speaker boehner essentially cornered by the president in his own party called his colleagues and told them the fight was over. >> you know, sometimes it is hard to do the right thing. sometimes it is politically difficult to do the right thing. may not have been the politically smartest thing in the world, but let me tell you what, i think our members waged a good fight. >> boehner surrender paves the way for the senate and the house to approve the two-month extension and send it to the president's desk. the president tried to take his political victory in stride, attributing it to public pressure, not the bully pulpit. after the announcement, he took to twitter and said thanks to all who shared their stories. today's victory is yours. keep making your voices heard. it makes all the difference. mark murray is nbc's deputy political director

chuck todd starting us off in our washington bureau. chuck, thanks. >>> also in washington tonight, the moderator of "meet the press," nbc's david gregory. david, as the commercial says, newt gingrich does have a lot of baggage, but this is not his first rodeo. it is, however, a big test for him. >> a big test. how does he withstand all of that ad money that's coming his way? all of the criticism as chuck just reported? and also the debates. he's going to be a target in a way that he hasn't been before. he's got a reputation for fighting back. can he be disciplined enough not to, to keep it positive like he said he was going to do and rely on the fact that there will be conservative voters who don't care too much about the baggage in his past but will remember him as a change agent. that's how he wants to be remembered. can he keep that discipline up? >> what about mitt romney in the meantime? >> he has got to drive this contrast. ideology, temperament, leadership. the real contrast. who's the real conservative? it boils down to romney b

the season the with us today, "time" magazine's richard stengle, katty kay, kathleen parker and chuck todd. we start with president obama. what was his best move of 2011? getting osama bin laden or toppling qaddafi? keeping the promise to end the war in iraq? or on a more 450u78 -- human level, his very moving speesm after gabby giffords was shot? >> it's easy to spay qaddafi but i'm going bin laden. it was a risk. and a policy that is going to define what future presidents do -- chris: lead from behind? >> no. in a bigger way it was as big a gamble and maybe bigger than -- >> and hillary clinton and susan rice -- >> no doubt, the woman of the foreign policy team had a lot to do with it but this is also about when the united states signs a pact to be an ally with a country like france and great britain and we always ask them to be with america when they go there, this was a case when we needed to stand with them. chris: very interesting. you had an expression there, i don't know if it was dismay or what it was.s. >> it was surprise. because the libyar conflict lasted so much longer than pe

our report from nbc's chuck todd. >> reporter: former speaker gingrich was quintessential newt in iowa, making broad assertions and diving into issues that haven't been front and center like child labor laws and the poorest work habits. >> really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. >> reporter: those remarks came as he tried to clarify his claim at harvard two weeks ago that child labor laws are truly stupid. >> you have kids who are required under law to go to school. they have no money. they have no habit of work. what if you paid them part-time in the afternoon to sit at the clerical office and greet people when they came in? what if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? >> reporter: meanwhile, herman cain with the newspaper admitting that he never told his wife about a 13-year friendship with a woman who said it was an affair. he denied that but said he still hasn't talked to his wife about it in person. >> i haven't had an opportunity to sit down with her and walk through this with my wife and my f

our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd went one on one with rick santorum today. chuck joins us now from ames. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, harry. you know, every long shot presidential candidate comes to iowa hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. most of them fail, but rick santorum may just buck the odds. rick santorum doing what he's been doing for the better part of a year. old fashioned retail politics. today it's ames for an iowa state bowl game party. earlier, we caught up with him at his nondescript iowa headquarters. not the picture of a campaign polls indicate is surging. what took so long? >> i said from the beginning it would be hard work and a message and messenger and experience. >> reporter: he admits it was frustrating at times and he regrets letting that show. >> i felt like i needed to buy a ticket to be at the debates sometimes. that probably didn't serve me well to have that kind of feeling. >> reporter: santorum struggled for months to get traction here. >> can we win? how many times i got that and my kids were telli

they have a lot in the bank for a state like florida. >> chuck todd in our d.c. newsroom tonight with a report from the trail. chuck, thanks. >> we'll take another break. >>> up next, a pearl harbor surprise of sorts. the real story behind a famous photograph. >>> question. what does this remind you of? this picture of a planned twin towers high rise complex in south korea is getting a lot of attention in new york and elsewhere for bearing a striking resemblance to the twin towers of the world trade center in mid explosion back on 9/11. the architects insist the design scheme is meant to depict a cloud bisecting the buildings. they say they did not see a resemblance themselves. they have apologized for it. the final design is due in march. >>> just days after we marked the 70th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor, a photo mystery has been solved. the picture of a group of brave woman firefighters has appeared in books and magazines over the years. it turns out it was not taken on that day that lives in infamy, but during a training session days later. one of

chuck todd, great use of the ipad in that gingrich interview.e? stay tuned. >>> but first, the white house soup of the day. it's tomato bisque. i feel like it's always tomato-based soup. i'm just saying. you're watching "the daily rundown." only on msnbc. people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. >>> since 1976, no republican who is not an incumbent sitting president has won both iowa and new hampshire, could mitt r078ney pull that off? let's bring our panel in. okay, let me start by going through the polls that we got yesterday. cnn/"time" romney in iowa, 25. ron paul 22. rick santorum 16. newt gingrich, 14. in new hampshire, romney is nothing new under the sun, romney, 44, ron paul, 17, newt gingrich, 16. jon huntsman, 9. fred, let's start with you, if you're mitt romney's strategist you got to be happy with what you see out of iowa and maybe not surprised but happy

chuck todd live at java joe's. >>> the republican field volatile as ever. a new poll finds romney out in front. gingrich plunging and a surprising dark horse coming up from behind. we're live here in iowa. as candidates prepare their final push. speaking of plunging candidates, late yesterday, one of bachmann's iowa co-chair,ç defected to join ron paul's surging campaign. he said that he wants to back a money. the war of words turns ugly. >>> plus, miss sit-down with newt gingrich, with numbersle falling he's trying to capture himself as the modern-day ronald reagan against mitt romney. >>> the fight i'm in with romney is exactly the fight reagan was in with the establishment of the 1908s. >> it's thursday, december 29th, special edition of the daily rundown. we're live in des moines. our home away home for the next four, five days. we get things started, though, this morning. let's get to my first read of this morning. this volatile republican race. new poll of iowa republicans shows that the landscape has shifted once again. mitt romney leading with 25%

chuck todd in our washington newsroom tonight. chuck, we'll stay at it. thanks. >>> president obama for his part threw down with congressional republicans today over extending the payroll tax cut for another year. nbc's kristen welker with us tonight was there for it. kristen, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. in what has become a familiar refrain, president obama railed against congress for its inaction and ratcheted up the pressure on republicans to pass an extension of the payroll tax cuts and the unemployment insurance benefits, both set to expire at the end of the year. if the payroll tax cuts do expire, the average american family making about $50,000 every year would wind up paying about $1,000 more in taxes. today, president obama warned if congress doesn't act, the economy could suffer. >> my message to congress is this. keep your word to the american people. don't raise taxes on them right now. now is not the time to slam on the brakes. now is the time to step on the gas. now is the time to keep growing the economy, to keep

chuck todd, nbc news, washington. >> there are new numbers tonight that will get your attention.ccording to the census bureau 1 in 2 americans is either low income or poor now. that's a total of 146 million of our fellow citizens and a reflection of how the middle class has been squeezed and even working people are having difficulty paying for food, gas, heat and medical care. wages for low income workers have fallen over the last 30 years or stayed flat while earnings of the top 5% of households, as we know, have soared. and a separate study says a record number of children in this country are homeless. the study by the national center on family homelessness puts the number at 1.6 million. that's 1 in 45 kids in this country. that's up a staggering 38% from 2007 when the economy started to go south. some of them were on capitol hill today talking about what their lives are like. >> we'll be staying in a motel. >> i have lived in over 16 places in my life. six shelters, for times doubled up with many different people. we had our own house six times. >> we lost everything. it affe

our report tonight from nbc's chuck todd. >> reporter: frontrunner newt gingrich under fire from several republicans. rick perry took a direct shot at gingrich over his two divorces and three marriages. >> i made an oath to god when i married my wife. yeah, i think it is an important issue. but the american people will figure out these issues. >> reporter: mitt romney was less direct in this new tv ad. >> i have been married to the same woman for 25 -- excuse me, i get in trouble. for 42 years. >> reporter: romney supporter new jersey governor chris christie went to the character question in iowa last night. >> when you look at the candidates say, is this the kind of person that's going to make me proud in the oval office? i never have to worry they will embarrass america? >> reporter: gingrich shrugged off the attack. >> do you think he was attacking you on a personal level? >> no. >> reporter: that's beyond the pale? >> no, no. he's fine. >> reporter: the romney campaign's more direct attack today. criticism of paul ryan's medicare plan. >> i don't think right wing social engineering i

nbc's chuck todd reports on what happened last night and what's ahead. >> governor? >> reporter: trying to look like a front-runner again, mitt romney picked up the support of tea party favorite, south carolina governor nikki haley. >> he's already a leader and knows what he wants to do the first day he gets in office, and he's already ready to do it. >> reporter: an endorsement romney hopes provides moment numb an important early primarily state, and after a week of attacking newt gingrich, last night romney held back. >> it's president obama we've got to be talking about. >> reporter: newt gingrich also played nice. >> i sometimes get accused of using language that's too strong, so i've been standing here editing. i'm very concerned about not appearing to be zany. >> reporter: the real damage to gingrich may be coming from tv attack ads blanketing iowa. >> -- gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. >> he's demonstrating himself to be the very essence of the washington insiders. >> it's about serial hypocrisy. >> perhaps the most aggressive last night, mi