loser has to be the hermanator. >> i like that. >> got to have some fun with it. >> let's bring in david gergen. david is back with us because you've got a special look at what's going on with mr. romney. the republican strategist alex caselanos is with us as well. david, let me start with you. you interviewed mitt romney a few weeks ago. this is what's going to come out. hits stands on sunday. there it is. and i want to ask you more about this. how do you think first of all mitt romney's week has been? seeing newt gingrich fly like a phoenix to the top? >> i think it's been a very rough week for him. john avalon had it exactly right. when just about a week or ten days ago, mitt romney was running in trade. that's where the betting occurs on who will get the nomination. and he was seen as a 70% chance of winning the nomination. maybe 69%. today he's less than 50. or newt gingrich is surging. is mitt romney still the man to beat? i think yes. but for the first time he has a serious rival on his hands. if newt gingrich can go through the process that's coming, and he knows that, and emerge on jan

has to be the m hermanator. >> i like that. >> got to have some fun with it. >> let's bring in david gergend is back with us because you've got a special look at what's going on with mr. romney. the republican strategist alex caselanos is with us as well. david, let me start with you. you interviewed mitt romney a few weeks ago. this is what's going to come out. hits stands on sunday. there it is. and i want to ask you more about this. how do you think first of all mitt romney's week has been? seeing newt gingrich fly like a phoenix to the top? >> i think it's been a very rough week for him. john avalon had it exactly right. when just about a week or ten days ago, mitt romney was running in trade. that's where the betting occurs on who will get the nomination. and he was seen as a 70% chance of winning the nomination. maybe 69%. today he's less than 50. or newt gingrich is surging. is mitt romney still the man to beat? i think yes. but for the first time he has a serious rival on his hands. if newt gingrich can go through the process that's coming, and he knows that, and emerge on january 1

james carville former adviser to bill clinton, david gergen and our senior political analyst john avalon is with us, as well. all right, james carville, what is going on here? you see bill clinton with barack obama, but, you know, this is at a green building. a cause of the former president's. you're not seeing them together at a whole lot of things. you know, bill clinton has far from whole heartedly embraced barack obama in a bear hug. >> i'll bet you anybody, anything that president obama spend more time with the last democratic president than the republican nominee spends with the last republican president. that i'm very comfertile in saying. >> it depends on nominee of the week. >> he'll spend, you know, former presidents have a very difficult job. be seen and not heard. it's a delicate balancing act, but, obviously, the president supported president obama in 2008 and form as much as is appropriate in 2012. >> what is all out, though, john avalon? >> as much as he needs him. here's the reality. elections are won by the candidate who connects to moderate in the middle class. he was a

joined by jason chafitts, david gergen and paul begala. democra millionaire's tax off the table.ggest republican objective. is there a path now in sight to strike a compromise to find a way to pay for this so that the 160 million americans know their taxes aren't going to go up come january? >> well, i hope so. the house republicans and some democrats actually passed this bill. so as you pointed out, it is in the senate. they maybe ought to cancel bingo night and do something in the united states senate. it's up to them. >> it's really up to them. i didn't know they were having a bingo night. >> i don't know what they do over there. >> well, as the congressman said, it's up to the senate. democrats do have a lot of frustration with the pace of action in the senate. you just heard me read that blog posting and i'm sure you've heard similar and read similar. this is the president of the united states telling the american people time and time and time again how important it is to raise taxes on millionaires. >> a quarter of all millionaires now pay lower tax rates than millions of y

and david gergen. you reported it all day.t are you hearing right now. >> reporter: the betting is if anybody will cave, give in on this standoff it's going to be the house republicans because they have just been -- the pressure has been mounting on them in an unbelievable way, sanjay, especially today even more so from their fellow republicans in the senate. actually been stunning the conversations that i've been having with republicans about their fellow republicans in the house. really upset about the fact that they -- the senate republicans, the ones i talked to have given up ground on the basic issue, fundamental republican credo which is cutting tacks and feel that republicans who have really been hell bent on saying, no, we're not going to have a two-month extension, only stand up for one-year extension is they've given ground on their number one issue which is cutting taxes to democrats and democrats look like they're the ones who want tax relief. >> certainly seems to be the message a lot are hearing and, david, you s

cnn political analyst david gergen, and good to have all of you with us.et me start with you, scott. i'm curious, what do we read into this? because nikki haley supported by the tea party, but her approval rating in her state right now is not very high. >> yeah, that's right. it is an important endorsement, but endorsements today mean less than they did 10 or 20 years ago. south carolina is an incredibly important state, it deals the knockout blow to the challenger in a republican primary situation with '96, 2000, and 2008, the eventual winner of the gop primary in south carolina getting the nomination. i think for what it's worth, i think an endorsement from say very popular conservative congressman tim scott from south carolina may actually mean more in the end game of this campaign in south carolina than say the nikki haley endorsement does. because tim scott is very influential, continuously influential with those tea party voters. that endorsement may actually mean more in the end result of the primary. >> david gergen, it is interesting, though, that

cnn political analyst david gergen, and good to have all of you with us.e start with you, scott. i'm curious, what do we read into this? because nikki haley supported by the tea party, but her approval rating in her state right now is not very high. >> yeah, that's right. it is an important endorsement, but endorsements today mean less than they did probably 10 or 20 years ago. south carolina is an incredibly important state. it sort of deals the knockout blow to the challenger in a republican primary situation, with '96, 2000, and 2008, the eventually winner of the gop primary in south carolina getting the nomination. i think, for what it's worth, i think an endorsement, say, from very popular conservative congressman tim scott from south carolina may actually mean more in the end game of this campaign in south carolina than, say, the nikki haley endorsement does, because tim scott is very influential, continuously influential with those tea party voters. so that endorsement may actually mean more in the end result of the primary. >> david gergen, it is i

we have gloria borger and david gergen joining us with some analysis. lso have our david mattingly, who was right there in ft. bragg. david, rousing applause coming from the troops there, glad to see the president there. but i wonder, too, if they have kind of mixed feelings about this welcoming home since some 200 troops were killed in the war in iraq, who all hailed from ft. bragg. >> that's right. fredericka, i had a chance to talk to quite a few veterans of iraq prior to the president's arrival here at ft. bragg. they were telling me, there were two main questions on their mind. they wanted to know if the president really understood the sacrifices that were made while they were there in iraq, not just by them but by their families. another question they had, now that we have served our country, how will our country be serving us and our needs as the years go on? they seemed to get answers to both of those questions, the president going into great detail about the sacrifices made and dangers soldiers faced while over there on the ground in iraq and ac

well, thanks very much, david gergen. david will be here with us as we count down to the wire on that deal. >>> next, ron paul's surprise, three weeks until iowa and he is surging. guess who he is tied with. there could be an upset. also, up in arms. iran responds to what you heard dick cheney say on this show about america's top secret drone. >>> and, abducted by a cyber predator. the family of a missing teenage girl speaks to us. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your

well, thanks very much, david gergen. david will be here with us as we count down to the wire on that deal. >>> next, ron paul's surprise, three weeks until iowa and he is surging. guess who he is tied with. there could be an upset. also, up in arms. iran responds to what you heard dick cheney say on this show about america's top secret drum. >>> and, abducted by a cyber predator. the familiy of a missing teenag girl speaks to us. i habe a cohd. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! of course, neither do i. solution? td ameritrade mobile trader. i can enter trades on the run. even futures and 4x. complex options, done. [ cellphone rings ] thank you. live streaming audio. advanced charts. look at that. all right here. wherever "here" happens to be. mobile trading from td ameritrade

well, thanks very much, david gergen. david will be here with us as we count down to the wire on that deal. >>> next, ron paul's surprise, three weeks until iowa and he is surging. guess who he is tied with. there could be an upset. also, up in arms. iran responds to what you heard dick cheney say on this show about america's top secret drone. >>> and, abducted by a cyber predator. the family of a missing teenage girl speaks to us. welcome to idaho, where they grow america's favorite potatoes. everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they're good for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart association for foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. so they're good for my family, and for yours. heart smart idaho potatoes. always look for the grown in idaho seal. there's a moment where everything comes together. where there's magic. and you now understand what nature's been hiding. ♪ at dow we understand the

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i want to bring in dana bash and david gergen. you and i talked about this last night.ve been reporting the story all day. what are you hearing on the hill right now? >> well, the betting is if anybody is going to cave, give in, on this standoff, it's the house republicans because they have just been -- the pressure has been mounting on them in an unbelievable way, sanjay, especially today even more so from their fellow republicans in the senate. it's actually been stunning the conversationses that i've been having again with republicans about their fellow republicans in the house really upset about the fact that they, the senate republicans feel that republicans have now given up ground on the basic issue, the fundamental credo, cutting taxes. and they feel that republicans who have really been hellbent on saying, no, we're only going to stand up for a one-year extension in the payroll tax cut, they've given ground on their number one issue which is cutting taxes to democrats. and democrats look like they're the ones who want tax relief. >> that seems to be the message

if they pick up "parade" magazine this weekend, david gergen did an interview with mitt romney. are not permitted to smoke, drink alcohol or coffee, have premarital sex. has it been hard to follow those rules? being faithful to one's spouse is a source of passion and devotion in marriage and paying teethes as suggested by the book. >> the romney campaign being careful with whom and how often it does media interviews when they do things this is to try, try, try to make a personal connect which he has failed so far, right? >> yeah, very much so. they know, and looking at start of the show, the focus group, he does not have a personal connection with people. people respect him, they respect what he's done, but they're not sure about him. remember, conservatives are still very bitter with george w. bush for t.a.r.p. and the general motors bailout and immigration and harriette meyers. they feel like he started betraying him in the second term. a guy surround himself with bush supporters in his campaign, a guy who was the conservative 2008 mide of the road guy 2008,e road guy in 2012.

seem committed to putting the blame on president assad's regime squarely where political analyst david gergen joe thinks the west has a very specific agenda for syria's future. the reason they would want to provoke regime change is to put in place a government that would be friendly to us and its allies interests and of course to enable those interests to control strategic resources in syria and throughout the region which is the same case that we saw in libya i mean the whole justification of protecting the population was really just a front to be able to overthrow and assassinate really cut off the and put in place a government that would be friendly to the u.s. we have to remember that right after the obama administration withdrew troops from iraq some of those were relocated to the border of syria from jordan and in preparation of arming this conflict and possibly engaging and as well and i think that these terrorist attacks are part of that or part of maybe a justification to say hey there needs to be a stronger military presence from abroad in order to prevent further military conflict

be fully investigated so furthur will later in the program will be joined by political analyst david gergen sure in new york for more on the international reaction to the result of russia's parliamentary election both government supporters and protesters have been taking to the streets of moscow all day tuesday about three hundred people have been detained so far. has the latest from the center of russia's comfortable about that. well we've seen thousands of people here in central moscow protesting both for on the side of united russia the ruling party here and against those who allege that there was a examples of electoral fraud taking place now the protest where i am today and found a square was quite large a little while ago police then it's actually stopped traffic all behind me on this noise you see a busy intersection in the center of town police are then able to split it up into three to four smaller sections of the protests were seen as being from both sides the loudest really have been the the pro-government supporters we heard a lot of drums banging a lot of chants of little see a

romney isn't known for showing a lot of emotion in public, but lit up during an interview with david gergenvid is standing by to tell us what he learned from talking to romney and his wife. >>> and new information about the health of an american aide worker al-qaeda says it's holding in pakistan. how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. ♪ [ male announcer ] they've been tested, built and driven like no other. and now they're being offered like no other. come to the winter event and get an exceptional offer on the mercedes-benz of your dreams. it's our way of showing a little holiday spirit. but hurry -- the offer ends january 3rd. ♪ and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our

joining me is gloria borger and david gergen. david, what do you make of this new line of attack? >> he should throw out that material. listen, he has every reason to be frustrated. mitt romney looked like the inevitable nominee. here comes newt gingrich out of nowhere and seized the lead from him and mitt romney faded some. i understand the frustration. i applaud him for asking ann romney to be on the stump. get his sons out there. this is beneath him and also, it just -- he just played right into inviting you to go replay that $10,000 bet sequel. he could have put that story away. that could have been last week's news. instead, you know, he chooses to attack gingrich's wealth? come on. romney is about 30 times -- at least 30 times more wealth than gingrich. it seems to be an odd line of attack. i think he ought to throw it away. there are other ways to go after newt gingrich. today in the "new york times," he called gingrich zany. that's very unusual. >> gloria, what do you make of it? would romney brought the tiffanies up thing if he didn't make this blunder bet? >> i think rai

senior political analyst david gergen says democrats targeting romney solely for wall street contributions is hypocritical. >> barack obama raised tons of money the last time around and he'll raise money this time. wall street has turned more hostile towards the president since he's been at the white house. it's natural mitt romney would go there. >> reporter: when it comes to campaign cash from wall street, mitt romney is leading with $3.8 million to $1.7 million for barack obama. take a look at goldman sachs. back in 2008, goldman sachs was one of the top contributors to the barack obama campaign. so far, mitt romney getting about 367,000 from goldman sachs employees to 50,000 for barack obama. those numbers are compiled by sheila crumholz. she says the finance sector was the fourth largest donor to barack obama's campaign in 2008. while many complain about being portrayed as villains, she says wall street donors are not strangers to the obama campaign this time around. >> they are also hosting fund-raisers and trying to draw in donors from wall street. they have a number of wall street

senior political analyst david gergen says democrats targeting romney solely for raising wall streettributions is hypocritical. >> barack obama raised tons of money on wall street the last time around. he'll raise money this time. wall street just turned hostile toward the president since he's been at the white house. but his natural romney would go there. >> reporter: when it comes to campaign cash from wall street, so far mitt romney is leading with $3.8 million to $1.7 million for barack obama. and take a look at goldman sachs. back in 2008, goldman sachs is one of the top contributors to the barack obama campaign. so far, mitt romney getting about $367,000 if goldman sachs employees to $50,000 for barack obama. those numbers are compiled by sheila crumbholtz's group the center for responsive politics. she says in the 2008 election, the finance sector was the fourth largest donor to barack obama's campaign. and while many in the financial world complain about being portrayed as villians, she says wall street donors are not strangers to the obama campaign this time around. >> they

>> i want david gergen to get a more youthful look. james carvel maybe a nice toupee.another network. >> oh, i'm sorry, no other network exists. >> i'm just pointing that out. >> so you actually think you can call in sick to your own show. >> i don't know if i can make it. >> okay. i will call poppy harlow in two seconds. where i go, poppy follows. >> i knew you were going to pull poppy harlow out of the hat. >> tomorrow night, i'm looking forward to it. >> yes, the whole gang will be there. >> thanks, kathy. >> can't wait. >> be sure to join us tomorrow night, ring in 2012 with the one and only kathy griffin live from times square. the party starts at 11:00 eastern right here on cnn. we'll be live all the way through 12:30. >>> still ahead, verizon's record fast flip-flop on a fee that enrage eld customers. also we'll tell you what investigators think are responsible in fire erupting tonight and the number one ridiculist. [ female announcer ] splenda® no calorie sweetener is sweet... and more. if you replace 3 tablespoons of sugar a day with splenda®, you'll save 100