with us this evening, dick durbin, assistant ma jordan leader. and senator jon kyl, assistant minority leader. battleground 2012 is taking place. who are the potential candidates to watch and which are the issues to watch most? and we have weighing in e.j. dionne with "the washington post" and ed gillespie and peggy noonan and democratic mayor of philadelphia michael nutter. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning, just hours ago the planned joint military hours with south korea began in the waters south of north korea. joining me with the latest on the tensions is richardeningle. richard, what is your sense on the ground there? is this about to get worse before it gets better? >>. >> reporter: mixed indications. people here don't seem like they want a war, but all of the pieces are in place for a very dangerous situation. you have american military hardware brought into the regions. these joint exercises now underway, which the north korean government is perceiving as a direct threat. and north korea has positioned surface

harry reid, chuck schumer, and dick durbin participated. this is 20 minutes. >> we have already done a couple of presidents already. i hope this is helpful to you. i have had conversations today with the president to come up with senator mcconnell, and i am looking -- leader banner, i have not had a chance to talk with him yet but i am looking forward to doing so. this is nothing compared to the plight families are looking for their homes, decent education, and their jobs. this is what the senate democrats take away from the election. the american people expect us to work together. we're committing to put the concerns of middle class families first and we will look for real solutions in real progress. and we're not finished fighting the big banks which have big bucks, not using those to help stimulate the economy. we want to make sure that would protect social security. we want to make sure that we do things that would stop bp and other companies like that from spoiling our earth. we want most of all, not in order of priority, but the numbe

joining me live is dick durbin and john kyle jon kyl. a lot to get to. senator kyl, how should this end and what should the president do? >> i don't know how it ends, but what we ought to do is what we are doing right now, not backing down in terms of legitimate exercises with the south korean government which we gave advance notice of. obviously we are not trying to provoke anything there, but with news the ieae from the united nations indicated how north korea is proliferating technology to iran and others. this needs to be dealt with. >> the headline china addresses rising korean tensions. they want to tamp it down, but they are the power player here. do they have to deal with north korea rather than the united states? >> i spoke with secretary of state clinton last night. we both agree that china can play a valuable role in bringing under a situation volatile. at this point in time we need to make certain we stand strong in our alliance with south korea. this thing calls on us to be more bipartisan and more constructive in our efforts in washington.

assistant senate majority leader dick durbin asked the u.s. department of homeland security secretary, janet napolitano, to halt the deportation of immigrants students who could earn legal status under the dream act. it has the support of the house and senate leadership, all the relative committee shares, and our military leaders, including colin powell. in 2010, before the national hispanic caucus, president obama stated he would do whatever it takes to support the efforts to pass this bill, so he can sign it into law on behalf of students seeking a college education and those who wish to serve in our country's uniform. it is the right thing to do. steve li is a junior in city college who aspires to be a health care worker. he graduated from george washington high school as well as hoover middle school, where he was an editor and reporter for the school newspaper and ran on the track and cross-country team. he is scheduled to graduate in september 2011. he entered the u.s. when he was about 12 years old and was ordered removed from the united

this is dick durbin from chicago. i could not -- we need to work together. strengthen the middle-class and our family and strengthen businesses. the senate will be the crucible between some of the most important issues of the day. some of the most controversial issues requires 60 votes. we know that we will need help from the other side. play to a drop and we achieved little in nothing, people will see right through it. do you want us to roll up our sleeves and define common ground even as it means giving and as we must. this is what the american processes been about and this is what the senate has been about and this will be the challenge from the next two years. >> i want to say two words about my colleagues. senator reid did an amazing job in nevada. senator menendez under the most difficult of circumstances did a phenomenal job. i think that that is true for every one of our caucus members. the middle class is hurting. that is the lesson. the average bill, the most salient statistic, median income declined during the last election. average middle-class p

assistant senate majority leader dick durbin asked the u.s. department of homeland security secretary, janet napolitano, to halt the deportation of immigrants students who could earn legal status under the dream act. it has the support of the house and senate leadership, all the relative committee shares, and our military leaders, including colin powell. in 2010, before the national hispanic caucus, president obama stated he would do whatever it takes to support the efforts to pass this bill, so he can sign it into law on behalf of students seeking a college education and those who wish to serv

but i do not -- dick durbin is also a possible candidate as senate majority leader harry reid lost. it will be an interesting press conference to watch. >> and at least it provides and harmony in the house that accommodate durbin and sexual lives together. those could be the interest were made to get seats for a while. i think the big untold story here is the simple fact that a good campaign run at the right time can actually win but not all the time. look at harry reid. he ran essentially a perfect campaign. so did a couple of members, joe donnelly in indiana. >> one that i would add to that is the one that actually lost, but he ran an extremely strong campaign in a district that had no reason for them to elect a democrat this year. in that race a lot closer. he ran a very strong campaign. >> one interesting point that we're pointing out in our spotlight, for a preview now, is that the notion that the trifecta of senate seats, the sort of symbolic senate seats the republicans thought they could pick up a while ago, the illinois seat, held by president obama, once held by president o

dick durbin, there are things in there that i hate like the devil hates holy water."m, in terms of balancing our budget and our debt, republicans are opposed to raising taxes. they do not want to see taxes go up in this proposal. it was actually a set of proposals. it's not even the final proposal from this body. but in this proposal, there are simplified tax rules. >> right. >> but also getting rid of a lot of deductions. $1 trillion in deductions, folks, that frankly, americans and businesses are addicted to. >> right. being able to write up your mortgage interest, that's a huge incentive to buy a home as opposed to rent. >> we're told that incentive wasn't necessarily the best for the country. no other country offers that. and lot of other countries have the same hoernlship rates. >> and one of the them is cutting the tax deduction for loans over $500,000 for second homes and the like. >> less expensive homes you could still get. >> there's something about controlling health care, paying doctors less. not paying for health care. there's a lot in there. >> cyst stee

. >> are well, the first thing that comes to mind right now is that harry reid, dick durbin and chuck schumer are going to be having a news conference this afternoon, and the first thing that came to my mind was how angry it probably made chuck schumer. [laughter] angling to become senate majority leader. make of that what you will, and chuck schumer also funneled a lot of money to the state party of nevada to help harry reid, but i don't think there was any question that he had -- had the three of them driven the possible candidate to be senate majority leader, the three of them discussing the state of the democratic party will be an interesting press conference to watch. >> and, of course, at least it provides some harmony in the house that dick durbin and chuck schumer live in together. that would have been the angriest couple of roommates you could see for a while. i think that the big untold story here is the simple fact that a good campaign run in the right time can actually win. but not all the time. >> right. >> take a look at harry reid. he ran, essentially, a perfect campaig

he has eclipsed dick durbin.e of scheduling, policy and communication. not much left. >> office space. >> all right. before you think, well, this is a blow to harry reid, it's actually a strategic move that reid is engineering himself. said look, reid won his re-election. he's a person of strength and also a person who knows his limitations. and these 21 democrats and two independents who caucused with democrats are going to need a more reliable, predictable flow of policy, legislation and sound bites to prepare for a re-election of the president in 2012. only ten republicans are up. one of those seats, republican seats viewed as vulnerable. democrats have a lot of seats to protect. that's why charles is in charge. >> and we are familiar with his incredibly aggressive media shop. will he also be in charge or at least have a strong say in which pieces of legislation come up were a vote, chewhen, which is potentially agenda setting. >> he will confer regularly with the majority leader about those kinds of questions

joining me two leaders of the senator, dick durbin, and john kyle.it's the post-election battles heat up, battleground 2012 is already taking shape. our political round table weighs in. all coming up this morning on "meet the press." >>> and finally this morning, how is this for a parting shot? half-court mark to hit a shot during halftime. and he nails it. the crowd goes wild. he also gets a brand new car for making that one. that is awesome. >>> we want to thank you for making us part of your morning. the chargers take on the colts for football night in america, so our next news cast is at 11:00. you can get all of your day's news on nbcbayarea.com. "meet the press" is coming up next. we hope you have a great sunday. and if you have chance to swing by that home in sunnyvale, 1100 tangerine way is the address.

. >>> and senator dick durbin addresses the air on metra platforms.eedom we demand, in our homeland. >> we have hope that american government and the united nations will protect our iraqi christians at home. many innocent people have to lose their lives before something is actually done? >> save the christians. >> it really has been traced to cancer. it's a serious issue. >> it's that piece of world war ii history. >> the only f4u-one there is in the world. >> this was found 33 miles off the coast of waukegan in 250 feet of water. as falls, more photos on our website. >>> tonight the bulls try to it's great. i eat anything that i want. key lime pie, pineapple upside down cake, raspberry cheesecake... ...yeah, every night its something different. oh yeah yeah...she always keeps them in the house. no no no, i've actually lost weight... i just have a high metabolism or something... ...lucky. [ wife ] babe... ♪ umm, i gotta go. [ female announcer ] over 30 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. yoplait, it is so good. indulge in yoplait light's tw

senator dick durbin supports federal money for that. >>> have guns, will travel.ew carry on rule for hand guns comes amtrak. >> still ahead, our teacher of the month who encourages students to go the extra mile, literally. >>> and later in lunch break, works great on meat, pasta and salads. how to make your own fresh pesto sauce at home. map >>> a woman was kill and three other people were injured wasn't car crashed through restaurant in los angeles. here is security video of the accident. you can see people eating and then the car comes through the wall. hits a family sitting at 9 table. the 50-year-old mother was killed. hoer son is -- her son is in critical condition and everyone else suffered minor injuries. unclear what caused the accident. the 19-year-old driver could face charges. >>> passengers will be allowed to carry guns on amtrak trains. starting december 1. guns can be carried aboard trains that have checked baggage service. gun owners must inform amtrak 24 hour ahead of departure. unloaded firearms must be packed in hard sided containers. the change

nancy pelosi, harry reid, dick durbin, steny hoyer. and the meeting where bill nelson went off was just of democratic senators. the president wasn't there. one thing that happens with an unsuccessful election and a scary political climate, they're trying to figure out what is the right way forward? how much do you fight? how much do you compromise? and they are vastly different views for the right of the democratic caucus like bill nelson of florida and to the left of the democratic caucus with bernie sanders of vermont. very different strategies urged by both of those sides. >> so obviously the key thing here is where is the president? the progressives are saying fight the republicans. the conservative democrats are saying, let's compromise. where does the president stand? >> well, we're going to find out. the president decided to pick that fight. not accept it when jon kyl, the republican lead negotiator on the treaty says we're not going to vote on that. we'll see if the parking light w president we'll see if the president wins or l

tribune" probe on pollution caused by metro train -- metra trains have prompted a response by senator dick durbininvestigation found that riders are breathing in strikingly high levels of toxic diesel exhaust every day called plaque carbon. considered among the most dangerous forms of air pollution. in light of the report, senator durbin is asking the environmental protection agency to review its past findings on air quality and increase funding to upgrade aging mass transit equipment in u.s. cities. >>> i'm bloomberg's angie lau live at the cme group in chicago. some tasty profit news from mcdonald's. world's largest restaurant train based here in illinois say sales in restaurants opened a year climbed 6.5% last month compared to a year ago and that beat wall street expectations as well. this as more customers coming in to buy those new menu items like frappes and fruit smoothies. meanwhile at google, google helping travelers stay connected this holiday season. google announced a deal today with della. air tran and virgin america to provide free go-go inflight i would fly internet service to pas

now i've talked to dick durbin who i think was on that committee, a democratic senator, when he makes we were talking, if you're a coal miner and you've worked hard all your life in those mines maybe you don't take those folks up to 70. they retire earlier where some of the white collar workers who haven't had it so rough retire later. >> that kind of thing's going to be on the table? pat? >> sure, it can be on the table. >> sure. sure. you let people start earlier, as they do now. and they take benefits beginning earlier. the other thing is that at some point you know you can means test some of this. you can have people who will pay social security taxes beyond $110,000 where it stops now. there are ways to handle this, i think -- >> i want to ask you guys how they're going to handle the possibility of cutting the tax deduction for mortgage interest? i mean, that's something that -- that's part of the whole kind of american dream concept. people aren't going to be happy about that one. >> it is. but let me say this, alex. that's going to be a very tough thing. what they're offering i

. >> reporter: illinois senator dick durbin is one of the sponsors of the dream act which would allow immigrants who arrived in the united states under the age of 15 to get on a path towards citizenship after completing at least two years of college or military service. >> this just does not affect latinos, it affects asians, it affects europeans, it affects people from around the world, polish, as tony pregwig talked about, irish. everybody is affected by this. let's pass the dream act that has bipartisan support. so mark kirk, make your first official act an act that will count? illinois' other senator, newly elected mark kirk, is on the record as opposing the dream act and those in attendance say they plan to urge the senator to change his mind? he said he wasn't for it, we feel that this is an important act that he needs to follow and support the dream act because it will benefit not just illinois but thousands of young people across the country. >> reporter: and former illinois governor jim edgar supports the dream act, as do other republicans as well. and so the supporters are s

joining me, assistant majority leader dick durbin and jon kyl from arizona.l roundtable weighs in as 2012 shapes up. that's coming up. >> that does it for us. coming up next weekend on "today," what's on our holiday play list, right? >> fun times. >> exactly. >> i thought so. >> thank you very much for being with us. we'll see you we'll see you take care, everyone. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

. >>> mayor daley and senator dick durbin are among those paying tribute to the nation's veterans todaya ceremony in soldier field where murmer -- murmer is joining us live -- mir mir is joining us live. >>> one day to set aside honor living veterans. those who served or are presently serving. and at soldier field there is a huge gathering of veterans and there are dozens of speakers and here is just a snapshot of some words that are pretty thoughtful. >> whenever and wherever the nation has called americans veterans have been there. and today at this moment they stand there as well, deployed across the world on freedom's frontier in defense of this great nation. at this moment, a soldier, a sailor, airman and marine is gearing up and ready to leesk the forward operating base in afghanistan to provide security for a marketplace or a clinic or a village. at this very moment, our great soldiers from the illinois national guard are on point in eastern afghanistan to defeat an insurgency that would spread its brutal ideology and ultimately bring harm to our shores. at this moment, a soldier

i hear dick durbin on the democratic side saying he hates this like the devil hates holy water, you know i can understand why liberals would say we want to protect the interest of the poorest in society and make sure that doesn't somehow disproportionately benefit the rich. this is a good deal for republicans. i would think republicans would be standing up at the top of the capital saying go, team, go. >> republicans aren't saying anything. that iss is actually good. the people shooting at this from the sideline so far have been labor. >> chris: and republicans thinking if they embrace it that kills it? >> the republicans except for a few groups saying we don't want even the elimination of one single tax break. i think what we haven't seen yet and what is going to be a really important step in the process which is the important process for the american people, you want the debt and deficit okay, what would you prefer. we haven't seen the income distribution tables and those are the charts that say how will people in different incomes be affected by the changes. i. >> chris: when we come

. >> well, the first thing that comes to mind right now is that harry reid, dick durbin and chuck schumerare going to be having a press conference to discuss the state of the democratic party, and the first thing that came to my mind when they called nevada was how angry it probably made chuck schumer who was angling to become majority leader. [laughter] make of that what you will, schumer funneled a lot of money to the nevada state party to help senator reid, but i don't think there was any question -- had the three of them, dick durbin was also a possible candidate if harry reid lost. the three of them discussing the state of the democratic party will be an interesting press conference to watch. >> and at least it provides some harmony in the house that dick durbin and chuck schumer live in together. i think that the big untold story here is the, is the simple fact that a good campaign run in the right time can actually win. but not all the time. take a look at harry reid. he ran, essentially, the perfect campaign. so did a couple of members, joe donnelly in indiana -- well, not, i'm so

this is good news and i hear dick durbin on the democratic side saying, he hates it like a devil hatesoly water and i understand why liberals wants to protect the interest of the poorest in society an make sure it doesn't disproportionately benefit the rich and business tax rates go down markedly and it's a good deal for republicans and i'd think they'd be standing at the top -- >> republicans aren't saying anything and that is actually good. the people shooting at it from the sidelines so far have been preponderancely liberal labor groups. >> and republicans figure if they embrace it it kills it. >> republicans, except for very very, few groups say we don't want even the elimination of one single tax break. but, i think what we haven't seen yet and what will be really important step in the process, an incredible educational process for the american people, want you the debt and deficit cut? okay, you don't like the plan, what would you prefer? we haven't seen the income distribution tables and they say how will people at different incomes be affected and i suspect it will come out a l

i hear dick durbin on the democratic side says he hates this like the devil hates holy water. but i can understand why liberals would say we want to protect the interest of the core of society and make sure it doesn't disro portion nately benefit -- disproportionately benefit the rich. this is a good deal for republicans. i think republicans would be standing up at the top of the capital. >> republicans aren't spending anything. that's good. in other words, the people shooting at this from the sidelines so far have been proponderanly liberal. >> chris: if they embrace it, they think it kills it? >> there are very few groups saying we don't want elimination of one single tax break. what we haven't seen yet and what is an important step in the process, important educationm process for american people. if you don't like this plan, what do you prefer? we haven't seen the income distribution tables that show how will people be affected by the changes? i suspect it comes out better for the middle class than liberal groups think. >> chris: we'll take a break here. when we come back,

this is ford dick durbin and chuck schumer. do you support terry reed as the majority leader? they both said that the exact same time, absolutely. the reporter was not sure who said it. she said, which one of you said that? at the same time, they said, we both did. >> the person who really get the job is never the person who makes the first move. i think if they end up with 53 seats, they feel pretty good about that, the senate democrats. they feel good about that. senator reid won his race more comfortably than we imagined. michael bennett, that is probably one of the most amazing results of the election cycle in colorado. in this environment, to win reelection, they feel they were able to make their argument pretty well. they contrast that with the house. they over performed in the house. at some point, there has to be accounting for that. >> who controls the agenda? is it still obama? is it john painter -- john boehner? >> nobody asked, are you still relevant, but you know they were thinking about that from the last time. what do you think? >> to some degree, house republic

senator dick durbin, assistant majority leader. chuck schumer, vice chair of the conference and share of the democratic policy committee. senator patty murray, secretary of conference and did the stabbing now, by chair -- debbie stabenow, vice chair. speaking of the alaska senate race, we mentioned senator murkowski. "anchorage daily news" reports she is leading the vote count but joe miller once a can three counts. -- demand a recount. senator murkowski is expected to announce her victory later on today. let's go to our democrats' line in hollywood, florida. do you think leadership elections matter? caller: i think nancy pelosi has been a very effective speaker. i think she has been -- there is misogyny and sexism. they resent the fact she is so successful and productive. my problem is, the democratic party is not as progressive as i would like it to be. the health-care bill that was passed was a bill that -- republican decision making. host: i am sorry we have to cut you off. we are having trouble under -- hearing you but i get t

illinois senator dick durbin said there are things in there that i hate like the devil hates holy waters of congress who probably feel the same way, but the bottom line here, many budget analysts say, tony, to solve this very big problem, these people are going to have to swallow some things they really hate, because we have a very big crushing debt issue that has to be -- that simply has to be addressed. again, it comes down to, do you take the belt tightening now in a proper way, or do you hurt the country further down the road? when you have debt like josh was telling you, huge debt commitments like that, you're paying interest on that debt. at some point in the foreseeable future, you're paying more to service the debt. you're paying more to the foreign bankers and the people who hold the debt ourselves than you are actually putting an investment in the country and investment in our people, and that's a real problem. >> thank you in advance, christine, for your help on this project. >> sure. >> we want to hear from you about digging the country out of debt. what would you cut, hones

dick durbin says there's things in there that i hate like the devil hates holy water and republicans oppose raising taxes and some tax increases in there once you take away some of those tax deduction that is are very, very favorable we're all so used to that means tax bills for some people could go up. so you're going to hear the political maneuvering now begin but the president was asked about this, fred. he said let's not shoot anything down just yet. we have a big deficit issue to tackle. put it all on the table. >> he was asked about that while in south korea so while abroad domestic matters very close at hand for him. thanks so much. appreciate that. >> you're welcome. >>> all right. let's talk more about politics. the counting of write-in votes in alaska and that is the nation's last count under way. still undecided. the senate race. incumbent and write-in candidate lisa murkowski locked in a battle with republican candidate joe miller. almost 70% of the votes called clear votes for murkowski. cnn political producer shannon travis is covering the vote count and he'll be joinin

republicans also not backing down, they want to extend them for everybody, but senate majority leader dick durbin says this is not what the white house wants. this is what he said: >> the white house is acknowledging the obvious, the decision is going to be made by congress and it's going to be made during the coarse of negotiation and the president i think will draw clear bright lines or where he stands on this, he said he would and i look to him to do that. the line along this line is one i endorse and that is that tax cuts should be for most making $250,000 a year or less. martha: rich, what's going to happen with this? that's six weeks until everybody's taxes go up. >> it's classic obama, he's voting president, punting to his liberal friends in congress. harry reid, i think he's trying to show he's tough and he's going to offer this bill that will let the upper income expire, that doesn't -- mcconnell has a bill to extend them permanently, that doesn't have 60 so presumably the thing would be to compromise to a two or three-year extension. if that doesn't happen and the thing collapses, taxes

bill: i'm bill hemmer, braepleno talk about today, tax cuts are the priority for republicans and dick durbinmber 2 democrat in the senate and said, quote, i'm just hoping that once republicans get home for thanksgiving and get cranberry relish or whatever it is they are going to be in a better mood about sitting down and talking. martha: i'm sure that will change, cranberry relish and everybody gets together! carl cameron joins us live on capitol hill. up above us on the big screen there, hey, carl, already in the lame duck session, when will they get to all of this stuff? >> after the thanksgiving break, a lame duck session that is supposed to end after the first week of december but it may go long because of how much they put on their agenda. the democrats meeting down with the president today and one of the thing they've been saying is when it comes to what to deal and how to deal with the expiration of the bush tax cuts they need direction from the president. lawmakers on the house and in the the senate, doing their day's business, and, what they really want to know is, what ills tis the

you heard nancy pelosi and senator dick durbin coming out strongly against these plans, but the president in seoul said, let's put it on the table. don't shoot anything down yet. >> let's bring in david gurgan. that's the bottom line. i think a six-year-old can solve the deficit problems and the debt problems. the issue is we have to have the resolve as a country to make the difficult decisions, and this panel has come guaforward with e things that will be very hard to swallow. there is no free lunch. somehow we have to pay to reduce this country's deficit. >> as you well know, ali, we've been having a party here on the money we're borrowing from the future for a long time. the same politicians putting us in this mess are objecting to ways to try to get us out of it. yesterday when this first came out, many of us looked at it, the leaders of the commission -- remember, it's just the leaders. they don't have the votes inside the commission as of this moment. but they were bold and courageous in frepresenting thi. in the cold light of the morning, as matt lauer pointed out in the blog secti

is specifically to the high speed rail line and you have politicians in surrounding states like dick durbin illinois, saying we are glad to take that money. martha: oh, boy, mike tobin, thank you, sir. >> if there is a way to qualify, if we have the matching funds, let's create the jobs and build the infrastructure and i'll tell you, in the future, wisconsin and ohio will look back and say we missed an opportunity. >> reporter: you have all of the politicians eager to get the money and eager to get the jobs created by them, martha. martha: mike, thank you very much. interesting story, mike tobin in chicago. gregg: new proposals out of the obama administration that would completely overhaul the tax system, what possible changes they are targeting and how they might affect you. martha: and a board meeting that looked more like a bar brawl. what got these folks so fired up they started slugging at each other. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great

. >> in your story, illinois senator dick durbin is quoted saying some of the cuts inspire hand and suddenlyas been the reaction to the proposal? >> well, we're seeing bipartisan opposition or what the bipartisan panel has recommended. on the left are your people like house speaker's nancy pelosi saying it's unacceptable. you're hearing the afl-cio say what this commission is recommending as workers shot dead. the pe

committee, dave code, the head of honeywell international, senator crapo, republican of idaho, senator dick durbin, covered majority whip in to the senate, and fudge, former ceo, senator judd gregg, representative jeb hensarling, alice rivlin, at representative paul ryan, presumed to be the new budget chief on the house side, representative jan schakowsky of illinois, representative john spratt, just defeated, and andrew stern, head of the service employees international union. those are the members of the commission who will have to vote on what senator simpson and erskine bowles have proposed. richard in new york city on the independent line. caller: there is a simple answer for that. one of the biggest problems i see i for example, if you increase the social security retirement age, we have enough problems employing our youth at the present time. insisting that people work longer to have adequate social security if there is such a thing is detrimental to employing others. the only thing that i think would be really directly approachable is the fact that i have yet to understand why there are mu

be a democrat majority anyway, i would wrote it -- rather have harry reid and chuck schumer or dick durbin. i have to look at the data. we were getting over the weekend from our people. as i said, our activists knocked on 72,000 doors in the last week. they told us we are just about it out here. we are getting lapped. >> is it just as easy to say it is a continuation last not of what we saw in 2009 with scott brown? is there any differences at all that leap out in the data? >> one of the key parts was, as ralph talked about, there was a high republican base turnout. that was not as big a factor in massachusetts and new jersey as it was in virginia. you had high republican enthusiasm. the democrats did do a good job of turnout in a number of places. they got whacked in florida and virginia. one of the keys was independent s. it was basically a two-one ratio. >> when it comes to questions like this, i just say whatever glen bolger says. having been involved in every governor's race in more virginia since 1981, and our organization being deeply involved in 2009, be used virginia as a dry run

ndc's "meet the press cos" dick durbin and jon kyl. union" closeof the john mccain and byron dorgan and representative dave obey. george w. bush and his brother jeb bush will also be interviewed as part of the rollout of the book "decision points. ." -- of the book "decision points." fareed zakaria gps interviews admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. on "this week," bill and melinda gates, ted turner, stock -- tom stare, and warren buffett. on cbs "face the nation," ron stern now, arianna huffington and edmund morris, and bob woodward. c-span posnerakers has norm coleman -- c-span's "newsmakers" has normm coleman. what do you think about the lame-duck session happening? caller >> it is nothing new. democrats have been in charge -- caller: it is nothing new. democrats have been in charge and they have done nothing. they have closed the doors to the republicans. they have not been a partisan at all. every campaign promise that they have made, they have not kept. for the bigger -- for the democrats to jump off the cl

harry reid and dick durbin seem intent on bringing it back and bringing it up for consideration. host: "the new york times" has an op-ed piece. talking about this bill, they write -- host: that is their opinion, but the point out that there have been concerns among small farmers and producers that these new regulations would be too costly. >> that is the perennial mood of the congress. any new regulation will get a lot of questions. host: greenville, south carolina. good morning. caller: i wanted to make a comment on the bush tax cuts. i would like to reiterate one of the previous callers. if the tax cuts for the upper brackets are working, where are the benefits? it seems that these discussions and opinions get boys but not set. if the republicans are serious about deficit reduction, one of the facts that came to light for me on 60 minutes, the former labor secretary commented that only 3% of the upper bracket is small business related income. in fact, the extension to the upper bracket is really not the business related engine. guest: that is another argument that we hear frequ

be a democrat majority anyway, i would wrote it -- rather have harry reid and chuck schumer or dick durbin. i have to look at the data. we were getting over the weekend from our people. as i said, our activists knocked on 72,000 doors in the last week. they told us we are just about it out here. we are getting lapped. >> is it just as easy to say it is a continuation last not of what we saw in 2009 with scott brown? is there any differences at all that leap out in the data? >> one of the key parts was, as ralph talked about, there was a high republican base turnout. that was not as big a factor in massachusetts and new jersey as it was in virginia. you had high republican enthusiasm. the democrats did do a good job of turnout in a number of places. they got whacked in florida and virginia. one of the keys was independents. it was basically a two-one ratio. >> when it comes to questions like this, i just say whatever glen bolger says. having been involved in every governor's race in more virginia since 1981, and our organization being deeply involved in 2009, be used virginia as a dry run f

just to remind everyone, senator dick durbin is the whip. enter schumer is the vice chair of the caucus. patty murray is the secretary. those are the elected positions. i appointed senator schumer as head of the dpc. the vice chair and the head of the steering and policy committee. we feel very sound in our approach to this lame-duck and of course next year and the year after that. our focus is on the the middle class. it is on creating jobs. and it is working in a bipartisan basis in any way that we can. we reach our hands out to republicans. we want them to work with us as they did not do the last two years. we feel it is very important that we work together. we're going to go more than the extra mile to work with them to accomplish things for our country. the american people elected us to get along. the american people elected us to do something about this economy. we were not reelected as democrats or republicans. we were elected to do things for our country. it is not the democratic way or the highway. it is not the republican way or th

a reporter asked a question specifically for kick -- dick durbin, do you support harry reed?they both said at the exact same time, absolutely. the reporter was not sure who said it. she asked which one said it and at the exact same time they both said, we both did. [laughter] >> the person who gets the job is never the person who makes the first move. if they end up with 53 seats in the senate, but they feel pretty good about that, the senate democrats. they feel good about that. senator reed actually won his race more comfortably than a lot of us imagined, you know, michael bennett, that's probably one the most amazing results of the election cycle. >> in colorado? >> in colorado, appointed senator in this environment in that state to win reelection. they feel they were able to make sure argument in some cases pretty well and contrast that with the house where, you know, if the republicans may be slightly under performed in the senate, they overperformed in the house, and you know, at some point there has to be an accounting for that. >> who controls the agenda? is it obama

a reporter asked a question specifically for kick -- dick durbin, do you support harry reed?hey both said at the exact same time, absolutely. the reporter was not sure who said it. she asked which one said it and at the exact same time they both said, we both did. [laughte gets the job is never the person who makes the first move. if they end up with 53 seats in the senate, but they feel pretty good about that, the senate democrats. they feel good about that. senator reed actually won his race more comfortably than a lot of us imagined, you know, michael bennett, that's probably one the most amazing results of the election cycle. >> in colorado? >> in colorado, appointed senator in this environment in that state to win reelection. they feel they were able to make sure argument in some cases pretty well and contrast that with the house where, you know, if the republicans may be slightly under performed in the senate, they overperformed in the house, and you know, at some point there has to be an accounting for that. >> who controls the agenda? is it obama or john boehner? >> n

harry reid and dick durbin seem intent on bringing it back and bringing it up for consideration. host: "the new york times" has an oed piece. talking about this bill, they write -- host: that is their opinion, but the point out that there have been >> we are going to leave now to hear live remarks from president obama. >> sharp elbows, getting a little carried away. for those of you worried about my lip, i should be ok. doctors have given a clean bill of health. and i will continue to be playing basketball whenever i get a chance. in fact, i played yesterday with sasha and malia is today and they took it easy on me out of pity. i hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. now it is time to get back to work. congress is back this week and i look forward to meet with republican leaders tomorrow to discuss many issues, for most, american people's business that remains to be done this year. my hope is that tomorrow's meeting will mark a first step toward a new and productive relationship. because we now have a shared responsibility to deliver four of the american people on the issues th