emanuel get 46% of the white votes. the numbers show emanuel has a diverse coalition of supporters. while chico has ground to make up in the black community and davis' is mostly among black voters. emanuel was the only who did not appear at a forum tonight. >> i am attending every single forum i'm invited to because it's the best way to talk to directly. >> reporter: answers about violence and prevention. >> nobody cares more about this issue than i do. >> reporter: offstage, chico said he's frantically raising money to get his message out. >> have the resources to more than compete. >> reporter: meeks says he's planning to unveil his planning tomorrow. >> it will be different from any message you've heard to this point. >> reporter: and davis insisted he's in for the long haul with no plans of dropping out. >> it's never even crossed my mind. >> reporter: so we've got more than two months to go before the february election. keep in mind the top vote getter has to get 50 plus 1% of the vote to avoid a runoff in april. and of course you can read much more about these results in tomor

the man who rented emanuel's home. according to rahm's real estate agent, rob halpen's lawyer called him in september with a proposal. >> his client was difficult and hot headed. i remember that because i thought it was an unusual thing to say and he said he was talking to a lawyer names -- and talking to the press and worried he is in breach of his lisa agreement and suggested to me that mr. halpen was looking for $100,000 to leave the house early. >> paul leavy says he was the go between as rahm emanuel tried to negotiate an early exit for the people leasing his ravenswood home. leavy says he relayed to emanuel the request for $100,000 from halpen's lawyer to vacate the north side home early so emanuel's family could move back in. >> i called rahm. rahm said that's ridiculous. i'm not going to do that. and we discussed offering him $5,000 a month for every month he moved out prior to the termination of his lease. >> reporter: i reached by telephone rob halpen said the report about the $100,000 is inaccurate. not offe

whether emanuel should be on the mayoral ballot.emanuel endured 12 hours of questioning yesterday from attorneys and chicagoans who say he is not eligible to run for mayor. emanuel spent nearly two years in washington as president obama's chief of staff. some claim that took away his chicago residency. and emanuel says his focus is the mayor's race. >> most important thing and what i think is my takeaway is the city of chicago, its future is worth fighting for. >>> emanuel's tenant lori halpen is scheduled to testify today. halpen and her husband made headlines when they refused the request no break the lease on the house so emanuel could move back in. rob halpen was a candidate for mayor but with drew last week for legal and financial reasons. >>> getting back to hawm e-- rahm emanuel he isy head in the mayoral raid rice now. a new poll shows he has the support of 32% of voters. but 30% are still undecided. former chicago public schools chief gary chico has 9% and danny davis has. james meeks has 7% and carol moseley braun with 6%.

and raum emanuel running for mayor of chicago is grilled in a bizarre basement hearing by people who claim he's not even a resident of the city. the question is, how much of this could rahm take before he got a little feisty. it's way too early for this. . >>> good morning. i'm willie geist. this is "way too early," the show that's also heckled by local residents as it is broadcast every morning from the basement in chicago. that's where we are now. i'm glad you're up with us watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly@msnbc.com and let me know why you're awake or do what ed does and text the word awake, followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for wednesday, december 15th. a lot going on include a bleak new intel report about our prose pengtss in afghanistan. >>> plus, a bison riding shotgun in an old convertible. we'll offer some kind of explanation later. >>> news at 5:30 at 30 rock in new york city. >>> a school board meeting in florida turned d

emanuel counter offered $5000 a month. contacted him by phone to ask about the testimony regarding the $100 thousand price tag for moving out. he refuted that plan before hanging up. there were a number of moving boxes, storage boxes, there were also a wide variety of toys and clothing. thursday afternoon, brown meyer testified she had went to the house to photograph the basement thursday money. tuesday, he testified his family left precious family mementos there. she had seen possessions, including a piano and a bed but not many of the items emanuel testified about. they were not date or time stamped and there were not any accompanying affidavits saying the items were not there. >> reporter: just after 5:30, both sides feeling they had proved their case. >> the law requires physical presence and intent. you don't have physical presence, you don't get to intent. you have to have both prongs of the residency requirement. >> he clearly intended to keep his residence in chicago. he has a driver's license there, he has a car r

and obviously emanuel refused that. he's been living in an apartment.een an interesting part of the story. with no political background at all he suddenly jumped to the mayor's race briefly. he dropped out shortly thereafter. >> writer for the examiner.com. >>> the trustee recovering money if victims of bernie madoff has reached a huge settlement with the estate of a florida philanthropist. he drowned after suffering a heart attack in his pool last year. >>> and now a special announcement by unicef and lawrence o'donnell. together they are joining to raise funds for school children in the african nation. k.i.n.d. stands for kids in neeneed of desks. why did you pick this project? you have so many opportunities around the world. >> it was a friend of mine just came back from malawi talking about visiting schools there. she told me they all needed desks and chairs badly. they're all on the floor. they can't' the teacher. it's painful after a while. teachers don't have chairs and desks. they're standing for seven hours a day. it sounded so elemental to me.

emanuel critics say he didn't, period. emanuel says he still owns a home in chicago and shouldn't be penalized for serving the president here in washington. as you all know, chicago politics are fun, and bruising. and today's hearing was both and more. here to help us sort through the theater and the facts are cnn contributor roland martin and lynn sweet of the "chicago sun-times." this was a little bit of everything. what about your newspaper subscriptions? what about your mail? why are you storing things in your basement, it's not really your house. >> and he said, well, things are in my basement, such as my wife's wedding dress and the jacket my grandfather wore. it was a free for all. he even had people bringing up conspiracy theories that had nothing to do with the mayor of chicago and his residency claim. >> we need a conspiracy theory every now and again, don't we, roland? >> absolutely. and i think it's hilarious to see the former chief of staff to the president to say, oh, i'm sorry, that was a little mistake we m

lawyers beyond the challenge to emanuel's residency don't expect it to.nuel has other bills showing he remained a legal chicago resident. >> parents of a teenager are stopping a book referring to jesus as a wine guzzling vagrant and precocious socialist. amy and dennis taylor don't want barbara aaron's book nickel and dimed used in the personal finance class because of characterization of christianity. they pulled their son from school and plan to go before the school board to ask it be pulled. >> shapirro released the notable quotes of the year. first is christine o'donnell's declaration "i am not a witch" and tony hayward comment's. "i would like my life back". third place. airline passenger john's warning to a transportation "if you touch my junk i will have you arrested . this is a fox news alert. you are looking at the senate floor. the rate will move on to a final vote in the senate probably tomorrow. lawmakers conducted the first procedural vote on the plan getting far more than 60 needed . final cleture just finished up. the total is 83-15 . presi

>> rahm emanuel on the hot seat answering questions about his eligibility to run for chicago mayor. more than 20 people have filed objections to his candidacy saying he does not meet the residency requirement. good afternoon, i'm steve sanders. >> i'm allison payne. we welcome our viewer who are watching us around the country on wgn america. >>> wgn's julian crews is live at the chicago board of elections with the latest on the hearing. >>> good afternoon. together with his team of lawyers there to represent his interests, rahm emanuel has already spent several hours fielding questions about his residency status and whether his stint in washington with the barack obama white house disqualifies him from running for mayor. >> this document states that you were a pasht time resident of illinois in 2009. that's basically what it says. what the document says. >> correct. that's what this document says. did you amend this return? >> yes. >> do you know when you amend the return? >> november 24. >> of 2010? >> yes. >> and why did you amend the return? >> the first one was inaccurate. >> la

emanuel's attorneys expected to call more witnesses to testify. he always intended to return to chicago. >> thank you. >>> o'hare isn't the only airport in town sporting those full body scanners. now one of them just moved into midway safety administration. leaders unveiling that device today. it captures a detail image that some argue violate's a person's privacy. travelers are allowed to opt out of that full body scan but are then required to undergo an intense pat down. >>> cta riders may see hikes in the state doesn't see a bill. owes $300 million. they need to money to balance those budgets which are required by law. if the agencies don't get the money, that made lead to fare increases and a reduction in some services next year. on top of the 300 million the state already owes, 124 million should be coming for 2011. >>> coming up our chicago tribune investigation. how hundreds of child predators usually never get caught. >>> are you ready for football? the vikings and bears still may not be. the latest on the scramble to find a stadium for mo

whitemike emanuel has the speci. >> the latest attempt to repeal the policy banning openly gay service members, don't ask, don't tell is a stand-alone bill. an iraq war veteran is the sponsor. patrick murphy says the time has come. at the white house, aides say president obama hopes congress will do it. >> he says the policy will change either through the court system or through congress. his preferred and our preferred method is to do this legislatively through congress. >> this is a hale mary pass. there are very few days. >> changing the policy banning gay men and women from openly serving in the military was included in the defense organization bill blocked in the senate. today the new marine corps commandant continued his opposition to changing the policy saying it could cost marine lives. >> i don't want to lose any marines through distraction. i don't want to have any marines with no legs. >> but gibbs says the commander in chief and many in uniform disagree. >> if you look at the commander in chief, the head of pentagon and chair of the joint chiefs you'll find unanimity in the

rahm emanuel is on the stand in a chicago courtroom.ring questions about his bid for chicago mayor. and here's the key question. he has lived in chicago for a year or hasn't he? because if the answer is, no, he hasn't lived in chicago for over a year, he can't run. in the city known for boisterous politics, this hearing could get interesting. jim warren is an msnbc contributor. give us the lay of the land here, jim. what is going to happen? >> well, little less momentum than the julian assange hearing. i never thought there would be a common denominator between ramm and julian assange. the fact is that even though the state municipal code says you have to have lived there for a year before the election and only gives you an exemption for military service, the much broader and i think more relevant legal matter happens to be the state election code, which gives a broad exemption for government service quote/unquote. he pays taxes here, he votes here, he owns a house here and, perhaps most important of all, the intent. past history sugges

we know that as recently as september rahm emanuel was working for obama.e folks that are trying to knock him off of the ballot by questioning whether or not he is legally defind as a resident here, the point that rahm emanuel makes is that he never gave up the family home, that he paid his local taxes, that his intention was to serve for a period of time for the obama administration and courtroom back. basically this hearing officer will make an initial ruling as to how all of this is going to be playing out in terms of the eyes of law. jenna: we were seeing, apparently some live pictures there of rahm emanuel, a big stack of papers in front of him, and we hear that it might be maybe three days of being questioned over this, steve? how is that? >> reporter: the way the rules are written for these kinds of petition challenges, is that every person who submits a challenge, that can be a candidate, an attorney, a citizen of chicago, every person gets an opportunity to ask rahm emanuel questions. so there's 25 of these. it quite easily could go a length of tim

>>> well, rahm emanuel has been getting grilled for hours at a packed hearing.t issue, whether emanuel is really a resident of chicago and is qualified to prun for the mayor of the nation's third largest city. so far the normally hard charging emanuel known for his salty language has calmly answered the questions. >> i was renting in washington. but keeping my voter registration in my chicago home. >> how many days were now in chicago during the 30 days before the february 2nd, 2010 election? >> how many days was he in chicago? >>. >> joining know now is lynn sweet, also with politics daily. how did it go so far for rahm proving he is still a resident of chicago? >> well, the pretrial briefs are mirroring what is happening at the hearing. he just says he never gave up his residency. he went to serve in the united states government. illinois law, he argues, doesn't mean you abandon your chicago residency. that's on track with what the hearing is going to be about. right now he's being questioned adversarily in trying to establish that he wasn't there. those quest

. >>> plus, rahm emanuel is leading the race for chicago mayor right now but it's not really going totter if his name is not on the ballot. this is my band from the 80's, looker. hair and mascara, a lethal combo. i'm jon haber of alto music. my business is all about getting music into people's hands. and the plum card from american express open helps me do that. you name it, i can buy it. and the savings that we get from the early pay discount has given us money to reinvest back into our business and help quadruple our floor space. how can the plum card's trade terms get your business booming? booming is putting more music in more people's hands. if anything, i thought i'd get hit by a bus, but not a heart. all of a sudden, it's like an earthquake going off in your body. my doctor put me on an aspirin regimen to help protect my life. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. to my friends, i say, you know, check with your doctor, 'cause it can happen to anybody. [ male announcer ] be ready if a he

. >>> rom emanuel taking the stand not in a courtroom but in the basement of a chicago board of electionsng questions about his residency. >>> wgn's tom negovan was at day 1 of the hearings. he's here now tonight. >> reporter: this bordered on the surreal. one big question was whether emanuel's wife would have to appear and face petitioners who say her husband shouldn't be on the ballot. >> as we sit here right now, ladies and gentlemen, i'm hearing nothing from you in terms of specific evidence that you think you can elicit from ms. rule that you cannot get that is relevant and germane to the case from other witnesses. >> reporter: so it went, rom emanuel's wife in washington off the hook for tomorrow's proceedings in chicago, in spite of petitioners here who wanted a crack at her, for reasons they couldn't really articulate. today was all about getting some administrative work done, clearing some paperwork, and that they did. seven pages, 91 points of agreement in all sides of the debate, a list that should speed things along for the former white house chief of staff, who testifies at w

now rahm emanuel has maintained his residency should not be as issue. while working at the white house he owned his home here, paid property taxes and voted here. more than a dozen candidates are vying to replace daley, including danny davis, former senator carol moseley-braun, gary chico and james meeks. >> the fight to keep him off the ballot has garnered a lot of attention in the race. when he goes before the board commission tomorrow, he could face hours of questioning. muriel clair, wgn. >> thank you for that. >>> coming up what a lawmaker is suggesting to get to you pay up for past purchases. >>> a big change coming to school lunches, what kids will not see as part of a bill signed by the president today. >>> later, we have some elegant alternatives to the standard holiday fare. thank you for calling usa pmy name peggy. peggy, yes, i'd like to redeem my reward points for a gift card. tell points please? 250,000. calculating... ooh! answer: five fifty! 550 bucks?! 5 dollar, 50 cents. minus redeeming charge. leaving 50 cents. say what? happy time! w

emanuel left the obama administration in october to get his campaign under way.ce dozens of people have challenged his candidacy, claiming he did not meet chicago's residency requirements. a city elections panel plans to decide today if he in fact will be on that ballot in february. >>> the president has now left washington to join his family in hawaii for the christmas. much better president o new year with a number of washing good morning, t.j. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. its critics argued it could restrain u.s. missile defense but the arms treaty with russia passed with a two-thirds majority in the senate as the 111th congress essentially wrapped up business here in the nation's capital. the 2010 lame duck congress has been anything but. handing president obama a handful of early christmas > af fo thi elections, washington woul headed for more partiannd and instead, this has been a season of progress for the american people. >> reporter: there was a major foreign policy victory. when the senate ratified the s.t.a.r.t. nuclear disarmament treaty

. >>> an election hearing officer in chicago has decided former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel should be allowed on the february ballot for chicago mayor. his candidacy has been challenged by opponents who say emanuel doesn't meet the one-year residency requirement. the election board meets later today. while the panel is expected to accept the officer's recommendation, the board's decision is almost sure to be challenged in the courts. >>> researchers have apparently found evidence of a previously unknown ancient cousin of humans. a 30,000-year-old finger bone and a tooth were discovered in siberia. scientists say the bone is very different from early neanderthals and modern humans and is from a previous unknown species now called the neesopian. >>> in london, a street crossing made famous by the beatles has been designated a protected heritage site by the english government. the crossing site appears on the beatles "abbey road" album cover. >>> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,559 after gaining 26 points yesterday. the

bill clinton will be there to campaign on behalf of emanuel. he knows emanuel not only from the obama administration but his own administration when he worked as a senior policy advisor. mr. clinton has been active in democratic causes recently campaigning for president obama's tax deals and for jerry brown in the california governor's race. >>> people in san francisco will soon be able to start recycling their christmas trees. trees will be picked up curbside from january 3rd through january 7th. a second round of pick-up is slated for january 10th through the 14th. the trees need to be clean of decorations and placed next to the trash cart before 6 a.m. on a scheduled pick-up day. the recycled trees are cut into wood chips which go to a biomass energy facility in tracy. >> the weeklong celebration of kwan z kicked off today. the observance lasts seven days. each day represents a different principle such as unity or creativity. the first kwanza was celebrated back in 1966 as a way for african american families to connect with their roots. a no

she's a terrific -- chicago likes a guy like rahm emanuel.>> up next, former secretary of defense for president clinton, william cohen joins the conversation. boss: and now i'll turn it over to the gecko. gecko: ah, thank you, sir. as we all know, geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and trailer insurance... ...as well as motorcycle insurance... gecko: oh...sorry, technical difficulties. boss: uh...what about this? gecko: what's this one do? gecko: um...maybe that one. ♪ dance music boss: ok, let's keep rolling. we're on motorcycle insurance. vo: take fifteen minutes to see how much you can save on motorcycle, rv, and camper insurance. >>> it is a happy day. we had 44 nay, 44-vote margin, today 75. you don't have to be straight to shoot straight, okay? in any event, they're all straight shooters up here in terms of what we want to do for the american people. it's a happy day indeed. i'm proud to be again with major omni and patrick murphy, but also with my colleagues who have worked the 75-vote majority, almost doubling the number

>> let me do something unusual here for me, which is to defend rahm emanuel. are not all going to agree. i think he should be able to run for chicago mayor. as somebody who has worked on the hill and worked at the white house those people need to take that experience. they need to leave washington and apply it elsewhere and think of themselves as not part of that establishment in d.c.. >> sean: everybody wants an exception. if you want to chain the law, change the law. but it doesn't go back retroactive. >> he pays taxes, he has a tomorrow -- [ talking over each other ] >> you expect him to commute to chicago to sleep in a bed there? >> i'd like to know why he was a part-time resident there. look, he rented his house. he had nowhere to live. he moved his family, they rented their house. the requirement is that you live in chicago for a full year before running and he hasn't done it. >> one exception is service in the armed forces. unless they are gonna say he was there serving the commander in chief, i mean there may be some way -- >> you thought there was no

so that's a little bit of good news for rahm emanuel. is a different kind of christmas war. brooke, senators -- senators john kyle and jim demint have said, look, senate shouldn't go lake, go way into the holiday season arguing over this s.t.a.r.t. nuclear reduction treaty because it would be disrespectful to christians and sacrilegious because it's the christmas holiday. they are taking some heat for that. democratic harry reid, and now faith leaders are weighing in. they've sent in a press release calling it a misuse of the christian holiday saying that there's no better thing to do that is dedicated to peace on earth than to work towards the reduction of nuclear arms. it seems to be another war of christmas developing at this time in the u.s. senate. >> you never know what is going to happen. >> they just need to vote, vote, vote so they can get out of there in time. >> you are right. appreciate it. >> thanks. >>> it looks like a scene out of the office, you know the tv show, holding that christmas cubicle contest. i have not seen the

i think much more of a gaffe was rahm emanuel when he said you guys are to the left, you're being retarded. that's a gaffe. chris: you shouldn't use that word. this thing about the white house, let's get back to whether a gaffe, they want to stick to the left this hard? >> they absolutely do. i don't think there is any doubt that in order -- one of the thhegs tiny learned from watching chris: biden would never do this. >> the independents think that democrats and republicans are both done. >> robert gibbs was six months ahead of the times. >> he was trying to bait the left and it didn't work but it's worked now. chris: you think it's in the interest of the white house to say these nasty things about the left so the people from the democratic progressive wing -- >> the president was being attacked like he was the last week by the house democrats, really focusing their fire on the president, i think that raises his stature. chris: what is the future for people like gibbs? is there a big shuffle over there? >> we keep hearing that and keep waiting. i think at the end of the day, i think gibbs

former president bill clinton will endorse and campaign for emanuel in january. he served in the clinton white house for five years before becoming a member of congress and then serving as obama's chief of staffer now he is pushing ahead with this mayoral campaign after a favourable ruling from the board of elections they said thursday he is still a chicago resident despite spending a lot of time in washington dc. >> could be a rough time for post christmas travelers. >> coming up a look at which airlines are canceling flights. >> christmas in san bruno. how people in the explosion ravaged neighbourhood are keeping their spirits up. >>> and will mother nature treat the bay area, how will it be for the rest of 2010. lawrence will bring it all home with his end of the year forecast coming up ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> what a beautiful day. welcome back to weekend early edition. two families in san bruno had a tragic experience that has lead to a new found appreciation for life and each other. as grace lee tells us they are helping one another move forward. here is

emanuel, queer spoken word poetry. pbs's in the life. an online journal. he's the author of the year poetry. as well as his first spoken word. it's a recipient of the masha a gomez award. please welcome manual xavier. >> hello. okay. there we go. how are you doing? first of all, thank you so much. it's such a great pleasure to be back in san francisco. i love this city and it's always a pleasure to be here. i want to thank mishell t. one is new. it will give you a back story. a few years ago, i had been attacked on the streets of brooklyn. i am deaf in my left ear. >> sitting on the l, i was made a wear, my voice of louder. he didn't know about the hearing loss in one here. i remained silent. i didn't turn around to expose the scar on the back of my

the first spots are davis, lee, emanuel, del valle, mosley braun, de jesus, and chico. the others will go in the way they are filed. and number seven on that list is our spotlight tonight. we spoke with gery chico. >> reporter: this is a man with a solid background in city government. he has yet to slow down. gery chico is a man in perpetual motion. always campaigning. never missing a chance to meet someone new. he may be making up for lost time. >> i spent most of my time on the other side of that camera. work in the trenches. i haven't been worried about getting my face on camera. now if you want to run for office, up to sell your story. >> reporter: his story includes business, law, an unsuccessful senate bid. he's a guy the mayor plugged in all over. three years as his chief of staff, chicago public schools, city colleges, the park district. today he's meeting with not for profits. talking about tightening belts, which sounds somewhat like chico's vision for the city. >> the status quo won't work. the problems are too great and you know what? thankfully people's exp

. >> s to be a fly on the wall in this hearing room today, rahm emanuel heading to court in chicago todaynot only by lawyer bus every day residents about whether he is eligible to run for mayor. >> first, today's trivia question from the almanac of american politics what is the only state that still bars its governors from running for re-election in the answer and more ahead on "the daily rundown." nobody in my family ever had a heart attack. if anything, i thought i'd get hit by a bus, but not a heart. all of a sudden, it's like an earthquake going off in your body. my doctor put me on an aspirin regimen to help protect my life. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. to my friends, i say, you know, check with your doctor, 'cause it can happen to anybody. [ male announcer ] be ready if a heart attack strikes. donate $5 to womenheart at iamproheart.com, and we'll send you this bayer aspirin pill tote. and while it can never be fully answered, it helps to have a financial partner like northern trust.

it's striking to see rahm emanuel taking all this. issue has been his 2009 tax returns where he and his wife amy ruled -- he has now acknowledged they should not have said they were part-time residents. >> that's right. they were clearly here in washington, their children were being educated. on the other hand, one has to have a certain sympathy. i don't feel like rahm emanuel ever stopped thinking of himself as a chicagoan. and, you know, by the sort of conventional standards of politics, he is very much was meets the requirements. he's not a carpetbagger in the true sense, where you do sometimes have that, somebody moving into a place where they haven't been a part of the civic life of someplace. that doesn't apply to rahm. there is anuthentic question of whether he meets the technical requirements. there's plenty of people in chicago that filed petitions that said no, he does not. >> the whole time he was here as chief of staff, the rap on him from some in washington was that he was too much of a chicagoan, not well integrated into

the elections board in chicago has ruled former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel is eligible to run for mayor. a hearing officer had found he qualifies, even though he lived in washington much of the last two years. emanuel welcomed the finding, even before the board formally approved it. >> what this reaffirms is that i was a resident, and that the only reason i left is to work for president obama. and i think the most important thing to remember is that we turn the page now and focus on what i have been focusing on, which is the priorities facing the city. >> sreenivasan: more than two dozen people challenged emanuel's right to run. at least one of them insisted he will appeal the election board's decision all the way to the state supreme court. the internet based communication service skype slowly recovered today from an outage that began at midday wednesday. voice and video chatting were back for about 80% of skype users by this afternoon, but group video links were still down. the company blamed software problems that knocked part of its connection system offline. those are

you've got to question the intent of rahm emanuel here.is his dream job, and as bad as this is, full credit for his restraint. he never showed that restraint when he was talking to people like us. but he's got to deal with these aldermen now -- he won't be under the thumb of a daily for two generations or more. does he want to put up with this stuff from the aldermen not on these issues, but on potholes and everything else. that's a dream job for him. >> a dream that could be a nightmare. >> richard wolffe, great to have you here. author of "revival." see you at the white house later. >>> all right, trivia time. what's the number of states that president obama has not visited since he became president? >> and the answer, believe it or not, is just nine. there are your nine states he hasn't been to as president. arkansas, red, idaho, red, kentucky, red, nebraska, oklahoma, south carolina, red, red, red, red. utah, red. vermont, the only blue state he hasn't been to. it's amazing, when you think about it, though, he's been to 41 states, in j

white house correspondent mike emanuel has the story. >> ahead of the classified in afghanistan, report saying consensus grew of the intelligence agencies offering a more pessimistic evaluation. he says, "the road ahead in afghanistan is longer according to the intelligence community than some in the military. on the record -- >> i have never reason to avoid commenting on intelligence matters at the podium. >> reporter: but those familiar with this say there are concern about the afghan government responsibility to assume responsibility for security. general who did his assessment of the war general david petraeus in september says it can be improved. >> the government in itself is not a show-stopper in my view. once we bring the taliban down and able to secure it, we will get better people involved in governance. >> reporter: another issue, the pakistani government needs to do more to combat enemy fighters on its side of the border. general keen says they should have more leverage, soon. >> when we start to make troop progress in afghanistan, we're starting to turn the tables. then we

former president bill clinton will campaign on emanuel's behalf sometime next month.manuel held various positions in the clinton administration, including senior policy adviser, director of special projects, and political director. he is the front-runner in the chicago mayoral race. >>> president obama has just wrapped up the first weekend of his christmas vacation with his family in hawaii. he and the first lady took a break from their r and r to show appreciation to some of the men and women in uniform. abc's yunji de nies is with the president in honolulu. >> reporter: the president spent the day with a mix of business and relaxation. he and the first family attended church services at the marine corps base here on the island. earlier in the day he had a counterterrorism briefing. he also called saudi king abdullah, who congratulated him on getting s.t.a.r.t. through the senate. the president and first lady visited that same marine corps base, spending more than an hour thanking troops for their service. the obamas have had a relaxing holiday so far with plenty of

>> bret: mike emanuel on the north lawn. thank you. group of americans came under attack wednesday night outside restaurant in yemen's capital. none of them was hurt. yemeni newspaper reports a bomb went off under the pick-up truck carrying the americans. it says 28-year-old jordanian has been arrested. >>> south korea says it will conduct live fire artillery drills in the coming days, similar to one prompting attack on an island. new mexico governor bill richardson, frequent administration trouble-shooter arrived in north korea today for unofficial talks. >>> the founder of the wikileaks website won a victory in a british courtroom today. correspondent shannon bream has the latest chapter in the legal fight over julian assange. >> julian assange is now a free man, although with limitations. he was allowed to leave prison after nine days behind bars. assange is resisting extradition to sweden where he is accused of sex crimes. conditions of the release do not mandate he stay away from computers and today he sounded eager to get back to