i'm joined by john larsen who is chairman of the house democratic caucus. you're busy these days, it thanks for taking the time. you're an hour away from going to caucus. >> today, actually, it's a very difficult day because we have all our former members who lost an election. as you pointed out historic. they're all still part of a very historic congress. so, today is an opportunity for us to come together as a caucus and talk about our organizational meeting tomorrow, but, more importantly, to listen to our members and what happened out in the field to them and as importantly the human dynamic that very rarely gets discussed and what's going on in their lives personally and what happened to them and what will happen to them down the road. >> a key question really is, as they leave, what was the message that voters were sending? some people say the message was clearly changed. they wanted something different and, yet, it looks like the same leadership. you know that there are critics within your own party, particularly blue dog democrats who say we're send

i don't believe that john larsen can connect in the area of south carolina that i can. >> do you believe that will be part of your new port foleyo? >> absolutely. the creativity of mine, i plan to try to look at ways of doing that in other legislation because i think that these communities that i represent many of them got left out of the recovery act after the so-called new deal. i want to make sure these communities don't get left out this time. and i've been in communities this year in the state of california, for instance, i really thought i was in south carolina. there's as much farming and rural stuff over there that i have in my community. i can relate to these people. i know what it is to go out and work side by side with a migrant. i used to run the south carolina commission of farm workers so i know what that is. and so these experiences i'm going to put to work i think in a much more effective way than i have in the past. i've been a little bit too much inside the beltway in the last few years. >> let's talk about tax cuts briefly. they have to be extended unless there's some

clyburn will be the number three and then at the end, whether it's chris van holland of maryland or john larsen of connecticut, when the music stops there will be only so many chairs and somebody will be sitting without a leadership post. but you think they'll reach a deal where they avoid this type of battle. but if they do. you've sign it. cbc and waxman, everybody is on different camps. and some are saying the republicans are in denial. they feel like the president doesn't get it yet and some conservative democrats are saying that. >> pelosi has not endorsed either man? >> no. i think she's stayed neutral. and the race would be decided next week and they would come back in the lame duck and vote and she would stay out of it. and some of her constituents have backed hour so i don't think she will formally endorse. >> what does the president get involved in this? >> the white house is staying clear and saying we're not getting involved in leadership races. but i imagine people in the white house were kind of stunned as i was on capitol hill that nancy pelosi did not step aside. >> leading into

what we can report, the democratic caucus chairman going into the next congress will be john larsen of connecticut. he has been reelected. he is currently presiding over the elections for leader. that is the next race. nancy pelosi faces heath schuler from north carolina whose race is really just symbolic, if anything. there's not a real chance of him being able to win. if anything, he'll try to garner protest votes. that being said, the big story on capitol hill so far, you have 68 democrats that are said to agree to nancy pelosi. they say, let's slow down, figure out where we're going, what our message is going to go moving forward. we're not all in this together to reelect you right away. she will be the democratic minority leader going forward. how quickly it will come, probably you'll hear by the end of the day. >> that's big news. thank you, luke, for the latest on what's happening with the leadership battle. there are conflicting reports today following news that president obama's bipartisan meeting to talk about tax cuts and other issues has been postponed. why was the presiden