tonight we look atpolitics so far with mik allen politico, jon meacham of random house. >> it's so much sharper in the debates this time. you watch the wide shot. he's the only one of the candidates. i was in the hall the other night for the foreign policy debate. he turns his body to whoever is speaking. never takes notes, never refers to notes and he does that we're told to keep himself in the game. to look for opportunities to think about when he's about to get whacked. it's a sign of, it's a little signify firef the way he's thrown himself into this campaign. he does want it and he's willing to dwhat you need to do even when it could be humiliating. >> charlie: from politics to economic and political philosophy with maria gabriel who is on called lovend keep the and carl and kari marx. >> he saw the progression of capitalism is the state we're in, a small percentage o the population actually controls all the wealth. even the middle clas is absorbing into this ever expanding base with no real clear th to get up to that 1%. >> charlie: we conclude this evening with bes selling author

. >> and, from american voices, jon meacham. >> reconciliation begins, i submit, in the mind rather than in the soul, though the two are neighbors with porous borders. >> next on "need to know." >> announcer:'s to know is made possible by bernard and irene schwartz, the john t. macarthur foundation, josh and judy westin, the cheryl and phillip milstein family. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america, designing customized and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. this is "need to know." >> thanks for joining us. the last of the american troops have left iraq, just in time for christmas. and with an eye towards next year's election, president obama is already touting the achievement. of course, the debate has resumed about just what the united states accomplished there. was the overthrow of saddam hussein worth the loss of almost 4,500 americans and tens of thousands of iraqi lives? on this christmas weekend, we focus on another aspect of the story -- just what saddam's ouster has mean

they're either very likely or somewhat likely to change their minds before the january primary. >> jon meacham, we see movement there, which many of us have been predicting around this table. jon huntsman jumping into double digits. and seems to be taking off. >> what happened eight years ago, the man we saw making a very hawkish statement walked away with new hampshire. and new hampshire -- remember, the person who won iowa often never wins new hampshire vice versa, and new hampshire is a more representative bell weather because the independents are involved than iowa. it's not like a caucus, the caucus is geared toward passionate activists. and elections aren't decided by passionate activists, nominations can be. that's why new hampshire is an interesting example. >> and it really did. and john mccain revived his campaign, and it may happen again this year. i will say >> well, the editors suggest taking a second look at jon huntsman and rick santorum, two candidates polling in the single digits nationwide. here's part of what the national review had to say. seems winnable next year and with

nice to meet you, jon meacham. and we also have, speaking of money, economic analyst steve rattner. and also, msnbc contributor mike barnicle. nice to see you. >> just to set this up for you and 98% of the people that may not what was going on there. tebow, jimmie johnson right after the game said aye never seen any player like this. that can bring his team back the way he does. this guy was like 3 for 16 in the first three quarters in the fourth quarter he threw 80%. took his team into overtime, they were behind ten points with two minutes left and came back. and won. >> and as you know, joe, as captain of his team as you are captain of this team, he has people believing in him. >> of course. that's the spirit. >> people believe in him just like they believed in montana. and the shocking things is, he's a second year kid who cannot throw the ball, and yet all he does is win. he's like 7-1. >> 6-1. >> 6-1, and in the nfl, and there's just not a harder, more competitive league. it's crazy. >> and you're right. the first quarter of the game. i think you're right. he was like 3 for 16,

i mean, jon meacham said that it was love of the sea and love of strong drink him and love of adventurethat brought them together. mecham's book, franklin, winst winston. they grew to become very fond of each other although churchill was more fond of roosevelt than roosevelt was of churchill. churchill once said that meeting franklin was a was like opening a bottle of champagne, and roosevelt once told churchill that he was glad they lived in the same decade. so there was a respect. churchill came to visit. it was astonishing and it was big news in america. churchill came to america several days before christmas in 1941, stayed at the white house. lived in the west wing. [inaudible] >> exactly. and left london by a blackout train and took a harrowing flight, or took a ship across the atlantic and then landed in boston and into from boston to washington. all top secret could never was in the press. only people on a need to know basis knew about this, and then all of a sudden there's churchill in washington. this is big news. winston churchill was a hugely popular figure in america, as he

and i must say i was deeply hurt yesterday morning when jon meacham went after you again.y does -- why does jon hate when it's so much easier to love, julia? you've known him for a while. what's wrong with him? >> he takes it personally when i'm late with my copy. but he's freed of that now because he doesn't have that pesky job at "newsweek" anymore. >> no doubt about it. what do you think about this presidential field? newt's a product, mostly, of georgia. do you claim him? >> no. we don't claim georgia where i'm from. >> okay. >> georgia gave us jimmy carter don't forget. no, i mean -- aren't you already over this? we're sitting here watching ron paul melt down and we're talking about newt. you know, and okay, newt's zany, ron is k -- michele bachmann is starting to look like a statesman. i watch those debates and say, what we do claim in my home state of mississippi is haley barbour, i sit there in tears going, where's mitch daniels? >> where's jeb bush, where's paul ryan, where are these conservatives -- >> smart guys. >> yeah, that don't insult your intelligence. i'm

"the right fights back" the "politico" book with jon meacham and random house i'm told is going to bee world. >> people are fascinated by the campaign. they were waiting up for santa on itunes when it was coming out add midnight. it's been very exciting. people love the idea of finding out who these candidates really are and what's happening behind the scenes. >> i say that partly in jest, but it is going to be the number one selling ebook. it's really good. to the parade profile on mitt romney. david gergen talking to mitt romney. what did we learn? >> we'll bring you sunday's paper already, and this timing is working out amazingly for romney. you saw on "politico" yesterday that a part of the gingrich strategy, the romney strategy for fighting back against gingrich was to emphasize the romney family. so this timing is great for him. it's intended to be a soft interview. we learn little tidbits about mitt that if he wants to really splurge, really be naughty, he'll drink chocolate milk. they ask him on sunday mornings what is your routine? and he says, well, ann, makes the pancake ba