mark preston, paul steinhauser. good to see you guys.eginning of the month, they are still still ongoing, is that right? oh. >> still ongoing. let's talk about minnesota. been nearly three weeks now in the battle between mark day ton and the republican nominee. no resolution yet, the minnesota state supreme court hearing this case. it looks like it will go to a recount that should start next week. take a look at the middle graphic. what's left? the mississippi governor's race. the alaska senate battle still ongoing as well. there are still five house races, five house races that are unresolved as well. so i promise you our pledge to you, it will be there for you until every race is over. >> things have been going awfully well for president obama. he took a shellacking so to speak in the midterm elections. a new poll out about his prospects in 2012. this new poll shows they're not so good. when asked does president obama deserve to be re-elect in 2012, 42% say yes, 49% say no. if there's any good news, he has time to make up some ground a

let's bring in cnn's political editor mark preston. mark, jessica is not the only person to say that about this comparison between president bush and president obama. some might equate bush's push to war with obama's push for health care, mark. >> yeah, sure. but, look, when you're the president of the united states, you have to make tough decisions, you have to lead in a way that is not necessarily going to make everybody happy. we saw that during president bush's tenure, and we're seeing that right now with president obama. you know, don, a lot can be said about his leadership. when i say "his," president obama's leadership, over the past couple years. one thing you can say about him, he got pretty much everything through that he wanted to get through. >> mm-hmm. let's move on an talk about congress because congress is going to return tomorrow. we've been talking about it since the midterms. it's going to be a lame-duck session. what are the priorities here? and might the priorities here be overshadowed by congressman rangel? >> sure.

senior political editor mark preston. mark, fill us in. >> hey, kyra.ele, will he run again for another term as chairman of the republican national committee? regardless of running or doesn't run, he's going to have a challenger now. sal anuzis of michigan. he will run for the chairmanship of the rnc. he ran against michael steele back in 2009 for the chairmanship and came in third. interesting thing about him, he's in his 50s and one of the gentleman that embraced social media and in addition to the letter to the members of the rnc asking for the vote, he sent it out on twitter. just shows you how times changed. that election in january. >>> talk about another big name, sarah palin is going to be chris cross the country again. not necessarily stumping for candidates like we saw in the midterm elections. she is pushing her new book "america by heart." of course, going rogue was such a huge best seller. she went into certain states and reached out to constituencies. when's interesting is she is going on a 13-state, 11-day tour. some of the states are act

oh, it is the man who didn't have a voice for forever, mark preston. can we get a hello? , brooke, how are you? >> you sound better, mark and paul with breaking news from the world of politics. we have your cnn political ticker. that is next. out of the very best america had to offer. ingenuity. integrity. optimism. and a belief that the finest things are the most thoughtfully made -- not the most expensive. today, the american character is no less strong. and chevrolet continues as an expression of the best of it. bringing more technology to more people than ever in our history. inventing new ways to get around our planet while preserving it at the same time. exploring new horizons of design and power. and making our vehicles amongst the safest on earth. this isn't just any car company. this is chevrolet. and the strength of our nation can be found in every car and truck we make. it's why, today, tomorrow, and on into a bright future, we can proudly say... ...chevy runs deep. ♪ ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ my only sunshine ♪ you makes me happy ♪ when skies are grey ♪ you'll ne

mark preston, thanks so much. another political update in an hour.he political news go to cnnpolitics.com. >>> one of president obama's top foreign advisory objectives hits a roadblock in the senate. he wants to pass the new russian nuclear arms control treaty before the lame duck session ends. jon kyl doesn't want it considered. it was a hot topic last night on cnn's prime time show "parker spitzer." >> until now, arms control treaties passed by a bipartisan majority is because there was the thought that when we're facing these supremely important global issues we have to put partisan issues to one side. that feels sblt there anymore and so when you think about the republicans who are blocking this and above all kyl and ask yourself, when's the calculation? i would guess it is in part genuine conviction. you can't trust those russians and the thought i won't give the all-important victory to obama. >> "parker spitzer" every night 8:00 p.m. eastern. >>> miami heat fans known for being late to games despite lebron james but now the team wants fans to

cnn senior political director mark preston and cnn deputy political director paul steinhauser.t of titles. sorry about all that. >> it's painful. >> my apologies. very painful. first thing i want to do is ask our cameraman to zoom in. a new wire up today. it's the battle over who speaks for the tea party movement. tea party nation, that's the group that put on that first tea party convention in february out with a new letter to the top two republicans in congress, john boehner and mitch mcconnell the top republican in the senate. they call for lower spending and defunding the new health care low and keep taxes low but also calling for republican lawmakers not to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" kind of a pushback against gop proud, which put out their own letter saying republican lawmakers should deal with just fiscal issues and not social issues. a back and forth here. the gop proud is not considered a real tea party group by tea party nation. >>> one other thing, kate, let's zoom ahead to the next battle for the white house. never too early. take a look at brands new numbers fr

. >>> it's time for politics right now, and we're going to bring in mark preston. mark, we're talking about the midterm elections. got a lot of news coverage, and i told you this when i was out there. a lot of people touring the country were saying, what, there's an election on tuesday? we couldn't get enough of the coverage but you couldn't escape the chatter about the tea party, the candidates. but a lot of people did not pay attention. i want you to check out that poll we have. the pew research center found 46% of americans, less than half, know that the republicans won control of the house of representatives and only 38% know that congressman john boehner will be the next speaker of the house. so, mark, here is the thing, a lot of people live in a vacuum. it's not to say it's right people don't know, but they just don't know. what do you make of this? >> it's tragic, isn't it, don? it's disturbing and tragic. >> i don't know if i would say that. not that i want to disagree with you. i think people are so focused on their lives and on paying the bills and on whet

senior political editor mark preston is at the cnnpolitics.com desk. what do you have for us, mark?od morning, fred. well, i think this headline will say it all what's happening up in alaska as we speak right now. the anchorage daily news, 98% of write-in votes go to murkowski. this spells very bad news for the republican nominee joe miller. let's just get our viewers up to date. murkowski is an incumbent republican senator and lost the primary. decided to run as a write-in candidate. right now, the write-in votes seem to be going her way so our own shannon travis is up in juneau where this is taking place and the votes are counted and we'll hear more from him about what's going on and doesn't look good for joe miller, the republican nominee. lisa murkowski seems to be gaining ground. >>> let's talk about don't ask, don't tell. of course, on veterans day, this is an issue that has a lot of talk, a lot of chatter in the military. the pentagon right now is reviewing about -- what should they do? repeal it? and of course, we don't know what's going to happen in the lame-duck session. w

mark preston joins me now from washington. hello, mark. >> how are you?you and pete dominic, but i will try. it won't be as good and i don't wear glasses yet. but as you say, a house divided on the issue of "don't ask, don't tell" which is the policy that requires gay members of the military to not talk about it. well, john mccain who is a senior senator of course in the senate and heads up the armed services committee for republicans, he does not agree with the policy, however, his wife is now part of a video where she is taking an opposite view. in fact, she's joining the likes of gene simmons of kiss, david navarro, slash, dr. drew, in this anti-bullying video for the lgbt teens. of course this all has to do with the suicides and bullying we've seen of recent weeks. in fact this is what cindy mccain has to say. our political leaders tell youth they is no future, they can't surn our country openly. of course now cindy mccain is at odds with her husband on that issue. let's talk a little bit about michael steele. we talk about him once a week anyway. wil

mark preston. you know what i'm talking about, talking about congressman charlie rangel. he has to face the music on monday, doesn't he? >> he has to face the music. you know, this is the trial we have all been waiting for. faces charges of breaking house ethic rules, did he not properly report income from a rental property, did he use the power of his office to raise money for a center that would bear his name in new york. tomorrow morning we'll hear it all, right here on capitol hill behind me. >> mark, here's the thing. he's representing himself in this. is that smart because everything he says will be on the record and if it does go over to some sort of criminal proceeding that's going to be on the record. is that smart of him to represent himself even though he knows these people. >> that's the big question. who knows if he'll show up with a lawyer in tow or whether he'll be representing himself before this body. even if he doesn't show up with a lawyer tomorrow, i can guarantee you this. he has enough friends and colleagues who i'm sure have given him enough advice.

mark preston joins us from the cnnpolitic cnnpolitics.com desk.on't think anyone shoots the tv because of you. >> i don't think so. my kids thinks that. probably most of my friends think that and the bosses probably think that because i'm talking about it. >> we have to get mark preston some therapy, folks! >> i need lots of it. as you said, we are still -- we still have outstanding house and senate races to this day. the midterms earlier this month. we vice president got resolution on four house races and one senate race but we did get a resolution on a texas race. representative ortis conceded late last night. you know, ortiz has been in congress since 1983. kyra, however, he lost his re-election bid this november. he conceded last night. and this district is the corpus christi/brownsville area. a republican taking over that seat and as i said, four house seats up for grabs and the alaska saga continues on between joe miller and lisa murkowski. they're fighting over that seat. looking at this scoop from ed henry last night. david plouffe, cam pa

mark preston live from the white house. you want to talk about a brand, an industry.lease. >> sarah palin, inc., i guess you are suggesting. interesting how someone like sarah palin is using social media, which you were talking to sandy about, which is interesting because she is carefully putting out what she wants. a gawker put out excerpts from her new book, unflattering excerpts, how she was beating up on "american idol" contestants, and she made sure that a judge stopped gawker from moving forward with the excerpts and put out her on on her website and they are glowing. she has a place where ronald reagan says it was a challenge and, i take this challenge very seriously. certainly sounding like a republican presidential candidate there. someone not sounding like a presidential candidate is bobby jindal, the governor of louisiana. he was on nbc's "meet the press" yesterday and says he's focused on running for re-elect of governor in 2011 and is not really entertaining talk of running for president bust interestingly, when he was asked if he might be a vice presiden

mark preston at the desk. what do you have for us?r hillary clinton is going to leave her job as secretary of state, is she going to challenge barack obama. one of these parlor games we play in washington, d.c. and what all of the political junkies do. they said yesterday during an interview with fox news that she's not going to run, she has no intention to run, she said i am not in any way interested in pursuing anything in elected office. so will it put this storyline to bed? i'm afraid not. i think we'll continue to talk about it as long as we have these advisers. once in a while kind ever raising the spector that hillary clinton might run for president. as you said, a lot of talk about 2012 yesterday. we had rick perry, the texas governor who won re-election. he said he's not interested in running for president either which is kind of interesting because a lot of people thought that rick perry was trying to put together an operation where he would in fact try to do so. he's going to they had republican governors association. he ha

mark preston, paul steinhauser live from the political desk in washington. good it see you.hour? >> let's talk about the book. this is it, "america by heart." this hit the book shelves this morning. we have video from phoenix, arizona, brand new into cnn. this is at the bookstore where sarah palin will be a little later today. this is where she kicks off her book tour across the country and people are camping out overnight to get -- to be first in line to meet sarah palin a little later today. tony, later today we're going to be out there live in phoenix and have live coverage tonight as sarah palin signs books. will john mccain be there? this is phoenix, arizona, john mccain's home state. a spokeswoman said while mr. mccain and ms. palin are friendly and speak all the time, he will not be there, he's with his family on vacation. the book tour is going to take sarah palin to iowa and south carolina. what do those states have in common? they rate pretty high in the race for the white house, tony. >> that is terrific. >>> all right. let's see here. where is your partner in cri

mark preston and paul steinhauser join me now from washington. i love it.aven't seen you guys together since before the midterms. welcome back to the -- to the duo. >> it's good to be here, but you're making us follow an animal act and that's never easy. a warning from one of the top tea party groups to mitt romney that there may be pushback from tea party activists if romney decides to run for president. amy kramer was asked during an interview -- she was second about massachusetts health care plan, which was enacted during romney's one term as governor. she said how would that play with tea party activists? she said this. absolutely not. she says you can't get away from that. so a warning, i guess, in a way from the tea party movement to romney. i spoke with a romney spokesperson. he said the issue came up in the 2008 campaign. the governor dealt with it then. he'll deal with it again if he runs again. mark, to you. >> let's stay on 2012. ali, it's very important to have name recognition heading into the presidential race. these aren't the numbers that yo

. >>> counting ballots more than a week after the midterm elections, mark preston, part of the best politicalision joining us live from the political desk in washington, d.c. what's crossing now, sir? >> you would think the midterm elections were over but they are not. in alaska, they are counting ballots in the very contested senate race between lisa murkowski, the write-in candidate and incumbent senator and joe miller. they are counting today. joe miller has filed a complaint with the courts saying that, in fact, when they count these ballots, they should have the intent, the voter intent has to be very clear, including that the name has to be written correctly and not misspelled. election officials, however, are going to be looking at these ballots, and they see that the voters' intent it is to support lisa murkowski, they will be counted. we will find out what happens with that court case later today. with republicans coming here to washington, d.c., we're going to see two african-americans come to d.c. will they join the congressional black caucus, tim scott from south carolina says he

what's the special event mark preston and paul steinhauser? >> it's all about you.o were just elected have to wait until january but two get sworn in today by vice president joe biden. joe manchin will get sworn in as the senator from west virginia. he won a special election two weeks ago to replace or succeed the late senator robert byrd who held the seat since 1959, and chris coons in delaware is going to succeed joepd. what do you have, mark? >> there is a lot going on capitol hill. of course, there are host members, new members of the new congress coming in this week to try to find out how to operate and understand capitol hill. there's a lot of legislating to do, and cnnmoney.com has a great scorecard up on their website with 17 economic issues that congress has to address. among them is whether congress will ban earmarks, which has been a big drum beat from republicans and, president obama is behind that as well. what will happen to the bush tax cuts among many other things? unemployment benefits as well, which could expire at the end of the month, and will co

roland buris who was filling barack obama's old seat is going back to chicago and mark preston is reportingnation paperwork including the signatures necessary to get burris on the ballot to run for chicago mayor. the lone remaining senate race from the midterms the alaska senate race. we can show you joe miller the republican candidate has gone into state court now trying to say that some of those write-ins for lisa murkowski should not be counted because the name is not spelled perfectly. went to state court after a federal judge said go to state court, not federal judge. waiting son that one. >> starting to remind me of al franken in minnesota. hopefully it won't drag on that long. john king chief national correspondent, host of "john king, usa" 7:00 tonight. thanks. >>> cnn is committed to keeping you informed on all the important political news. your next update is just about an hour away. we asked people all over america where the best potatoes come from. the best potatoes? idaho. idaho! idaho. and how do you know you're getting idaho potatoes? well...uh... uhm... heh.. (sighs) not all

let's check in with senior political editor mark preston. >> how are you? almost the weekend.t night, vice president biden, kyra, was here in this building doing an interview with larry king. larry king asked him that question straight out. look. there's talk that, in fact, you would switch places with hillary clinton. you would become secretary of state. she would become vice president. he shot those rumors down saying there was never any serious talk that anyone ever heard about me not being on the ticket. and her not staying at state. so vice president biden himself shooting down the rumors that came up about a month or two ago. "the washington post" bob woodward mentioned there's talk about that but mr. biden shooting that down. talking about 2012, joe biden being on the ticket, we have a new cnn poll of polls on president obama's approval ratelirat rating, kyra. not very good. 47% of the nation says he is doing a good job. 48% disapprove. this is similar to the midterm elections and democrats got slaughtered as we all know. now, he's got time to turn those numbers around

senior political editor mark preston, so happy to have him back. few days but he's back and has an update. >> hey, how are you? just late last month we were talking about michael steele and his faite. michael steele said to me at the time in an interview as far as his critics were to go, look, the fact of the matter is don't criticize me about raising money when you have told donors not to give to me. he's at it again in an interview with npr. he said as far as his critics go, "they don't want me in the job. there's a concerted effort ever since i got the job to get me out of the job." michael steele who hasn't said if he's going to run for the chairmanship of the rnc is clearly taking some public statements that would leave us to say otherwise he will run and we know privately he's been making phone calls about it. >>> kind words, though, from newt gingrich about hillary clinton. there's been a lot of talk about who will replace robert gates as defense secretary. on "good morning america" today, newt gingrich addressed the fact what if it was hill