show mrs. todd in. we shall judge for ourselves, eh, hastings? >> oh, yes. yes. mrs. todd. it doesn't sound as if she's nationally important. mind you, i knew a mrs. jones once who was master of hounds with the mid-rutland. >> yes? >> no, that's all. funny woman. >> mrs. todd, sir. >> thank you. are you mr. poirot? >> i am hercule poirot. yes, madame. >> oh, you're not a bit how i thought you'd be. [chuckling] did you pay for that bit in the paper saying what a clever detective you were, or did they put it in themselves? >> madame. >> oh, i'm sorry, i'm sure. but you know what newspapers are like nowadays. nothing but puff. but no offense taken, i hope. >> no. >> i'll tell you what i want you to do for me. i want you to find my cook. >> i feel you're making a mistake, madame. hercule poirot is a private detective. >> i know that. and i just told you i want you to find my cook for me. walked out of the house on wednesday without so much as a bye-your-leave and never came back. >> i am sorry, madame, but i do not touch that particular kind of business. i wish you good day. >>

>> ah, mrs. todd, good morning. >> i don't know how you have the impertinence to show your face here again. >> but, mrs. todd-- >> you were paid off, mr. poirot. you were paid off handsomely. >> well... >> and then look at this. we've got police who are crawling all over the house. >> you're not so popular in clapham this morning, poirot. a bit of a wild goose chase this. as far as we can ascertain, this mr. simpson of yours is a perfect and respectable young bank employee who happens to have gone home to his family. we have the shropshire constabulary checking that at the moment. >> i only wanted to ask-- >> no! >> well, perhaps you'll be interested to know-- >> no, i wouldn't! good day, mr. poirot. >> poirot. >> annie, i need to ask you a question. can you help me? >> i'll try, sir. >> last friday, clotter-patterson came to collect eliza's trunk, yes? >> her box? yes, sir. >> you were here when he came? >> oh, yes, sir. i had to show them up to eliza's room for them to take the top. >> bon. >> it wa

mr. chuck todd. >> thank you. newt gingrich soars. he is not only doing well in iowa and new hampshire, but leads in south carolina. no longner doubt who the front-runner is. at least today. does newt have the money and organization to capitalize on the lead. he made a pilgrimage to donald trump. he has a lot of money to make up fast. there have been glimmers stayed side, will european leaders be bold enough to contain the crisis before it directings the rest of us down again. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. four weeks from today, we will be in des moines talking about caucus night. let's get to the first reads the morning. four weeks from today as i told you, the voting begins. there is no question that right now who the front-runner is. another day and poll confirms that gingrich is not only surging, closing the gap, he has a commanding lead in the state that determined the republican nominee in every contest in 1980. he leads a poll out with 38% of the vote and mitt romney trails at 22%. rick perry a distant third. gin

things to me about this program is we are going to be treat todd an extraordinary panorama of style and diversity. we will start off with mrcagney. please, welcome the poet james cagney. [applause] >> there is sun. there is sun. there is a snake on the path sunning. there is sun. there is water in the stream, there are daisies, there are sun. there is a snake on the path sunning, there is sun. there are trees, there are daisies there is a feather there is sun. there is the feather that she gave me there is a feather there is sun. there are daisies there are words trees things there are more things than words, there is sun, there is sun. there are fox tails there are blank there are irises that are blank there is a snake on the path in the path sunning. there is a squirrel in the trash, there is sun. there is water in the stream, there is a squirrel in the strash, there is a snake in the path on the sun sunning. there is is sun. there is song, there is a song being sung by the birds in the sun. there is flavor, there is a feather. there is hair in my mouth from her hug in the sun. there is sun. there is flavor on my tongue.

republican strategist brad todd telling "roll call" mr. gingrich, "may have a hard time in competing with obama in the parts of the campaign that talk about the future." which i think is republican for newt gingrich is going to sink this ship. talking points memo also reporting on a new anti-scott brown fund-raising letter from the massachusetts democratic party. their killer pitch against scott brown, "newt and scott brown are birds of a feather." which is also sort of a comment on evolution if you think about it. joining us now to help us with plum the depths of the republican political mind, steve schmidt, with the mccain campaign in '08, now an msnbc political analyst. am i wrong that there's panic in the establishment over newt gingrich's prospects? >> there's a lot of panic in the establishment over his prospects. there are 31 house freshmen in districts that president obama won in 2008. and the notion that newt gingrich could be at the top of the ticket, i think, is is petrifying to them. i think also you're seeing a lot of people w

mr. nagle, todd briefly about the 34 hour rule two consecutive nights and what that may mean. seems to me that could be the one that potential because to trucking companies. >> that is potentially a real problem because of the fact that you may have a driver that can't same after midnight, could be 12:15, 12:30 and he now has to literally go 54 hours until his next available driving time. so he is going to lose an entire day of productivity, ultimately to his wage. and the company itself is going to have the same loss of revenue, increasing our fixed cost per hour even further. drivers are going to stay away. fmcma states even though they don't have the statutory authority to address the lack of available rest areas and combinations for truck drivers, it is going to cause these guys for force these guys to step in areas where there are no accommodations. they are going to be a shopping mall parking lots. they are going to be pulled off the road on some of the major highways. they are not going to have rest. essentially forcing the guy to stay 54 hours in an area the size of th

mr. smith and how he todd your life at the official wmar fan page a lot of you have already weighed in. >expecting hugs and kisses and high emotion in the next hour or so as more than 300 airmen will land at bwi after searching in iraq. corinne redman is live where the anticipation is rising for theirreturn and it's 6:50. they are an hour and ten minutes away from arriving. >> reporter: i was about to say that. we are a hour out from airmen arriving back from iraq. they have been traveling 24 hours. joining us live is make matt warner who has been with us. he tells us that the anticipation is high for the airmen to get back home today. >> that's right. the more excited you get they are he can cited to get their feet on the soil. >> reporter: how prepared are they to be back home. >> very prepared. you serve for 6 months and maybe a year. it's hard work over there. and the idea of getting back and seeing family again when you walk -- seeing your family again when you walk out feels pretty good. >> reporter: this is the last wave of troops and airmen move out of iraq. you think it hit home

washington, the host of the daily rundown every day at 9:00 in the morning here on msnbc, chuck todd, good morning. >> mr of that comment from the president but payroll tax cut extension, unemployment benefits, the fight he has on his hands. how does he move the ball? >> there is not a big golf between republicans and the president, compared to the real golfs we've seen over the last year. this is nothing. they both agree on extending the payroll tax holiday. they both now agree on unemployment insurance benefits. republicans are trying to save face, right? they tried a different argument. they weren't going to win. democrats are winning this message argument on the payroll tax. and it seems to me that republicans simply want to save a little bit of face somewhere. and i think the keystone is where they think they can save a little face in which, by the way, it's something secretary clinton initially was in favor of approving. it has to be approved by the state department because it crosses international lines. and the president was somewhat in approval of it. they were just delaying it because of some c

mr. brooks raised a good point and i think it's important to recognize that staff has had an awful lot of success, the general manager, todd, and your staff, at persuading the other departments and the elected officials that this is something that we needed to do because of all the other things people want us to continue doing so i think, you know, there's a price. we may not have, you know, exactly, you know, what we really need but to not fight this year and to move forward and to try to address some of those things, i think it's a good course of conduct for us. i'm prepared to move there and have some confidence that, you know, we'll get the support that we need. >> thank you. it does strike me that -- this is -- these are rates and we are still able to do anything that's cost effective to do. so that if we have programs that achieve conservation in city departments, if we have a place to sell that power once we conserve it and if that pencils out even during the four years we could do things that right now we haven't figured out how to finance but if it becomes financeable, we could do that. >> i would be very comforta

todd for an interview. chuck joins me live from mason city. hello, chuck. >> reporter: mr. cillizza, doing double duty.ow are you doing, sir? >> well, sir. tell me what newt had to say. >> reporter: we're going two parts of it now. the first part i want to talk about is what you were just talking about, which is this idea of negative campaigning and as you know overnight there's actually some anti-romney, pro-gingrich direct mail pieces that are hitting mailboxes, and i actually asked speaker gingrich about one of them because one of them used some really tough language. here is what he had to say about it. >> i wouldn't call him the second most dangerous man in america. i'm happy to publicly urge them not to repeat that line in future mailings. on the other hand, if they have a factual bily accurate mailingo says he's for this and for this, i think the question is whether or not he's for it. i think beingç factually accure and explaining somebody's position is legitimate. it's when you are factually wrong or when you are factually distorting things or you're taking something and you're turning it int

mr. cohen. >> my name is todd cohen and i am the vice president of global government relations of ebay. ebay empowers and connects millions of buyers and sellers across the globe. e base priority on remote sales tax policies has always been the treatment of small business retailers. hundreds of thousands of small businesses across america use ebay to engage in commerce. it creates jobs, foster's competitions, and promotes innovation. the internet and mobile technology has clearly a part of every retail business model going forward. this is true for small, med, and giant retailers. small business retailers have used the internet to survive and grow outside their traditional market. the remote sales tax debate is decades old. while the pro attack rhetoric largely states the same, the world of retail has changed around it. the idea that this debate is about the internet versus offline stores is a false paradigm. all retail business models, large and small, used the internet. they also involve physical facilities like stores, warehouses, management offices, or distribution centers. attorney

mr. chairman. i now would like to yield such time as he may consume to the author of this bill, representative todd akin of missouri, who has authored this bill and carried it throughout the process including here today . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. akin: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in strong support of house resolution 3246, a bill i introduced to honor the life of peter j. navarro. by designating the post office in ballwin, missouri, as the specialist peter j. navarro post office building. a resident of wildwood, missouri, specialist peter j. navarro was part of company a, second battalion, 70th armored reg meant, third brigade combat team and the first armored division. on december 13, 2005, specialist navarro was one of four soldiers killed when a roadside bomb detonated near their humvee during combat operations in taji, iraq. a graduate of lafayette high school, peter declined his acceptance at truman state university so that could he join the army right after his graduation. when peter returned home for his younger brother's funeral, he wa

todd this morning. chuck, thanks. >>> robert gibbs served as president obama's first press secretary and now is working on the team that's trying to get the president re-elected. mr. gibbs, good morning. >> good morning, ann. how are you? >> doing great. the first question is who does the obama campaign consider the more formidable, mitt romney or newt gingrich. >> i think both candidates from a national perspective have plusses and minuses. if you're mitt romney, your biggest negative obviously is you've been on both sides of virtually every issue in the public debate. newt gingrich just was mentioned in your story, really came of politics and prominence at a time in which our politics got much sharper in tone and partisan gridlock set in. i don't think voters will like, quite frankly, either one of them. >> a lot of people are listening to him right now, as you well know, and he's been criticizing the president on the economy, even last night calling the president the president of food stamps. the fact is, bob, that this past year more americans are asking for and applying for food stamps than ever before. why shouldn't americans hold president obama accountabl

todd in washington, thank you very much. former vice president dan quayle endorsed mitt romney for the republican nomination. mr. quayle, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> you served with newt gingrich in congress. >> right. >> you know him very well. why not him? why mitt romney? >> i know them both. i've known newt since 1978. i've known mitt since late 1980s. it comes down to one thing, leadership. mitt romney would be a much better leader. we need a strong leader today. matt, you know, everybody knows washington is a mess. it's dysfunctional. it starts at the top. a lot of blame to go around. somebody from inside washington, some -- a washington politician, somebody that has been there for a long time in washington, d.c., is not the one to go to be -- to have the top job to clean up this mess. >> republicans have been taking a good, long look at mitt romney for years now, basically been running for president for about five years. you've seen the polls. he's always between 20 and 25%. conservatives have tried to find anybody to pass him. first it was rick perry, and then herman cain and now newt gingric

mr. speaker, that is a resounding rejection, two out of every three people who wept to the polls rejected obamacare and i will tell you that the american people are poise todd do so if they are reminded it exists out there. two stops along the way that can queep obamacare from becoming the perp actually permanent law of the land and that would be when the supreme court hears the case and yields a decision, i would remind you, mr. speaker, that there is no clause in all 2,600 pages of obama ll care. and what that means is if a component of obamacare is found unconstitutional by the supreme court, all of obamacare is thrown not. no provision if a component is unconstitutional the others will stand on their own. that is not just an ignorant omission on the people that voted for obamacare. they knew it didn't have that severe built clause in it. every member of congress had the opportunity to know it didn't have that clause, so congress intentionally passed an obamacare piece of legislation that didn't provide that if part of it is found to be junch constitutional, the balance would be unconstitutional. and if a part is found unconstitutional. it is all unconst