t doing with nancy reagan? >> i love that picture, too.cy always had a celebrity santa and one year, it was mr. t. and i guess he pitied the fool who went to the white house for christmas. perfect picture. >> what inspired -- we said you were on the decorating team, but what inspired you to write a book about christmas at the white house? >> actually,s just wanted a souvenir book when i came home, learn more about different first ladies and their styles, i couldn't find what i was looking for, i decided to write it and i was just amazed by all these great pop culture moments in our history. >> well, let's start with jackie keep kim. you profile each first lady's design, including nancy reagan's interest in renewing a child-like sense of wonder. how did she accomplish that? >> well, nancy reagan really loved to think about children at christmas, so she actually had teddy bears decorating the white house, snowmen, and she also really loved glittery, fancy stuff and she had thousands of gold snowflakes everywhere. >> there was a quote in here

though he had been in the carter and administration and from the campaign against ronald reagan nancy reagan to arrange for strauss and the former secretary of state bill rodgers to sneak into the white house one evening of the print through the treasury building through the underground tunnel. bob had never been through the underground tunnel before. he couldn't believe he was there. he went to the residents of the white house about what to do on the iran contra scandal and he advised him to get rid of the stuff and to bring in someone like a word baker who had a lot of credibility in congress with both sides of the arnall had a lot of relationships with the press and nancy reagan took this to heart and at the time strauss didn't think the president was listening because the president disagreed and said would never do that and not when to fire reagan and that is what he said when he got home that might then he got a call from nancy reagan and she said i don't suppose there is a way you would want to help us over here in the white house would you and he declined deutsch said that would not b

the couple's modern marriage is said to be modeled on the partnership of ronald and nancy reagan. >>he describes herself as being a cross between nancy reagan and laura bush with just a slight bit of jackie kennedy tossed in. >> reporter: but she's stayed, for the most part, quiet, routinely standing beside him but rarely publicly speaking. two wildly different approaches from the women now described as the candidate's real running mates. sharyn alfonsi, abc news, new york. >>> and still ahead, a startling new number signaling a revolutionary change in the american family. [ male announcer ] how do you say... welcome to the neighborhood. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you say... can you believe it's been 20 years since college? ♪ [ male announcer ] nothing says "you're special" like boursin, a creamy, crumbly blend of real cheese and savory herbs, boursin makes any moment more memorable. even if you're saying... my mother has the kids tonight. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you say boursin? ♪ this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people wanted to visit us...

and nancy reagan really took this to her.at the time, stressed in the president had been been listening to him because the president disagreed with them instead i would never do that. and that is what is said to helen when he got home that night. amanda got a call from nancy reagan the same night. and she said, i do suppose there's any way you want to come help us over here in the white house, would you? and he declined. he said that would not be a good idea for anyone involved. several weeks later, don regan was fired and howard was brought in as chief of staff. and in his memoir, reagan said why bob strauss who had everything to gain from reagan falling out of grace should be called in. you know, i'll never know. and it's true that bob was the democrat in the party scene. anyone am washing and who knew bob knew that he was a straight shooter and that he was going to tout reagan the truth and give reagan the best advice that he could. he loved being called to serve by as president. he said he never turned down a president an

he got a call from nancy reagan the same night.she said i don't suppose there is any way you would want to come and help us over here at the white house, would you? and he declined. he goes that would not be a good idea for anyone involved. but several weeks later, don reagan was fired and howard baker was brought in as chief of staff. in his memoir, reagan said why bob strauss who had everything to gain from denote reagan falling out of grace. why bob strauss i will never know and it's true that bob was a democrat but anyone in washington who knew bob knew that he was a straight shooter and he was going to tell reagan to choose and give reagan the best advice that he could. he loved being called to serve by his president. he said he would never turn down a president and that is how we ended up at over 70 years of age in a communist country in moscow. he had turned down bush for that ambassadorship. he decided he can't turn down a president. so we always try to do his best for republicans and democrats. [inaudible] >> there is a jo

he called nancy reagan, and he is been flying under the radar. he got something going again. is smart, and probably a good adviser. but, the revulsion against newt gingrich is part of her problem, because he was having an affair with her while he was running the impeachment hearings. that kind of thing, again and a general election, it is going to come out. >> i wonder. i wonder if people care. i wonder if it had the impact that it did. >> he has acknowledged the faults. his biggest problem will be the way he has been characterized by but critics within the republican party, as a person that cannot be relied upon, and the fact that he is not a real conservative because he has radical ideas. >> what about his achievement during the clinton administration? there was a balanced budget. >> he says he balanced the budget four years in a row. he did not do any such thing. the budget was balanced because of bill clinton and the tax increase imposed on some of the rich. >> he did get the house of representatives to vote to cut medicare, almost impossible to do that in modern politics

he spoke with nancy reagan. he is flying under the radar. he got something going again.he is smart she is probably a good advisory and a lot of ways, but their revulsion against newt gingrich is partly her problem because he was having an affair with her while he was running the impeachment hearings. that kind of thing, in a general election, is going to come out. >> i wonder if people care about that anymore. i wonder if it has the impact that it did when they were in teaching bill clinton. >> i think he has a good answer to the questions, and he acknowledges the faults. his biggest problem would be related to being characterized for his irrational side, his self-centered side, the person that cannot be relied upon, and the fact that he is not a real conservative because he shows radical ideas. >> what about his tenure during the clinton administration? >> he says he balance the budget four years in a row. he did no such thing. the budget was balanced because of bill clinton and the taxes imposed on some of the rich, which newt gingrich opposed. >> he did dead the house

obama, joining former president george bush who escorted former first lady nancy reagan.d was 93. >> no doubt about it, dogs are nicer than people. >>> "60 minutes" curmudgeon and cbs newsmaker andy rooney. he spent more than 60 years at cbs. we spoke with him in 1987 about being america's resident watchdog and resident grouch. >> i have a unique place in american television. i wish i could do this forever. i can't, though. i'm not retiring. writers don't retire. >> she signed off on "60 minutes" in october vowing to continue writing. sadly he died a month later at 92. >> i don't say this often. but thank you. >> sooner or later, one day, i'm going to say, that's it. i'm free. >> jeff conaway's long struggles came to an end in may. the actor who won our hearts in "grease" was gone. he co-start with john travolta and oliva newton-john. he starred in the original broadway. >> this is when i did "grease" on broadway. >> and when taxi premiered on tv, he was 27 playing an aspiring actor. >> your act called and said you got a big shot at a movie. 3:00 yesterday. >> yesterday?

and ving rhames and danny devito as ronald and nancy reagan. mi lady, coming soon. >> that's very odd. (applause) i mean danny devito oy get. (laughter) oh, donald trump, done ald trump, donald trump, you know when i say donald trump who i am talking about, donald trump. >> yeah. >> dave: and he is saying now that he will probably run for president again. i mean we went through this. last year he said he was going to run for president and then he didn't run for president. and i knew-- but this time he may be serious because i understand he has demanded to see his own birth certificate. (applause) >> dave: so i think-- yeah that newt gingrich, how about that guy. i mean this guy, he is demanding that we, that judges be arrested. he's threatening that we could arrest judges and i thought whoa, that's what two divorces will do for you. and now-- he's-- (applause) and when he first got into running for president, dow remember, they caught him. he had a 500,000 dollar revolving account at tiffany. anybody have a $500,000 revolving account-- (laughte

we saw a minute ago a picture of nancy reagan on the lap of mr. t. what was that about? a little hollywood to the white house which i really loved. and she had celebrity santas every year so she had mr. t there and i guess he pitied the fool who went to the white house for christmas. >> right, and interesting story about the president, he was allergic to live christmas trees? >> right. and they didn't realize this until they put them all up so what they had to do was move most of them -- the really offensive trees away from where he was. >> that's interesting. when i was working in washington, every year they'd send me out to the lighting of the christmas tree that we saw last night and for years, barbara bush would get in a cherry picker and for 12 years, she would put the star atop of it. >> yes. first when she was second lady of the land, when her husband was vice president and when he was president. she often took her grandchildren on that bumpy ride. >> i remember seeing it and there it is right there. she puts the tree topper on. all right, let's talk a little bit

he compared his wife to jacqueline kennedy and laura bush and nancy reagan. and yesterday he was going into a rant about child labor laws and he does that without laying any foundation for it. he's really incapable of laying out his reasons first, instead he makes his inflammatory statements, all these apocalyptic statements, the worst corruption in the history of the world, the most hypocritical thing in the history of mankind, all that type of armageddon language, it wears people out after a while. >> it's going to happen, right, buyer's remorse, if they pick him as the nominee? >> you don't change when you're 68 years old. that is newt, the good and the bad. he's a tremendously inspirational person, as for as rallying the troops. but as far as governing, he doesn't have the capacity to discipline and control himself. he cannot stay focused. the country and the congress will be going through one crisis after another. there's enough crisis in the world without inflicting crises on ourselves. the reason the republicans lost the government shutdown debate with

>> he talked about a wife like nancy reagan. ways preparing to be president and get the wife he needed to reflect the nancy ragen misteek or aura. he talked about this transformative stuff. he does believe he is the guy to fix america in the 21st century. i think there is that gigantic egoist belief he could be the next president. >> he will be meeting with another out sized ego, donald trump i believe on monday. >> what the whole thing with donald trump about? by the way you seem surprised that presidential candidates are digs delusional? >> i think ego is one thing delusion -- >> you have to imagine yourself doing this job and you can do it better than anyone else. 300 million people in this country. rick perry believed it was going to be easy. why they still go to donald trump? who does he bring? is it the money or endorsement? does he speak for the birthers? that i really don't understand. staten island i can understand more than donald trump. >> it is about the birthers. >> we'll talk more about donald trump later in the hou

are not paying the oil price and that do they agree with him that george bush was evil and that nancy reagan was great, unquote. >> i don't know if he's going to be asking questions or not. i don't know if he's going to be moderating or not -- >> he's moderating. >> i mean, whether he's moderating or asking question, i mean. i do think that -- i do think the american people are smart enough to know if it's a loaded question, like do you agree with me on whatever it is. but i -- >> that's not a loaded -- that's not a loaded question. that's him saying, here's my view. what's your view. i mean, look, this is not a newsman. this is not somebody who is going to sit down and prepare like a bret baier or some of these anchors. he is an active actor. he is leaning towards endorsing somebody. he could do a lot of damage to somebody and i suspect it won't be to the candidate he is leaning towards. he says himself he is going to run, potentially run for president of the united states starting in may. why have this person moderating a debate? he's associated himself with a first-rate news organization,

is that going to be a useful guideline from here until next november, say look, no, like nancy reagan says, you're not getting your way. we're getting or way because the american people are on our side. >> it depends on the issue, chris. these were issues where the republican house had leverage, because the president needed something from them. in this case he had a great issue. they were trying to, you know, getting some of out of him. they got keystone xl. now they have a figure leaf 2458d make eve blush as a result of this issue. >> you mean a minuscule -- i get the metaphor. let's start with the republican party, how it's coming apart. this is a strange republican party. it is a party run by a majority of tea party freshmen, redhots, if you will. they don't like government, don't like washington, don't like takeses, it's the no-deal party. then led by the old bulls like boehner, upstop and people like that, hanging on their jobs as holdovers, leftovers from an earlier era. will this fight break that alliance and force, the tea party wins from here on out our boehner survives? >> o

and he compared his wifeo nancy reagan, the same relationship that ronnie had. >> what's so fascinating -- >> crlie: what did he call it, illusi. >> i think there are textbook that describe it. >> what's fascinatg about it was the early staff interestingly enough a lot of it went to perry, the early staff left. they told me in large part because of ms. gingrich, she wouldn't let him spend the night in iowa. she wouldn't let him spend a couple nights. that's how you run for president. they said that she was not letting him. now she's been empowered. >> charlie: through all the e-mails he says. >> if you work on the campaign it's the worst nightmare to have the candidate's wife looped into the e-mail chain. >> it's possible you could run for president out of a tv studio. i don't think you can but the game has changed here a little bit. >> charlie: he wants something. >> whether it's thend ofhe day effective that is what he's doing. >> remember, we have the romney phenomena running through the thing so everybody's had a moment. >> charlie: i think it's too early to put him in that place. >

. >> she actually describes herself as sort of being a cross between nancy reagan and laura bush with of jackie kennedy tossed in. i think swirling in there, there's the model that she would like to live up to. >> dan stone joins us. the december 12th issue of "newsweek" on sale now. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> newt and callista are joined at the hip. >> this is a really interesting dynamic. callista gingrich is very unique in this gop field. no one else we know is as engaged with his or her husband, her spouse as callista gingrich. she's in involved of every part of newt gingrich's business empire as well as his political dealings. we remember that episode earlier in the spring when a lot of newt gingrich's staff left, a lot of that was over decisions that were made between newt and callista about how the campaign should proceed. >> they went on that fancy mediterranean cruise when a lot of people working for him thought he ought to be pounding the pavement and knocking on doors. and of course we can't talk about this without the infamous tiffany's account and the line o

but he has in the last several weeks compared his wife to jacqueline kennedy and laura bush and nancy reaganand yesterday he was going into a rant about child labor laws and he does that without laying any foundation for it. he just makes these remarks and goes on defense. he's really incapable of laying out his reasons first, instead he makes his inflammatory statements, all these apocalyptic statements, the worst corruption in the history of the world, the most hypocritical thing in the history of mankind, all that type of armageddon language, it wears people out after a while. >> you think it will happen? it's going to happen, right? buyer's remorse, if they pick him as the nominee? >> yeah, it has to happen. you done change when you're 68 years old. that is newt, the good and the bad. he's a tremendously inspirational person, as for as rallying the troops. but as far as governing, he doesn't have the discipline, does not have the capacity to control himself, and he can't stay focused. the country and the congress will be going through one crisis after another. and these would be self-inf

. >> she actually describes herself as being a cross between nancy reagan and laura bush with just an. >> reporter: for most part she's stayed quiet, routinely standing beside him. signing her children's book and rarely publicly speaking. two wildly different approaches from the women now described as the candidates' real running mates. sharyn alfonsi, new york. >> i wonder how much stock the voters put in the spouse of the person running for president. why that's a big deal -- should it be? >> i think it is part of the picture. >> the image. family portrait. >> i think so. look at the first lady and jackie onassis. the list goes on and on and on. people do look at that. hillary. >> yeah. that was a big one. yeah. all right. >>> here's a look now at your wednesday weather -- some strong storms with a threat of tornados around san antonio, dallas, southern oklahoma. rainy in little rock. memphis, st. louis, minneapolis and chicago. mountain snow in colorado. afternoon showers in the pacific northwest. >> 40s in seattle and portland. 58, phoenix. 39 twin cities. 46 in detroit. 56, indi

. >> she actually describes herself as sort of being a cross between nancy reagan and laura bush with a slight bit of jackie kennedy tossed in. >> going to get onboard pronto. >> thank you. >> reporter: at his very last stop of the day, the 68-year-old signed books. and took one, last question from us, about how he's dealing with his sudden front-runner status. how are you having to recalibrate yourself on the trail? >> the more i'm out here, the more i realize how really tired people are of the bickering and the infighting. this is not going to be, in the end, an anti-obama campaign. it's going to be, in the end, a pro-rebuilding america campaign. >> reporter: and, george, gingrich is tied with mitt romney in a gallop poll of republican voters nationally. but what's key in that poll, is the voters who support gingrich are much more intense in their support than they are for mitt romney. george? >> now he's ahead in the other states like south carolina and florida, as well. >>> jake, stand by. we also have news from herman cain. yesterday, he gave an interview to "the manchester leade

maybe nancy reagan will get in. there's time for somebody else to be the front runner here.too much sense. he'll probably implode. >> sherry, too much too soon? >> well, on one level you can say that, but then on the other hand there are very few people on the national stage who can get away with that kind of confidence. newt gingrich is one of them. when you look at what he's accomplished, he has a great deal to be confident about. he understands this game. he knows what his record is. being largely responsible for welfare reform, for balanced budgets, for the surplus, he gets this. he understands what his surge is about. while he's also very clear about his failings, i think he has every right to express confidence. i'd rather he say if he's the nominee he'll be president. >> okay. maria? >> the problem with this, fredricka, is that now is when newt becomes newt's worst enemy because he becomes cocky, full of himself, that's when the famous undisciplined newt can come into play. we also know that what voters hate most is a self-anointed candidate. they hate candidates who

>> i loved them all but i have to say nancy reagan. top and having a great time and dans dancing with dom deluise. she is currently my favorite. >> how would you write michelle obama's christmas style? >> she has a great style and tries to bring us back to the real meaning of the season. this year, it's shine, share and give and she always try to remember our military so she gets high marks for that. >> what about the former first lady and secretary of state hillary clinton? >> i was surprised. i thought maybe she would be uninvolved and that was wrong on my part. she was very involved and she liked to have celebrity designers come in. i like to think what if she makes it to the white house? will bill clinton be in charge of the decorating? >> that's a very good question. that would be interesting. in doing the research for this book, what is the biggest surprise you found? something you saw. i didn't know that and that really surprises me. >> you know what i found out? amazing historical pictures of the first families in their own pri

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nancy reagan was glitzy with gold and garland and they all thought their own stamp on it. >> wonderfulr. t.'s lap. >> you talk about a pop culture snapshot at christmastime. so much fun. always had a celebrity santa and i think mr. t. stole the show. >> let's talk about this year's. you must watch this now with such innewsiasm. the white house this year, what do you think? >> i love mrs. obama's style and what is great about the type of themes she chooses always goes back to the real meaning of the holiday. it is shine, give and share and she also remembers our military, which could be more fitting. she encourages everyone to write letters to the military and just really honor the sacrifice being made. >> the book is called "christmas with the first ladies." so nice to see you. actually did one of these that white house. thank you so much for joining us. merry christmas to you, too. >> merry christmas. >>> this morning's top news headlines coming up next, 56 minutes after the hour. let's go to vegas. alright, let's do it. let's do it, let's go to vegas. vegas baby! maybe we should head

. >> comparing calista gingrich to a mix of nancy reagan and laura bush -- he's had these grandiose statementst no one seems to flinch. non what he's going to do to change the new perception of newt. and the most fascinating story in the last 20 years in politics as far as a comeback for somebody who we've all known, who is such a known commodity, so damaged, has so many flaws, and suddenly, he could be your republican nominee. >> and the thing is, you don't have to go back ten years to find the baggage. i mean, anybody else that called paul ryan who is, let's face it, like in terms of conservative budgetary politics the baby jesus of the republican party to call him a right-wing radical who is engaging in social engineering for being the only person to put out a courageous budget, that would've killed anybody else. i'll tell you, mike, it points to just how weak this field is. historically, we've been talking -- >> absolutely. >> power as poor as a vacuum now. and right now that vacuum is being filled. >> to jim's point, that might be maybe the biggest reason that newt has maintained, for him