i'm richard lui. eight days in the iowa caucuses wrapping up their break from the campaign trail. the iowa front-runners are hoping an organization for their campaigns gives them an early reed for the race to face president obama. the commander in chief is meeting with troops and enjoying quality family time in hawaii, but the president is also preparing for the election and legislative hurdles ahead in 2012. kristin welker is up early for us in hawaii. what's going on at the moment that you're aware of as he prepares for the election as soon as we get into full swing come january. >> reporter: hi there, richard. that's right. his re-election team busy at work. they're preparing for 1220. they're mobilizing the country and making sure they have a big team of volunteers in iowa and other key swing states. they're taking this election very seriously. interestingly, they've also started to come out and sort of attack mitt romney. mitt romney hasn't been named as a front-runner yet and it is an indication

richard lui is looking at it. >> it's a bet that romney opponents are doubling down on. >> i'm sayingiend. >> you have raised that before, rick, and you're still wrong. >> it was true then and it's true now. >> rick, i'll tell you what, $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business, but i'll -- >> okay. >> he parlayed the potential gaffe there into a jab at perry. >> i was startled, because i know rick perry pretty well. i can't imagine he can cover it. he's been a public servant all his career. >>> and jon huntsman antes up, 30 articles on the bet perry would have run, including a picture that haunts romneys him holding $20 while at bain. democrats posted a new ad. >> corporations are people, my friend. $10,000? >> $10,000 bet from a multimillionaire? >> so if more money means that more problems candidates have vibing with middle-class voters, how much are we talking about? >> for gingrich, $60,000 a peach, earnings of $100 million in washington according to "the national journal" and half a million tiffany's credit line that is now closed romney's speeches are $68 those, net worth

i am richard lui. on behalf of chris and the team, happy holidays to you and your families. a part of your morning every day. see you over the weekend. thomas roberts is up next. we're kind of a quiet couple. yes. but lately we've been using k-y® intense™. it stimulates arousal so the big moment is... (announcer) k-y® brand intense™ - intensifies female satisfaction. well, this necklace is awesome. honey, you're getting a necklace! see what i mean? i'll surprise you. please. [ male announcer ] the only place to go for last-minute christmas gifts. walmart. >>> without objection, the bill is engrossed, read a third time and passed and motion to reconsider is laid on the table. >> and with that, the payroll tax cut bill passes the house. now what happens to speaker boehner's leadership in standing? >>> newt gingrich opponents say he has too much baggage to win the gop nomination. we're going to ask his daughter jackie if she thinks the former house speaker can win over the evangelicals. >>> and new study finds 2.5 million voters dropped out and left their political parties. wha

i'm richard lui in for martin bashir. dylan ratigan here to take us forward.aw and bernie sanders, our first two esteemed guests this afternoon to talk through the current shenanigans and the broader effort to deal with some of the structural reform that is clearly already beginnin

i am ee richard lui in for kris jansing. right now, it is up to the house.go, the senate signed off on the two month payroll tax cut extension. but one congressman could upset john boehner's plan to go along, senate majority harry reid is

. >>> msnbc now, i'm richard lui. good day to you. end to violence in syria in his christmas message and for all parties to restart middle east peace talks. thousands of tourists and pilgrims packed st. peter's square to listen. after his speech the pope delivered christmas greetings in 65 different languages. >>> u.s. and coalition troops in afghanistan are celebrating the holiday in kabul. soldiers were served a special christmas luncheon and posed for photographs. more news later. have a good one. >>> welcome back to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. picture this, you're on safari. the scenery is stunning. things are quiet. until you stumble upon a heart-stopping battle involving a pride of lions, a herd of cape buffalo, and one hungry crocodile. now you'll get to watch some of africa's most extraordinary animals in a fight for survival. lions. and buffalo. and crocodiles. oh, my. nearly nine minutes of possibly the most spectacular animal fight ever caught on camera. at the center of the battle royale, a hapless baby buffal

i'm richard lui. spending time with their grandfather philip following his heart procedure. elizabeth's husband had surgery to clear a blocked artery. >>> texas police are investigating the shooting deaths of seven people at a dallas-area apartment complex. authorities believe the shooter is among the four women and three men killed on christmas morning. we'll have more news for you later. now back to "msnbc undercover." >>> take a ride on any prostitution track in any big city in america and you'll see waves of young women trading their bodies for quick cash. but what you don't see is the pain and despair burning inside many of these girls who are often coping with the fallout from child sexual abuse. >> i was sexually abused four times by the time i was 10. >> like many of the women and young girls forced to strip or perform sex acts for money, raleigh was a good kid whose innocent childhood was suddenly cut short by sexual abuse. >> if it's continuously happening to you like it was to me, you start to feel like what are you good for, what are you here for? i sometimes use

i'm richard lui in for chris jansing on this tuesday. first off, your tax break in jeopardy.ere's a countdown clock. 11 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes and 30 seconds that's the deadline for congress to extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million people across the country. that's about half the country. now we thought we had a two-month deal over the weekend. but house republicans are rejecting the approved senate plan. they want a full one-year extension. democrats are skewering the gop accusing them of playing politics now. >> it's grinch time in washington, mr. speaker. >> here we go again. another phony crisis courtesy of the extremist bah-humbug house republicans. >> our members do not want to just punt and do a two-month short-term fix where we have to come back and do this again. >> two months, really? come on, that is really do nothing. what's going to be different in two months. >> nbc's luke russert is live on capitol hill where the vote is expected to begin this hour. and luke, you could hear the exasperation across the beltway when those announcements came out. first of

. >>> msnbc's richard lui is looking at some of the dramatic shifts in the 2012 republican horse race. good morning to you. >> tough act tole to low, chris. but, yes, we will look at the elephant race and seeing it whiplash again. let me show you the numbers from just a month ago. at that time, romney was squeaking ahead with 28%, and herman cain at 27% with a tea party support, gingrich hovering at 13% as he had for months. you saw paul at the behind there with 10%. however, then, what changes? herman cain suspends, and everything he had, the 27%, and that is what newt gingrich reaps in this situation. because when cain is gone, he is able to surge ahead to the highest numbers that we have seen so far, and that is at 40%, and now we have a mitt romney in the late same numbers in december and he falls back to 23, and paul a tick back at 9%, and the big news here is a 17% difference between the two right now. here is what is eye-popling fpi you. look at the scenario here if we look at the three candidates here alone and what happens is that the surge by newt gingrich goes further to wh

. >>> a very good morning to you, i'm richard lui. here are top stories. the last u.s.rom iraq are back on u.s. soil for christmas. 200 soldiers arrived at fort hood yesterday. only a few dozen soldiers remain in kuwait at the moment. and mel kalikimaka from the first family. the first lady helped track santa for norad and updating kids around the country. a live look at the christmas tree here at 30 rock. no folks there right now. that's going to change later on today. happy holidays to all. more news in just an hour. stick around. >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. there are 2 million people behind bars in america. we open the gates, "lockup." >> as is the case at many maximum security prisons, some inmates locked up for rule infractions at alabama's holman correctional fassellety complain about unfair treatment. warden grantt culliver says they're not only fair, but reflect what the public expects of the prison system. >> once a year, every prisoner in holman comes up for a progress review before warden culliver and supervisor james power

richard lui is here with more on that. >> there's an online battle growing on the president's israelnd that's where his election campaign is putting some money. there's a new facebook ad countering want statements. when you click on that ad, you get a petition. stand against zeroing out aid to israel. pointing to mitt romney, rick perry and newt gingrich. all attacked obama's record on israel last week. democrats have been fighting back since, given the president's national security successes like killing osama bin laden and trying to counter the idea that the gop is gaining with jewish voters. at this weekend's debate, gingrich defended his comment that palestinians were invented. >> is what i said factually correct? yes. is it historically true? yes. it's time for somebody to stand up and say enough lying about the middle east. >> romney had a mixed response to gingrich's stance. >> less regulation and an american energy plan and actually be -- >> that i think was a mistake on the speaker's part. >> paul pushed to change the focus. take a listen. >> i don't agree with that, and tha

msnbc's richard lui has a look at who's at the top this very hour. >> good morning to you, chris.ow what people are saying about them all the time. and this so-called word cloud we have right here helps them do just that. these are words people are using when they talk about a candidate on social media. this word cloud is of herman cain, the word obama, as you can see in the center, that's the largest. it's centered meaning it's said the most when people talk about cain. little to no mention of those alleged scandals on this. it's off the social gossip radar for you. but egypt right over there, kind of small. it lingers. gingrich's word cloud says a lot about the romney/gingrich battle. but notice the other candidates hovering around here, symbolic of the field's infighting at the moment. for romney, talk about him is dominated by president obama. you don't really see anything else. as for the president, the opposite is true. romney, the only gop candidate, right there on the right-hand side, that is close by. but so are the troubles with congress and the super committee on that w

. >>> michael steel, richard lui, we'll see you in a few minutes, as well., republicans aren't the only ones mobilizing for caucus night. the president's re-election team is hoping to re-ignite the grassrootds support that powered him to a win here three years ago. >> they said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose. but on this january night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do. >> well, he didn't have any gray hair before he took the oval office. the chair of the iowa democratic party, sue, thanks for joining us here. the action's all on the republican side, of course, but what do democrats do as they watch this play out in the gop? >> well, the thing that we do is we just keep working, we just keep organizing. the sound and fury and all the drama is focussed on the presidential selection on the other side and i understand that. really these things are won in the frenchs. and we started re-igniting the president's organization, which had never left iowa

. >>> i'm richard lui with your cnbc market wrap.ey could forget. the dow shedding 69 points, the s&p down 5, and the nasdaq shed 8. but for all the wild ups and downs, the dow actually made some people some money this year. 5.5% over september 30th, 2010. the s&p ended almost exactly where it started. among the blue chips, mcdonalds led the winners for 2011. bank of america posted the biggest loss there. verizon is doing a little damage control. one day after customers fumed about news of an added surcharge, the company said, oops, we'll drop that fee after all. >>> and a banner headline for ford motor company, this announced sales of its primary vehicles topping $2 million in the u.s. this year. the first time that's happened for any single car brand since 2007. and then u.s. drivers are cutting way back at the pump, evidently. according to a new eia report making way for refiners to export more fuel than ever before. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." >>> welcome back to "hardball." an incred

heard in the last hour from the anti-tax man himself, grover norquist speaking with my colleague richard lui on "jansing & company," and here's what he had to say with the clock ticking down in d.c. >> republicans in the house of representatives voted to extend the one-year tax holiday for another year. it's the senate run by democrats, which has refused to extend it for a year. it's the senate which is refusing to come to conference. you can't pass a bill through the house and the senate until the guys in the senate get their act together and actually come to the table and negotiate the bill. >> so it's interesting, congresswoman, because just over the last ten minutes, we have this statement now from u.s. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell saying he wants people to get together. there's no reason, this is just a portion of the statement i want to read to you. there's no reason that congress and the president cannot accomplish all of these things before the end of the year, talking to quickly make a decision to support thousands of americans with the payroll tax cut extension. when yo

i'm richard lui in for chris jansing. the clock ticking on money in your pocket.d in just a moment, spea

msnbc's richard lui is here now. okay. so let's go into iowa, my friend.te is leading in social media? >> well, you know, the election social media fight is a squeak squeaker here, chris. good morning to you. beginning rich, you take a look at the data, he is tops in social media strength with a 36%, as you can see on this chart here, strength is basically how likely somebody is talking about you right now on social media. this according to online analysis company social mention. now, romney leads on facebook, but his strength rating is the lowest. paul at 36, ties for the lead there. and president obama, who ruled social media in 2008, has a middling 31 score. but look at those two peaks there, both of those two candidates, strong with the tea party and they are strong online. overall from october, when i last looked at this, all strength numbers grew, people talking about decision 2012. a little bit more. if we dig into gingrich's social power, his reach, this number right here, is at 36%. good but not great. reach shows, though, how many unique authors

. >>> good morning i'm richard lui in for chris jansing on this wednesday. a very good day to you.blink first? 160 million americans are asking right now what's going to happen to their tax cut as they watch congress play politics. democrats and republicans are not budging. john boehner and republican negotiators was about to discuss a one-year tax cut extension. there's no one on the other side

richard from eternity. however an england liverpool striker luis suarez has been banned for eight games and fined sixty thousand dollars for racially abusing manchester united defender patrice evra suarez was found guilty by the english football association after the players clashed during a match at anfield last october suarez has denied the allegations and has a fortnight to appeal and said it was a painful and difficult day for him and his family in a statement liverpool said they were surprised by the decision adding we find it extraordinary how many found guilty of the on the word of patrice evra his ban will not start until any appeal has been heard and he is expected to play in liverpool's away trip to wigan tonight meanwhile league leaders managed to city entertain state this evening roberto mancini side have a slender two point lead over rivals manchester united and the italian says the aim is to stay at the summit is important to stay on the top. as important as they agree as most every week about this important to say the you know this season because we know that can happen also that we can go in thi

luis. cÓmo estÁs? quÉ gusto tenerlos con nosotros! hola, richard, cÓmo amaneciste, mi amor?mpre muy importante acordarnos de los niÑos que estÁn recibiendo la ayuda. el st. jude es un centro de investigaciones ademÁs de un hospital. >> estoy segura que mÁs obviamente te has involucrado por sentir la paternidad y ayudar mÁs a todos estos niÑos. cÓmo ha mejorado tu vida el hospital. cuÉntanos! >> cuentale, cuÉntale. hablale un poco del hospital. dile de lo hermoso que es el hospital, de los tratamientos, de todo lo que hemos hecho, cuando tocamos la guitarra, aprendiÓ a tocar guitarra, me hizo una promesa y ya le enseÑamos hace algunos meses atrÁs. y despuÉs de la entrevista me voy a sentar a tocar con Él un rato. cuéntale a la gente de st. jude. >> no sÉ... >> Él estÁ tÍmido. es un ejemplo de todos los milagros que ha hecho este hospital, el hecho de que no le dicen que no a nadie, hay pacientes del mundo entero, hay tres clÍnicas en mÉxico. hay muchas maneras dae yudar. pueden visitar la pÁgina web. (en pantalla) >> ya lo saben, en casa hay que tomar nota para ayudar a los n

luis. cÓmo estÁs? quÉ gusto tenerlos con nosotros! hola, richard, cÓmo amaneciste, mi amor? >> bien.spital. cuÉntanos! ñ=uuÑpçokskrooedt!xies-7Ñww6akepÑá >> cuentale, cuÉntale. hablale un poco del hospital. dile de lo hermoso que es el hospital, de los tratamientos, de !v xoñ"el+todo lo que hemos z@ mqhecho, cuando tocamos la guitarra, aprendiÓ a tocar ñ=uuÑpçokskrooe guitarra, me hizo una promesa y ya z@ le ensemos ;7hace aunos meses atrÁs. y despuÉs dela entrevista me voy a sentar a tocar çw3tvve#fd&-con Él un rato. cuÉntale a !v xoñ"el+dbe!pdkyla gente de st. jude. >> no sÉ.. >> Él !v xoñ"el+dbestÁ tÍmido. es un ejemplo de todos los milagros z@ que mqha hecho este hospital, el hecho de que no le dicen fg/ que no a nadie, hay pacientes del mundo entero, hay tres clÍnicas z@ mq en mÉxico. fihay ;77vçicwyy0##nmuchas maneras dae yudar. pueden visitar la pÁgina web. !v xoñ"el+dbe! (en pantalla) !v xoñ"el+dbe!pdkyo2oé >> ya lo saben, en casa hay que tomar nota para ayudar a los ! niÑos que lo necesitan. estÁn al alcance de nuestra mano. z@ mq >> quie preguntarte una cosa, sÉ

richard paul one i.d. cynthia john smith. james alvin smith. mary at ms. smith. john somervell. lindsay and somerville. paul somerville. rosalind somerville. james routh stow. geraldine and stephenson. hannah luisstephenson. john charles stephenson. rachel stevenson. charlotte stennett. michael gary stennett. stacey leanne stennett. elliott g stratus. >> anthony swathe. war of the donald margaret swire. mark alex pager. andrew alexander jurong. arafat anthony tomas. jonathan ryan thomas. mark lawrence tobin. .. bonny lee williams. brittany lee williams. eric john williams. george williams. stephanie lee williams. miriam luby wolf. chelsea marie woods. deborah lynn woods. joe nathan woods. joe nathan woods jr.. mark james's einberg, we remember. no go. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we are going to go a little bit out of order. we were going to have bob mueller but instead we are moving up the attorney general partly because he has to leave and he can't stay for the entire -- stay as long as he can. the attorney general, the position, if there's a job in government that gets more criticism than the transportation security administrator it's the attorney general. i just want them bo