he has a beautiful tie on and an entire bird in his pocket. >> trust me, i personally think ron brownstein>> is that a flower? >> am i allergic to this? >> wow. >> this totally changes ron's whole look. >> we've gone over an entirely new -- we've got a "start point" cliff we just went over. >> you need some color over here. >> now we're making color jokes about will cain. before we get to all of that, let's get some news in here. the beautiful alina cho. >> you expect me to do the news right now? good morning. good morning, gentlemen, and lady. good morning, everyone. six states from pennsylvania to maine getting slammed by that massive winter storm. up to two feet of snow in the forecast for central maine. more than 1700 flights had to be cancelled yesterday because of the weather. and if you have holiday travel plans today, expect more of the same. >>> nelson mandela out of the hospital but he will keep getting medical treatment at home. south africa's former president had a rough december, a lung infection and gallstone surgery. mandela is 94 years old. he has not appeared in public in

ron brownstein, susan page, mike duffy. another kennedy eyes the senate seat in massachusetts. [ woman ] dear cat, your hair mixes with pollen and dust. i get congested. but now, with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed. >>> before we leave. a check of the headlines. more than 90 people have been killed in an air strike on a bakery in syria's central hama province. the strike hit a town recently seized by rebels in a new push to take territory in hama. rebels have been fighting the government of president assad for 21 months. south korean officials say the rocket launched by north korea earlier this month shows the reclusive nation has developed the technology to fire a warhead capable of reaching the united states. despite international condemnation the launch seen as a boost to the credibility of north korea's new leader jim kim jong-un.

ron brownstein is a senior -- cnn senior political analyst and editorial director of the national journalen moore, senior economics writer at the "wall street journal" and is in washington, d.c. first up, ron, will, do you think, these politicians reach a deal or not and why or why not? >> the fiscal cliff was yeelted as a doomsday machine to try to give them more will power to do what they can't do on their own, to reach a deal. the reason all of this was here, incentive to reach a deal, some of your guests pointed out during the day, a lot can go wrong when you leave is it to this late, a little little surprising to me republicans don't feel urgency, talk about this in a minute, maybe, the wolf on the other side of the cliff, difficult for both sides, the country is worse for the republicans than the democrats. it's possible they make a deal, possible they go over, no more precision than that. >> are we thelma and luiz, rocketing towards that canyon? >> took the words out of my mouth, even if we don't get a deal by the stroke of midnight tonight before the ball comes down on times squar

ron brownstein is the editorial director of "the national journal." made his way to his seat. >> no music. >> that's your music. i heard you singing it earlier. you don't like adam lambert, his new theme song? i kind of like that. >>> our starting point is the president and the house speaker finally getting face to face to discuss the fiscal cliff. until yesterday's unscheduled meeting at the white house, john boehner and president obama had gone 23 days without sitting down to discuss the fiscal cliff. it's a significant development because in 22 days we go off over the cliff although some people have described it as a gentle slide down a little slippy mountain. but that would be a time when we face severe tax hikes and severe spending cuts unless a compromise can be reached. congress is scheduled to take a break for the holidays later this week. after speaking at the white house, the president said, "the lines of communication remain open," which isn't saying much really. dan lothian is at the white house. dan, what does that mean? the lines of comm

ron brownstein joins us this morning, cnn senior political analyst. editor for national journal.d will cain. zoraida is sticking around with us as well from "early start." our "starting point" really is about the frustration and more finger pointing now about this fiscal cliff. 28 days remain before drastic tax hikes and spending cuts take effect. republicans are offering a plan that calls for $2.2 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade, including $800 billion in tax reforms, $600 billion from medicare reforms and $6 billion in spending cuts. the white house said no go to this. why so fast? >> reporter: very quickly because they want republicans to capitulate on increasing tax rates for wealthier americans. the white house is insistent it won't talk to republicans about details of entitlement reform, which republicans want, until they cave on those income tax rates. and as of right now, republicans aren't budging. the white house, congress iiona democrats feel confident in their position because they point to poll that is show the vast majority of americans say he when

this was initiated by our friend ed reilly and ron brownstein of national journal and post the economic crisis, we decided to see what the american public perceptions were as to what was happening in their lives and the economy. and part of the notion over the years is, if you will, to sort of give voice to middle class and american public opinions as to what's happening with our economy and, in particular, their lives. we have conducted quite literally over 25,000 interviews, 25,000 over the last four years. so there's a positive story here of data which is extraordinary which is available at nationaljournal.com, it's available at allstate and the heart land monitor, and i really recommend it to all of you as a database that gives a pretty good sense of what the public has been thinking and really gives voice, if you will, to the middle class. the survey that we're talking about today that ed reilly's going to present has a slightly different orientation, and that is to say we're doing a little more towards what does the public want to see done as opposed to just what do they think and

cliff, job creation, and deficit reduction. >> let me introduce the moderator, ron brownstein. he is the editorial director of "national journal" and the "atlantic." he oversees political coverage coming out of our company. he writes a weekly column for "national journal" and is regularly on major cable networks and the real networks. dare i say, he is the most astute political analyst in washington. we have had changes. gene sperling at the last minute could not make it. there is a meeting going on right now, which may be productive -- maybe not. we have congresswoman allyson schwartz from pennsylvania, who has served on the ways and means committee in the house and now on the budget committee. she has become a big deal. we are happy to have you with us. >> thank you. gene was summoned a way for a meeting, which may or may not be good news on the fiscal front. i hope this will be less eventful than the last panel i moderated. i was at harvard where they do the debrief every four years with the senior campaign officials of both teams. we were in the middle when all of the power

ron brownstein, thanks so much. >>> for the second time this month, someone has been pushed in frontew york and died. now the search is on for a suspect. >>> and l.a. officials say it's a sign of the times. rocket launchers and other military weapons are turned in at their gun buyback. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ >>> in new york right now, police are searching for a woman who fled from the scene after a gruesome death at a train station that's similar to a recent killing. police just released this sketch of the suspect. here's cnn's poppy harlow. >> reporter: twice this month someone is pushed

let's bring in ron brownstein for "the national journal." >> good morning. >> good morning.that the two sides built to give guy them more will power to do what they didn't want to do to begin with. which is compromise. they could not reach a deal to destabilize the federal government's long-term finances so they built this to put more pressure on themselves to reach a deal now. and even this does not seem to be enough to do it, to force them to make the difficult concessions that are required for the two sides to come together this is indignant of a broader problem we face of a red coalition and blue coalition that reflect very different visions of american and show less and less cooperation. we are looking at a dividing government for the next two years and more likely next four years. if they can't make an agreement on this, how will they make progress on anything else? >> divided government that is getting deeper red, deeper blue, right? and there doesn't seem to be any clear leader coming forward to bridge the gap. >> more polarized top to bottom. when you look at the co

good morning, our team this morning is ron brownstein, the one concerned about spider-man's tights beingrial director at "national journal" will cain writer for the blaze and roland martin host of "washington watch" alina cho is with us as well. your paycheck and the u.s. economy both on the line when the president and congressional leaders meet at the white house this afternoon for another round of fiscal cliff talks. in four days your take-home pay shrinks and the government spending gets slashed if elected officials cannot figure out a way to get compromised, all in the hanlds of the six leaders. this afternoon the president, vice president biden, senate majority leader harry reid, house minority leader nancy pelosi, all on the democratic side, mitch mcconnell representing the republicans, white house correspondent brianna keilar, the house doesn't return to work until sunday so they'll work on a framework hopefully could get voted on sunday evening we might have a deal before monday. am i being ridiculous? >> reporter: maybe not sunday evening, maybe on monday, that's the best case s

our team ron brownstein, editorial director for "national journal" will cain a contributor for theblaze.comberman sticks around with us. house speaker john boehner has a news conference this morning, going to happen in just about two hours at 10:00 a.m. eastern time there's no doubt a lot of the focus will be on exactly what it was that happened last night, house republicans abandoning speaker boehner forcing him to cancel the vote on plan b. now lots of folks are asking what happened in those negotiations and what are the implications of what happened in those negotiations? our senior congressional correspondent is dana bash, watching it unfold. did it feel like the train wreck it feels like this morning last night? >> it did. you can see it in slow motion all day yesterday. i watched republican leaders, twisting arms, cajoling fellow republicans on the house floor and in the evening it became panic. it became clear the speaker had a high number of his fellow republican members willing to defy him and it was clear he didn't have the votes. i'm told it wasn't even close. what was stunning a

our chief political analyst gloria borger was one of the moderators with ron brownstein.ered the campaign. you learned some stuff. >> i did. first of all, wolf, this is the first time a lot of people running the campaigns actually met each other face to face. they sat around a big sfar table and had to kind of look at each other and it is so hard on the losing side. you have spent years of your life. there's a picture of the table. you spent years of your life devoted to running a presidential campaign. and if you're the loser, it's really hard. so one of the questions i asked at this panel discussion was about the infamous 47% tape and in which mitt romney said that 47% of the people wouldn't vote for him, that they felt entitled. matt rhodes who ran his campaign answered that question and we only have audio so listen to what he said. >> and i remember speaking to him and, you know, there was a lot of negativity about our campaign as a whole, but he's a person that takes personal responsibility about it. and he would tell me, you know, to me, like, you didn't say 47%, ma

let the introduce the moderator of that program, ron brownstein.s editorial director of the "national journal," which means he oversees all the little coverage coming out of our company. he writes a weekly column for "national journal." is regularly on cnn and major cable networks. the realnetworks. and he is one of the most astute analysts i think in washington. we've had a couple of changes in the program. gene sperling who is -- could not make it today. a barely there something going on right now which is productive. maybe not. but we do have congresswoman allyson schwartz from pennsylvania who has served on the ways and means committee in the house and now budget committee and she is in this violent we have going on. >> as i mentioned, may or may not be good news on the fiscal front. i would just as with way of introduction i'm hoping this as a less -- last week i was in hartford -- harbored. we were in the middle of discussing the general election and when all the power went out. we're hoping it isn't quite as difficult as one. we are sorry je

let me introduce the moderator, ron brownstein. the editorial director of the national journal and atlantic. he oversees the political coverage coming out of our company. he writes a weekly column for national internal. he is regularly on cnn and major cable networks. he is the most astute analyst in washington political analysts. a couple changes to the program. jean sperling could not make it today. there is a meeting going on right now which may be could be productive, maybe not. but we do have congressman allyson schwartz from pennsylvania who has served on the ways and means committee in the house and the budget committee. she is in this environment and has gone on to become a really big deal. we are happy to have you with us terry >> thank you. jean was some of the way for a meeting which may or may not be good news on the fiscal front. i am hoping this is a little less a vengeful than the last panel i moderated. last week i was at the kennedy school at harvard were they do the debrief every four years with a senior campaign