That does it for 360. Erin Burnett Outfront starts now. The president makes a statement putting the pressure squarely on the senate to broker a deal for the fiscal cliff. Senator reid and mcconnell are working on such an agreement as we speak. But if an agreement isnt reached in time between senator reid and senator mcconnell, then i will urge senator reid to bring to the floor a basic package for an upordown vote, one that protects the middle class from an income tax hike, extends unemployment to the 2 million americans looking for a job and lays groundwork for more Economic Growth and deficit reduction. Just moments ago, senator harry reid says hes readying a bill for a vote by monday. All this follows a rare facetoface closed door meeting at the white house today between all the key players, the president , the Vice President , the treasury secretary and all four congressional leaders huddled together with just four days to go before we all go overs fiscal cliff. That meeting lasted for an hour and five minutes. On a story where every second and every maneuver counts, lets get chief to White House Correspondent jessica yellin. Jessica, the president says hes modestly optimist being but each also presented a backup plan. Does the president really think it will come to that . At this point, no, they dont, john, because the white house is hopeful that the agreement that the senators are working on can actually move forward after the meeting here. There is a modest uptick in enthusiasm about that possibility. But as forts backup plan, theres no real likelihood that would ever come to a vote because republicans would likely block it in both the senate and might it would likely not come to a vote in the house. So thats really more rhetoric than it is reality and we have to hope for option a, getting an agreement in the senate if were going to avoid going over the cliff. Rhetoric versus reality. Thats always a tricky place to be in washington. Listen, this is some serious high stakes political poker here. What can you tell us about the meeting at the white house today . Well, weve heard different takes where you hear everybody has a different perspective on what happened depending on which party theyre in. The big takeaway is everybody left grieving on the next step, which is that the senate will confer, the two leaders will confer and try to hammer out an agreement that democrats and republicans can both get on board with this what they will spend their day with tomorrow. We are not going to see or hear a lot of public action tomorrow. Then theyll try to sell it to their respective parties on sund sunday, as you said, theyll try to bring it to a vote maybe sunday night or sometime monday morning in the senate. And at least theres agreement on the next steps, john. Its better than nothing. Thank you, jessica. It will be a working weekend. The minnesota majority in the house of representatives will of course be key to getting any deal across the finish line. Outfront tonight, Republican Congress steve la turret of ohio, a member of the appropriations committee. Thanks for coming outfront. With this plan that the president s put forward, the scaleddown plan which would keep taxes low for 98 of americans, raising them for folks over 250, extending unemployment benefits. Would you vote for that as an alternative to going over the fiscal cliff . I would have voted just to extend the tax cuts for 99. 8 or whatever it was of americans that was John Boehners plan b. A couple of things are either being misreported or inaccurately reported because what gets in the way of the president s plan is the constitution of the United States. And the good thing about this meeting is that the focus is now firmly on the United States senate where it should have been all these months. The house acted a long time ago to extend all the tax cuts and take care of sequestration. The senate has given speeches. Youre referring to the fact that revenue issues are supposed to generate in the house. Right now, both Speaker Boehner and the president say its between reid and mcconnell which does raise the question, whatever procedural and constitutional issues, which are profound. Are you concerned as a republican, someone who is close to Speaker Boehner, if we go over the fiscal cliff, that republicans will get the blame . Well, of course they will. Because republicans get blamed if it rains if washington. That shouldnt be the test here, it shouldnt be the consideration. But senator reid has had it within his power since spring to amend the house bill and send it back with whatever changes he wanted. Thats what the constitution says. Sadly, theyve given speeches instead of getting the job done. But nobody, nobody wants taxes to go up on middle class americans. And i hope that everybody works real hard over the weekend. A lot of americans have to work on the weekend. I dont think its a big deal that we have to work this weekend. Its not a big deal and you should all be working this weekend. Listen, a few weeks ago it looked like Speaker Boehner and president obama were pretty close on a grand bargain. Maybe not as big as should would hope. It looked like the president was saying, well raise that top rate and offer some entitlement reform. Social security changes, cpi. Some talk of raising the medicare eligibility age. Now because of where were at do you feel that the folks on the far right of your own party by not supporting the speaker have ended up undercutting their position and ultimately will get less of a good deal on issues they care about than they might have gotten otherwise . I think the country has missed a huge opportunity to solve the nations problem and instead whatever comes out of the senate will be small ball, kick the can down the road. Thats unfortunate because this is a big problem. I dont think the president and speaker were real close so i dont think my conservative colleagues have screwed anything up because the president , if you look at his call for a balanced proposal, it was never balanced because he was asking for 900 billion of tax increases and chain cpi which was the super piece is 300 billion. When you talk 3 to 1 spending cuts to tax increases he had it lopsided. Fair enough. I want to bring in a third party, s p. Today they released a statement keeping america at its downgraded credit rating. They said august 5, 2011, Standard Poors lowered its rating for the u. S. Citing among other factors the political brinksmanship of recent months that highlights americas governance becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable. We believe this characterization still holds. Do you know this congress, your congress, has done more harm than good . Do you feel embarrassed being part of a congress that ranks up there with the donothing congresses of all time . I think america should be embarrassed by its leadership in washington, d. C. But that extends to the white house, senate, and house of representatives. This has been the most predictable disaster coming at us for a number of years, and certainly months. And the fact that we have been unable to do things and instead worried about our next elections instead of the next generation of americans, i think its sinful and i hope that people turn out those who have been responsible for it. Congressman, youre a straight shooter, we always appreciate you coming outfront. Next, mixed feelings about gun control. Most americans support a ban on assault weapons but also support the nra. Plus, allegations of child abuse at a u. S. Military base. Two workers in custody and 30 more taken off the job. What their background checks revealed. Horror in the nations largest subway system. For the second time in one month a man is pushed to his death in front of a new york city subway train. This was the hole my waist was on. But since ive been on alli, am i on this one . Nope. Am i on this one . No, no, no, no, no. I am on this one. [ male announcer ] for every 2 pounds you lose through diet and exercise alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. Simple. Effective. Beltfriendly. Lets fight fat with alli. Have a healthier holiday at letsfightholidayfat. Com. [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. This season, discover aleve. All day pain relief with just two pills. Executor of efficiency. You can spot an amateur from a mile away. While going shoeless and metalfree in seconds. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. Now this. Will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. Just like you. Go national. Go like a pro. Its lots of things. All waking up. Connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. Trust duracell to power their donated toys . Duralock power preserve. It locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. Guaranteed. Duracell with duralock. Trusted everywhere. Our second story outfront tonight. Guns in america. Politicians promised the newtown massacre would change everything. But since it happened just two weeks ago today, 277 people in this country are dead because of gun violence. According to a tally compiled by slate. Americans are sending mixed messages where they stand. A new gallup poll shows 54 have a favorable opinion of the National Rifle association which is adamant new gun laws are not the answer to stemming violence, down slightly from a year ago. On the other hand, a poll by the Washington Post and abc shows 52 of americans favor banning semiautomatic weapons, 59 support banning highcapacity clips. Outfront tonight, roland and margaret. Good to see you guys. Margaret, i know that you grew up hunting, your dad took you hunting in colorado. One of the sea changes weve seen in the wake of this shooting is senators like joe manchin, mike warner, saying ive changed my mind, joe manchin saying, ive never hunted with more than three shells in a clip. Why isnt this a conversation we can be having more broadly . And getting republican senators on board . I would also point you to the democratic governor of colorado in the wake of the aurora shootings also said, im not sure if an assault weapons ban would have stopped james woolsly in this mass certificate in colorado. An assault weapons ban wouldnt have stopped him. Its not just a republican or democratic issue. In 1994, the democrats took a huge political walloping do you like that word . For instituting the assault weapons ban, and the house of representative s went back to republicans for the first time in four years im not sure thats why they took a whooping. Heres why we have had a frank conversation. Any time you talk about guns or gun violence in this country, it goes to, if we do this, it would not have prevented this certain act. The issue is not what just took place in newtown. The issue that is we have an epidemic in america when it comes to gun violence. So with this conversation, it has become onedimensional, its only about guns, its about a magazine. It hasnt been broadened to deal with poverty, economics, mental illness. You can look at newtown, chicago, stand your ground laws in florida, its a broader gun issue. Youre talking about comprehensive reform, youre talking about a larger conversation. I want to read a quote by senator marco rubio. He did seem to indicate a change of sentiment. He said, senator rubio supports a serious and comprehensive study of our laws to find a new and better way to prevent more mass shootings. That is one of the few republican senators who did send that kind of a signal. In the immediate wake. Heres the question if we agree its comprehensive and part of this is obviously Mental Health issues, why cant highcapacity magazine clips or assault weapons, which have no purpose other than to kill as many people as quickly as possible, be part of a comprehensive conversation . In my view everything should be on the table if you can prove it will work or theres a sense it will work. The truth is, roland, if you can agreed with you, if you can take 8 here, 8 here, 8 here, you should do it. That is a reasonable approach. The reason im smiling is because were trial to have inverted conversation. Newtown was a moment. Aurora was a moment. John, what youre really asking for is where is the movement . Thats right. With a movement, there has to be a starting point. If you look at the civil rights movement, that started with emmittville, montgomery. Montgomery was supposed to be a boycott. People on the ground who begin to drive this issue. The conversation cant start in washington. Washington is an aftereffect. It has to start with the people in various places driving them to move. If that doesnt happen, they will not move. Youre absolutely right. That is the history of movements in america. But there is going to be a bill we know senator Dianne Feinstein is going to introduce a bill on the first day of the new congress. Why shouldnt more folks get behind that, including some republicans . Because id like to remind you of one thing. Justice scalia said in the heller decision, like most rights the Second Amendment is not unlighted. Not unlimited. He said, it is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever for whatever purpose. From the high priest of the Supreme Court of conservatism himself. Why doesnt that create some room for current conservatives like Ronald Reagan did in 1994 to back an assault weapons ban . The issue is, are you going to be punishing lawabiding gun owners with these kind of regulations . There are plenty of people who own these guns who have a right to own these guns who are not part of the problem. Are you punishing those people who have a right to own those guns because there are crazies out there that you are not affecting with an assault guns weapon . There is nothing about this that touches Mental Health do i really need so shoot 30 bullets at one time . Is 10 okay . Who is presumptuous enough to determine what that number is for lawabiding gun owners . Again, this is part of its own issue. This whole issue. When you say highcapacity magazines, youve got people who are law abiding. Of course you do. Guess what . If the people who are lawabiding say, i can hunt. But first of all, that means youre a bad shot if you need 30 bullets. Okay . Again, you have to have those folks step up. John, she can introduce the bill all she wants to. Unless you have Massive Public pressure, which is why i got in trouble last week when i said, if one of those mothers did what mamie till says, and said show my baby in an open casket, versus the photos, it causes people to change on this issue. Because were confronted with it. We dont want to see what it looks like. We dont want to see that. Thats why were continuing the conversation. Thats a great point about emmett till. Two day care workers in Police Custody tonight over allegations of bussing children. At least 30 others have been taken off the job after background checks and criminals records including drug use. Barbara starr has this exclusive outfront investigation. Reporter this little boy was supposed to be safe at an army day care center. This happened to military families a stones throw away from the pentagon. If it could happen here, it could happen anywhere. Reporter this military wife and other of two doesnt want her face shown. Cnn has also agreed not to show her childrens faces or identify them by age. Obviously, barbara, i am concerned about the privacy of my children. And then theres always the possibility of retaliation against my husband. Reporter its every parents nightmare. Finding out her toddler was physically assaulted by child care workers at the ft. Myer army day care center. The scandal grew to the point if the obama made an unprecedented phone call to Army Secretary john mac cue to express his concern. According to this fbi affidavit, this little boy and others were punched and slapped. One child was dragged across the floor. We thought, of all the different options, putting them in a child care facility during the day that was on a military base, that was pretty wellstaffed, would be the safest, most secure environment for them. Reporter it all began back on september 26th when a parent reported misconduct. The army quickly reviewed Surveillance Video and found several young children, all under the age of 5, were physically abused. Charges of simple assault were filed. But parents were still in the dark. Two days later, on september 28th, they are hand adler saying they are handed a letter saying only that there is a report of alleged mistreatment and inappropriate behavior by staff. All along, this first week when we were being sort of given piecemeal information, denied access to the videotapes, we were also being asked if we wanted to seek medical care for our child. Reporter medical care for what . For what . Obviously we wanted to understand and see with our own eyes, since that evidence was available. Reporter she was horrified when she finally saw the surveillance tape of her child. Obviously you dont ever want to see your child subjected to that kind of assault. These were the caregivers we entrusted them to every morning. Reporter november 7, the army started checking other employees records and found backgrounds including charges of sexual abuse of a minor, assault, and drug charges. On december 14th, 30 workers are suspended. But parents are still not told about those faulty background checks. This mother says she moved her children out of the ft. Myer center. We believe the military families deserve better than this. Barbara, a fascinating and disturbing report. One element is that secretary panetta wasnt told about this significant breach of trust, just outside the pentagon, an army facility, for almost two months. What happened with that . Reporter thats right, secretary panetta wasnt told, were told the Army Secretary john mchugh wasnt informed until the very end. Officials tell us there were procedures, going through personnel procedures to look at all these people, and there was this criminal investigation, they had to finish that up. I have to tell you, aides, close aides to both men are very disturbed about all of this. They say that both secretaries want this fixed. Of course they do, barbara. One other question is, how could these background checks fail so close to the pentagon, people working with children, when their backgrounds show allegations of sexual abuse and drug use in their past . Reporter thats what theyre trying to figure out. There is now a full investigation into the procedures of background checks. Were these people running into legal trouble while they were already working and it wasnt reported . Were the background checks never done properly in the first place . Theyre trying to figure all of this out, and at the same time, defense secretary panetta has told all of the military services to look at the same question at all of their facilities. Thank you, Barbara Starr at the pentagon. Outfront next, worries about the fiscal cliff wreaking havoc on our economy. Stocks down for the fifth straight day. What lawmakers must do to stop the bleeding. We count down our top political rivalries. Find out how many of your favorite politicians made this list. Ve, and save your money. Joe doesnt know it yet, but hell work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. Hell start investing early, hell find some good people to help guide him, and hell set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense. From td ameritrade. But hed wait for her forever, for any reason, and would always be there with the biggest welcome home. For a love this strong, dawn only feeds him iams. Compared to other leading brands, it has 50 more animal protein. To help keep rockys body as strong as a love that never fades. If he ever lets her leave again. Iams. Keep love strong. I have a cold, and i took nyquil, but im still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesnt unstuff your nose. What . [ male announcer ] it doesnt have a decongestant. No way. [ male announcer ] sorry. Alkaseltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ sighs ] thanks [ male announcer ] youre welcome. Thats the cold truth [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus. Oh what a relief it is [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save 1 visit alkaseltzer on facebook. I dont wanna be right [ record scratch ] what . its not bad for you. It just tastes that way. [ female announcer ] honey nut cheerios cereal hearthealthy, whole grain oats. You cant go wrong loving it. Im john avlon in for erin burnett. We start the second half of our show with other stories were following tonight. Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law that bans u. S. Families from adopting russian children. The u. S. State department calls the move politically motivated. The law is seen largely as retaliation for an act signed by president obama that restricts human rights abusers from traveling into the u. S. Two military officials tell cnn the Syrian Government is now using more accurate iranianmade missiles. This week the sources say the regime fired at least two of those shortrange Ballistic Missiles in an attempt to hit syrian targets more accurately. The use of these weapons has prompted nato to send Patriot Missile systems to protect turkey. Theyre expected to be in place by the end of january. A 24yearold woman has been arrested in connection with the gunman who ambushed and killed two firefighters when called to a house fire in upstate new york. Police announced today she purchased the rifle and shotgun used in the Christmas Eve attack. She told the gun shop she would be the true owner but she purchased the guns for aex con a convicted felon, who was not allowed to legally possess guns. Tonight since january there have been more people murdered on the streets of chicago than american soldiers killed in afghanistan. In chicago, homicides are up 17 and shootings up 11 over the last year alone. Chicago hadnt reached the 500 homicide mark since 2008. It has been 512 days since the u. S. Lost its top credit rating. What are we doing to get it back . Not enough. That gets me to other fourth story outfront tonight. Bracing for impact. Fears of falling off the fiscal cliff are taking a big toll on the financial market. Stocks close lower for the fifth straight day, ending the week down nearly 2 . The dow suffered its steepest loss since november 14th and tonight, the president warned of the economic consequences of this partisan gridlock. Economists, business leaders, all think that were poised to grow in 2013. As long as politics in washington dont get in the way of americas progress. So weve got to get this done. Outfront tonight, Daniel Altman at Nyu Stern School of business. Good to you have both here. Steven, let me start with you. Do you share the president s modest optimism . You know, my opinion of this changes every couple of hours, john. Because theres these negotiations going on. And this morning i felt pretty positive the president was flying back from his hawaii vacation, republicans seemed to be in the mood to try to get this done, and they could bridge this gap. But you know, my conversations with some of the Republican Leaders is that not much was accomplished today. And as you know, john, the clock is ticking. What are we, 72 hours away from going over that cliff . Im not sure this is going to get resolved right new. Looks like we may go into january without a deal. Stephen moore saying were going off the cliff. Weve got new details on the plan, the president s scaleddown proposal. Heres whats on the table. Extend the current tax rates for 98 of americans, incomes up to 250,000. Extend unemployment benefits, thats an important point. Not being talked about enough. Extending the alternative minimum tax patch. Prevents cuts in payments to doctors who treatment medicare payments. Patients. Would this scaleddown proposal save us from Economic Disaster . Weve done a tremendous amount of damage to ourselves, embarrassing ourselves around the world. Were assuring investors were as risky as Standard Poors thought we were when they reduced our credit rating. It would be great if we could avoid sharp credit risks. Restoring the Unemployment Insurance benefits is really important because you have millions of people who are depending on this for income. And theyre going to spend that money if you give it to them and thats what the economy needs. Absolutely right. Wait, hold on. Let me say something. That outlines that deal that you just put on the table, on the screen, thats not no different than what the president s been saying for six weeks. This was the problem. This is why there was no progress today. The president didnt really budge an inch. Look, i totally disagree. I think extending Unemployment Insurance is a big negative for the economy. I dont see why republicans would want to do that and they dont. Whats sort of in this deal for the republicans . Theres no real spending cuts here. In fact, theres a spending increase in exchange for a tax increase. I see republicans walking away from the table on that. We need real serious spending cuts and theyre just not being presented here. Thats part of the tragic aspect of this whole kabuki. Working toward a deal, the president was offering some entitlement reform what entitlement reform . Changed cpi on social security, talked about raising the eligibility age, thats not nothing from a democratic president. The democrats never put raising the eligibility age of medicare on the table, that was one of the reasons the negotiations broke down. Theres a reason for that and the reason is simple. You cant do this in a twoday period. We need a deal which is going to get us over the tax cliff so we dont have the increase in tax rates. But an entitlement reform, a comprehensive tax reform, these things are going to take more time. Thats absolutely true but thats the reason why not just extend all these tax rates as we did two years ago, then do tax reform and entitlement reform in 2013, we dont go over the cliff. Well get to the possibility of a comprehensive reform next year in a second. Let me ask you this. If we agree, just reality check, if we all agree on 98 of the taxes at stake, why not just take that deal and then we can focus on the other 2 later. As a cardcarrying fiscal conservative, one of the leading ones in the country, do you feel a bad deal is worse than no deal . Would you rather say, if its not perfect, lets go over the cliff . I think raising the Capital Gains tax, raising the dividend tax, raising the estate tax, raising taxes on small businesses, is a disaster for the economy, its too fragile. Thats not true at all. All the Research Shows that actually the Economic Activity is not that sensitive to tax rates at the top of the Income Distribution thats not true, its the opposite. Im sorry the economys highly sensitive, thats why countries around the world have been cutting their tax rates. We grew faster when we had higher tax rates. Lets just do it another reality check on this. Which is that, whether we go over the cliff or have a scaleddown deal, weve got two things looming, a debt ceiling in probably two months which republicans will no doubt use as leverage. We still dont have a grand bargain that deals with deficit and debt by taking on tax reform and entitlement reform. What rational reason, stephen, first you, should we have that that other kick the can to another situation were about to go off a cliff would produce any different result from a new congress . Im not sure it will. John, what were talking about here is very deep ideological divisions in terms of what causes Economic Growth, what causes prosperity for the country. You can see it in the two of us arguing. I think raising tax rates is a disaster for the economy. I think it will be very harmful. A lot of liberals believe it doesnt do much harm at all. We have philosophical differences here. Not only are we embarrassing ourselves in front of people from around the world and making it seem a lot riskier to invest in this country, were manufacturing this crisis which is going to mean government loses the trust of voters and thats going to make it much harder to collect taxes in the future and spend in the future and do anything. I agree, get this done, extend the tax cuts, go into 2013 without going over the cliff, deal with some of these issues. Youre right, it will be an embarrassment for the American Economy if we go over this cliff, it would be very problematic for us. But you cant blame the republicans. Think both parties share equally in the blame. Polls show everybodys going to blame the republicans. Thats a political matter. Ill tell you its not a philosophical disagreement, its a crisis of selfgovernment. A disturbing story out of new york tonight next. Police are looking for a young woman who allegedly pushes a man onto the subway tracks when a train was approaching the station in queens. Police have just identified the man as 46yearold suendo sen of queens, new york. This is the second time in a month a passenger was pushed to his death in front of a train. Its raising some serious questions about the safety of the nations largest subway system. It was it was horrible. Horrible. It echoed through the bottom. I never want to hear Something Like that again. Reporter this man heard the final scream of the victim. James callanans train was halted because of the incident. They said that this is the last stop on the 7 train. Debris fell on the tracks. Thats all they were telling people. Reporter witnesses say the victim was standing on the edge of this subway platform in queens when a woman who was pacing and talking to herself pushed him onto the tracks. The victim was a Graphic Designer who had moved to new york from india. Im feeling very bad. He has nobody here. And i heard that his parents died a long time before. Reporter Surveillance Footage captured this woman running from the station. Police are searching for the woman they describe as heavyset, in her 20s, wearing a ski jacket and sneakers. We do live in a world where our subway platforms are open and thats not going to change. Reporter at a News Conference friday, mayor bloomberg and new York City Police commissioner ray kelly were inundated with questions about the subway death. Mayor bloomberg, a second subway pushing death in this city in less than a month. Im wondering what your reaction is to that. How can it be prevented . I dont know that there is a way to prevent theres always going to be someone, a deranged person. Reporter this month a 58yearold man was killed when a homeless man shoved him onto the tracks in times square. Commissioner, would you consider putting more police on platforms in the wake of whats happened this month . No, we think that we are properly deployed in the transit system. So not something youd consider at this point. You show me any place in this world where 5. 5 Million People get together that has the visit virtually zero crime rate that we do. Reporter mta which runs new york city subways would not talk to us oncamera but said people should stay away from the platform edges and be aware of their surroundings at all times. Bill henderson advises the mta. What can be done to prevent things like this . I mean, not you cant eliminate the possibility, but this is a very rare occurrence. Why not put some sort of barrier here . You have different car types running on the tracks on new york city subways and they have doors placed at different points along the length. If you ran a different kind of car, youd have to move openings. Just not practical . Not practical. Very expense sniff. Very expensive . Very expensive. Reporter subway deaths like these are very rare here in new york city. Years go by without them happening and the same is true in other major cities like washington, d. C. And boston. John . Thank you, poppy. Still to come, the battle lines have been drawn. The players have picked their side. Our panel counts down the best political rivalries next. We cod lie here forever. I wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] its practically yours. Test drive but we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. And its never been easier to get a jetta. Thats the power of german engineering. Get 0 down, 0 due at signing, 0 deposit, and 0 first months payment on any new volkswagen. Visit vwdealer. Com today. Then i read an artie about study that oked at the Long Term Health benefits of taking multivitamins. Hey used centr silver f t study. So i guess my wife was right. Male anner ] centrum. Ways your mostomplet neural speeds increasing to 4g lte. Brain upgrading to a quadcore processor. Predictive intelligence with google now complete. Introducing droid dna by htc. Its not an upgrade to your phone. Its an upgrade to yourself. [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. But she has some dental issues shes not happy about. So i introduced jill to crest prohealth for life. Selected for people over 50. Prohealth for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. Conditions people over 50 experience. Crest prohealth for life. So jill can keep living the good life. Crest. Life opens up when you do. Were back with tonights outer circle where we reach out to our sources around the world. Tonight weep go to johannesburg, where despite rumors that Nelson Mandela is close to death, his family says he is at home doing well following gallstone surgery. Robyn curnow spoke to mandelas granddaughter a short while ago and i asked what else she learned about Nelson Mandelas health. This is the first time weve heard from anybody close to Nelson Mandela since he was hospitalized in early december. Theres been secrecy about his condition so no doubt many will be relieved to hear his granddaughter say hes cheerful in good spirits. Sitting up, waving at the kids, smiling at the kid is, very alert. His granddaughter addressed the rumors Nelson Mandela was sent home by his doctors to die. She says this was not the case and the family and Nelson Mandela deserved both privacy and respect. Thank you. Our fifth story outfront tonight. Before a big fight, boxer mohammad ali used to say, were going to get it on because we dont get along. And the same is true in political rivalries today. After a bruising Election Year, our stations star politicians are getting ready for new fights in 2013. Theyre dusting off their gloves, getting back in the ring. We have a frontrow seat with an early look at the top five political rivalries that will likely play out in the new year. Lets start up in the bay state. Weve got a bitter fight from this Election Year and you can see these folks serving again in the senate. Elizabeth warren and scott brown, take a look at their sparring this year. I think what youre referring to is the fact that professor warren claimed she was a native american, a person of color. And as you can see, shes not. Senator brown wants to raise an issue about my character, then ill lay it out there. You know, when i was growing up, these are the stories i knew about my heritage. I believed my mother and my father and my aunts and my uncles and i never asked anybody for any documentation. Well, ill tell you, scott brown obviously lost that race. With john kerry going to state, scott walkers probably going to run in june, they could be serving together, what do you think about that . She knocked him out like Manny Pacquiao got knocked out, so forget that. She beat him down this last race, trust me. Barack obama dealt the knockout blow. It wasnt this candidate, she was a very, very weak candidate by any standard. Shes beloved by progressives but she won because barack obama was at the top of the ticket, lets get real. Scott brown has a 58 favorability rating, its likely hes the republican nominee and very like live he goes back to the senate. Alls fair in love and war. Theyre going to be colleagues in the senate. If thats true, theyll get over it. When she loses, play that tape of pacquiao getting knocked down, say thats scott brown. Margarets right, scott browns still popular in massachusetts. But he lost. Despite that hes a republican. Number four rivalry, paul ryan versus marco rubio, the Republican Party already making jokes about 2016. Both parties tend to divide americans into our voters and their voters. We must speak to the aspirations and anxieties of every american. One of the fundamental challenges before us is to find an appropriate and sustainable role for government. And closing that gap between the dreams of millions of americans and the opportunities for them to realize them. Now, that was the jack kemp dinner, they were joking about seeing each other at diners in iowa. Both making conscious plays to have the gop reach out to the middle class, reach out beyond their base, the repudiation of mitt romney. Are they on a collision course . This is a rivalry welcome. I mean, bring it on this is what the Republican Party needs. The real battle will be Rubio Ted Cruz because they want to say i can lock up latinos. Cruz, hes a texan, hes going to come in slinging. Hes going to walk in and say, marco, youre not the only hot hispanic. Theyre both trying to craft this middle class message but theyre doing it in subtly different ways. I think rubio has the inside track. Lets do something a little more top call, which is john boehner and eric cantor. Even politico was saying a year ago they call for a truce, their staffs were trying to find a way to work together. Speaker vote is coming up january 3rd. Boehner had a bad beating in that plan b vote. I think the main thing that boehner has going for him in the rivalry is he has the worst job in the world. Is it really the worst job in the world . Certainly the worst job in congress. Speaker boehner has to sit there and eat a lot of stuff you wouldnt necessarily want to eat because there are a lot of republicans who basically want to emote, they want to act up and Speaker Boehner just has to take it and try to hammer deal and eric cantor, if he goes into boehners role, he has to do the same thing boehner wants to do. The starting quarterback hates the number two quarterback and boehner, if he was smart, he should have dispatched him a long time ago and said, young man, im going to put you out to pasture if you pull that crap on me again. He made a mistake over the debt ceiling. The two of them are working very closely during the negotiations. If you ask any republican on the senate, nobody thinks boehners speakership is challenged. But it only takes 17 votes for that whole thing to fall apart. It reminds me of the godfather, keep your friends close and enemies closer. This wont be cantor in that job, though, he know it is too well to want to take it. Thats a fascinating job as well. Lets start in the bay state. Number two, weve got Grover Norquist versus the gop. And heres whats fascinating. Hes been a major player, a huge figure, and yet the push back has been growing. The tide has been swelling. Take a look at this montage clip of republicans pushing back on Grover Norquist in the atr pledge. Im not obligated on the pledge. When youre 16 trillion in debt, the only pledge we should be making to each other should be avoid greed. I never signed the pledge. Hes becoming irrelevant. You can see it in his eyes. He knows the game is up. A pledge you sign 20 years ago, 18 years ago, is for that congress. Im going to be the one to determine what a tax increase is. Grover norquist is not going to determine what a tax increase is. Message seems clear. Dont fear the grover. That echoes throughout the upper echelons of the gop. Boehner put tax revenues on the table and we heard nothing from norquist. This is a false drama, manufactured by people like you who cant stand norquist. People like me . Just because the emperors wearing no clothes and i think its worth pointing it out. The fiscal cliff is a big deal because its kind of like a vampire and garlic. Once you go over the cliff, tax rate go up so much, anything is a tax cut beyond nat. The thing is if youre actually raising taxes from a current policy tax line, you would violate his pledge, but once they go up automatically, cutting them from there, which could still mean higher taxes than we have now, is not actually a tax hike. Shes leaving state, but i hate to fast forward into 2016, but the fact is until she makes up her mind what she does, the democratic president ial field is frozen. No, its not. No . Compare Hillary Clinton 2012 to clinton 2008. Well be right back. Did you . From the plane . Yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24 7. Sounds a little too good to be true sir. Ill believe that when pigs fly. Ok, did she seriously just say that . Geico. Just click away with our free mobile app. Anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. Thats all for us at outfront tonight. Erin is back next week and well be following all of the late breaking developments on the fiscal cliff negotiations which it will be a working weekend in washington. Have a great weekend and a happy new year. Piers morgan is next. Horsepower than prius v,hae a hybrid that cmax also bests in mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. So we created the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. A collection of innovations designed around a bed with dualair technology that allows you to adjust to the support your body needs each of your bodies. Our sleep professionals will help you find your sleep number setting. Exclusively at a sleep number store. Comfort individualized. Save 50 on the final closeout of our Silver Limited Edition bed plus special financing through new years day. 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