months of theater to do something in the last two to six hours. the student loan rates is everyone knew this was happening, the deadline was very clear. and we're going to have to go through these letter-sending exploits in order to get to the inevitable conclusion, which is we'll figure this out with 30 minutes to go. >> i guess i wonder, because there's been some analysis that at certain moments the bringsmanship has hurt certain parties, which is to say republicans didn't do well under the debt debacle. the president lost some steam last summer, early fall, do you think either party stands to gain anything from this bringsmanship? >> we're facing even more of this with the so-called fiscal cliff. that will be an entire accomplice cal game, because it will be a push and pull, do weft to do something on the lame duck session, mitt romney, of course, has said he wants congress to put it off after the election if he does in fact win. >> the lame duck session of congress could be the least lame duck session of anything. i also want to bring? jody kantor, from "new york times" who has joined the program. great to see you as always. >> thank you. >> as we talk about the republicans versus the democrats, i am sort of obsessed with the dynamics in congress. harry reid, talking about a transportation bill, and this is what he said -- you have heard as i have heard that there's a battle going on between eric cantor and john boehner to whether or not there should be a highway bill, which is the transportation bill. kantor, of course, i'm told by others, he wants to not do a big to make the economy worse, because he feels that's better for them. i hope that's not true. kantor's response -- rather than making up stories that have no basis in reality, leader reid should follow the house's example and focus on pro-growth measures that will get the economy going and get people back to work. >> reid has to name his sources. >> yeah. there is some tension between -- i mean, we've seen john boehner seems mor willing to make deal. he's been pulled back by members of his caucus, we've heard that eric cantor is one of those leaders. we've heard that harry reid might be the problem. >> does congress exist for a purpose other than being -- >> period, full stop -- >> other than being a puppet theater for a presidential campaign. when you look at congress these days, there's no way to divorce the fact of what is going on with the fact we'll be voting in november. so it's hard to take any of this stuff seriously except looking at it as political theater. >> i would agree with you, except that the republicans seem to be much more lockstep marring towards victory, using the same message points. nancy pelosi is proposing an alternative plan to extendsing the bush tax cuts, which is basically extending them for people making a million or less. sam, when i saw that, i thought these are different objectives here. nancy pelosi i think is thinking about nancy pelosi and how democrats and the messaging they want to spend. it's different than the white house. >> there's always been a distance between what the white house wants and what congressional democrats want. i think that's exacerbated in various battles, simply because that's democrats at their nature and there's also terrible communication between the white house, so when nancy pelosi said that, it was ironic in some respects, but she was -- or the president was much more progressive on this issue. but you're right. the republicans seem to be incredibly disciplined on this. you saw when they jumped on bill clinton's comments, when he looked like he created a distance between obama, but to your point, congress, you're right, it's almost a clown show, except they have these huge monumental issues that could totally submarine the entire country that they've had to deal with at the last minute. >> i do think the fracas this week over the ending of the bush tax cuts was significant to look at. not just another there goes bill clinton again gaff, but it's been a fundamental question since january 2009. you have an economic crisis that definite states americans, causes all sorts of public resentment, you know, what do you do with those emotions while not curbing growth, and also not destroying your relationship with the business community? that's been a dilemma of this administration that's never really been solved. we saw it play out in a very dysfunctional white house economic team that argued about this stuff all the time, and we see it playing out in the presidential election. >> and sort of how does -- you look at how the president has had a hard time dealing with his own party and their -- the democratic caucus on the hill. how does mitt romney -- if eric cantor is to be believed, he's saying he's bullish on republican pros pecs winning the house -- or holding onto the house and winning the senate, how does a mitt romney situation deal with an unruly republican caucus as best? >> i think what mitt romney is doing on the campaign trail is trying to keep himself out of washington. you have the republicans running interference, alex is talking about the letters they're sending, there's nothing in these letters, right? it's like you should cancel your events, no, you should pass our verse. no -- this isn't a high-minded debate. i think miss romney wants to focus on wisconsin and other things. i think in the long term, the problem for mitt romney, to the extent he thinks independenting are pays attention is he hasn't stood up on anything. if he's going to deal with them, the question is what kind of balance of power do you have? i think there's republicans quietly excited because they think they may be able to run more did not and dare him to veto it temples grover norquist said we don't need a president, we need someone who can put his signature -- >> they need a good autopen. >> and the ryan plan is an example of that. romney is effectively saying you guys this is what you want -- >> that's just not true. to act like they won't filibuster stuff, romney to your point is going to actually need to figure out how to do hill relations. the same problems that are confronting obama with his own caucus will confront romney with his as well. >> or boehner, the same problem, almost as sort of a stand-in for romney. >> he's going to have to come down definitively on some of these issues, whether it's the transportation bill, the student loan bill. he's for them in concept, but never says how he would pay for them or vote on this them. when he has to make the spec calls, that's when you'll start to see some friction. >> casey, do you think he'll have to come down on them before november? >> we're-looking -- there's a few months left, wherein he may be asked to, you know, say front and center, this is what he thinks should be done. it's foolish to think they're not in constant communication. he went and met with mitch mcconnell a week or so ago and essentially kept that meeting tolely silent. i mean, every time the congressional republicans, particularly the speaker's office or leadership, they're in touch with romney's campaign team, and to the extent that they can, house republicans are trying to give romney as much cover as he needs to be victorious, because they do need something to sign these bills. coming up, why the supreme court's looming decision on president obama's health care law could lead to a long cruel summer in washington, and would it could all rest on one person. that's next on "now." ♪ time is on my side ♪ yes it is progressive saved me money on my car insurance for doing the right thing behind the wheel. what a concept. excuse me, sir, do you know how fast you were going? 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[ major nutrition ] ensure high protein... ensure! nutrition in charge! later today, house republicans will vote on a bill to scale back the affordable care act. their 30th attempt to dismantle it. on the ultimate fate of the law. the decision will likely hinge on the decision of justice anthony kennedy. he's always impossible to read. the next day, giving quote, scarily a sign that he's close to a decision. mass i mo joins us now. great to see you. >> thank for having me. >> let's talk about justice kennedy. much was made about his behavior during the oral arguments, but in hindsight, i wonder, as we said, he seems like a cipher, which is to say you never really know. the opinions expressed at conference don't often change, but kennedy changes more than most. in one famous incident. scalia went for a walk with kennedy and came away confident they would vote together. the nebs day kennedy went the other way. yes, there's some famous examples. i think he went to look at the justice white papers for further reporting, and there's case after case where not only do people think they have him, but he actually votes one way in conference, and then subsequently after sort of living with the opinion for a little while, changes his mind and goes the other way, writes an opinion the other way. that happened in school prayer, it happened in abortion. it's kind of amazing to look at the history of it. it stayed the same way when he was on the ninth circuit back in the '70s. >> you go into the psychology of kennedy insofar as his upbringing, and it was a very stable kind of almost bucolic childhood, and that that sort of self-confidence has given him to be the swing vote been to be the unpredictable vote on the court. do you think he enjoys that position? >> no question he loves it. it's a powerful position, obviously, maybe the most powerful position in america. i think what we discovered in the story that's so stark is this contrast between the uncertainty we were sdrining, the switching of the positions and certainly of his background. he really is a product of this almost paradigmatic, going down to the local theater and watching matinees of "the lone ranger" and so forth. it's stark. the writer joan didien said it's like he's still longing the world of sacramento and. >> getting joan's decision is also some i always want to read about. i want to open this up to our panel. sam, what's with the practical implications of the supreme court decision. you had a create story yesterday in "the huffington post." i'm going to do -- really overcorrect today. but you're talking about how the white house making contingency plans for a deciding that strikes down an individual manda mandate. >> the public posture has been we're not going to touch it until we get a decision, which is so silly, which would be the height of unpreparedness. if you talk to people who like to guess about supreme court decisions, the most likely i'll offer is they'll take away the individual man dade, but leave the rest in place. they may get rid of the precondition -- if that's the case you have to start thinking about what happened to the rest of the law, there are alternatives such as punishing people who show up without insurance, tax incentives, but the big then i'm getting from people, you know, all the that talk about how critical the individual mandate was is being replaced by a lot of talk maybe it wasn't that critical. it will cost the government more, less people will be insured, but it won't tear apart of other insurance reforms. >> there's a cleaner way to do it, give people a tax break for getting insurance coverage, and the people who don't, don't get a tax break. >> they're exploring that as well, as well as punishing people who show up at the emergency room with a tax. >> but my point goes a little broader, which is the entire debate and question about what justice kennedy will do comes down to word choice. the tax power is very strong, and you can't get a tax break for an electric car or hiring american workers or all sorts of things. it just shows how weird this case is, that if you went back and had the same amount of money on the money, called something different. >> but they did that deliberately. they didn't want to sell it. or provided tax incentives, because they thought it would be politically disadvantageous for them to call it a tax. it turned out that mandate was a much more loaded term than anything they could have envisioned. now they're stuck with it. >> one really awkward thing, sam, about what you reported for the administration is they are beginning to talk about, yes, this law can survive without the mandate. however, if you look at the solicitor general's argument to the supreme court, they spent all this rhetorical energy arguing the mandate needs to be there otherwise the whole thing falls apart. >> i note the irony in the piece. i think the truth about -- it was much more serious talk about the mandate needing to be there than it was in practical terms. i think what happened to what happened if it was stripped, it was much more serious than -- you're right, they sold it as this thing can't be severed. now when they're faced with the prospect of a hostile supreme court decision, they are quickly reversing that. >> and in terms of selling the plans, a new "new york times" poll says 41% of americans think the entire law should be overturned, 27% think only the mandate should be overturned. 24% think the entire law should be kept and 8% of americans don't know. i think that the actual percentage of americans who totally understandable the future impact is higher than 8%, but mossimo, you mentioned that kennedy was the one that broadened citizens united to make it the far-reaching decision it is. if you had to guess or think about his own -- if you had to surmise his thinking on something like the affordable care act, is it a piecemeal decision, or are we potentially looking at striking down the entire affordable care act? >> well, i guess my responsible would be that it's easy to guess, and that it's -- it may by more useful -- or what we tried to do was look at the facts of kennedy, and you can find some clues in his personal history. citizens united, the entire discussion about lobbying and justice kennedy is almost impossible to understand without understanding that his father was a high powered lobbyist in sacramento throughout his childhood, and indeed kennedy took over his lobbying firm and became a lawyer and lobbyist in sacramento. some of the practices that justice kennedy engaged in entirely legal at the time since have been band, there's a rich history that tells you a lot more about jurz prudence, or certainly trying to read what he says in oral arguments. with regard to the health care act, it is opaque in justice kennedy's history. what his exposure to the issues of american health care are, his parents, sister, brother all died very quickly and without long end of life issues. other people who he was close to did have more serious interactions with health insurance and health care throughout his life. i think there is no way to read justice kennedy on this case, and i think until we get the decision, we will not know how it's going to go. his questions in oral argument went all the way from saying this was some new and dangerous power, regulatory power to the other extreme, where the opponents of obama-care were sort of tongue tied and almost visually frightened but the suggestions he would uphold the law. so i think until we get the pin we're just not going to know. >> justice kennedy, the clock without a face. mo mo mossimo calebresei. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. after the break, the full profile treatment in "new york times" home and garden section. we're headed to 311 dunmire drive. that's next. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. you do a lot of kayakingno. whoooa i'm in a river. what are some good kayaking words? 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"new york times" gave readers a glimpse into mitt romney's la jolla vacation home. the section die tails what it's like to live next to the rom any and what the how is itself is like. on paper it sounds luxurious, 3,000 square feet with vaulted ceilings, five bathrooms and a 20-yard lap pool and jacuzzi shaded by a torrey pine. those who have been inside say it needs work. the new house, by contrast, will 11,000 square feet with a split level four-car garage equipped with a elevator to ferry cars up and down. words has it you have visited. >> i did stop by about a week ago. romney did a week-long fund-raising swing through california. he and ann spent a weekend at the home that michael has explained. they like to go out there for weekends. they have 18 grandchildren now, so having a place to accommodate them all is the explanation they provide for why they want to renovate this house. >> does it need work? >> well, i have not been inside nor have i spoken at length to those who have unlike our "new york times" colleague. >> can i call bull on this for a second? >> you've been mentioning that. >> i want to call bull on both the substance and the way "new york times"-day-old with it. i'm a "new york times" subscriber and relied on that paper. but what they have done here is taken a campaign reporter, who covers the campaign with a really thin silly story, put it in the home section, as if that means they're not going at it. if i worked on the campaign or i was with the romney people, i would be livid. this is not a home and garden story. this is an attempt to draw connections between his personal wealth and candidacy. they should do it in an opinion section or news story about whether his health matters. number two, on the substance, i don't really care how much mitt romney has. i think it's problematic he wants to take millionaires and give them 15% tax rates lower than everyone on capital gains, but if he were broke and wanted to do that, i would still have a problem with it. i think this has two strikes on him and probably shouldn't have run. >> jodi kantor from "new york times," takes it away. >> i will gladly defend my beloved colleague and my beloved newspaper and i'll do it like this. i read a book about the obamas, and the really complicated transition they went through from being regular people to president and first lady of the united states. one of the things i learned when i reported that book, and this is true of republicans, it's true of democrats, is the question of how you live a kind of normal residential life, and specifically what happens to your home when you won for president is incredibly interesting. you know, the drama around the obamas a home in hyde park, the fact the first trip they made back to chicago was kind of a disaster. it turns out once you're president, you can't go home. 9 secret service dropped black curtains down both sides of the home. they weren't sure they could eat normal food, because it wasn't supervised by the secret service, so i think what he was writing about was not a cheep political attack, but this tension between your real-life and candidacy, and how you're spiced to exist. >> to ari's point, it is a political story, and having it in the home section i think is perhaps a way to seek cover, a smoke screen, if you will, in the article do they have not only his wealth, but position on gay marriage, and romney's habits to stop folks smoking marijuana and tell them not to do that in the neighborhood. >> one thing we love about "new york times" readers is their unquenched desire to reedit "new york times," and one of the things we here frequently, is how could this have been at the top of a-1, it was below the fold. >> it's because we care. it's because we care. >> we love that, but seriously i wouldn't waste that much time discussing which section it was in. >> "new york times" has come to its own defense, clearly this is something they understand is controversi controversial, and has highlighted the fact if we're talking about the press being in the tank, they've highlighted there were several articles in 2004 about john kerr risz's wealth. mid natural splend are in idaho, july 7th on kerrly and edwards talking about the wealth factor. these are similar stories. i feel like the whole notion this is dumb because mitt romney is -- is just outright silly. i think there's plenty of evidence that was put out on twitter by "new york times," and i know you're not saying that. i think it's totally valid. i think -- it's a political story put in the home section, i don't think -- but it's fine to read about it, a very entertaining story action but in the end, i can't question, because mike did it, and he's a high school classmate of mine, and he can do no wrong in my book. >> were there pictures in the bathroom. if we're going to go in the home section, what kind of tile work are we talking about? michael did not get into that level of details. nonetheless, a little pinch of this and a dash of that, team obama and romneyland are at it, next on "now." ♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm...99 bushels of wheat! ♪ [ male announcer ] kellogg's® mini-wheats cereal has 8 layers of whole grain fiber... so they stick with you. ♪ 45 bushels of wheat on the farm. 45 bushels of wheat! ♪ all morning long. there's a big breakfast... 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[ dennis ] mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands? mitt romney appears to have bested the president in may fund-raising. the campaign says they pulled in nearly $77 million. meanwhile, the president's campaign says they raised $60 million. the president has been holding events in california, and romney is benefitting from texas donors. joining mess is co-author of a new e-book election 2012, a time for choosing and one of the best bosses i have ever had. a pleasure to see you, sir. >> thank you, alex. >> carl, after all the missteps and weird commentary, mitt romney appears to be in a fairly strong position. you want to real an excerpt in your ebook, and you're talking about the etch a sketch moment. romney send his trusted aide an e-mail telling him not to worry about it. yet there was no question sent to all those in romneyworld and those who wanted to be in it. there was only one star in the show, two counting the candidate's wife. >> do you remember the debate coach bret odonald who helped mitt romney in florida? he had shown up in the paper, you were talking earlier about also in numbs story, he had given some interview to a roanoke tv station and got -- and that send a message to the staff, there's not going to be a james carville on this campaign. this campaign is about the candidate. >> kasie, i want to bring in you, since i've covered it so well. politico has a story which echos a lot of what -- in romneyland, he is the decider, as it were. when it comes down to it. mid romney both holds himself accountable and ultimately the one deciding the past forward. >> no you're seeing this, too, if you talk to romney aides about who they're considering and going through that vetting process, the number one thing they'll tell you is we want somebody to tell you for being as advocate for getting mitt romney elected. they're not looking for somebody who has other concerns, advancing for whatever political interest they have of their own, they want something who is going to be behind mitt. that's it. >> which is interesting, because, jodi, the administration and the obama reelection campaign is frequently criticized for being too insular, given what we're learning about how the infrastructure works, it almost makes the obama team look like they're crowd-sourcing opinions. >> there's this fudgy thing when my colleague wrote about on sunday, which is that barack obama and mitt romney, for all their grand differences have some interesting similarities. these are hyper-rational, hyper-analytical harvard men, right? they were not really connected to the culture of washington, hate sore of legislative back-slappers, one thing i've written about is they're both outsiders in one way. both groups persecuted under u.s. law at one point, and we have seen them come in with not dissimilar approaching, meaning the small groups, trusting only a few people. >> we also know they both like "star trek" and grill chicken. something we've talked a lot about on the show, which is the kitchen sink approach. ine heilman, a story, which had -- which is dural you're talking about these two lines of attack, one is that romney has no -- and team obama seems to have decided on a mixture of the two. you write the second line of attack is that romney did have a more, it was rotten, and a compartmentalized mea media. indeed the thinking goes, hurl everything you can at the guy. do you think that's a winning strategy? >> i don't know. normally candidates want to run on their reports, saying i've been a good president. this is part of bill clinton's kibitzing from the sidelines. he doesn't understand why obama is running seven a negative campaign. he ran a positive campaign in 1996, and they consciously emulated ronald reagan in 1984, and i think they would like to see more of that. what the obama people are doing is they're saying mitt romney is presiding over a republican party that has drifted too far to the right. in that sense, the kitchen sink a proven -- you think he's a good guy, not a good guy, the republicans are too conservative now, they could represent the middle anymore. i think that's going to be their narrative, and ronnie's rebuttal is quite simple. this president has done a poor job, and so those are really, as we outline it as others have, too, that's what this election will be about illustrates it's worth noting in a speech today mitt romney saying it is a moral failure of tragic proportions. our government has an absolute moral commitment to help every american help themselves. today that fundamental commitment has been broken. i see we're sharpening the rhetoric. it will be an exciting race to november. realcle realclearpolitics carl cannon, thank you. everybody should download that e-book as soon as this program is over. we'll be right back. time for entry premuir of the week. will dean developed tough mudder, based on special forces training, it's a miles-long obstacle course that inspiring people and builds teammork. tough mudder will earn more than $70 million. for more watch "your business" on msnbc. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! 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[ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! have you and urine attorneys produced internally the materials responsive to the subpoenas? >> we believe that we have -- >> no, mr. attorney general you're not a good witness. that was one of the testy discussions. joining us notice is nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. it's great to have you. >> good to see you, alex. >> tell us about the proceedings, we know there's a contentious relationship at best. tell us what went down today. >> the friction you just saw is really the culmination between the department of justice and the committee on oversight. when it comes to the issue of a very controversial practice that has since been disbanded of gun walking where the atf would allow guns u.s.-made or u.s.-owned to go into mexico with the hope of tracking them in order to lead to the arrests of car tells, and people causing a lot of damage to the relationship between the u.s. and mexico, and a lot of violence. that was the original context. the unfortunate things is those guns got into the hands of criminals and ultimately resulted in the death of a federal agent and they have not gotten the guns back. it's been a mess. the attorney general acknowledges that, it goes back years, but the real friction is the attorney general says he does not know who approved this mission. there has been a great deal of battle between the house in oversight and the department of justice about getting materials that might lead them to a little it is on this. there's a lot of details, a lot of final. tries to get something worked out. he sent a letter to the attorney general, boehner says he's frustrated, he hasn't gotten the answers. eric holder says he's doing what he is. he's appointed an inspector general, made some personnel changes, but what stood out today is the tone. typically there's an air of respect for someone who holds the position the attorney general. you saw it get testy. serum, holder himself believes there is a political element to that, and that certainly inspired more friction from republicans who say they would have asked these questions no matter who was in charge. it gives you a sense of the mood on the held when it comes to something very serious like this. alex? >> thanks to nbc's kelly o'donnell for the update. ari, we talk about -- eric holder has become an incendiary figure in certain circles. the treatment speaks to the ire that a lot of republicans have for him, not based on the fast & furious stuff, but investigation into the arizona immigration law, voter i.d. laws, he's controversial to say the least. >> a lot of these legal issues have been front-and-center political issues, whether it's immigration, fast & furious or health care. i think kelly in her report mentioned the important part, which is there is an investigation out of the doj, that is independent looking into whether crimes were committed and how to rein this in. that of course is the appropriate thing. congress does not prosecute crimes. that's not in its role. you have a standoff over how much documentation is appropriate. what i view, if you take a larger context, though, is there are many questionable and important areas for oversight of this administration. i think the killing of american citize citizens, a 16-year-old in yemen is an example that almost get no sustains, yet this one is getting what i would call an abundant amount and a lot of coordination with right-wing radio and sort of political attacks. i don't want to say that anyone is not genuine about trying to look into the terrible events there and a loss of life. hopefully everyone is doing it for the right reasons, but the fact remains the disproportionate attention raises questions about how political mr. issa's committee is being. >> we were talking about the relationship with holder and the rest of the administration, and the fact it's been difficult at times, and the politicization of the doj, yesterday holder is continually dispatched as the emarea so very political cases, regardless of whether they are discretely political, they are highly charged. >> eric holder is a fascinating figure. he's trying to do two things at once. trying to be an independent nonpoliticized attorney general, and trying to be loyal to the president who he believes in. the third thing is holder has been in the cross hairs of republicans since the beginning. ari is exactly right. this has been a kind of concerted campaign again and again to try to bring, daniel klee burn has a fascinating book that says holder actually considered resigning. i interviewed holder with my colleague at the beginning of 2007, and you could sense this guy was really committed to his job, was steadfast, but moving through a political storm. >> that taped we rolled where darrell issa actually asking him a question and beginning to say something and -- >> was it two words. >> -- then saying "you're a bad witness." it speaks to the continuing blows. a continuing case. we will follow it in coming days and weeks. coming up romney campaign officially has a spelling problem. we'll discuss spellcheck-gate next in "now." we asked the furlow family to bring in their favorite dvds cause we want to show them something new. you ready? let's go. walmart can now convert your favorite dvds from disc to digital. no way. if hulk smash disc... it's no big deal. now you'll never break them, scratch them or lose them. we can use that. you'll never break them. so what do you guys think? we love it. it's only two bucks per disc. that's cool. that's the walmart entertainment disc to digital service. bring in your favorite dvds to your local walmart photo center to get started. don't go in there. don't go in there. they don't listen. welcome back, the name of the 40th president of the united states is misspelled. kasie, this is the third high-profile. he misspelled "america" and we had the reagan misspelling, and the world "official." if you are a republican, it would seem to me the two things you want to spell correctly are "america" and "reagan". >> and america is plastered on most -- that particular was was in the app that showed you to display your support for the governor. so yes, it drew a lot of internet ridicule. i'm sure there are people in -- >> did someone get strapped to the top of the car? >> i'm on my way to boston, so i'll be happy to answer that. >> given that resounding endorsement, i will move on to the other must talk about piece of news, which is what books will be on the bedside tables of d.c. movers and shakers, biographies, satire and crime fiction are jodi, as an author, governor bob mcdonald is reading "washington." senator mikulski" is cleopatra, a life, which a book i have, and am excited to read chris matthews "they eat puppies, don't they?" >> i do read want to read "cleopatra." you know, i think the dilemma for both politics and political reporters, when it's 10:00 at night, do you want to read anything political? i think most of us look for something that is far away from the daily grind of politics, as much as we can. >> i also feel like when the president releases his summer reading list inevitably it's they erue died historical, a bit of pop culture. >> there's a trendy one in there, right? >> yeah, it's a political -- >> this year it would be "fifthy shades fiftiy schayes shades of gray." thank you, all. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific. until then, can you log-on to facebook.com/nowwithalex." and today see the debut of our "now" digit at short." andrea mitchell reports is next. >> thanks so much. coming up, secret debt meets under way. why won't anything get down before the election? 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