volatile environment that we could in likely see third and fourth party candidates emerge. always have them on the ballot, but people that can get 10%, 20% of the vote collectively. conventional wisdom says that definitely guarantees the president s re-election but the re-election team yesterday in a briefing with reporters very much seemed fearful of a third party. i think it s what bill said. it s a very volatile electorate. i think anyone who is going to say one element will help one or the other party right now a year out, you know, it s just they are not understanding how volatile this is. chuck, the final thing i ll say, the gingrich candidacy surge is fascinating in this poll. i do think given the overall broader numbers and dissatisfaction with congress, it will be an interesting campaign against gingrich. you know, in some respects he is the original flahertior of this brand of politics and the question in a debate between
frankly i didn t even know that it was having the impact it was having on me from the standpoint of just being fatigued and it showed up in the first few debates. well, look, that s that is clear. it s interesting that he talks about this now. they denied it at the time, and we understand why campaigns have to deny it at the time. they believe you show you admit any weakness and all of a sudden you get pummeled more and then there might have been more questions and the press might ask, well, were you on pain medication? all of these issues, so, again, you understand why they made this decision about not about not revealing this sooner, but it is clear that there was something up. it is tough. ask anybody who has had back surgery. it is tough to somehow six weeks later start going 15 hours a day on the campaign trail or standing for two hours without moving in a debate. all right. congress will have to head back to the drawing board if it s going to figure out a way to extend th
resigned, possibly the first result of his boss rule against negativity. donald trump out of his big post-christmas debate, pulling out to preserve his option of running as an independent in 2012. the prospect, he said, scares the rest of the republican field. mitt romney is right here in new york city for a handful of fund-raisers to fill up the campaign coffers. the democratic national city plans on well coming him with a 175-foot banner mocking the recent $10,000 wager. romney is in new york, derrick who covers the romney campaign, is here as well. nice to see you in the flesh. this campaign against romania any has been going on intensely for three are four months, even a year, president engages in it even though he claims he s not engaging on it. what is the impact you see of sort of this pre-game general
workers face another looming government shutdown. and donald trump pulls the plug on his much ballyhooed republican debate after newt gingrich and rick santorum promised to show up. that s not the reason he cites for dropping the plan. it s wednesday, december 14th, 2011. 20 days until the caucuses. it s the daily run down. i m chuck todd. to my first reads of the morning, according to the new nbc news/ wall street journal poll, two leading republicans have one thing in common, electability problems. mitt romney s political action committee is spending millions of dollars in iowa to send the message that newt gingrich will have a problem beating the president. why is this man smiling? because his plan is working. brutally attack mitt romney and hope newt gingrich is his opponent. why? newt has a ton of baggage. the ad may be on to something. gingrich may have convinced republicans that his baggage is old news, but he s still got a long way to go with the political middle. in o
that s because the republican bill that passed the house last night is going to hit a brick wall in the senate. now, senate democrats must act. the senate can take up our bill. they can pass it. they can amend it, and they can move their own bill, but it is time for the senate to act. the bill just passed by house republicans tonight is a pointless partisan exercise. the bill is dead on arrival. it was dead before it got to the senate. the senate will not pass it. luke russert is nbc s capitol hill correspondent. all right, luke. a lot of people probably watching this debate and it feels like white noise. they don t understand because both parties seem to agree on the headline which is extend the payroll tax cut, but they are fighting over what some might say is minutia. where do we stand right now today? reporter: well, it s minutia depending on who you talk to. where do we stand right now today, chuck, the senate will vote down the gop house bill, and then we have to figure o