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