leading members of both parties square off on the fiscal fight with 23 days and counting. >> the president wants the race to go up. we don't want to be back here in another ten years answering the same questions. right after the election, we sent a plan to the president. we gave revenue, but looking for spending cuts. he took three weeks to come back to us. he's gone on still on the campaign trail, still working through. republicans have not waited to solve this problem. >> congressman is going to struggle with the numbers as mitt romney did during the debates. they don't add up. if you don't increase the tax rates on the highest 2%, you cannot generate enough revenue for deficit reduction. unfortunately, the changes in the tax code, which is republicans want to turn to will increase taxes and cut tax deductions for the middle class americans. >> all right. joining me now, contributing editor for the daily beast. we just heard from democratic senator there. does that sound like any progress has been made? as we talk about 23 days, that doesn't take into account we are looking at december 21st. if you happen to watch that on television, it looks like both sides are hardening. the cement is getting thicker. there's a growing recognition on the republican side that they have lost the debate over the higher tax rates and that those rates will go up. and there are lots of other tax increases that aren't getting the public attention. the rate at which capital gains are taxed. the rate that is paid on dividend income. i'm stumbling over my words because i don't have a lot in that category. i think the republicans are willing to move there and there's money there. the president has been more forthcoming on entitlement reform in the past. he's going to give a little more. what's going on publicly now is the republicans really want the white house to own the pain. they don't want to be responsible for telling their base that we are giving in and we want to cut benefits and they don't want to hold the bad for all the bad things that are going to happen. i think it's a lot of posturing on both sides. i still think we are going get a deal. >> as we look at that, that is optimism. we had optimism weeks ago. as we get closer to the 21st, it's the day washington is going to close down for the holidays. that is the drop dead date. the mayans may have had it right about december 21st and the calendar. we hear the politicians pushing their talking points each day on this matter. what you are hearing inside washington, d.c., there's the sense of how close the president and the speaker are to reaching this agreement. as eleanor points out, they are wanting both sides to feel the other's pain. >> thomas, it's funny you mention december 21st. that would be an ideal scenario. it's not that surprising if we are here talking about this on december 31st. they have to get through so much stuff. everybody is talking about the tax rates for the upper 2%. there's so many other issues they have to tackle. they have to agree on how much money they are going to raise from tax increases and how much obama is willing to give on the entitlement side. aside from, you know, things like the estate tax and investment and stuff like that, they have to figure out what to do about the al tier yar minimum tax. they have to figure out what they are going to do about the debt ceiling and whether they want to extend unemployment. it's much more complicated than what we are talking about. we are focusing on the income tax rates. >> if the president and the speaker are able to reach a deal, the thing to point out, there's no true guarantee it's going to pass congress. >> oh, i think -- the big stumbling block is john boehner getting enough republicans. i think nancy pelosi has proven she can pass things. she's proven to be a good soldier. boehner has a harder time coraling the tea party. he's taken steps to show who is boss. he punished four members withdrawaling their favorite assignments. he's got the leadership lined up with him. he looked like a very weak speaker ten days ago. he's looking stronger now. i think republicans understand that the deal they get after the first of the year is a worst deal than they get before the end of the year because the next congress is more favorable to democrats. i think he's in a better position to make the sale this time. >> one thing we have been watching is the two-step process. tom cole of oklahoma has taken a lot of heat from his own party suggesting to get the tax cuts out of the way for the tax cuts. here is what he's having to say about that. >> none of us want to raise the rates on anybody. but the reality is the rates on everybody go up at the end of the month. since we agree with the democrats, 98% of the american people and 80% of the bush tax cuts, get it off the table now so they don't worry about it. they are the president's leverage. the democrats are screaming your taxes are going to go up. >> that's the president's leverage in this debate as he's saying there. if congress extends the tax cut for everyone except the 2%, does it give the republicans the leverage they need after the new year? >> yeah. we are still going to have the fight over the debt ceiling. obama would love to take it off the table now. there's no way republicans are going to give that up. it's a crucial piece of leverage than the tax rates. as we saw a year and a half ago, that is really sort of putting the basic fiscal health of the country at risk. a lot of republicans are looking at that saying this is a much better chance to get the big changes on entitlements we would like to find. >> andy, i ask this to both of you, eleanor, too. i'll start with eleanor. what are the chances that game is not going to get tied into this? the president was very specific when he gave the speech to the business round table this week talking about the fact this is not a game he's looking to play once again. what are the odds that will not be involved? >> the odds are it will not be involved. the president has important allies this time, that's the business community. the republican party has been the party of business, you know, big business, small business. the business community does not want to go through all that wrangling over the debt ceiling and view and other possible downgrading of the credit rating. i think there's important new allies, they have moved from the republican side to the democrat side. >> andy, do you agree? >> yeah. you have seen worry about that show up not so much in the financial markets, but the consumer confidence level which we saw take a sharp dive. we have seen pressure on republicans to reach a deal on this. in order for them to agree to give up that leverage and extend it, they are going to want to see specific sbeentitlements. >> thanks so both of you. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. dramatic rescue. americans were kidnapped in afghanistan. they are freedly u.s. military coalition troops. they took him on wednesday in the district outside of kabul. six people were killed. two arrested during the dangerous mission. dr. joseph is seen here in this video posted on youtube. there's no word on his condition or if he was harmed in captivity. in egypt, a call for new protest against president morsi today. his attempt to diffuse weeks of unrest failed. last night's announcement did not satisfy opponents on a draft constitution. we are live in cairo. do his opponents see this as a victory? >> reporter: well, right now, they don't feel it is a victory. not only has the referendum gone ahead as scheduled, there's been no dialogue about the constitution and the articles which are the main source of detention. the decree issued november 22nd was the cast list to the street protests we have been seeing. over the past two weeks, the demands of the protesters extend beyond the decree. they want a new constitution drafted. what the opponents say is the constitution does not represent a broad section of egyptians, does not protect the rights of minorities and women. they want it rejected and repealed. they were hoping to do it through a dialogue with the president. the president is not budging on that. yesterday, he held marathon talks. he announced he's cannesling the constitutional declaration. it will take place december 15th. that's why the major umbrella organization that represents the secular liberal operation known as the national salvation front rejected the declaration last night. they are calling for more street protest. there's a great deal of turmoil here in egypt. thomas? >> thank you. hugo chavez says his cancer returned as he arrives in cuba for a new round of treatment. he discussed the seriousness of his condition. he's named a vice president. he acknowledged he may not be able to continue on as president. doctors found a return of malignant cells. we turn to other news for you now. in the northern plains, the upper midwest, they are facing a massive winter storm. north dakota posted blizzard and travel warnings. parts of the state as temperatures and snow began to fall. we have more on the forecast. good morning. good afternoon, excuse me. >> it is afternoon, isn't it? >> it is for us, morning for people somewhere else. >> you were right on some level. we are actually talking about some nasty weather across the northern plains. we have blizzard warnings, winter storm warnings through the dakotas, minnesota, wisconsin and northern michigan. ironically, the blizzard warning was not the area where we saw most of the snow. winds are gusty. because of that, it's tossing around the snow and we are seeing reduced visibility still at this point in south dakota. the heaviest of the snow is falling through minneapolis right now. that scenario, we are likely to pick up six to nine inches of snow. duluth, minnesota will pick up anywhere from six to nine inches if a heavier batch of snowfalls. it spreads eastward into wisconsin. for the game later tonight in green bay, it looks like there will be four inches of snow on the ground. elsewhere, we have this cold front. it's all connected. it's cold on the northern side of the front and obviously where we have the thunderstorms develop, there's a chance of severe weather across tennessee into alabama, mississippi later on today and we could end up seeing tonight an isolated tornado or two. we have cold weather to the north and severe storms tonight. thams? >> she says they love that snow. four inches for them, no big deal. >> good stuff. >> thanks so much. we go to las vegas. saturday night, this stunning slug fest that ended with manny on the canvas, knocked out cold. a vicious right in the sixth flattened him. he remained there for two minutes before he was brought to his feet. the mgm was sold out. you'll recognize these familiar faces. before the fight, he managed to meet the fighter. still ahead for you. more fall youth from the radio hoax. they are contacting australia to have them investigate. nick los kristof on the moe mentos from his life in a far away land. >> here are your receipts. $150 for one and $203 u.s. for the other. >> you won't believe what the receipts bought him. find out in 20 minutes. [ female announcer ] think you need to go to a department store counter for a professional cleansing device? join the counter revolution and switch to olay pro-x. get cleansing results as effective as a $200 system. guaranteed or your money back. olay pro-x. bp has paid overthe people of bp twenty-threeitment to the gulf. billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. the search to replace the tea party's maker jim demint, he will leave office left a hole in the senate at a crucial time. the leading contenders are tim scott, gresham bare rhett, henry mcmaster, nathan valentine and my next guest, congressman from south carolina. it's great to have you here. you are on the short, short list of people to fill the seat. you were quoted saying if the governor were to ask you, you will take the job. but the big question is, do you want the job? >> oh, sure. i think any politician who tells you he wouldn't like to be a united states senator is lying to you. we talked preliminarily with senator demint about what would happen if he retired in 2016. we have given it some thought. any person it's offered to would take it. >> have you spoken to the governor about this, yet? if so, what has the discussion been like? >> i have not. i have friends of hers. we served in the legislature together. i was in the house with her for two years. i have several friends in her office. i have spoken to them, not the governor directly. >> do you feel you have an inside track into her thoughts on this and where she wants to go? >> not necessarily. keep in mind, south carolina is a small state. the legislature is 170 people. we all know each other. every person you listed off on the short list served with her or knows her very well. personal relationships are common. >> it's a great state. i have vacationed there. we love south carolina in my family. does it concern you senator jim demint is leaving and he's going to have more power and impact from the republican party but doing so from the bench of the private sector? >> well, the question is, does the heritage foundation offer him a bigger podium, a larger microphone? he thinks it does. i hope he's right. the one thing we know is he's doing it to stay engaged, continue to be a thought leader. i respect his decision. i hope he's right. we need that leadership. if he can do that better than from the senate, than more power to him. we need someone to fill that role. >> when we talk about he was a king maker, do you think that's something you would want to take up? >> oh, i don't know. i think there's a lot of good folks in the senate right now that are looking to sort of fill that gap. rand paul, mike johnson, lee, marco rubio. there's a good group in the senate. i don't think any one of them is going to be a king maker. you are going to see conservative forces in the house and the senate coalesce. we meet with the conservative senators on a fairly regular basis. that group will sort of become the leaders of the conservative movement nationwide. >> thanks for joining me. i appreciate your time today. >> thank you. history just after midnight. another milestone on the road to marriage equality. that journey is taking a detour to the supreme court. coming up, we look at the options facing the nine justices. keep it locked in. you're watching weekends with alex witt. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right? well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah? giving you more. now that's progressive. call or click today. a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. 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[ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. [ male announcer ] sounds good. if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain chee