who the hell is grover norquist anyway? why or how does this man hold so much political clout in the country? it was particularly because he was able to take the party. he was able to tell the republicans, look, i am going to be, you know, the way that you either get re-elected or don t get elected at all, but now the power is slipping. you and i both know this. people who run for office particularly for the u.s. congress, they think of themselves as smart and capable leaders. my bet is those generally in line id logically with norquist don t want to be controlled by some puppet master, and this election gives them the freedom to say, we ll have to make reasonable concessions here in order to keep the counted tr going off the fiscal cliff. melissa harris-perry, always great to talk with you. if you want to hear more thoughts for the good professor,