. >> now 15, mitch is a master of magic. and he's happy to demonstrate some of his tricks to alison, a summer intern at "teen kids news." >> just like that. >> wow. [ chuckles ] >> how did he learn to do magic? while mitch didn't go to hogwarts, he did find a kind of diagon alley. he goes online to find new tricks and to shop for magic supplies. but the real trick to magic is practice, because each magical moment requires showmanship and expert dexterity called sleight of hand. >> i guess that was it, wasn't it? >> yes. [ laughs ] >> every day i spend about an hour practicing. i'll either practice in front of a mirror, or i'll practice in front of my computer with the webcam on and recording. take it, place it back into my pocket again, snap my fingers. it's underneath there. one more time. that way i can play back the tricks after i do the performance and watch it from the perspective of somebody watching the trick. >> like most magicians, mitch doesn't reveal how he does his tricks, though he did give away the secret to th

do we think that mitch still has a fever going forward? >> mitch has two issues going on. first he is running for re-election in 2014 in kentucky. what mitch does not want is a tea party challenge that happened with his friends. number two there could be a challenge from the right within the senate caucus. i hate to say this. if mitch mcconnel goes too far to the left what he is doing is he is making sure that his home fires keep burning and the process hopefully does not have a challenger on the far right. tonight is very, very historic for a lot of reasons and one would think that the minority leader would go in terms of rhetoric. >> thank you for saying that. but with all due respect, and i do respect you. this is what is going on here. mitch mcconnel is worried about people to his right both in his own caucus and in his own state and he's going to come out and disrespect the president like that. >> i want to read what mcconnel had said. he started sending sincere congratulations. he said the american people did two things. they gave president obama a chance to fix the

mitch mcconnell was clear about this. his position is untenable and that he needs to move from it toward them by toward them, he means to their position entirely. >> bill: which is to -- allow all of the tax cuts to continue including the tax cuts for the wealthy. >> to only have these loopholes which they haven't specified except bob corker from tennessee who's come out with a very, very detailed plan which is going to be unpopular but at least he's come up with a plan. >> he's the only person who says something. they keep saying we're all for revenues but you're right. it is only closing loopholes. they haven't said which loopholes they're going to close. again, that doesn't put enough money on the table. so they're trying to confuse people by saying oh, look, forget grover norquist, we're all about revenues. it is about revenues versus rates. they don't want to touch the top rate. that's the problem. if they think the president is going to budge they've got another thing coming. >> bill: meanwhile let's stick to grover

there's a couple of that pr nati able to raise against mitch mcconnell. mcconnell'sring anytdon't make me dhave to deal whouse. what i also found interesting is o is republican, head of the cam committee, he had ars much t abo the election than mitcháwn whate said tonight. idential race and a number of key senate races we the republican mean that is -- that is as mike murphy referred t mathematic the of9q the>> well chuck, you naive on my part. if is worried s own)e skin? >> whocu to challen from probabr! added to his ranks with ted that is would be part of ot clearte on thatnk it's going to be interesting togs that frankly i was critical with him during the first year first leadership. we would mar and find five or six on his ow opening therst sixyear. i'm no spe there after the first sixs they're going to be ine why did they lose is it't will the presrb coaliti the republican ck with 54. he needs only s i think there's six or seven republicans out there. koshcorcoran, the tennessee guy, a the second term president does. >> i think it's progress thatty

that mitch mcconnell is worried about -- we have a mandate for the president but mitch mcconnell is worried about people to his right both in his own caucus and in his own state and he's going to come out and disrespect the president like that. >> i just want to read it real quickly because i have it in my hand now what mcconnell had said. he did start by saying he extends his sincere congratulations to the president and the vice president. however, he said, "the american people did two things. they gave president obama a second chance to fix the problems that even he admits he failed to solve during his first four years in office and they preserved republican control of the house of representatives. the voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president's first term. they have simply given him more time to finish the job. they asked him to do together with the congress the restored balance to washington after two years of one party control." all right. so when we come back we're going to dig deeper into the counties that decided this election. our richard lui is going to be

please welcome governor mitch daniels. (cheers and applause) gf never, thanks so much for coming on. good to see you. all right, are you the republican governor of indiana. >> for two more months. >> stephen: previously director of office of management and budget under george bush. senior advisor to reagan, you've been around for a long time, okay. and you've got a book here, out in paperback now called keeping the republic, saving america by trusting americans. so what do you mean by that? do i have to trust all americans? because my understanding is there are about 47% who are parasites. (cheers and applause) can we trust each other? >> yeah, sure. and you know, i think the point, stephen, is that democracy really only works if people are allowed to make their own decisions. and i think a lot of folks with perfectly good intentions believe that you or i maybe we're just victims, you know, and we need them to page decision for us. we might pick the wrong mortgage or the wrong credit card or the wrong health care. we might

the key here is mitch mcconnell in the senate. he's up for re-election in 2014. he is the key. both for president obama and for the house majority leader boehner. mitch mcconnell at least in public he tendses to look at president obama like a hitchhiker with pets or something. he doesn't want anything to do with him. if he continues to hold it, his first statement election night after president obama won, to say the least not very generous. >> not quite bipartisan. >> if mcconnell holds to that line, then big trouble for the obama agenda and for what boehner and others hoped to accomplish and big trouble for the country. some things you feel congress is so out of touch, i don't know how they could be after this election but, you know, there's out of date as these belt and slacks men used to wear. >> the metaphors are beautiful. >> belts and slacks. >> i love it. >> but i actually think there is a lot of truth there, which is they have the lowest approval rating historically. the obstructionism i don't think you can play it again for another two years. >> i think this is one whe

yeah, but it's -- if it's demint versus mitch mcconnell, mitch mcconnell wins. >> and he's going to win this thing. the question is how do they manage -- >> what do you do? >> -- republican leaders have not figured out how to manage the base. that's a fact. >> the whole campaign on the president level, they get pushed to the right. >> thatd don't know how to manage. >> because of the conservative bubble. on the down ballot level they nominate candidates who come out of that bubble and a policy or -- >> or they did mainstream candidates like george allen who feels the need to placate -- >> of course. and on policy. and on policy, there's a roadblock from moving towards stances on issues like immigration because you're going to get blowback from the base. but keep in mind what happened yesterday township it wasn't just john boehner who moved on immigration. sean hannity said he had evolved on the immigration issue. election type consequences. >> this is the problem i feel like. that your natural tendency in politics is to say, we'll let our voters work their will. that's always there. we'

i know they're going to work and as mitch said we are the ecosystem. this is how things are happening. this is why people are coming into san francisco. in addition we have a tourist sector going on, life sciences going on. everybody is innovating in the right places and doing it here in san francisco and there is a strong spirit and we will continue growth and jobs everybody. we want to help everybody out and support each other and that comes to what we do here in san francisco. today i am announcing a new initiative and clean tech sf initiative which we launching with all of you. there are three part it is of this. the first part is we're working with the california clean energy fund. i know jeff anderson is here today as part of them and he's going to

which may be bad news for mitch mcconnell. i'll explain in a minute. sarah, ben chandler without a job is a dangerous potential if you're mitch mcconnell running for re-election. >> it'll be interesting to see how the minority leader handles politics heading into his own election as you just eluded to. >> he's in a vice grip. he's got a potential primary challenge he was worried about. >> here the thing about mitch mcconnell. he is a smart political operative. he will put together a great team there. he's already reached out to rand paul. i think he'll be fine. we're already talking about 2014, by the way. >> i'm going to talk about 2016 in a minute. i don't know how much mitch mcconnell is able to be a good negotiator for republicans. did he earn the right to lead senate republicans next year? this has not been a good run for him. >> i'm not sure he gets all the blame for it. there's a little bit of blame to go around. you know, senator cornyn probably will get some of the blame. some of the blame goes to the individual candidates who said stupid thin

which may be bad news for mitch mcconnell. i'll explain in a minute.;z job you're mitch mcconnellr re-election. >> it'll be see how the minority handles politics heading into his oelection as you just eluded to. >> he's in a vice grip. he's got a p challenge he was worried about. >> here the thing about mitch cconnell. hes a smart political the way. >> i'm going to talk about 2016 minute. i don't know how much mitch mcconnell is able to be a good republiche right toeadyear? this r sure he gets all blame for blame to go know senator cornyn probably will get some of the blame. some of the bl:same indi things. i mean you can't rea himtÑ" mourdock said.oes in there and it happens. >> it's a difference between the the most challenge inside to mcconnell isro t you these disastrous candidates from his right. it doesn't seem there'sn obvious path f do think that theo sort tea party movementroadly defined will have to these occurred -- >> you think jim to step back. >> if youbé look at the outside groups who really egg there's a lot of sou searchin on. republ

take away mitch mcconnell's filibuster and he will strike back by obstructing everything you do! or let him keep the filibuster so he can obstruct everything you do! (laughter) i think the choice is clear. we'll be right back. (cheers and applause) -Ïx=uhr(ú'2lt:eá (cheers and applause) >> stephen: welcome back, everybody. my guest tonight is the original voice of both yoda and cookie monster. i'll ask him if four cookie cs. please welcome frank oz. (cheers and applause) thank you, hey, nice to meet you frank oz. can i call you frank oz. >> you can. >> stephen: frank oz -- >> can i just say something? >> stephen: yes. >> my favorite part of your show bar none is when you introduce the guest and you come here and take a bow. (laughter) i love that. >> stephen: well, i've got to give these people what they want. >> it's great. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: well, that's great to hear. >> i mean it, i think it's hysterical, and you deserve it. >> stephen: thank you, i put the most thought into it. >> of course. >> stephen: well, everybody knows you, of course, as being the voi

take away mitch mcconnell's filibuster and he will strike back by obstructing everything you do! or let him keep the filibuster so he can obstruct everything you do! (laughter) i think the choice is clear. we'll be right back. (cheers and applause) (cheers and applause) >> stephen: welcome back, everybody. my guest tonight is the original voice of both yoda and cookie monster. i'll ask him if four cookie cs. please welcome frank oz. (cheers and applause) thank you, hey, nice to meet you frank oz. can i call you frank oz. >> you can. >> stephen: frank oz -- >> can i just say something? >> stephen: yes. >> my favorite part of your show bar none is when you introduce the guest and you come here and take a bow. (laughter) i love that. >> stephen: well, i've got to give these people what they want. >> it's great. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: well, that's great to hear. >> i mean it, i think it's hysterical, and you deserve it. >> stephen: thank you, i put the most thought into it. >> of course. >> stephen: well, everybody knows you, of course, as being the voice of miss piggy, th

do what's in mitch mcconnell's best interest. he's made this calculation that adhering to a fairly hard line is going to guarantee he doesn't face a primary. the disingenuous thing about the republican argument right now, this whole thing about rates is unfortunate because you cannot do what they say they want to do, which is deal with the tax code and deductions, without impacting the middle class. because any time you touch a deduction, whether it's home mortgage deduction or even capital gains or whatever, you're talking about middle classes being impacted along with wealthier americans. so, this is all phoney. we've got to do something with the rates. the president is absolutely right to hold to his line. the american people are on board. and i think eventually the republicans will fall in line. >> i know that you head up the bourbon caucus, a most excellent caucus, if everyone there was one. you invited republican massy ey with you. could you not invite mcconnell and introduce him to working with as opposed to this president

take away mitch mcconnell's filibuster and he will strike back by obstructing everything you do! or let him keep the filibuster so he can obstruct everything you do! (laughter) i think the choice is clear. we'll be right back. (cheers and applause) 04ql-x@$,x56 (cheers and applause) >> stephen: welcome back, everybody. my guest tonight is the original voice of both yoda and cookie monster. i'll ask him if four cookie cs. please welcome frank oz. (cheers and applause) thank you, hey, nice to meet you frank oz. can i call you frank oz. >> you can. >> stephen: frank oz -- >> can i just say something? >> stephen: yes. >> my favorite part of your show bar none is when you introduce the guest and you come here and take a bow. (laughter) i love that. >> stephen: well, i've got to give these people what they want. >> it's great. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: well, that's great to hear. >> i mean it, i think it's hysterical, and you deserve it. >> stephen: thank you, i put the most thought into it. >> of course. >> stephen: well, everybody knows you, of course, as being the voice of m

mitch mcconnell it's for you! >> stephanie: yesterday he said the voters have not endorsed the failures of the first term. >> they kind of like what he was doing. >> stephanie: they've given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do together with a balanced congress. >> stephanie: the one you've been so helpful with. the way you've been so helpful and bipartisan all along? oh really? whatever. get back in your terrarium. let's go to -- >> he's just upset he didn't get control of the senate. >> stephanie: yeah, i know. michael in sarasota, you're on "the stephanie miller show." hi michael. >> caller: how are you, my love? >> stephanie: i'm fine. >> caller: you and your merry band of elves have made my absolute life just a joy! >> stephanie: oh, thank you, honey. >> caller: darling, the french -- i have a story about your dad but before i get to that -- >> stephanie: what? >> caller: hang on a moment. the french may have given us that beautiful lady in new york harbor with that gorgeous torch beaming acro

wait until you hear what mitch mcconnell said about it yesterday. but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> on this tuesday, other headlines making news. as much as dunkin' donuts may think it brews the best coffee in america the chain cannot trademark that phrase. a bid to use the phrase best coffee in america exclusively in its marketing campaigns was rejected by the u.s. patent and trademark office. they say it is too generic to warrant that trademark. >> bill: you know, i don't know because i'm not a coffee drinker but a lot of friends of mine have told me they think dunkin' donuts has the best coffee. >> i'm one of those. i drink it all the time. >> it is good coffee. it is not the best coffee i've ever had. >> bill: is it better than starbucks? >> i think it is better than starbucks. i don't like starbucks plain coffee. if i go to starbucks i'm usually getting a latte or something. but you can't trademark that. that i know of. >> too generic. they tried and failed. jenna bush hager is adding a new job as a writer to her repertoire. th

senate republican leader mitch mcconnell had a statement that was hardly conciliatory saying, quote, the voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president's first term. they have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do. now it's tame for the president to propose solutions that actually have a chance of passing the republican controlled house of representatives and a closely divided senate. house speaker john boehner was more conciliatory. he wrote in a statement, quote, if there is a mandate, it is a mandate for both parties to find common ground. boy, totally different tones in those two messages. realize mitch mcconnell may have a tough fight for re-election, possibly for renomination and for his senate seat in kentucky. boehner makes a statement also on the fiscal cliff negotiations today at 3:30 this afternoon. will either party ultimately have a mandate in those negotiations as they go forward? will republican lawsuits produce soul-searching? does boehner and mcconnell figure out the best thing to do is do all of the compromising now, g

i know they're going to work and as mitch said we are the ecosystem. this is how things are happening. this is why people are coming into san francisco. in addition we have a tourist sector going on, life sciences going on. everybody is innovating in the right places and doing it here in san francisco and there is a strong spirit and we will continue growth and jobs everybody. we want to help everybody out and support each other and that comes to what we do here in san francisco. today i am announcing a new initiative and clean tech sf initiative which we launching with all of you. there are three part it is of this. the first part is we're working with the california clean energy fund. i know jeff anderson is here today as part of them and he's going to be partners with us, and he's partners in every branch that we doing. the first thing we're doing as clean tech sf we will establish innovation zones in san francisco. what does that mean? we asked last time when we were here in san francisco and how can we help? perhaps we can help with the resources

mitch mcconnell saying the president should be speaking to members of his own party. interestingly enough, moments ago we heard from someone within mitch mcconnell's party, speaker john boehner, saying he thinks a deal is possible. take a listen. >> it's time for the president and democrats to get serious about the spending problem that our country has. but i'm optimistic. >> he's optimistic. we also have boehner saying he is disagreeing with tom cole, one of the few republicans who have come out to usual his party to strike a deal. right now, get this done. keeping the bush tax cults for 98% of americans, give up on keeping tax cuts low for the wealthy, 2%. take a listen to what cole on capitol hill had to say moments ago. >> in my view, we all agree that we're not going to raise taxes on people who make less than $250,000. we should take them out of this discussion right now and continue to fight against any rate increase, continue to try to work honestly for a much bigger deal. >> has the tipping point been reached, sir? is the compromise in front of us right now b

mitch mcconnell's kentucky is horse country. of the states represented by top congressional leaders, it's the reddest of all. >> among the top leaders of congress involved in fiscal cliff negotiations, the one facing the most home state pressure may be senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. he faces re-election in kentucky, a state where the tea party movement is alive and well. president obama may have won this election but two years ago leaders of the tea party movement elected ron paul's son rand as kentucky senator over an establishment republican. one leader of that movement who runs a high-end audio equipment business says they could do the same thing in 2014, and this time take out mitch mcconnell if he agrees to raise taxes. >> we shall not raise taxes in this country. we do not have a revenue problem. i would like senator mcconnell to recognize that the washington leaders are like a bunch of crack addicts. they need evermore money for evermore growing government and it is at the expense of the ordinary citizen that t

but if you listen carefully to mitch mcconnell, folks, we have trouble brewing. chris van hollen joins me. stay with us. we challenged the manufacturers to offer even lower prices.n. now it's posturepedic versus beautyrest, with $400, $500, up to $600 off. serta icomfort and tempur-pedic go head-to-head with 3 years interest-free financing. plus free same day delivery, set-up, and removal of your old set. when brands compete, you save. mattress price wars ends soon at sleep train. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ >>> coming up, congressional leaders had a constructive meeting with the president today. but will it lead to progress on the fiscal cliff? congressman chris van hollen weighs in next. >>> then governor scott walker is one of the republican governors in america refusing to implement obama care provision in his state. john nickels explains why that's a good thing. >>> and this is a story that burns me. the post office suffers record losses because of republican legislation and republican inaction. the postal workers union to discuss how the s

president for sending treasury secretary ti tim geithner to capitol hill with a proposal that led mitch mcconnell literally burst out laughing. >> the white house took three weeks to respond with any kind of proposal. and much to my disappointment, it wasn't a serious one. >> their beef is the president campaigned on $800 billion in tax increases by ending the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. but is now proposing double that. $1.6 trillion. by adding tax hikes on dividends and capital gains. plus, the white house wants $50 billion in new spending next term alone in long term deal about cutting spending. >> they want to have this extra spending greater than the amount they want to cut. not serious proposal. >> but the president may have the upper hand because the fiscal cliff talks allow him to back opposition to a corner, by framing this as the republicans raising taxes.

. >> and you got a statement from mitch mcconnell? >> yeah. the republican leader in the senate who, remember, said that he wanted to make his job number one was to make barack obama a one-term president. tonight released a statement that, forget the kumbaya. he said the voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president's first term. he went on to say now it's time for the president to propose solutions that actually have a chance of passing the republican controlled house in a closely divided senate. and then he goes on to say, we look forward to hearing the president's proposals. so this is the first shot across the bow. mitch mcconnell, as you pointed out, is up for re-election. could be primaried by a more conservative republican. he is the leader. >> what does this tell us about second terms for president? >> tough. i can't think of any offhand. >> bill clinton. >> bill clinton. >> he was impeached. >> but he actually got four straight balanced budgets. he got welfare reform. >> i think impeachment will be in the second p

but if you listen carefully to mitch mcconnell, folks, we have trouble brewing. chris van hollen joins me. stay with us. [ male announcer ] coughequence™ #8. waking the baby. [ coughs ] [ baby crying ] ♪ [ male announcer ] robitussin® liquid formula soothes your throat on contact and the active ingredient relieves your cough. robitussin®. don't suffer the coughequences™. screen. chris van hollen joins me. >>> coming up, congressional leaders had a constructive meeting with the president today. but will it lead to progress on the fiscal cliff? congressman chris van hollen weighs in next. >>> then governor scott walker is one of the republican governors in america refusing to implement obama care provision in his state. john nickels explains why that's a good thing. >>> and this is a story that burns me. the post office suffers record losses because of republican legislation and republican inaction. the postal workers union to discuss how the service can be saved in this lame duck session. we're coming right back. [ husband ] transfer! [ male announcer ] fr

. >> mitch mcconnell, we are told, literally laughed at the white house's offer. and if you listen to speaker boehner, it's not going very well. take a listen. >> i'm disappointed in where we are and disappointed in what's happened over the last couple of weeks. but going over the fiscal cliff is serious business. and i'm here seriously trying to resolve it. and i would hope the white house would get serious as well. >> and the speaker tweeted, "how serious is the white house about avoiding the fiscal cliff?" reports suggest, in some cases, not so serious. and also, joanne, what is the strategy here, and is there a risk like looking like you're not really negotiating? >> well, you know, i think what's interesting is that there's the posture that everyone is taking in public, but then what you're hearing behind the scenes is that everyone's sort of understands what the contours of the deal are going to look like. and what i see is john boehner trying to sort of protect his caucus at this point because he probably understands that at the end of the day, that top rat

that was the reaction from senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. what would it mean to you if the president got his way despite that reaction? that's no laughing matter. we'll have details on that and both sides of that contentious issue coming up. >>> and then a lot of theories about who would replace treasury secretary geithner. we'll hear from someone who says the best candidate to succeed him just met with president obama yesterday. trust us when we tell you it's not a name you've heard before for this job. >>> meanwhile, the parade of companies offering special dividends ahead of the cliff keeps getting bigger. why this boom for shareholders may turn into a bust for others. we'll explain when we continue on "the closing bell" for this friday. [ male announcer ] this december, remember -- ♪ you can stay in and like something... ♪ [ car alarm deactivates ] ♪ ...or you can get out there with your family and actually like something. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is on, offering some of our best values of the year. this is th

here is mitch mcconnell's statement. again, and that as much mcconnell statement about election 2012. time for a few more phone calls from you. st. louis on the independent line. give us your impression of election 2012. caller: wpw/ ow. i would like to say thank god is over. i would like to congratulate president obama on winning. i would like to congratulate mayor running on his speech last night. i thought it was eloquent for someone who started to dislike. i think mitt romney had bad advice. if you give that advice, it reflects on the people. chrysler and jeep, i think that is what really took him out of the race, the crisis statement. and a lot of other things. but we all know they did not treat this as four years. i do not look at this as a second chance, but a continuation of the first chance. it was not fair. they know who they are. anytime you have over 400 filibusters', probably as many as throughout history against one person tried to do something, that is not fair. i would like to see the filibuster go back t

that means mitch mcconnell -- excuse me, that means john boehner falling on a grenade. now, you can do that but when you have eric cantor and kevin mccarthy eager to reach under your belt and bullpen on that grenade it makes it a little bit hard because you're not going to be unified leadership to support it but it will be a very interesting dynamic to what struck me the most about statements on election deep in a related vein was with barack obama said. extraordinarily i thought. i want to sit down with mitt romney kasea we can work together to find that common ground. now, my guess is that romney did not receive that statement with great enthusiasm and eagerness to keep us going to his own period of mourning, but having run a campaign in the last month that was built around the idea, i will find, grep, i can reach that common ground, obama called him inseparably need this, we about to go off the fiscal cliff, would you help me build support for this deal that will have the support of a business committee and a super majority in the senate and a bipartisan way? that wo

both nancy pelosi, mitch mcconnell, harry reid, a and john boehner thoughit w a great meeting. >> there was aot of happy talk followg ththe meeting.. this is just the openening salvo. if they want to still some confidence among businesses that is goining to happe. if no deal is struck, there will be automatic cuts to defense spending and progrgram i have to say i've admitted guilty of charge we theedia are talking so much about the defenseuts and possible tax hikes on the w wealthy, a lot of people are missing o there will be cuts s to theefenense spending and domestic spending.g. you have many programs t that are on the table and cou take a gger hit if t the defense lobbyists are mo successful. >> the cuts to thehe social programs don't ve the kind of powerful a iluential advocates saidid they have not got e same attention. is important to note that programs for low income people -- >> thecoululd still end up getting cut in lots of places. theydoug fruehling, let me turn to you. let's lo at just thcity of washington. mayor ay has laid out an ambitious five-year plan that you have wrten

>> i think mitch mcconnell is a little worried. you saw some of these people on election night. you saw karl rove's response. you saw mcconnell the next day. you saw speaker boehner, who is the most -- i think the most flexible of the group. they know that they're going to have to come to the table and give on a lot of things. not just that we won the election, but when i see the organizing around the president's message. he'll travel the country and talk to people, and the country is overwhelmingly with him. even people that didn't vote for him, many think the rich should pay battle more and focus on jobs. when you put that together, it's clear that the president is in a good position to win this. it really is another campaign in so many ways. >> ed, i think people think the negotiations happened for the last year in this country. we had a national debate on this question. the people have spoken. we want our government to answer the call. so for us, the issue of negotiating is we need the republican in the house to extend the middle class tax cuts permanently so they can show t

keep in mind the number one in two leaders will be mitch mcconnell and john cornyn. with all of that, we had some interesting messages for the two republican leaders on election eve. on election eve john boehner said as michael noted, hey we have as much of the a mandate as he does but that's softened the next day i saying we want to work with the president and we know we need a budget deal and we know we need revenues from that budget deal. mitch mcconnell on the other hand despite suffering a significant loss in his party and the senate was pugnacious and said there is no mandate for the failed policies for the president and cooperation, he better come to us and understand that if it doesn't pass through the house, it's a dead letter. you might take from that you have real opportunities in the house but the opposite is true. the fact is whether mitch believes it or not or was saying it for effect right now, the senate has a group of problem solvers who had been waiting to bust out after this election and we have already sena behind the scenes in the two months lead

put yourself in mitch mcconnell's shoes. if you were mitch mcconnell, you too would be complaining about the president leaving washington to talk about these matters. no republican would want the guy they are negotiating with to be out talking to the country about this issue once you look at how the country feels about this issue. specifically, about what the two parties are negotiating about, their respective positions. look at this. look at this new washington post polling on this. the president's idea is raising taxes on income over a quarter million dollars but keeping the bush tax cuts for everybody else. that idea is very popular. 60% support. it is a very popular plan that the president is trying to drum up even more support for now with these campaign style trips. now, on the other side, what the republicans want to do, their plan is to limit deductions, limit tax deductions. that's their plan instead. that, in contrast to the president's proposal, is not popular. more people oppose that idea than support that idea.

does she have enough influence when you counter mitch mcconnell and others? does he have enough influence to bring in others in the party who agree? >> yes. i definitely think he does. he's considered a player. he brings to the table a very, very big demographic, which is his father's list. and that's a pretty powerful thing. and what you're going to have to watch for here is the mitch mcconnells of the world, he's somebody who is going to want to may play a little bit on immigration. he faces a primary challenge. so what you're going to see is some of these guys who maybe want to soften on immigration, getting some cover from some of the other guys who will get out there in front to try to protect them so they can win their next electio elections. >> you wrote about rank and file immigration reform yesterday. it caught my eye. it is interesting from the leaders of the party who are on the radio and television meaning like a sean hannity to actual elected officials within the gop who seem they want to speed up the process in hopes of two years from now having