1. Hillary Clinton to Middle East. The big news today is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading to the Middle East to try and help broker a peace in the ongoing fighting in Gaza.

Usually, someone as high level as Clinton isn’t dispatched in this sort of delicate situation unless a deal is imminent. If that’s the case, it would certainly be a feather in Clinton’s cap in her last overseas trip. And it could be a strong credential if she runs for president in, dare we say, 2016.

Samrang Pring / Reuters

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives for the 4th ASEAN-U.S. leaders' meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh Nov. 19, 2012.

2. Race cited as opposition to Rice. As NBC’s Frank Thorp and Luke Russert reported yesterday nearly 100 House Republicans wrote a letter to President Obama, saying they would strongly oppose a Susan Rice nomination for secretary of State.

Of course, this has no teeth. Presidential appointments that need congressional approval have to be approved by the Senate. The House doesn’t even get a vote. But it is indicative of how deep the opposition is among hard-right conservatives.

But now Rep. Jim Clyburn, echoing the feelings of many on the left, said on CNN this morning that race appears to be a factor in the criticism of Rice.

“During this recent campaign,” Clyburn said, “we heard [Gov.] Sununu calling our president lazy, incompetent. These kinds of terms that - those of us, especially those of us born and raised in the South, we've been hearing these little words and phrases all of our lives, and we get insulted by them. Susan rice is as competent as anybody you will find. … Say that she was wrong for doing it, but don't call her incompetent.”

Democrats point to the harshest criticism from the right of Obama’s cabinet has been aimed at minorities and women – Attorney General Eric Holder, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, and Rice, who are all black, as well as HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who are women.

Republicans would say they have just been involved in some of the more controversial decisions made by the administration, from regulating energy to the implementation of the health-care law to trying to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

3. Labor pushes back. Labor groups -- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, the Service Employees International Union, SEIU, and the National Education Association, NEA -- are going up with ads pressuring Democrats to hold the line on domestic spending, the Washington Post reports. The TV ads will run in “Colorado, Virginia, Missouri, along with radio ads in Pennsylvania, Alaska and Missouri.”

From an ad running in Virginia, entitled, “Jobs not cuts”: “How do we move our country forward and reduce the deficit? By creating jobs and growing our economy, not by cutting programs that families rely on most. We need Senators Warner and Webb to continue to stand up for us by investing in job creation, extending the middle-class tax cuts, and protecting Medicare, Medicaid, and education from cuts.”

The key to getting a deal done on the “fiscal cliff” is for both parties to first, get their own houses in order. House Speaker John Boehner certainly has a difficult task ahead of him to marshal his conservative House conference. But the president also has challenges in getting the left on board and finding 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a Mitch McConnell-led filibuster, if there is one.

4. Rubio flirting with running for president. In Iowa, yes Iowa, the FLORIDA senator joked about running for president:

“Let's just address right up front the elephant in the room, because anytime anyone makes a trip to Iowa, people start speculating about what you're going to do in the future, so let me just be blunt: I am not now nor will I ever be a candidate for offensive coordinator of Iowa.”

Rubio played college football, and that got laughs. But he’s done nothing to tamp down that he’s seriously considering running in 2016. Of course, the opposition vetting process is what a lot of Republicans worry about with Rubio.

5. GOP not thrilled with Christie. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who is the ostensible reason Rubio was in Iowa – for a birthday fundraiser – took a swipe at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his praise for President Obama during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

"There are some people that think maybe he could have handled it - been a little less gushing,” Branstad said. “But that's his personality. He has got that New Jersey edge to him, you know, for good or bad."

And Matt Drudge, a big Romney fan, headlines: “Christie Clowns on SNL as Residents Suffer."

But Christie is getting the thumbs up from New York City residents. Asked who did the best job handling Sandy, respondents to a Quinnipiac poll said Christie.

Christie  36%
Obama  22%
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo  15%
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg 12%

Those wanting to take shots at Christie probably have little connection to the New York/New Jersey area. Christie saw the places he grew up devastated by the storm. And the furthest thing from someone’s mind who has to govern during a time when your residents are dying and houses are being destroyed should be politics.

6. Ron Paul endorsed secession. Retiring Rep. Ron Paul isn’t going out quietly. He endorsed secession, calling it a “deeply American principle.”

"Secession is a deeply American principle. This country was born through secession....In fact, the recent election only further entrenched the status quo. If the possibility of secession is completely off the table there is nothing to stop the federal government from continuing to encroach on our liberties and no recourse for those who are sick and tired of it."

7. Dems draw from NY, CA. The GOP has taken a lot of criticism as a regional party with its members and power center rooted in the South. Well, almost 30% of Democrats in the House now are from just New York and California, the highest percentage ever, according to the University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics blog. http://bit.ly/QrZqJW

8. A brief history of turkey pardons. As we make our way closer to Thanksgiving, there’s an annual presidential tradition that Obama will take part in once again tomorrow – pardoning a turkey. The quaint exercise, however, does not date as far back as some might think. And even presidents have wrongly cited the first to do so. We break it down.

President Obama will pardon a turkey once again Wednesday at 1 p.m. in a ceremony that has become an annual presidential tradition. But the history of that tradition is actually not as long as one might think.

President Harry Truman is often cited, incorrectly, as the first president to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey. (Just Google first president to pardon a turkey and see how many wiki Truman answers you get.)

Adding to the confusion, President Bill Clinton claimed on Nov. 26, 1997 at his pardoning ceremony: "President Truman was the first president to pardon a turkey."

But the Truman Library wrote in 2003: "The Library's staff has found no documents, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, or other contemporary records in our holdings which refer to Truman pardoning a turkey that he received as a gift in 1947, or at any other time during his Presidency."

In fact, "Truman sometimes indicated to reporters that the turkeys he received were destined for the family dinner table," the library wrote.

Slideshow: Free birds - Presidential turkey pardons

It appears that Abraham Lincoln, in a way, was the first to spare a turkey. But it wasn't a Thanksgiving turkey. It was a Christmas turkey his son had taken for a pet.

Clinton in that same 1997 speech: "[T]he tradition actually began 83 years earlier when President Lincoln received a turkey for Christmas holiday. His son, Tad, grew so attached to the turkey that he named him 'Jack,' and President Lincoln had no choice but to give Jack the full run of the White House."

President George W. Bush made reference to the same story in his “pardoning” ceremony in 2001.

Tim Sloan / AFP - Getty Images

President George W. Bush meets Liberty, the turkey to receive the annual Thanksgiving Presidential Pardon in the Rose Garden of the White House 19 Nov. 2001.

So which president was the first to actually pardon a Thanksgiving turkey?

It appears it was John F. Kennedy in 1963. An NBC News archive search found a Los Angeles Times article dated Nov. 20, 1963 with the headline, "Turkey gets presidential pardon."

And that turkey was a monster. The paper described it as a "55-pound broad white tom."

Despite a sign hanging around the bird's neck that read, "Good eating, Mr. President," Kennedy took a look down at the "frightened, panting bird" and said, "We'll just let this one grow."

A version of this history of turkey pardons – “Beg your (Turkey) pardon” -- was first published on First Read Nov. 25, 2009.

NBC's Donna Mendell contributed to this report.

Firebrand Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., said Tuesday he had conceded in his bid for re-election to Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy. 

Fourteen days after Election Day, West, a favorite of Tea Party conservatives who had sought a recount and raised the prospect of inaccuracies in the results, said in a statement that his legal team  "does not believe there are enough over-counted, undercounted or fraudulent votes to change the outcome of the election."

"While many questions remain unanswered, today I am announcing that I will take no further action to contest the outcome of this election," West said.

Joe Skipper / Reuters

Republican Rep. Allen West speaks at a campaign stop with guests at SCORE South Palm Beach, a resource partner to the Small Business Administration, in Boca Raton, Fla. Oct. 18, 2012.

Murphy led by about 1,900 votes following a partial recount in the district.

He added a bit later on Fox News: "We're going to move ahead and we wish Congressman-elect Murphy very well, but I think that now is not the time to draw the process out."

West was a lieutenant colonel in the Army, during which time he served in the Iraq war. He successfully ran for Congress in 2010, aided by the Republican headwinds that year in his challenge to Democrat Ron Klein in a swing district. He sought re-election in a slightly more favorable district following the redrawing of congressional district boundaries prompted every decade by the Census. 

The victory for Murphy adds to Democrats' pickup in the House, and disarms conservatives of one of their most brash voices in Congress. He, for instance, equated economic dependence upon government — through programs like Social Security — to slavery, and West called Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a fellow Florida lawmaker, "vile" and "not a lady."

West's departure from Capitol Hill also means that that Congress will lose one of its two black Republicans. West and South Carolina Rep. TIm Scott, R, are the only two African American members of the GOP conference; West was the only Republican member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

A group of 97 House Republicans have signed a letter discouraging President Obama from nominating UN Ambassador Susan Rice to be Secretary of State, saying that Rice "either willfully or incompetently misled the American public in the Benghazi matter."

The letter, penned by Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., states the group is "deeply troubled" that President Obama is considering Rice for the position.

"Though Ambassador Rice has been our Representative to the U.N., we believe her misleading statements over the days and weeks following the attack on our embassy in Libya that led to the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans caused irreparable damage to her credibility both at home and around the world," the letter reads.

Citing her comments on the Sunday shows, including Meet the Press, on Sept. 16, 2012 where she called the attack "initially a spontaneous reaction" to protest in Egypt, the letter says "the inconsistencies deserve closer examination."

The letter says the unanswered questions surrounding the Benghazi attacks are reason to "strongly oppose any efforts to nominate Ambassador Susan Rice for the position of Secretary of State."

Expanding on our election autopsy report in First Thoughts this morning about the white vote, since 1976, Democrats have never won white voters. Jimmy Carter, a Southerner, came the closest in 1976, winning 48% of it.

Since then, Democrats have ranged from 34% (Walter Mondale in 1984) to 44% (Bill Clinton in 1996).

Obama, in his first election, won 43% of the white vote, the second-highest number for a Democrat since Carter. His 39% in 2012 puts him further down the list of Democrats in the last 10 elections, but only slightly below the average 40.6% share for Democrats through the years.

But more significant: the white vote has become less important. The percentage whites make up of the electorate has steadily declined, from a high of 89% in 1976 to a low of 72% in 2012.

WHITE VOTE IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
2012: 72% of electorate, Romney 59, Obama 39
2008: 74% of electorate, McCain 55, Obama 43
2004: 77% of electorate, Bush 58, Kerry 41
2000: 81% of electorate, Bush 55, Gore 42
1996: 83% of electorate, Dole 46, Clinton 44 (Perot 9)
1992: 87% of electorate, Bush 41, Clinton 39 (Perot 21)
1988: 85% of electorate, Bush 60, Dukakis 40
1984: 86% of electorate, Reagan 66, Mondale 34
1980: 88% of electorate, Reagan 56, Carter 36 (Anderson 8)
1976: 89% of electorate, Ford 52, Carter 48

AVERAGE DEMOCRATIC WHITE VOTE SHARE: 40.6%

TOP DEMOCRATIC WHITE-VOTE GETTERS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

1. Carter (1976) - 48%
2. Clinton (1996) - 44
3. Obama (2008) - 43
4. Gore - 42
5. Kerry - 41
6. Dukakis - 40
7. Clinton(1992) – 39
7. Obama (2012) – 39
9. Carter (1980) – 36
10. Mondale – 34

SOURCE: Exit polls/Roper Center, University of Connecticut

Wrapping up Obama’s trip to Myanmar… The politics of Gaza… Optimism in the fiscal cliff negotiations?... Republicans pile on Romney… Disagreement over Benghazi… Marco Rubio in Iowa… And Autopsy 2012: White voters in the South vs. the Midwest.

*** My, my, Myanmar: Overseas, President Obama is now in Cambodia, the third and final leg of his Asia trip. But the centerpiece of his travel took place earlier today in Myanmar, the country formally known as Burma. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit that nation, and he was greeted by thousands, including uniformed school aged children who were waving U.S. and Myanmar flags in near unison. The president then proceeded to the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and the drive there displayed a very poor country getting its first taste of capitalism. Afterward, Obama formally addressed the people of Myanmar in a speech at Yangon University, where he justified his trip to this still not-yet-free country. “When I took office as president, I sent a message to those governments who are ruled by fear. In my inaugural address, I said, ‘We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.’” The visit to Myanmar wasn’t just ceremonial -- Obama brought an aid package worth $170 million. Meanwhile, the Myanmar government announced it was inviting the Red Cross back to resume prisoner visits, and it pledged to have a process that could lead to the release of even more political prisoners by the end of this year.

Jason Reed / Reuters

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tour the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon Nov.19, 2012. Obama became the first serving U.S. president to visit Myanmar on Monday.

*** The politics of Gaza: In other world news, a full-blown ground war in Gaza is not good for anyone, obviously. Politically, it could become just one giant hot potato for the president. Here is where things stand right now: The primary players are Egypt (which negotiates with Hamas), Turkey (on speaking terms with both sides) and the United States. There is a sense in the White House that they need to get some sort of cease fire negotiated ASAP. Can Egypt convince Hamas it is in their best interests to stop the missile strikes? How much pressure will this new Egyptian government apply to Hamas? If Egypt can get something stopped, then can U.S. talk Israel into accepting? This is a real test of the fragile relationships this new Egyptian government inherited.

*** Optimism in the fiscal cliff negotiations? “Capitol Hill leaders emerged from their meeting Friday with President Barack Obama sounding optimistic about their ability to reach consensus on vexing tax and spending issues and avoid the impending ‘fiscal cliff,’” NBC Mike O’Brien wrote. Said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: "I feel very good about what we were able to talk about in there. We have the cornerstones of being able to work something out." Added House Speaker John Boehner: "I believe that the framework that I've outlined is consistent with the president's call for a fair and balanced approach." And here was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: "We're prepared to put revenue on the table provided we fix the real problem, even though most of my members -- I think, without exception -- believe we're in the dilemma we're in not because we tax too little, but because we spend too much." As the New York Times noted, “The … congressional leaders emerged from the West Wing round table together and in good spirits — a far cry from the 2011 negotiations, when they generally left separately and, once back at the Capitol, circulated competing versions of the private discussions.”

*** Piling on Romney: On the Sunday shows, Republicans continued to pile on Mitt Romney for his statement to donors last week that Obama won due in part to “gifts” he gave to African-American, Latino, and younger voters. “We're in a big hole. We're not getting out of it by comments like that. When you're in a hole, stop digging. He keeps digging,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said on “Meet the Press.” Here was Newt Gingrich on ABC: “I just think it's nuts... I mean, the job of a political leader in part is to understand the people. If we can't offer a better future that is believable to more people, we're not going to win.” And conservative writer George Will added on ABC, “It's been well said that you have a political problem when the voters don't like you, but you've got a real problem when the voters think you don't like them... quit despising the American people.” Ouch.

*** Disagreement over Benghazi: Another big topic on the Sunday show was the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, especially after former CIA Director David Petraeus’ testimony on Capitol Hill on Friday. “Disagreement ranged across the Sunday talk shows on the question of whether the administration had intervened to excise references to al-Qaeda involvement in the CIA’s assessment of the Benghazi attack when it offered its first lengthy public explanation of the incident,” the Washington Post says. “The White House and intelligence officials have said the terrorist assessment offered by Petraeus was both classified and still tenuous and that to reveal it at the time of [Susan] Rice’s interviews would have compromised their secret sources of information.”

*** Rubio in Iowa: Politico: “Thirty-eight months before the next presidential vote is cast, Marco Rubio on Saturday night became the first of the potential 2016 contestants to swoop in to this first caucus state and test the GOP’s new rallying cry to broaden its appeal. Seven hundred people turned out to see the Florida senator at the annual birthday fundraiser bash for GOP Gov. Terry Branstad. Rubio had the spotlight all to himself — he said he was merely here to help the governor mark his 66th birthday, but no one believed it for a minute.” More: “In his speech at Branstad’s party, Rubio said he understood Republicans’ frustrations over their electoral loss, but insisted that the country needed to return to its traditional principles to remain a power and global role model.”

*** Autopsy 2012: White voters in the South vs. Midwest: In a Sunday New York Times op-ed, University of North Carolina-Charlotte history professor Karen Cox argued that political opposition to Obama in the 2012 election wasn’t necessarily rooted in the South; instead, it was based more on a rural-vs.-urban divide across the country. “In other words, before our liberal allies in blue states point their fingers and scoff, they might want to take a look in their own rural backyards for evidence that their states actually have something in common with the supposedly backward ones in the South,” Cox writes. But that analysis ignores this evidence from the 2012 exit polls: Obama’s support among white voters in the South was VASTLY different than white voters in the Midwest. In fact, in all former states of the Confederacy -- including Florida and Virginia, which Obama won -- the president’s share of the white vote was less than the national average. That includes Mississippi and Alabama, where Obama got, respectively, just 10% and 15% of the white vote. But in all contested battlegrounds in the Midwest, Obama’s support among white voters was higher than the national average. Note: Not all states had exit polls, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

Obama’s share of the white vote, per the 2012 exit polls:
Mississippi: 10%
Alabama: 15%
North Carolina: 31%
Florida: 37%
Virginia: 37%
National average: 39%
Ohio: 41%
Michigan: 44%
Minnesota: 48%
Wisconsin: 48%
Iowa: 51%

*** Happy Thanksgiving: A final note: This will be our last morning First Read of the week, although we will update the web site as news warrants. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. And we’ll be back next week.

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*** Monday’s “The Daily Rundown” line-up: Latest on the president’s trip and historic stops in Myanmar… NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin and Stephanie Gosk live in Gaza and Tel Aviv… The Washington Post’s Paul Kane and Felicia Sonmez on the fiscal cliff forecast… NBC’s Mara Schiavocampo on today’s Hostess hearing… White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor on Benghazi, Israel and more… National Journal’s Beth Reinhard, msnbc’s Robert Traynham and Democratic strategist Tracy Sefl on the Republican reset. 

*** Monday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Richard Lui, filling in for Chris Jansing, interviews Rep. Loretta Sanchez, Dana Milbank and Jackie Kucinich on fiscal cliff negotiations; Ayman Mohyeldin from Gaza; Col Jack Jacobs on Generals who live like Billionaires; Chuck Todd traveling with the president; John Feehery and Fmr. Rep. Joe Sestak on the GOP at a crossroads; and The Atlantic’s editor James Bennet on their Brave Thinkers of 2012.

*** Monday's "MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: Ayman Mohyeldin live in Gaza City, political panel: Susan Page, Karen Finney and Hogan Gidley. Also: former CIA operative and author of CIA thriller Michael R. Davidson about Benghazi. Jimmy Williams on Why it Matters: Fiscal Cliff and Israel. P.J Crowley, former State Dept. Spokesman on Israel. Tampa Tribune Military Affairs reporter, Howard Altman, and Maya MacGuineas on the fiscal cliff.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews former Ambassador Dennis Ross, the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Sen. Johnny Isakson, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, No Labels Mark McKinnon and Democratic strategist Brendan Daly.

*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: Tamron Hall interviews Rep. Jon Yarmuth (D-KY), The Daily Beast’s Mike Giglio, Time Magazine’s Jim Frederick, Democratic strategist Jimmy Williams and MSNBC contributor Michael Smerconish

The AP: “In his first trip abroad since the summer heat of the re-election campaign, President Barack Obama will seek to reinforce American influence in Southeast Asia in spite of the large shadow cast by China. He [was] the first U.S. president to visit Myanmar, an appreciation for its steps toward democratization, as well as Cambodia.” It’s Obama’s fourth trip to Asia. “The Asia trip underscores Obama’s efforts to establish the United States as an Asia-Pacific power, a worldview defined by 21st century geopolitics but also by Obama’s personal identity as America’s first Pacific president.”

Reuters: “Barack Obama became the first American president to visit Myanmar on Monday, using a six-hour trip to balance U.S. praise for the government's progress in shaking off military rule with pressure to complete the process of democratic reform.”

Say uncle… “Arizona Sen. John McCain said on Sunday he wants U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to publicly announce she was wrong in saying the attack in Libya was sparked by spontaneous protests to an anti-Islam Internet video,” Politico writes, adding, “If Rice came back on ‘Face the Nation’ and acknowledged she was wrong, McCain said, it would help her case in the Senate if President Barack Obama does nominate her to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

And this: "I wish the president wouldn't get mad me," McCain said. "I wish he would spend our time together in finding out what happened, what caused it."

National Journal’s Michael Hirsch: “[T]here are other issues with Rice’s record, both as U.N. ambassador and earlier as a senior Clinton administration official, that are all but certain to come out at any confirmation hearing, many of them concerning her performance in Africa. Critics say that since her failure to advocate an intervention in the terrible genocide in Rwanda in 1994 — Bill Clinton later said his administration's unwillingness to act was the worst mistake of his presidency — she has conducted a dubious and naïve policy of looking the other way at allies who commit atrocities, reflecting to some degree the stark and emotionless realpolitik sometimes associated with Obama, who is traveling this week to another formerly isolated dictatorship: Burma.”

“In the last three weeks, public interest in global warming has undergone a remarkable revival. Already, environmentalists are renewing calls on Obama to reject a controversial Canadian oil pipeline and to put strict greenhouse gas emission standards in place,” The Boston Globe writes. “But energy and environmental analysts warn that idealistic calls to action may end up hurting climate change policy efforts: With Republicans controlling the House and Democrats the Senate, and the nation facing a hard economic path, they argue any gains need to be made through consensus from both sides of the aisle.”

The New York Times looks at Paul Ryan’s role as a power broker during the fiscal cliff negotiations: “Speaker John A. Boehner has tapped Mr. Ryan, who has returned to his post as the House Budget Committee chairman after an unsuccessful run for vice president, to help strike a deal to avoid big tax increases and spending cuts by the end of the year, and to bring along fellow Republicans… The test will be whether Mr. Ryan — who declined last year to sit on another Congressional committee charged with taming the deficit, in large part because doing so might have hurt his prospects for national office — can make the transition from House budget philosopher to governing heavyweight who can help negotiate a bipartisan deal and sell it to his colleagues.”

More: Ryan’s “distaste for Mr. Obama’s fiscal theories was unambiguous. At the Republican convention, for example, he called the Obama administration’s economic vision ‘a dull, adventureless journey from one entitlement to the next, a government-planned life, a country where everything is free but us.’ With his new muscle and increased respect from his colleagues, Mr. Ryan could conceivably scuttle any deal if he loudly opposes a solution that the speaker and the top Republican leaders embrace. But his conservative base might rebel against him if he were to endorse any deal seen as awarding too much to Mr. Obama and the Democrats, particularly on tax rates. Some Republicans think the pitfalls are dangerous enough that Mr. Ryan might consider leaving Congress altogether to work on his policy agenda without the inherent headaches of the Hill.”

Even Republicans like Peter King aren’t buying what Gen. David Petraeus is now saying, that the CIA knew from the beginning that it was terrorism in Benghazi. King: “I told him in my questions that I had a very different recollection of that. The clear impression was given was that the overwhelming amount of evidence was that it rose out of a spontaneous demonstration and it was not a terrorist attack.”

“The Pentagon is soaking up most of the attention around the looming budget cuts that would take place at the start of the new year, but there are a host of other national security programs caught up in the fiscal cliff debate, too,” Politico writes. “Sequestration would also mean fewer FBI agents, border patrols, meat inspectors, disease trackers, Secret Service agents, prison guards and National Guardsmen for storms like Hurricane Sandy.”

Political Wire: “Ballot Access News reports that 25 minor party and independent candidates were elected to state legislatures this month.  ‘Checking records of past elections reveals that this is the highest such number since 1942, when there were 31 such candidates elected. In 1944, there were 22 such candidates elected, and at no time since 1944 (until 2012) had there been any election with more than 17.’”

“After a long-awaited recount of early voting ballots in St. Lucie County was completed Sunday, businessman Patrick Murphy, a Democrat, increased his lead over Republican Rep. Allen West and re-declared victory,” Roll Call writes. “West has not conceded the race, which remains uncalled by The Associated Press. But his path to the 113th Congress now looks significantly narrower.”

Roll Call: “Democratic Rep. Ron Barber has defeated Republican Martha McSally in the over-time ballot counting for Arizona’s 2nd District, according to The Associated Press.”

Ben Smith: “Ten days after at least some Republicans were surprised to see Mitt Romney lose the presidency, the candidate is gone without a trace. There appears to be no Romney Republicanism to propagate. No Romney strategy to emulate. No Romney technology to ape. No generation shaped by his failed effort. And no Romney infrastructure to inherit, though he may still be asked to write and bundle quite a few checks.”

“Republican governors are torn between essentially staying the course in the wake of Mitt Romney’s loss and a more proactive strategy aimed at radically shaking up their party in an effort to reach out to young and minority voters,” Politico writes.

Yet, the AP’s Hunt reports, “From longtime GOP luminaries to the party’s rising stars, almost everyone asked about the Republicans’ Nov. 6 election drubbing seems to agree that a wholesale update is necessary for a party that appears to be running years behind Democrats in adapting to rapidly changing campaigns and an evolving electorate.”

(Really? Mitt and Ann Romney were spotted at the new Twilight movie in California, TMZ reports.)

Is this the answer? Florida Sen. Marco Rubio made a trip to Iowa. The AP’s Elliott: “Ostensibly, Rubio’s visit to this early nominating state was for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s birthday party. But the political implications of Rubio’s visit were clear from the start as the Republican Party looks ahead to 2016’s presidential contest… But his birthday wishes for Branstad were more like a roadmap for his party looking for a new direction and an argument for a Rubio presidential campaign.”

Slideshow: Mitt Romney's life in politics

Jonathan Ernst / Getty Images

From governor's son to presidential contender, a look at the life of Republican Mitt Romney.

Launch slideshow

If Mitt Romney had won the presidential election, insiders say, it’s not hard to imagine what he and his number two, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, would have been tackling on this very day.

An extensive preparation plan dubbed the "Romney Readiness Project," pulled together by the GOP nominee’s team and no longer of any use, offers detailed insight into how ready he was to take the reins, the sources told NBC News.

Romney and Ryan each had office space set aside for them at a transition office in southwest Washington, D.C., where former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt led a team of hundreds of advisers tasked with crafting an ambitious agenda for the Republican’s first 200 days in office.

Insiders describe a well-prepared transition that was ready to hit the ground running on Nov. 7, and begin the work of fashioning a Romney government.

Leavitt was in Boston on Election Day, prepared to brief Romney if the GOP nominee proved victorious.

"We built a great ship, and regrettably, in my view, we didn't sail. I think it would have been a crisp transition," Leavitt said in an interview with NBC News. "I got up every morning from the day he asked me to do this — not naively — assuming that we would be elected, and we needed to be prepared."

Charles Dharapak / AP

Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt is seen in this June 23, 2012 file photo.

The extensive and well-prepared operation resembled the inner workings of Bain Capital, the venture capital firm founded by Romney, according to multiple sources associated with the transition, who asked not to be identified to more candidly discuss the process.

“In many ways, it felt like the West Wing,” one transition official said in praise of the professional environment.

The preparations were enabled by a 2010 law, the “Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act,” which afforded Romney (along with any other future nominees) government support and office space to begin the arduous work of planning a handover of government. Officials in the transition team were allowed use of a government email address ending in “@ptt.gov.”

Romney was the first major party nominee able to take advantage of this law, and in June he selected Leavitt, who served as Utah governor while Romney headed the Salt Lake City Olympics, to lead the effort.

Sources described Leavitt as having taken seriously Romney’s mandate to prepare a new administration. The former Department of Health and Human Services secretary told NBC News that he reviewed books and manuscripts to prepare for his role, in addition to speaking to individuals involved in transitions from the Carter through Obama administrations.

The Romney transition was divided into groups that focused on specific areas of emphasis – the economy, foreign policy, education, for instance – to help shape policy for the early days of a Romney administration, as well as personnel.

Among the plans for the transition included the formation of teams that would begin immediately working with government agencies to lay the groundwork for the new administration.

There were “landing teams” prepared to go into government agencies two weeks after the election and begin the work of handing over to a Romney administration. Separate “beachhead” teams would then be deployed into those agencies immediately following the inauguration on Jan. 20.

“They'd obviously thought about structure and process,” said one transition adviser.

Additionally, plans included the crafting of an agenda detailing what actions Romney would take — mostly to follow through with campaign promises — beginning the Thursday after Inauguration Day. 

"We had the first 45 days of the administration scheduled," Leavitt said. "We felt there was a need for crisp and early action. We were literally writing executive orders. It was a federal government in miniature."

According to Leavitt, many preparations involved assembling a menu of options for Romney to enact his plans for government or to make good on campaign pledges, like labeling China a currency manipulator or allowing the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

But Leavitt also emphasized that no decisions were ever made.

The transition’s portfolio also included the early work of approaching potential candidates to head cabinet agencies, along with prospective nominees for other positions that would require Senate confirmation. Those candidates were also vetted at a very preliminary level.

The end result was a list of 10 candidates for each cabinet post, which was pared down by Leavitt and two other campaign confidants: Beth Myers, Romney’s former chief of staff who led the search for his vice presidential nominee, and Bob White, a longtime Romney friend and associate.

The hope was to have Romney name many of his top cabinet nominees by Thanksgiving – this week, in essence. But, according to one transition source, Romney was never made privy to these rosters of would-be administration officials. The former Massachusetts governor was busy setting about the work of campaigning for the presidency.

"To my knowledge, there were no conversations between Gov. Romney and anyone about cabinet positions," said Leavitt, who explained that he opted to exercise tight control of these deliberations once campaign outsiders sought information about the process. "The number of people who knew whose names were on the pared-down lists was probably about four people."

Romney tapped Leavitt at a point in the election cycle that was comparable to Obama’s selection of John Podesta to lead his transition project four years earlier. Podesta served as White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton.

“The president asked me to do that in June after Sen. (Hillary) Clinton dropped out of the race, and I began organizing that with a group of people in early July. We had a fairly elaborate process working by late summer,” Podesta said of his experience. “By the time Election Day happened, we were fully engaged in the process of thinking through both the security transition and the economic crisis in fall of that year.”

Like much of Romney’s campaign, the transition team folded following his loss on Nov. 6. But future nominees — Democratic or Republican — might be well-served to study the work of the “Romney Readiness Project.”

Because of term limits, America will have a new president in 2016, and a transition of some kind will be necessary.

“I think it's highly appropriate,” Podesta said of the new transition process sanctioned by Congress. “It normalizes the transition, so you don't get all the political garbage about 'measuring the drapes.' It's a very complicated process, and having been on both ends of it, I think it's very important for the country to make it as seamless and professional as possible.”

Said Leavitt of the experience enabled by the new law: "One of the best things the law did was that it created an expectation that people would plan. Because you can't just become president of the United States in 77 days, and do it well."

The outspoken Rev. Franklin Graham claimed today that the “majority of Christians” did not vote.

“We know that from of the statistics that I’ve heard that the majority of Christians in this country just did not vote for whatever reason,” he told the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody. “The vast majority of evangelicals did not go to the polls.” He added, “God is in control, and if Christians are upset, they need to be upset at themselves.  We need to do a better job of getting our people- the church to vote.  Now, I’m not trying to tell you how to vote, you can vote, but vote, my goodness, and vote for candidates that stand for Biblical values.”

But Graham’s assertion -- and implication that had white Christian evangelicals just showed up in bigger numbers, President Obama would have lost -- is off base.

In fact, white evangelicals/born-again Christians made up the same percentage of the electorate as they did in 2008 – 26%. They voted for Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon, by a wider margin than they did for Sen. John McCain four years ago.

And, they made up a larger share of the electorate in 2012 than in 2004, when the Christian Right supposedly fueled George W. Bush’s reelection. They also voted for Romney with the exact same margin as for Bush in 2004, 78%-21%.

Not to mention, Obama won the 48 percent of the electorate that was Christian and not Protestant or Mormon -- 50%-48% among Catholics (25% of the electorate) and 50%-49% of "Other Christians" (23% of the electorate).

In Ohio, they were 1 point more of the electorate than 2008; in Colorado, 4 points higher; in Iowa, up 7 points; in Nevada, up 2.

White evangelical voters in select swing states
CO: 25%, 76-22 Romney; 2008: 21%, 76-23 McCain 
FL: 24%, 79-21 Romney; 2008: 24%, 77-21 McCain
IA: 38%, 64-35 Romney; 2008: 31%, 65-33 McCain
NV: 18%, 69-28 Romney; 2008: 16%, 72-27 McCain
OH: 31%, 69-30 Romney; 2008: 30%, 71-27 McCain

They did decline as a share of the electorate in North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. But the drops in states like North Carolina (Graham’s home state) and Virginia likely have less to do with apathy and more to do with demographic changes – transplants in North Carolina’s Research Triangle and growth in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Northern Virginia, for example.

The fact is, Virginia and North Carolina are looking less and less like the Old South and more and more like Mid-Atlantic states.

White evangelical voters in the South (where exit polls are available)
MS: 50%, 95-5 Romney; 2008: 46%, 94-6 McCain
AL: 47% , 90-10 Romney; 2008: 47%, 92-8 McCain
NC: 35%, 79-20 Romney; 2008: 44%, 74-25 McCain
VA: 23%, 83-17 Romney; 2008: 28%, 79-20 McCain

Are there Christian evangelicals who did not vote? Certainly. But that’s true every year and of every demographic group.

Evangelicals make up 26 percent of adults in the country, according to a major 2008 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey. They matched that this election.

The U.S. Census says there are more than 311 million people in the United States. If evangelical adults are 26 percent of them, then there would be 80 million potential voters.

So far, 123 million votes have been counted in this election – and that number will get higher by the millions as votes continue to be counted like in 2008. Evangelicals made up 26 percent of them, therefore, about 32 million evangelicals voted – less than half of their population.

But there’s a need for context here: (1) They make up just 14 percent of the registered-voter base in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. They outpaced that percentage in the presidential election, (2) This is true every other demographic group in the country as well.

Latinos, for example, according to the U.S. Census, are nearly 17 percent of the country, but only made up 10 percent of the 2012 electorate. They make up just 8 to 9 percent of the registered-voter base of the NBC/WSJ poll.

That would mean just 12 million of the 52 million adult Hispanics voted.

If this was Australia, and the U.S. had compulsory voting, Graham’s argument that evangelicals would have tipped the balance would not hold up very well.

And then there were three -- undecided House races, that is. 

On Thursday, two close California races were decided: Republican incumbents Dan Lungren in CA-7 and Brian Bilbray in CA-52 lost their seats.
 
The Undecided Three now include LA-3 (which is scheduled for a runoff in three weeks) and NC-7 and AZ-2 (where Democratic incumbents cling to narrow leads). 

Meanwhile, in FL-18, Rep. Allen West has asked for a recount in his tight re-election race, but he trails by nearly 2,000 votes.
               
Below is a breakdown of each race:
NC-7: This one is still really close. Incumbent Mike McIntyre (D), one of the few remaining Blue Dog Democrats in the House, continues to cling to a 436-vote lead over challenger David Rouzer. McIntyre leads by .14% of the 335,000 votes cast.

AZ-2: Gabby Gifford’s old seat remains too close to call. Incumbent Ron Barber, a former Giffords staffer, continues to lead Republican challenger Martha McSally by 654 votes, as of this morning. About 31,000 remain uncounted in Pima County, though not all pertain to this race. Pima County, which makes up the bulk of the district, is where Barber won a slight advantage on Election Day.

LA-3: Two Republican incumbents are headed for a runoff on Dec. 8th in this district. Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. leads Rep. Jeff Landry by a 45-30% margin on Election Day, but under Lousiana law, they must face each other in a runoff because no candidate won a 50% majority of the vote. Just because Boustany lead handily last week doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll prevail in the runoff, when only the most hardcore voters usually cast ballots. Landry has strong Tea Party support. 

CA-7: This one is over, and longtime congressman Dan Lungren (R) lost his re-election race. Lungren hasn’t conceded, but what had been a close race of less than 200 votes has now ballooned to a lead of more than 5,700 votes for Democratic challenger Ami Beri.  There are still about 39,000 votes left to count in Sacramento County, but only a fraction of them pertain to this race.

CA-52: With every passing day, Democrat Scott Peters continues to pad his lead over incumbent Brian Bilbray (R). After Election Day, Peters led by fewer than 700 votes, but that lead has now grown to 3,877. Peters gained nearly a thousand votes yesterday alone. Now local columnists are starting to call for Bilbray to concede. Both men are in Washington this week for freshman orientation, but Peters appears to have has won this one.

FL-18: Rep. Allen West (R) has formally petitioned the FL Secretary of State for a recount, but he appears to have lost to Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy. West trails by 1,907 voters -- just outside the window for a mandatory recount under Florida law.

Updated 1:36 p.m. ET - Capitol Hill leaders emerged from their meeting Friday with President Barack Obama sounding optimistic about their ability to reach consensus on vexing tax and spending issues and avoid the impending "fiscal cliff."

Just weeks before an end of year deadline -- when a series of income tax cuts are set to expire just as billions in automatic spending cuts stipulated in the 2011 debt ceiling deal will take effect -- House and Senate leaders suggested they had made progress during their first meeting with President Barack Obama since he won re-election last week. 

"I think we're all aware that we have some urgent business to do," Obama said at the top of the meeting, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to his right and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to his left.

That urgency, apparently, was not lost on Republican and Democratic leaders who appeared jointly after the hourlong meeting to express their optimism that a deal was within reach. The word of the day was "constructive," a term which each leader used to describe their talks on Friday.

"I feel very good about what we were able to talk about in there," said Reid. "We have the cornerstones of being able to work something out."

Boehner, the GOP speaker who faces a tough task in convincing conservatives to sign off on any final deal, referenced a framework he's offered tying tax reform to changes in entitlement programs as keeping with Obama's own goals. 

"I believe that the framework that I've outlined is consistent with the president's call for a fair and balanced approach," he said following the meeting. 

Both Obama and Republican leaders in Congress have sketched broad outlines for the type of deal on which they could agree. The president has insisted that wealthier Americans share a higher tax burden as part of any deal's outcome, an idea on which he campaigned against GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

"Our challenge is to make sure that we are able to cooperate together, work together, find some common ground, make some tough compromises, build some consensus to do the people's business," the president said at the top of the meeting, adding later: "My hope is this is going to be the beginning of a fruitful process where we're able to come to an agreement that will reduce our deficit in a balanced way and deal with some of the long-term impediments to growth."

Boehner's office suggested after the meeting that the leaders' focus would turn to setting long-term targets on levels of taxing, spending and entitlement reform that could be presented to lawmakers after Thanksgiving.

Pool / Getty Images

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Speaker of the House John Boehner during a meeting with bipartisan group of congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on November 16, 2012 in Washington, DC.

Republicans have said they are open to new revenue, as long as it is the byproduct of tax reforms that lower rates and close loopholes and limit deductions. Boehner has also said tax reforms should be linked with steps toward shoring up the solvency of entitlement programs.

"I can say on the part of my members that we fully understand that you can't save the country until you have entitlement programs that fit the demographics of a changing America in the coming years," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., following the meeting. "We're prepared to put revenue on the table provided we fix the real problem, even though most of my members -- I think, without exception -- believe we're in the dilemma we're in not because we tax too little, but because we spend too much."

Nonetheless, the leaders' tone following the meeting was a marked departure from much of the toxic rhetoric that had enveloped Washington for much of 2011, when a standoff between Republicans in Congress and Obama brought the government to the brink of shutdown several times and almost produced a default on the national debt.

"The president and the leadership had a constructive meeting and agreed to do everything possible to find a solution that averts the so-called 'fiscal cliff.' and to work together to find a balanced approach to reduce our deficit that includes both revenues and cuts in spending and encourages our long-term economic and job growth," White House press secretary Jay Carney said of the meeting. "Both sides agreed that while there may be differences in our preferred approaches, we will continue a constructive process to find a solution and come to a conclusion as soon as possible."

That August 2011 debt deal produced the series of automatic spending cuts, known as the "sequester," as part of the deal to extract an agreement to raise the debt limit. The sequester would inflict heavy and immediate cuts, especially to the defense budget, and was designed purposefully as such to offer lawmakers a political incentive to reach some sort of fiscal alternative. 

Complicating matters are the 2001 Bush income tax cuts, which were extended for two years by Obama in 2010, which are set to automatically expire (along with a payroll tax break) at the end of this year.

But talks over how to best address the looming sequester stalled for much of 2012, putting lawmakers now against a heard deadline to reach a deal. Economists have worried that the combined effect of tax hikes and spending cuts would have a perilous effect on the economy.

Adding to the encouraging signs, both Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested that they could reach a deal before the end of the year. In Pelosi's case, she urged her colleagues to adopt a deadline before Christmas. 

Lawmakers are away from Washington on recess for the Thanksgiving holiday next week, during which, Reid said, talks would continue on how to best address the fiscal cliff. He said the leaders hoped to meet with Obama again shortly after the break. 

Rebuilding time for the GOP… But there are no easy fixes… GOPers softening their opposition to tax hikes on the wealthy?... Obama meets with congressional leaders to discuss the fiscal cliff at 10:15 am ET… Petraeus testifies (behind closed doors) on Capitol Hill… Pew gets voters’ grades on the 2012 election… And Autopsy 2012: examining the evangelical vote.

*** Rebuilding time: As National Journal’s Ron Brownstein writes, the Republican Party now finds itself in the same position that Democrats were in after 1988: searching for a way to broaden the party’s appeal and message. (Or as former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour puts it, the GOP is in need of “a very serious proctology exam.”) Back in 1988, a former Massachusetts governor had just lost -- decisively -- to a vulnerable opponent, marking the fifth time in the last six presidential elections that Democrats had lost the popular vote. Flash forward to now: Another former Massachusetts governor has just lost -- decisively -- to a vulnerable opponent, marking the fifth time in the last six presidential elections that Republicans have lost the popular vote. Brownstein notes that Democrats, after the ’88 election, looked inward, created the centrist New Democrat movement, and turned to Bill Clinton to rebuild the party’s image. And the question for the GOP becomes: What does it do to turn around its presidential fortunes come 2016? Or, as the Wall Street Journal reports of a growing narrative among Republicans, was the loss simply Romney’s fault?

*** But no easy fixes: On Wednesday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus delivered a presentation of exit poll data to GOP senators that pointed to several reasons why Republicans lost. (And by the way, none of those reasons mentioned the word “gifts.”) They included changing demographics (the white share of the electorate has declined from 81% in 2000 to 72% in 2012); George W. Bush (who was blamed more for the current state of the economy than President Obama); and a failure to be perceived as the champion of the middle class (44% of voters believed Obama’s policies favored the middle class, versus 34% who said the same about Mitt Romney’s policies). The problem for the GOP is that there are no easy fixes to those challenges. Republicans could sign on to comprehensive immigration reform as a way to better appeal to Latino voters, but which party would get credit for that legislative achievement -- the GOP or Democrats? In addition, this election proved that it’s difficult for the Republican nominee to break away from the Bush brand, even as Romney kept his distance from the former president. And as the debate over the fiscal cliff negotiations is proving, it’s hard for the GOP to be perceived as the middle class’ champion when it’s fighting against taxes being raised on the Top 2%. 

John Gress / Reuters

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus waits for the start of the U.S. vice presidential debate between Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Danville, Kentucky, October 11, 2012.

*** GOPers softening their opposition to tax hikes on the wealthy? But as Politico reports, some prominent Republican governors (both past and present) are softening their opposition to increased taxes on the wealthy -- as long as they get something in return for it. “The people have spoken, I think we’re going to have to be [flexible] now,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Las Vegas. “Elections do have consequences. The president campaigned on that [raising taxes on the wealthy].” Added former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour: “If there’s enough savings, if there’s enough entitlement reform, if there’s enough certainty about tax reform in the next few years, I would [consider letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthy].” And these statements come before Obama’s meeting, at 10:15 am ET at the White House, with bipartisan congressional leaders to discuss the fiscal cliff crisis.

*** Petraeus testifies behind closed doors: The other big event in DC today is behind closed doors. The Washington Post: “Gen. David Petraeus has arrived at the U.S. Capitol to give testimony about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in closed briefings to the House and Senate intelligence committees. Petraeus was unseen by reporters who had staked out parts of the Capitol complex they thought he might pass by, but a spokeswoman for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said he had arrived and would begin his testimony shortly after 7:30 a.m. The general is scheduled to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee later Friday.”

*** Grading the 2012 election: According to a new Pew poll, the public gives the 2012 presidential election some low marks. Just 38% said there was more than usual discussion of the issues, which is down from 57% who said this after the 2008 election. In addition, more than two-thirds said there was more than your usual mudslinging, up from about half who said this four years ago. Meanwhile, voters gave Obama a C+ for the performance of his campaign (down from B+ in ’08); they gave Romney a C (down from McCain’s C+); they gave the press a C- (down from C); they have the pollsters a C+ (down from B-); and they gave the voters a C+ (down from B). Also, the Pew poll noted that 92% of voters followed the Election Night returns on TV, 34% followed them on the internet, and 27% were “dual screeners” -- meaning they both watched TV and surfed the internet.

*** Autopsy 2012: Examining the evangelical vote: Nationally, Romney won a larger share of the white-evangelical/born-again vote in last week’s presidential election than John McCain four years ago, despite Romney’s Mormon faith and his performance with many of these voters in the ’08 and ’12 GOP primaries. But there was a drop in evangelical voters in the key swing states of Virginia, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. And in Ohio, although evangelicals increased as a share of the electorate by a point, Romney won a smaller share of them than McCain did in ‘08. In Virginia, in particular, the state appears to be becoming less evangelical. Even though Romney won the group by a wider share than McCain, evangelicals dropped by 5 points.  Meanwhile, in Iowa and Colorado, turnout among evangelicals was up significantly -- 7 points in Iowa, 4 points in Colorado. And Romney held the margin from 2008 with the group. But it was not enough to offset Obama’s 22-point edge with non-evangelical voters in Iowa and Obama’s 42 (!!!)-point advantage with Hispanics in Colorado.

White-evangelical vote
Overall: 26%, 78-21 Romney; 2008: 26%, 74-24 McCain

States:
CO: 25%, 76-22 Romney; 2008: 21%, 76-23 McCain 
FL: 24%, 79-21 Romney; 2008: 24%, 77-21 McCain
IA: 38%, 64-35 Romney; 2008: 31%, 65-33 McCain
NV: 18%, 69-28 Romney; 2008: 16%, 72-27 McCain
NC: 35%, 79-20 Romney; 2008: 44%, 74-25 McCain
OH: 31%, 69-30 Romney; 2008: 30%, 71-27 McCain
VA: 23%, 83-17 Romney; 2008: 28%, 79-20 McCain
WI: 24%, 71-27 Romney; 2008: 26%, 64-35 McCain

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*** Friday's "The Daily Rundown" line-up with guest host Luke Russert: NBC's Kelly O'Donnell on Petraeus' testimony… NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin live in Gaza… one of us (!!!) with more on the Republican reaction to Romney… NBC's Mike Viqueira on today's White House meeting on the fiscal cliff and The Economist's Greg Ip and National Journal's Jim Tankersley on the "what ifs" surrounding the cliff… New NRCC Chairman Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) on the House GOP's road forward… Democratic strategist Doug Thornell, Roll Call's David Drucker and the New York Times' Jackie Calmes on how the next round of negotiations could be different (or all too similar) to the last time.

*** Friday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews Martin Fletcher in Tel Aviv; Joy-Ann Reid and Ron Fournier join Rep, Adam Schiff on Petraeus;  P.J. Crowley on the foreign policy challenges;  Fmr. Gov Ed Rendell and Joe Watkins on the fiscal cliff negotiations; plus Rep. Keith Ellison talks about religious diversity in Congress.

*** Friday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include Bloomberg Businessweek’s Josh Green, author Jay McInerney, Democratic strategist Karen Finney, and Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith.

*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, Martin Fletcher and Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC Terrorism Expert Michael Leiter, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Jerusalem Fund and Palestine Center Executive Director Youseff Munayyer, “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power” author Jon Meacham and The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart and Ruth Marcus.

*** Friday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Col. Jack Jacobs, Time Jim Frederick, and The Atlantic’s Molly Ball on Petraeus on the Hill, David Goodfriend and  Politico’s Rachel Smolkin on the President’s meeting with congressional leaders.

*** Friday's "MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts" line-up: Ayman Mohyeldin, Jackie Kucinich, Blake Zeff, Robert Traynham, Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL)/House intelligence committee, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, House intel-ranking member, Michael Beschloss, Malcolm Bowman, on Sandy infrastructure

*** Friday’s “The Cycle” line-up: MSNBC’s Toure, Krystal Ball, Steve Kornacki, & S.E. Cupp interview MSNBC Political Analyst Jared Bernstein, University of Maryland Economist Professor Peter Morici, Chief Investment Officer Jack Ablin, Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), and Gov. Gary Herbert (R-UT)

“President Obama is kicking off budget dealings with congressional leaders with new leverage from last week's big win, but he confronts a decidedly tricky path to avoiding a market-rattling ‘fiscal cliff’ that could imperil a still-fragile economy,” USA Today reports. “Obama's GOP rivals promise greater flexibility on new tax revenues, but Democrats face pressure from liberal interest groups urging the president to take a hard line and avoid cutting big benefit programs like Medicare and food stamps. It's up to Obama to navigate the course toward an agreement.”

Apparently, “Jill Kelley skydived with commandos,” per USA Today. And was Paula Broadwell thinking of running for the Senate in North Carolina, but Petraeus talked her out of it?

Time magazine notes that the Obama campaign raised nearly $700 million online. "In total, according to new campaign calculations acquired exclusively by TIME, the Obama team raised about $690 million digitally in 2012, up from about $500 million in 2008, according to a senior campaign adviser. That number includes all contributions that were given electronically, including some donations that were generated by high-dollar fundraisers but logged through the website."

More: "When counting only fundraising that was initially generated by digital efforts, including email, social media, mobile and the website, the 2012 campaign raised $504 million, up from $403 million in 2008." 

“Former CIA Director David Petraeus is preparing to field questions from lawmakers about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, his appearance on Capitol Hill coming one week after he resigned over an extramarital affair,” the AP writes. “Petraeus is under investigation by the agency for possible wrongdoing, though that's not the subject of the closed-door hearings he is set to attend Friday. The September attack in Benghazi, which killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, created a political firestorm, with Republicans claiming that the White House misled the public on what led to the violence.”

CNN’s Barbara Starr reported Petraeus will tell Congress he knew “almost immediately” that the attack on U.S. officials in Benghazi was linked to terrorists. But: “According to this source, Petraeus says the stream of intelligence from multiple sources, including video at the scene, indicated the group was behind the attack. But a separate stream of intelligence also emerged indicating ongoing riots in Cairo over an anti-Islamic film might have motivated the attacks. The source says there were some 20 different intelligence reports indicating the Cairo film might be responsible. The CIA eventually disapproved all those reports, but not until after Petraeus’ initial briefings to Congress in which he discussed all possibilities, the source said.”

John McCain was not happy when he was asked about why he missed a Benghazi briefing the day before (at the same time he was holding a press conference).

The Chattanooga Times Free Press: “A decade before calling himself ‘a consistent supporter of pro-life values,’ Tennessee physician and Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais supported his ex-wife’s decision to get two abortions before their marriage, according to the congressman’s sworn testimony during his divorce trial. Obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the couple’s 2001 trial transcript also confirms DesJarlais had sexual relationships with at least two patients, three coworkers and a drug representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tenn. During one affair with a female patient, DesJarlais prescribed her drugs, gave her an $875 watch and bought her a plane ticket to Las Vegas, records show.”

DesJarlais (pronounced DAY-zhar-lay) was swept in in 2010 with the Tea Party wave and was reelected in 2012 with 56% of the vote.

Roll Call: “Republican leaders on Capitol Hill were largely silent as new revelations stemming from Rep. Scott DesJarlais’ messy decade-old divorce came to light Thursday. The office of Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio declined to comment….”

A Tom Coburn “Department of Everything” report goes after the Pentagon for $67.9 billion in what he sees as waste. The Boston Globe calls the report “wry but scathing.”

So now Republicans say Romney wasn’t specific enough.

But, the Wall Street Journal reports: “Two weeks after their presidential election defeat, Republican Party leaders are falling into roughly two camps as they struggle to explain what happened and devise ways to broaden the party's base. Some top GOP officials worry their message is wrong for a rapidly diversifying population, and that fundamental shifts in policy may be required. But the more dominant voice, and the one gaining currency within the center of the party, says such drama isn't necessary. It asserts that Mitt Romney's loss to President Barack Obama was primarily a tactical failure….”

The Maine Republican Party Chairman claimed in an interview with NBC affiliate WCSH: “In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election Day. Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in town knows anyone who’s black.”

Despite defending his comments yesterday, he later apologized. In defending his comments, he said this: “There’s nothing about me that would be discriminatory. I know black people. I play basketball every Sunday with a black guy. He’s a great friend of mine.”

In his second visit to areas destroyed by last month’s Hurricane Sandy, President Obama said federal officials, led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, would be devising a “game plan” with state authorities to see the storm recovery through to its end.

“There's got to be a plan for rebuilding. And that plan's going to have to be coordinated, and there's going to need resources,” Obama said, standing in Staten Island’s hard-hit New Dorp Beach and surrounded by New York officials like Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Obama said Donovan was particularly fit for the job because he formerly served as the commissioner of New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and has held several other positions in the Empire State.

“We thought it'd be good to have a New Yorker who's going to be the point person,” Obama said.

The president also shared the story of a family he met at a FEMA recovery center he toured earlier in the day, who endured personal tragedy but found comfort in the kindness of a police officer who went above and beyond his responsibilities. The Moore family, Obama said, lost two young sons in the hurricane, but they were grateful for a police officer who stayed with them during their ordeal. 

“When they knew that their sons were missing, Lt. [Kevin] Gallagher made a point of staying with them and doing everything he could so that, ultimately, they knew what had happened with their boys and were able to recover their bodies and has been with them as a source of support ever since,” Obama said.

“That's not in the job description of Lt. Gallagher. He did that because that's what so many of our first responders do.  They go above and beyond the call of duty to respond to people in need."

Cuomo echoed Obama’s praise for the residents’ resilience, telling Obama, “We are New Yorkers, Mr. President. We are tough, and we are resilient, and we will overcome, and we will be the better for it.”

A House Foreign Affairs hearing on "Benghazi and Beyond" quickly turned into a shouting and accusations forum.

It began when Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) said this: "What is clear is that this administration, including the president himself, has intentionally misinformed, read that LIED, to the American people in the aftermath of this tragedy. Now President Obama has the gall to float the name as possibly secretary of State, the name of the person who is the actual vehicle used to misinform the American people during this crisis."

Karen Bleier / AFP - Getty Images

National Intelligence Director James Clapper arrives for a closed door hearing conducted by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence November 15, 2012 on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat also from California, called the attacks on Rice "unfair" and leveled that Colin Powell testified that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, because that's the information that was given to him.

Rohrabacher shot back, going further, intimating that what the White House has done is worse than Watergate.

"This is not simply a cover up of a third-rate burglary," he alleged. "We have four of our personnel dead, and it is not a McCarthy-era tactic to demand accountability and to demand that American people are not misinformed about it to the point that they don't know what the threat is."

The back and forth continued when Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Republican from Ohio, also accused the administration of lying.

"This administration continues to put out things that are just not quite true," she claimed.

Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) began by saying he was not going to attack the White House or malfeasance at the State Department. But he then instead spoke for six minutes and didn't ask a single question of the GAO witness.

Naturally, Democrats responded. It began rather timidly and escalated.

"Barack Obama was no more responsible for what happened in Benghazi than George Bush was for Sept. 11th or Ronald Reagan was for the blowing up of U.S. Marines in Beirut," Rep. Eliot Engle (D-NY) said.

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) unloaded, first sarcastically: "Let's just hang the guilty parties."

"The stench of hypocrisy that hangs over this city today emanates from this room," Ackerman said. "I've listened to my colleagues talk about the President of the United States and others in the administration using [the] terms 'deliberate', 'lies', 'unmitigated gall', 'malfeasance,' which is malicious and knowing evil-doing, 'disgust', 'coverups'."

He continued, "If you want to know who is responsible in this town, buy yourself a mirror!"

Ackerman went on to say that Republicans had "the audacity to come here" when the administration requested, for worldwide security, "$440 million more than you guys wanted to provide. And the answer is that you damn didn't provide it!  You REDUCED what the administration asked for to protect these people. Ask not who the guilty party is, it's you! It is us. It is this committee, and the things that we insist that we need have to cost money."

He added, "Could you tell me which of my colleagues on this committee was as bodacious in their insistence that we provide more money for American security in the State Department budget. I would appreciate it."

Ackerman then asked them to raise their hands and gave them a count of five to do so. None did.

Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) picked up the push back. He held up a letter, dated yesterday, in which he was asked to co-sign saying that Susan Rice is unfit to be secretary of State. 

"Smear, character assassination, judgment before all the facts are in is McCarthyism," Connolly said, "and that's an attempt to besmirch, in my opinion, the reputation of a very talented and capable public servant. I want no part of it."

He added, "The election is over. The president won reelection. The voices of the public were heard. They want us to cooperate. If you want an honest investigation of this tragedy, we will join you. But if you want to persist in trying to put this, lay this somehow at the doorstep of the president or the secretary of State or the United Nations ambassador, you will find us ready and willing to resist  to the teeth."

And that was just the first half of the hearing.