House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) sent a new offer on Tuesday afternoon to President Barack Obama in hopes of reaching a deal to resolve the impending fiscal cliff.

Specific details are scarce, but the proposal apparently was made as a counter-offer to something the White House had proposed over the last few days. A GOP aide said the White House plan offered $1.4 trillion in new revenue, but the GOP still not moved from offering $800 billion in revenue.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told NBC News the following:

"We sent the White House a counter-offer that would achieve tax and entitlement reform to solve our looming debt crisis and create more American jobs.  As the Speaker said today, we're still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of the "balanced approach" he promised the American people.  The longer the White House slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff."

Since this is a new offer, it’s assumed to be different from the one put forward last week by the GOP that called for $800 billion dollars in new revenue through closing tax loopholes and deductions, along with an additional $600 billion in savings through cuts to entitlements.

A GOP aide opined to NBC News that the president must move more quickly on “the spending side” before any deal could hope to be accomplished. A major sticking point to date has involved how much ground Republicans would give on tax rates for the wealthy.

Updated at 6:05 p.m. ET -- Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder called himself "one tough nerd" in his 2010 gubernatorial campaign, fashioning himself as a pragmatic problem-solver who wouldn't delve into the divisive partisanship that had come to define some of his fellow Republicans.

Related: Michigan House passes right-to-work legislation

But now that Snyder has signed historic legislation making Michigan the nation's 24th right-to-work state, detractors will likely lump the governor with those firebrand Republicans, a distinction that he had long sought to avoid.

“I didn’t do this to get into the politics of it,” Snyder said on MSNBC Tuesday afternoon of the fight. He said the issue reached a “critical mass” after organized labor unsuccessfully pushed a ballot initiative this November that would have established a right to collective bargaining in the Michigan constitution.

Snyder had previously said that pursuing this legislation was not on his agenda. But Republicans in the statehouse, whose majorities in the House and Senate will be narrower next year due to the 2012 elections, revived the long-dormant proposal with Snyder's eventual blessing.

"Once we had the support that we had, the next step was convincing the governor that this was a good thing," said state Republican Rep. Marty Knollenberg, a primary sponsor of the bill in the House. "It certainly started from the legislature, and then it was presented to the governor … I think he was sort of taking a wait-and-see attitude. It wasn’t on his priority list, as he indicated."

But Snyder did ultimately embrace the law, and signed it into law on Tuesday evening. Whether he would be able to preserve his reputation as a non-ideologue is an open question.

"I think he kind of decided he couldn’t string this out any longer. The idea that he had some sort of moment where he was converted in a blinding flash of light – I don’t think that’s the case," said Bill Ballenger, editor of the "Inside Michigan Politics" newsletter. "Here you’ve got Michigan looking, all of a sudden, far more extreme and aggressive that Scott Walker. Isn’t that ironic?"

Snyder enjoyed a 51 percent approval rating for Snyder in an early December EPIC-MRA poll; 48 percent of Michiganders said they had a negative impression of Snyder's performance as governor. The same poll found that Snyder had an edge over a generic Democratic challenger in 2014.

Recommended: Boehner demands Obama 'get serious' and offer new plan

But the state was much more divided on the question of whether the legislature should pursue right-to-work laws. While the EPIC-MRA poll found that Michiganders were generally supportive of the concept of those laws, they were evenly divided – 47 percent in favor, 46 percent against – on the question of whether Michigan should adopt such a law.

Dale G. Young / AP

Governor Rick Snyder presents his views on Michigan's future energy plans and how they merge with environmental and resource management issues at MSU's WK Kellogg Biological Station, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012 near Hickory Corners, Mich.

Indeed, Snyder's decision to move forward with this proposal will inevitably invite parallels with GOP Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's work to push legislation that stripped public employees of their collective bargaining rights in early 2011. Like Michigan, Wisconsin is an industrial Midwestern state with a long tradition of unionism. And as with Wisconsin, Democrats and labor activists stormed the state capitol with unmet hopes of halting the changes to labor law.

“I think it’s important to make a distinction with Wisconsin and Ohio,” Snyder said on MSNBC. “That was about collective bargaining. That was about the relationship between employers and unions. This has nothing to do with that. Right-to-work has to do with the relationship between unions and workers.”

The bigger distinction might be the extent to which Michigan's fight was relatively bloodless. The fight in Wisconsin dragged out for days as Democrats in the state Senate went into hiding in Illinois to try to prevent a vote. And labor fought for months to recall Walker, an election which the Wisconsin governor survived this past June.

The right-to-work law moved much more quickly through Michigan's state government, giving opponents of the law barely any time to stop the bill. Even President Barack Obama's criticism of the law during a stop Monday in Detroit did little to halt the legislation's progress.

That sort of criticism could threaten to erode the reputation Snyder had built for himself during two years in office. Snyder, a former CEO of Gateway Computers, emerged from relative obscurity in 2010 to beat two well-known Republican challengers, Rep. Pete Hoekstra and Attorney General Mike Cox, in the primary on the strengths of his plain-spoken, jobs-oriented message.

Snyder tried to burnish his bipartisan bona fides upon taking office by appointing former State House Speaker Andy Dillon, a Democrat who'd unsuccessfully sought his party's gubernatorial nomination in 2010, as his state treasurer. He had sought to build a new bridge between Detroit and Canada over the opposition of some Republicans, and resisted a GOP initiative to ban domestic partnership benefits for gay and lesbian couples before relenting.

Democrats and their allies in organized labor are sure now to redouble their efforts to beat Snyder in 2014, despite a relatively thin bench of challengers. More voters (40 percent) said they would be less likely to give Snyder a second term if he pursued right-to-work than those who said they would be more likely to re-elect the Republican. 

Gov. Rick Snyder intimated on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports that he would now sign 'right-to-work' legislation, after previously saying it was too “divisive,” because labor leaders defied him earlier this year.

This “goes back to last summer,” the Republican Michigan governor said, adding that Labor was proposing a ballot amendment that he believed went too far.

Proposal 2 would have amended the state constitution to expand union rights and collective bargaining and even override existing state laws that conflict with those agreements.

“I believe in collective bargaining,” Snyder said on Andrea Mitchell Reports. But “this is over the top.”

The proposal made it onto the ballot and failed, 57%-42% in November.

“Voters spoke in November,” Snyder said. Now, “it’s on the table. It’s a hot issue. Let’s show some leadership.”

In 2011, despite Republicans working on right-to-work legislation, Snyder said he didn't think it was "appropriate" and that the state had "higher priorities."

“I don't think it's an appropriate subject for us to be dealing with today, because we have higher priorities that need to be addressed in our state," Snyder told a radio program nearly a year ago to the day, Dec. 12, 2011. He added, "We need to come together as Michiganders and show some solid results on things we can agree on first before we have any discussion along those lines. As a practical matter, the other things I'd mention to you is that we do have to be more competitive, we do have to be more proactive, but I want to see how we can work together. So I'd just as soon work with labor on being proactive."

Snyder's tone has significantly changed. He contended Tuesday on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports that signing this law is “about being pro-worker.”

He added that since Indiana passed a similar law, “They’ve gotten thousands of jobs. … This is about moving Michigan forward, about more Michigan jobs, and worker choice.”

From Michigan, outside the state capitol, Bob King, president of the United Auto Workers union, responded bluntly.

“Bunch of malarkey, really,” he said, adding, “This has got to be seen as part of a right-wing agenda. … They’re attacking everything that’s good for working families.”

He continued: “That’s baloney. ‘Right-to-work’ lowers wages, lowers benefits; it lowers health care. ‘Right-to-work' is bad for working families.”

There is evidence that wages in right-to-work states are lower. The Detroit Free Press’ Gallagher, for example, wrote: “The data on wages tell a fairly clear story. Of the top 10 states in per capita income in 2011, seven were not right-to work states. Of the bottom 10 states with the lowest per capital income, seven were right to work states.”

Civil rights activist Jesse Jesse Jackson, standing next to King, called for a “major one-day strike” and “march on Washington.”

“These workers have been pushed over the cliff,” Jackson said, adding, “I’m  convinced workers must fight back in measure. … We must fight wholesale.”

He added of Republicans, “They fought to suppress the vote in the Fall; they’re fighting to suppress the wages now.”

Echoing President Obama, Jackson said, “It’s the right to work for less.” And of helping to organize the protests in Michigan, a state long known for its strong unions, “I never thought it would metastasize and go this far North,” Jackson said.

NBC's Kyle Inskeep contributed to this report.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, took to the House floor Tuesday to urge President Barack Obama to “get serious” and offer a plan to resolve the impending fiscal cliff.

Following a weekend meeting between the president and Capitol Hill’s top Republican, Boehner said that a deal to address the combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set for the end of this month continued to elude lawmakers.

Boehner placed the blame squarely with Obama, whom the speaker again demanded produce a new version of his plan.

“If the president doesn’t agree with our approach, he’s got an obligation to put forward a plan that can pass both chambers of the Congress,” Boehner said. “Because right now, the American people have to be scratching their heads and wondering: When is the president going to get serious?”

The main sticking point involves taxes, and the question of whether tax rates should be allowed to go up for the wealthiest of Americans. Obama has demanded that tax rates go up on high earners, possibly to the levels they were at during President Bill Clinton’s administration. Republicans argue that they should instead raise revenue through eliminating tax deductions and loopholes, thereby sparing some small-business owners whose revenue is taxed as income.

But there’s also the broader question of whether an extension of the debt limit should be included in the deal, along with Republicans’ demand that Obama specify the areas in which he’s willing to make cuts.

“A lot of people know that the president and I met on Sunday. It was a nice meeting, it was cordial. But we’re still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of the ‘balanced’ approach that he promised the American people,” Boehner said.

The Ohio Republican added: “Where are the president’s spending cuts? And the longer the White House slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff.”

Still, Boehner expressed optimism that Republicans could still reach an agreement with Obama before the Dec. 31 deadline.

Michigan will become the nation’s 24th right-to-work state after Republicans in the state legislature approved historic changes to the state’s labor laws over the strenuous objections of Democrats and union members.

The state House, which is controlled by Republicans, voted to bar workplaces from making union membership a condition of employment. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, has said he would sign the law – a symbolically important strike at the organized labor movement in Michigan, a traditional union stronghold.

Paul Sancya / AP

Protesters gather for a rally at the State Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. The crowd is protesting right-to-work legislation passed last week. Michigan could become the 24th state with a right-to-work law next week.

The House voted 58-41, largely upon party lines, to approve a Senate version of the right-to-work law. The bill will head to Synder for signature.

Related: Michigan passes anti-union measure amid protests

As state lawmakers debated and voted upon the new law, thousands of union members rallied outside the state capitol in Lansing in an ultimately futile show of opposition to the proposal.

Michigan joins Ohio and Wisconsin – two other industrial Midwestern strongholds governed by Republicans in the statehouse – in advancing laws intended to weaken labor rights over the past two years. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, R, led an effort in 2011 to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights, which prompted massive protests and a legislative standoff. It also prompted an effort to recall Walker, which the governor survived this past June. Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, led the effort to pass similar legislation in his state, though it was undone by a subsequent ballot initiative.

Republican lawmakers had sought to ward off a similar ballot initiative by attaching the bill to an appropriations measure, a procedural tactic making the right-to-work law ineligible from a direct challenge at the polls.

Recommended: Fiscal cliff deal likely to be a fragile one

But union members believe they might have a chance to put the right-to-work law before voters as soon as 2014, though the changes to the law would be allowed to take effect in the meanwhile. And opponents of the right-to-work law would have to also meet a higher-than-usual threshold of support to put the question on the ballot.

Democrats vocally criticized the law in the debate preceding the vote, one lawmaker, Douglass Geiss, said there would be “blood” as a result of the law. State Rep. Shanelle Jackson, D, said the law guaranteed Snyder’s defeat in 2014, when he would be up for re-election.

Tuesday’s action makes Michigan the 24th right-to-work state, but only the second state in the Industrial Midwest to pass such a law. Michigan follows Indiana, which passed its right-to-work law in early 2012. Most other right-to-work states are located in the South and Plains states. Proponents of the laws argue that right-to-work laws have allowed those states to attract new jobs and industries, while labor advocates argue that workers in those states are forced to accept lower wages than they might enjoy in states where union membership in workplaces is compulsory. 

If Obama and Boehner are able to strike a deal, it will more than likely be a fragile one… Labor battle in Michigan: right to work and right to protest… Labor takes another punch… But will it be another Pyrrhic victory for the GOP (at least in the short run)?... Will the RNC’s autopsy satisfy conservatives who are charging that establishment GOPers are simply making money off the party, win or lose?... Nikki Haley to hold news conference at noon ET (but isn’t expected to announce appointment)… And meet Sean Patrick Maloney.

*** A fragile deal? While there’s some optimism that President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner can strike a deal to avert the looming tax hikes and spending cuts -- no news is good news, after all – it’s important to point out how fragile any deal would likely be. If there will be serious tax and entitlement reform, you’ll have triggers to enforce them. So essentially, you’re solving this so-called fiscal cliff by creating new ones. Here are the reasons for optimism: Obama and Boehner met on Sunday; the president’s public schedule is mostly free today (suggesting that he’s busy working on this matter); and more and more Republicans are coming around to the idea that they’re probably going to have to cave on tax rates. But here’s the pessimism: raising the debt ceiling. We’re hearing that this issue might be the biggest obstacle right now. More than taxes or entitlements, that issue appears to be the one that GOP leaders might have the hardest time convincing the rank-and-file to hand over to the Obama White House and Democrats in any kind of deal. And the White House may not realize how important it is for Boehner to stick to his guns on this.

Bill Pugliano / Getty Images

President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at the Daimler Detroit Diesel engine plant Dec. 10, 2012 in Redford, Mi.

*** Right to work and right to protest: As NBC’s Mike O’Brien reported yesterday, “Republicans stand on the cusp of delivering a major blow to organized labor, as they prepare to vote Tuesday on legislation to make Michigan – a state linked to unions in the public conscious – a ‘right to work’ state.” And Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has said he would sign the legislation into law. The protests have already begun, the Detroit News adds. “Union members turned out early in the morning, dead set on protesting the controversial legislation… At 5 a.m. Tuesday, Michigan Laborers started to unload their supplies for the day. The union came prepared with tents and hand warmers to withstand the chilly 22-degree weather.” But it is worth noting a couple of reasons why labor and Democrats are losing this fight, even in Michigan. For one thing, the Democratic Party isn’t united on this issue; after all, there are several prominent Democratic politicians (Virginia’s Mark Warner and Tim Kaine come immediately to mind) who hail from right-to-work states. Also, labor lost the framing of this national debate. Despite the merits of compulsory union dues and membership -- if you’re going to receive the benefits from a collective-bargaining agreement, you’ve got to pay the dues -- Republicans and the businesses largely have succeeded in making this about choice.

*** Labor takes another punch: Even though the last few decades generally haven’t been kind to America’s labor movement -- with union participation rates declining -- it still has remained a political force. The unions’ money and ground efforts matter. So, too, do their endorsements in Democratic primaries. But if there’s one theme to the labor battles we’ve seen over the past two years, with the latest one taking place in Michigan, it’s that Republican politicians have been more than willing to punch organized labor in the face, even in its own backyard. Yes, unions have been able to hit back. In 2011, they overturned Ohio’s anti-collective-bargaining effort. And they also were able to recall a handful of GOP state senators in Wisconsin. But they bet big on trying to oust Gov. Scott Walker (R) from office, and they lost.

*** Pyrrhic victories? All that said, it is worth noting that the anti-union efforts and other aggressive actions by the 2010 class of Republican governors -- Florida’s Rick Scott, Ohio’s John Kasich, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker -- have been Pyrrhic victories, at least in the short term. For starters, Obama again won in all of these states in 2012, proving that weakening labor in these states didn’t hurt the Democratic incumbent. Also consider that Kasich and Scott, in particular, aren’t sure bets for re-election in 2014. In fact, while a new Quinnipiac poll shows Kasich’s approval rating to be above water for the first time since taking office, a plurality of voters say he doesn’t deserve a second term in office. But for labor, there’s also no evidence they are going to be able to win this right-to-work battle -- or even future ones. How does labor regroup? Does it decide to concede on things like right-to-work in favor of collective bargaining?

*** Will the RNC’s autopsy satisfy conservatives? The Republican National Committee yesterday launched an effort -- dubbed the "Growth and Opportunity Project" -- to examine what worked and what didn't in the 2012 election. And five Republicans will chair the initiative: RNC member Henry Barbour of Mississippi, RNC member Zori Fonalledas of Puerto Rico, RNC member Glenn McCall of South Carolina, Florida political strategist (and Jeb Bush adviser) Sally Bradshaw, and former Bush 43 White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. The question we have is whether this autopsy effort will satisfy conservatives who believe that establishment Republicans are simply making money off the GOP, win or lose. As Breitbart columnist Michael Patrick Leahy recently wrote, “Federal Election Commission reports filed by the Republican National Committee on Thursday show that one-third of the $59.3 million it spent directly with vendors in the last five weeks of the election was paid to one telemarketing firm, FLS Connect, LLC,” which just happens to be co-founded by the RNC’s current chief of staff. Prominent conservative Erick Erickson has made a similar charge. And then there’s question whether these five chairs -- Barbour, Fonalledas, Bradshaw, McCall, Fleischer -- are too establishment. After all, there isn’t a single person from the conservative grassroots here. Say what you want about Howard Dean and the DNC from 2005-2008, but he was willing to break china to fix things. Can the same be said of the current RNC?

*** Haley to hold news conference: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is holding a news conference at noon ET in North Charleston, SC. Per NBC’s Ali Weinberg, Haley isn’t expected to announce her appointment to fill Sen. Jim DeMint’s Senate seat. But yesterday, the governor said she WILL NOT appoint a placeholder, saying: "I believe South Carolina will be best served by a U.S. senator who will work hard day in and day out, and put him or herself before the voters at the soonest possible time," Haley said in a statement. "Accordingly, I reject the option of a 'placeholder.'"

*** Meet Sean Patrick Maloney: NBC’s Carrie Dann has profiled 10 new members to watch in the next Congress. Today’s profile: Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY). “A former senior adviser in President Bill Clinton's administration, Sean Patrick Maloney also worked as a staffer for New York governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson before mounting his own political run. Maloney unseated Republican Rep. Nan Hayworth in a New York's redrawn 18th District. The first openly gay New York congressman, Maloney and his partner Randy Florke have three adopted children together. Maloney once told New York Magazine that his hero is fictional lawyer Atticus Finch and came in third in New York's 2006 Democratic primary for attorney general. In addition to his career as a behind-the-scenes political aide, Maloney also made a name at two prestigious New York law firms. He was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP before moving to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.”

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*** Tuesday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing talks to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Liz Sidoti and Matt Welch about the fiscal cliff negotiations; Kerry Kennedy looks at Secretary Clinton’s legacy with women’s and human rights and who will fill the void when she leaves; Chip Saltsman & Fmr. Gov. Ted Strickland on Speaker Boehner’s challenges within his caucus; and Nicholas Kristof looks at the unfortunate consequences of the social safety net.

*** Tuesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI), and RNC Nat’l Committeeman from SC Glenn McCall. Today’s Power Panel includes: Time Magazine’s Rana Faroohar, MSNBC Contributor Ron Reagan and Republican Strategist John Brabender.

*** Tuesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews UAW President Bob King, Democratic strategist Debbie Dingell, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, Ruth Marcus and Jonathan Capehart, NBC’s Ron Mott, Politico’s Maggie Haberman and documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki.

*** Tuesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Rep. Sander Levin, Politico's Lois Romano, Dem strategist Chris Kofinis, Michael Smerconish, Mississippi RNC member Henry Barbour who is part of the RNC's "growth and opportunity" project, and Bill Ballenger from "Inside Michigan Politics."

“President Barack Obama says right-to-work legislation in Michigan is more about politics than economics. He is criticizing a measure that would prevent requiring non-union employees to financially support unions at their workplace,” AP writes. “Obama received loud applause at a Michigan engine plant when he said we shouldn’t be ‘taking away your rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions.’ The president says that the right-to-work bills are more about ‘giving you the right to work for less money.’”

How big is the right-to-work story in Michigan? The Detroit Free Press is liveblogging it.

“Evidence of Congress’ plummeting popularity is everywhere,” AP writes. “From New Hampshire diners to Colorado coffee shops, weary residents report widespread concern. They relate the debate in Washington over their tax dollars with their own lives: average Americans who are struggling every day to make ends meet. And already distracted by the holidays and tired of politics after a bitter presidential campaign, they are calling on Washington to get its act together.”

Obama and Biden will lunch today.

The president now has an extinct lizard named after him, the Obamadon.

How much would you pay to hear Jim Messina talk about the Obama campaign’s winning 2012 efforts?

“Aides to President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner say they're talking about a debt deal — they just want the other guy to be a little more specific,” USA Today reports. “Obama's team called on Boehner and other Republicans Monday to be more precise about higher taxes on wealthy Americans; Boehner's office said they await more details from the president on spending cuts.”

Politico: “The Oklahoma senator and obstetrician known as ‘Dr. No’ has taken on the most unlikely of roles: getting Republicans to say ‘yes’ to tax hikes. Tom Coburn, who has blocked dozens of bills, infuriated Democratic leaders and been on the lopsided end of some 96-3 votes, has been encouraging fellow Republicans both publicly and behind the scenes to break with the anti-tax orthodoxy that has come to define — some say hamstring — the modern GOP.”

Said Coburn: “I’m for raising revenue because we have to — it’s not because we should but because we have to.” Coburn called tax hikes “inevitable.” “It’s still going to happen. That’s what the law is.”

National Journal: “In the negotiations to avoid a year-end fiscal crisis, Republicans may be playing with fire. The GOP's biggest piece of leverage—whether to increase the limit on how much money the nation can borrow—is also one fraught with political and economic risk, experts and analysts say. If they don’t tread carefully, Republicans risk alienating allies on Wall Street or, worse, hurting the nation's credit rating and economy.”

Christmas may not be the end date… “If they miss Christmas, negotiators then have to aim for Jan. 1 -- the start of the year of the ‘fiscal cliff,’ a series of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that kick in if the parties are unable to reach a debt reduction deal,” USA Today writes. “If negotiators fail -- if they go over the cliff -- then they face yet another key date: Jan. 3, the day a new Congress is sworn in, and most of the process starts all over again.”

Immigration is the next battle. Politico outlines five Republicans to watch on the issue – Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador (Puerto Rico native who practiced immigration law), Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake (has teamed up with Rep. Gutierrez in the past), Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, and Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte (incoming chairman of Judiciary).

Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is the only member of Congress that still wants “lunatic” on the books.

“U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday found himself defending his legal writings that some find offensive and anti-gay,” AP writes. Speaking at Princeton University, Scalia was asked by a gay student why he equates laws banning sodomy with those barring bestiality and murder. ‘I don't think it's necessary, but I think it's effective,’ Scalia said, adding that legislative bodies can ban what they believe to be immoral.”

He added, “If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?"

“South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she will not appoint a ‘place holder’ to replace Jim DeMint in the U.S. Senate who pledges not to run for the seat in 2014,” USA Today writes.

Here’s a headline you don’t see every day about a mayoral hopeful: “Bill de Blasio says he's proud of his marriage — and his wife's outspoken lesbian past.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s approval rating is 42%/35%, per Quinnipiac, “his first positive rating since he took office,” Political Wire notes.

Updated 7:39 p.m. — Republicans stand on the cusp of delivering a major blow to organized labor, as they prepare to vote Tuesday on legislation to make Michigan – a state linked to unions in the public conscious – a “right to work” state.

Carlos Osorio / AP

About a dozen members of the Michigan Nurses Association stand on the state Capitol steps in Lansing, Mich., Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, protesting right-to-work legislation.

State lawmakers are expected to approve legislation barring rules in workplaces that make union membership a condition of employment. The offensive would mark the culmination of efforts by Midwestern Republican governors to curb labor rights in the heart of industrial America, where unions once loomed large.

President Barack Obama led Democrats on Monday in a counteroffensive, hoping to stymie Republicans in control of Michigan’s House and Senate, who could act as soon as Tuesday to approve right to work legislation after approving initial versions of the proposed law last week.

Related: Obama decries right-to-work proposal during trip to Michigan

“These so-called right to work laws, they don't have anything to do with economics. They have everything to do with politics,” Obama said in Redford, Mich., where he had planned to travel well before the labor fight erupted last week. "What they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money."

But Republicans maintain commanding majorities in Lansing. And Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has said he would sign the legislation if it reached his desk. With that, he would become the latest Republican governor to be elected in 2010 in a Midwestern state to advance legislation meant to curb labor rights. A familiar battle, which played out with such intensity in other states over the last two years, has now found a new epicenter in Michigan.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker memorably pushed legislation through his statehouse that stripped public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights; his initiative prompted a recall election, which the Republican survived in June. Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s similar effort to curb bargaining rights was only halted when voters reversed such a law through a ballot initiative.

But Michigan Republicans might now succeed in passing a right to work law, a favorite proposal of conservatives that isn’t even on the books in Wisconsin or Ohio. Snyder, who had previously said that seeking such a law wasn’t on his agenda, may now preside over one of the most striking symbolic blows to organized labor in some time.

“I think he's defaulting on his responsibilities,” Michigan Democratic Rep. Sander Levin told NBC News on Monday. “It's a cave to the radical right.”

Levin was among the group of lawmakers who met on Monday with Snyder to plead with him to veto the legislation, or at least delay a vote in the state legislature. Absent that, Levin said Democrats want Republicans to change their proposal to allow for voters to repeal the law through a ballot initiative, as voters did in Ohio. The Michigan law is coupled with an appropriations bill that would exempt it from a popular vote challenge.

Related: Dems launch blitz to halt 'right to work' law in Michigan

“I would have a very difficult time seeing that get changed,” said state Rep. Marty Knollenberg, the chief sponsor of the law in the state House. He contended that the appropriation provision is necessary to help implement the law.

In short, opponents of the Michigan proposal would have little recourse available to challenge the law in the immediate future, making its impact on a union-heavy state like Michigan even more pronounced.

“I think the Republican strategy in doing this so quickly is that they don’t want what Wisconsin had, dragging on for so many days,” said Bill Ballenger, the editor of the influential “Inside Michigan Politics” newsletter. “This is a blitzkrieg, and Republicans hope it’s going to be over and done with tomorrow.

While Republicans in the Michigan Capitol had long pined to advance this law, it languished until after the election. In November, the state’s voters rejected an amendment that would have added a right to collective bargaining to the Michigan state constitution. Amid rumblings that the GOP leadership would resurrect the proposal, it was brought to a vote in the state House and state Senate before organized labor and Democrats were effectively able to mobilize.

Democrats have now turned their attention toward Snyder, who had styled himself as a kind of pragmatic Republican who avoided the ideological trench warfare of his fellow partisans, in halting the law.  According to congressional Democrats, during a meeting with Snyder the governor said he took their concerns “seriously,” though they’re less optimistic privately that he’ll reverse course.

Organized labor groups are organizing a “day of action” on Tuesday in Lansing, including a march to the state capitol that will likely invoke memories of the tens of thousands of activists who flooded the state house in Madison, Wis., during the height of Walker’s legislative battle in 2011.

But Knollenberg said he “can’t think of anything” that would prompt him to back off the legislation. Moreover, Knollenberg suggested it’s state Republican lawmakers – rather than Snyder – who are driving the effort. 

“It certainly started from the legislature, and then it was presented to the governor,” he said.

“It wasn’t on his priority list, as he indicated,” Knollenberg said of Snyder. But once Republicans had gathered adequate support for the proposal, Snyder “adapted his beliefs and saw that this was a real opportunity to put Michigan on the map in terms of creating jobs.”

And as the law’s passage seems more like a fait accompli, Snyder, if nothing else, will join the ranks of Walker and Kasich. All three will be seriously targeted by Democrats and organized labor in 2014, offering a chance for voters to render their verdict on this trio of Republican antagonists.

For their part, Democrats warn that the toxic partisanship that took hold in Wisconsin and Ohio would now spread to Michigan.

“Instead of Michigan united, it becomes Michigan divided,” Levin said. “We’ve gone from a bipartisan effort to deepening partisanship.”

Alternatively, it could enshrine Snyder – a former business executive who postured himself as “one tough nerd” during his 2010 campaign – as a darling of conservatives who wish to further put unions on the defensive.

“For the state, I think it's absolutely monumental,” said Stu Sandler, a Republican consultant in Michigan. “It's the most significant piece of legislation in decades, and sends a very strong signal about the direction the state is heading.”

Warned one senior labor official, "If this bill is signed, it's going to be Thunderdome between now and 2014."

Knollenberg argued his legislation is only about providing opportunity to the state’s workers.

“I just hope that at the end of the day … the unions will then have to sell their story as to why they’re benefiting the workers,” he said. “I believe that if they can demonstrate their value to their workers, they’ll do fine. But they’re going to have to work for it.”

Update: Not all hope was lost for supporters of organized labor, who believe they would be able to use a citizens initiative under Michigan law to eventually challenge the right-to-work law. Under such a scenario, if labor supporters could gather a higher number of signatories to a petition, they could force a vote to undo the law in 2014. However, the new right-to-work law would be allowed to take effect in the meanwhile.

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REDFORD, MICH. – President Barack Obama traveled Monday to Michigan to tout a new investment in domestic auto jobs, while using the opportunity to assail the state's Republican lawmakers for pursuing "right to work" legislation.

Obama renewed his offensive to pressure Republicans into extending middle class tax cuts, calling on Congress to pass legislation making the Bush-era tax rates for those making below $250,000 permanent.

But this trip to the Detroit-area came with some extra baggage in the form of a state-wide union battle over a right-to-work law that Michigan’s governor, Rick Snyder (R) has pledged to sign. The president addressed the union controversy towards the middle of his remarks:

"We should do everything we can to encourage companies like Daimler to keep investing in American workers," Obama said, "what we shouldn’t be doing is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions."

Related: Lawmakers implore Michigan gov. to halt or delay 'right to work' law

The audience responded enthusiastically as  the president continued: "These so-called right-to-work laws, they don't have to do with economics. They have everything to do with politics. What they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money."

While Snyder did not join the president for his event at the Daimler-owned Detroit Diesel Corporation, the governor did greet Obama on the tarmac along with some of  the Democratic members of  Michigan’s congressional delegation.

Snyder had a meeting with many members of the Michigan delegation earlier today to discuss the legislation, which would make mandatory payment of union dues or fees as a condition of employment illegal. On the flight to Michigan, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney noted that the president’s opposition to right-to-work laws was “well known” and the optics of this were brought even more into focus by the president being accompanied on his tour of the engine plant by the UAW NW Local 163 Detroit Diesel Engine Unit Shop Chairperson Mark Gibson, and multiple people in the crowd sporting UAW stickers. Currently, 23 states and Guam have some type of right-to-work legislation on the books.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

President Barack Obama speaks on the economy and fiscal cliff negotiations after touring the Daimler Detroit Diesel Plant in Redford, Michigan, December 10, 2012.

But while the president was on the tour of the Redford engine plant, the clock continued to tick towards the end of the year and the so-called fiscal cliff. Obama again insisted that tax rates on the wealthiest Americans should be allowed to go up,

"What you need is a package that keeps taxes where they are for middle-class families," he said. "We make some tough spending cuts on things that we don't need, and then we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a slightly higher tax rate. And that's a principle I won't compromise on."

He didn’t mention his meeting over the weekend with House Speaker John Boehner, choosing instead to focus the blame on Congress if taxes go up for everyone at the end of the year.

"If Congress doesn't act soon -- meaning in the next few weeks -- starting on Jan. 1, everybody's going to see their income taxes go up. It's true,” the president said.  The audience loudly booed and the president responded, “You all don't like that.”

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) today said she would not fill Sen. Jim DeMint's Senate seat with a temporary "placeholder" appointment.

"I believe South Carolina will be best served by a U.S. senator who will work hard day in and day out, and put him or herself before the voters at the soonest possible time," Haley said in a statement. "Accordingly, I reject the option of a 'placeholder.'"

Given that the appointment is set to fill the seat until 2014 -- when a special election takes place -- the governor had the option of selecting someone who would hold the seat through '14, but wouldn't run for the position in the special election.

But she dismissed that option today.

Also, Haley is set to hold a press conference in North Charleston tomorrow at noon ET, but according to NBC's Ali Weinberg, she isn't expected to announce her appointment at the event.

The Republican National Committee today launched an effort -- dubbed the "Growth and Opportunity Project" -- to examine what worked and what didn't in the 2012 election. The news was first reported by Politico.

The effort -- which will look at things like the ground game, messaging, fundraising, and the primaries -- be chaired by these five Republicans:
-- RNC member Henry Barbour of Mississippi
-- RNC member Zori Fonalledas of Puerto Rico
-- RNC member Glenn McCall of South Carolina
-- Florida political strategist (and Jeb Bush adviser) Sally Bradshaw
-- former Bush 43 White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer

The full release:

WASHINGTON - Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus today launched an initiative to grow the Republican Party and improve future Republican campaigns.

The effort, known as the Growth and Opportunity Project, will be chaired by five GOP leaders and is charged by Priebus with initially reviewing past practices and also making critical recommendations for the future in these eight key areas: 1) campaign mechanics and ground game; 2) messaging; 3) fundraising; 4) demographic partners and allies; 5) third party groups; 6) campaign finance issues; 7) presidential primaries; and 8) lessons learned from Democratic campaign tactics.

The group will reach out to hundreds of individuals including RNC Members, grassroots activists, donors, elected officials, community leaders and other important partners to gain insight and help the Republican Party form a solid path going forward. These leaders will be involved in one or more of these critical areas.

The Growth and Opportunity Project is co-chaired by five prominent Republican leaders:
Henry Barbour, National Committeeman from Mississippi
Zori Fonalledas, National Committeewoman from Puerto Rico
Glenn McCall, National Committeeman from South Carolina
Sally Bradshaw, Veteran senior strategist in Florida and national politics
Ari Fleischer, Former White House Press Secretary

They will report their findings to Chairman Priebus and make recommendations for a long-term strategy for the future.

"The Growth and Opportunity Project will recommend a plan to further ensure Republicans are victorious in 2013, 2014, 2016 and beyond," said Chairman Priebus. "I've appointed a talented group of individuals to study eight key areas, and I look forward to working with these outstanding Republicans as they conduct rigorous analysis and engage in important conversations. The work of the Growth and Opportunity Project will be critical as we move forward as a Party and take our message to every American."

"This is a time of great opportunity for the Republican Party," said Co-Chairman Sharon Day. "I am excited for the future of the GOP and am confident this project will strengthen our cause tremendously in the coming years."

UPDATED 3:35 PM ET: This could make for very interesting Secretary of State confirmation hearings.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tells the foreign policy blog The Cable at the Manama Security Dialogue that he is going to be joining the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the same committee that will be holding the confirmation hearings for whomever President Obama nominates to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

McCain's office confirms to NBC News that the story is accurate, as are the quotes in it. Communications Director Brian Rogers notes, however, that the Arizona Republican has "expressed interest" but the decision is not yet final.

"Senator McCain has expressed interest in joining the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but no final decisions on committee assignments have been made," Rogers said.

Two aides to the Foreign Relations Committee also tell NBC News that they are unaware of McCain's intention to join the committee -- so far.

"We have not heard anything of the sort," a Republican aide said. But the aide couldn't rule it out only saying, "We haven't had committee elections yet."

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice is reportedly a finalist for Secretary of State. McCain has been a main critic of Rice's, stemming from her appearances on Sunday shows following the attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including an ambassador.

But McCain's move may not be all about Rice. Because of Republican Conference rules, he is term-limited as ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Foreign Relations is up his alley. 

McCain last week told NBC's Kelly O'Donnell that he was interested in joining Foreign Relations now that his six-year term as the ranking member of Armed Services was up.

That said, despite McCain's seniority, he has no intention of challenging Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) for the top minority leadership spot on Foreign Relations. And he has never served on Foreign Relations since winning election to the Senate in 1986. He served just two years (one Congress) on Foreign Affairs while a member of the House before that.

Of Rice, McCain told The Cable: "I'll wait and see if she's nominated and we'll move on from there. She has the right to have hearings. We'll see what happens in the hearings."

Michigan's congressional delegation met Monday with Gov. Rick Snyder, asking him to veto or at least delay a vote on a "right to work" law moving through the state's legislature.

Democrats and organized labor groups have launched an all-out blitz they are hoping might halt legislation that would establish workers' rights to employment in a workplace without having to join a union. The Republican-held state legislature passed versions of the legislation last week, and are set to bring it up for final consideration as soon as Tuesday.

Snyder, a first-term Republican governor who's fashioned himself as a more pragmatic leader, has said he would sign the bill if it came to his desk.

"We strongly urged the governor to veto the so-called right to work bill, or at a minimum, ask the legislature to delay the vote on it," Sen. Carl Levin said in a conference call to describe Democrats' meeting with the governor. "The governor listened, and he told us that he would 'seriously,' in his words, consider our concerns."

Snyder's office had no immediate reaction to Democrats' characterization of the meeting.

Michigan has become the latest Midwestern epicenter over labor rights as a result of this fight, following Ohio and Wisconsin. The Republican governors of those states led efforts to curb or eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees' unions.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin

National Democrats have begun to wade into the fight as well, issuing blistering statements warning against the Michigan proposal. The fight could be elevated further this afternoon, when President Barack Obama visits the Detroit area in a previously-scheduled trip.

Democrats are particularly incensed by a procedural move used by Republican authors of the bill which would prevent the law from being challenged by a statewide referendum. The Democrats who met Monday with Snyder said they had also urged the governor to change that provision, so that the right to work proposal could be brought to a popular vote.

The “fiscal cliff” end game… If there’s going to be a deal, Obama, Boehner, and Congress need to start the heavy lifting ASAP… Kristol vs. the Wall Street Journal on caving on the tax rates… Motoring! Obama delivers remarks at 2:00 pm ET at a Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, MI… And in Michigan, the president will set foot in the state featuring the nation’s latest labor battle… The hits keep on coming for Susan Rice… The upcoming immigration push… Hillary and 2016… And meet Markwayne Mullen.

*** The end game: We’ve told you that the last couple of weeks in Washington’s fiscal debate have mostly been about P.R. and posturing. Like a student in college or a reporter working in the news business, the real work in Congress typically doesn’t happen until there’s a real deadline that’s rapidly approaching. Well, we’ve now entered that deadline phase in the negotiations between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. If the plan is to get something passed by Friday, Dec. 21 (right before the Christmas holiday), then the legislation has to be written by Dec. 18. And that means that Obama and Boehner must reach an agreement by Dec. 14-15, if there’s going to be a deal. So the time for posturing and P.R. is over. This week, we’ve reached the phase where both sides will begin rolling up their sleeves to do the heavy negotiating. Both Obama and Boehner know this, which is why they did meet behind closed doors yesterday. The question now is: Will there be a BIG deal that includes serious entitlement hits in addition to major tax reform? Or will it be JUST taxes and a punt until the debt ceiling? There’s not much of an “in between” at this point.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, talks with reporters outside his office in the Capitol Dec. 7, 2012 in Washington, DC.

*** Kristol vs. the Wall Street Journal: In addition to yesterday’s news that the president and the speaker met, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) became the latest GOP lawmaker to suggest that Republicans acquiesce on raising tax rates on the wealthy to get entitlement cuts. And that’s a stance the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page today criticizes. “So it's a shame that Republicans are playing into Mr. Obama's hands, negotiating in public among themselves, prematurely giving up on the tax issue and undermining House Speaker John Boehner in the process. Mr. Obama isn't going to blink on the budget if he thinks Republicans are going to blink first, and so far the emerging GOP position seems to be to surrender on taxes first and hope Mr. Obama will have mercy on them later on entitlements.” But the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol hits back at the Journal. “Most Republicans will go along soon after January 1 with what will now be the Democrats' tax cutting agenda. If the House Republicans now follow the Wall Street Journal editors over the cliff, the only effect, I'm afraid, will be to turn a manageable tactical retreat in December into a panicked strategic rout in January.” There is good news for Boehner in all of this: The lack of consensus among conservatives gives Boehner more running room to cut the deal he thinks is best, rather than over-worrying about specific conservative constituencies. Remember, the House GOP leadership won’t say it publicly, but they’ve signaled privately that under the RIGHT circumstance, they’d go to the floor of the House with less than a majority of the majority.

*** Motoring! Your White House fiscal-cliff photo-op of the day takes place in Michigan, where the president delivers remarks at a Daimler Detroit Diesel plant at 2:00 pm ET in Redford. Per the Detroit Free Press, Daimler, which owns Detroit Diesel, is announcing “a new investment to expand U.S. production and jobs... The White House said the investment is expected to be $100 million or more and, with it, Daimler Trucks North America will become the first heavy-duty vehicle equipment manufacturer on the continent to build a fully integrated powertrain from on production facility.” So today’s even will be a mixture of the fiscal cliff and this Daimler news.

*** Michigan’s labor battle: Yet when Obama visits Michigan, he’ll be setting foot in the state featuring the nation’s latest labor battle. “With Michigan lawmakers poised Tuesday to give final passage of right-to-work legislation, unions and their supporters plan to mass outside the Capitol that day as part of a last-ditch bid to derail the fast-moving campaign to limit labor's power,” the Detroit News says. “If lawmakers reconcile the bills and pass a final version Tuesday — as expected — Gov. Rick Snyder has said he will sign it, making Michigan the 24th right-to-work state and dealing a major blow to organized labor in one of its traditional strongholds.” Out of all the new Republican governors who were elected in 2010, Michigan’s Rick Snyder was always viewed as the least ideological of the bunch. So when Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, or Rick Scott in Florida were pursuing controversial changes and legislation and confronting the labor movement, Snyder -- who calls himself “one tough nerd” -- stayed away from the ideological wars and focused on the economy. In fact, he even appeared to support Obama’s auto bailout. But now the Michigan governor finds himself knee deep in the same kind of controversy we saw in Wisconsin and Ohio. By the way, while we do expect Snyder to greet the president at the airport, don’t expect to see Snyder with the president at the Chrysler event because it’s taking place at a UAW facility.

*** Hits keep coming for Rice: It’s no longer Benghazi, or even the Keystone XL Pipeline. Critics of Susan Rice are now pointing to the Obama administration’s failure to intervene in the atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The New York Times: “Specifically, these critics — who include officials of human rights organizations and United Nations diplomats — say the administration has not put enough pressure on Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, to end his support for the rebel movement whose recent capture of the strategic city of Goma in Congo set off a national crisis in a country that has already lost more than three million people in more than a decade of fighting. Rwanda’s support is seen as vital to the rebel group, known as M23.” And the Times reports that Rice has been viewed as shielding Kagame. And then there’s a New York Times op-ed from journalist Salem Solomon, who accuses Rice of showing “a surprising and unsettling sympathy for Africa’s despots.” This is the problem for Rice as long as President Obama doesn’t officially appoint her (or John Kerry) to fill the secretary of state position: She’s dangling like a piñata for critics to whack, without an official campaign to defend her. But with the fiscal cliff taking up more and more time and this secretary of state issue becoming such a headache for the administration, there’s a very real chance the president doesn’t announce any new cabinet members until AFTER the new year.

*** The upcoming immigration push: Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Times noted that the Obama White House is preparing for a big push on comprehensive immigration reform after the “fiscal cliff” negotiations end. “Senior White House advisors plan to launch a social media blitz in January, and expect to tap the same organizations and unions that helped get a record number of Latino voters to reelect the president. Cabinet secretaries are preparing to make the case for how changes in immigration laws could benefit businesses, education, healthcare and public safety. Congressional committees could hold hearings on immigration legislation as soon as late January or early February.” More: “Democratic strategists believe there is only a narrow window at the beginning of the year to get an initiative launched in Congress, before lawmakers begin to turn their attention to the next election cycle and are less likely to take a risky vote on a controversial bill.”

*** Hillary and 2016: On Sunday, the New York Times ran a “Hillary 2016” story, and we all should prepare for these kind of stories once a month until she decides to run (or not) for president. “Right now, aides and friends say, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s plan looks like this: exit the State Department shortly after Inauguration Day and then seclude herself to rest and reflect on what she wants to do for the next few years. Those who have invited her for 2013 engagements have been told not to even ask again until April or May.” The Times does make this important point: If she does want to keep the presidential door open, her options are limited. “The more serious she is about 2016, the less she can do — no frank, seen-it-all memoir; no clients, commissions or controversial positions that could prove problematic. She will be under heavy scrutiny even by Clinton standards, discovering what it means to be a supposedly private citizen in the age of Twitter. With the election four years away — a political eon — she will have to tend and protect her popularity, and she may find herself in a cushy kind of limbo, unable to make many decisions about her life until she makes the big one about another White House try.”

*** Meet Markwayne Mullin: NBC’s Carrie Dann has profiled 10 new members to watch in the next Congress. Today’s profile: Markwayne Mullen. When his father's illness forced Mullin to quit college and take over the family plumbing business, the 20-year-old and his wife turned a flailing enterprise into a small eastern Oklahoma empire. Mullin, now 35, won the House seat vacated by retiring Rep. Dan Boren, running under the banner "A rancher. A businessman. Not a politician!" The Tulsa native -- a social conservative who vehemently opposes "amnesty" proposals -- has promised to take a no-frills attitude to the halls of Congress. Casually dressed on election night, he joked with supporters that he defied his campaign staff's request that he wear a suit to deliver his victory speech. "They got me this far, and boots are going to take me all the way there and bring me all the way back" from Washington, he said.

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*** Monday’s “The Daily Rundown” line-up: Erskine Bowles on the debt dealmaking and whether he'd take a job in the second term… Business Roundtable President and fmr. Gov. John Engler (R-MI) on the cliff and the president's trip to Michigan today… Plus Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, NPR's Ari Shapiro and Michelle Bernard of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy.

*** Monday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Dana Milbank and Jackie Kucinich; Michigan state leader-elect, Rep. Tim Greimel, talks about fighting the right-to-work campaign; Daniella Gibbs Leger and David Winston talk Hillary 2016; and Michael Singh weighs in on Egypt and Syria.

*** Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-MI), The New York Times’ Jodi Kantor, “Equality Matters” President Richard Socarides, and the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart.  Today’s Power Panel includes: Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown, Democratic Strategist Jaime Harrison, and Republican Strategist Chip Saltsman.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, Human Rights Campaign Pres. Chad Griffin, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin, Amna Nawez and Pete Williams.

*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews the Washington Posts Nia Malika Henderson, Dem strategist David Goodfriend, Michael Smerconish, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), and Former Clinton adviser Richard Socarides on the Supreme Court taking up gay marriage.

“An American appetite for tax hikes gives President Barack Obama leverage in fiscal cliff negotiations,” Politico writes. “A new Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll finds that 60 percent of respondents support raising taxes on households that earn more than $250,000 a year and 64 percent want to raise taxes on large corporations.”

“President Obama and Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, met on Sunday at the White House to discuss efforts to resolve the so-called ‘fiscal cliff,’ according to Boehner's spokesman,” National Journal writes.

USA Today: “President Obama and John Boehner met Sunday at the White House, and aides are saying little about it. That is probably good news for the fiscal cliff negotiations.”

NBC’s Carrie Dann: “While the public standoff continues between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, both sides are staking out their ground for a looming fight over entitlement reform even as some Republicans acknowledge that they may lose the short term debate over tax rates for the highest-income Americans.”

“President Obama’s inaugural committee has decided to accept unlimited corporate donations to help fund the event, reversing a decision from four years ago and drawing criticism for a president who has vowed to change the culture of Washington and limit the influence of outside money,” the Boston Globe writes.

Obama heads to Michigan to a Daimler plant… The Detroit Free Press: “Daimler, which owns Detroit Diesel Corp., will announce a new investment to expand U.S. production and jobs as President Barack Obama visits the company’s Redford facility today. The White House said the investment is expected to be $100 million or more and, with it, Daimler Trucks North America will become the first heavy-duty vehicle equipment manufacturer on the continent to build a fully integrated powertrain from on production facility.”

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is taking heat his support of right-to-work legislation. The Detroit Free Press editorial page: “For two years, we supported Snyder as he took painful steps to restore Michigan's fiscal stability and confront a crisis in which plunging tax revenues and mounting obligations to retired workers threatened to cripple the state's cities and school districts. … [W]e trusted Snyder's judgment. That trust has now been betrayed -- for us, and for the hundreds of thousand of independents who voted for Snyder with the conviction that they were electing someone more independent, and more visionary, than partisan apparatchiks like Wisconsin's Scott Walker or Florida's Rick Scott. … Michigan voters who provided Snyder's margin of victory in 2010 feel betrayed, and they have every justification. If he was ever serious about being the governor who brought Michiganders together, Snyder has just sent himself back to Square One.”

Why’s the SEIU going to Rahm Emanuel’s house with signs branding him a “job killer”? “Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday defended a new janitorial contract at O'Hare International Airport that union members have said will cost Chicagoans good-paying jobs,” the Chicago Tribune wrote. “About 100 people, including members of Service Employees International Union Local 1 and clergy members, showed up at City Hall Tuesday afternoon to take part in a prayer vigil outside the mayor's fifth-floor office to protest the $99 million contract with United Maintenance Co. Inc., hours after Emanuel spoke in favor of the five-year pact.”

And now he’s being branded “Rahmfather” for this: “The mob-related questions keep coming in connection with the company awarded a $99 million custodial contract at O'Hare International Airport, and for the second day the mayor dodged potential Rahmfather implications,” NBC Chicago writes. “Reports surfaced Wednesday that Paul Fosco, a vice president of United Service Companies, served time in 1987 after he was charged in the same corruption case as late mobster Anthony “Big Tuna” Accardo, who was acquitted. A day earlier the Chicago Sun-Times reported the owner of United Service, Richard Simon, had partnered in the past with alleged mob figure William Daddano Jr.”

Political Wire:  “[T]he  Wall Street Journal reports Republican leaders ‘are pushing what looks like a relatively painless method of slowing federal spending, one that alters how the government calculates annual cost-of-living increases for an array of programs.’”

Bob Corker on FOX: "There is a growing group of folks that are looking at this and realizing that we don't have a lot of cards on the tax issue before year end. A lot of people are putting forth a theory and I actually think it has merit, where you go ahead give the president the two percent increase that he is talking about -- the rate increase on the top two percent -- and all of a sudden the shift goes back to entitlements."

“After two years of near-weekly meetings, countless conference calls, breakfasts, and dinners spent batting back and forth deficit-reduction ideas, the bipartisan ‘Gang of Eight’ senators is shifting its focus, now that the deadline for a fiscal-cliff deal is just days away,” National Journal writes. “Instead of trying to craft its own deal, the group is putting its considerable energy toward encouraging a budget compromise between House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama, according to aides of the senators. Should Obama and Boehner arrive at a deal, the group will seek to rally momentum for its passage on Capitol Hill—where it may need considerable help—although it’s questionable how much cover the senators could give a package that might come under siege from both conservatives and liberals in the House who blanch at a tax-hike/entitlement-cut deal.”

In the last result to be finalized of the cycle…  “Louisiana congressman Charles Boustany won a fifth term on Saturday by handily defeating his fellow Republican incumbent, Jeff Landry, in a runoff election,” the AP writes.

Alexandria (La.) Town Talk: “Tea party support wasn't enough to return Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry to Congress for a second term after Louisiana lost a U.S. House seat in redistricting.”

“Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comments about 47% of the population dependent on the government and ‘binders full of women’ topped this year's best quotes, according to a Yale University librarian,” the AP says. “Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School, released his seventh annual list of the most notable quotations of the year.”