bargaining chips? very little bargaining chips. there s no question about it that speaker boehner has come out of these negotiation talk, alex, very weakened, painly because he is the speaker and he is the leader of the republican party, but he doesn t have it doesn t appear he has a loot of followers behind him, especially from a very small, let me underscore that, a very, very small minority in the republican party that are holding the majority of the republicans hostage here. at the end of the day, the speaker is relevant here but no question that the they have the upper hand right now. the president says he s coming back to washington after christmas. he s out in hawaii but will try to hammer out a deal before new year s. what are those negotiations going to be like? do you think he s going to put more on the table in hopes of reaching some sort of compromise? he s already put a lot on the table. i mean, he s already signed into law a trillion dollars in cuts as part of the