San diego north into l. A. County. Southern california is in store for another day of high tides and flooding. The socalled king tides are formed by the alignment of the sun, moon and earth. This happens once every 30 years. Former South African president Nelson Mandela is said to be making progress as he battles a lung infection. It started with trash talking and ended with gunfire. Surveillance cameras capture a shooting wounding two people. All that okay. We need the jaws of life. Final in philadelphia, 3413 cincinnati. The Houston Rockets latest effort to sing is pretty embarrassing. And dradle i shall how do i even know youre a nun . You dont have the thing on. I know, i know but i have my medal on. Is that your nun badge . Thats my nun badge. Barbara walters most fascinating person of the year is disgraced cia former director david petraeus. I was thinking if this guy was a little less fascinating, hed probably still have his job. Captioning funded by cbs welcome to welcome to cbs this morning. Susan rice will not be the new secretary of state. She was president obamas top choice to replace hillary clinton. Yesterday she withdrew her name from consideration. That follows months of republican criticism over her First Response to the attack that killed the u. S. Ambassador to libya. Margaret brennan is at the state department. Margaret, good morning. Reporter good morning, norah and charlie. Cbs news has learned susan rice privately began expressing doubts about her nomination to friends this week saying the attacks had reached a fevered pitch. Then yesterday she had a phone conversation with president obama and withdrew her name from consideration as secretary of state. I would have been very honored to serve in that job, just as im delighted to do what im doing. But yes, sure how can you not want to in my field serve at the highest possible level . Reporter last night u. N. Ambassador susan rice explained why she asked president obama not to consider her for secretary of state. In an oped she wrote, quote, a National Security appointment, much less a potential one, should never be turned into a political football. There are far bigger issues at stake. On twitter she posted those of you who know me know that im a fighter, but not at the cost of whats right for our country. Shes not qualified. Anyone who goes on National Television in defiance of the facts five days later, were all responsible for what we say and what we do. Reporter rice became the center of a political firestorm after doing a string of interviews five days after the september attacks on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. She described the assault as the result of spontaneous protests not premeditated. Days later, intelligence officials publicly labeled it an act of terror. Republican senators led by john mccain accused rice of misleading the american people. President obama came to her defense. When they go after the u. N. Ambassador apparently because they think shes an easy target then they have got a problem with me. Reporter late yesterday, the president said he wasnt disappointed by rices decision. Susan is going to continue to be an outstanding u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. I hadnt made a decision about who would be my next secretary of state. Theres no doubt that susan was qualified. There are other people who are qualified as well. Reporter senator john kerry is rumored to be the new front runner for secretary of state. He chairs the committee that would have confirmed rice if she had been nominated. Its not clear whats next for her or whether shell take a new job in the administration. Susan rice meets this afternoon with president obama. Margaret brennan, thank you. With us former secretary of state madelineeine albright. She used to be rices boss at the state department. Welcome. Very good to be with you. Do you believe even though susan rice had not been nominated that this became a political suicide not suicide, but assassination . I think it was very political and sad and i think does not speak well for those who attacked her. Ive known susan since she was 4 years old. I think shes a remarkable person who has served our country in a number of different posts. She was assistant secretary for africa when i was secretary of state. I think shes done an amazing job at the United Nations making very clear what America National interests are, and i think she would have been a great secretary of state. She will continue to work at the u. N. , where her credibility is very high and shes very close to the president. Would it have been possible for her to overcome the objections raised by senator mccain and others . I have no way of knowing. I think that she and the president must have made a judgment and she said it that it was a distraction. And there are an awful lot of things going on. And i im really sorry that this has happened because she would have been great, and shes wonderful and she doesnt deserve as a human being, she does not deserve the attacks that were made upon her that were false. It was really outrageous. First she was sent out on the sunday talk shows to talk about something that was really not in her purview, that was really secretary clintons responsibility about what happened in libya. And then number two, she was never even nominated to be secretary of state and shes withdrawing her name. Did she get hung out there by the white house . Let me just say i think we all know how choices for the sunday shows are made. When i was ambassador at the u. N. , i would go on and talk about Different Things so i would not frame it the way you had. I think that its very hard to figure out what happened here, as to why these very personal attacks. And she had not been nominated. And i think that there was just a kind of avalanche. I find it really sad. I love washington and i just dont like what has happened at this point. Its just very unpleasant and sad. And something that a very very good Public Servant deserves or nobody deserves frankly. One of the big challenges for the next secretary of state will be syria and our own mccormick spoke with secretary panetta and learned he is sending two missile batteries to turkey including 400 members of the u. S. Military to help. Does that signal a greater u. S. Military involvement . What it signals is turkey is a member of nato. I have just come from turturkey. It has very serious issues with the number of refugees coming in. As a nato member we are really have to and want to and are committed to defending turkey so i think it is a 98nato issue and shows a sign we do not want the problems in syria to spread outside the borders. If in fact they begin to move chemical weapons, what should the United States and turkey and other country do so . People are very concerned about the use of the chemical weapons and also lack of control over them. And i think that there again, there will be president obama has made very clear that that is a line. And i think that there probably will be nato looking at it in a variety of looking at it meaning . More deterngtrents and threats about what could be done. But it is a very serious issue, very serious, because the father of Bashar Al Assad did use chemical weapons against his people. I think this is where the International Community would have to do something about it. Secretary Madeleine Albright good to see you. Thank you for being here. Very good to be with you. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. We want to now turn to the fiscal cliff where the deadline is now 18 days away. President obama and House Speaker john boehner held a white house meeting on thursday. They did not reach an agreement, and now there are signs that any deal could be small and limited. Bill plante is at the white house. Bill, good morning. Reporter good morning. And good morning out west. The president and the speaker met for almost an hour last evening and that will be the main topic of todays White House Briefing in a couple of hours. Even though its clear that the two men didnt agree last night on much of anything. The speaker left the capitol last night planning to head home to ohio for the weekend. His meeting with the president came after a day when the two sides couldnt even agree on how to address the problem. Ive been pushing all year for us to address this problem. But here we are at the 11th hour and the president still isnt serious about dealing with this issue right here. Its this issue. Spending. Republicans need to accept the fact that rates will go up on the top 2 . And that we should extend tax cuts for the remaining 98 . Reporter in an interview with cbs minneapolis station wcco, president obama sounded an optimistic note. I remain hopeful that we can get this resolved. It shouldnt be hard to get resolved. Reporter but the president repeated his demand that republicans must allow tax cuts to expire for the top 2 of u. S. Households. The big problem right now is is that republicans in the house are resistant to the idea of the wealthiest americans paying higher tax rates. Reporter despite some voices in the Republican Party now saying that they may have to accept tax increases on top earners, the speaker remains publicly adamant that tax hikes are out of the question. If we were to do what the president is asking for, some 700,000 jobs would be at risk. Its as simple as that. Washington has a spending problem. It cant be fixed with tax increases alone. Reporter if there is no progress in the next few days theres almost no chance that anything can get done before christmas. And very little chance to do anything before the end of the year. But the Speakers Office and the white house say discussions will continue. As one of the speakers staff put it theres Cell Phone Service in ohio. Norah, charlie. All right, theres still cell phones. Bill plante, thank you. Lets go to cbs news political director john dickerson. John, good morning. Good morning. Is the White House Acting like it has all the cards . They definitely are. They are adamant on this question of tax rates and also on this question of the debt limit. Next year the fight or coming fight about whether congress is going to raise the debt limit. The white house says they are very much against having that fight again. Thats another big part of this deal. But the question for the president is you know there are some other issues here. They think the economy is poised and ready to really rebound and thats one of the pressures on getting a deal thats a pressure on the white house. If the president can get this out of the way the economy can get moving again, thats a great legacy for him if he can say the economy turned around. Also you can imagine wanting to really get this out of the way before the inauguration so that his second term doesnt look like its stuck in the same position as the end of his first term was. So how do they plan to get boehner to blink . Boy, its hard. I mean they want boehner to blink on this tax question. Now, how is he going to do that . If they can give him enough on the spending side on entitlements. But the problem the white house says, were not going to keep offering up spending reductions entitlement cuts that our liberals will not like if you just keep pocketing them and saying okay well take that and then not change our position on raising rates. Boehner has got to go first on this question of raising rates. But has the president said to john boehner if in fact we get the rates, i will do these spending cuts and recommend these spending cuts . Has he made that clear to john boehner so that john boehner can go to his caucus and say this is what well get if we agree to go allow these rates to raise . Its done in hints and its done in instanttimations. Yes, whether its raising the eligibility age for medicare means testing medicare even some possible movement on the question of the Consumer Price index in terms of social security, which the white house publicly has ruled out. They have said we are open to these possibilities maybe if youre going to move in a big way on rates. But theyre interconnected. And so these discussions that are going on in private, that if they were ever made public would evaporate. They are going on. But the white house is not offering too much if the republicans are not going to move on these tax rates. It is incredible. You go first. No, no you go. Its like a broken record. They have nobody about this for some time and still cant come to an agreement. John dickerson, thank you so much. Bob schieffer will have the latest on face the nation. We have some breaking news from california this morning. A strong earthquake struck overnight off the pacific coast. The u. S. Geological survey has revised the strength of that quake to 6. 3 magnitude. So far there are no reports of damage. Well have more on this story throughout the morning. There are reports in south africa that Nelson Mandela could get out of the hospital at any time. He was admitted a week ago for treatment. Mark phillips is in johannesburg, south africa. Mark, good morning. Reporter good morning, charlie. Good morning norah. I wish i could be more definite about Nelson Mandelas condition, but it has been shrouded in state secrecy until now and, frankly, this morning the confusion is moving almost into farce. There was a report this morning that after six days of treatment for this lung infection that the government says he has he might be ready to be sent home. The question is from where. All week weve been told that he was in a number one Military Hospital a Military Hospital in pretoria. This was confirmed by a government minister the defense minister, who claims to have visited him there. The government itself said it never confirmed he was there and now rumors have circulated that in fact hes been in another hospital, a Heart Hospital in pretoria all week. This morning a cavalcade of cars left the Heart Hospital people thinking this was the waitedfor release. Where did it go . It went back to the Military Hospital. So at this stage we dont know exactly where mandela has improved enough to go home and we dont know, frankly, which of those two hospitals hes in. Norah, charlie. All right, Mark Phillips very interesting, thank you. And today demonstrations are expected in egypt the day before a key vote on the countrys future. As allen pizzey reports from cairo, the vote on the constitution has become a referendum on egypts islamic president , mohamed morsi. Reporter both sides of the egyptian political divide plan major marches and rallies this morning. Government supporters are calling a yes vote on the referendum a vote for islam. The opposition is fragmented and far less organized and decided only a few days ago to vote no rather than boycott the ballot. The new constitution was drafted by the ruling Islamist Party and its hardline political allies. The mainly secular opposition says the 63page document does not represent all of egypts 83 Million People and tramples on the rights of minorities such as christians. A major problem is a lack of monitors. A significant number of judges have refused to supervisor the 13,000 polling stations so the voting will have to be held over two days first in major cities an then in the countryside. Many egyptians are simply growing weary after two years of political turmoil. Adding to their woes is the effect on the economy. The Tourism Industry has been hardhit and the prospects of attracting Foreign Investment in other sectors is fast becoming a distant dream. The 4. 8 billion loan from the International Monetary fund has been held back pending political developments. But the biggest fear of all is more violence, which remains a very real possibility. Some commentators here are saying egypt is teetering on the brink of what amounts to a virtual civil war. Im allen pizzey in cairo. It is time to show you some of this mornings headlines from around the globe. Britains guardian says the nurse at the heart of the phone hoax left three letters before she died. Three days earlier she sent a prank call from an australian Radio Station to the ward where the dutchess of cambridge was being treated. The Chicago Tribune says a man died after falling down a hotel smoke tack. Nicholas wieme climbed to the roof of the Intercontinental Hotel wednesday evening to take photos. We still dont know why he fell down the smokestack. He was pulled out in an elaborate rescue but later died. The miami herald says the Florida Supreme Court has struck down a law against loud music in cars. The law applied to music that you could hear 25 feet away. The justices called the law unconstitutional and an unreasonable restriction on freedom of expression. I like loud music in the car. And the wall street journal says Christmas Tree sales are up. 27 of u. S. Households reported buying a real tree l tree last year the highest since the economic downturn. The average tree costs 34. 87. And Southern California faces another round of high tides and flooding today. Socalled king tides occur when the earth, moon and sun are aligned. That increases the pull of gravity on the ocean. Yesterdays tides were unusually high. Seven feet in some areas, flooding houses and streets all right. Nora, cold start to the day but what a neat sunrise. A lot of clouds. We have seen some scattered showers. What a beautiful start to the day. As it looks like we are going to keep things a little unsettled and chilly, you can see some showers out toward the coastline but most of