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Would they do it? if it's between that and compromise on their core principles, i was left with the impression they would. white house officials also reportedly said they will insist republicans deal with the debt ceiling now as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations and not later. also today, aflcio local leaders from 33 states are putting pressure on congressional lawmakers to let the bush tax cuts expire for the wealthy and keep social security off the table. let's turn to james hoffa, general president of international brotherhood of teamsters. always a pleasure. good to have you with us. s...

Put him in the white house. president obama held his first official closed door meeting with groups from outside the white house. the invited guests were all leaders of labor organizations and progressive think tanks. compare this list to the guest list for tomorrow's meeting. 12 of the most powerful ceos in american business. this schedule was not a mistake. president obama was letting the middle class and the workers of this country know, you come first. aflcio president is confident the president will keep his commitment to the current tax rates for the middle class. >> the president led wi...

Escalating effort to avert the fiscal cliff. >> it was a very, very positive meeting. the president, like we are, are committed to preserving the tax breaks for the middle class and making sure that rich people pay their fair share. >> among the leaders at the meeting, the head of the aflcio and the national education association. later this week, the president will host business leaders from both parties. in the meantime, briefing at the white house, chuck todd asked if the scandal was distracting from efforts to deal with the fiscal cliff. >> i'm not going to make a judgment on that. i think...

Move a state like florida. >> thanks for the insight on that. i want to bring andrea mitchell on this as well. i believe we have her on the floor as well. what can you tell us? >> right now interestly the head of the aflcio is the head speaker. and the fact the labor groups are here is awkward. they were not happy when charlotte was picked. this is a non-union town and non-union state. they made their peace with it. but labor is no longer as big a part of the coalition. one of the big organizing and get out the vote or registration efforts they were attempting to do here was going to take plac...

Their 1980 convention, the heartland of unionized labor where democrats used to launch every campaign to say, you know, we understand you. now accident when reagan campaigned even in the primaries, he went to places like milwaukee, the essence of white working class midwesterners. it's a battleground that doesn't really change except for republicans in recent decades have done better than they used to for all kinds of reasons. >> i always tell this story about in 1996 the aflcio was spending $100 million trying to kill those of us that get elected in '94. i kept going out and talking about the...