National politics: Fiscal cliff & changing electorate

In this week’s national political roundup, Marty talks about the fiscal cliff and the politics surrounding the negotiations, which has brought President Obama to a Montgomery County toymaker today, and the changing face of the American electorate. President Obama is back in campaign mode in an effort to enlist public support for higher taxes on the wealthy as part of a compromise to avoid the automatic spending cuts and tax-cut expirations arriving on New Year’s Day. Republicans in Congress have indicated while some might allow higher tax revenues as part of a compromise, they indicate they would only accept fewer deductions in a trade for cuts to social-safety-net spending like Medicare. Joining us to discuss fiscal cliff politics is ROBERT SAMUELSON, columnist for The Washington Post, and JAMES BRAXTON PETERSON, the director of Africana Studies and associate professor of English at Lehigh University. Then ,we’ll shift gears to talk about what the election results from the Nov. 6 vote tell us about the changing nature of the American electorate. Joining Peterson will be RUY TEIXEIRA, one of the nation’s leading demographers and a fellow at the Century Foundation and the Center for American Progress.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais