"I Believe I Can Beat President Obama; "  "Slurpee Summit" Rescheduled; New House Leaders Chosen
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Brooke, thanks very much. Happening now, the Slurpee Summit turns to slush -- what was supposed to be the ultimate symbol of bipartisanship between a bruised President Obama and the newly crowned GOP leadership gets postponed. Is it a sign of political gridlock to come? Stand by. She seems to be getting serious. In a new interview, Sarah Palin reveals she's in talks with her family about launching a 2012 presidential bid. And she's even discussing the team she'd bring in to help her do it. And New York City has its eye on alleged criminals. We're going to show you how police use iris scanners to help identify suspects. But critics say it crosses the line. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. All that coming up. But let's get to Sarah Palin first and a surprising new remark that she believes she can, in fact, beat President Obama if she challenges him in 2012. Here's a clip just released of an interview that she did with ABC's Barbara Walters.</s>SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm looking at the lay of the land now and -- and trying to figure that out, if it's a good thing for the country, for the discourse, for my family, if it's a good thing.</s>BARBARA WALTERS, HOST: If you ran for president, could you beat Barack Obama?</s>PALIN: I believe so.</s>BLITZER: All right, let's discuss with our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger. She seems to be giving more and more indications that she's seriously thinking of running for the Republican presidential nomination.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, she is. She's enlarging her staff. She's dipping her toe into policy issues. You know, we -- we get a lot of Tweets and Facebook posts from Sarah Palin. And now, we're starting to see her talk more about policy, about things like the Fed, for example. And she's taking on the Republican establishment. She did pretty well in these -- in these mid-term elections. So it's very clear that she's giving more and more signals that she could get into this race.</s>BLITZER: And there's no doubt that she has a huge following on the conservative side.</s>BORGER: Yes.</s>BLITZER: In our most recent hypothetical between Obama and Palin, registered voters' choice for president -- this was at the end of October -- 52 percent said they'd vote for Obama; 44 cept -- 44 percent for Palin. But that's obviously very, very early.</s>BORGER: Right. And don't forget, Wolf, that's overall. That's not Republican primary voters. Where she is popular is with Republican primary voters. But in our latest poll, we asked Republicans about who they'd like to see in 2012. She was not the number one choice, though. First came Huckabee, then came Mitt Romney and then came Sarah Palin. But if you look at those early primaries and caucuses, like the Iowa caucuses, she could do quite well because there's a big Evangelical vote, for example. She could place second or first in New Hampshire. She could do well in South Carolina, in Nevada. So there are Republicans who are beginning to say, you know what, we've always underestimated her. We'd better take her seriously because she might run and there are lots of more establishment Republicans, Wolf, who are not very happy about it.</s>BLITZER: And she's going to be the cover story in "The New York Times" Sunday magazine.</s>BORGER: Yes, she is.</s>BLITZER: There's a lot more coming up. We have a lot more on this story, as well. Gloria, thank you. Tomorrow was supposed to be the day the country got its first glimpse of the new bipartisanship in Washington just weeks after voters issued a stern warning to President Obama to change the way that things are being done. Nicknamed the so-called Slurpee Summit, Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders were expected to meet with the president at the White House to try to find some ways to work together. But now, that meeting has been rescheduled. And it's leaving many wondering if there's anything that the two sides can actually agree on. Let's go to our White House correspondent, Dan Lothian. He's working the story over at the White House. What are you finding out -- Dan?</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, one political analyst says that this is a setback for both Republicans and Democrats because Americans out there are feeling a sense of urgency in their own lives. But they're not seeing that same urgency here in Washington. Nonetheless, both sides are insisting that this is nothing more than a scheduling issue and is not a bipartisan stumble.</s>LOTHIAN (voice-over): The Slurpee Summit was meant to soothe President Obama's election day shellacking.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Slurpee Summit. That's good.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You betcha.</s>OBAMA: I like that.</s>LOTHIAN: The White House announced the date -- November 18th.</s>OBAMA: This is going to be a meeting in which I want us to talk substantively about how we can move the American people's agenda forward. It's not just going to be a photo-op. Hopefully, it may spill over into dinner.</s>LOTHIAN: But two days before the big meeting, it was postponed until the 30th. GOP leaders blamed scheduling conflicts and privately suggested they'd never settled on the earlier date announced by the White House. But delaying what amounts to an olive branch from the president seems at odds with all the post-election talk about bipartisanship.</s>REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), MAJORITY LEADER: The president and I had a very pleasant conversation.</s>OBAMA: I am very eager to sit down with members of both parties and figure out how we can move forward together.</s>LOTHIAN: Compromise is what both side are looking for coming out of the much anticipated meeting. Tackling the Bush tax cuts, the new START Treaty and job creation measures.</s>SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: I'm looking forward to the meeting and to the opportunity to share with the president, again, the areas where we agree.</s>LOTHIAN: While much is being made of this rain check, Senator McConnell's spokesman, Don Stewart, said: "There is absolutely nothing to it." And White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters: "This compromise on the date shows bipartisanship has happened. We're flexible." But former presidential adviser David Gergen said this scheduling conflict doesn't fly with many Americans.</s>DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: But it's very hard for anybody outside Washington to understand why it takes a full month after the election for the leaders of the White House and the Congress to sit down together and map out plans for the future at a time of really urgent needs for America.</s>LOTHIAN: Now, Robert Gibbs says that he does not see this as a bad prospect for Republicans and Democrats working together going forward. He said that Republicans simply wanted another date. It was convenient and the White House was willing to wait. And Gibbs also pointing out that they'll have other meetings with Republicans in the coming months -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: And the meeting will now take place after Thanksgiving, on November 30th.</s>LOTHIAN: Yes, it will.</s>BLITZER: All right, Dan. Thank you. On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, the Democrats in the House will be in the minority in January, but their leadership has not changed. The party has just elected the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to become the minority leader in the next Congress. But there were some stumbling blocks along the way. Let's bring in our senior Congressional correspondent, Dana Bash. She has the details for us. Always exciting on the Hill, especially today -- Dana.</s>DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is for sure. You know, House Democrats lost more than 60 seats in this month's elections, but today, the majority of the House Democrats remaining decided not to punish their leaders for it. And despite the fact that there were some misgivings, Nancy Pelosi did become the first speaker in more than half a century, since Sam Rayburn, to lose her gavel but stay on as leader.</s>BASH (voice-over): The new House Democratic leadership team -- same as the old.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: They know that I'm the person that can attract the resources, both intellectual and otherwise, to take us to victory because I have done it before.</s>BASH: Nancy Pelosi won her bid to remain House Democratic leader 150-43. Nearly a quarter of the Democratic Caucus voted for a more conservative alternative, North Carolina Democrat, Heath Shuler.</s>REP. HEATH SHULER (D), NORTH CAROLINA: But it wasn't about our winning or losing this race, it was about truly making a difference within our caucus to -- to ensure that the moderates are heard within the caucus. And we have to -- to be able to communicate to the American people in order to win back the election in 2012.</s>BASH: But the vote that may have been more telling about concerns with Pelosi was one offered by these Democrats to delay the election. The measure lost, but 68 House Democrats voted in favor of taking time to understand their devastating losses before reelecting the same leadership.</s>REP. BILL PASCRELL (D), NEW JERSEY: I consider myself one of Nancy Pelosi's closest friends here in the Congress. I think we missed an opportunity today to send a signal to America that we understand what happened this past election.</s>BASH: Pelosi does still have plenty of support, even those who survived tough races.</s>REP. RAUL GRIJALVA (D), ARIZONA: Her tenacity and her intelligence</s>BASH: But this Democrat, who was defeated, says his colleagues are making a big mistake sticking with Pelosi as their leader.</s>REP. ALLEN BOYD (D), FLORIDA: The truth is that she is the face that defeated us in this last election. And it seems to me that, at some point in time, you have to put your personal agenda and ambitions aside for the good of the country and -- and certainly of -- of the party.</s>BASH (on camera): Do you feel that your defeat is, in part, because of Nancy Pelosi?</s>BOYD: Well, absolutely.</s>BASH: Pelosi insisted she can be an effective leader, even with fractured support and low standing in the polls.</s>PELOSI: How would your ratings be if $75 million were spent against you?</s>BASH: Now, House Republicans also elected their leadership today. Not surprising, Wolf, John Boehner was given the title of Republican leader, soon to be speaker. He won't get that title officially -- or the gavel -- until the new Congress convenes in January. But he did get this nod -- show of support on a special day. It's his 61st birthday -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Happy birthday to the incoming speaker. Thanks very much, Dana, for that. Alaska's fierce Senate battle gets even more intense as the votes are tallied. We're going to tell you where the count stands right now and what Senator Lisa Murkowski is about to say about the race. And Germany uncovers evidence of a possible Al Qaeda plot. You're going to find out what that company is doing to keep its citizens safe. And we have new information coming into THE SITUATION ROOM about Osama bin Laden from a man who knows him. Stick around. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.