>> you can do the right thing and have it turn out to be good politics. barack obama, good day. >> we'll see you back here tomorrow. much more on libya and all the 2012 politics happening before. stick around right now for "the daily rundown." we'll see you tomorrow. tripoli is falling. rebels reach gadhafi's doorstep after six months of fighting. a fierce battle reported this morning outside gadhafi's compound. but where is the libyan leader and what comes next? president obama says gadhafi's rule has come to an end. is this a vindication for the white house's handling of the war? the 2012 republican field may not agree. it's monday, august 22nd, 2011 and this is "the daily rundown." we'll have all the morning's top political news ahead this hour. but we begin with the fight for libya. unfolding in the country's capital today, rebels mount a

charge against moammar gadhafi. there are reports of resistance from gadhafi loyalists. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engle is in tripoli. richard. >> there is an incredible feeling of optimism now in tripoli. people are streaming into the city, firing their guns in the air. families are arriving slashing victory signs out of their air. this is a moment people never thought would come and it developed very quickly again yesterday. it all began with rebels in zawiya decided that zero hour had arrived. they just decided to walk to tripoli and by the thousands people left zhou zawiya and gads troops simply melted away. they decided they have not going to fire on their own people.

on a personal note, the reception we've been getting are incredibly warm. people are so excited and they have a new future ahead of them. people came out of their homes, they were giving us food and giving us water. crowded hoisted me up in the air to show how excited they were that this moment has finally arrived. it's not over yet. there is some still fighting in this city. rebels only control about 80% of it. gadhafi's whereabouts are currently unknown. chris. >> richard, an amazing report. thank you. president obama says the future of libya is now in the hoondz of the libyan people. the president issued a statement last night after being briefed by tom advisers. nbc's christen welker joins me live from massachusetts where the president is spending time with his family. kristin, houbl, we have the statement from last night.

do we expect more from the white house today? >> hi there, chris. it certainly is possible. we are going to get a briefing from his dpet deputy press secretary sometime this morning. it's possible, though, that if the white house gets some more solid information about what exactly is happening on the ground in libya that we could perhaps hear from president obama, although nothing has been scheduled at this point. we want to make that very clear. and white house officials are not telling us if we will actually hear from the president. so we're all monitoring that situation quite closely. white house officials do say, though, that president obama is getting briefings about this situation around the clock. we was briefed first thing yesterday morning by his counter terrorism adviser, john brennen, and then throughout the day. then he held a conference call with a number of his top advisers at about 9:00 last night, including his chief of staff, bill daily, secretary of defense, several others. right after that call, we got

that statement that you mentioned. we want to put up a graphic of a part of it. it says tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant. the surest way for the bloodshed to end is simple. moammar gadhafi and his regime need to realize their rule has come to an end. he needs to relinquish power once and for all. the united states recognizes the transitional national council as the governing body of libya, so ramping up the pressure on gadhafi to leave and to relinquish his power there. but still, they are monitoring that situation very closely. they're trying to get exact knowledge of what's happening and information is murky, quite frankly, coming out of libya. so if they get confirmation of specifically what is going on there, we could hear from the president himself. back to you. >> how are they handling the juxtaposition? is that anything that they're

talking about even not on camera, obviously, but how do they deal with that? >> well, white house officials aren't really talking about that, but a lot of the images that we're getting seem to be managed to some extent, as you know, the first image we got was of the president being briefed by his counter terrorism adviser, john brennen, a really serious image that we got there. then yesterday, we did see him going out with michelle for dinner and that sort of thing. so some lighter images of the president. but i think they are trying to be quite careful, if you will, about what images are being released from this vacation. the optics of this are quite important. the president got a fair amount of criticism for taking this trip in the first place, a lot of republican candidates saying that he shouldn't be taking such a knight nice trip when the white house is struggling so much. the white house has pushed back saying that the office of the presidency travels with mr. obama wherever he goes. they have all the amenities of

the white house here in terms of communication tools, trps, so their point is this really is the white house, it's just functioning on martha's vineyard. chris. >> great point. thanks for reporting, kristin. the fall of gadhafi is welcomed news. what does it mean fort president politically? minico, what we think is probably a pretty good moment for the president. and yet, very quickly afterward, john mccain, lindsay graham, who leading voices on foreign policy, i want to read what they have to say. we regret this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the united states to employ the full weight of our air power. not exactly throwing laurels at the feet of this president. >> no. >> is this a victory for president obama? >> sure it is. the white house, as we said, needs some good news. it's not really surprising that mccain, graham, lieberman take this shot. they were to the right of president obama, to the right of congress in wanting intervention

much sooner. but this, one big issue here for the president is the fact that the economy remains such a big problem. domestically, we know that just thigh months ago, bin laden was killed. that bounce didn't last very long. >> amazing. >> three months ago. >> right. >> people were proclaiming he was a shoe in for re-election. >> and now people are saying there's no chance he's going to be re-elected, right? so the truth is probably always somewhere in the middle. but the thing is, and look, his supporters are not really celebrateding this. one supporter said to me, look, this is a notch in his belt. it's another notch, but look, with the economy being what it is, that is going to determine what happens next year. >> and the president acknowledges that himself. the president onlies the focus is still on the economy. >> you've got an unemployment rate that is still too high and

an economy that is not grog fast enough. for me to argue, look, we've actually made the right decisions, things would have been much worse had we not made those decisions, that is not that satisfying if you don't have a job right now. and i understand that. and i expect to be judged a year from now on whether or not things have continued to get better. >> so that sounds like it's the economy stupid, essentially. the famous james cargo line from the '92 campaign. let's put libya aside for a minute. what can the president do on the economy? i wrote this weekend, i talked to a burn of democratic strategists. everybody offered basically different advice on how we should handle it. what's the best approach, do we have any sense? >> i think if you and i knew the answer to that, we wouldn't necessarily be sitting here. i think it's a difficult thing and i think like in sports sometimes, coaches get a lot of maybe too much of the plame or

too much of the credit for things. we know presidents affect farm policy and judges directly. the economy is a little tougher, especially with a global economy. how many times do we have to hear, well, you know, it's really europe that's affected by the downturn. there are a lot of things this president is going to try to push for. we have clues over the weekend as to some of the other items as to cutting that payroll tax, maybe a road construction bill. but i think we know that's going to be a steep uphill climb in congress. this is about 2012, this is about politics. and like a candidate putting out a white paper, a president needs to run on something and run against something. congress, john boehner, not being willing to compromise, that's the argument we're getting here. >> dominica, i always read "first read" first tlieng in the morning. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. gadhafi says he'll fight to the end. where is he?

and where ekg do sooem seek asylum? we'll be joined by journalist, author and mid east expert, robin wright. despite victory in libya, president obama has a bigger challenge on his hands, how to fix the economy and how to convince the public he's got the right plan. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. he's in martha's vineyard, but it is a working holiday. [ barks ]

[ cat meows ] [ woman ] ♪ i just want to be okay ♪ be okay, be okay ♪ i just want to be okay today - ♪ i just want to know today - [ whistles ] ♪ know today, know today - [ cat meows ] - ♪ know that maybe i will be okay ♪ [ chimes ] travelers can help you protect the things you care about... and save money with multi-policy discounts. are you getting the coverage you need... and the discounts you deserve? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com.

pnc virtual wallet gathers your spending and saving in one place. credit and debit purchases, checks, bills, and other financial information. it lets you see the details as well as the big financial picture. so you can do more with your money. see what a complete view of your money can do for you at pncvirtualwallet.com. ♪ pnc bank. for the achiever in you.

joining us now, a fellow at

the u.s. institute of peace and author of the book "rock the casba" robin wright. robin, i'm thrilled you're here. you have sat across the table just like this -- maybe not glass, but you've sat across the table from moammar gadhafi. you have looked into his eyes. what do people out there need to know about him? >> of all the world leaders i've interviewed, he is clearly the most unstable. lately he's seemed as if he's on medication. he has a very good demand of english. as he's speaking so slowly, the rims of his glasses will be moving back and forth as will his feet. you have a sense that there's something tumultuous happening inside him. >> a nervous energy? >> a nervous energy or as i said, i think there's some sort of medical issue there. >> obviously, his compound is surrounded. is this the end of the end for moammar gadhafi? obviously, four decades in

power. are we looking at the final stage? >> he can't come out of this politically and survive. he may not be able to come out of this physically and survive. one of the key developments in the last 24 hours is the fact that his son was arrested. the son who was his political heir and his chief political adviser. there were two sons that were critical. saed and comat. he's the one son that gadhafi will now have to rely on. but he won't have the counsel of the son who helped navigate da gaffy's reinterview into the world when he made the compromise on pan am 103. >> and let's broaden it out to the broader region. earlier in the year, we saw an era of uproo rooiriseuprising. is this the saturday of a bigger arab uprising? where are we headed?

>> this is phase two. and it begins with this great challenge, the end game for moammar gadhafi. but it is reflected in the fact that the international community over the past week has come out and said that bashar assad will have to step aside and the fkt that justice is being meted out to a long standing dictator in hoeny mow b ny hosni mubarak and his two sons. >> obviously, last week, we have gadhafi. is there a ripple effect in syria about what's going on in syria? will the forces in syria trying to unseat assad be boldened by what happened in like ya? >> they will absolutely be

emboldened. i think there's an adrenaline that gets pushed. even though each country is separate in its issues and type of leadership, there's a common denominator in the quest for greater empowerment, political freedoms, a stake in the system. and that will be energized by what's happened in libya. >> and i want to ask you about, let's say stateside, about president obama. he's been criticized to a significant extent leading from behind, not taking up charge, earlier dominico and i were talking about senators graham and mccain could have come out and said this could have been done earlier. is this a validation of his policy? is it somewhere in between? how should we see this from the middle east perspective? did he handle this correctly? is this outcome the right outcome? >> i actually think that he's going to get enormous credit for having negotiated a position that was supported by the entire arab world, the entire international community, the world's largest military alliance, that the u.s. didn't

take the lead in a military intervention like it did in iraq and afghanistan. and it is bringing about something that will be deemed legitimate by the people, unlike iraq, which was a foreign intervention and triggered the rallying of al qaeda, foreign forces flocking in though challenge the merns. this will be seen as credible and legitimate on the ground. >> let me ask you one thing. what's next in libya? obviously, this is an unstable country. what's next, assuming, as you point out, that gadhafi cannot recover from this politically. what are we looking at in the next 60 to 90 days? >> it's kind of an unnatural combination. there are places that have had their tensions in the past, but there are 140 describes or classes in libya. the challenge will be for the new transitional national council to embrace all the players. they were very diverse campaigns on the western and the eastern front. and the challenge will be making sure that everyone feels that

they have a stake in a new political system as well as the economic spoils. >> fascinating story. robin, thank you for your time and your expertise. much appreciated. >> thank you. the turmoil in libya and europe's debt crisis could make for another volatile week on wall street. plus, the lessons learned from libya. will president obama's approach mark a new era in u.s. foreign policy? but first, today's trivia question. moammar gadhafi is the fourth longest serving non-royal ruler since 1900. who served the lot longest in that time? tweet us, @dailyrundown. the answer and more, coming up. multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has ginkgo for memory and concentration, plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's.

a mouthwatering combination of ingredients...e for you! i know you're gonna love. [ barks ] yes, it's new beneful healthy fiesta. made with wholesome grains, real chicken, even accents of tomato and avocado. yeah! come on! [ barking ] gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. another healthful, flavorful beneful.

or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month.

even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. oil prices are dropping today as markets gauge how events in libya will impact supply worldwide. cnbc's michelle caruso cabrera

is here with the first word on wall veet. michelle, a lot of chaos in the world at the moment. how does that affect the markets? >> uncertainty always affects the markets, usually negatively. this morning, we are seeing oil prices in europe move sharply down 3%. that's a pretty sharp move. now it appears the libyan rebels are in control, that maybe we will see libyan production of oil get back online sometimes in the next six months. there's a lot of uncertainty about that spill. there's been concerned about whether or not some of the actual facilities have been compromised in some way, how quickly they'll be able to get them up and running. but bottom line is, we expect that crude to come back online. libya supplied about 500,000 barrels a day to super. we haven't seen the same subsequent fall in prices here in oil in the u.s. that may be because we just saw oil prices fall dramatically over the last couple of weeks ago we got more and more data pointing to the possibility of another recession here in the united states. all that being said, it does

look like stocks are going to open higher this morning. that may be because oil prices are lower. it may be because we have seller fatigue because things have been so bad for so long and we are seeing some stability out of europe this morning. right annoy, european markets are higher. we expect u.s. xhkts to open higher and we'll see if it holds into the close. the last time we saw a positive monday morning, it didn't last all the way to the end. >> and michelle, one quick follow-up. we've see the yo yooing of the markets here. is that what we're going to see, big drops in big gains over every single week? and is there an end we expect to see? >> there is an expectation for more volatility and there's a reason for that. europe is at a moment where they have to decide what europe wants to be. they've drawn all kinds of lines in the sand. when you look at the finances, you know one of those lines is going to have to move, but so far, nobody is moving. until they make a decision over

there about what they're going to do, you can expect a lot of volatility. they have to figure on out what they're going to do with their debt issues. think of it this way, germany has married somebody with far worse debt than they ever imagined, really bad spending habites and they didn't stick to the terms of the prenump. germany has to decide, are they going to love this person or get a divorce? >> love the german marriage metaphor. thank you, michelle. have a good day. >> you, too. we'll take a look at the risks and challenges in the immediate future for those on the ground in libya. plus, opening day for a multi million dollar tribute to america's civil rights pioneer. we're live at the new martin luther king jr. memorial on the national mall. and don't forget the nbc news politico debate coming up wednesday as 8:00 eastern on

september 7. would. happybaby strives to make the best organic baby food. in a business like ours, personal connections are so important. we use our american express open gold card to further those connections. last year we took dozens of trips using membership rewards points to meet with farmers that grow our sweet potatoes and merchants that sell our product. vo: get the card built for business spending. call 1-800-now-open to find out how the gold card can serve your business.

energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas.

bottom of the hour now, a quick look at what's driving the day. despite rebels taking control of the most of the libyan capital, clashes between rebels and moammar da gaffy forces continue around tripoli. president obama was briefed on libya by his national security team and said in a statement that the united states now recognizes the transitional national council as, quote, the legitimate governing authority in libya. and tropical storm irene intensified overnight to become tropical storm irene. the storm is expected to intensify over the next several days as it heads towards the u.s. mainlands. other stories making headlines, the manhattan's attorney district headlines is

expected to drop all charges against comeny strauss-kahn. the decision reportedly comes due to credibility problems with the accuser's story in the case. strauss-kahn was accused of sexually assaulting a maid at an upscale hotel more than two months ago. an iranian court yesterday sentenced who im prisoned american hikers to eight years in prison. secretary of state hillary clinton issued a statement expressing dooel deep disappointment in the ruling. the two young men have been detained for two years. san francisco police are seeking suspects after a series of shootings and beatings that followed saturday night's preseason game between the san francisco 49ers and the oakland raters. two young men remain in serious condition. one man was shot and another was severely beaten. both are expected to survive. no two uprisings look alike.

libya faces the prospect of a very different transition. retired army colonel jack jack jobs is a medal of honor recipient and a msnbc analyst. jack, what are the risks on the ground in the immediate future in libya if gadhafi is, indeed, out of power? >> chaos is one possible outcome. don't forget, this is a council that's made up a number of different interests. it's not likely that they're going to be able to govern quickly and effectively and as a result there's liable to be a lot of chaos, no control. retribution. don't forget this is a tribal country and in some areas people are going to take it out of others now that there's a little bit of freedom. there's also the risk of weapons that were in arsenals that belonged to gadhafi having been loosed upon the world, particularly things like sa-7

shoulder fired surface to air missiles, which could do things like take down airliners. i don't think that the council or anybody else is going to be able to account for all the wems that were under his control. it will be a difficult time and whether or not they gain control over the entire country is questionable. there will probably be a lot of infighting until there's control over the entire country. >> colonel, how long and do we have any sense on who stands to try to seize power? do we have specifics there or is it too fluid a situation to know yet? >> well, we know some of the food people, but it is fluid. among other things, you have the muslim brotherhood. heavily influenced by that in egypt, the egyptians have some interest in what's going on. there's a variety of folks, some of whom we know and some we don't who are going to vie for power. in the end, whoever wins is going to have to be somebody who can weld it altogether. and that means on purpose it

will be somebody who is particularly strong. in places like this, usually we have some blood thirsty rise to power. it's a possibly it might happen here, too, even though we're talking about a change from a blood thirsty desperate just because they're all screaming democracy doesn't mean they're going to produce a constitution that guarantees it. >> and are we talking about weeks, months or years until we have someone emerge? >> take a look at iraq. that's a place that has a long history and tradition of central government in baghdad. i think it's possibly going to be six months to a year and they'll all be an the oil. there's between $20 billion and $40 billion a year in oil revenues. i think you're liable to have various people trying to control the assets across the country. you've got france, who has a satellite interest in what's going on there in the natural resources. britain, who is involved. i think it's liable to be a scramble for a while. >> and journal, we talk a lot in

this town, in washington, about winners and losers. is nato a winner here? and not only that, is somebody a winner here? is this a valcation of that approach, in your mind? >> certainly here, the farther away we get from action in the middle east, physically the better off we are. it resisted in treaties to put people on the ground, which by and large we didn't do, which is a smart thing to do. we provided a waks control and we provided remotely controlled seconds. mostly, we stayed away. we send drones in there to attack specific targets where we had good information and interest intelligence. we did the right thing in staying away. by the way, i'm not particularly a fan of the way the president

does anything, necessarily. i would ask them where they are going to get the troops from to get involved and another war on the ground we need to stay away. and i'll tell you, the people who are involved and that is the french in particular and the british are going to have to make sure that they keep their troops restricted to special forces who are going to train the libyans to take care of themselves. if they get involved more than that, i think they're going to be unhappy about how they got involved. >>jacobs, thank you for your time. >> you're welcome. washington is a town full of memorials. to past presidents, those lost in our nation's wars and beginning today, one of our country's most important civil rights pieo nears. the new martin luther king jr. memorial will officially open to the public this morning and is the first such monument on the national mall dedicated to an african-american. maura is at the memorial and she

joins us now. good morning, maura. what does it look lion like down there? where are you and what does this mean to have the first dedication toon african-american on the mall? >> good morning to you, chris. you can see the monument off in the distance behind my left shoulder there. it becomes open to the public today at 11:00 a.m. this is the first major memorial owe national mall that is not to a president and it's the first avenue can american. this stands in the company of the lincoln memorial, of the jefferson memorial and from the washington maonumentmonument. now, the memorial itself consists of three main parts, all out of granite. there is the mountain of despair. it's a large mountain like structure but it's politic in two and visitors will be passing through there to enter the memorial where they come upon the stone of hope. that contains the statue out of doctor king carved out of

granite that stands wore than 30 feet hall. the memorial contains two crescent shaped walles and those contain 15 of dr. king's most famous quotes, all hand etched into that granite there. so it's kind of a timeline of his speeches and some of his more famous savings. and the concept for the memorial itself comes from one of dr. king's quotes. it was lifted from a portion of his i have a dream speech where he said out of the mountain of despair comes a mounts of hope. now, the official dedication is scheduled to take place on sunday, august 28th. that would be the 48th anniversary of the "i have a dream" speech and the march of washington and about 300,000 visitors are expected to come here. that gives you a little bit of perspective for how significant this is. surely, we will have people coming here who were also at the

march in washington in 1963 who are having a phil full circle of experience to see the man they followed to see him come back and memorialized in this way. very significant for so many americans. chris. >> mara, you mentioned, we have the public opening this morning, we have the dedication on sunday. what is going on in between? are there events planned this week at the memorial? >> yes, that's right. they will have this soft opening for a couple of days where the public can come and can view. but then they're going to recloak the memorial in advance of the dedication. at the convention center, there will be an exhibit of the civil rights era and various moments in history. so they're taking time to plan for that official dedication. on sunday, it's a very high profile program. they're expecting up to 300,000 visitors pouring into the city for that. president obama is expected to speak. aretha frankly is expected to

sing. she said she's going to sing a song that was one of dr. king's favorites, that he would often request to her, take my hand, o pressure loappreciat precious lord. we'll also hear from mya angelo. >> great stuff, mara. thank you. will gadhafi's fall from power make it hadder for the 2012 republican presidential candidate candidates to attack president obama? we'll break it all down next with our panel. but first, the white house soup of the day, 15 bean. i can think of about three beans. obviously, i'm unaware of 12 other beans that exist. you're watching the daily rundown, only on msnbc. [ groans ] [ marge ] psst. constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium,

an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... is it the new forty, i don't know. i probably feel about thirty. how is it that we don't act our age? [ marcie ] you keep us young. [ kurt ] we were having too much fun we weren't thinking about a will at that time. we have responsibilities to the kids and ourselves. we're the vargos and we created our wills on legalzoom. finally. [ laughter ] [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. and complete your will in minutes. diabetes testing? what else is new? you get the blood, hope it's enough, it's-- what's this? freestyle lite® blood glucose test strip. sure, i'll try it, but-- [beep] wow. yep, that's the patented freestyle zipwik™ design. it's like it-- [both] targets the blood. yeah, draws it right in. the test starts fast. you need just a third the blood of one touch.®

okay. freestyle test strips. i'll take 'em. sure. call or click-- we'll send you strips and a meter, free. can't i just have these? freestyle lite test strips. call or click today.

if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. he needs some gellin'. yeahhhhhhh. gellin' is like having a teeny tiny foot masseuse in your shoe. you like ? nice ! dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles. outrageous comfort, all-day long.

on this date in 1972, anti-war protesters demonstrated outside of the republican national convention in miami beach, florida. many of the 3,000 demonstrators were either arrested or injured in police officers arrived at the scene. vietnam veteran ron cobic's experience was later immortalized in the film "born on the fourth of july." back to libya, clashes continue in tripoli. will the shocking collapse of gadhafi's regime after four decades of rule quiet critics who say president obama is leading from behind inspect renesh peru is an editor and columnist. john martin is with us and christina po will i bonti is with "roll call."

is it still the economy, stupid, or is libya some kind of game changer? >> no. libya helps the president in terms of his foreign policy image, that there are positive things happening around the world. but i think the guys captured it well this morning and that is if the bin laden killing couldn't help president obama politically, then how is a distance regime pole? i think it's a little better perhaps than egypt because the american people know the gadhafi brand somehow. >> he's been with us for a long time. and there's lockerbie. so i think that helps. but there is a good story. by the next election day, our folks will be talking about how the arab spray happened and libya changed regime peps it's tough to see given the economy. >> the only thing i think this could help, the president is on vacation, but this brings to

light he's not just sitting on the beach, but he's working. >> this could have been done earlier if we had used air force according to some. is there a critique that republicans would be smart to conduct on this or should they just say job well done, let's talk about the economy smp. >> well, look, i think president obama led some credence to that line of attack. he promised it would be days, not weeks at the beginning. i just think there is very limited political up side for president obama here and there's very little political ub side for the republicans. unless the libyans decide they're going to hold a straw poll, they're not going to have a big impact on the presidential race. >> david axlerod, former chief white house adviser, he was on television over the weekend in doing what looked like starting to frame the conversation of what 2012 will look like. let's listen to that and we'll

cob back and talk about it. >> when people don't support plans that have in the past garnered bipartisan support, when people are willing to walk the one to the brink of default, when people, instead of saying where there's a will there's a way, it's my way or the highway, you have to assume that politics is at play. >> in some ways, this is nothing new under the sun, right? >> right. >> the obama administration saying the republicans are in transition. obviously, the president gets the bully pulpit, but he gets the negatives of being blamed. >> their option is running against the congress, running against the opposition because they have limited good news on the economic front to tell. so what you're left with is having to go after your opponents and basically destroyed them. that's what incumbents do who want to make the election a choice rather than a referendum. they're dealing with the sort of

cards they're dealt. they're not waiting next next year. they're going to start it now. >> christina, is this a battle that the campaign is essentially going to be a battle to see who winds up being worse off, they won't like either of the nominees? >> i think so. and this doesn't change oh ba ma presenting the appears of the fat cats in washington. he's able to demagog on this and it's beyond belief in some cases, him talking to wall street donors and doing all those things. they're going to attempt to make any contrast they possibly can. >> and i would say just as a reminder, woem we'll come back and talk about it, but remember the 2010 election when the obama team decided they were going to make campaign finance reform. >> it was a hail mary. >> we'll be back. moammar gadhafi is the fourth longest serving nonroyal ruler since 1900. who served the longest?

the answer, cuba's fidel cat row. he served for 49 years and 8 days. boy, i'm glad we got aflac huh. aflac! oh, i've just got major medical... major medical. ...but it helps pay the doctors. pays the doctors, boyyy! [ quack ] oh yeah? what about your family? ♪ we added aflac, so we get cash! it's like our safety net... ♪ to help with the mortgage or whatever we need! so my family doesn't feel the pain too. ha! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!!

and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it.

let's bring back our panel. ramesh ponnuru, jonathan martin, and christina bellantoni. rame ramesh, jon huntsman, former utah governor, former china barmes in the obama administration, has started to get a lot more aggressive lately with his republican rivals. let's listen to something he said this week and come back and talk about it. >> i don't know if that's presecession texas or post-secession texas. but in any event i'm not sure the average voter out there is going to hear that treasonous remark and say that sounds like a presidential candidate. i think when you find yourself at an extreme end of the republican party you make yourself unelectable. >> okay. so we know he was talking about rick perry, the governor of texas.

what is this strategic gambit by huntsman? >> well, he's apparently decided that combativeness in defensive moderation is no vice. i think there's two things. one, he needs attention. and two, he's decided there's an underserved market in the republican primaries, that there are still republican moderate voters and moderate conservatives and nobody else is catering to them, so he may as well. >> are there, jonathan? are there? the 2010 senate primaries, i know it's not the presidential primaries, but the 2010 senate primaries, we had joe miller, we had rand paul, christine o'donnell, did i invoke her name? it suggests to ramesh's point or jon huntsman's point. is there? >> i don't know about republicans but definitely independents in a place like new hampshire that do look at the field and sort of cringe when they look at the candidates and some of their comments. but here's the challenge for huntsman, though, is how much does that add up to? you know, is that a plurality even in a primary?

i'm uncertain about that. >> yeah, i'm a little more cynical on this. he's positioning himself if it could all work out and somebody flames out maybe they would elect a moderate as the nominee in 2012. but everyone will remember him in 2016 as the guy who was to the left of the tea party candidates had should that not go well for the republicans. >> but the 2016 gambit -- we hear so much about this, he's really running for 2016. is there a reasonable -- cristina, is there a reasonable assessment unless michele bachmann winds up the nominee and she loses badly that the republican party says you know what is, we do need a moderate who served in the obama administration. >> no, i think it's not a very good strategy. the other point is he's not even competing in these primaries in key states. he got 69 votes in the iowa straw poll. >> from the sublime perhaps to the ridiculous. let's talk about mitt romney. this is the story i was most fascinated over the weekend. the "san diego union tribune," he had a -- he's tearing down his 3,000-square-foot house to

build an 11,000-square-foot house. jonathan, quickly, politico had a great story last election about john mccain. you were in that interview. unable to say how many houses he owns, right? mitt romney appears to be aware of that and has sold off some of his homes, right? to avoid being the rich guy in the race. does this matter? >> i think it does matter in the sense that if you've got either a primary opponent or president obama who wants to sort of make a class-based attack against him, this is a pretty nice thing to hold up. how many americans right now can afford to bulldoze their beachside home and quadruple its size? and look, the romney line makes sense. they have five kids. they have 16 grandkids. >> right. a big family, you need a big house. >> get that. but the optics are still pacific, la jolla mansion and you're quadrupling the size. it doesn't look good. especially for a guy whose whole campaign is based upon i feel your pain on the economy.

>> right, the president doesn't and i do. >> this time we're going to ask him how many square feet he owns and try to stump him there? look, this is governor romney's stimulus plan. and it's creating jobs in the construction industry. something the obama administration has -- >> heavily republican. ramesh, quickly. is it a fair or unfair attack? a lot of people, and i can feel the e-mails and the tweets coming in from republicans saying you guys are focusing on the wrong thing, the unemployment is such and such, you focused on mitt romney's house. does it matter or someone. >> fair's got nothing to do with it. the question is does it work or does it not work? i think with this unemployment rate it doesn't work. >> shameless plugs. the best part of the show. christina, go. >> i will be leading a study group at harvard in the fall. i need lots of people to attend. >> is that -- >> i think it's still accredited. i'm not sure. jonathan. >> politico and nbc have the first post-labor day debate coming up. the wednesday after labor day. so two short weeks from now.

the first debate with rick perry also up there. should be fun. >> ramesh. >> and during that debate you can follow @rameshponnuru on twitter -- >> the twitter plug. back doored the twitter plug. i just want to make a quick shameless plug for harvard politics where christina's going to be a fellow. jonathan and i both spoke up there. a great place. >> see you there. >> that is it for this edition of "the daily rundown." coming up next on msnbc, "chris jansing & company." then at 1:00 p.m. don't miss "andrea mitchell reports." >> here's a look at your business travel forecast. i'm meteorologist bill karins. after a weekend of showers and thunderstorms in new england today's actually going to clear it out and be a nice day. if anyone couldn't get to their destinations today they should be able to. boston, torque, d.c. all looking good. detroit and chicago, no problems for you. it was a warm weekend in the west. that's going to change today. seattle chance of showers, 71.

one more chariot please. ...we can bring the whole gang! i cannot tell a lie. he did it. right... it's hard to beat double miles! read my lips -- no new axes! [ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one, and earn double miles on every purchase, every day. go to capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? so, you're a democrat right?

how'd you learn to do that? what'd you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it's how our rough ideas become "you did that yourself?" so when we can save more on the projects that let us fix, make, and do more... that just makes the stories even better. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. add some style to your sink, with this moen banbury faucet for the new lower price of $79. here's what you can the expect from regions. a bank that provides you with real business expertise. check. a professional optimization of your cash flow

with a regions cashcor analysis. check. cash management solutions and the smart lending options you need to grow your business. check. plus, it all comes with award-winning service to help you achieve more balance. interested? let's talk. looking good. (bike bell) good morning. i'm chris jansing, and we are following the fast-moving developments from libya where it does appear it's the beginning of the end for moammar gadhafi. a top-level diplomat says opposition forces now control 95% of the capital of tripoli. there's a joyous, raucous celebration earlier this morning in green square. rebels are now calling it martyrs square. they say they've arrested gadhafi's two oldest sons, although right now still no word on the whereabouts of gadhafi himself. a rebel diplomat says they will "turn over every stone