same mid east tensions that have trapped presidents for decades. is he in the proverbial no-win situation? also, when it comes to the middle east, foreign policy and domestic politics come together. texas governor rick perry strikes out at the president, saying his stance with israel is naive, arrogant, misguided, dangerous. he even dropped the a-word, appea appeasement. mitt romney accuses obama of throwing israel under the bus, all during this precarious 48-hour period. that, plus it looks like the two americans jailed as spies in iran will be freed this morning. a ahmadinejad hoped it would be a backdrop for his own speech in new york, but the delay underscores the power struggle inside iran. we'll check in on that. it's wednesday, 21st, 2011. this is the "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. and alexander stepping down from leadership to concentrate on

bipartisan results. he said if you are in leadership, it's hard to be bipartisan. he joins us this morning to talk about that. let's get right too to my first read of the morning. president obama will address the you wanted nations general assembly in just under an hour. white house aides say he will lay out the u.s. view of the seismic change seen around the world in the past year. think arab spring, particularly the sweeping changes there. behind the scenes at the u.n., though, the u.s. is scrambling to stop the rest of the world from recognizing palestinian statehood. last night in a late edition, the president added a meeting with palestinian president abbas to his schedule. you're looking, in fact, at new pictures here of abbas arriving at the u.n. just moments ago. he was already set to meet with israeli prime minister netanyahu. the president, that is, this morning. abbas is set to formally present a request for statehood on friday, which the u.s. promises to block, if he even -- if it even has to get that far. >> we could not be clearer that we have for some time now

opposed palestinian efforts to pursue statehood in an honorable bas basis through the united nations. we would veto any actions in the security council. tlnchs's a couple things going on right now. number one, what is abbas going to do? will he file the petition for statehood with the security council or simply looking for observer status in the general assembly? it looks like he's going the security council route. that's one. two, does he have nine votes in the security council, forcing the united states to have to use their veto? there is still a chance if the united states and even some european allies help the united states to convince at least -- that ninth member not to get there so they don't have to use the veto. so all of that is taking place today. nobody expects abbas to back off at this point. he's got his own domestic political issue. moving on. if howard dean or john kerry had shown up in new york city while president bush was at the united nations during unga week here in 2003, stood with foreign

nationals to criticize among the iraq war, what kind of condemnation would that have drawn? yesterday rick perry seized a new cycle opportunity, showing up in this new york to condemn the president's policy on israel. >> we would not be here today at this very precipice of such a dangerous move if the obama policy in the middle east wasn't naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous. it is time to change our policy of appeasement toward the palestinians, to strengthen our ties with the nation of israel. >> the whole idea of politics stopping at the water's edge is never -- is never abided by with politicians when it comes to israel. israel is a domestic political issue, if you will. particularly it's good primary politics for rick perry. you understand where he's going with, why the event seemed to be good in the moment. the question was, is the timing

appropriate where we are right now? in this precarious 48-hour, 72-hour window? is you heard this morning on "morning joe" some republican sympathetic foreign policy types thinking the timing of perry's criticism and appearing with foreign nationals -- he appeared with members of his israel to the right of benjamin national an i can't hue. was that appropriate? and this morning perry is drawing that contrast again in a new campaign video which juxtaposes images of a struggling economy with footage of the president and then uses sunny images to talk about the texas governor. here's a clip. >> a great country requires a better direction. a renewed nation needs a new president. it's time to get america working

again. we don't need a president who apologizes for america. i believe in america. i believe in a purpose and a promise. i believe her best days have not yet been realized. >> so for those that missed the tim pawlenty-jerry bruckheimer videos, you can see they're back, this time with the perry campaign. finally, yesterday the white house hinted the campaign phase had begun. last night, we heard the president's new fighting tone at a dnc fund-raiser in new york city. the president defended his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, previewing the message he'll bring to the midwest battleground state of ohio tomorrow. >> you're already hearing the republicans and congress dusting off the old talking points. you know, you can -- you can write their press releases. class warfare, they say. you know what? if asking a billionaire to pay the same rate as a plumber or a

teacher makes me a warrior for the middle class, i wear that charge as a badge of honor. >> working the crowd, the president essentially told republicans to bring it on. >> maybe some people in congress would rather settle these differences at the ballot box. i'm ready to settle them at the ballot box. i intend to win this next election, because we have got better ideas. >> as we said yesterday, it's hard to imagine there's much more governing left that can get done on some of these big items. we can see it's campaign rhetoric all the way. all right. we have some breaking news, of course, from iran. two americans jailed on spying charges could be released from prison any moment now after spending more than two years behind iranian bars. their defense attorney says an iranian court has approved a combined $1 million bail. aly arusy is the bureau chief. okay, it's all done. this took a little while longer. ahmadinejad, of course, is here

in new york. there's clearly some political issues behind the scenes there inside the iranian government. >> that's right, chuck. i'll get to that in a moment. but i can bring you the latest from outside the prison. the swiss ambassador is still standing outside and the lawyer for the hiker has just come out of the prison, and told one of my colleagues outside the prison that all the paperwork has now been finalized. he's done everything he needs to do. the prison has told them to come out now, and the hikers -- the prison warden told them the hikers will be released possibly in the next five minutes, maybe in the next couple hours. that's the word from the prison warden to the lawyer that we're just getting right now, chuck. >> all right, ali. and if you could quickly get to sort of -- what did you learn about ahmadinejad's power or lack thereof when he was trying last week when he was telling ann curry that these hikers were going to get released? >> well, his -- certainly

diminished, chuck. he said they're going to come out in a couple days. the judiciary put a block on that until they were ready. they came out with a statement saying it's not his decision, it's ours. so there was definitely a knock to his power there. he wanted to go to the united states, heavily armed, having been the humanitarian, having been the magnamimous president. he wasn't able to do that. now things have changed and he's there. but it definitely wasn't done on his watch, which is a very important point to point out and it shows the subtleties and the power play within iran. >> all right, ali aruzio, we'll check back in when we see pictures of the hikers coming home. thanks. president obama's supporters are soaking up his tough new tone and plan to create jobs, raise taxes on the rich and leave medicare pretty much al e alone. for some democrats in congress, however, especially those facing re-election, things aren't so cut and dry. >> listen, we're not going to

get into a lot of hypotheticals here, okay? we're very happy with the speech he gave yesterday. talking about deficit reduction. does that mean that we agree with every part of it? of course not. none of us do that. none of us agree with every part of it. >> illinois democratic senator dick durbin is the assistant majority leader. and is senator durbin, senator reid was getting at a point that you hear behind the scenes from some democrats of why is it that republicans are so good at uniting around and rallying around their presidents, but -- and basically -- even if they don't like the policies, they grin and bear it publicly. that's not the case with democrats. >> it goes back a long way to will rogers who said i don't belong to any organized political party, i'm a democrat. we're pretty independent in our thinking, even when we have a president of our own that we worked hard to elect and will work hard to reelect. but let me get to the bottom line. it's president easy for the republicans to stay on message when the message is do nothing and protect millionaires. did you hear the latest, chuck?

a letter from the republican leaders of the house and senate to the federal refuse serve board instructing them not to take any action to lower interest rates in the next two days? that is as one former commissioner said, outrageous, and indefensible. >> do you believe that that is -- do you believe that is an attempt by the republicans to manipulate the federal reserve in some way? >> why else would -- come on, why else would they send the letter? they are trying to put political pressure on them not to lower interest rates. when i go home to illinois, the businesses i meet are struggling to borrow money, to expand their businesses and hire people, lower interest rates will help them. homeowners who are facing the restructuring of their mortgages would welcome lower interest rates. and none w the republican leade say despite this, despite the unemployment, the federal reserve board should do nothing. that is the republican answer to our weak economy, and it's not one that's going to play very well across america. >> all right. i want to get to the debt plan. you are on the bowles/simpson commission, you voted for it. and you were saying there were parts of it you didn't like,

particularly some of the ideas that came to dealing with social security and medicare. yesterday i asked jack lew the budget director about the issue of the fact that the president seemed to sort of back off the compromised plan in grand bargain. he was negotiating with john boehner. here's what he said. >> six weeks ago, we were hoping to do something very big in the context of a very contentious political debate over the debt limit. when you go to bottom lines in a negotiation, that's a very different context than when you put out your vision. >> senator, this is a little backwards. usually you put out your vision first, then you get to the negotiating bottom line. you know, can the president's debt plan be seen as a credible idea if we already know what his bottom line negotiating principles will be down the road? >> no, here's the difference. three different occasions now, the white house, the president and vice president reached out to republican leadership and said let's work on a very good

approach to reducing the deficit. first, of course, was vice president biden, and congressman eric cantor, the republican leader in the house walked out on it. then two direct efforts with speaker boehner to negotiate long-term deficit reduction, both times he walked away from it. so what president obama has said, here's where my starting point is, here's my bottom line, here's how we can achieve this goal and still not destroy medicare and make sure that we have a credible approach to reducing the deficit. if there's a negotiation coming, so be it. but he's tried three different occasions to reach out to the republicans, and they rebuffed it. >> all right. and i want to ask about the jobs bill. as we pointed out earlier, it is certainly not getting unified democratic support. the president -- senator begich saying just picking on one industry is not acceptable, talking about oil and gas. senator lieberman, the plan doesn't represent the kind of reform and spending reduction we need to get our country back in balance. and senator schumer, member of leadership, says $250,000 makes you really rich in mississippi, but it doesn't make you rich at

all in new york. how much is the president's jobs bill -- how much of it can get through the united states' senate as-is, and how much is going to get modified? >> i think the overwhelming majority of what the president has proposed will not only survive, but be supported by the democratic side. of course we'll have variations on his theme, different approaches we think may be worthwhile. for example, going after china currency manipulation that's cost us so many jobs, something that all of us believe should be part of this conversation. making certain that we're pushing forward on creating good manufacturing jobs for good-paying jobs right here in america. the bottom line is, we agree with the president. doing nothing is unacceptable. the republican approach to this, ignoring the reality of this economy and doing nothing, is not something the democrats support. we'll work with the president, we'll have a good plan. >> all right. senate and democratic whip dick durbin, got to leave it there. nice to see you. >> good to see you too. the republican side of the aisle.

a shakeup after years of climbing up the leadership ladder, lamar alexander makes a surprise announcement he's stepping down. not just as gop conference chairman, but he's not going run for another leadership position. up next, we'll ask the senator why party leadership and bipartisanship don't mix anymore. plus, the campaign coffers of top-tier california democrats have been wiped out by a swindler who is being called the bern bernie madoff of campaign finance treasurers. how the embezzlement scheme can effect 2012 politics, and how should other candidates avoid this happening to them? but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. a busy, busy day, as you can see here in new york. ♪ ♪ i'm back in the new york groove ♪ the the and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

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well, the number three republican in the senate, lamar alexander, announced yesterday he will step do you know down as conference chairman this year and not run for another leadership position. >> my reason for doing that is this. stepping down from the republican leadership will liberate me to spend more time trying to work for results on issues that i care the most about. >> well, we're joined now by the man himself, senator lamar alexander from tennessee. so senator, did you feel handcuffed being in leadership? >> handcuff is too strong a word. any time you take a leadership role at the table, you give up some of your independence. so i'm giving that up and getting my independence back. >> let me ask more about that. this has been an ongoing debate

in the white house sometimes. it's been an ongoing debate in previous white houses. which is when you reach across the aisle, do you go to the leadership, or do you go around the leadership? oddly, aren't you making the case that the -- a democratic white house or even a republican white house is better to go around leadership, since it is harder to, as you just say, to have your independence? >> no. really, i don't. in fact, i think the obama white house made an extraordinary error during the first year-and-a-half of the president's term by the president never having a one-on-one meeting with the republican leader, mitch mcconnell. i remember the days when president johnson used to invite himself to the senate office to have a drink after work, calling to check on health. that's how they got the civil righ bill passed. so you start with the leadership. but those of us who aren't in the leadership can make it easier for the leaders and the president to succeed. >> you know, there has been some chatter among conservatives over

the last 24 hours that say you really decided not to run because there was some talk you were going to run for the number two post. senator kyle is not running for re-election to u.s. senate. so therefore stepping down from that. and you just didn't have the votes. >> well, i -- none of us have the votes for that. that happens -- that happens in 15 months. and none of us knows how it will work out in the senate. most of those decisions are made based upon relationships. i've been elected three times to the republican conference. trent lott beat me by one for whip before. my decision was based solely upon this fact. we're very lucky to be here. all of us are political action accidents and i wanted to make sure that i made the best use of this time. and if the best use of this time for me is to work to get results on the issues i care about. in the senate, that means you've got to find some people from the other party to agree with you or you don't get 60 votes. >> senator dick durbin and republicans stood together and

were happy 36 pledged to work in a bipartisan manner. >> yeah. >> pardon me for being cynical. 36 is not 51. 36 is not even 60. >> yeah, 36 is a lot, though. any time you get that many senators working together on a single important issue, you made a big step in the right direction. you get 10 or 15 senators on either side who are working together, whether it's on supreme court matters, whether it's on energy, whether it's on preserving the right to work law, and especially to get a third of the senate saying we want a big step to reduce the debt, that's big news, in my book. and that's the kind of -- in that are the seeds of success. >> let me ask you a couple questions. senator durbin brought up right before you -- he was upset about a letter that some republican lawmakers have sent to the fed. sent to federal reserve chairman and signed by mitch mcconnell, john kyl, eric cantor, john boehner saying -- essentially asking him -- be caver about lowering interest rate. is that appropriate? do you think that's appropriate that politicians -- you know, the fed is supposed to be independent, sort of trying to have a little bit of distance from politics, should political

leaders be exerting some political pressure like that in the form of a letter? >> chuck, i haven't seen the letter, don't know about it. rather not comment on it until i read it. >> so it was sent by the leadership. so nobody passed the letter by you, they didn't ask you to sign? >> i haven't seen the letter, no. >> go ahead. >> you said it was sent by mcconnell and kyl. that didn't include me. >> let me ask you about another political issue. yesterday governor rick perry running for president, you have run for president before. you know these moments in some form. forgiving the substance of the hit at the time, do you think it was inappropriate for him to be with foreign nationals, criticizing the president while he's in the middle of negotiations on this israeli-palestinian issue to hit him so hard publicly blocks away? should the politics have waited a few days? >> the answer to the question is yes. but let me let mitt romney and

perry duke that out. let me -- i think perry -- if he had to do that over again, probably wouldn't do it. on the other hand, on the debate the other night, i tuned in for a few minutes and i saw him defend his immigration stand in front of an audience that didn't agree with him. i thought he looked very presidential doing that, because i think people want a president who sticks to his guns on things he believes in. >> let me ask you one more thing on republican presidential politics. are you one of these that believe there's still time for more folks to get in, or is this field satisfactory enough to you? >> i think we've got some good people. i like the three governors. i like romney. i like perry. i like huntsman. i think they're all pretty substantial people, and they give us some good choices. some others do, as well. but in the world we live in today, others can come along. if urudy guiliani showed up fas -- he's not a new name to the american people. >> sure. >> 15 years ago, it took a long time to get known. today, anyone who runs for president comes very fast. and you'll remember, in 1995 and

'6, steve forbes, who had never held a public office before, got in late with his own money and very nearly knocked bob dole out of contention. >> you know, one of the things about that race that people forget, and you know this well, because you've run a couple times, is how much things you have to do, actually, in had october and november to get on ballots. steve forbes didn't get on every ballot at the time. >> no. no, that's right. i think the presidential race is going to be decided by whoever shows up in january looking most like a president. and that doesn't mean pandorring to this view or that view, that means showing the capacity to deal with jobs, national security, and lead us out of some real problems and to a brighter future. and that's harder to do than it looks. i mean, going from being governor -- even of a big state to a presidential primary in january is like going from the eighth grade basketball to the nba finals overnight. >> you know, let me ask you that. sort of -- you were sort of touching on this question, where it does seem as if it is mitt romney and rick perry at the end, there is this question of what's more important to republican primary voters,

quote, unquote electability or going with somebody that matches their own views. a voice heard this -- republicans always try to find the most electable conservative, democrats simply go for the most electable. what's your view? do you want somebody more electable? will you take somebody you don't necessarily agree with if you think they can win versus somebody that matches your views better? >> well, my view, and i think most republicans want someone who is sufficiently conservative. but, you know, in the end, we don't necessarily want a president who agrees with us on everything. in fact, we might want to make sure he didn't agree with us on some of our prejudices. i think we want somebody who can lead the country, set an agenda, develop a strategy, try to persuade half of us he's right and then we can react to that. so i think republican primary voters in the end are looking for a president, not just for somebody who agrees with every single view they have. >> all right. senator lamar alexander, you're definitely -- you said you're running for re-election for sure in 2014. that's still the case, right? >> for the senate. >> for the senate, yes. okay. senator alexander, good to talk to you this morning.

>> thank you, chuck. president obama has a day of arm-twisting ahead of him. live pictures here of the general assembly, where the president will speak shortly. we'll have live coverage of that, as well. and also, we're going to go to the u.n. for a live look at what's going on with the palestinian push to try to get recognition from the u.n. plus, it's tough to now try doing it twice. that's what senator dianne feinstein and other democrats are going to have to do after they were wiped out by an embezzler. how will it impact the 2012 race? but first today's trivia question. what country is a member of the united nations? tweet me at chuck todd or "the daily rundown." the first correct answer will get you a follow wednesday from us. the answer coming up on "the daily rundown."

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opening bell just rang on wall street. what do we expect today? >> we're looking at a better opening, actually. and this is just a turn around even in the past couple minutes, some news out of europe this morning, literally moments ago. the ecb announcing that they're going to actually lower the standards for which banks can send collateral to them in exchange for cash. that actually may free up a lot of the worry over these european banks, because as we know, there's a lot of worry about what the collateral was and how much they had. now this should open things up. the other thing that people are going to be watching all day, of course, is operation twist 2:15 today, we learn from the fed exactly what they plan to do, this idea they may sell shorter-term holdings in exchange for buying up some longer-term bonds ask trying to get mortgage rates and interest rates to go lower. we'll see whether it works. >> all right. andrew sorkin, cnbc's world headquarters. thank you very much. "the daily rundown" will be back this 30 seconds.

bottom of the hour. a quick look at what's driving the day. president obama will deliver remarks at the u.n. general assembly at 10:00 this morning. and later will meet separately with mahmud abbas and benjamin netanyahu. the american hikers jailed in iran for over two years are expected to be released sometime today, perhaps in a few minutes. moments ago, officials entered the jail where the two u.s. men are being held. swiss diplomats are waiting

outside the prison, ready to take custody of shane bauer and josh fattal when they are released. the opening bell has just rung. investors are keeping an eye on the fed who is expected to announce operation twist, the latest effort to help the struggling economy. well, separate face-to-face meetings with both the israeli and palestinian leaders today set the backdrop for president obama's speech to the united nations. ron allen is live for us at the united nations. so once again, we expect a lot of the remarks today, not just from president obama, to touch on both the arab spring, but also this issue of palestinian statehood. >> right. and that is the dilemma for president obama. we believe that much of his speech is going to talk about the positive developments in the middle east and the arab world. the end of the regime's in tunisia, egypt and libya and people there achieving the right of self-determination and freedom. and then when it gets to the palestinian issue, he says to them essentially, we believe and we want those same things for

you. we want a two-state solution, but we don't want you to achieve it this way and we're going to block it, veto it, if it gets that far. and there are some incongruity, contradiction in that. and the palestinians for their part, when you talk to them here, they see no other way. and it's hard to see what these back door negotiations between the u.s. and others could give the palestinians to encourage them to back away from this demand for state here at the u.n. they see negotiations as going nowhere. they say they have been doing that for 20 years. and they have gotten nothing yet that's tangible. so the promise of a time line, the promise of final status talks, not -- all that rings hollow for the palestinians. president obama, of course, his big calculation is israel. and in his remarks, i would expect that we're not going to see an inch of daylight between him and israel. that, of course, is a huge domestic political calculation, because of the president being in campaign mode now, and the

harsh criticism he's getting from the republican side. he knows the numbers, he know the jewish vote in places like florida and how important that is. here the palestinians say if they can't get what they want in the security council, they will go to the general assembly. and if there was a vote in the general assembly, the palestinians would have overwhelming support. the numbers would be in the hundreds to single digits perhaps, in favor of them getting a state. and there's no veto there. for the palestinians, they see this as a continuing negotiation. and what they're trying to achieve here is a bit more leverage. a lot more leverage, they hope, if they can get the world to publicly support them. . >> all right. ron allen at the u.n. for us this morning. thanks very much. back to politics. it's been a crazy story developing out in california. look, it's hard enough to raise money in politics, but for several democrats out there, it's gotten even harder after a prominent campaign treasurer who handled hundreds of political bank accounts diverted fund from several candidates for her

personal use. the campaign coffers, they don't have an fdic to ensure losses. so now the likes of congresswoman susan davis, democratic senator dianne feinstein, must find ways to replenish their accounts. political attorney, former white house counsel bob bauer joins me now. he's somebody that whenever i'm trying to understand campaign finance law, between him and ginsburg on the republican side, they know how to dissect this. bob, let me ask. how does this work? is i said there is no fdic. they're essentially handing over control to just one person like this, a campaign treasurer? >> well, i don't know that it's uniformly the experience that campaigns turn this responsibility over to simply one person. they're frequently turned over, and that's what -- appears to be in this case to someone who was known to be a specialist and had done this for many years and was operating as a subcontractor, an independent contractor, to a

whole range of campaigns. and clearly, they had every reason to believe, based on history, that their accounts were being managed to the highest professional standards. >> now, we know that kind kinde durkee was charged of misappropriating $670,000. one thing i've noticed -- i feel in the last few years we have seen more stories like this. is there some safeguards that maybe congress ought to pass or the fdc can come up with that protects this money? because it usually happens to long-term -- what you hear about, it's usually a long-time incumbent who really isn't in the political fray day in and day out and isn't keeping an eye on things. >> again, i want to be clear. it's not always because someone is not keeping an eye on things. obviously you can positive i didn't tell the case of truly bad actors who are trusted based on reputation and professional experience and range of clients handled to handle these matters appropriately. so unfortunately, victims can come easily in this

circumstance, if you have bad acts. but the federal election commission, beginning in 2007, began to provide guidance to political committees, essentially a set of standards that they could follow when they were appointing people to take on these responsibilities, improved internal controls, or strengthened internal controls, to at least guard against the danger of criminal misappropriation. >> does a donor have any rights here? >> well, the donor, obviously, having contributeded to a campaign, which is an important act, is victimized. but when you say rights, the donor is somewhat where the candidate is, which is, this is theft. and there's no real way of recovering the money, except from the thief, if, in fact, you know, there is any restitution to be gained from are the person who was responsible in any one of these cases for engaging in this conduct. >> let me ask you one question about what's going on in the world of politics. what do you say to those democratsic wringing their

hands who have not spent as much time as you have, for instance, in the west wing, who are essentially monday morning, tuesday morning quarter-backing everything that's going on in the west wing? you obviously have spent a lot of time there inside and outside with president obama. what's your message to some of the democratic hand-wringers who haven't been in that room? >> well, chuck, you've known me for a long time. i tend to stick to my knitting. so i don't comment on these matters. i have enormous confidence in this administration and president. i leave it to others to address those concerns. >> so no message to the hand-wringers at this point. >> but i enjoy being on your show. >> bob bauer, former white house council to president obama. thanks for walking us through. this crazy fec and campaign finance mess that has hit these california democrats. bob, good to see you. >> thank you. good to see you. up next, florida, florida, florida. it's all about the sunshine state this week. you're looking at live pictures in miami where mitt romney will be holding a town hall momentarily, also doing a little bit of a press avail.

up next, our hump day panel joins me in new york for a look at why the next few days could be important in the republican primary race. but first, white house soup of the day. must have been some gazpacho yesterday. roasted red tomato and pepper. hey, it's my kid's favorite song. ♪ >> i hear it over and over again. and now you're hitting me with it on the show? oy. you've been ♪ pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®.

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grand jury testimony in the monica lewinski scandal was released to the public for the first time. and that sentence became one of the most famous in recent history. white house aides are defending the president's hard-line stance on reducing the debt and approached the president last night at a fund-raiser in new york. >> would you rather keep tax loopholes for oil companies, or do you want to put construction workers and teachers back on the job? should we ask seniors to pay thousands of dollars more for medicare, or should we ask the biggest corporations to pay their fair share? that's what this debate is about. >> becky haberman is a senior writer for politico. and we have our msnbc contributor joy ann reid. are you a new yorker yet? >> i was a original new yorker. >> oh, like all south floridans. good grief. that's why miami is sixth

burrow. >> exactly. >> there you go. let me start with yesterday. so yesterday's front page of "the new york times" had dan pfeiffer saying that phase is over when it came to the idea of negotiating with republicans. and he didn't like our interpretation, and he sort of pushed back and said no, what he said was is that the idea of compromise, a difference between this debt plan released and the one he almost agreed to with john boehner was sort of, look, they had the ability to hold the country hostage -- we were forced to do a compromise situation. we're not forced into that situation now. that doesn't mean we're not willing to compromise. they just don't believe the other side is. >> i think they are playing basic base politics with this plan. i think that's what you're seeing. i think there is going to have to be compromise at some point, and this is not a full plan. but i think to the extent they can kind of turn hard left because they have to, because going the course they were going, which would be the general election strategy you would expect from an incumbent

was not working. >> joy ann, is she right? politics based by necessity? had he come out with the compromise he was getting there with boehner, with included some social security, and included some more drastic cuts in medicare -- >> right. >> the base would have flared up? >> if you look at most polls, self-described liberals, he still gets 78, 80% of liberals. but the problem the white house has going into 2012 is intensity. same problem they had in 2010. yes, liberals are more for him than they would be for, let's say a rick perry, god forbid, but they need the intensity. and to get intensity, you've got to go to the base. he's running where he needs to be. >> you know, looking at where congressional republicans are, they say we have been winning politicly on this. yes, we're taking on water. the president is taking on water and it seems to be hurting him more, oddly enough, than it hurts them. because individually, they say, hey, we're not as bad in our individual districts. what's the risk of them not finding some common ground with the president and passing

something in the next six weeks? >> thing is a very unpredictable political environment and when you look at the numbers for congress and how grim they are, when you look at numbers and how people feel about their own congressman, they're grimmer. and so you could have an unusual situation in which, for example, you have a republican president and a democratic house elected the next time around. i think it's the unpredictability that is causing them a lot of anxiety, as well it should. >> i want to go back to this democratic issue and the jobs bill. look at these quotes from john tester for re-election. this plan isn't the one i would have written nor is it one that will pass congress. ben nelson also up for re-election. the jobs plan isn't the final word. let's see what emerges from the debate. and mark begich, him saying, hey, just picking out one industry is not acceptable. he's upset about the oil things. all politics is local there. but this goes to this point where democrats, they don't rally around publicly, the lawmakers do. republican lawmakers bite their tongue. and even if they don't like policies coming out of their white houses.

>> absolutely. and democrats have never marched behind this president. this is the same problem the president had on health care where his instincts were more progressive but he had this firewall of conservative democrats, and joe lieberman saying we're not doing the public option. even when you look at the stimulus, you always had pushback from within the democratic party on more progressive things the president wanted to do. closing gitmo. that was democrats who sided with republicans, trying ksm, in the u.s. that was democrats again who undermined the president sort of progressive instinks and that's what he's been dealing with from the beginning. >> why is it republicans bite their tongue more and don't run to "the new york times" when they're upset about something? >> it's interesting you say that. because i think when you're thinking about this base strategy the president is pursuing right now, it's true his numbers look relatively healthy among liberals. but the thing is, there is this group of white upper middle class folks he needs to win back, because they're loud. >> that's right. and that's, by the way, who john tester, ben nelson, they need for their re-election. maggi, joy ann, stick around.

trivia time. what country is the newest member of the united nations? the answer, the republic of south sudan, which was admitted to the u.n. on july 14th, 2011. before that, the latest country to join the united nations had been montenegro in 2006. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc.

let's bring back the panel. okay, florida, florida, florida, and it all begins. we have mitt romney down there today and rick perry was arguably doing florida politics yesterday when he was talking about israel and here in new york as we joked the sixth borough of new york is south florida. maggie, the importance of tomorrow's debate with rick perry, and he has not had a good one yet and he has to reassure

donors who have not bought in, but realize he is polling well, and he is there for the long haul, and how important is the debate tomorrow night? >> well, it is important. he needs a better showing and do something more akin to the initial debate and he needs to show he can talk about immigration which is a big issue in florida and talk about social security and a path forward and not talk about ponzi scheme and stick to the rhetoric. it is going to take more than tomorrow night for the donors and the establishment-types to move toward him, because they want to see a few solid performances. >> and there are a lot of the second tier of the republican presidential race who want to get their hands on rick perry, and rick santorum in a piece written by maggie here said this about rick perry, i have forgotten more about israel than rick perry knows about israel. there he is, reading a speech

that someone he had write for him. and it sounds like he wants to beat up rick perry, and what did you think of the event yesterday? >> i thought that the event was shrewd strategy in terms of positioning as the hard right candidate, and for whatever reason that evangelical israel alliance is a strong part of the republican foreign policy narrative. the republican foreign policy narrative has changed with the bar on terror receded, but the identity politics issues are a bigger piece of it. where do you stand? are you tough on america's enemies? and israel is essential to the right's foreign policy -- >> and mitt romney deciding, oh, my god, i can't let rick perry outdo this, and he threw tout statement, and you hear from the republican foreign policy folks who have been around the block, and they didn't like any of the language there. >> that is fair, but this is a new party and the new grass roots and you have to be responsive to it. >> joy-ann, you spent time in

florida and there is a new poll out that i tweeted that romney and perry were 25-25, and the republican electorate in florida is very diverse. there are different parts of it, and identity politics is huge, right. you have cuban vote in the south, but you have an old-fashioned southern vote in the north. very confusing geography there, and the south and the north and the east and the west, but what are going to be the dividing lines between romney and perry as this is turning into the primary when all is said and done? >> right. florida is the state that elected sort of a tea party governor and to a tea party is strong in florida an centered in the orlando area, and the problem for romney is that perry captures the zeitgeist of the republican party. >> and has the debacle with the -- and also the scandal inside of the state party and

has it been destroyed right now and no active element? >> the base does not trust the base establishment of the republican party and perry has the momentum. i don't understand what romney does to take itway even in florida. >> all right. >> read our live blog on the barnes and haberman. >> and we will be on the street doing our own live blogging. you can plug that today. >> mitt daniel's book "keeping the republic" and a lot of regret that he has not run. >> you are the second person with the shameless plug and the first one was pete who works for me. >> i have to plug thegrio.com, and we will be on the troy davis case where he is set to be executed tonight. i will be home in d.c. tomorrow as the president heads out of here, but coming up is "jansing & company," and don't forget "andrea mitchell reports"

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good morning, i'm chris jansing and right now on msnbc, president obama prepares to address the world. any minute now, he is scheduled to go before the united nations general assembly and right now you can see the president of brazil is addressing the assembly. president obama will push for the palestinians to drop their bid for statehood. he will follow the speech with separate meetings with president benjamin netanyahu and president abbas. and while at the u.n., palestinians are gathering for peaceful rallies at the west bank. we join ron king outside of the united nations. good morning, ron. >> good morning, chris. the palestinians are hoping to create huge demonstrations that resemble the arab spring offensive in tunisia and