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and i helped create the fidelity guided portfolio summary. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. all right, america, get out your notebooks, this is the moment the country waits for to find out what we've learned today. mark haleprin. >> off camera, i learned your daily routine which i might tweet later if i can work into 140 characters. >> i learned that it is not love or money that makes the world go round, it's sleep. >> this is true, nicole. >> and nancy thinks you need more. >> i've learned that nancy snyderman can be hurtful to

marginally elder willly people. >> i think she called you fat. i think she did. you're very trim. >> i'm not very trim, but i'm not fat. that's terrible. and you know who is going to agree that's terrible? >> i agree it's terrible. >> someone else who is not going to agree with you and he's coming up next because he's sitting in for chuck todd, my close friend luke russert. luke. >> america's anchor. >> take it away. a major day at the highest court in the land, the supreme court justices get set to decide the future of same-sex marriage in america. the court's consideration comes as major political players change their minds on the issue. supporters see the dominos starting to fall. and we'll talk about how quickly things have changed in the last decade with the man who helped bill clinton get elected and how whether or not he'll be helping hillary clinton do the same in 2016.

the ragen' cajon james carville will be here. ♪ under the sea >> good morning from the cast and crew of "the little mermaid" in new jersey. >> it's tuesday, march 26th, 2013. and this is the "daily rundown." now here's chuck todd. >> good morning, everybody. i'm luke russert in for chuck todd. and our great thanks to the cast and crew of the little mermaid there at anthony wayne middle school in wayne, new jersey. i think ursula throwing to chuck todd is the top ten moment. just about an hour for now, the supreme court, a four-year legal battle to restore the right of marriage rights to same-sex couples. it could define marriage for the next generation.

in 2008, six months after the california supreme court endorsed same-sex marriage, voters passed a ballot measure adding a marriage ban to the state's constitution. the state gave barack obama 61% of the vote and passed prop 8 with 52% of the vote. >> crowds chanted today in the streets of los angeles as thousands did last night angry at the success of proposition 8. >> in 2009, a legal odd couple democrat david boise and republican ted olson best known for being on opposite sides in bush v. gore challenged proposition 8 in court. prop 8 was struck down in the lower courts. today, the high court will consider whether the marriage ban is unconstitutional and discrimination -- and more broadly whether any state can block it. the two gay california couples who are plaintiffs in today's case made a visit monday to the national archives to see the constitution and spoke again just moments ago.

>> today's a very important day for her family, jeff and myself and for our country. like all americans, we believe that the institution of marriage helps to build stable and strong families. and that's why we're here. jeff and i long to be married and start a family of our own and have the equal rights guaranteed to all americans that are in loving and committed relationships. >> when i was growing up in bakersfield, california, i was afraid to be myself, i was afraid to fall in love. sandy and i look forward to a day when we can celebrate our marriage with our four children and all of the children in california and across the country. >> and here's an interesting nugget of information also in the courtroom today, a cousin of chief justice john roberts. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams live at the supreme court and he joins us

now. and i want to ask you, what are the issues literally being argued today? and how broad or limited could a decision be coming out of the court? >> reporter: well, the main issue is, is prop 8 constitutional? the defenders who have lost in both the lower courts say, yes. but there's a legitimate government reason for making a distinction between the two kinds of couples. they say only opposite sex couples can produce children and that's reason enough for the state to make a distinction. the other side says it doesn't make any sense because allowing same-sex couples to get married, that won't affect the rights of traditional couples, won't in any way devalue the institution of marriage. that's the heart of the case here. now, it has to be said, luke, that there is a potential land mine in this case. and here's the reason. the state of california, which normally would defend its own state laws agrees with the two couples that are suing over prop 8. they agree it's uninstitutional. so the legal defense has been carried on by the people who got

prop 8 on the ballot in the first place. and there remains a legal question about whether or not they have the right to carry on this appeal. so the narrowest way is to say they don't have any appeal right, that would leave the original ruling standing which would permit same-sex marriage to resume, but it would apply only to california. it could be a narrow rulie inin if the court does what the couples hope it will do, it could be a broader ruling. >> and pete, you're a veteran court watcher, obviously. anthony kennedy seems to be the one that folks think is a crucial swing vote here, although they think that perhaps justice roberts or alito could do something on the monumental scale. what do you think in terms of justices and how they might move? >> well, justice kennedy is traditionally the swing vote. footnote here, luke, it was ten years ago today that the court

heard the argument in the lawrence v. texas case. that's why so many people are watching to see what he does. >> what should we be watching for during the oral arguments that might help us laypeople understand which direction the court might be going? >> reporter: well, you have to look at what kind of questions justice kennedy is asking and justice roberts, as well. he's a bit of an unknown quantity. he's never had a ruling on a big gay rights case. he's a bit of a blank slate. >> pete williams, thank you so much. take care. >> you bet. it's not just advocates for and against same-sex marriage who have a huge amount at stake, the supreme court remains one of the nation's most popular institutions.

according to a new survey, views of the court are close to an all-time low. 52% view the court favorably. 31% view it unfavorably. largely unchanged since last july. shortly after the ruling to uphold most of the affordable care act. if you dig inside the numbers, partisans on both sides are split on the court's political leanings while 45% of conservative republicans believe the roberts court is liberal, 48% of liberal democrats think the court is conservative. nbc's deputy political editor is here today with the latest for our read. and obviously a huge issue that is fascinating in the context of what we've known in terms of the real shift in terms of the country being in favor of same-sex marriage. sort of to give cover to a lot of politicians who are changing up on this. >> well, you know, it has been a huge shift. if you think about 2004 when

this was used as a cultural wedge issue just before president bush was reelected, you know, only 30% of people in our poll said they favored same-sex marriage. 62% opposed. that's almost completely reversed itself now with 51%, a majority in our poll showing that they're supportive of same-sex marriage from three months ago and even since then we've seen other polls where it's even wider than that. >> democrats from states where it's not necessarily easy to be elected, mark warner of virginia, claire mccaskill of missouri all coming out in support of same-sex marriage. i support marriage equality because it is the fair and right thing to do. like many virginians and americans, my views have evolved. seems we've had a lot of evolution. from former president bill clinton, now you have swing state democrats, red state

democrat right there. this seems to be on the democratic side, you better get onboard right now or the train's going to leave the station and leave you behind. >> a year ago, president obama was still not in favor completely. he was for civil unions. hillary clinton recently coming out in support of same-sex marriage. you cannot be a democrat running in 2016 and not be for same-sex marriage. that's the way it is. >> interesting retirement. senator tim johnson announced he's going to retire. it makes a tough line of "d" that democrats have to put forward. west virginia's red, south dakota as we said, it's red. and the republican side only georgia and nebraska not great news with democrats with johnson retiring. most thought to have -- he would have the best chance of winning that seat.

>> well, i think democrats expected tim johnson to probably retire. i think this moves right to the top of the republican potential takeover list. but republicans need six seats to take over the senate because president biden, vice president biden would be able to break a tie if it was 50/50. it's still a bit of an uphill climb to win all those seats, you look at south dakota, the next on the list, maybe montana, west virginia, you know, maybe then you have to go to louisiana with mark prior, north carolina with kay hagan, and iowa, potentially. they have to really run -- >> you've got to take out incumbents there in the southern states. lastly, senate madness. how the heck is bob dole a ten seed? >> anyway, the thing is, the way this bracketing shakes out, sometimes not -- but, ed musky,

versus bob dole who saw himself as the great political compromiser, i think we could see upsets today. they would then match up against the winner of the 215 game on daniel patrick moynihan, the great intellectual senator from new york and george mitchell who maybe was a better exsenator than senator for everything he'd done. and then the 2:15 game is dirkson who has a name on the building and was responsible for civil rights getting passed because he ended the cloture vote. imagine mitch mcconnell ending a cloture vote on gay marriage. that's what people would equate it to. but he goes against a 15-seed in margaret smith, the only woman in our bracket and was the first senator to speak out against joe mccarthy. >> a lot of heavy weights there.

>> other big potential is phil hart goes against henry lodge. we'll see how it goes, vote today. >> moynihan two seed going all the way. can't wait to see it. we appreciate it. go on to first read at nbcpolitics.com to get your senate madness on. check it out. participate, it's great stuff. coming up from same-sex marriage to immigration and gun control, the culture wars are roaring back. but this time it's democrats on the side of public opinion. how will that impact party strategy going forward? we'll ask democratic stat gist and long time clinton adviser james carville. that's right here next on the "daily rundown" and still ahead our meet the freshmen series continues with sean patrick maloney. what are his thoughts on this week's landmark cases before the court? but first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. watching "the daily rundown," what does it say about mls and

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today it's prop 8, tomorrow the supreme court considers a challenge the defense of marriage actment one of the law's high-profile critics is the man who signed it. former president bill clinton. the day before president clinton signed doma released a statement saying, quote, i have long opposed government recognition of same-gender marriages and this legislation is consistent with that position.

but he says he was never comfortable with the law and earlier this month clinton wrote it was a mistake saying, quote, i know now that even worse than providing excuse for discrimination, the law itself is discriminatory. it should be overturned. joining me now democratic strategist and long time clinton adviser james carville. thanks so much for coming on. >> you bet. got some magic here. all right. democrats in terms of the gay marriage issue and immigration and amongst other things guns, the polling seems that unlike the '90s, they're really winning on these culture wars. in terms of getting married, is it the point now for democrats this is a very much winning issue. you see mark warner, claire mccaskill. you've got to get onboard with this or risk being in trouble in 2016. >> first of all, there's not going to be an antimarriage equality candidate run for president in the democratic party, a serious candidate. it's more likely to have a

serious equality candidate than you would have a pro-life candidate. neither one are very likely. this issue has caught on fire, taken over and the polling reflects it. if you look at the last segment of the show, gone from 30/60, 60/34. get onboard here. >> i wanted to ask you on another issue which has been good over time for republicans. and that's the issue of guns. you are a red state democrat in louisiana, you're a gun owner. >> right. >> but mayor bloomberg is going to run ads against mary landrieu saying her support of gun rights is not a good thing. what's your message to mayor bloomberg in sort of liberal democrats who are trying to influence against some of those democrat gun-loving folks? >> first of all, look, in terms of framing it in what they want,

expanded background checks, that's 85%, 90%. people from louisiana, people from massachusetts or anywhere else. the problem is it never gets framed like that. you saw carl rove on sunday morning tv saying, oh, no, you're not going to be able to give a gun to your grandchild, et cetera. et cetera. you see the nra saying the same thing. you have to frame the issue properly. the nra is going to send a letter out, they're not going to say she voted for expanded background checks so felons and people with mental illness can't get a gun. they're going to say she's trying to take everyone's gun away. they never framed the issue properly, but this is probably going to go the way gay marriage does as people get to look at it and think about it more and more. i think the thing is going to change. >> i've got a lot of questions b

my response, i don't take gun advice from the mayor of nyc. is this beneficial for democrats they can stand up against bloomberg? or is it going to hurt them to deal with this type of pressure from the flank? >> a little bit. to the effect that the issue would be framed properly, they would be for the expanded background checks. they're not going to get that information, and between now and 2014, it's going to be a tough slog in places like arkansas, louisiana, north carolina. but it keeps moving and moving and moving and more and more information gets out there i think public opinion has changed. i think the congress is going to catch up with public opinion before long. >> you're known for being a very unflunl adviser. let's say president obama calls you up and says, james, 2008

never happened, come over to the oval office. i want to have a conversation. how do i get immigration reform through congress in the next two years? especially while there seems to be some sort of bipartisan consensus. a lot of republicans have said maybe this should take a few years delaying the action, maybe even punt it all if way through the next election. what do you do to get immigration reform through if you're president obama? >> i think republicans need to vote on immigration reform bad. i think if this thing really sort of hurt them and if i were president obama, i'd tell him, let's get immigration reform done. this is the deal. let's work on rebuilding the middle class in the united states. we have to have this -- we can focus on something. there was a report that came out yesterday that said over the last 30 years, the bottom 90% of people in america have gotten income increase of $59. i think he's got to pitch

immigration reform as part of a larger strategy. if you will to rebuild a middle class in this country. and the republicans, i don't think they -- i think a lot of them want to get out of this fight because they view it correctly as a losing fight for them. he can appeal to the political instincts and when the public hears that, yeah, let's get this done to do something that matters to a lot of us also. that's what i would do. >> and lastly, you're known for being very close to the clintons. how intense is the pressure going to be on hillary clinton to run for president in 2016 from democrats? >> unimaginable. i mean, if it -- i just go around the country and if there's a democrat that does not want her to run, i have not met them. she's her own person and seems perfectly willing to resist that kind of pressure, but in terms of encouragement, i don't think there's ever been anybody that

is a prohibitive front runner if a party's nomination as former secretary of state clinton is right now. you can feel it out there. wherever i go and whenever people talk to me, it's the same thing. >> you haven't done a domestic race since '92. would you come back for hillary clinton part ii? >> well, i would certainly would do better going around trying to help raise money and doing surrogate events. but i'll be a bite longer than a tooth by 2016. i'll be 72, it's probably time to get some of these young people. and if you look at the way these campaigns have changed, you know -- >> yeah, you're old news. you can't -- you don't use twitter. you're old news, my friend. >> that's right. it's passing me by, but i'd certainly be out there, you know, for hilary. >> indeed. >> professor james carville, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> uh-huh. still ahead, what does the

first openly gay congressman from new york have to say about this week's supreme court challenges? and next, secretary kerry does damage control in afghanistan. but first, today's trivia question, march madness edition. which princeton athlete is the team's only road scholar and only player to earn the ncaa basketball tournament most outstanding player? the first person to tweet the correct answer will get an on-air shoutout. i'll give you a hint, brooke brauer has this poster from iowa from the campaign a few years back. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love.

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on the radar this morning, some threatening new talk out of north korea. this morning it was announced earlier that north korea ordered

strategic rockets and long-range artillery units to be on highest alert ordering them to be ready to target south korea and u.s. military bases on hawaii, guam, and the u.s. mainland. this is not the first time north korea has made threats against the u.s. it is unclear if they have the capacity to carry out the threat. analysts think the threats are just simply that, threats used to bolster north korean leader kim jong-un military credentials. so far, officials in south korea say no suspicious activity in north korea has been detected. and amanda knox has been ordered by italy's top criminal court to stand trial again for the 2007 murder of her roommate meredith kercher. knox released a statement vowing to fight on. knox said, quote, it was painful to receive the news that the italian supreme court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution's theory of my involvement in meredith's

murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair. knox and her then boyfriend who were originally prosecuted and found guilty of killing kercher. knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison but later acquitted after serving only four. today's ruling means the case against knox will be reheard at a new appeals court in florence either later this year or 2014. knox doesn't have to go back for the trial. and if the court upholds the conviction, then italy would have to seek extradition with the united states. that would be a fascinating thing to see how that would go down. turning now to afghanistan, the taliban is exclaiming responsibility for a suicide bomb that killed five afghan police officers early this morning. the attack came hours after secretary of state john kerry met with hamid karzai to discuss the transfer of security operations to afghan forces. a visit aimed primarily at damage control. karzai said comments he made

during chuck hagel's visit earlier this month were misinterpreted. >> i never used the word collusion between the taliban and the u.s. those were not my words, those were the words picked up by the u.s. media. >> we're on the same page, i don't think there's any disagreement between us and i'm very, very comfortable with the president's explanation. >> mike taibbi is live in kabul, afghanistan. and mike, senator kerry back then in 2009 obviously has a history with president karzai. meeting with him back then. but a lot of this visit seems to deal with what to do about the taliban in terms of recognizing them in the future of an afghan government. >> i'll tell you, there's so many thorny issues, luk, at this point, it's good to hear secretary of state kerry say the two men are on the same page, it's in the interest of both parties not only to say that, but to mean it.

we're in the home stretch. the war in afghanistan is now in the 12th year and there has to be some progress when all combat troops are withdrawn in 2014. we should say that karzai had a good week leading up to sec their kerry's visit. on sovereignty for his country. he'd finally gotten an agreement for a withdrawal of u.s. and coalition special forces from the troubled province west of the city of kabul where there's been allegations that suggested there were abuses imposed by special forces. he'd been asking for that for weeks and finally got even on the morning that kerry arrived, full control of a u.s.-run prison at bagram air base in the 4,000 detainees, something he'd been demanding for months. kerry saying we're on the same page joint news conference last night that he had the assurance from the karzai government that the u.s. would have a say, not the final say but a say on whether or not any high risk or potentially dangerous prisoners would be either released as part

of an exchange or in other ways allowed to go free. not necessarily been a good week, but then you have to look at the real situation on the ground either in the presidential palace or at the u.s. embassy. you talked about that suicide bombing this morning. it was awful, eight suicide bombers in the two-stage attack intended to penetrate a local police officer and bringing the number of dead just in the three weeks, the bracketed secretary hagel's visit and kerry's visit to over 90 people. most of them afghan and local police, other civilians killed in just the last three weeks. still tremendous security problems, although these two men are on the same page getting into the home stretch. luke? >> fascinating. stay safe and thank you so much for joining us. the housing market is taking center stage on wall street and so far investors are optimistic. the recovery remains on track. the case shiller home price

index shows home prices rose 1% from january to february and 9% since this time last year. the largest jump since 2006. a note of caution, though, orders for goods that signal investment fell 2.7%, the biggest drop since last summer. up next, our meet the new member series continues with your congressman maloney. he's a former aide to president bill clinton. we'll get his take on what could be a historic week at the supreme court. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ female announcer ] born from the sweet monk fruit,

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it's time for today's edition of meet the new member. sean patrick maloney's political career has come full circle in some ways. this bill clinton democrat started as a campaign staffer for the former president's first white house bid and eventually

became a top white house aide. after a short break from politics, maloney made a run for the new york attorney general's office losing to andrew cuomo in the primary, but six years after that loss, he beat four other democrats in a tough primary and eventually beat incumbent republican congresswoman nan heyworth. welcome. thanks for joining us. >> thank you very much. nice to be with you. >> you're the first openly gay member to represent the state of new york, obviously there's a lot going on in the supreme court this week. i'd like to hear your thoughts about what's happening in the supreme court and whether or not you feel that we could see as a trained lawyer, we could see some real movement in terms of what the supreme court will issue for marriage equality. >> well, i hope so. my partner and i have been together for 20 years, we have three children together. we think that our family should be equal to everybody else's.

and if as a member of congress i'm not treated equally, then what chance do the thousands and thousands of families stand who aren't members of congress but who are just trying to get up every day and go to work and pay their taxes and do right by their kids? we should treat everybody equally and this is a great chance for the supreme court to affirm that basic american value. another interesting issue which is part of the culture wars, the issue of gun control. and it's something that your governor andrew cuomo has taken a lead on in terms of trying to pass newer, tougher regulations. but as a result of that, we've seen a decently sizable drop of his approval ratingment back in december, 74% approval. now in march stands at 55%. a lot of the losses coming from republicans and independents were a little turned off by how aggressive governor cuomo was in terms of new gun regulations. is this a warning sign to democrats if they pushed for these types of regulations, they

could see some sorts of drops. looked like it hurt governor cuomo in new york. >> i don't know, i'll let other people be the political pundits. i can tell you what i think is right. we respect people's second amendments under the constitution. i want my rights to be respected today by the supreme court. i think we can respect second amendment rights. i think if you own a gun to protect yourself in your home, you shouldn't have any problem from your government. i don't think people defending their homes with guns is the problem. but i do think we need universal background checks. we should have a federal trafficking law and we should do other things to keep guns out of the hands of those who are dangerously, mentally ill. i disagree with more on the extreme parts of the more aggressive parts of the state law, but i think we can all rally around what is right and what will save lives. and that's what we should do in washington. >> lastly, i was reading through your bio, and you were a member of clinton's budget surplus team when you worked for the former president. and one thing i find interesting covering capitol hill is that

republicans are really hammering home this message that the republicans balanced budgets works very well for their polling. people view them as sort of good stewards in terms of balancing a budget. does it worry you that democratic budgets don't balance for many decades in the future? do you worry the republicans will gain some serious leverage with this message politically? >> well, look, talk is cheap. i was part of the team in the white house that balanced the budget. you mentioned that. i think it's worth remembering how we did it. in a balanced way, putting revenue and cuts on the table, continuing to invest in our people in things like infrastructure and basic research and education because president clinton knew that we had to grow the economy not just cut spending. so we've done a lot of cutting and that's good. i believe we need to balance the budget, but we can do it the right way. and i think we need to balance it sooner rather than later. but it's not the only goal in the next five years. the next five years should also be about economic growth. it was just last year that paul ryan wanted to end the guaranteed benefit of medicare

and to give huge tax breaks to multimillionaires. and i just think that's wrong. he wants to do that again and the fact that, you know, just last year he wouldn't have balanced the budget until, i think, you know, 2040, now he wants to do it sooner by keeping all the taxes and revenue in obama care but repealing all the benefits. so it's a dishonest budget. and it's not going to give us the economic growth we need. we've got to put people back to work and we've got to balance the budget the right way. >> but should more be done on the messaging side for democrats? they were getting hammered for the fact that the senate was not able to pass a budget for many years until last week. should more being done to hammer home the point that we could be good fiscal stewards. >> luke, i know this is a political show and you talk to folks in washington, you come up to the hudson valley and there's not one person in my district that gives a hoot about that. they care whether the economy's growing, whether we're investing in kids schools, whether they

can afford to live in the house they grew up in. if they can pay for college if their kid is lucky enough to get in college. jobs, growth and the economy. they want us to balance the budget, but don't want us to worship at some political altar on one extreme or the other. they want us to focus on them. so i'm going to leave to the folks in washington the politics of it. i want to balance the budget the right way. we did it during the clinton administration and created 20 million new jobs at the same time. we should do that again. >> i got it wrong, you don't represent, you're right next door to that. >> i was going to let you slide on that. >> they redistricted. the last redistrict of new york, little confusing. thank you so much for coming on the show. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> we'll gaggle around the politics of same-sex marriage. is there a solution for all 50 states? first, the white house soup of the day, split pea, every time i guest host, it's split pea. don't forget to check out

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♪ in just moments, the supreme court will hear an argument on the meaning of marriage when it focuses on california's proposition 8. the state's ban on same-sex unions. let's bring in our tuesday gaggle. democratic consultant with impact strategies and former executive director of the congressional black caucus, angela rye, jackie kucinich. welcome, all. >> morning. >> thank you so much for coming. in terms of this idea of same-sex marriage, it's going to have its day in the supreme court today and tomorrow, it's obviously the story of the week. i'll start with you, have we reached a tipping point now where the republicans or conservatives risk being on the

wrong side of history if they don't get onboard. seems the democrats are moving in that direction because they have to be to be considered serious. is this the new reality we live in? >> it's clear that the public is moving rapidly toward same-sex marriage and a lot of conservatives are very nervous about this. some conservatives, of course, support same-sex marriage themselves. i think what you are likely to see if this trend continues is not that so many -- the bulk of republicans become supporters of same-sex marriage. most republicans haven't shifted if you look at the public opinion polls. instead what you're going to see is quieter opposition. and eventually i think maybe even silent opposition. >> in an interview in "usa today," in our paper today, they're not going to -- they're not going to openly speak out about it. they're going to keep to their principles, to the platform. however, they're going to be more accepting, but not openly -- >> and i think it's going to be interesting to see democrats are

starting now to really hit the house gop leadership for being the folks who are bringing this to the supreme court, being the defenders of doma. is it an effective political wedge for democrats? >> i think it can be. but i also think going back to the republicans and whether or not they're going to continue to oppose it, we have a lot of interesting things happening with senator portman's tipping point causing, you know, kind of a rift in the party so to speak. and then also, you have republicans now saying, well, this could be a cash cow. we can't afford to be opposed to same-sex marriage anymore. >> in terms of african-americans and same-sex marriage, the bush campaign was effective in 2004. do you think african-americans are a crucial block of democratic politics will move on this issue as quickly as the rest of the party? >> well, i think it's no secret that african-americans tend to be a little more socially conservative. so what i do think has happened this year once again talking

about tipping points, you saw the president come out and say, hey, i evolved on this. and as a result, he's a leader in the african-american community and the leader of the free world. a lot of folks are starting to say, well, maybe i need to reconsider my position. is this the right thing? should i focus more on the opposition of this or loving people as christ loves the church so to speak? >> indeed, indeed. i'd like to turn to sort of the idea within the democratic party that even these folks who represent from mark warner, right, the swing state of virginia, mark from alaska, claire mccaskill from missouri. i would even gather, four years ago, this has been a very difficult stretch for them to support in those types of states. there's real movement here. >> senator mccaskill wouldn't have done this five months ago. >> that's true. i think it is a trend within the democratic party to support it because among base voters especially, among donors, especially, this has become something that's accepted. it's going to be a tougher turn for vulnerable republicans, it's

a tough return for any republicans just because of some of the people that make up the base of their party. >> interesting stuff. we'll be right back with the gaggle. but trivia time. we asked which princeton athlete is the team's only road scholar and only player to earn the ncaa basketball tournament's most outstanding player. the answer, former senator bill bradley. and congratulations to today's winner. brad kaplinski also, abc news's rick klein. thanks for watching our show, klein, thank you for watching our show. some love from abc. if you've got a political tribute question, e-mail us. [ lane ] are you growing old

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let's bring back our gaggle, angela rye, jackie kucinich. some interesting information coming in here. valerie jarrett is going to go to the supreme court arguments today. nancy pelosi is going to go tomorrow. you're seeing a push by high profile democrats to show their faces. ranesh i want to talk about 2014 in the quest to make mitch mcconnell the senate majority leader, which i'm sure you'll be a part of in some capacity. i want to ask you, as you see these states opening up, michigan, south dakota, michigan could be competitive, west virginia very much a pickup opportunity you have over there, and iowa as well -- how important is it for republicans to nominate those sort of establishment folks and not go down the buck angle o'donnell issues they had in 2010, and more recently, todd akin.

>> now that you've made me a republican strategist, which must be very distressing for the minority leader, i would say it's wrong to think of it as a tea party fringe issue. george allen, tommy thompson, nick berg, connie mack, none of these folks were tea party extremists, and all of them lost last year. it's not just one faction. it's a party-wide problem they've got to fix. >> and for every buck and mcdonnell, there's a cruz and a rubio. >> and a rand paul. >> and a rand paul. >> are you worried? some are losing a lot of sleep over the retirements in virginia? >> i think it's scary because folks aren't as ideologue based. they're not gerrymander districts. they're entire states. you have a situation where the president had a hard time with some of these republican-based states. you just don't know. we have to get some wins. >> shameless plugs around the table. >> my nonprofit impact at team impact on twitter is focusing on

financial literacy for young professionals this year. >> it is my beautiful, talented mother's birthday. happy birthday, mom. >> happy birthday, mom. >> i know, luke, you are so interested in getting business taxation on a more pro growth footing. that's why i've written a column for you at bloomberg about how to get a bipartisan consensus to do that. >> where else can we go from that? shameless plugs, i got nothing today. plug america. great country. that's it for this edition of the "daily rundown." coming up next on msnbc, chris jansing and company. you don't want to miss that. your business travel forecast finally has clear skies. no big storms that would cause any big travel delays.

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