so thank you, deena, you're a force of nature. congratulations on all your success. >> really inspiring. it is way too early. what time is it? >> "morning joe." >> now stay tuned for the class classic "the daily rundown". >> sticking to their guns. president obama to change the country's gun laws. the nra showed no signs of giving in on new regulations as they pitched for arm guards and more measures in america's schools. new jersey democrats, are they giving up against governor chris christie? going to give him a free ride to a second term. a deep dive into why one of the blue states could be so easy for a red hot republican. and it is election day. tuesday somewhere. and it is, again, in south carolina. will mark sanford have a

convincing win in the republican runoff? and the bigger question is, how much help will national democrats deliver to try to steal it away? >> good morning from los angeles. >> it is tuesday, april 2nd, 2013. and this is "the daily rundown". >> now here's chuck todd. >> have to be nice to usc. i'm kidding. big thanks to those student journalists at the university of southern california. i'll leave the football stuff aside. keep the videos coming. we'll have more this morning on the latest north korean news where they say they'll restart a nuclear reactor. right now, let's get right to my first reads of the morning. if it looked like the nra might look the other way on even one new gun bill three months ago, that's not their strategy anymore. with the assault weapons ban and high capacity magazine restrictions already on the senate's cutting room floor, the gun rights group is waging a fierce lobbying effort to target gun provisions that would make

gun trafficking a federal crime and to prevent any form of universal background checks from passing. this morning, three months after nra ceo wayne lapierre responded to the shootings by calling for armed guards in schools, asa hutchinson, a likely candidate for governor in arkansas, also the head of the nra's school shield program, he will announce the group's recommendations for school safety. and nra spokesman says the plan will, quote, go beyond armed personnel. as that public effort unfolds, language that would replace a provision in democratic push bill criminalizing the straw purchases at gun dealers with language that would require law enforcement officials to prove that the straw purchaser had evidence the buyer was prohibited from buying guns or knew the buyer intended to commit a crime. as recently as 1999, the nra supported background checks. now the group is opposed and

made it difficult for senate democrats to build support beyond 50 plus democrats. new york senator chuck schumer has been searching for a republican partner to sign on to compromise legislation. after oklahoma's tom coburn refused to sign on to any bill that required record keeping for private gun sales, he said no success and republican opposition to the background check measure in the democratic bill is solidifying. >> we do need to strengthen the background check system. but universal background checks i think is a bridge too far for most of us. >> i vote against it. this idea of private individuals transferring their weapons and having to go to get the background check makes no sense. >> will their bill pass the senate? >> yeah. >> i don't think so. not at 60 votes. and if it does pass the senate, it certainly won't pass the house. >> senate majority leader harry reid, a pro gun rights democrat, endorsed by the nra in the past, released a tough online video

monday reminding republicans of statements they made on background checks just a few months ago. >> all of us, republicans and democrats, have recognized that we need more effective and broader background checks. >> i think there is discussion or chatter about strengthening and improving the background checks. >> i want to take it beyond discussion and chatter. can we get you on the record saying you think that will likely pass through congress, the idea of universal background checks. >> and if it is something you can vote for. >> i think it is a reasonable step forward. >> okay. >> reid will have enough troubles keeping democrats in line. they remain cagey on what kind of background check legislation they'll support. at least five republican senators have promised to filibuster any gun legislation. others like senator lindsey graham said they will allow an up or down vote. while the nra appears to be winning the gunfight on a federal level, it is a different story in the states. more than three months after the newtown shootings, state

lawmakers in connecticut introduced one of the strictest gun control bills in the country. bipartisan compromise announced by state legislators on monday bans the sale of high capacity magazines. though it includes a grandfather clauseers of those magazines to keep them. it expands the states assault weapons ban, mandates that offenders convicted of weapons offenses register with the state and calls for background checks for private gun sales. bill is expected to go to both houses of the general assembly on wednesday. one thing to have tough new gun laws in connecticut, another to have them in colorado. that's where the president will travel tomorrow and he's going to be pushing gun legislation at a police academy. in the wake of newtown, colorado governor john hickenlooper signed bills requiring background checks for private and online gun sales, banning magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. so it has been very interesting to watch this.

one other thing you got to keep an eye on when it comes to the nra. they have probably going to win this fight here in washington. the question for them, though, is have they alienated the democratic party. are they no longer the most powerful bipartisan lobbying group in this town? and in the future, when there are democratic control of the house and the senate at the same time, it is inevitable, we know the stuff goes back and forth, will they regret the fact that they have done this short-term strategy and burned a bridge with democrats in the long term? moving on, we're most likely just a few weeks away from the obama administration's final decision on whether to give the keystone pipeline a thumbs up or thumbs down. on the eve of the keystone decision, safe to say nearly every environmentalist in washington believes the president will let this happen. but don't underestimate the impact that this story might have on the approval process. a 65-year-old pipeline ruptured in the town of mayflower, arkansas, 22 miles spewing

thousands of barrels of oil through a housing development, across lawns and down residential streets. >> so that is a pipeline that is busted and has flooded the neighborhood. and is going all the way to the drain at the end of the street. the smell is unbelievable. i mean, look. incredible. and that is oil. >> oil on the streets of a residential community. exxon is still cleaning up the spill. the question is will pictures like these give environmentalists another opportunity to lobby the president and the new secretary of state john kerry on keystone. last night on chris hayes' new show "all in," one argued the damage in arkansas is nothing compared to what keystone could create. >> right now the spill we're seeing in arkansas is a devastating problem. and the real shocker about it as

you alluded to is that this pipeline carries one tenth of what the proposed xl pipeline would carry. imagine the photos we're seeing from arkansas times ten. >> it has been interesting when it comes to the president on energy. he announced expanded oil drilling off the coast of american shores on the east coast. and then a few weeks later, the bp oil spill happened. then that was put an end to. he announced an expanded licenses for nuclear power plants. and then the japanese disaster happened. and that was halted. does this end up halting keystone? remember, timing is everything in politics and policy. finally, if it is tuesday, somebody is voting somewhere. that somewhere is in south carolina's first congressional district today. former governor mark sanford is trying to make a political comeback. sanford faces charleston county councilman curtis bostic in the republican runoff for his old

congressional seat. sanford finished with 37% of the vote to bostic's 13%. he has all the name and i.d. a candidate could ask for. he's favored to win today. he'll never count out surprises in american politics. bostic, counting on the support of evangelical voters in this district, is doing his best to capitalize on sanford's past sins. and while sanford runs on his fiscally conservative credentials and tries to explain them away, they met in a debate on thursday. >> the events of 2009 absolutely represent a failure on my part for which there were and will always be at some level consequences. but this does not mean because you've had a failure in your personal life that you cannot step back into life again. >> the whole show that should governor be the candidate facing the democrat we'll lose this seat and lose it needlessly because of this issue of trust. a compromised candidate is not what we need.

>> while sanford's former english teacher gives his character a stamp of approval in a new ad, bostic's wife stars in an ad where the fact they had a 25-year-old marriage is hard to miss. >> he has a great number of followers out there, just like me. other little old ladies, retired teachers who are fiscally conservative. >> in 2002, our commitment to life was seriously tested coming off cancer treatments, doctors were shocked i had become pregnant. curtis and i trusted god and chose life. and as for the child, meet steven. >> most of the other 14 candidates in the primary quickly lined up behind sanford. bostic did get some help in the final stretch from former u.s. senator and presidential candidate rick santorum. >> someone who is a strong conservative on fiscal issues, strong conservative on national security issue and strong conservative on moral issues.

you see from the polling, this could be a tough general election and you need someone who is not going to be playing defense. someone playing offense. >> bostic win would be a form of vindication for santorum. he had a disappointing third place finnish south carolina's primary last year. polls close at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. if sanford wins, the democratic party and the congressional campaign arm faces this question. does it spend money half a million dollars to help elizabeth bush get over the top. she had $200,000 in cash on hand when her campaign filed with the s.e.c. her brother, stephen colbert, is hosting two high dollar fund-raisers on her behalf in the coming weeks. this is a red district and colbert bush needs a lot of money to be competitive. even if she wins on may 7th, it is likely she'll have a difficult time holding on to the seat in 2014. they're evaluating the race to see whether they are going to spend any money. colbert bush's campaign released internal polling to show

national democrats she's viable. poll shows her leading both sanford and bostic. remember, this is a district that mitt romney won by 18 points. much more to come here on the good old tuesday "daily rundown" including new saber rattling from north korea as kim jong-un announces he's reopening a nuclear reactor. plus, former arkansas senator blanch lincoln on the oil spill in her state and what it means for the keystone pipeline. first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. president's first public event actually will start before the end of this hour. so we will be throwing to the president as he talks about brain research and expanded federal dollars for that. most people think that after an accident, you'll have to pay five hundred bucks for your deductible.

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the president heads to colorado tomorrow to try to build public pressure for some gun reform. all in an effort to keep the legislation from being picked apart by republicans and the nra joining me now, two people who have served in congress, former arkansas democratic senator blanche lincoln and bob ehrlich, also a member of the house. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> want you to -- want to get to the arkansas oil spill in a minute. curious on your thoughts on that. i want to explain the power of the nra in congress. how does it work? >> this is cultural. it is geographic. it is not partisan.

it is not even ideological. it is cultural. it is -- the numbers are predisposed to be pro second amendment. i think to some extent the power is overblown. i think -- >> you agree with me. >> you think the power is overblown? >> on this line, i have to say, when you have 91 -- all the background checks and a vote where nobody was going to record it, the background check bill would pass, don't you think? >> yeah. i grew up in this culture. i owned guns all my life. i've hunted, my husband as well, he's a lifetime member of the nra, a gift from his godfather. we get all that propaganda in the mail. unfortunately it gets overblown and i think overstepped in some instances. the fact is there is a reasonable place to be. and if you follow the lead of the trip to arizona, with mccain and flake and schumer and bennett, you know, coming together and figuring out where that common ground is, what makes sense to protect our children and our communities,

but give good law abiding citizens their access to guns. >> show me the district, show me where someone is from and i'll give you 99 -- >> how they will vote. >> for the most part. >> my former congressional district, you know, the 26 eastern counties of arkansas. >> you couldn't vote for this legislation. >> i voted for the assault weapons ban in '94. ran for re-election. >> how did you do it? >> i went to every single flchlt nra meeting i could and talked to them. i said if you need 47 rounds to get a deer, you ned a new hobby or target practice. talking about what it means to us culturally. these people fill their freezers with their deer meat. it is a part of their culture and way of life. >> you're willing to do this politically. there are some members that are, like, that takes work. >> philosophically, these folks, the nra is a powerful group, but

a number of powerful groups, like saying nfib is a powerful group. there are a lot of small business people that come to washington with a predisposition -- >> aren't they different in their ability to galvanize. they do have a lengthy membership that is an active political -- >> so do other groups. a lot of groups do that. here is the difference. in some cases, with regard to some members, otherwise predisposed to support gun control, they'll have the influence of a marginal seat. that's basically where the power is. >> and, you know, they do have a big membership. and they have a great outreach to that membership. and i think it can be used in a very positive way. i mean, they have got to be able to just as the democrats have to be able to come to the center and figure out what is doable, take it step by step. >> to me what made the nra so powerful is they had a bipartisan reach. it seems that is eroding. they have some. a handful of democrats that are holding out on this, but it is

eroding. now we're seeing the split personality of the states. >> it is not eroding -- >> my point is, if you look at the state level, states that have democratic control of legislatures and governors -- >> you're talking mostly northeastern, very liberal states with -- >> colorado is an all democratic controlled state. my point is, is the nra cutting off its nose despite its face. they're alienate something ing r democratic supporters, john hickenlooper who decided no, he'll sign on to some of the bills. >> you run the risk of becoming, again, classified as the extremist. >> or classified as one party's -- >> exactly. exactly. and i think that becomes a problem. people are looking for bipartisanship. >> again, it would be most relevant in a marginal state, no doubt about it. >> let me ask you about what's going on in arkansas in this oil spill. you know, selling this stuff --

selling -- building of a pipeline should be a fairly popular thing because it creates jobs. do you see, you know, if you see them in the past, where suddenly a big incident like this, would it galvanize people to become more environmentalist? >> i think it galvanizes people to want to know more about the issue. they want to know about how things are going to be constructed. the more important thing is how are things going to be managed. when you look at infrastructure, does business or does government have the resources that we need in order to maintain infrastructure. and do it properly. whether the pipeline is in arkansas or in the gulf or anywhere else. i think people are anxious to see us fixing the debt, getting our fiscal house back in order so we can put our resources to that. >> this becomes the nimby factor. support for that collapsed after bp. ditto with the nuclear -- >> it tends to bounce back over

time as well. the interesting thing about this as well, it splits sort of a two-core democratic constituencies. labor is going to be there. labor is going to be there regardless. i think the point with regard to information and education is very relevant here. but these events tend to bounce back over time. >> the bounceback is from opportunity. >> opportunity is everything. >> supporters of keystone -- the irony is they may want them to delay a decision because if they want it make it now, they may say -- thank you, both. pleasure. up next, going for broke, a big city goes into bankruptcy. plus, president obama set to unveil an initiative that could ultimately lead cures for devastating brain illnesses. we'll bring that to you live that murder mystery, from a drug cartel to a lone gunman to a white supremacist prison gang,

police aren't ruling anything out in the murder of a texas district attorney and his life. first, today's trivia question. congressman jim clyburn is currently serving his 11th term in congress. who is the most recent south carolina representative who serve longer than that? first person to tweet the answer @chucktodd will get an on air shoutout. 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. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat.

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♪ i've got the power people lose 5x more weight following the weight watchers approach than trying on their own. you can too. ♪ ♪ you've got the power ♪ ♪ oh, yeah ♪ get the power the new weight watchers 360 program. ♪ whoo! join for free and check out the new risk free guarantee today. because it works. now time for a look at what else is on my radar, including the biggest city to declare bankruptcy. a steady stream of verbal threats against south korea and the u.s. much of the country's rhetoric doesn't match their capability, but the u.s. is not taking the threats lightly. the navy moved a warship and

sea-based radar platform closer to the north korean coast to monitor the country's military moves. and former defense secretary leon panetta warned the u.s. should be concerned by north korea's threats. >> i think we got to be very concerned about the provocation, the level of provocation that north korea is engaged in. they have been in the process of testing icbms. they also have been testing nuclear weapons. the kind of provocation and bellicosity they're showing now with their rhetoric raises a lot of concern. >> in just about 30 minutes, president obama will unveil a human brain mapping research program. the brain initiative project comes after a pledge the president made in a state of the union to create jobs through research. this project will get jump started with $100 million in 2014 and seek to help researchers find new ways to treat cure, and prevent brain disorders like alzheimer's and epilepsy. now to california.

a federal judge ruled that the city of stockton is broke and eligible to file for bankruptcy. after a three-day hearing, the judge rejected claims the city did not negotiate in good faith to resolve debt problems and set the city was a victim of the recession. the ruling permits them to proceed with a chapter 9 bankruptcy case. it would be the largest u.s. city ever to file for any form of bankruptcy. finally, a manhunt is still under way in kaufman, texas, for the person who killed mike mclelland and his wife. it comes a few month s after another killing. unclear if the killings are linked. federal sources say they have not ruled anything out and are considering a drug cartel and a lone gunman as possibly being responsible. up next, we'll be taking a deep dive into the jersey shore. in a state where democrats dominate, why is governor chris

christie getting a free ride to re-election? msnbc's resident jersey expert steve kornacki joining me next. a little senate madness, it tips today. the second round cop test in the 20th century modern era brackets. among the contestees we're keeping our eyes on, number two seed, dirksen and fulbright. dirksen has a building named after him and you may have heard of a scholarship that bears fulbright's name. and in the number one seed bracket, kennedy and byrd. go to firstread.msnbcnews.com to find out the rest of today's matchups and to vote. ♪ [ instrumental ] [ boy ] i used to hate eating healthy stuff. but badger likes it, so i do too. i used to have bad dreams, but not anymore. [ barks ]

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history shows the garden state hasn't been kind to republicans over the years.

it has been four decades since new jersey elected a republican to the u.s. senate. there are 700,000 more registered democrats in the state than republicans and neither republican governor christie whit man or chris christie over broke 50% on election day. the last republican of any caliber to do so was george h.w. bush. despite all that, new jersey democrats still don't seem to be willing to give christie a real fight for re-election. it is the subject of today's deep dive. monday was the filing deadline for candidates seeking their party's nomination for new jersey governor. but most of new jersey high profile democrats have taken a pass. cory booker is trying to win the seat being vacated by frank lautenberg. and steve sweeney is intent on staying on the legislature. now one candidate is left standing. >> this governor's budget message was a campaign speech. he not only -- he's in denial about our economy. either he doesn't realize or doesn't care that -- about the middle class and the working

poor in new jersey who are struggling to make ends meet. >> barbara bono, state senator from middle sex county, takes on the daunting task of trying to knock off a popular governor. early returns aren't encouraging. a recent poll found christie's favorable rating near 70%. he leads bono by 35 points. 8 in 10 say they don't know enough about her to have an opinion one way or another. when asked about her chances to head the democratic governor's association, pete shumlin, noncommittal. you can read the polls as well as we can. we know now if the election were held together, we have a better chance of winning virginia than new jersey but we that i -- we think that could change. it may be an impossible task. christie's style is a big part of what put him on the national radar in the first place. >> how about we go by this rule?

anything that looks stupid is stupid. last night politics was placed before hosts to serve our citizens. for me, it was disappointing and disgusting to watch. the adults are in charge. government can work in a bipartisan way. i don't have first idea what they're doing down there. our leaders today have decided it is more important to be popular, to be popular, to say and to what's easy and say yes rather than to say no. when no is what is required. >> bottom line if bono can cut in christie's numbers, may give democrats a path to beating him in 2016 should he show up on the national stage. a sizable victory would help ease any concerns about his viability on the national level. to that end, governor christie made no secret of his desire to run up the score in mid-march. he picked up the endorsement of a democratic mayor in a southern new jersey town. one of only three municipalities governor cane failed to win. governor christie made it clear

he wants to win them all. with me now, a man who knows a lot about new jersey politics. he's the new host of msnbc's weekend morning show up with steve kornacki. before that, folks who are fans of steve's writing and reporting as i am know he was one of the pioneers on the web when it came to new jersey political reporting. politics nj, back in the day. steve, it is amazing, timing is everything in politics. a year ago chris christie's numbers were just like any other republican governor's numbers in the country. sort of hanging around the mid to high 40s, maybe the low 50s. and then, of course, sandy happened and everything changed. is sandy the easy explanation here, the only explanation for why democrats are in the mess that they're in there? >> it is the biggest explanation. i think the truth is even before sandy, if you talk to republicans, they were still pretty optimistic about christie's chances in 2013 and talk to democrats, you know, they were more inclined than not

to say that christie was likely to win in 2013. sandy launched them into this completely different level. you talk about the example of christie whitman last republican governor where before chris christie, never enjoyed anything like the popularity they're looking at now. this is back why tom kean was in the 1980s. the demographics of new jersey have changed so much since tom kean. so the ceiling might be lower for chris christie than for tom kean. that's really the question now, is he looking at how close to that ceiling could he get? >> what i'm surprised about here is, and obviously we have been watching it from afar, is the weakness of the new jersey democratic bench. you would think there would be a lot of pent up ambition. frank lautenberg, in and out of the u.s. senate for a generation. bob menendez, obviously, some people wondering if he can survive what is going on with the drip drip scandal of the donor. but, you know, he doesn't look like he's going anywhere. you would think that there would be more democrats showing up in

the governor's race knowing even if they lost, they could do what jim mcgreevey did, lose close and become the front-runner four years later. >> barbara bono will never say this publicly. it is tough to go spend a year running for governor if this is on your mind at all. that's really sort of the game for her. beat the spread this november. and then 2017, could look a lot better for her when christie will be term limited out. one story in new jersey, you talk about the lack of a democratic bench, sort of the feeder system has kind of calcified, probably because there has been so little movement. look at it this way, cory booker, opted out of the governor's race to run for frank lautenberg's seat in 2014. one of the democrats talking about challenging him is frank palone, the congressman from the shore. this is the third or fourth potential opening i've seen where frank palone has been mentioned. you have people locked into seats now for so long with no upward movement and kept people

sort of below them from moving up a few wrungs and ending up in this situation. >> is some of this -- the other part of this, is some of this when jon corzine came in and basically bought off the new jersey democratic party, you know, and so many ways to sort of become a u.s. senator and then eventually governor, did that end up dwarving the growth of the democratic party oddly at least among some individuals? >> i really believe that the biggest reason that chris christie was in position to benefit so much politically from sandy and other things that happened the last four years, the reason he was able to win in 2009 is because of the new jersey democratic party, it really goes back to jon corzine running for the u.s. senate and buying that nomination in 2000 when frank lautenberg left the first time. what happened was he basically spread money all around the state, county, municipal democratic leaders. he did very poorly in the 2000 election, the year that al gore

won new jersey by 16, 17 points. he barely won. and the lesson that democrats in new jersey took from that was not, you know, phew, we barely got away with it. it was let's keep the cash coming in. they had this guy cody, mentioned him at the outset, i believe that was sort of the fork in the road for democrats. if they had gone with cody, think the cody governorship would have played out differently than the corzine governorship. >> cody might be governor today. >> exactly. he might have been able to beat christie then. not now, but then. >> maybe i'll convince you on saturdays. good luck. mr. kornacki on april 13th, on asaturday saturdays and sundays. congratulations to that. we're looking forward to it. up next, turning the tables

from a republican winning in a blue state to the possibility of a democratic pickup in the red state. the gaggle joins me. the white house soup of the day, loaded potato. always wanted to know what's in the loaded potato. sour cream, bacon, chives in there too? what is in it? welcome to the new new york state. what's the "new" in the new new york? a new property tax cap... and the lowest middle class income tax rate in 60 years... and a billion dollars in tax breaks and incentives.

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carolina. the winner of the race will face a pretty decent democratic candidate in elizabeth colbert bush in may. let's bring in robert costa, for the national review, associate editor for the hill number, a.b. stoddard and former spokesman for the dccc, doug fornell. they have to make this decision of playing in a race that they can win in a special and probably not hold in a general election. how does the conversation like that take place inside? >> we had it in 2007 and '08 in louisiana and mississippi, ruby red districts and looked at after the republican was determined, we pulled -- >> it was close. you had an opportunity. >> right. they were short sprints like this. and we made the assumption it was worth it to create in this district, win the seat, that even if we have to defend it and it is a tough race in november that still spreads resources

from republicans in november, and, of course, it is easier to win as an incumbent, but i think if you're a republican right now, this is a district that romney won by 18 points and right now colbert bush is ahead of either of these two and that has to be disappointing for them. >> and robert, is the better candidate -- who is the better candidate here? is sanford have a ceiling that he's just not going to get more than 51 or 52 on his best day in a matchup? >> great question. we talk to republicans, they're a little nervous. they think sanford, whoever wins, will be fine in november. do you want mark sanford coming back to politics? a lot of republicans are wary of his return. they think he'll probably win today. but not necessarily being embraced here in d.c. >> not only that, put some perspective on this. can you believe he's made the comeback? i mean, you know -- the only thing that would shock me more is if john edward was able to win a democratic primary for dog catcher. >> i don't think he has a

chance. but i think mark sanford was very shrewd. he went to his old friends, he has a very good record as bostic pointed out as a congressman and governor. he was never in any moral or ethical trouble in his -- in office, until the girlfriend. he has thrown himself on his knees. to evangelicals and everybody, love the sin or hate the sin. i don't think he's that popular. he probably has a ceiling. but it is easy to see him winning and easy to see him, if things go right for him in the campaign and things don't go great for bush, easy to see him winning this. >> basically the nightmare for him would be to face is a woman in a general -- oh, right, he's got -- this is what makes it a hurricane. >> she's a good candidate. >> her resume is good. >> she's a good democratic candidate. >> still green. but she doesn't have a long voting record for republicans to dissect. i love that that's what makes a

good candidate. look, they don't have a voting record, great. they don't have a resume, great. for the nrcc when they're picking through her resume and she's a businesswoman and, look, his numbers are upside down. so i think he does have a favorability issue. >> that stephen colbert connection, it is fun for us to giggle about that and say she's the sister of a big comedian, but in south carolina that doesn't always play. >> yeah, but -- >> she says her name is colbert bush. >> ifrunoff, is it ever about her? >> it is if they do an effective link between stephen colbert and elizabeth colbert bush. if they find something, doug in her past, in her business record that doesn't go well for her and the race is running smoothly for sanford, he wins. she's a very promising candidate. >> all right. i wish we were talking about more races right now. >> they shrugged this off in north carolina. >> it seems to be.

we'll come back and talk guns. congressman jim clyburn is currently serving his 11th term in congress. who is the most recent south carolina representative to serve longer than that? the answer, john separapratt, w terms. congratulations to today's winner, john labone. e-mail us with your political trivia questions. this day calls you. to fight chronic osteoarthritis pain. to fight chronic low back pain. to take action. to take the next step. today, you will know you did something for your pain.

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we're just a few minutes away from the president unveiling a brain research initiative. let's bring back our gaggle. robert, this is the stuff, it's interesting he's pushing this, we're in the middle of sequestration, we've got the budget battles, this is the part

of budget, which is increased funding for nih to do research like this that supposedly has bipartisan support. but does even this have bipartisan support with say the ted cruz caucus? >> not necessarily. publicly they're talking about we embracing the sequester but they're trying to protect their airport towers and funding. the ted cruzzes are saying we don't want any of this to shrink the government, we're going to stand on principle. >> and government research, that seems to be the one line, government may be the only entity that can afford to do research like this before it becomes a for-profit sector. >> absolutely. that's why we cut back on space. you look at medicare advantage. can't cut that. the government just added spending for that because of an outcry. there's a lot of areas that are untouchable and remain bipartisan in the midst of all

these cuts, even among republicans. >> can you make this a campaign issue, though? right now the republicans have forced the budget to be cuts and deficits. can you run on spending? >> i think republicans can't run on a policy where you cut everything and that's supposed to be good for the economy. >> can democrats run on spending? >> i think democrats can run on spending that helps the economy, but they also have to talk about how we need to make good cuts where it makes sense, do stuff on tax reform and make investments in health care and -- >> the president didn't run on stimulus, though. >> nobody seemed to run on the stimulus. yet you could actually look back and look at the numbers and the stimulus helped the economy. >> so me one democrat in a swing district that's running on spending. i don't see it. >> no, they're running on a thriving middle class and running on spending that helps

the middle class and they're still trying to protect the safety net. that's why they call for balance. the safety net cannot be taken away from the middle class in this recession. >> it will be interesting to hear how the president messages this. does he try to have a larger conversation about what in government spending is good? >> i think it's a messaging thing to some degree. >> we're going to get the shameless plugs in because we know the president is watching. >> i want to give a shout out to my firm, sk knickerbocker. so a shout out to the team there. >> i'm going to shut out to my friend jenny smoltz, who watches every single day. >> shout out to my philadelphia philly who start out with a great season. >> if this trend continue, you'll win 162 games? >> i hope so. i just want to make the

playoffs. >> stick with us. the president will be coming to us any minute. as soon as he does, we will cut back from commercial break. and if not, you will see chris jansing next. bye-bye. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness? by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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in a ukulele. are you kidding me? that was my idea. with the right soil... everyone grows with miracle-gro. good morning, i'm chris jansing. any minute now president obama is expected to announce a new research effort to try to understand the human brain better. it has a complicated name, but a simple acronym, brain. we'll bring you the president as soon as he steps to the podium. next hour the nra is rolling out the details of a plan they say will make schools safer. while a vote is expected today in connecticut on what could be the toughest gun laws in the nation. the connecticut deal includes universal background check, it adds 100 new typ