it's still okay in the 21st century to call women delicious. >> he's a good friend. i want him to stay very far away from my daughters. >> i tell the truth. >> if it's way too early, mika. it's morning joe. tonight we're going to be at politics & prose and politico. stick around. chuck todd is next. a lot going on in washington today. see you tomorrow. >> bye. well, we're going to begin in cleveland. ariel castro has been arraigned this morning in the case of the decade long disappearance of three women. we're going to go live to the courthouse for more on the charges as well as the emotional homecoming for all three women. back in washington, of course, another business dinner for the president. this time it's with house democratic leaders. the president gets set to talk about the economy today. and job creation.

and he's doing it in texas. talk to one of last night's dinner guests, congressman tim clyburn. a deep dive into why so many senators are saying so long to capitol hill and what's causing both parties to have a hard time tapping top tier candidates to fill their shoes. good morning from children's hospital, los angeles! it's thursday, may 9th, 2013, and this is "the daily rundown." happy nurses week! now here's chuck todd. >> i love this. thanks to the nurses from children's hospital in los angel angeles. great to see all the videos coming in from nurses all around the country this week. been hard to just pick one each day. we've got one more day to do it. before we get to my first read of the political day we want to go to cleveland. ariel castro, the man accused of holding three women hostage for more than a decade was arraigned in court just a few minutes ago. it was a pretty quick procedure.

he faces four counts of kidnapping. that includes one for amanda berry's 6-year-old daughter. and three could wants of rape. bail was set at $8 million. prosecuting attorney brian murphy had this to say. >> the charges against mr. castro are based on premeditated decision to snatch three young ladies from cleveland's streets. to be used in whatever self-gratifying, self-serving way he saw fit. today the situation has turned, your honor. mr. castro stands before you ative, in captivity, a prisoner. the women are free to resume their lives that were interrupted. also with the promise and the hope that justice will be served. >> ron allen was inside the courtroom. he joins me now. ron, i manage it sounds like mr. murphy, there, he wanted to get very poignant in his remarks.

what's going on with the other two brothers? >> reporter: well, the other two brothers we expect to be released soon. they were only facing misdemeanor counts. one because of an open beer container. one because of drug possession. those cases went back. one case 12 years. they essentially we expect to be free very soon. the focus is, of course, on ariel castro. unbelievable seen in the courtroom. a woman sitting next to me from french radio. another reporter from british newspapers down the way. just a packed scene. perhaps two dozen cameras photographing every moment of this five or seven minute session. ariel castro kept his head bowed. he obviously didn't want to be seen by the tamacameras but he to appear there. a very, very intense session. so much scrutiny about every word said. he's in now protective custody, we believe. he's been on a suicide watch. the public defender's office said. a lot of attention on him in the jail as well. now, the process moves forward. there's about 30 days or so where the case goes to a grand jury. meanwhile he will stay in

custody. the bail was set at $8 million. some asked why not no bond. the public defender, prosecutor, said essentially that they saw this as a bail that he would never make. he needs to come up with $800,000 cash to get out of the jail and that's very unlikely at this point. very serious case. every day we hear more things about what happened. just these horrific allegations about women being in that house for the better part of ten years. being released, perhaps, twice during that entire period. never seeing a doctor. the child born there 6 years old never seeing a doctor in her lifetime. just incredible allegations of rape, pregnancies, miscarriages. just as you read through the police report, it's just like reading a horror movie. now ariel castro here facing all those charges. again, being held essentially on no bond. $800,000 cash, which he won't come up with, until about 30 days from now as the case goes to a grand jury. >> ron, investigators are 100%

convinced that ariel castro was able to do this by himself. that he never had any help, not from his brothers, not from anybody else. >> i don't think they're 100% convinced of everything. it's going to take a long time to unravel this. yesterday they did expand the investigation to a second house on the street which i think is aband abandoned. hard to tell from our vantage point. they're still looking for more. we've seen cadaver dogs out there involved in the process of search, which some of the police say is standard. there are still a lot of questions about how this one individual could pull this off for it shall-- allegedly for te. it just seems unbelievable. you ask the cops. they say they're continuing. there has not been another suspect named. we were all surprised to some extent when the other two brothers were not charged. because they seemed to be very close to ariel. it's a very small community where all this happened. but at this point there's been no other suspect named. no other indication of anybody else to be implicated. >> ron allen in cleveland for us who was in that courtroom there

just a few minutes ago. ron, thanks very much. all right. now let's get to my first reads of the morning here in washington. republicans appear to have moved on from president obama and are back to focusing on the woman they really used to love to hate. former secretary of state hillary clinton. the same hearing room that featured political wrangling over the years on witwater, house republicans held a charged congressional hearing on the mbenbenghazi attacks. 22 year career diplomat gregory hicks stationed at the embassy in tripoli that night gave a rifting account of the night four americans were killed which began with his attempts to reach ambassador chris stevens on the phone. >> i got the ambassador on the other end. he said, greg, we're under attack. about 3:00 a.m., i received a call from the prime minister of

libya. i think it's the saddest phone call i've ever had in my life. and he told me that ambassador stevens had passed away. >> hicks also testified that as the attack continued with a second assault on a nearby cia outpost, which was not known to be cia at the time, he and a defense attache begged for airport. the pentagon refused. >> lieutenant colonel gibson was furious. i had told him to go bring our people home. that's what he wanted to do. i will quote lieutenant colonel gibson. he said, this is the first time in my career that a diplomat has more balls than somebody in the military. >> pentagon spokesman george little responded in a statement, the fact remains as we have repeatedly indicated that u.s. military forces could not have arrived in time to mount a

rescue of those americans who were killed and injured. but the most charged exchanges yesterday were about one person. hillary:. who took responsibility for the attack in january after a very critical report by an independent review board in how the state department treated hicks after he raised questions about the public account of that night. >> i find it stunning that 4 1/2 months after the attack, secretary clinton still has the gal to say it wasn't us. who's sheryl mills. >> counselor for the department of state. chief of staff to secretary clinton. >> she's the fixture for the secretary of state. as close as you can get to secretary clinton. because he won't help them cover this up. he's an honorable man here telling the truth now is getting this kind of treatment from the very people who praised him before. >> hicks testified that then clinton counselor and chief of staff sheryl mills called him

obsessed after he met congressman jason chaffetz who was investigating the attack. he was then later demoted to desk officer at headquarters in what he believes was retaliation for speaking up. yesterday clinton spokesman fi leap reines denied that statement in an account, quote, greg hicks didn't get much in during congressman jordan's -- i guess i'll call it rant given his decible level. he could have asked hick about his favorite color and jordan would have shouted out coverup in response. he also defended mills' phone call saying she wanted them to know that no matter how far away they were, the department was with them and most importantly the secretary was with them. the state department itself also denies hicks has been demoted for speaking out. they say he returned from tripoli and retaineds the same rank but is going through the normal process of awaiting assignment to another embassy. democrats on the committee

charged republicans with trying to manufacture a political scandal. >> i find it truly disturbing and -- and very unfortunate that when americans come under attack, the first thing some did in this country was attack americans. attack the military. attack the president. attack the state department. attack the former senator from the great state of new york, former secretary of state hillary clinton. >> what we have seen over the past two weeks is a full scale media campaign that is not designed to investigate what happened in a responsible and bipartisan way, but rather a launch unfounded -- of unfounded accusations to smear public officials. >> hicks also said he told secretary clinton as it was happening that it was a terror attack, not a demonstration. and he was not complimentary of ambassador susan rice.

>> fast forward, mr. hicks, to the sunday talk shows and ambassador susan rice. she blamed this attack on a video. in fact, she did it five different times. what was your reaction to that? >> i was stunned. my jaw dropped. and i was embarrassed. >> officials say those subsequent talking points came out of the interagency intelligence assessment. which take into account all viewpoints. while hicks's testimony was compelling, the response to it at moments flt like a pre-obama time warp. for the first time since february 2008 when obama overtook hillary in the democratic presidential contest, republican groups jammed our inboxes and e-mails about clinton. some of them were trying to raise money off of this. in what looked like a coordinated effort by conservative political warriors that came together to, dare we say what hillary clinton used to

call them. >> the great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right wing conspiracy that has been conspireing against my husband since the day he announced for president. >> that's what a lot of clinton folks are thinking today. rnc e-mailed this. what did hillary clinton know about the changes to the benghazi talking points? why wasn't clinton interviewed by the benghazi accountability review board which carney called rigorous and unsparing. the karl rove backed american crossroads sent out an article carefully highlighting the section that read hicks had personally told former secretary of state hillary rodham clinton at 2:00 a.m. that same night that it was a terrorist attack. the gop organization american rising posted video after video saying benghazi hearing raises serious questions about clinton. there was citizens united. the group behind hillary the movie. whose president delaired in a statement, quote, in investigation into the murder of four americans is just beginning.

it should be clear to speaker john boehner that the investigation into the benghazi terrorist attack has crossed the threshold for a select committee. the conservative campaign committee even fundraised off the benghazi hearing. of course, not all republicans think that there's a conspiracy at work here. some are focusing their ire on how the parties who've actually been found responsible at the state department have been treated. that's what tennessee senator bob corker told us yesterday. >> there are four state department officials that candidly, there's been just no accountability. and i just don't think it bodes well to -- to know that people have made mistakes and candidly mistakes that cost people's lives, and there's nothing happening. i've been able to read all the cables. i've seen the films. i feel -- i feel like i know what happened in benghazi. i'm fairly satisfied. but, look, the house wants to have hearings, i hope they're done in a respectful way and hopefully it'll shed some light

on what happened. >> mark may 2013 on your political calendars. it's the day when republican party conservative movement, at least, returned to what its favorite pastime was for a good part of the past 16 years. 1992 to 2008. going after the clintons. could the vast right wing conspiracy as hillary clinton once called it be back? could be. drudge report yesterday was interesting to see. before wiping yesterday away it's an entirely political exercise. don't overlook what was learned and what was a very credible whistle blower in greg hicks. ironically what yesterday's house hearing revealed was something already uncovered by the pickering report on the indianapolis dent. systemic mistakes at the state department when it comes to the issue of diplomatic security. and this happened on clinton's watch. pure and simple. she's going to be running for president. her time at state is going to be an issue, the good, the bad and the ugly. and benghazi is going to be part of it. it doesn't take a political media genius to hear hicks's description of the phone call at 2:00 a.m. and see somebody

attempt to resurrect clinton's famous 3:00 a.m. phone call on tv ads. benghazi probably won't haunt clinton in 2016 in a big way, but it may not ever go away. breaking news for you. a live picture here of an empty hearing room on capitol hill. why is it empty? the senate environment and public works committee was supposed to meet at 9:15 to vote on the nomination of gina mccarthy to be the new administrate over at the epa. but reuters is reporting that eight republican lawmakers will skip the committee vote today. what that does, it blocks the nomination from moving forward. we'll have more on that as we learn more. and this is a live shot from the other side of capitol hill where the house is holding its first hearing focused on the boston marathon bombings. homeland security committee will hear from boston's police commissioner as well as former senator joe lieberman and other homeland security experts. law make makers are expected tof better information sharing could have prevented the attack last month. we're going to keep our eyes on

both hearing rooms. keep you updated on what developments. up next, food for thought. president obama continues those efforts to reach out to congress in a more personal way. this time his dinner partners were house democrats. congressman jim clyburn was one of those democrats. he'll join us next for some inside scoop on what was discussed around the dinner table and maybe offer a thought on the newest member of his state's delegation, mark sanford. first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. we told you a lot of it. president himself headed to austin, texas. not for money or anything like that. this a jobs event, so the white house says. we'll be following it. watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] running out of steam?

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president obama is headed to austin, texas, today. it's the first in a series of trips that the white house says will showcase job creation efforts. it includes a pair of executive actions that he's going to announce today that help create something he wants congress to pass called manufacturing institutes. he talked about them in his state of the union. it would free up useful government data for entrepreneurs. that's what the second action would do. the white house also wants to put focus on something other than budget and policy fights that aren't going anywhere here in washington even as the president works to find some way to break the political gridlock in congress. to that end the president has been doing all these dinners. last night he invited nine house democrats to a dinner to talk things over. so joining me now is one of those who attended, assistant democratic leader, south carolina congressman, james clyburn. congressman clyburn, always good to see you, sir. >> thank you so much for having me, chuck. >> well, tell me about the dinner. what was the topics of

conversation? what was the most -- what was the topic you guys talked the most about? >> well, i think we talked about the economy, getting people back to work. but, you know, my -- i didn't get on my soap box last night, but i did talk to the president about my favorite part of his inaugural aaddress. and that was targeting. targeting expenditures. i believe that it's very, very important for us going forward to make sure that as we get the recovery under way, that we don't just focus on wall street where we are breaking all kinds of records. over 15,000 closing two days ago. yet we see on main street things are not going too well. so i said to the president that i am very, very concerned about us doing what is necessary to strengthen the weakest links in

our society. and so that's what i focused on during this talk. and the president made it very clear that he has those concerns as well. i'm going to be following up with people at the white house over the next several days to focus on that. >> i assume the issue of the chained cpi, the changing the cost of living calculator when it comes to social security and some other parts of federal benefits, i assume that issue came up. did the president try to woo you guys on this issue? what was -- what was that part of the budget conversation like? >> well, believe it or not, chuck, we never discussed that last night at all. i remember the term being used one time in -- as all of us talked about sort of preliminarily. but we never discussed that at all. we focused mostly on job creation. and what we ought to do to

really hopefully get a grand bargain that would allow us to get our fiscal house in order while at the same time get people back to work. so we never focused on that part of the national discussion at all. >> let me ask you, could you envision supporting a grand bargain that included that? >> well, i could envision us looking at all of our expenditures, all of our expenses. looking at medicare, looking at medicaid, and looking at these loopholes that we have. can we close some of these loopholes and still not have to burden senior citizens and low income people at all. i think we can. and so i'm all for getting our fiscal house in order. but i don't want to do so by unduly burdening senior citizens and children in our society.

those that we ought to be especially protective of. >> let me ask you about the benghazi hearings on the hill. anything from greg hicks's testimony concern you about how state department handled things? >> absolutely not. you know, we had an independent investigation of this. ambassador pickering an impeccable reputation he has, conducted an independent investigation. and it was a bipartisan investigation. he was very critical of some things that did or did not happen as it relates to the state department. but he did not find anything in that investigation that will cause unduly concern. >> you don't think there are any more stones to be un -- to be looked under? to be overturned? >> oh, i'm sure. i'm sure. because there are questions about who may or may not have been questioned by the pickering

team. and so there is going to be more. and i'll tell you what else. there's going to be a lot more partisanship in this as well. so so much of what we saw yesterday just deals with partisanship. i want to say to my good friend congressman cummings, he did a remarkable job trying to stay focused on what the real issues are. and i would hope that chairman issa would tone down his partisanship a little bit and join mr. cummings in trying to find a bipartisan resolution of all of this. >> before i let you go, i know you campaigned with elizabeth colbert busch. are you surprised mark sanford is going to be one of your new colleagues in the south carolina delegation. >> i am a bit surprised. when i look at exactly what surrounded that campaign, i'm really disappointed in her loss. but, you know, mark and i know each other pretty well.

i'm not too sure that we ever agree on much. we are from a different generation. we bring to the congress a different set of experiences. but i always try to work on behalf of the people of south carolina and my congressional district. and i'll work with anybody to get to the ends that we ought to all be seeking. but i'm never going to give up on the dreams and aspirations of the people who sent me here. >> all right. congressman jim clyburn, south carolina. veteran democrat and assistant leader of the house democrats. thanks for coming on this morning. >> thanks for having me. coming up, we're going back to cleveland as we're learning more and more about the gruesome, chilling details of how those women were held in captivity. those three held women held in captivity for ten years and the accused kidnapper now makes his first court appearance. all of that is coming up. first before we go to break, today's trivia question.

how many women have been elected to congress from south carolina in a regularly scheduled general election? hint, hint, hint. first person to tweet the correct answer to @chucktodd and @dailyrundown gets a shout out. time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. alex garza of dallas runs four pizza franchises targeting the booming hispanic market. garza says latino customers are attracted by the friendly bilingual staff and his product's unique flavors like a jalapeno mixed pizza. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember

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i'm just glad she's okay. she seems okay. i think she's going to be all right, too. >> the third woman involved, michele knight, she's still in the hospital reportedly in good condition. her grandmother talked about what she'll do when she sees her. >> the first thing, i want to give her a big hug and kiss and tell her how much i love her, missed her. and i want to try to help her out as much as i can to get back into a normal life. >> nbc's craig melvin joins me now with more on the ongoing investigation. craig, we know what happened in court this morning. but we're also learning more details of what happened during this -- these ten horrific years for these three women. >> reporter: yeah. you know, yesterday investigators told us, chuck, that this thing, this investigation, is going to continue. we saw investigators out behind me yesterday at this first house. it's an abandoned home. they went in with the cadaver

dogs. the fbi's evidence recovery team went in with the white suits. we saw them coming out with bags, presumably of evidence. we still have not been told precisely what's in those bags. but we're told that the investigation is going to continue. they do believe that ariel castro, the 52-year-old who was in court this morning, $8 million bond, they do believe that he acted alone. but they're still talking to witnesses, they're still talking to neighbors, and they're still uncovering evidence. meanwhile this community is having a public meeting tonight, if you will. 7:00 in the church behind me down the street. just about every elected official here in the city of cleveland is going to be there including the attorney general. they're going to be talking about the relationship between the police and the neighborhood here in cleveland. >> craig, it's pretty clear it wasn't good, was it? >> reporter: no. no. it was -- it was not good. that would be a gross understatement. it was not good before this happened. keep in mind, chuck, you saw a lot of folks who insist that they called police.

that they dialed 911 at some point and got public officials who've been saying for the past 48 hours, didn't happen. we didn't get those calls. that will be a hot topic tonight at the public meeting for sure. >> as it should be. craig melvin on the scene there in cleveland. thanks very much. another couple stories that are on our radar this morning, south carolina, by the way, congressman elect mark sanford and his ex-wife jenny sanford reached a settlement in the trespassing case. what does that mean? sanford avoids a court hearing that was planned for today. he was going to have to go. sanford admits in the settlement he was in contempt of their divorce decree. the judge agreed not to sentence sanford as long as he agrees to the settlement that he can't enter jenny's home without her permission. sanford also agreed to pay for his ex-wife's court costs. up next, seeking senators. it's a deep dive into why so many lawmakers are high tailing it off the hill and why both parties are having a harder time this year than normal finding suitable replacements. you're watching "the daily

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the u.s. senate is arguably the most powerful legislative body in the world. it's also one of the last places people seem to want to work these days. today a deep dive into why it's so hard to find a good u.s. senate candidate these days or keep a good u.s. senator in place. six democratic incumbents have said they won't try to come back for 2015, leaving open seat. republican senators from georgia and nebraska are also leaving. that's eight. plus two others who already left for other jobs, john kerry and jim demint. brings the total to ten. look at the last two sessions before. 112th congress, ten retired, one resigned, one passed away. in the 111th congress eight senators retired, eight resigned their seats, two more passed

away. it's an average of about 13 senators leaving every session over the last three. or think of it this way. it's a 40% turnover in the last five years. compare the numbers from the last three sessions to the decade before. from 1999 to 2009, the senate lost an average of just six senators a year. less than half the current average. not only is the turnover higher, more and more veteran senators are heading home earlier in their political lives. come 2015, less than a quarter of all senators will have been there since before 9/11. think about that. as of right now only six have been there more than 20 years and with more and more of those veteran snenatorin ins leaving, complaint is that the spirit of compromise has disappeared. >> there is less willingness to come together to put us in the vernacular to make a deal so that government can function. you just don't have the same leaders that have that same relationship with each other.

>> the same sentiment voiced by maine republican senator olympia snowe when she opted against running for re-election two years ago. at the time she said, quote, only by finding common ground can we achieve results for the common good. that is not happening today and frankly i do not see it happening in the future. this year both parties are having trouble even recruiting top senate candidates. even in races where they don't have to face an incumbent. yes, there are still a few big names out there. democrats are pushing hard to get a former governor in montana brian switser to run. republicans have a former governor mike rounds running in south dakota. those are the exceptions. they're not the rule these days. used to be the exact opposite. the senate simply doesn't seem to be as attractive for ambitious politicians anymore. even though the parties need them more than ever. charlie cook is an msnbc political analyst, editor and publisher of cook political report and has watched the u.s. senate for some 40 years now, tracking this. this is one of those -- and i saw that different people have been writing stories. oh, it's been hard to recruit

this year. and then brook brower went through and tid this. showed me these numbers. this does seem different. senators want to get out of this place. >> i think that's absolutely true. this cycle i think we had accelerated -- we had accelerated recruiting. in other words, it went faster than normal. to the larger point, you're absolutely right. when i came to washington in september of '72, it was a different institution. now there's no privacy. it's incredibly invasive. the campaigns are horrific. and if you win, the job's not very good. >> they don't seem to be having -- they don't seem to enjoy the job. saxby chambliss is the one retirement, mike johanns surprised me more than any of the others. the others seem more predictable. those two struck me. one was after one term. one was after two terms. >> yeah. we've seen other examples the last ten years of after one, two

terms. this used to be a legislative job. now it's for grand standing and monday morning quarterbacking. so the fulfillment that they used to get out of the job, they don't get so much anymore. >> and this week we've seen harry reid and ted cruz yell at each other on the senate floor. it does look -- i mean, this is a cliche in this town that happens, which is, oh, the senate's become like the house. but there's a lot of truth to that. it is a little more rancorous these days. >> i think a lot of what happened, though, a lot of the things that started contaminating the house a generation ago have migrated over to the senate. with a bunch of house members coming over. that it used to be the senate was civil. the house was pretty unruly. but now you have this influx of house members that really changed the tone of the senate. >> you've watched this a long time. do you change it with people? do you change it with the rules? what changes this culture?

you know, i do assume it's cyclical. but sort of how -- what changes it? >> well, there isn't a silver bullet. i mean, personally, you know, on the house side i'd like to see redistricting reform. i think both sides, change in the primary process. so in states where there is closed party registration, independents can vote on either side. i think also voters need to start looking for peak candidates who look like they can work across party lines. >> right now that's not rewarded. voters aren't rewarding that yet. >> primary voters punish you if you look like you're willing. but it's a mind set, a different mind set that voters have to look for. and they haven't been looking for it in the past. >> and as you -- the thing that sort of intrigues me is the common complaint for years from x governors was, oh, boy, they're miserable in the senate. that seems double so today with the -- with the exgovernor. >> oh, yeah.

going back, i remember wendell ford from kentucky. frustrated. when you're governor, you can snap your fingers. stuff happens. in the senate you could beat your head against the wall. >> now it seems worse than ever. >> absolutely. >> whether it's mark warner in virginia. >> right. sort of reforming. i'd be against getting rid of the filibuster, but take it back to where it used to be. where if somebody wants to filibuster, let's see how big your bladder is. you know, let's see how much -- how hard and determined you are about this. you know, get rid of the hold. that used to be professional courtesy. now it's a political tactic. >> there's some revamping of the rules. maybe some revamping of the election process. >> and some soul searching by voters. >> we will end there. we will end on the bladder comment. as always, charlie cook, thank you, sir. >> thank you. and we've got a special feature on our website today. daily run down's list of the top ten senate races most likely to flip control in 2014. check it out.

rundown.msnbc.com. it's such a tease, we're going to make you go to the website to read it. much more still to come with our gaggle. first white house soup of the day -- yes, by the way, i taped that with charlie yesterday. white chicken chili. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. ♪ it's been that way since the day you met.

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to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. today we celebrate not the victory of a party, but a victory for all the people of south africa. >> daily flashback. it was this day in 1994 when nelson mandela told a crowd of tens of thousands of cheering supporters that south africa was entering a new era. the speech came moments after he was chosen as the country's first black president. trivia. we asked you how many women have been elected to congress from south carolina in a regularly scheduled general election. the answer is just one. of the five women who represented south south carolina

in the house, four of them got there by winning special elections to fill vacancies created by the death of their husbands. liz patterson is the only woman to win a nonspecial election. congratulations to today's winner, david rutz. i got the gaggle. they're all seated. we'll be right back. ♪ [ laughs ] whoo. ♪ oh. nice! great! [ laughs ] a shot like that calls for a postgame celebration. [ male announcer ] share what you love with who you love. kellogg's frosted flakes. they're gr-r-eat! [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines

while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life.

thanks. your children's health can affect their gpa. yes, exercise and education go hand in hand. so make sure your kids are active 60 minutes every day. you'll help them feel good and even perform better in school. the more you know. brand new poll numbers show some interesting different results. president obama has a substantial lead over congressional republicans when it comes to approval rating. things like that. 51% approve of the job he's doing while only 22% say the same about republican leaders. a record 80% say president obama and republican leaders are not working together to address important issues facing the country and these show that republicans are actually picking

up steam when it comes to certain issues compared to the democrats. let's bring in our gaggle for this. karen finley will host a new msnbc show 4:00 on weekends coming up next month. welcome to all of you. i want to start with you. also in here and i want to put up these poll numbers. president's poll numbers are pretty good. over 50 that's not bad these days in this polarized environment. republicans ahead of democrats on the issue of guns, immigration and the economy. there's presidential good news when you go farther in there's good news for republicans. >> president obama was supposed to have this great ally at his side for a second term which was this nonprofit advocacy group. what we're seeing is it's a lot hard to transition that campaign

apparatus that he had. >> the thing that jumped out at me was the gun issue. we have seen all of these different polls. here you had a narrow plurality. >> the question is how you word a poll question is different results. you figure 90% number gun control advocates keep invoking is like a magic wand and make everyone convert that way. strangely enough a whole bunch of republicans didn't vote the way they wanted to. i think you look at these numbers and it becomes clear. obama is more popular than his agenda and a lot of people personally like him. they like when they see him doing picks on espn or michelle obama talking about her garden in the white house. these personal factors make people like the president even if they don't necessarily agree with the president. >> respond to that. there's a gap. there's clearly a gap and this white house has struggled with doing what was described. how do you take this great campaign ability?

>> number one, it has to be more targeted at the members themselves. by that i mean i thought for a long time that it's great that newtown families were on capitol hill but unless you have a family with a story from texas appealing to ted cruz putting ads on television in the state of texas where there's an electoral consequence, it's easy to meet with them but vote against. they need to put more direct pressure on those members of congress than i think they have. number two, i disagree with the idea that you can read from this that the agenda is not what's popular. i think there's overall just a disgust with washington period and frustration. >> it's dragging him down a bit. >> when you have 90% here but a gap here, i think it's hard to know what's really going on there. >> benghazi and hillary clinton. jim, i'll start with you. you've been very -- you just tweeted something i thought was interesting. ignore the political posturing that was going on with the hill

guys a little bit and focus on greg hicks and the testimony. >> i don't care what members on the government reform committee said. i care about what witnesses said. and not to pick a bone with any coverage on "the daily rundown" but if this ends up having no impact on hillary clinton in 2016, fine. let's get the facts out. let's figure out why the decision making before the night, the decision making on that night and decision making and explanation after that night. >> it does feel like you can't celebrate politics from this when yesterday every reporter was inundated with partisan style heated campaigning e-mails going after hillary. >> we thought it was too early for supporters to set up a super pac on her behalf. she does need air cover. we should look at it through the present day political lens which is this is about obama's vulnerability on something that was his strength which is foreign policy. >> i'm going to quickly say that's what a.r.b. was supposed to do.

>> not interviewing hillary clinton is a big -- looks really bad. >> if we say hicks is what the issue is, point being that hicks was in tripoli. a.r.b. looked at everything from all different perspectives. we have to keep that in mind. his perspective is colored by where he was and that's only one story. >> a.r.b. would have more credibility. >> that may be true. >> an old story of people at the top. >> so i think if you want to follow immigration reform you have to be reading "the l.a. time times". >> only "the l.a. times"? >> don't forget "chicago tribune." >> it's teacher appreciation week. >> i appreciate arlington public schools. th take that alexandria. >> we have 66,000 troops still on the ground in afghanistan. i have one in particular that i care very dearly about. i want him to come home safe and all of them to come home.

>> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." we'll see you back here tomorrow. coming up next, chris jansing. on tomorrow's show, what you lived without the internet for a year? we'll find out. we'll see you tomorrow. i'm meteorologist bill karins. thunderstorms in the forecast many areas of the country today. especially as we go from dallas to ft. worth, oklahoma city and even areas from chicago to st. louis to kansas city with this front moving through. we'll have a chance of a few storms today. this is time of year that won't last all day or wash you out and that includes friends here in the northeast too. hit and miss thunderstorms for a short period of time.

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. for the first time this morning, we got a live look at the man accused of one of the most disturbing depraved crimes in memory. the kidnapping and rape of three women who were held as prisoners for more than a decade. 52-year-old ariel castro kept his chin buried in his shirt during most of his short arraignment in a cleveland courtroom that was so packed with reporters and cameras there was no room for the public. he did not utter a word. his lawyer spoke for him and his two brothers who police no longer believe are involved in this crime. it's hard to see how the unemployment bus driver will make the $8 million bail the judge set. this is