in the bunker of winston churchill's world war ii bunker getting ready to report on the birth of the new royal. look, i found there's a young boy, i think his name is snnige churchill, he just popped by. he is not related to me. but young nigel probably his great great grandson, i don't know. >> what have you learned today, mika? >> we have great bookings tomorrow. madeleine albright to name a few. we'll leave it there because you took all the time with that cute, cute, cute little boy. >> you can say hi. >> hi. >> if it's way too early, what time is it, mika? >> it's time for "morning joe." but now it's time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. the conversation starter. president obama's personal reaction to the zimmerman trial verdict sparks a new wave of discussion and debate. a very special discussion this morning on race, politics and what's next. plus, no main event.

susan collins says she's running again and has no interest in running the homeland security department. what's that mean for harry reid's hopes to keep the senate in democrat hands? virginia's fight for governor turns personal. the first debate between mcauliffe and cuccinelli will have the highs and, quite frankly, a lot of the lows from that showdown. it's monday, july 22nd, 2013. welcome to "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. we'll have royal baby news if it happens during this hour. whether it's a boy or a girl, the baby will be third in line to the throne behind prince william and of course prince charles. as you look at live pictures there of london and buckingham palace. right now, let's get right to my first reads of the morning. we begin with reaction b ction president's very personal comments. there has been a long-standing debate among african-american

leaders about how much the president should use the bully pulpit to talk about race. on thursday evening after mounting pressure, president obama called a few members of his senior team into the oval. he said he wanted to speak out sometime on friday. president obama then went to the white house briefing room early friday afternoon. for 18 months, without a teleprompter, spoke about race more candidly than he has during his entire five years in office. >> when trayvon martin was first shot, i said that this could have been my son. another way saying that is trayvon martin could have been me. 35 years ago. there are very few african-american men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. that includes me.

there are very few african-american men who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. that happens to me. at least before i was a senator. >> over the weekend as thousands gathered for rallies in more than 100 cities to demand the repeal of stand your ground laws and push for federal civil rights charges against george zimmerman, protesters responded to the president's comments. >> racism in this country has been swept under the rug. shh, don't talk about it. when he stands up and says, i, i was trayvon martin 35 years ago, it resonates. that you can't sweep under the rug. >> trayvon martin's parents who called the president's speech a beautiful tribute to our boy spoke at rallies in new york city and in miami. >> not only do i vow to you to do what i can for trayvon

martin, i promise you i'm going to work hard for your children as well. because it's important. >> senseless violence, it's a disease, and we as a peep have the cure. we just have to come together. >> but reaction to the president was somewhat mixed. bbs commentator tavis smiley who has not exactly been complimentary of the president on many issues tweeted this. took potus almost a week to show up and expression mild outrage. was sharply critical of the president on "meet the press." >> this is not libya. this is america. on this issue, you cannot lead from behind. what's lacking in this moment is moral leadership. >> i disagree with tavis in a profound way. president obama's been talking about race and doing things about race for a long type. and the reality is he walked to the podium, he wasn't pushed.

>> notable other the weekend the silence on the president's speech from what you might call official republican washington it arguably the most compelling reason for the president to speak out . one of the few lawmakers to react publicly, arizona senator john mccain. >> what i got out of the president's statements, which i thought was very impress iive, that we need to have more conversation in america. >> do you think the stand your ground law in arizona is worth looking at again? >> i think that -- yes, i do, and i'm confident that the members of the arizona legislature will. because it is a very controversial legislation. >> president obama's remarks triggered a debate throughout the country. black and white. and to continue that now, joining me for a special discussion on race and politics here in america, i've got democratic strategist jamal

simmons from the bernard center for women, politics and public policy michelle bernard, and former head of the naacp quas m quasiemfauma. i want to start with you, just your initial reaction to the president doing that, doing what he did friday, and also to address this issue, is the president, is the president a black american who happens to be, you know, is he an african-american activist, enough of one, or just happen to be a president who happens to be black? >> i think he was black before he was president and i think after he's president, he'll still be black. i think he comes into the office of the black person of african be ancestry and he'll have to leave that way. i think what the president did, and i said this a few hours after he spoke, was the right thing.

he came to the american public, spoke from the heart about a very vexing issue that is on the minds of everybody. he did it without prompting and without teleprompter. and he did it in a way that i think he tried to express on behalf of a number of america's african-american citizens why there is so much angst and pain about the verdict but beyond the verdict why there is so much angst and pain about this perception that there are two criminal justice systems, would be for the rich, one for it is poor, one for the black, one for the not black. it is a situation that's going to go on, chuck, till we are able to at least come up with something beyond the conversation that equates to action. >> that's funny you say that. we're all having a conversation. we're going to have a good conversation here. but that's always what this is about, right? hey, we have a good conversation. what is the action? >> i think the first step is a revise tation of existing laws. not just stand your ground. it's a number of different laws. whether it's disparity in sentencing or incarceration and

things that continue to be statistically proven to be unbalanced. a review state by state of existing laws. second to that, let me just say this, there is no investment in the communities that hurt the most, where the pain is, where the problem is. a lot of people will try to get away from this and say, well, black on black crime is a bigger problem. it may be a bigger problem but it's still not going to go away unless we invest communities, unless we drive down an unemployment rate among african-american men that's 19% among black teens, 40%, unless we find some sort of way to prop up opportunities for education and to just take a deep breath and realize we have not, years after the war on poverty, eliminated the war on poverty in this country. in fact, it is growing even as we speak. >> the economic divide i want to get into later in this. jamal, that was one of the things that struck me about try to explain to people why do you think the president spoke out. i said, well, you know, one the

importantrunning for president was to be a role model for african-american men. >> absolutely. i was at moore house college a few weeks ago where he spoke on graduation day to a class of 500 graduating african-american men. part of what he did was to enlist them in this struggle to sort of talk to their peers, to be leaders in their communities and in their families about what a good strong man was supposed to be and to set that model. it's very interesting. the president has given speeches like that on father's days, commencements, black schools, and he does that all the time. only when he speaks about the bo broader responsibility of white americans do we hear the outcry. it's not okay for us to talk about the society implications and what's happening. the truth is there's a certain amount of cognitive distance that's required. on one hand, you have incredible possibility for people.

people can become ceos of companies, presidents of universities, presidents of the united states. on the other hand, there's incredible peril. if you go outside at night by yourself, you could be stopped and you could be killed. you can walk into a store and you could be arrested. all sorts of things can happen. we've got to deal with that site of the ledger while we celebrate the possibilities. >> michelle, i have to say, my own focus group of friends, family, relatives. there was some that would express this, why did the president have to speak out? almost like it was to what that one woman said, we all want to sweep it under the rug. because things are better than they were 30 years ago. that doesn't mean the conversation shouldn't be happening. >> he had to speak out. yes, things are much better than they were 40, 50 years ago. we don't have segregated lunch counters any longer. at the say time time, it's not

the trayvon martin verdict. we are having a serious problem that is re-emerging in what some people call second generation race discrimination. it looks very different. it is covert it it's not overt like what we saw 50 years ago. the example i give, repeatedly, is if you think about what just happened with section 4 of the voting rights act being struck down. you think about oral arguments that took place in advance of the supreme court's decision. to have a sitting supreme court justice like antonin scalia sit on the bench and say voting rights is a racial preferment. and to compare the rights of african-americans and other minorities to child molesters, which is what he did, but then said, child molesters don't deserve extra help, for example. shows us that we've got a really very significant problem. and it goes all the way to the supreme court of the united

states. it was important for the president to have this discussion because quite frankly many whites will now say, well, if the president of the united states could be followed, if someone will lock their door only because they saw him as a black man and not as a senator or as the president of the united states, maybe we really do need to look at our attitudes on race. >> i'm going to pause here. we're going to take a quick break and continue this discussion after these quick messages. our panel sticking with us here as we continue this discussion in the wake of the president's surprise statement on race and trayvon martin. and more of my first reads of the morning are coming up at the bottom of the hour, including a preview of the not so impromptu speech the president plans to give on the economy later this week. of course, we'll leave you with some live pictures of the london hospital where the royal baby is officially on its way. we'll bring you any news out of london as soon as it happens. first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. we do not have a time for the royal baby so it's not on the

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i just ask people to consider if trayvon martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? and do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting mr. zimmerman who had been following him in a car because he felt threatened? >> let's bring back our special panel on race and politics. pulitzer prize winning columnist thomas page is joining us now. i'm not presuming anybody's age here but i have an idea.

of the five of us here, three of us grew up in what was supposed to be more integrated america. congressman enfumu, you grew up in a time before integration, when there was segregation in the south, saw it firsthand as a young adult. not wanting to presume age here. >> that's quite all right. >> but the generational response on this, do you think there was something, something about why some people think president obama, for instance, is slower on this because he didn't have the same experiences? >> i think that that misses president obama's political s savvy and the fact he is the son of an anthropologist. he tends to stand back and study. also, he knows in recent years, the irony of his presidency, he's not allowed to talk about race, you know, the base of his

opposing party, blue collar whites, feel oppressed themselves. for good reason in many cases. and obama what's to transcend race and deal with the class problem. >> -- as bad, if not worse, right now as a dividing line. >> i think last week he came to a realization, heck, what's a second term for if you can't say what you really feel. >> i want to get to this political pressure that i think african-american leaders thrust into leadership positions. you were top member of the house democratic leadership. a lot of people thought at one time, had democrats kept the house, you might have ended up speaker of the house in the '90s. obviously, the politics changed and all that. did you feel pressure, did you feel pressure sometimes to say i'm not going to speak out on certain issues on race, i'm here to try to be a leader, try to win political points here in the democratic party, not upset the

apple cart. did you ever feel that pressure? >> i felt like i had to do both things. an obligation to carry the banner of the party as best i could. also an obligation to speak the truth. and sometimes that meant speaking truth to power. so if it dealt with race or something else that was uncomfortable for people, i feel it was better for me to bring it up, to broach the subject, to get the conversation started and to get people reacting to it than to stand back as if it did not exist at all. leadership is, in fact, stepping forward. so in many respects, there is that pressure, this unspoken pressure. you're in the office, be good, do a good job, everything will work out, and you might get re-elected again. you cannot run fors of, s ooffy opinion, worrying about getting re-elected. people will send you back based on that. the real pressure is to realize if you go in and do nothing, if you see wrong and say nothing, then you really shouldn't be

there at all. >> jamal, you've been in an interesting position. an adviser to a lot of white southern democratic leaders. from when i've known you, boy, max cleland, bob graham, wesley clark. you've worked for a lot of wise southern democrats who have straddled this line. talk about that -- maybe the difference between professional advice you gave and the personal maybe angst that you had in giving that. >> it's funny, i both worked on it and lived it, right. i started out working for bill clinton when i was a kid just out of college, you know, all the way through. bill clinton tried to do this. this is where it gets complicated. you have a race problem which is clear. trayvon martin case sort of highlights that. you also have a real class problem. the front page of "the new york times" today has a whole study by a harvard professor talking about how geography really matters because we don't have overlapping incomes of people who live in the same places like they used to. conservatives are not wrong when they talk about some of these value issues. i grew up in detroit, which is

in the news also this week. >> as a separate subject -- >> i grew up in detroit and in a majority african-american city. i went to a majority african-american high school. i went to an african-american college. i didn't ever really live in a majority white environment till i worked on my first campaign. i actually realized the first time that white people didn't think about race as much as black people do. it was amazing to me. it very rarely really came up. when we talked about it, we really as a campaign for the democratic party in the '90s and 2000s, which hide the focus on the economic issues that might try to make things better for people without focusing on the race because we knew that would be a touchstone that would set off the opposition. >> such a great point, the difference, the types that race was talked about in my househ d household, i grew up in miami, is when we had race riots in miami. those race riots weren't necessarily white and black, at the time, it was actually hispanics. it was a complicated stew of ethnic politics. but we didn't talk about it

every day. maybe that's part of the problem too. >> everyone lives their life through a certain lens. in my household, i am first generation american, daughter of immigrants, have who parents who cape to the united states to go to howard university and tell stories for example about my father being fired from jobs at country clubs because they said you have to enter through the back door. we talked about race every single day. also as children growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood after a while for people would assume, for example, that your father played for the washington redskins rather than the fact that he was an oral surgeon because, you know, they hadn't seen that. so it makes for a very interesting way to figure out how to straddle both worlds, how to live, and quite frankly, for my generation, how do you talk to your children, sons and daughters about race and the

reality that we know that they are going to have to face as they get older. >> that was the most poignant thing i think eric holder hit on last week and then the president slightly again. of course, he's got two daughters. it is different. i think that is something hopefully many americans woke up to, the different conversation you have to have with african-american men -- >> after the rodney king riots, i was on "the newse hour" with jim lehr with dialogue like this. i mentioned i have a 3-year-old son who everybody says is very cute but i also know ten years from now when he's 13 and 6 foot tall, it will be a different reaction from people. i got so many letters and e-mails from people. people still stop me on the street and say, i never thought of it this way. were white folks, bless their hearts. my kid is now 24. we're still having the same talk. he can come in here and join now and give stories of his own. >> you started this conversation by saying, hey, great, we're having a sconversation, but now

what. let's talk about the now what the. >> the reality is, there's a lot of people across this nation who are black, white, latino, asian, native american, who understand that unless we deal with the problems such as this that we face without sweeping them in the rug, we're not going to get better. those people who were good people want good conversation, they want good and meaningful constructive dialogue and good action. and i think we have an obligation as a nation to recognize there's a whole solid majority out there, i hate to use that term, but a solid majority of good people who really want this kind of stuff to stop happening. so i mentioned earlier, we got to revisit a number of existing laws, but we've also got to find a way to invest in this whole notion of driving down poverty. as long as you have communities where there is abject poverty, people cannot get an education, people do not have incomes to take care of their families, people work in menial jobs, working menial wages, people who

feel like they're going to be taken and pounced upon because they look at a certain way. those communities fester. yeah, there's going to be crime within those communities. but you can't cordon it off. it's going to affect all of us. i think what we've got to do is really look at some sort of way to deal with that by dealing with those particular things where there are real absolute disparities. education, employment, health care. if we don't do that, then, you know, you and i will be here along with everybody else on the panel at the next incident where we're discussing, again, what do we do after the conversation? >> you know, jamal, there was a senator rand paul has talked about this idea of relooking at the prison sentences and the unfairness that appears to be in the justice system, the harshness of penalties, that african-americans get, versus whites get. you've got a conservative republican like that ready to have that conversation. it's a libertarian view. is that a piece legislation worth pursuing? >> it absolutely is. it starts earlier than that.

we did some work for the ucla civil rights project. they looked at suspensions for kids. 1 out of 4 african-american males will be suspended from school by the time he'ses in si grade, in high school. we've got to focus on this bias, maybe bringing the bias out of ourselves. i think we do have to also look at this economic question because if you look, particularly a lot of white males who are, you know, struggling economic position, stagnating wages for 30 years, which is causing i think a lot of this less than generous behavior that we're seeing on the internet and some other places. >> that's right,er looks and thinks somebody else is taking their job. >> it's hard to be generous when you're -- >> now what? help me out here. >> everyone's talked about, particularly the school to prison pipeline, but also concerted efforts at actual intentional voter suppression and what we do about making sure

we keep electing black elected officials. if we have black elected officials at the state level, they're going to take a very serious look at stand your ground laws. we also know you've got to look at voter renls statigistration. if you're going to get a jury of your peers, which is not what we saw happen in florida. i was somebody who actually thought as a jury of six women, that a lot of women, particularly hispanic women on that jury in seminole county in the trayvon martin case would have known what it's like to be other, and to have people look at you and make assumptions about you because you're a woman. i think we saw women who were actually fearful of a young black man -- >> there may have been just a poor legal case. let's separate that out. >> and poor prosecution. >> we separate that out. that doesn't mean we shouldn't have the conversation we're having. clarence, had trayvon martin, had george zimmerman been convicted of something, we wouldn't be having a conversation, would we? >> that's true.

just like if they'd both been the same race, we wouldn't have this conversation either. i'm also happy we're having this conversation because of the race angle. this became a national issue, subject of national dialogue. we've been talking about, in 2005, when the law was passed, signed into law by governor jeb bush. let me give a shameless plug to the right on crime organization which is conservatives. governor kwift, a slew of others, working on these issues. very few publicity. here's a way for right and left to together on this. >> i think you are seeing it on that one issue there. i want to thank everybody. kwa we'll of course hopefully continue this discussion in the days and weeks ahead here and all across msnbc. we've got much more on the big political news of the day coming up. today's trivia question, when

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up next, the president pivots to the economy. where have we heard this one before? not once, not twice but three times this week. we've got a preview of what could be part of the big debate. then there's a majority math problem. how the senate's state of play is shifting. putting democrats on the defensive even more than they thought they would be. [ jen garner ] imagine a makeup so healthy

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for more of today's "first read," president obama kicks off a campaign push and wants to frame the fall's big battle for the budget. the tacit acknowledgement that, well, guess what, he hasn't been talking about the economy and jobs. no one else in washington has been talking about the economy too much either. on wednesday, the president returns to knox college in galesburg, illinois, where he

gave an address years ago as a senator. advisers say they return to and claim it helps inspire his second term inaugural address. the white house previewed the speech in a video on sunday. >> it depended on a belief in the free market but it also depended upon our sense of mutual regard for each other. the idea that everybody has a stake in the country. that we're all in it together. >> after the speech at knox college, he will then travel to warr warrensburg, missouri. thursday, he speaks at the port in jacksonville, florida. the white house hopes the series of speeches can sharpen the president's economic message. in the coming weeks, he'll drill down and talk about some new policy proposals. the senior adviser told reporters the president thinks washington has largely taken its eye off the ball. instead of talking about how to help the middle class, too many are trying to score political points. of course by him writing that, it makes it as if the president

is not a part of washington. not somehow doesn't have a bully pulpit or ability to set the agenda, but we'll leave that aside. also warns that, quote, critical deadlines requires action, not showdowns. political leaders didn't respond enthusiastically. writing, we've seen this song and dance before. tired ideas that have been rejected for years. it's the president's own policies responsible for this new normal weak economic growth and high unemployment. in an interview, boehner was asked why congress has accomplished so little as far as legislation is concerned. >> we should not be judged on how many new laws we creation. we ought to be judged on how many laws that we repeal. >> so by the way that means any new policy ideas the president has, probably not going anywhere in the house. speaking of that john boehner interview, i want to close with one more part of this before we get to the discussion. it's a striking problem for the president. here's a potential negotiating partner who won't even say what he personally supports or

opposes on various issues. here's boehner's response to a question about immigration. >> do you, mr. speaker, yourself, personally, favor a bill that has a path to citizenship -- >> people have been trying to get me to do this since the day after the election. it's not about me. it's not about what i want. what i committed to when i became speaker was to a more and fair process. and as didfficult as this issue is, me taking a hard position for or against some of these issues will make it harder for us to get a bill. >> i'm going to bring in the gaggle. joining me now, margie o'mara. and i'm just startled -- boy, people have been trying to get me. those gotcha questions. speaker of the house. where do you stand on an issue?

he won't say. >> he won't say. both things he had to say were remarkable. one, we ought to be judged on what we repealed. wouldn't get me high marks for that since they've not repealed -- >> they haven't repealed anything either. >> it's not as if he sat down a marker he could make. on the immigration, i think it points out the weakness of the speaker. he is unable to take a position because he has to watch where his back is on this. >> i don't understand, it's as if he's saying, i'm not speaker of the house, margie. >> two-thirds of voters in 2012 say they want to see a path to citizenship. they want to see immigration reform. poll after poll shows three fourths i think showed this is extremely or very important. republicans, very conservative republicans. white voters around the country support this. for the speaker to throw up his hands and say judge us if we do essentially nothing. i mean, they are judging him. that's why they're really

unfavorable. >> the counterargument to boehner's approach, if he takes a position, then suddenly he can't be the guy who brings everybody together. >> that is the counterargument but the problem is he doesn't seep to be the person who's bringing anyone together on anything whatsoever unless it is another vote to repeal the obama care, you know. so it's a huge question of govern nance. and people have to be sitting back and saying, what is it we pay any of you to do in washington other than bicker and so no? >> the speech, the pivot to the economy, it's like deju pivot when it comes to the economy. saying they'll have a fight approach when it comes to the economy. all of the decisions coming to a head in the fall, they're basically saying, hey, we're going to travel the question. >> they learned that question in

2011 during the debt ceiling debacle. they pivoted away and went into campaign mode in the fall. he put the jobs act forward right after labor day in 2011 mostly as a campaign effort. and i think what we're going to see is very similar. but i think that the real question is what does he really have to say at this point? is he simply trying to do it for politics? perhaps. but that begs the question of what do you do about the sticky unemployment rate, middle class families that are struggling. there's a lot that he has to deal with. >> they're beiacknowledging the have nothing new to say. what are they saying? ha hey, look back at this speech. so he doesn't have anything new to say, he's just going to say it differently? >> they've always been concerned about the economy. always been working on this. it is congress who has continued to stand in the way, continue this binger i ebickering. talking to the american people rather than the campaign approach is a reminder what the job is.

talk to the american people and get the economy moving. when you have congress just stuck in this no spiral, then that's why the american people say enough is enough. >> and yet public opinion doesn't sway congress. >> no, congress doesn't care. i think this is quite honestly very difficult for the administration and for anyone who's coming along in 2016 because the entire american republic, whether you're democrat or republican, people are hurting and they want government, whether it's the administration itself or congress, to work and find people jobs. >> and the public opinion should sway congress. >> we, of course. fair enough. and speaking of polls, interesting news, "wall street journal" poll coming out this week, so we'll have something on that. stick around. we're going to talk a little virginia and a little senate battle. it's coming up. the old debate got personal and negative. it was so personal and so negative so early between mcauliffe and cuccinelli. programming note for you, chris dodd and barney frank will join

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it's been a happy union. he does laundry, and i do the cleaning. there's only two of us... how much dirt can we manufacture? more than you think. very little. [ doorbell rings ] [ lee ] let's have a look, morty. it's a sweeper. what's this? what's that? well we'll find out. we'll find out. [ lee ] it goes under all the way to the back wall.

i came in under the assumption that it was clean. i've been living in a fool's paradise! oh boy... there you go... morty just summed it up. the next 44 years we'll be fine. no thanks. that was republican senator susan collins response when asked by reporters if she had any interest in becoming the next secretary for homeland security. the senator to maine said she will seek a fourth election next year. in a state that president obama won by more than 15 points last year, democrats currently hold a 54-46 majority. the republicans are expected to lose this year's special election in new jersey and will make it back to 55-45. and requiring a gop net gain of six seats to win back control.

if maine is no longer on the table, it's a possibility for democrats to target, which is what they really want, how do republicans get to their six? they get halfway there starting with three democratic retirements in the red territories. add in the fourth democratic incumbents from states that mitt romney won in 2012. three of these four could get them to six. so you see how their path gets there without having to target seats in lean democratic states like iowa, colorado, michigan, minnesota or new hampshire, or in any other year, republicans would have to be more focussed on competing in those states. democrats are on the defensive and republicans can go with a more ideological pure way of getting to their six seats. of course, anything can happen. democrats are trying to target georgia. democrats are trying to target kentucky. they needed a break here. maine would have been a big one. they didn't get it. republicans feeling very good this morning.

much more on the senate state of play on our website including an exclusive memo we obtained. on how they plan to win back the majority. that's on rundown.msnbc.com. trivia, we asked, when was the first time both republicans and democrats elected an african-american to the u.s. house in the same election. the answer was 1990. republicans elected one, gary franks, the first black republican representative to choose in the u.s. house in nearly 60 years at the time. congratulations to today's winner. if you've got a political trivia question for us, e-mail us. hey linda! what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'.

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it's difficult to grow an economy when you call gay virginians soloists and

self-destructive human beings. >> millions perhaps of virginians who share my held beliefs and your notion that this somehow chases business out of virginia would be laughable if it weren't so offensive. look. the only candidate in this race who has chased business out of virginia is you. it's terry. not me. >> he says one thing and does something else. you are the true trojan horse of virginia politics. you come in pretending to be one thing and you really are something else. >> that was a taste of the tough back and forth between the two in their first debate on saturday. let's bring back our gaggle. dan, thomas jefferson and james madison, we are not conjuring up those images, are we?

>> not exactly. no, we are not. >> this was tradition first debate which is usually the most cordial. they have the homestead where the virginia elites gather to hear their then distinguished gentleman running for governor. this was pretty tough. >> anybody who has been following all of the prelude to this first debate knew this was not going to be a positive event. both sides have been tearing down the other from day one, in part, because neither candidate has a lot of positive that they are able to say about themselves. >> margie, you've been involved in many war campaigns and i'm sure that is what this one is. it seems they are each going to basically tear apart the other one and see what is left standing come election day. >> mcauliffe is outspending his opponent and has more money raised. and he is leading in the polls.

cuc cuccinelly says i still feel this way and feel these horrible offensive about gay people that alienate business. they say it doesn't matter what my views are. it's harder for me to recruit employees if the governor has these kind of views and if they get codified into laws. not to mention the huge mcdonald scandal that cuccinelli has. >> he's in enormous trouble. both he and his wife. all of the investigations that are going on cannot possibly help cuccinelli. if you look at the northern parts of virginia that handed virginia over to president obama i think it makes it more difficult. >> it means very low turnout. i'd rather be a candidate with ba abase that would show up no matter what. >> my shameless plug goes to al sharpton and msnbc and

particularly reverend sharpton's leadership of the social justice for trayvon martin rallies that occurred over the weekend. >> i have a piece in huffington post about immigration. republicans don't need to choose between latinos or white voters. >> daniel silva, summer thriller. >> he already got you? >> i just finished it. >> mine is from my mother! happy birthday, mom! you do share this birthday with bob dole and happy birthday to bob dole and both of you sharing the birthday perhaps with a royal heir. that is if for "the daily rundown." see you tomorrow. coming up next is chris jansing. bye-bye. [ herbie ] there's no doubt about it brent, a real gate keeper. here's kevin, the new boyfriend. lamb to the slaughter. that's right brent. mom's baked cookies but he'll be lucky to make it inside. and here's the play. oh dad did not see this coming. [ crowd cheering ] now if kevin can just seize the opportunity. it's looking good, herbie. he's seen it. it's all over. nothing but daylight.

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with delishly soft and meaty centers it's dental that tastes so good. new beneful healthy smile food and snacks we don't argue much. we really don't. meg usually just gets her way, and i go along with it. i think it worked for matt because i did it for him. when i'm the one cooking, i'm the one calculating the points. i can microwave things. you get to eat real food. we still get to go out. we're just so much smarter about it. we can keep each other in check. going ok i see you. we've lost about 110 lbs together. it helped our love life. happy wife, happy life. [ female announcer ] weight watchers online. the power of weight watchers completely online. join for $1. hurry, offer ends july 27th. good morning. i'm chris jansing live in london. behind me, st. mary's hospital. the eyes are on that wing. all of the years i've been doing television i don't know when i've seen a setup like this. camera on top of camera on top

of camera and a lot of remote-controlled cameras. what are they waiting for? prince william to come out and say hello because the baby has been born. what we do know is that about eight hours ago, 1:00 a.m., east coast time, we got word from the palace that william and kate were on their way here that she was in, as they put it, the early stages of labor. so right now, that baby could be born any moment now. prince william expected to be at her side in the delivery room. when the baby is born, 62 cannon blasts will be fired and 41 gun salute will go off from buckingham palace. earlier today charles was in new york and he accepted a toy from someone in the crowd. a token for the royal baby. >> this is for the baby! >> i'll see what i can do. >>