today is that bradley cooper said he would like to run for office one day. >> city council maybe. >> we'll see what happens. i know he loves philadelphia. he loves politics. it would be fascinating. it's way too early. what time is it, mark? >> it's "morning joe." stay tuned for a very special holiday edition of luke russert sitting in for chuck in the big chair. >> fantastic. it's getting hot under the dome. harry reid delays an unemployment benefits vote because of cold weather travel trouble. ahead of this morning's vote we'll talk to the republican who is leading a largely lonely charge on this side, dean heller. as for the cold, the polar vortex is winding down, but not without a frigid fight. we'll go live to one of the chilliest parts of the northeast as a large part of the country hunkers down. plus, vice president biden lets iraq's leader know the u.s. supports their battle against al

qaeda, but what exactly can the u.s. do now without troops in iraq? good morning from washington. it's tuesday, january 7th, 2014. this is "the daily rundown." i'm luke russert in for the great chuck todd. we want to start this busy morning with the extreme cold that's iced over much of the country. i'm sure a lot of you folks are feeling it this morning. two dozen cities report record-low temperatures. 15 deaths are blamed on the cold snap so far. 32 states are either under windchill warnings or advisories. in duluth, minnesota, the windchill is a nice 48 below zero. the icy conditions stopped three amtrak trains carrying more than 500 passengers in chicago overnight. passengers had to take shuttle buses to the closest station. airports aren't faring any better. one out of ten flights have been canceled. even los angeles international airport canceled flights due to,

quote, arctic conditions late last night. the south is struggling, too. schools are closed today in atlanta. and even the zoo had to shut down to protect the animals. the cold cut power in dallas last night. people relied on flashlights and car headlights. but this, my friends, is a sign of serious weather. blizzard warnings shut down portions of the new york state throu throughway outside buffalo. this is a rare sight, even for a snowy part of the country. i can attest. further north and east of that mess is mexico, new york. that does exist. that's where we find nbc's katy tur. i can only imagine, because i can barely see your face. what's it like out there? >> reporter: i don't like how much joy you take in laughing about mexico and how such a place exists. yes, it does exist. >> you're not in kansas, my friend. >> it's the chilly one up north here by lake ontario.

it's negative 1 degree here. i was going to tell you how funny it was when i looked at my iphone and it said zero degrees, mexico. apparently my iphone was wrong because the sign behind me says negative 1 degrees. the windchill is making it, i don't know, 25 degrees. you'll see the pick up during this live shot. hopefully for you, not hopefully for me. they're picking up to 35 miles an hour, that's what's slapping you in the face and making it quite cold out here. the wind coming off lake ontario, making it feel quite freezing. the wind is blowing the snow so furiously around. buffalo, highway 80 in buffalo is closed. the first blizzard they've had there since 1993. highway 89 up here by me is also closed. although, new york state is calling that a soft closure, whatever that means. i think it just says you're not supposed to drive on it. if you do, you could get a ticket if a cop catches you.

they're used to cold and snowy conditions out here. this is nothing new for them. it's upstate new york. this is quite extreme, even for them. when the day is all done after this system finally passes over some time tomorrow, it could be a few feet of snow out here, luke. feet of snow. i'm hoping to see you just a little bit later today. i know you're going to get in the car after the show, drive up and bring me a hot chocolate. right? >> they said all the roads were closed in buffalo. i don't want to take any chances, katy. you do a good job out there and stay warm, my friend. >> reporter: see you later. thanks. >> more on the polar vortex later in the show. militant violence plaguing iraq. called the prime minister to express his support for his count counterinsurgency efforts. planning a siege to take the city back from al qaeda, including fallujah and ramadi.

while they won't send troops, jay carney says the administration is ready to help. >> we're working closely with the iraqis to develop a holistic strategy to isolate the al qaeda-affiliated groups, looking to provide additional shipment of missiles as early as this spring. >> in a strange twist, the u.s. and iran find themselves on the same side of this fight against a resurgent al qaeda. for the u.s. it's a matter of trying to secure that the gains are not wiped out. iran wants to keep prime minister nouri al maliki in power. support to baghdad, a scenario that could carry serious ramifications. >> you have on their border iran, offering to help the iraqi military. here you have the u.s. offering to help the military and and

provide them arms which, could it be, the iranian military might be using some time in the future? that's the true irony of this swaying as it exists right now. >> joining me now, new jersey democratic senator bob menendez, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. senator, thank you for joining us this morning. >> good morning, luke. >> i want to ask you about the administration's plan to send some hellfire missiles and other products of war over to iraq and help out prime minister al maliki. this was said in the washington post, an article that ran this morning, quote, extra weapons and drones are not going to solve this problem. in fact, they will make it worse because it will encourage maliki to believe there is a military solution to this problem and that is what perpetuates civil

wars. >> senate relations committee held a coffee with him and pressed he needed a comprehensive strategy to deal with this and he needed to be more inclusive to the sunni minority in order to achieve the ultimate goal of a secure, stable and prosperous iraq. and so i think those messages were heard by him several times over, both by the administration and members of congress. and i think that it is movement in that direction that leads us to believe that we can help them militarily without having the consequences of turning that military might against his own people. >> but with the situation deteriorating daily and a lot of sunnis feeling they are fighting not only against more extremist elements within al qaeda -- i'm talking about these local tribes in places like ramadi and fallujah but also against government forces, how confident are you that president al maliki

wants to see a peaceful solution to this ahead of an election in april in which he's trying to solidify his shiite majority within the country? >> i think it's certainly a work in progress, but i think he is moving more in that direction. after the meetings here in washington, there were certain actions that he took. i'm looking forward to seeing a continuation of those. i just received a letter from prime minister al maliki through the iraqi embassy to address the concerns because the committee on foreign relations has jurisdiction over arms sales in terms of approving them. those have been held up by us until we got a more comprehensive assessment of how he is moving forward and how he is going to engage the sunni minority. so, we're reviewing that letter. that may very well be the process by which we'll consider some of these sales. but these are critical elements of the long-term security and prosperity of iraq.

>> senator, we, as a country, very spent billions if, not trillions, within the country of iraq. a lot of money has gone to bolster up the economy, some $20 billion to beef up their forces. they're not taking the lead. a lot of it has to do with local tribesmen. what does it say about our time there, this military that we supposedly beefed up is not even taking the lead on this? >> luke, as you may know, i did vote for the engagement of the war in iraq when i was on the house of representatives. the reality is that we've shed a lot of blood and national treasure. what we have to do is give them the ability, not by any participation, obviously, with boots on the ground but a combination of intelligence and the appropriate weaponry to have their troops move. mobility is a big issue for them, to move their troops

forward in this regard, intelligence so they can plan accordingly their military alcohol actions and i would expect that that iraqi military would ultimately have to take the fight to al qaeda if it wants to preserve a sovereign iraq. >> one of the underlying actors in this conflict would be iran. there's an issue pertaining to iran, which we sort of got into, with iran trying to help prime minister al maliki against the insurgency. there is a letter against iranian sanctions you would like to put forward within the united states senate that said this. quote, from nine formal officials, including former ambassador ryan crocker, the bill will threaten the prospects for success in the current negotiations and thus prevent us and our friend with his a stark choice. military action or living with a nuclear iran. do you have any response to that, in light of what's happened today and the increasingly closer relationship

there seems to be between iran and the united states? >> we all have aspirations that negotiations can work, but those distinguished individuals also largely opposed all of the sanctions we led against iraq for quite some time. they had a different view. i think no one disputes that it is the sanction that is i and others have authored that ultimately have led iraq to the negotiating table. and so what we have done is build upon that and given the president the time, a year, to conclude an agreement with the iranians and at the same time be ready for the possibility that they may not succeed in a negotiation. if we wait until we determine whether or not a negotiation can succeed and if it fails and then try to move, the timeframe that the iranians have to produce enough material for the first nuclear weapon is six to eight

weeks. it would be inconsequential. that's why being prepared as an insurance policy, giving the administration the flexibility they desire is, i think, the ultimate way. that's why we have a strong bipartisan support of this legislation. >> senator menendez, thank you for joining us. appreciate it. >> coming up on your daily tuesday rundown, it could be an op opening. vote to extend unemployment insurance. and taking the health care law to court. republican senator ron johnson of wisconsin joins me next. why he is suing the obama administration over what he calls special treatment for members of congress and their staff. first, a look ahead in today's politics planner. you're watching "the dailyiondown" only on msnbc. vice president biden going to albany in this weather, air force 2 must know how to land well. and ah,

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wisconsin senator ron johnson is taking the obama administration to court over what he says is special treatment under the health care law for members of congress and their staffs. johnson filed a lawsuit monday in federal court in green bay, wisconsin, against the office of personnel management. an attempt to block the federal government from making an employer contribution to congressional health plans under the d.c. exchange. >> democrat supporters of this law basically made a kcovenant with the american people. they put on a pretty good show. they wanted to show the american people they were eager, more than willing to benefit from the health care law but also be subject to all the rules and regulars until they really

started thinking about what the true effect on themselves would be. of course, that's when they went running to president obama for special treatment. and they got it. >> but johnson's crusade is not going over so well with some of his colleagues, including members of his own party. fellow wisconsin congressman calls it, quote, a political stunt. saying in a statement the employer contribution he's attacking is nothing more than a standard benefit that most private and federal employees receive. this politically motivate d lawsuit only takes public attention away from how bad all of obamacare really is. he joins me now. good morning. >> good morning, luke. >> some of the conversations i've had with your colleagues, the one who spoke publicly that many of them feel this is nothing more than a political stunt and that you could increase the already problematic brain drain there is on capitol

hill by making underpaid staffers even less paid and actually contribute a lot more to their health care. >> it's not a stunt. every member of congress has more than enough budget to be able to pay good people, do the work that needs to be done around here. i respect jim but i totally disagree with where he's coming from on this issue. let's face it. we are getting thousands of e-mails of the damage that's being done to real americans. and until democrat senators, in particular, start feeling the full experience of obamacare, they actually start being forced to face the harsh realities of the damage of this law, they're going to continue to turn a deaf ear to those pleas of the american people who are looking for relief. that's part of -- that's one of the reasons i think it's crucial that we end special treatment for members of the congress. the special treatment is that they're going to get a tax advantage contribution into the exchanges that no other american is going to get. millions of americans are losing

their health care because of obamacare. members of congress are also losing their coverage because of obamacare. they're the only ones that get the special treatment of the pretax contribution into the exchange coverage. >> but, senator johnson, this is something that is often seen in the private sector. i want to put up a graphic from the kaiser family foundation. the amount of premium support that private employers usually give their employees for health care is usually about 8 % on average. the federal government only pays 72%. you were a business owner. did you pay your employees a premium and what percentage was that? >> luke, absolutely. it is not about whether or not employers should supply coverage for their employees. this is about equality under the law and following the law. employer coverage gets a tax advantage, individual coverage does not. that's the way the law is written. if you want to change -- if you don't like the law, you need to change it. you can't continue to change

this law through presidential eat it. this is about that constitutional issue. this is not frivolous by any stretch of the imagination. it's a serious lawsuit, raises serious constitutional questions and deserves a full and robust public debate. >> it centers on an issue where many in your party feel the other way. >> luke, who? >> let me finish, sir. let me finish, sir. october article in politico, speaker boehner's private fight for health care subsidies. during a five-month period stretching from february to july, boehner and his aides sought along with reid's office, big headache for both of them. drafted a legislative fix as well as continued to push for an administrative one from the office of personnel management. there you have the republican speaker of the house essentially asking for what happened. is he wrong? >> all i can say is every republican except two voted during the whole government funding debate at the end of

this fiscal year, voted for exactly the same result as would occur if i'm successful in my lawsuit. they basically voted for a rejection of the opm ruling. publicly, everybody but two republicans in congress support my position in terms of the lawsuit. >> i want to go to the issue of pay. that's something that i think a lot of americans don't realize on capitol hill. this, from "the washington times," high turnover, low-median income. average house assistant makes $30,000. senate legislative correspondent, $35,000. house parking attendant, $49,000. under your plan, they're all paying significantly more for health care. why should they, making $35,000 a year or $30,000 a year, answering phones? is that sort of not what they're signing up for, to serve their country? they're getting a little bit of a benefit on health care? >> i'm looking for equal treatment under the law. it's simply unfair that any

other american that have employer responsive care and loses it because of obamacare, when they go to the exchange, if they qualify based on income, they'll get a subsidy. if they don't qualify based on income, they won't get employer contribution, tax-free employer contribution. only members of congress and their staffs get that special treatment. that's just unfair. americans have an expectation, a justifiable expectation that lawmakers have to live to the laws. we should not be running this country by president edit and fiat. >> thank you for joining us this morning. >> have a great morning. >> after losing the 2012 presidential election, after mitt romney's 47% remark and after a majority of voters said romney's policies favor the

rich, republicans recognized they needed to close the empathy gap. what could help them control the senate in 2014 and the first of what will be a series of votes to address income inequality. the senate will vote in an hour on whether to move forward on a bill to extend jobless benefits. senate democrats must have five republicans on board. right now, four have signed on. co-sponsored dean heller of nevada will join us in ten minutes along with maine's susan collins, and new hampshire's kelly ayotte. others are open to extension but are looking to offset the benefits with spending cuts. the white house says the president wants the bill attachd with no strings attached. he will speak later this morning at the white house. don't be surprised if he uses that as an opportunity to chastise the gop on this vote. on the 50th anniversary of

president johnson's war on poverty, republicans are trying to respond to obama's challenge. tomorrow, florida senator marco rubio and eric cantor will both give speeches on poverty. rand paul has put his emphasis on the poor. sharing his thoughts on thursday. rubio previewed his speech. >> isn't it time to declare big government's war on poverty a failure? what our nation needs say real agenda that helps people acquire the skills they need, to lift themselves out of poverty and to pursue the american dream. >> nbc news senior political editor mark myrrh is here with this morning's "first read." this is a fascinating issue, mark. it's obviously something that a lot of important people within

the republican ranks are working on, marco rubio, eric cantor. democrats say bring it on. we love to have these fights because we think we'll always come out on top. a lot of republicans are channeling reagan here. how much strategy is just sort of, okay, play some defense, put up a wall and try to protect ourselves from these massive attacks when it comes to this issue in the next ten months. >> not only are some of these republicans trying to channel ronald reagan, but jack kemp, who made poverty and talking about it from the conservative side of things a big staple of his public policy. right now, republicans have a big perception problem. our wall street journal showed they have a 28-point disadvantage when it comes to which party is more compassionate, which party cares for others more? they're trying to address this. rnc, when it came out with this post election autopsy said we need to do a much better job of

this. when you look at all the votes, all the actions in 2013, you look at this current battle overextending unemployment benefits right now. it doesn't seem that the action is really meeting the rhetoric. >> moving forward -- i mean, especially on this issue, excuse me, do you think this is something that can stick, though, in the lexicon, or is it one of these things that the narrative has been written so much in the last few years, how hard can the gop fight back on this? >> they can and they can actually put out ideas and talk about it more. one of the things to look at is after we see all these speeches that republicans give on poverty, is this a one-time thing or something they beat the drum on for weeks and months ahead? that will be a big indication of whether the republican party is really trying to change the perception of a lot of its policies, looking back from the perception of the 2012 presidential election. of course, the presidential election and who your nominee is can change a party, too. if they have their next nominee come 2016, if that someone is not necessarily a mitt romney,

but somebody fighting for the poor and the middle class, that can go a long way for the gop. >> it almost seems this message is easier heard from a governor who could actually have real results. >> potentially. every day, democrats are talking about this and republicans aren't talking about health care is a good day for democrats. >> so true. mark murray, thank you for joining us. ahead on this tuesday edition of "the daily rundown," what's behind the subzero temperatures gripping the country? bill karins joins me next to explain. this is a good one, the polar vortex. first today's trivia question, name the two men who appeared four times on a winning presidential ticket. the first person to tweet the correct answer will get an on-air shout out. the answers and more on "the daily rundown." [ female announcer ] who are we? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work.

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vortex, which has touched off the arctic temperatures and plunged the rest of the country into the deep freeze. the ice and cold are delaying more than 3,000 flights nationwide this hour. 2,300 flights are canceled. these delays and cancellations come on the heels of snow cancellations from last week. dozens of states are coping with record-setting cold temperatures. schools are closed across the midwest. and it's frigid in the south, too. in fact, orange growers in florida -- look at that -- are struggling with 60 consecutive hours of freezing temperatures. let's check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, what's the latest on this polar vortex? how much more can we expect? is there any relief for air travelers in sight? >> have you ever heard that term before this outbreak, the polar vortex? >> i've heard the vortex, but never the polar vortex. >> vortex kind of means a storm in the atmosphere. polar means that's where it started, up in the poles.

typically, that's where it is in the wintertime, most intense. in the summer it wanes a little bit, gets a little weaker. every now and then a piece of that can break off and come down. it's happened before. it's nothing really new. no one has associated that term before. we usually say arctic outbreak or arctic cold front, but that's the gist of it. northern hemisphere, united states on the bottom and canada, north pole there and siberia back behind it to the north. typically, the coldest air is located up there. the white shows you where it is today. big chunk over the great lakes in the northeast. that's the piece of the polar vortex that broke off. in the middle atmosphere, not down at the surface. it's the arctic air associated with it that we are dealing with here. the good news for everyone, that bright white color, the cold air, it retreats to the north, where it should be, in the next coming five to six, seven days. this outbreak will not be with us for long.

chicago, kansas city, cleveland, pittsburgh, new york, philadelphia, atlanta and other areas, too, like raleigh, to set record lows. we were close to record lows in new orleans. this arctic outbreak, massive in size, but the duration you're going to like. we'll warm it up pretty quickly from here. windchill right now, low of the i've been able to find is in wisconsin, rhinelander, minus 52. you get frostbite there in 15, 10 minutes at max. minus 15 in new york city is the lowest we've been and minus 9 in atlanta not exactly fun. from the 9th to the 13th, including this weekend, everybody warms up. you should have rain in d.c., probably in the 50s this weekend for a period of it. chicago will go up into the 40s. that's the good news. >> bill karins, thank you so much. buffalo, minus 31. stay warm, my friends. >> blizzard conditions, too. coming up next on "the daily rundown" an hour way from the

senate's vote to extend unemployment benefits. we'll hear from senator dean heller of nevada. will any of his colleagues be joining him? you're watching "the daily rundown." you don't want to miss that, especially my congressional reporter friends. ck. rock beats scissors! [ chuckles ] wife beats rock. and with two checks a year, everyone wins. [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 866-906-8500 now. [ dennis ] zach really loves his new camera. problem is...this isn't zach. it's a friend of a friend who was at zach's party and stole his camera. but zach's got it covered... with allstate renters insurance. [ female announcer ] protect your valuables for as low as $4 a month when you add renters insurance to your allstate auto policy. call 866-906-8500 now. what are you doing? we're switching car insurance. why? because these guys are the cheapest. why? good question. because a cut-rate price could mean cut-rate protection. you should listen to this guy.

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your case. >> right off the bat, i have to ask you. have you gotten that one other senator to join you, kirk of illinois, anything you can share with us? >> i wish i had good news. frankly, i think -- i'm pretty optimistic about this. as we go into 2014, i think this is a real opportunity for republicans and democrats to come together, send a good message. and i'm hoping in an hour, as you justify mentioned, they'll have an opportunity to send that message and let them know we can work together to get something done. keep in mind senator reid from rhode island are working hard on this. i think we can get there to 60 votes. we'll know in the next hour. >> no guarantee you have 60. >> senator reid and i talked about this a little bit of even if we have 60 votes, it sends a pretty positive message down the road maybe we'll have an opportunity to pick up that last vote or two and get something done. obviously, i'm pretty optimistic

about this. i think at the end of the day, republicans and democrats in a bipartisan manner will help to solve this problem. >> obviously, if you get to 60 votes it will get out of the united states senate. this faces a real uphill battle in the house of representatives for two reasons. conservative members in the house see this as a debt issue, you're adding $6.5 billion to the debt. outside groups, heritage action, coming out against this vote. why are your colleagues in the house so reviled about this legislation? >> if you take a look at the bigger picture -- i retain the same question in my own mind. we passed a budget before the recess and added just two-thirds of a trillion dollars to the deficit. and now we're going to put that line in the sand saying we're not going to allow -- and stop unemployment insurance. it just doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. both of my colleagues, both in the house and the senate, supported this budget. it's just fascinating to me that

for some reason unemployment insurance is where we won't cross that line. i'm hoping that common sense and reasonable people will come together, reasonable minds. we'll take a better look at this. this thing ought to be paid for. but i'm going to support this legislation anyway because truly i think it's the right thing to do. what i would encourage is for my colleagues to get out of the beltway, go home and talk to these people who need this unemployment insurance. these are people who are actively looking for a job, hard-working americans that are looking for a job. let's make sure they can stay in their home and put food on their table for their children. >> what are the central tenets of this legislation is that it, in fact, has a stimulus effect. it goes to buy milk, gasoline, groceries. >> sure, sure. >> why has that point been lost on so many of your colleagues? who in the past have stimulated small-time tax cuts for this very type of thing? >> right.

unemployment insurance has been increased 17 times. emergency unemployment insurance has been increased since 2008 17 times. 14 of those times there hasn't been a pay for on that. republicans had control under the bush administration, we increased the emergency unemployment without a pay for, for the very reason you're talking about, luke. that is, there does have some added stimulus to the economy. milk, eggs, perhaps even paying rent, whatever the case may be, for these hard-working americans that need this help. >> i want to ask you about perception. there's a lot you see this week with the gop, talking about poverty, marco rubio, paul ryan, eric cantor. how poorly will the perception be if this does go down and faces such an uphill battle in the house? especially ahead of the p president's state of the union, which will be all about equality?

>> it can be discussed. that's why you're seeing some of these leaders in the republican party talking about it at this point. bottom line is that we need to create jobs. the problem we have, and perception problem we have in washington, d.c., not just with the republicans but this administration and a lot of people here object on both sides of the aisle is that we're not doing enough to stimulate job growth, whether that's tax reform or taking a look at the way we move this economy forward. we need to do something about it. we're talking about unemployment insurance. boy, right now, we would consider in the next hour voting on some job creation program that would move the economy forward and create growth. so, this income inequality, i think it's an issue that's going to be around for this election cycle. we're going to talk about this a lot. republicans need to get on board and start discussing it also. i think that's why leadership has been bringing the subject up. >> senator dean heller of nevada, let us know if you find that fifth vote. >> thanks for having me. >> take care. it's the economy from

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we just heard senator dean heller say he's optimistic about the prospects of a jobless

benefit extension, something he says can send a bipartisan message and help struggling americans. in less than an hour, we'll find out if the votes are, in fact, there. let's bring in our tuesday gaggle daniela from the center of american progress, politico's senior washington correspondent. welcome to the show, ladies, thank you so much for being here. i want to get to you to put this into context. even if there are 60 votes in the united states senate for unemployment benefits, it faces a very, very difficult path in the house of representatives, because they don't like anything that's not paid for. >> absolutely. i think it's a big if whether or not this gets across the finish line today, but certainly as far as going to the house, there's virtually no possibility that you're going to see senate republicans want to take this up, have any appetite to take this up. >> daniela, how much is this a move by democrats to try and right the playing field right

now in terms of what they want on their side, this idea of income inequality, which is going to be the message they hope to carry through november. any given day, this is a good day for them. >> i think that's right, but at the end of the day, it's about millions of people struggling. we've been talking about the polar vortex all morning, now you have people struggling to pay their heat bills or mortgage because their employment benefits got cut off right away. yes, it is a good messaging and tactic, but at the end of the day, it's about real people struggling right now. >> is there a perception problem for the gop and this type of battle? obviously, senator heller earlier saying this is something that's an effect that didn't help people pay heating bills and groceries. is this a problem if this vote goes down in flames? >> i agree with daniela, it is a tactic. the problem is, it doesn't address the actual issues. we're talking about 1.3 million people looking for these

benefits who lost them at the end of the year, but we have 4 million people long-term unemployed and we need to look at the durable effects of that and how we can fix it. specifically extending benefits is not going to address that long-term problem. >> well, i think you can do both though, right? you need to fix the immediate problem and get these people whole again, actively looking for work and address the systemic problems happening. i don't think it's an either/or situation. >> i don't think either, but it continues to do what we've been doing for the last couple of years, since 2008, remember this was supposed to be an emergency measure and we're never going to actually have reform to both the unemployment system and what are systemic problems to the employment are. >> this comes on the heels by a push by president obama to extend minimum wage. how do you think politically this type of message is going forward? >> if you're a democrat, you're hoping to ride this wave for the

next several months. if you're not talking about obamacare, then you are winning. certainly, this is going to be an issue for republicans. this is something where they have to find a message to say when you're talking to voters for 2014, they do understand the middle and lower income, you know, americans problems and if they don't seem they are sympathetic to it, i think you open yourself up for certainly attack ads, but also it's hard to turn voters out in terms of states where they are going to try to win in the senate. >> matty, can your position be explained in an ad, we're not going to the systemic problems here, it's just sort of easing it over? p when you look at it, this is an issue that's ripe for political attack ad. >> it certainly can be. look at what obamacare is doing to middle income workers, people maybe working at a firm with 50 employees that got fired because their employer couldn't afford to come under the mandate, maybe a person with 30 hours of work and now working at 29 hours because their employer couldn't keep them as a full-time worker under obamacare.

this is issues that effect workers and folks, as well, looking for jobs, don't care what the minimum wage is when they don't have one. they all come back to what washington is doing to businesses, families, and why people are in this situation where they can't provide to either of those. >> will you respond to that? >> that was a lot. look, you know, i know that is going to be the attack from the right. we've been seeing it happening for the past couple of months, especially when it comes to obamacare. i do think in the next couple of months you will see more positive stories coming out and the tide turn in terms of obamacare and the coverage people are getting and the people being effected and stories that the whole truth isn't being told. people may be losing their coverage but don't know there are other plans out there and i think there's better reporting that can be done on the affordable care act, so i think that will definitely change. when it comes to income inequality, democrats are saying bring it on. if the republicans think they have a strong message, i'd love to hear it.

>> anna, is it a gamble? we have been covering it and eric cantor has been covering it for awhile, this sort of rebrand by the gop by we care about you, we feel your pain. how much legs does this have? >> certainly, seeing rand paul, marco rubio, this empathetic republican message they are trying to get out there is what they are trying to do. i think they open themselves up. i don't know income inequality, i think minimum wage has way more legs in terms of being an issue for 2014. >> shameless plug, start us off. >> my colleague has a great article in "forbes" this week talking about what the republican governors are doing to set the stage for the national elections in 2014. >> we have great coverage on today's website about liz cheney, what happened, why she got out. >> soap opera, great read. >> so great. cap has a lot of work happening around the anniversary of the war on poverty and sunday we look at women and the economy. >> and i have to say, thank you,

florida state, acc, the s.e.c. dominance is over. great win. congratulations to christine, denny, todd, and chuck. that's it my friend. chuck will be back tomorrow, god willing he doesn't get frozen on the flight. he'll be joined by agricultural secretary tom vilsack and have a special look at the 50th anniversary of president johnson's war on poverty. coming up next on msnbc, "jansing and co." don't miss that. take care. he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular blood tests or dietary restrictions. hey thanks for calling my doctor. sure. pradaxa is not for people with artificial heart valves.

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working 12-hour shifts treating roads with beet joyce juice, because it works better than salt in these freezing temperatures. in atlanta, coldest temperatures in 18 years, single digits, closing schools and businesses. central park broke a 118-year-old record this morning. the low there, 5 degrees. and in new york and boston, jetblue planes are scheduled to begin taking off again this hour after grounding flights for 17 hours because of the deep freeze. the cold triggered an avalanche of flights. >> waiting in line, which is about a mile long to rebook, can't get any information from anybody. the airlines basically won't even answer the phone anymore. >> in chicago, the brutal cold forced the cancellation of commuter trains this morning, as well. and that's where nbc's ron allen joins me live. good morning, how's it looking there? >> reporter: a little bit less extremely frigid than yesterday. it's