broadcaster, and she guided you seamlessly into the "today" show. and i learned, thanks to your e-mail to me a few minutes ago, that, actually, the lieutenant governor of new jersey will be denying all allegations and it was a misunderstanding, and blah, blah, blah. stick around. here's chuck. he's great. you'll like this show. seriously. he has radio add-on this afternoon. storm surge. amid multiple bridge-blocking probes, governor christie's team has to beat back a new allegation from hoboken's mayor charging that christie's number two played politics with the sandy recovery money. after five years in the white house, is president obama ready to lower expectations for the rest of his term? we'll look at the highs and lows so far and the surprising tone about the time he has left. plus, meet a politician who's taking his independent streak very seriously.

south dakota's harry pressler wants his old job back in the senate, and to get there, he wants to try something only a handful have been able to do in the last 50 years. good morning from washington, and happy martin luther king day. monday, january 20th, 2014. this is the "daily rundown. "at noon today, the president begins his sixth year in office. let's get to my "first reads." after two weeks of relative quiet, it's now political war. for ten days with momentum building in the george washington bridge scandal, new jersey governor chris christie chose not to speak out against state democrats, or have anybody else speak out for him, that are leading the investigations. he either director or through his staff. amid new allegations on sandy funding, christie's office has launched a partisan war. over the weekend, the democratic mayor of hoboken, dawn zimmer, alleged christie withheld sandy aid that would have helped her city recover from the storm.

>> it's not fair for the governor to hold sandy funds hostage for the city of hoboken, because he wants me to give back to one private developer. >> zimmer released a statement sunday night saying that after making those allegations that she had met with u.s. attorney in the u.s. attorney's office for several hours at their request, and she promised to provide any requested information and to testify under oath about the facts of what happened. now, zimmer told msnbc steve kornacki saturday, that the lieutenant governor, guadagno, that the money would be withheld unless she supported -- >> the fact is the lieutenant governor came to hoboken, pulled me aside in the parking lot, and said, i know it's not, i know this thing should not be connected, but they are, and if

you tell anyone, i'll deny it. >> well, on sunday, governor christie's office released a statement calling the allegations categorically false, and writing this. it's very clear partisan politics are at play here as democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television. the governor's office claims zimmer requested over $100 million of hazard mitigation funding. federal aid to protect the town from future storms, not sandy relief. and they say hoboken got $700 million. on sunday, mayor zimmer responded to governor christie's office. >> to me, it's just -- it's a deflection. you know, again, they're not answering the core question, and the core question is, go the lieutenant governor say what she said, and they're not answering that in their statement. >> the private developer weighed

in over the weekend, e-mailing this. we have no knowledge of any information pertaining to this allegation. if it turns out to be true, it would be deplorable. on "meet the press" sunday, the democratic assemblyman, leading the bridge investigation, john wisniewski, suggested his committee would look into the new allegations. >> i think the committee needs to look at the facts, hear her story, look at the e-mails and consider where we go next. >> well, that decision elicited a scathing release from christie's office, quoting informal surrogate rudy giuliani who said sunday wisniewski has an ethical obligation to step down. >> the person conducting the investigation that he believes the governor is not telling the truth. the only republican beating hillary clinton in any poll at any time. >> christie's office also blasted msnbc, where zimmer first made the allegations, calling it, quote, a partisan network openly hostile to

governor christie and also gleeful in their efforts attacking him. msnbc has responded with a statement saying, our journalism speaks for itself. and as christie was ratcheting up his effort to do damage control and make this a more partisan fight, he was making his first big swing out of state as a surrogate. fund-raising for florida governor rick scott in his new role as chair of the republican governors association. but instead of high-profile public appearances, there were belief glimpses of christie coming and going. there were no pictures with rick scott, whose team wasn't eager. sources within the meet-and-greets also reported a very different, less-confident chris christie, that's what some of the folks told me. on sunday, he hosted a fund-raiser with ken langon who saturday told "the new york times" he was concerned with christie's team. i conveyed the importance of the decision he makes about the people around him and their

qualification and their competence, including common sense. he said of the bridge scandal, it upset the hell out of me. the crowd asked christie when the scandal might die down, and he said, i don't know, but as far as i'm concerned, i did what i can do with great apologies and embarrassment. i did the one then i had to do. i fired them. what else can i do? another run strategist at the event, anna navarro, told "wall street journal," the answer to any 2016 questions is, come see me next year. politically, if christie is no longer comfortable in his own skin, as the folks who talked to me about that meeting indicated that that was the case, it's hard to imagine how he remains a viable 2016 candidate. of course, that may not matter. for now, he seems to be fighting for his own political life in the state of new jersey. joining me now is national investigative reporter michael isikoff and nat katz.

the bridge thing was one thing, mike, and the state investigation. the important development is not nessy the allegation itself from dawn zimmer, although that's a pretty big allegation, it's now a federal investigation. >> exactly. that was the game changer in this, what happened last night. the fact that we now know the u.s. attorney, paul fishman, has launched an investigation. and this really -- >> before, it was an inquiry, sort of opening the door, it was not necessarily -- there wasn't an indication they would be aggressive. >> but it's starting to change, we're conducting a review to see if federal laws are implicated. they're talking to witnesses. it's hard to see how -- they talked to mayor zimmer, get her documents, get her journal, get her e-mails and don't go to the next step and talk to lieutenant governor, talk to the commissioner, who she says also backed up this -- made this claim and put the pressure on her. so basically, what we've got now

is a federal criminal investigation into the christie administration's administration of sandy funds. it's opened the door to a pretty wide-ranging inquiry. clearly, the bridge inquiry is also under way. >> right. >> another thing, you have the legislature going, with their subpoenas, 20 subpoenas on friday. david wildstein took the fifth. it's inevitable other key players, including bridget kelly, and bill stepien, will take the fifth, because of the criminal investigation. >> right. and, of course, it gets to deals and all that -- let me bring in matt katz. what seemed to also change over the weekend, not only has the investigation got noon the federal territory and the feds are now involved in the investigation, it was the change in demeanor from christie's office. they had essentially were in the, thank you, sir, may i have another mode, over the sort of

first ten days, and now they've decided to become -- to essentially say, okay, this is a partisan war, and we want to make every allegation be seen by some as through the lens of partisan politics? >> yes. this was a totally different change. it switched almost immediately after the new allegations came forward. we got a 600-word e-mail just blasting john wisniewski, the lead interrogator, the assemblyman leading this inqu y inquiry, and before, they had been really quiet about this stuff. immediately after bridgegate happened, christie's closest people today me their best hope is the democrats would overreach, there would be some sort of perception that they were piling on. and they reached that point this weekend where he thought they can make the case that democrats and the so-called liberal media were going after them. and that's why you saw the change in tone over the weekend. >> i think it's interesting. now, the question is, dawn zimmer was somebody -- i want to read a few tweets, mike.

she was not somebody antagonistic, she had her own election, a tweet on august 20th, done a great job for new jersey and hoboken, a nonpartisan election, and i'm glad he's been our governor, but not endorsing because of the nonpartisan mayoral race. what's interesting is what she told matt katz's nyc, was she being punished for not endorsing, pretty kind words. >> -- 20/20 hindsight, in the context we're in now, you can look back and say, okay, was it retribution. so i think all mayors are reflecting right now and thinking about it. you know, i -- i really hope that that's not the case. >> mike, that's the -- that's the real issue now that i think christie is dealing with, there's a whole bunch of mayors who have decided to relook at their journals, and they're going to call into question -- >> right. the christie people are trying

to make the point that there are enconsistent statements there, that she had tweeted positive things about the governor -- >> which actually, i don't understand. if she tweeted positive things, doesn't that make her more credible rather than -- it's an ott attack. >> there was an interesting tweet from buono, saying i'm glad she came forward, but why wait until there was blood in the water? she would have liked to have heard about this running against christie last year. and the explanation for that, from the zimmer camp, going to be, look, we were very cautious, we wanted this money. we didn't want to offend the governor. but given that the bridgegate matter has put his administration under the microsoft and opened up how it does business, opened the question of how it does business, she felt an obligation to come forward. >> the latest charge from the mayor of hoboken, the one person we haven't heard from yet is the lieutenant governor. do we expect to hear from her

today? >> yeah, she has an event -- she's not taking questions, but we're expecting her to make some sort of comment. she rarely speaks to the media. she hasn't had a press conference since memorial day. there's never been a full-blown newspaper profile about her. i've tried many times. so her role in this is interesting, and it will be interesting how much the christie administration allows her to be out. i called on her cell phone over the weekend, and she did not call back. she's been quiet. if she says something, it will be coming at the behest of the governor and the communications people. she doesn't have the rein to go off on her own. >> right. do you get the sense that the allegations christie is launching, there's a bunch of democrats that smell blood in the water. in dealing with the various democratic mayors, some of them talking privately, haven't decided to come forward, others talking publicly, what's your assessment of that allegation on christie's end of things? >> yeah, he's in a weakened

state. so they are more likely to come forward. some of them have defended him, and some of them have said, we endorsed him, and we would do it again. and we were not threatened. more interesting from a new jersey standpoint, is that republican legislators who before were loathe to say anything, even off the record, about the governor negative, are now being quoted without their names, criticizing him a little bit, talking about how he -- his role in some of their affairs politically. so it will be interesting to see if he has the sway in the legislature to get things he needs to get done, like an income tax cut, or education reform, things he needs to get done in order to set himself up for 2016, it might be harder if he doesn't have even republican legislators on board like he used to. >> and he's looking for support. mike, you have to hear what haley barbour said on another network. they have found a few more people to speak on christie's

behalf. >> i think you got this problem. a journal that's written can be written anytime, you know? i'm a recovering lawyer, but i do still remember that from when i practiced law. and why was she sending out all these tweets that have been preserved on the int ert net that said one thing, that was totally different from what she was saying, and then she comes back and says, well, i'm hoping i put enough pressure, that he'll fold, and let me have my $127 million. >> anyway, it's a big charge there. >> big charge there. look, the attacks on this being partisan were coming full swing yesterday when it looked like it was the legislature -- legislators, the democrats. paul fishman, the u.s. attorney, is a democratic appointee. but he's highly respected. >> a more career guy. >> a cree guy. gone after democrats. put democrats -- he put menendez

fund-raisers in jail. he's nobody's partisan attack dog. and it's a lot more problematic for them to go after zimmer, who's now a witness in a federal investigation. >> federal investigation, yeah. very true. >> now, today, than it was for them yesterday. >> all right. mike isikoff, the national correspondent, matt katz, nyc. thank you both. got a little bit of an update this morning. kelly o'donnell rkt my colleague, who is running around new jersey looking for the lieutenant governor, reports that chris christie's lieutenant governor, kim guadagno, will address the controversy this hour. the lieutenant governor will be holding a martin luther king event this morning, and she will address the allegations at the top of her remarks, according to kelly o'donnell. up neck, independence day. taking a deep dive into why this could be the best time in decades to be a third-party candidate if you want to run for congress. we're going to talk to a south dakota senator who got out of

game years ago and is now trying to make a comeback. a first ahead at the politics planner. we'll hear from the president today. he'll be doing a national service project, as he's done previous mlk days. vice president biden will speak with al sharpton. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. [ bottle ] ensure®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yeah. everybody knows that. did you know there is an oldest trick in the book? what? trick number one. look-est over there. ha ha. made-est thou look. so end-eth the trick. hey.... yes.... geico. fifteen minutes could save you... well, you know.

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for our "deep dive" today, we look at the search for independence and why we aren't seeing more of them in this political environment. the public's unhappiness with both political parties appears to have pushed the door wide open. the favorable ratings are underwater with the gop in worse shape than the democrats, and the dissatisfaction has led to a rise in identifying by americans as they identify themselves more as independent than either of

the major parties. but almost as if some of the partisans are embarrassed to admit which party they belong to. so given all that, there should be a flood of independent candidates, right? so far, only a handful have even been talking about taking advantage of this political environment. of course, right now, there are only two independent senators in congress, and only two other senators in the last 50 years were actually elected without an "r" or "d" next to their name. joe lieberman and murkowski don't fit that, because they intended to run as members of their own parties. a man with one of the fascinating resumes is trying to join the select group of third-party candidates. larry kressler, a rhodes scholar. he returned to harvard and got his law degree in 1971. three years later, he ran for a house seat.

32-year-old pulled an upset in the gop primary and unseated frank denholm in '74. after moving up to the senate, he distinguished himself in the abscam scandal. he sought the republican presidential nomination in 1979. pressler spent 18 years in the senate. since leaving, he's travelled the world as a professor and calls himself a personal friend of president obama, a man he personally has endorsed twice, and now he said he wants his old job back. he announced he would run for a fourth senate term, but as an independent. it's a risk in the red state of south dakota, but pressler may be able to take advantage of a messy gop primary. multiple candidates have taken turns going after the former governor.

pressler's candidacy could open the door for the democratic candidate, a former daschle aide, rick. with me now, harry pressler. senator pressler, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> you almost ran for d.c. mayor, too -- >> that was a story that got out of hand. yes and no. we were working on school vouchers at the time for the district. >> you say you want to do this and serve one term so you don't have to raise any money. what are your goals? >> my goal is to have a term in the senate where i could vote my conscience completely without being tied to a caucus. if you're in either the republican or the democratic caucus, you're bound to certain things. for example, republicans, they say no new taxes, and there's no bulging on that. the democrats say, no cuts in welfare programs and reform of taxes regarding foundations. there are certain no-nos in each caucus -- >> you wouldn't -- the trend of the last few years, right, angus

cane, bernie sanders, and they both will say, i'll caucus with one party or the other, king chose to caw -- you will not caucus for either party if -- >> i might. and angus is my model. an independent can stay independent as morse did, or you can join either caucus if they -- >> if you stay independent, you get the worst committee assignments? >> no, not necessarily. you might get the best. because the independent -- the new senate will be very closely divided between republicans and democrats. >> we're confident of that. >> so an independent might get the best committee assignments, because both sides will need his or her vote, and this will bring to three the number of independences in the senate. i think by electing more independents, it would be a signal on the part of the -- >> maybe you develop your own caucus? >> well, you could. wayne morse did.

>> are you -- there was some thought that engous king, whoever was in the majority is who he would caucus would. would you say something like that if you're running -- >> my real desire is to get a commitment to real roll call votes. for example, real tax reform, which would mean some increases on taxes for the very wealthy, as well as repealing certain deductions. number two, ending our overseas military commitment to intervening everywhere, a real vote on that. i'm for protecting our citizens. i'm for interventions where they're needs or killing osama bin laden, but i taught overseas as a fulbright professor much. the time, and i've seen our forts in europe, and in northern italy, we have a huge army fort, a waste of money, we should relocate it back to the u.s. or close it. >> why not run as a republican? you could maybe win that primary. a crowded primary. you have plenty of name

recognition. >> a pollster told me i could win running in either primary in south dakota at this point. >> it's a lot easier to run as a member of one of the two parties. >> yes, it is. it's hard to raise money as an independent, i'm finding out. if i can function as an independent, and we now have angus king there, leading a little independent block, just as abraham lincoln, we had the new republican party, there was the issue of slavery. today, it's the huge deficit and military spending, and we can't seem to get our arms around either. if a few independents are elected, it might change the poisonous atmosphere -- >> why aren't you comfortable being in the republican party anymore? >> a number of reasons. one, the absolute rule, if you're in the caucus, and be a committee chairman, as i was, you have to be for or against -- no new taxes, but that means no changing the -- no changing the deductions. >> mm-hmm. >> there's also -- i cosigned

the issue to the supreme court on gay marriage. i was an amicus, one of 120 republicans who cosigned ted olson's amicus to the supreme court, and in south dakota, that's not a very popular issue among republicans, about you it's very much a necessary thing. and i hope by 2016, the party realizes it will have to change on that issue. >> you 100% committed to this? >> to running, absolutely. >> as an independent. >> absolutely. >> and if your candidacy peels off votes, and elects a democrat -- >> i'm not a spoiler. maybe they'll peel votes off from me and not elect me. so i expect to get both republican and democratic support, and i expect to win. >> let me ask you about your residency. how much time in washington, d.c., versus south dakota? >> i spent a lot of time --

>> where's your primary residence? >> south dakota. and i've been mostly a traveling professor internationally, and i've had south dakota as my base for a while. and here as a base. but i've kept very close in touch with -- i'm on the board of directors of the south dakota farmers union, a trustee at the university of south dakota, and there two weeks during the whole time. and we a cabin in the black hills and so forth. >> all right. >> so i'm very much a south dakotan. >> i'm fascinated. i think there is hunger for third alternatives. we'll be watching your campaign very closely. >> thank you very much. >> we're kicking off the week with the databank next, but first, the trivia question. how many senators have represented two different third parties? first person to tweet the correct answer will get the honored shoutout. [ male announcer ] here's a question for you:

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well, the new jersey lieutenant governor kim guadagno is holding a martin luther king service event in union beach. she did have some remarks about the mayor of hoboken's allegations. now, here's what the lieutenant governor did do. she confirmed that they had a conversation, you know, the whole idea that did they have a private conversation. now, after that, that's the only part of zimmer's story that guadagno does confirm. beyond that, she says all the allegations are false, and now has been going on to talk about as a sandy victim herself, the idea that sandy would be used as a political wedge is illogical. she used words like that. she said the entire allegation zimmer is making is false. now, we will have more on this in a few minutes, as soon as kelly o'donnell is done getting questions, and we'll see if she takes any questions. we do know she's making a

statement. we don't know if she'll take any questions. this is ongoing. we'll bring you more as soon as we have it. >>. >> let me give you the "databank." from new concerns about peace, a decades' long dry spell that's finally over for the nfl. let's start with the violent protests in ukraine. the number is 61. how many days protesters have staged rallies across ukraine. demonstrations started when the ukrainian president refused to sign a free trade deal with the europeans. the government decided to crack down and protesters took to the streets. police used a water cannon to push back protesters in freezing temperatures. the square is kwoverred with, now, ice, but the number could end up paving the way for more back-and-forth. by the way, the u.s. government has issued a statement essentially condemning the ukrainian government for their tactics this week. and the next number, that could

pave the way to peace in syria. 30. nations, groups, invited to peace talks. syria's government and the rebels involved in the civil war say they'll attend, but now iran says it will join the talks. today, the rebels are threatening to pull out with the news of the iranians. the u.s. says it will join the talks only if iran will support the peace deal. our next number, 1. the first republican that is expected to announce he'll run for senator tom co-burn's seat sometime today. republican congressman james langford is holding a press conference later this afternoon. two more oklahomans are already lining up for coburn's seat, as well. we have one person not running for coburn's seat, tom goal. he says he wants to keep his job as head whip. it's the end of an era for george w. bush and the number is five. it marks five years sense president bush left office, and

under the presidential records act, the public can now request records from the bush archives. so start filling out your foio paperwork. and 24. how many seasons it's been since the number-one offense met the number-one defense in the super bowl. the last time it happened was when the bills lost to the giants in an epic game in 1991. the seattle seahawks' powerful defense beat back the 49ers late in the nfc championship game last night, winning 23-17. peyton manning's aerial attack against the patriots helped lead the broncos to the afc victory. and peyton manning, he wasn't the winning quarterback he was impressive. coming up, honors martin luther king. we're expected to hear from vice president biden in a few minutes at the annual mlk breakfast. [ coughs, sneezes ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms,

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and we're back, and we're waiting now, still to get live tape of the lieutenant governor, but she has now given her response to the version of events that the hoboken mayor dawn zimmer has given when it comes to this allegation that somehow sandy relief money was used as a political poison or wedge, however you want to look at it, in order to entice dawn zimmer. they wanted her to have some development project, she alleged, the lieutenant governor, had a private conversation with her. here's what we do know. lieutenant governor has been speaking to a group of reporters. she confirms that she had this conversation with the mayor of hoboken, but she denies the allegations and says that they're illogical. let me bring in my monday morning panel, bill, and former bush political director sarah fagan. dan, this is now -- we're in one of the feeding frenzies, governor christie's in, allegations coming left and

right, and moved beyond the bridge allegation. this is sandy recovery money. this is no -- it almost makes the bridge scandal seem tiny in comparison if the allegation is true. >> if the allegation is true. but the big change, as you've been saying, is this has now become a federal investigation, a much broader potential investigation, along with the investigation that's going on in the new jersey legislature over the bridge issue. so, i mean, governor christie is now embroiled in a long, long, long investigation. >> and, sarah, the decision this weekend to essentially, you know, after ten days of relatively quiet, not responding, not trying to basically start a political fight, now they've decided, okay, democrats are going for blood, and we're going to fight, and play partisan politics. and the more they can -- look, tactic. it's a tactic. >> they want to muddy the waters. >> explain what they're doing. >> the governor has a lot of objectives to achieve the next year.

he's got a state to run. he's got the rja to run. he's in florida, raising money for the rga, and democrats are coming at him full force, threatening to take down not only his rga chairmanship but his governorship, and he has to fight back. he has no choice. the best thing he can do is muddy the waters, call this a partisan game. it is coincidental she came out over the weekend. there's some coincidence there, i think. it didn't happen by accident. you know, you look at this, if you're christie, you have to muddy the water, because then it's just politics. if it's just the left and right fighting. >> if he can make it left versus right, that means he can -- his governorship can survive. does that really make him a national player? >> two issues here. we should really get at the facts. and it seems to me if the facts indicate that the governor can use sandy relief, you know, what do -- >> -- a federal crime.

>> exactly. exact will he. that's why there's a federal investigator, i presume. >> this is -- this is a much bigger problem than the bridge. >> yeah, i mean -- look, i think it's absolutely right we should get down to the facts here. and i think you can attack a network or attack your enemies, but at the end of the day, if he actually did these things, or the administration did these things, it's not a problem for his presidential run, because he won't have one. it's a problem for his governorship. you know, i think as -- i think people who are thinking about standing with him and talking with him and being at the rga with him, i think this is an unfolding story. if i was advising them, i'd say, hold off. >> the message he sent to donors down in florida, look, he didn't make the greatest impressions, because he seemed like a shell of himself. he's not understandable, he feels that he has to tone it down, tone down the bravado, but you start to wonder, he himself,

don't ask me about 2016 for a year. and he was embracing those questions 15 days ago. >> yeah, he has too many other things going on to worry about. this investigation is going to consume a lot of time. nobody who knows better than he, i mean, former u.s. attorney, he understands what he's in for at this point. he can't spend a lot of time thinking about putting together a national political campaign for 2016 when he's got to deal with all of this. >> and, terri, be careful of beating up the u.s. attorney's office, given he's a u.s. attorney, and almost -- >> that never ends well, no matter who you are. >> exactly. >> agreed. >> let me ask you about the rga, and it's rudy giuliani, and haley barbour -- >> i think there's plenty of people who would defend -- >> almost defending him by attacking media, not necessarily defending him. it's an interesting little line

that some folks are walking. at some point, you know, does he say, maybe i should take a leave of absence from the rga? >> well, i think if this progressed, if there were more allegations, if there looked like there was any weight behind this hoboken mayor is saying, he may be forced to. but i don't think politically that is at all -- >> you don't think he should -- >> i think it shows weakness, and i think what he's got to do is effectively govern new jersey, and effectively run the rga. and he'll have three or four tough months, but if he can get through it, there's light at the end of the tnl. he'll come out the other side, potentially stronger. but if if this becomes a drip, drim, more mayors, more problems, it is a long-term, ugly, ugly place for him to be. >> i want to switch gears. the initial conversation we were going to have was what i thought was a remarkable profile, interview, whatever you want to

call, kwin "the new yorker," an we saw david traveling with the press, is he working on the book, we were hearing the president doesn't speak to authors, and my big takeaway, he seems to be resigned to his station. that there is certain things can't change about washington, so he now just wants to do what he can within the constraints that he has. that he's no longer a guy trying to get rid of the constraints. >> well, if the theory is that, like, he's going to transform the republican party into being one that wants to partner with him to make change, i think that -- i think it's a solid realization that that's not -- that that's not there. you know, i think the president in the piece was very realistic about the change he can make. you know, to me, what was most interesting, is what he's much

focused on, middle class. it's not like he says that on the stump speech. he's talking about these issues as what motivates him. >> at noon, he begins year six. that didn't seem like an ambitious president in that conversation with remnick. dan, what did you see? >> well, we know from everything that he's gone through in the last year what the rest of -- certainly what 2014 is likely to look like in terms of his ambitions. they are more limited. i mean, in the sense they're more realistic. he has huge foreign policy issues to deal with, and he's trying to deal with those. and some domestic issues he's hopeful of getting done, and he has to make sure the health care program works. >> when did president bush realize he's so -- >> it's an interesting question, and it was really the last year. and people used to say to you, you know, history will remember our guy differently. and we all felt -- we believed it -- but we all felt better about it. you see that happening in the obama administration now. i'm just a swimmer, relay

swimmer. >> in the middle of the river of history. >> i'm a paragraph in the story. i'm this blip on the map. three years out, that's a pretty defeatist -- >> he did not say a blip on the -- >> he minimized his role in history. three years out, pretty remarkable. >> it's a conversation to be continued. we'd have a longer one, but thanks to our friends in new jersey, that is -- >> what we say every day. >> thanks to our friends in new jersey. at the stroke of noon, as i brought up, president obama will officially begin his sixth year in office. we're going to rank the first five years from worst to best. coming up. first, white house soup of the day -- no soup for you. the white house mess closed to honor martin luther king jr. holiday. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again.

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it is take away time. five years ago today, believe it or not, president obama was sworn into office as the 44th president of the united states. his pledge that day was to, "begin again the work of remaking america." well, there have been successes and failures in the past 1,285 days. we decided to rank the obama presidency by year. and let's start with what may have been his least productive year, and it's the one we just ended. award goes to 2013, not surprising when you think about the health care debacle,

gridlock on capitol hill made this the easy choice as the worst of his five years. president obama saw his signature legislative achievement almost collapse, and on capitol hill, a year started with promise and potential, especially when it came with guns and government legislation ended with a 16-day government shutdown. fourth on our least of least productive is 2011. the highlight, of course, for the president was the capture and killing of osama bin laden, however, it is that debt ceiling crisis that sparked the most volatile week for financial markets since the 2008 financial crisis and the president hit his lowest poll numbers at any point in time. number three on our list, 2010. mixed bag, president obama signed his signature health care reform legislation and dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act. very productive year, however, of course, his party lost a record amount of seats in the house, almost lost control of

the senate. doesn't make it into the top two. top two, we're starting to get to the positive side of thing, 2012. it is hard not to call winning re-election a success. what year at that point, he may not have gotten a lot done, but think about it, after winning re-election he also fulfilled four years later his promise on the bush tax cut. what was the most successful year, easy call, 2009, his most productive year on the books. the affordable care act was passed in the senate, a stimulus package, also a focus on foreign policy, we had the surge in afghanistan. president obama traveled to the most foreign countries in his first year than any other president. it was busy, it was productive, and in many ways, he is still defending that legacy of his first year. almost as if the other seven years of his presidency are about defending and protecting his first year. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." coming up next on msnbc, chris jansing will have the full live

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good morning, i'm chris jansing, and we just heard an unequivocal denial from chris christie's lieutenant governor about allegations and threats over funds to help victims of superstorm sandy. she called the allegations from the hoboken mayor false and illogical and talked about the 13 visits she made to the city calling her relationship with the mayor good. but this is escalating. the mayor met with the u.s. attorney yesterday afternoon after she told msnbc that the lieutenant governor told her to sign off on private developers project or hurricane sandy money would be in jeopardy. mayor dawn zimmer turned over

her journal and other documents to the feds and promised to testify under oath about what happened. >> the fact is that the lieutenant governor came to hoboken, she pulled me aside in the parking lot, and she said, i know it's not right, i know these things should not be connected, they are, and if you tell anyone, i'll deny it. i mean, the bottom line is, it's not fair for the governor to hold sandy funds hostage for the city of hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer. >> nbc's national investigative correspondent michael isikoff has been covering this story. michael, you listened to the statement by the lieutenant governor. give us your take on what was said and what maybe wasn't said. >> well, yeah, good point, chris. she denied that there was any threat to withhold sandy funds over this project, but just to be parse carefully, worth pointing out, she acknowledges there was a conversation that she had with