unlikable to me today. >> next snowstorm, you're going out in it. i like the jersey shore. >> mike? what did you learn today? >> the geography. it's an island where rich people go, and they take rich people's shovellers, to shovel your sidewalk. >> it's a special task force. not rich people shovellers, and i don't know if it's with de blasio. >> it's over, joe. wrap it up. >> thank god. we survived. >> well -- barely. >> we survived. >> "morning joe," stick around, though, here's chuck todd with "the daily rundown." indicted. just days after leaving office, former virginia governor bob mcdonnell faces criminal charges over gifts from a supporter and chris christie tries to survive his own scandal. the once promising faces of the gop's future are now facing

their own uncertain future. is peace possible in syria? assad is at the center of talks under way in geneva where secretary kerry is making it clear that assad has to go, but does assad think that? plus, a national debate over changing voter i.d. laws spotlights pennsylvania today, where a judge has blocked the controversial 2012 law. will president obama push for more federal action? got a busy show for you. at lof campaign updates. interesting little abortion politics takeaway, that i want you guys to think about. it's a snowy washington. wednesday, january 22nd, the "the daily rundown," and we'll start with how the weather is crippling the northeast. the snow that walloped us, still falling along the coast in some spots but it's moved out of the i-95 corridor. this is a live look at massachusetts where they're truly getting dumped on. and now, there's brutally cold temperatures. they're settling in. single digits in many places. it's going to make it tough for folks who are digging out.

snow becomes ice pretty quickly when it's single digits. the worst of the storm hit new jersey and massachusetts where more than 15 inches of snow fell. a foot fell in northern delaware. more than 13 inches in new york state and more that 14 inches just east of philadelphia. now, here's what we can tell you. snow has snarled traffic for hundreds of thousands of new yorkers and folks in new jersey, just in time for that afternoon rush. >> terrible. they're just covered, a little slick, a little slush, getting worse as i'm driving. >> i think they -- they forgot how to drive in the snow for some reason. >> mm, it's always the case, isn't it? the bad weather has forced the federal government to shut down. it did so on tuesday, and employees can work from home today. by the way, d.c. did break a streak of more than 1,000 days without two or more inches of snow. now, the storm's impact is still being felt today. there's more than 1,400 flights that have been cancelled. schools are closed in d.c., virginia, maryland, boston, and philadelphia. schools are open in new york.

and that's where we find the weather channel's janel klein. she joins me from long island. well, it looks windy and cold. but that's a lot of traffic that's moving behind you. >> reporter: yeah, that is the good news, chuck. i mean, we are seeing some very chilly temperatures out here. wind chills below zero. but the good news for people on long island is that traffic is moving well and travel's become much easier over the last 24 and 12 hours. last night, and even yesterday, during the day, a much different story when this storm started, though. we saw a really rough evening commute last night withstand-stills really on the long island expressway, people saying traffic was not moving at all, and at times when it did move, going between 5 and 10 miles per hour. some people cut out of work early trying to get ahead of the weather and the traffic, and it didn't help them much. there were a lot of problems for people trying to get home last night. today, a much different story, and that is thanks in part to the crews who worked overnight. 240 plows out overnight on long

island trying to clear the roads, and they've done a great job. the morning commute going very, very well. no reports of major accidents and not a lot of issues with power outages or any other issues. we do see schools, some of them delayed, some of them cancelling classes, but for the most part, travel going well this morning and we expect that will get better as the day goes on. so doing pretty well out here on long island, chuck. >> all right, thank you, janel, from the weather channel, and more on what we can expect going forward. let's go to bill karins, our meteorologist. bill, so obviously, we'll be hit with this cold. >> yeah. >> the federal government, by the way, shutting down yester y yesterday, ended up making commuting very easy and tolerable. >> smart. >> both yesterday and today. >> should have done that in new york city. >> yeah, exactly. >> what's going on the next couple of days? >> if you can survive the cold today, you'll get more in the days ahead. unlike the polar vortex, this is

an arctic plunge of air, and it will get reinforced. this one is here to stay, unlike the last one. the highest totals we had, about a foot, a little above the foot, from new jersey, and we were a little less down there around d.c., also around baltimore. but philadelphia, we got mailed, one of the highest totals, but now it's the winds, and this encompasses about 23 different states now. you notice from green bay to minneapolis and all the way here through the area -- d.c. is still at minus 10 for a wind chill. atlanta is at 5. so it's really encompassing almost all of the east coast. but the worst of it, the areas where they're still telling people do not travel on the roads is south of boston and east of providence, around cape cod, winds gusting to 40 miles per hour, still in bands of heavy snow for three, four hours. when is this leaving us? i mentioned it would be persiste persistent. you don't want to be in the purple or white. going through saturday, sunday, we get a reinforcing shot of cold air. monday right into tuesday. and so, when we look at washington, d.c., it's been a while since we had a week like

this in washington, d.c., you get a little break saturday, and back in the freezer come sunday and monday. >> well, all we want to know, though, will peyton manning see his shadow on february 2nd? >> it actually -- it will start getting warmer towards the super bowl. right now, the possibility of rain, snow saturday, clearing out sunday. but we're still ten days away. >> well, that's what happens when super bowl and groundhog day happen at the same time. we have to look for richard sherman's shadow. >> nice. >> mr. kairns, thank you, sir. let's get to my "first reads reque reads" of the morning. they were two of the stars of the republican party. chris christie and governor bob mcdonnell. they were inaugurated, one after a landslide victory, and the other one after a tough race. they were both seen as models for the party's success. fast forward, one is fighting

for his political life, and the other is hoping he doesn't spend more time in jail than he spent in richmond. bob mcdonnell's indictment is a spectacular fall from grace. after a landslide victory in 2009, and 2010, chosen to deliver the republican response to the state of the union, a sign of ascendancy, and in 2012, talked about as a running mate, and we'll see how vetted he was, beth meyers knows for sure, but he had his own eyes on the white house in 2016, and even made a trip to iowa. but by last year, the ethics troubles had sidelined him. ken deutsccuccinelli dragged hi being a drag on his 2013 campaign. and then yesterday came. he became the first governor or former governor in the state of virginia history to face formal charges. he and his wife maureen were

indicted on a federal grand jury. accepting gifts from a donor by the name of johnny williams, of star scientific, and he was apparently looking for promotion of his products. well, mcdonnell spoke to the press last night, denying the crime but admitting to some of the gifts. >> i come before you this evening as someone who has been falsely and wrongfully accused and whose public service has been wrongfully attacked. while i deeply regret accepting these legal gifts and loans from mr. williams, all of these now have been returned or repaid with interest. i repeat, again, emphatically, that i did nothing illegal for mr. williams in exchange for what i believed was his personal friendship and his generosity. >> the best defense mcdonnell's

team has appeared to have over the last six months is it was pressure from his wife that led the governor down this path. but the 43-page, 14-count indictment is a story of a couple that appears to be desperate to live above their means, and who found a sugar daddy in johnny williams. maureen mcdonnell wrote in an e-mail to an aide, we are broke, we have an unconscionable amount in credit card debt already, and this inaugural is killing us. when the aide expressed concerns about an offer by johnny williams to buy maureen mcdonnell an inaugural gown, that did not sit well with her. prosecutors say maureen mcdonnell told williams she would take a rain check, so she said no to the gown at the time. according to the indictment, this is what happened. in april 2011, williams took maureen mcdonnell dress shopping in new york city where he spent almost $11,000 at oscar de la renta, $6,000 at luis vuitton,

and then at berg done. -- berg dorff. a month later, she told him that the governor and her were heavily in debt and asked for a $50,000 loan, it had to do with helping out to pay off -- pay a mortgage for a vacation home, and asked him for $15,000 to pay for the catering at the wedding of the first couple's daughter. mcdonnell also accepted gifts from williams. in summer 2011, williams offer add mountain lake home to the couple and had an employee drive a ferrari to the house for the governor's use. according to the indictment, maureen mcdonnell sent an e-mail that had no text but an attached picture of mcdonnell driving the ferrari. the governor sent an e-mail to the virginia secretary of health stating that mcdonnell, quote, would like to have one of the secretary of health's deputies attend a briefing at the mansion with the first lady on the trials, a new dietary supplement that williams' company was trying to promote. again, another accusation of the

quid pro quo. williams also bought a rolex watch for the governor and paid for golf outings for mcdonnell and his family. prosecutors contend that in exchange, the mcdonnells arranged for williams to have access to the state official and that the mcdonnells themselves attended star scientific events all designed to promote the company and its stock price, and they even have text messages having to do -- talking about the stock price of the company. they also say the couple tried to hide the extent of the relationship with williams and accused the former first lady of lying to investigators. joining me now is nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. pete, what do the feds have? is their case solid? >> that's an interesting question, because mcdonnells' lawyers are attacking it, saying this looks bad, of course, you get before a jury, the -- >> he's owned up to all of the acceptance, right? he's not denying -- >> yes. >> -- these gifts? >> that's true. he says it was poor judgment. he's paid them back. he seriously regrets it.

the question is, is it a crime? now, to be a crime under federal law, you have to get something officially for the money that you gave. >> right. >> and that's where his lawyers say, and he says, nothing official was ever done. what the government's claim here is he lent the prestige of his office. he set up a couple of meetings for star scientific with state health officials. he went to star scientific events, both he and the first lady. he had a reception at the governor's mansion at which star scientific people could rub elbows with state officials, but what his lawyers say, no government money, no contracts, no appointments to state boards, nothing official. official is the key term. and they say that there's never been a case in this part of the country, the fourth circuit, where virginia is, where the government has made this kind of claim that merely showing up and smiling and lending the prestige constitutes corruption. >> now, john roland, former

governor of connecticut, semi-similar situation, he ended up, greenwich had tough ethics laws, but virginia, no state laws that he violated, correct? >> well, that's right. these are all federal charges. >> all federal charges. johnny williams, why hasn't he indi indicted? >> he has immunity. >> he's giving them the paper trail. >> he's clearly important, not the only one, but clearly an important witness for the prosecution. so he's not been indicted and he has immunity from prosecution. but what the mcdonnells' lawyer say is, if you take the government's theory in this case to its extreme, then when president obama went to dreamworks and said, nice things about dreamworks and jeffrey katzenberg and the other people, he was lending the prestige of the presidency to a big campaign donor. they say, look at people who get ambassadorships after giving lots of campaign contributions. >> what is worse, though,

profiting personally, which, in this case, or using the government -- using the -- i guess that's the key here. because mcdonnell is saying, hey, i did not give any tax dollars or other people's money -- >> right, right. >> -- it was my own personal gain. >> right. the question under the corruption is, official act. quit proquo. -- quid pro quo. >> does it matter that johnny williams believes he was getting something in return? he certainly believes that he was going to get something in return for getting this -- >> no -- >> does that matter? >> the test isn't what he believed he was getting, and the test is what he got. what he got this the theory of the government's case is there's corruption here because the governor did things for johnny williams he otherwise wouldn't have done, the bre steej of the office. what mcdonnell's people say is the governor supported all kinds of virginia businesses. >> how long before a trial? >> they'll show up in court on friday to enter a plea. at this point, a deal doesn't seem very likely. they're adamant to say that they didn't do anything wrong. but you have to wonder, you

know, about all of the things that -- especially she did, what that'll mean to a jury. we're months away. >> months away from an actual trial. >> oh, yeah. >> pete williams, thank you, sir. we have more on the power problems for the two men once considered rising stars of the party, as ken cuccinelli becomes the first high-profile republican calling for governor christie to step down as chairman of the republican governors association. now, there's giving peace a chance. we'll go live to syria summit in switzerland where syrian president assad is refusing demands to step down. but first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. a couple of big events at the white house today. one was a postponeed event. they'll be here tomorrow to talk about the election day voting, and a big sexual assault summit also taking place at the white house. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc.

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well, the last two weeks have been a reminder that american politics is full of stories about rising stars and falls from grace. former virginia governor bob mcdonnell's indictment is the latest in a long line of the stories. >> i will use every available resource and advocate that i have for as long as it takes to fight and prevail against these false allegations and the unjust overreach of the federal government. >> well, yesterday a guy that was hurt as much by mcdonnell's ethics issue as anybody decided to become the first semiprominent republican to

suggest christie should step down as republican governors association chairman, and don't forget, there's not a lot of love lost between the two. >> i think just from the perspective of setting aside this as an issue in other races, it makes sense for him to step aside in that role. he does not serve the goals of that organization by staying as chairman. that doesn't mean any of the charges, political or otherwise, are substantive or not. it doesn't matter. the perception is reality. >> joining me now, "the new york times" political reporter jonathan martin, a native virginian, and "usa today" bureau chief susan page, of course, "usa today" headquartered in virginia. localized here a little bit. we have a statement from the chief political strategist from christie about cuccinelli,

and -- $8 million, a significant portion of which was raised by governor christie. we can set that aside. this fall from grace. what's interesting here about both christie and mcdonnell, and christie can fight to live another day, he has a political problem, not a personal problem, but it sort of -- this isn't an ideological or policy issue that's brought these guys down. it's a personal character flaw. >> well, in fact, just the opposite of policy, these were two politicians who'd figured out a way to win in the obama era as republicans, and in states, by the way, that obama carried twice. >> yeah. >> and they were seen in '09 sand '10 as sort of guides, you know, models to follow for how to succeed as republican in this sort of tough new era. and they've been brought, you know, down, certainly, in the mcdonnell case, i think christie is still much more in flux, by a small, petty, political things,

and it's the old -- >> susan, i was going to say, we've covered this, and i've brought up john roland, because it was a similar thing, but i can't tell you how many -- jesse jackson jr., personally trying to profit off of -- i mean, vanity is always at the center of these falls from grace. it's either financial vanity in the case of the mcdonnells or some sort of sexual vanity. in the case of an anthony weiner. >> and the candidates get in a situation where they're begging rich people for money, and rich people are more than often happy to give them favors, gifts, money. in virginia, it just happens to be legal to give them almost anything -- >> yeah, by the way, this would have been illegal in a lot of states. >> right. >> virginia is one of few that it's not. >> -- ethics laws -- >> and this is going to let governor mcauliffe be the great reformer -- >> how about that? >> -- political reformer -- >> because he's never been involved in fund-raising favors ever, right? >> but financially, he, though, is wealthy, so he doesn't need the kind of support from a

johnny williams type person. you know, virginia, for so many years, has thought so much of itself, it didn't need the kind of tight ethics laws -- >> people wouldn't do that to virginia. >> it's not the virginia way. >> but that's not the point. virginia doesn't have a history of the kind of scandals and -- >> and it's not floored in public corruption that is alleged in the mcdonnells' indictment, until now. so i think that is going to change the climate down in richmond. >> susan, what struck me about the indictment, as well, was this was a caricature of how hollywood would assume a donor buys a politician. >> yeah. >> it's our friends in hollywood were writing the script, oh, what is a generic way of how politicians are corrupt? >> it's too over the top. >> that's what's amazing by this indictment. oh, my god, in this era, you thought you would get away with it? >> what's amazing, is governor mcdonnell isn't denying any of it, right, because there's a digital trail through the e-mails, and his only argument

is, you know, we sought the help, we took the money, we took the favors, we didn't -- i didn't deliver something official in return. that is the defense he is left with. >> what do you say -- you know, what was interesting here, also, jonath jonathan, when you read it, he either -- he was either embarrassed and didn't tell his staff what he was doing -- it does seem as if mcdonnell kept this from his staff largely, the staff clearly raised questions about the relationship -- >> if you read the indictment, there are hints of some staff pushback, where i think there's one e-mail message from an unnamed staffer that says, have to be careful on this. and that, to me, is sort of -- the reporting i've done on this -- indicates there was uneasiness on the staff level about this, that's not lreflectd in that indictment. so i'm curious how much the staff had to save him from himself. >> how much worse could it have been if left un -- >> but clearly, the staff didn't know a lot of what was going on

between the husband and the wife. >> well, and frankly, a lot of his defenders at the time, susan, were trying to paint her as lady macbeth, that she was the driver, and you read the indictment, they were co-consprinters. >> yeah, i thought politico did a nice job of talking about the false narratives of bob mcdonnell. >> and one of the things that's ironic, he was in many ways a pretty good governor. he got the big transportation bill through. he was good with conservative republicans and -- >> exactly. he seemed, you know, he mismanaged, i think, the ultrasound thing, he let his party get out of control there, but then stopped it -- i mean, it is -- it is a classic case where the electorate was happy with how he was governing. >> his numbers are still pretty good, even after story after story about the most vivid kind of sort of access buying from johnny williams, and through the

mcauliffe transition, on the day of the inauguration, the governor, the current governor, was very complimentary of governor mcdonnell, and even in the statement yesterday, that governor mcauliffe put out, you know, bob -- >> the guy -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> -- compartmentalized this, which at the end of the day, you wonder that's what happened -- by the way, johnny williams, so would argue an actual sake oil salesman. >> for a lot of folks i talked to -- >> virginia state governor guinea pigs. >> well, as guinea pigs and also the fact that the governor is trying to help a guy pushing dietary supplements -- >> with questionable -- >> e-mailing state workers, and the state workers clearly think it's not on the level. >> it's pushing state universities to do studies that will back them up. i mean, in some ways, that may end up being one of the official -- >> that would be the official

act that would be -- my gut is, there is a plea deal, because he knows he can't win a jury trial, even if he -- >> well, and lying for the feds, too. >> right. thank you so much. coming up, securing sochi. the latest threats against the olympics. president obama's offer to russian president putin for more security help if he'll take it. first, today's trivia question. who is the most recent u.s. senator to become the governor of louisiana? as you know, david individuvidd announced he'll run. if he wins, who is the first u.s. senator to do that? first person to tweet the correct answer will get the honor shoutout. this is the first power plant in the country to combine solar and natural gas at the same location. during the day, we generate as much electricity

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sharp disagreements over the fate of the syrian president, assad, may derail the peace conference in switzerland, but the fact they are having the peace conference is progress. speaking in front of representatives from some 40 nations, opposition leaders insisted that assad has to hand over power to a transitional government, calling it the only topic worth discussing. the syrian government rejected that and russia has warned against mettling in syria's affairs. the secretary of state kerry is insisting that assad cannot be a part of syria's future. >> there is no way -- no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. one man and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage. >> today, opposition leaders accused assad of employing nazi-style tactics to kill

thousands of syrian civilians, and while some nations have tried to focus on other issues, like humanitarian aid, the fate of assad seems to hang over everything else. kerani vincent is live for us where the conference is being held. the issue of assad staying in power goes to the question of leverage. does the opposition have any leverage to get their way on this considering where we are at this point in time in syria's civil war? >> i don't think they really do, chuck. there is a really big problem with these talks, and that is that neither side is really genuinely interested in reaching a political settlement with the other. you talked about the rekrim nations in those opening statements this morning, the governors, foreign minister accused the rebels of supporting terrorism, the opposition leader accused assad of killing his own

people to achieve what he described as his crazy aims. that being said, it was a momentous occasion in the montreaux palace hotel. representatives of the two warring sides in syria face to face in the same room together for the first time in three years of fighting. they've been forced here by the international community, and i think that proximity is as best as this conference is going to get. the other problem with these talks, of course, is the people who aren't here. most of the armed groups amongst the opposition who are actually doing the fighting so object to the idea of talking to the assad regime that they have refused to come. >> right. >> and on the regime side, the big empty chair is iran. they had their invitation to this conference withdrawn, because they wouldn't sign up to the geneva communique, and they are so involved in the syrian conflict, the iranians, it's impossible to imagine a settlement without their involvement.

chuck? >> all right, garaint vincent on the ground there. it feels like a one step forward, two steps back situation going on right now in switzerland. maybe there'll be better news in a few hours. up next, a "deep dive" into voting rights and a live look at cape cod, where, guess what, it is still snowing at this hour. here in our nation's capital, the washington, d.c. snowball fight association -- yes, that's a real thing -- held their first meeting in years last night in dupont circle. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york.

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in today's "deep dive," one of the most bottle issues of the politics, voter i.d. laws. since 2001, a thousand voter

i.d. laws have been introduced in every state of the union. some have passed with remarkable success. 32 states have new voter i.d. laws that are in place or going into effect in 2016. but there's also serious legal backlash. the department of justice is suing north carolina and texas over their voter i.d. laws. wisconsin's law was declared unconstitutional. the state appealed. and this past friday, a judge struck down pennsylvania's voter i.d. laws, one of the more controversial ones on the books, because it's the toughest. and now, the ruling steps up -- sets up a supreme court showdown that could impact the 2016 election. while both candidates concentrated their campaigns in pennsylvania, republicans in the majority passed a law requiring voters to provide specific kinds of identification at the voting booth, even school i.d.s didn't count in the thick of the presidential campaign, the majority leader made national news when he ticked off a list

of republican legislation and how voter i.d. might affect the upcoming election. >> voter i.d., which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. [ applause ] >> that single comment touched off a wave of protests for the legal battle to fight it, and a judge ended up suspending the law for the 2012, and friday's ruling struck down the law altogether. the judge wrote, voting laws are designed to assure a free and fair election. the voter i.d. law does not further this goal. the judge added the law poses a substantial threat to hundreds of thousands of qualified voters. the republican governor has declined to comment on this so far. he's refused to take questions about it. friday, and again on monday. but the ball is in his court. does he appeal? the state's attorney general kathleen cane says she's appeal if and only if governor corbett

asks her to do it. so can states like pennsylvania, wisconsin, north carolina, texas fend off federal challenge to their voter i.d. laws and how can the laws shape the next presidential election? i'm joined by former pennsylvania governor and current nbc news political analyst ed rendell and reid, for the "washington post," done a ton of reporting, reid, i'll get to you in a ekd is, but governor rendell, the raw politics, from governor corbett, from my perch, it looks like he's trying to make a decision here, does he apiece the republican base and appeal? or does he continue this sort of slow movement that he's been trying to move to the center, arguably the most vulnerable incumbent republican in the country for up re-election in 2014. what's your sense? what do you hear in pennsylvania, sir? >> well, it's a tough political question for governor corbett, because there's no doubt this voter i.d. law stays in effect, it's reinstated by the supreme court, in time for governor corbett's election, it will affect tens of thousands of

votes. there were tens of thousands of democratic votes that won't be cast. a lot of groups did a great job trying to comply with the voter i.d. law when it was enforced in pennsylvania, and we took that down from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands, but it could affect 50,000, 60,000, 70,000, so that's in his election. so he's got a very difficult choice, because if he appeals it, it's going to look silly and it's going, as you said, sort of undermine his attempt to move to the center, because the judge found -- and this is the key finding -- the judge found significant discrimination, significant impact, and the attorney general, and this was in governor corbett's office, when he was attorney general, couldn't cite one real example of where voter i.d. caused fraud. not one where voter i.d. would have cured fraud. not one single example. >> right. it's sort of been the debate for a long, a solution in search of a problem, has sort of been a line that a lot of us have used.

reid, you've been looking at this, and essentially now, the way it works for many laws these days, if democrats are in charge of a state, voter i.d. laws are in one area. >> yeah. >> if republicans are in charge of a state, they go in another direction, basically there is not equal protection under the law for your right to vote. >> we have a red america and a blue america in terms of voting rights over the last several years, especially since 2010 when republicans took over so many legislatures in the big wave. the overlooked story of the 2010 elections that republicans won back about one out of every ten legislative seats in the entire united states. we've seen things like voter i.d. laws cutting early voting hours, restricting absentee ballots, in states like north carolina and florida -- >> right. >> -- of course, all of the states covered under the voting rights act. in colorado and oregon -- >> you're saying, hey -- >> you think they've cemented democratic control of colorado. >> yeah, oregon and washington state were two of the most closely fought contests in the 2000 and 2004 presidential

elections, after the voter laws changed, after they went to all mail-in election, you have to wonder if in colorado where they went to all mail-in elections if that didn't tip the scales for the democrats, too. >> let me do the devil's argument to you, governor rendell, which is what's wrong with in this day and age where you have to show i.d. in many places, what's wrong with showing i.d. to vote? >> the is required under the law, even after the government tried to soften it, that i.d. simply isn't held by people. let's say you're an older 79-year-old minority woman who's never flown, so don't need an i.d. to fly, and never had a car, so doesn't have a driver as license, who didn't go to a university, so doesn't have any sort of student i.d., which is now under the law okay. where do you go? you have to go through this arduous process. you have to get on a bus or, you know, you don't have a car, get on a bus, go to a motor vehicle

licensing bureau, and apply for it. it's almost impossible to do. and then, you have to have the right name. so if your birth certificate says were you mary jones, but you're now married and widowed, and mary parker, you can't -- you have to go get another birth -- you have to have a change on your -- you have to change your name to comply with your birth certificate. it's a mess. >> look, our government i.d. laws and the way it treats women versus men, by the way -- >> pitiful. >> -- because of the name changes, it's pathetic. i can't tell you, my wife has been kicked off of planes because of this issue. it is gender discrimination on this front -- >> one of the big challenges that republican legislatures specifically are facing when they're crafting these laws is that there are a lot of polling places, and there are very few dmvs. the state of pennsylvania, for example, 7,100 polling places, and 93 department of motor vehicle vehicles where can you

go and get your driver's license, so there's a significant burden. in some cases in texas, which has 250-something counties, you have to go three, four counties away until you get to a government-run dmv. that's what a lot of the courts are citing when they say the laws place unnecessary burden. >> governor, is there a rational middle ground, by the way? this has always to me been very much about the campaigns itself. nobody seems to actually be worried about the -- what's right or wrong here. it's more of, what advantages me in an election. is there a rational middle ground? >> it's tough to think of one, because you do have the significant slice of the population that would be very, very hard for them to get voter i.d. i mean, extremely hard. a rational middle ground, you might be able to trade some sort of voter i.d. -- in pennsylvania, we're neanderthal, you can't vote by mail -- >> no early voting either. ridiculous. >> ridiculous. >> it is. governor rendell, reid wilson,

who's done a ton of work on this stuff, thank you both. i think we had a very informational conversation there. i enjoyed it a lot. thank you both. a lot of campaign updates coming up in my "hump day databank," and how the red/blue divide on abortion has changed, one of the recent developments going on, and, yet, it's, like, hello, check it out. that's my takeaway. white house soup of the day, french onion, greatest soup ever invented because of the melted cheese on it. we'll be right back. it's made with the vine-ripened sweetness of fruit, so you can serve up deliciously sweet treats without all the sugar. get recipes at intheraw.com. wow...look at you. i've always tried to give it my best shot. these days i'm living with a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. at first, i took warfarin, but i wondered, "could i up my game?"

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kohler will make your reality a dream. well, the olympic opening ceremony is 16 days away, and this morning, u.s. officials say the terror threat in sochi is the highest of any olympic games. and it's not like we haven't had terrorist incidents at olympic games in the past, by the way. president obama called president p putin to offer security help. we don't know who called who. putin says russia can handle it. u.s. competitors like

snowboarder kelly clark say they're not worried about security. >> i went to the salt lake city games after 9/11, you know, five months after those attacks, and, you know, security wasand, you know, security was tight. we're so focused on our competition and on our sport, you know, i hope moving forward at this olympics, that is the emphasis. >> several teams reported getting suspicious e-mails, by the way, but the iov says the e-mails do not contain credible threats. time for my hump day data baik, including a kinder, gentler mitch mcconnell. republican senator david vitter is trying to join that group. he launched his gubernatorial run in an online video this week. the election is in 2015. ever since those prostitution charges, by the way, the man has basically hidden himself here in d.c. from the press. be interesting if he thinks he can run a gubernatorial race

doing that in louisiana. next up, 291 days. that's how long ex-assistant secretary treasury spent in washington. now after spending more than four years in the private sector, he's announced he'll seek the republican nomination to be the governor of california. next up, number one in kentucky, senate republican mitch mcconnell has released his first campaign ad of 2014, possibly an attempt to humanize the leader, features a cancer survivor praising mcconnell for helping him recover. >> he knocked down walls for us. he helped save people's lives. mitch mcconnell gives a voice to kentucky's working families. >> trivia time. it has been more than 100 years since a u.s. senator became governor of louisiana. that person was democrat newton blanchard. he did it in 1904.

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time now for my takeaway, today's annual march for life marks the 44th anniversary of the rowe v. wade decision. in today's politics, it is much harder to be a pro choice republican or pro life democrat than it was 15, 20, or even 30 years ago. wasn't that long ago where big stars in each party, former democratic congressman was extremely critical of roe v. wade, but when he ran for president in '87, he said he would no longer support registration restricting abortion rights. on the republican side, former

president george h.w. bush began his political career in the '60s as a pro choice republican, however, he changed his views and adopted ronald reagan's conservative position on abortion when it became clear reagan would not accept bush as his vice presidential nominee if he kept his more liberal stance on the issue. as the two parties became more divided on the issue, so did the rest of the public. what do you think of yourself on the issue, and this thing goes back and forth in their last 2013 catchup, they had pro life narrowly ahead of pro choice, but it is very much on the margins. at this point, you can't be a pro-life democrat and survive a democratic party, you can't be a pro-life republican and survive the party. the parties have sorted themselves out in this way. we're never going to take the politics out of this issue. it's going to be a long time before if the politics isn't settled on this, then the legal issues aren't going to be settled on this.

this is where we are today. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." coming up next on msnbc, chris jansing. i'll see you tomorrow. in fact, they depend on a unique set of nutrients. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts as bausch + lomb. ocuvite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin. your eyes are unique, so help protect your eye health with ocuvite. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. yeah? then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check.

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i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief! and the real issue this morning is the drifting. over here basically bare ground, and look at this drift i'm walking through, this is about a two-footer. as you get out in the parking lots in town here in plymouth, we have four to five-foot drifts. >> flights cancelled up and down the eastern seaboard, so today the challenge is to get the airports and challenges to where they need to be. >> you can really feel it here on cape cod, where we have the winds picking up, gusting at 42, at times 50 miles per hour. >> a white blanket slowing down everything in the northeast. check out the apple store on new york city's fifth avenue shattered after a run-in with a snow blower. it could cost $450,000 to replace that glass. another very different, but still fragile situation, a