thomas, i learned today that you don't give louis bergdorf your credit card and a ticket to a ski resort. >> i think he need as chaperone, and i have learned today i am willing to go with him. >> i learned that robert redford puts on an incredible festival. i think i'm moving to park city. >> i learned the nbc accounting department, the people in charge of expense accounts, have an enormous sense of humor. getting away with this. i mean, free lift tickets. but anyway, that's it for "morning joe." but right now, time for chuck todd and the "the daily rundown." chuck, take it away. well, with a cloud hanging over one governor and another former future star facing an indictment, the republican party chairman hosts state leaders to talk about 2014, 2016, and beyond. the rules of the road for the presidential, the written starting today.

plus, the mayors are in town, too. find out why they are more optimistic about the economy and what they want to hear from the president later today. also, this morning, a deep dive into the presidential election commission report with the two top lawyers who delivered it to the president this week. one from team romney and one from team obama. what can be done to make voting easier and more efficient? good morning from washington, thursday, january 23rd, 2014. this is the "the daily rundown." let's get to my "first reads" of the morn. today, the republican party begins the 2016 conversation in earnest, kicking off its effort to streamline what bill a drawn-out primary process in 2012, and at the time it left the party and its eventual nominee, mitt romney, battered. at its winter meeting, they will discuss today and vote on tomorrow about whether to move back the republican convention to the summer again, june or july this time, instead of waiting until the end of august. it would also shorten the primary process and allow the

party to tap into general election funds before late august or early september, something that hampered romney. the earlier convention would also mean the primary season would end a bit earlier, perhaps late april or early may, rather than the traditional end in june. the rnc will vote on whether the final primary will take place 35 or 45 days before the convention itself. also on the agenda, the rules on how the party awards delegates. stronger penalties for states that try to jump ahead of what is now a protected big four early state calendar. the calendar proposal, that's on the table, says that iowa, new hampshire, nevada, and south carolina all would be contests that would take place in february on their own. no other states could join them. primaries that occur in the first two weeks of march would have to award delegates proportionately. and then you would have primaries that take place in the second half of march or beyond. they could make the decision to do it either proportionally or winner-take-all. in the last two presidential elections, florida, of course,

held its earliest primaries ever in an effort to gain more power on the nominating process, and they didn't get it on the democratic side. florida was punished in 2012. half of its 99 delegates were stripped, and the rnc actually stuck to it and enforced it, and the ones that did manage to make it to the convention, they were punished with hotel rooms far from the convention site. this time around, the rnc is threatening to cut florida's delegates to just 12 if the state schedules a primary before march 1st. the rnc says that is unlikely to happen this time, and back in may, after a push by florida senator marco rubio, the florida legislature passed a law at the last minute that in effect nixed the january primary. the law says the state contest will be held on the first tuesday that the rules of the major political parties provide for state delegations to be allotted without penalty. now, this year's rnc theme for the week is also called "building to victory." the rnc hopes to emphasize the

effort to grow the party by being focused on data, outreach to minority communities and what the rnc calls a permanent ground game, but though the rnc called caution when it comes to social issues, the party must in fact, indeed, be welcoming, if not, we'll limit our ability to attract young people and others, including women. this had to do with both abortion rights, contraception and gay marriage. that doesn't mean the party will back away from the abortion issue. the rnc will consider a resolution which in effect is a tactical defense against what they believe has been a successful, though unfair democratic attack, called the war on women attack from 2012. this rnc resolution states, quote, whereas candidates who stay silent on pro-life issues do not identify with key voters fail to alert voters to the democrats' extreme pro-abortion stances and have lost their elections, the republican national committee will not support the strategy of republican pro-life candidates

who stay silent in the face of such deceptive rhetoric. that's a bit of a change. you could argue that's them saying, no more pro-choice republican candidates, but wile get to that later. they chartered a bus yesterday for the march for life. rins priebus chaattended, too. the fight was on display tuesday night at the iowa caucuses. first major battle in that war over the state's republican party. governor terry branstead spent a ton of money to make the presence of establishment republicans felt at the caucuses. the strategy is to ensure that kim reynolds is nominated again. the delegates -- by the delegates at the state convention. it is also the first salvo, if you will, in the battle to retake the party, as far as branstead, from ron paul supporters. jerry speicher spoke tuesday

about the importance of the caucus process. >> i think it's huge to be involved in the party politics at the local level, because these are the people that define what the party stands for and help elect leaders for years to come. >> meanwhile, in south carolina, senator lindsey graham is fighting for his political future against four challengers. over the weekend, 600 tea partiers descended on the spring made beach resort for the south carolina tea party coalition. on monday, all four of graham's challengers appeared at a debate. because graham declined to attend, the four candidates responded to clips of him. some on television shows that the tea party coalition decided to queue up. it was clear at the debate there was only one target. it was lindsey graham. >> we've got to get out there and do the work. we do the work and we'll have a retirement party for lindsey graham. the goal should be to get 50% plus one vote amongst us all.

>> the only way we're going to change washington, change the culture, change the way they do business in d.c., is if we change who we send to washington. >> no more nominees like mccain. no more nominees like romney if we don't provide a contrast, if we go with a moderate, we're going to go down again. until that time, we need checks and balances. >> you had dick cheney saying deficits don't matter? that's the problem. so we can pointing fingers to the democrats, because they are who they said they're going to be, we disagree with them. but the republicans like lindsey graham, from 2000 and the 2008, the t.a.r.p. bailouts, they went against common sense -- >> and graham posted a video, great time shooting, at the national wild turkey federation in edgefield. as the republican state party chairs gather here in washington, there's one question on the minds of every political reporter. will we be spending christmas in des moines again in 2015 to prepare for 2016?

joining me now are the big three chairs for those presidential contests, new hampshire's jennifer horn, iowa's a.j. spikeer and matt moore, and i could individually talk to you about all of your state politics for 20 minutes, but i won't do that. let me start with i think the most fascinating things is you are protected by your state party. there's no other state trying to say, you know what, you four -- you three, and i don't have nevada's here, you shouldn't dominate. why should iowa be first? why is still the case? why do you think the rnc, other state parties are, yes, go ahead, iowa, you're first. >> i think people understand that iowa's played a traditional role in winnowing the field, and the last two presidents came out of the iowa caucuses, both president bush and barack obama won iowa. when a candidate can come to iowa, meet with our caucus goers, and dawn hall meetings across the state, they can build a network, and iowans are really open-minded to anyone.

>> you don't think it's too dominated by special interest groups because of the way the caucus process is -- why not go to a primary? it would be more open. >> if you look at the rules of the caucus in 2012, you had mitt romney with 25%, santorum with about 25 -- [ overlapping speakers ] but it's a diverse -- you know, the results show that iowans are diverse-thinking people, and they take the caucus process very serious. >> why should new hampshire be first in the nation on the primary front? >> it's important we maintain the position that that all of the early states have. it's because in new hampshire, we're a very small state. if you want to win the primary in new hampshire, you're not knocking on doors, you're sitting in people's living rooms, meeting with folks face to face. we don't want to move to a system where we're picking our president based on tv commercials. it's important we keep it in the hands of the voters as much as possible, and that's what preserving the early states does. >> i don't think wmur would want to see the end of the tv -- in south carolina, florida

obviously, has always wanted the challenge, and south carolina, they backed off. why should south carolina be the test in the south and not florida, north carolina? >> well, i echo jennifer's statements in that south carolina is the first state where a traditional test of the full spectrum of the republican party, the social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and sort of national security focus conservatives, and let's back -- >> high veteran population. >> and remember why it's important we have small states in the beginning. yes, underfunded, upstart candidates have a chance to get momentum. >> i want to talk about some of the -- all of you guys are dealing with intraparty issues in one form or the other. obviously, yours has been bigger in the news, governor, and you have not always seen eye to eye. this caucus process. how do you guys bridge this divide? >> well, anytime the party's growing and you're bringing new people in, there's going to be a little bit of pressure and contention, but in the end, i think you're going to see a grower, stronger republican party out of it, and governor branstead and i met tuesday,

just before the caucuses occurred, and we're excited about what -- >> does this split cost you money? your fund-raising has been less than it should be, and is it because there's this perception you guys aren't united? >> well, i think with some donors that could be the case. but you also have to look at, we have taken a look at how the party spends money, also. >> mm-hmm. >> and we've looked at more efficient ways to be spending moneyment now you have super pacs and c4s funding a lot of activity, political parties' roles are changing quite a bit in politics. with citizens united, they're going to continue to change. >> jennifer, there's going to be this resolution -- and i was surprised at how aggressive the rnc wants to say, if you're a pro-life candidate and you don't speak out, you're actually not doing -- it's not something rnc wants to see. they want to see pro-life candidates speak out more. new hampshire is a state, you have scott brown is a pro-choice, and scott brown may be your nominee for the u.s. senate. will you be able to vote for

this resolution, knowing scott brown might be the nominee? >> the rnc isn't going to support somebody who doesn't actively speak out on the issue. in new hampshire, the republican party in our state represents the full spectrum of republican principles. >> you think this resolution, though -- i mean, is the republican party in your view, should it say, it should be a pro-life party? >> the republican party -- the republican party is a pro-life party. that is -- it's our platform, and we stand by it. the republican party is the voice for civil rights, equal opportunity for all people, for all beings, and it's always -- the republican party has been the voice for the -- >> how does this resolution embrace scott brown? >> but, and what i want to be clear about, is that in new hampshire the republican party embraces and represents the entire spectrum of republican principles, of republican ideas. and what we want are candidates who will come to the table with us and fight for some of those core principles. remember what -- it's the

republican party that has always been the voice for the rights of the individual, but also for fiscal responsibility, for limited government -- >> so you're okay if they're not -- you're okay if one of your nominees is pro-choice republican? >> i am okay -- oh, chuck, who's going to pick our nominee for our races? it's our voters. it's the republicans in the state of new hampshire. i'm going to support whoever they choose. >> and i want to talk about the lindsey graham primary. is state party officially getting involved? are you supportive of graham -- >> we're not. the state party is not involved. as chair, i can't officiallien dors in the race, my staff, as well. we encourage diverse viewpoints in the republican party, and we believe the primaries are good for the party, they bring people in, get people involved, get them active. at the end of the day, we say left the best man or woman win. senator graham has been in congress, i think two terms in the senate, a number of years in the house. >> is he most electable general election candidate? >> i think his record on the

military issues and standing tall for the military in south carolina, i think he's a great candidate. >> -- enough for your party? >> i would characterize senator graham as being a strong advocate for a strong america, an that's what's important to south carolina. >> is he a conservative? >> i think senator graham is a conservative by the traditional definition. he believes in balanced budgets, in america's power in the world, and position in the world. >> the lieutenant governor, terry branstead, lieutenant kim reynolds, do you support the nomination -- >> i expect her -- >> do you support her? you want to see her on the ticket? >> oh, yes. i think the governor -- first of all, the governor shouldn't be involved in a forced marriage with another candidate. you need to have a team. and kim reynolds -- >> this is who he wants -- >> absolutely, the governor has someone who is the lieutenant governor. she's worked very well with him in the last four years. and she'll be a fabulous lieutenant governor for the next four or five years. >> are all three of you supportive of the early convention, doing a convention

in june or july rather than late august? >> absolutely. this agreement -- remember why year here. we're here to win elections. we're here to bring fiscally responsible leadership, not just to states but to the nation. the rules are about making it easier and more tenable for us to be able to win elections. i'm very supportive of it. >> do any of you disagree with that? >> sure don't. >> i think it's great. yeah, we have to have the finances to be able to defeat the democrats, and as soon as we can tap the general election money, that's going to put us in a stronger position. >> by the way, are you guys comfortable with las vegas as the -- as the national convention? >> i think it's a -- >> you can get some presentations. >> if we cannot have buses at the national convention -- >> you would like that? >> so tampa not so good? >> well, many of the members were on buses for hours. >> i have to ask you one quick, scott brown, hearing rumors, is it senate or is it president? >> you're going to have senator brown that question. >> what have you heard?

is it both? >> i don't speak for candidates. i don't speak for candidates. >> would you like to see him run for the u.s. senate? >> i would like to win elections in the fall, is what we're going to do. we're going to go with the candidate that the primary voters choose and we'll push them across the line. >> would you like to see him run? >> i would like to see a candidate run who can win. >> the chairs of iowa, south carolina, new hampshire, you will become very familiar faces over the next two years, thank you much. up next, mayoral matters what. can washington learn from big-city mayors? here we go again, the debt ceiling debate is back as the treasury secretary officially writes to congress saying the deadline is coming up. it's sooner than he thought. first, a look at today's "politics planner." i told you a lot of it. u.s. conference of mayors. kind of a busy day here in washington, because this is cold tourist season. it's hip-hop. for cross-country, classical.

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there's a bit of a new vibe this year at the annual winter gathering of mayors. it's a bit more upbeat, a little more hopeful about the economy. it's in direct contrast to the rhetoric we're used to hearing on capitol hill, or what we've heard the last few years. more than 280 of the nation's mayors have descended here on washington, d.c., for their annual conference. this one focused on spurring job growth. they shared new economic data, showing true economic growth across hundreds of cities over the last year. >> as we recover from this, the greatest recession, and i can tell you the tone in this conference is much different than the funeral-wake we've experienced in years past. >> we stay above the partisan bickering that often happens here in congress. we can't afford to do it as mayors. we're where the rubber meets the road, we're accountable to our

constituents, we have to make things happen, we make no excuses. >> at a time when we've been struggling to come out of the great recession, we know that the next two years show inflation adjusted real growth among almost every metro economy in our country. >> here's what we've seen in the cities -- 97% of cities suffered declining economies, up through the last year. but this past year, 356 of 363 cities are actually showing true economic growth when adjusted for inflation. the question, of course, is how are they doing it? the latest index of the best-performing cities -- it might surprise some of you. some of them are obvious. you have austin, texas, provo-orem, utah, san jose is another. all of the cities are creating their own versions of silicon valley, and right now it's

finally paying off for them. there are other mayors that hope to share ideas on how to accomplish the same thing. i'm joined by philadelphia's michael nutter and san francisco's ed lee. you guys are two of the six largest cities in the country now? six, seven? >> seven. >> seven? we'll give you that. mayor nutter, the last couple of years, gatherings of u.s. conference of mayors, have been almost pleased. you guys have come here, congress, stop fighting, we're desperate for infrastructure money, and this year, you're not coming begging? >> there are always requests and needs. as the clip showed, much more upbeat environment, nationally employment rate continues to come down, certainly in philadelphia. we're seeing the same kind of drop in unemployment. people are feeling a little better. the projected growth by ihs global insight is really music to our ears. but we still have a lot of work to do. >> and one thing that's going on, mayor lee, and in particular let's look at both of your cities, a time when people were leaving cities and you guys are seeing an economic boom, and at the same time your raw

population is growing again. >> absolutely. by several hundred thousand, in fact. and we have to accommodate for that. that's one of the challenges, our 49-square-mile city denied increase in land size at the same time. so we're building affordable housing, family housing as fast as -- >> always a huge issue in san francisco, certainly how it's priced in your city. >> the land use wars are historic. and so, we're trying to calm everybody down, and i have a 30,000-unit focus for the next years. that's aggressive. but that means, as mayors, we have to cut all the red tape, keep focus, and the public/private partnerships we've been creating to get job growth also going to help us with housing. >> now, some of the cities, mayor nut otheter, that are experiencing this growth, the economic boom, i've had some say, you know, it's just pushing poor people out of the city. and that there isn't -- this growth is not, you know, goes to the whole income inequality issue. >> right. >> is that what you feel like you're seeing in philadelphia? >> no, i think that's a false --

>> you know it's a critique? you've heard it? >> when you look at the announcement a year ago at the state of the union address, president obama talked about creating these promise zones all across the united states. >> right. >> just a couple of weeks ago -- >> philadelphia has one of them. >> -- four other cities, areas across the area, the first five promise zones, and we received one in west philadelphia, an area that has tough demographics and socioeconomic indicators, but also tremendous number of assets, when you talk about drexel, or -- >> and the concern is -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> -- the land is valuable, a developer will come in, mayor lee, and it's not about raising up the standard of living for the people that live there. it's basically shoving them out, pricing them out, and -- >> well, that's where we come in as mayors. we know what balanced growth means, and we do that more and more in our cities.

we'll offer vacant land or underutilized land, but it's our administrations that often work the magic for the developers, saying, hey, if you want this, you've got to have balanced growth. and we can't -- we've got to have good transportation systems. we have to have affordable housing on site, rather than off site. you have to have neighborhoods serving businesses. those are sustainable neighborhoods. and i know philadelphia and san francisco are alike in that, but we're getting cooperation from president obama. >> the folks that have stayed and really hung in there, i mean whether it's west philadelphia, south philadelphia, they're the heart and soul of the communities. what we explain to developers is, it really is the balanced growth. it's mixed-use. it's about affordable housing, and it's about the higher-end housing. it's about making sure that mixed-use properties, commercial on the ground floor, and residential up top. it all has to work together. that's what happens in cities. that's what mayors do. >> what do you need from the

feds this year? what do you need from president obama and congress? >> we're getting great attention. i've felt an unprecedented direct access to all of the secretaries, whether it's hhs or hud or transportation -- >> is there something you need now, you need them, like, let's stop this, we need "x"? >> we need water infrastructure support. >> okay. >> you know, we just declared a drought in the state of california. and water structure is valuable, but it's like infrastructure all across the country -- >> you need the federal government to say, this is something the state can't manage on their own? >> absolutely. and we're also going to be raising our minimum wage. we're going to be in concert with the president around talking about income equality -- inequality, as you suggested, and for us, we've got the highest minimum wage now -- >> you already have a minimum wage -- >> $10.40. we agree, we can't live on that. so we're going to explore as high as $15 an hour. >> mayor nutter -- >> and that's a national effort. investments in infrastructure, that's what we're going to be looking at. that puts people to work. [ overlapping speakers ]

>> -- a waterfront plan you are trying to develop -- >> no question. the waterfront, seven miles of waterfront, should be one of the great waterfronts in the united states of america. certainly working with the department of transportation and a number of other entities at the federal level, making those investments, puts people to work, gets commerce and traffic moving, but also creates a ult kwa of life that people enjoy. >> you meet with the president tonight. what do you -- >> i'll be talking about that, but also, there's a serious hunger problem in the united states of america. food insecurity. the s.n.a.p. program. the republicans in the house of representatives want to cut by $40 billion the s.n.a.p. program, as if americans have too much food. this is insane. we need to make sure that we're also building the homeland and taking care of our own folks here in america. >> mayor nutter, mayor lee, san francisco, philadelphia, sorry you don't have any football bets. >> we had baseball bets. >> yeah, yeah. >> we've been to some games

together. >> all right, gentlemen, thank you. coming up, the countdown to sochi, the latest on the growing fears of a terror attack at the upcoming winter games. and meet the american women who are taking a big leap forward at the upcoming winter olympics. but first, today's trivia question -- [ 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. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses,

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without risking default. speaker boehner says he agrees. the house is off this week and works only two and a half days next week. and he says not going to raise it for nothing in return. we'll see, though, if that really is the politics of that. next number. 9 million. that's about how many people started the year with new health care plans, according to hhs. however, secretary sebelius says there are still huge numbers of people who don't know and understand the affordable health care changes. and new gallup poll also showed no increase in the insurance rates of folks 18 to 34. next number, 90. that's how many years women have been locked out of olympic ski jumping. but no more! the u.s. introduced its first-ever ski jumping team, sarah hendrickson, jessica jerome and lindsay ham. daunting odds, 1 in 9.2

quintilli quintillion, the auds of filling out a perfect bracket for the men's ncaa tournament, and now billionaire warren buffett and quicken loans are offering $1 billion to anyone who can do it, and warren buffett will attend the final game with the person if they're actually perfect all the way through the final. finally, love won't keep them together after all. 39 is our next number, after 39 years of marriage, the captain and tennille are filing for divorce. the '70s singing duo issued a statement saying, almost all people natural will he evolve over time and sometimes hidden feelings start to be uncovered. one other bit of entertainment news this morning, that people are talking about, justin bieber was arrested early this morning in miami beach, florida. police say the 19-year-old pop star is being charged with a dui, resisting arrest, and driving with an expired georgia driver's license. bieber was reportedly stopped while driving a yellow

lamborghini, rented, mind you. no word on when he might be released on bail, but obviously, tmz has a big day ahead of them. the night he got re-elected, president obama promised to tackle some problems with the country's economy, and all sorts of other things but he also talked about the country's election system. >> whether you voted for the very first time -- [ cheers ] -- or waited in line for a very long time -- [ cheers ] -- by the way, we have to fix that. [ cheers ] >> well, the fix is in, maybe. we're going to talk to the men behind the recommendations to make voting easier. it's a bipartisan team of lawyers. r heartburn? yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews.

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for people to vote, and ultimately help get more americans to the polls. a presidential commission has now released recommendations to do just that. but it does sidestep some of the more contentious political issues that surround the voting process, and we see a lot of states fighting about. instead, it aims for more common sense solutions, and they came up with a takeaway, it shouldn't take any longer to vote than to get a pizza delivered, 30 minutes or less. that would be a welcomed relief to some voters who waited hours in 2012. >> in today's day and age, i think that the line is kind of crazy. i actually put on facebook that it's about the size of the new york city block wrapped around. >> i thought it would be maybe an hour at tops, but now here three hours, you know, it's worth it. >> in florida, where lines were the worst, some people waited seven hours to vote. the orlando sentinel later reported that more than 200,000 people simply gave up and went home. according to "the new york times," the average wait

exceeded 20 minutes in six states and washington, d.c. now, in his election night speech, the president thanked voters who endured the long wait and promised to fix it, and mentioned the problem again in the inaugural address and also the state of the union, and to drive the point home, he introduced the country to 102-year-old woman in florida who waited six hours to vote and promised to make sure it didn't happen again. >> when any american, no matter where they live or what their party, are denied that right because they can't afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals. [ applause ] >> during that same address, the president announced the formation of a new commission, and two political veterans from opposite sides of the aisle, robert bauer and mitt romney's

top campaign counsel ben ginsburg, and their findings offer a number of broad-based ideas to modernize and streamline the process. among them, modernizing the registration process through more and expanded online voter registration. expanding alternatives like mail-in voting and early ballots, and using schools as better polling places, and to give people more access, and, frankly, more comfortable access. on wednesday, president obama praised the badly needed recommendations. >> we've got a pretty complex system. we vote a lot. we have local jurisdictions that won these elections. and it makes things a little more complicated. the good news is that the recommendations that are contained in this commission report are imminently doable. >> the report stayed away from some of the more controversial aspects of the voting debate, like photo i.d. requirements. instead, it focused on broad-based solutions to the two

common problems, and joining me is bob bauer and ben ginsburg. gentlemen, you've done the tandems, campaign finance issues, but on election issues. ben, let me start with you, because this is -- where this becomes a partisan fight is on access to the ballot. you guys focused more on how the balloting is done and the voting procedure. why did you stay away from the photo i.d. issue? >> the photo i.d. issue is beyond the charge that the commission had. the reality of what we did is that bob and i have spent a lot of years on opposite sides of issues. we've done a lot of recounts together. when you do recounts, you see there are real flaws in the american electoral system, and there are solutions for those systems. and so, we wanted to be able to come to a bipartisan agreement on some of those flaws that need fixing as a mechanical manner to help make it better for the voter experience for all

americans. >> now, bob, one thing in the report that you guys mentioned is that, you know, right after the 2000 debacle, we had the help america vote act, hava, known in shorthand, which provided federal money to jurisdictions -- i mean, there were so many, we still had people pulling the punch cards, trying to get rid of that. but you note we're hitting the 10-year anniversary now of hava, which means we'll have new systems out of date. how will we pay for this? >> this is one of the striking findings of the commission. we heard unanimously, literally throughout the hearings we did, we're facing a major crisis in voting technology. and so, we're going to have to find the will and have the commitment to look at how we begin to set new standards and certify new technologies, and, of course, there's going to have be a major effort under way to find the money for it. >> ben, one of the -- one of e the -- i guess the good, bad things about the voting system, is it's state run. there is no federal regulator to

make sure -- i mean, you know, the fcc, kind of, congress sort of overlooks it, but nobody really oversees this process on a federal level. is that a mistake? i have the republican here and i know that's usually -- >> in our tradition for our entire existence as a country, is this is a state, and indeed, in some places a town and municipal function. and so, there's no magical wand to be waved -- >> why is it easier to vote -- should it really be the case that in oregon it's easier to vote than in florida? why should an oregonian -- american that lives in oregon have better, and then suddenly -- >> why should floridians have better weather than most of the time? there are differences between states. states believe that they're doing it the right way for their people. and that's on the ground decision making for those key decisions. it's the way we've always been as a country, and something i applaud. >> one of the things you did is you had folks from disney on your commission because the idea

was how do they manage lines. well, we know what disney's done. one of the things they've done, you can basically make it an appointment, essentially go on space mountain. is that something states ought to do, make it so you can set -- if you're working -- polls are open from 7:00 to 7:00, you know you're only going to have, you go and get a ticket in advance, you get access to the polls from noon to 1:00, is it a lines pass, a line skip? >> i'm glad you mentioned disney. we had a very good commission member, very constructive, productive commission member, who was in charge of theme parks at disney. and he introduced the commission to this sort of industrial engineering analysis that is continuously done, and we're urging in this report that because election administration ought to be viewed as public administration, the industrial engineering sort of solutions, continuous innovation -- >> big data to try to figure -- >> constantly revising ways and looking at things. and you mentioned an example. there may be a variety of ways you can provide relief from

lines and certainty to people about the time periods within which they may be able to vote, and that kind of experimentation, using good, solid industrial engineering thinking is certainly possible. >> ben, it seems another aspect of this should be, you talked about polling places are sort of a mess, and schools. frankly, this was one of the things that surprised me. i have voted in three -- been registered to vote in four different states. i didn't know two-thirds of the country didn't vote in schools. >> yeah, it is. and schools are almost uniformly the best physical locations to have polling places, especially in light of the school shootings that have taken place recently, security concerns are making some school districts rethink that. we feel -- >> you're worried that that's a mistake? >> yeah, terrible mistake, because polls are essential. as polling places, the security concerns are real, so we recommend having an in-service teacher training day on election day, so schools can be used. >> obviously, our population, frankly, is not too big to

handle voting on one day. >> yeah. >> number one, should it be a holiday? should we be doing it on the weekend? should it be almost a mandatory minimum three week on -- i mean, what is it you guys were trying to go -- >> what we were trying to do is address precisely what you suggested, which is we can't be thinking in most states -- most states don't think about election day as just that one traditional day, tuesday. and so, we urge that multiple opportunities to vote before election day be afforded to the voters. states have different views about how to provide those alternatives, but the alternatives need to be provided. >> are you with this, ben, mandatory, you should provide some alternative to election day voting that's reasonable? >> yeah, voter choice is an important aspect of all legally registered voters being able to cast their ballot. and in this day and age, out in the states, if not in the washington mindset, in the states, being able to have multiple opportunities is an important thing. >> all right. bob bauer, ben ginsburg, you

guys navigated some of the trick kwa -- tricky things. and photo i.d. also will be a big fight? >> i don't know if we punted anything. >> fair enough. >> i think we took on the charge given, and we tried to provide really data-based solutions that could affect the voting experience. >> can i welcome zachary -- >> i was going to say, you have a new title. you're a grandfather. >> the best title in the world. >> there it is. congratulations. >> better than co-chairman. >> a grandson, so the ginsburg lives on. >> and i had a grandson first, samuel, and ben's trying to be very competitive. >> he is. >> he's a role model to us younger guys. >> nor hair for mr. ginsburg. my producer is getting so mad at me. we're running out of time. with the state of the union days away, my takeaway is next and what the president faces. we want to hear from you. tell us how you'd finish this season.

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. time now, for the thursday takeaway. president obama faces a tough audience next tuesday. look at the mood of the nation this week. it turns out a large majority are dissatisfied with the federal government, concerned about the size and power. 65%. fewer than 1 in 4 americans expressed that kind of dissatisfaction. 12 years ago later almost two thirds. we're going to talk about the various reasons for why. maybe it's health care or different things, the bottom line, that's a big number. breaking down that number, 47% of democrats are satisfied, but not a majority. hovering near that 50% mark, essential the same as in 2004

however, outside the president's party, dissatisfies has only grown. shouldn't be a surprise. the independents have been falling, but both gradually. before the president proposes any large-scale government solutions, he may want to keep this number in mind. 66% are dissatisfied with the size and power of the government. that's the audience he truly faces on tuesday night. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." i think friday has finally come. coming up, chris jansing.

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sochi security, and insecurity. the white house says there's been an up tick in threats just

two weeks before the opening ceremonies. brand-new pictures of president obama works on his state of the union speech. one big topic that won't be in there because of a white house change of strategy. and justin bieber arrested. miami police say he was drinking, driving and drag racing. good morning i'm chris jansing, republicans are huddle in washington for the rnc winter meetings, strategizing for 2014. a big part of that strategy, how to block the democrats' successful ongoing narrative of the war on women. step one, get more vocal by a bores. the meeting was delayed so people could go to the march for life. and they're -- the resolution also asks the rnc to support republican pro-life candidates who fight back against democratic deceptive war on women rhetoric by pointing out the extreme positions