>> the president sees this as a year of action to work with congress where he can and to bypass congress where necessary to let folks who want to come up into the middle class. >> here's problem number two, dropping approval ratings. new numbers from "washington post" and abc show him under water. >> they are all showing something that if i'm the white house, i'm really nervous about, is to me, it's american public that's not going to tune in tomorrow. >> after the speech, the president will take to the road to tout his planned year of action. the white house planning stops in maryland, pennsylvania, wisconsin, and tennessee, but before that, he'll face reaction from republicans. that's going to be quite a few of them actually, senator rand paul preparing to give an unsanctioned response of his own, senator mike lee delivering the official tea party response, and congresswoman cathy mcmorris rodgers giving the official republican party rebuttal. nbc white house correspondent peter alexander joins me live.

what are we learning about what we're going to see or hear tomorrow night? >> i think one of the interesting points you hit on is the fear of this sort of american apathy right now. the president faces a very pessimistic america on not just the economy, but on him, congress, and political parties in general, so in this sort of his last best chance to kind of set the agenda, the next two state of the unions, the focus will heavily be on the 2016 presidential election. they are going to try to set some parameters about what they hope to accomplish in real terms, and as it's been described by advisers, they don't want to focus on what can be described as small ball, but achievable accomplishments. of course, they do that with the backdrop of the 2013 state of the union where little to nothing has come of some of the proposals then, gun control, immigration, and some others. as for the atmospherics, brian, we're getting a better understanding who will be joining the first lady in her box tomorrow night, it will include two of the faces you may be familiar with from the boston

marathon bombings, they are carlos aradondo and jeff bowman, one of the survivors of that attack there, also nba basketball player, openly gay basketball player jason collins. there will be the fire chief from moore, oklahoma, one of the first responders in the disaster that took place there in may of last year, and also a young man by the name of joey hutti, with that extreme marshmallow cannon he brought out, the president was well entertained by a while back. he was 14 then, i think right now he's the youngest intern at intel. we'll hear about the defining issues from the president, income inequality and economic social immobility, education, job training. >> cool stuff. interesting, thank you, peter. appreciate it, peter alexander live for us at the white house. here on set with me, democratic congressman from connecticut,

jim hyams. this is the president's chance to hit the reset button. came in after the second inauguration with a lot of ambition and didn't quite work out, for whatever reason. now we're going into 2014. our nbc news politics team looking at six things to expect in the address. the growing issue of income inequality, what do you want to hear tomorrow night? >> there's a lot the president needs to do tomorrow night. he had a lousy 2013, people are rightly concerned about the functionality of their government, but the term reset is a little strong. no single speech is going to dramatically improve his popularity ratings or, of course, change the nature of the majority party in the house, which has single mindedly dedicate the itself to stopping his agenda. what i hope to hear, is he going to talk about executive actions he can undertake, more than anything, he needs to continue

to pound the vision that he has for this country and that's a vision, of course, that has bipartisan support, infrastructure investment, i come from a state and region where trains are getting derailed and what not. education, by the way, as an absolutely essential way of dealing with inequality part of his theme. that vision is important. >> well, you have supported the infrastructure bank, which is something he's been positive on in the past, but quickly before i move on, there's something i want to show you from ted cruz, people who don't know your district and where you come from, fairfield county, one of your districts, one of the richest in the country, but you have bridgeport, connecticut, has had its struggles and middle-income constituents for you. what do you need to better balance serving these two crowds? >> you know, what those two crowds understand, and, of course, the president's opponents are going to say he's turning americans against each other, by the way, what the american middle class

understands is that there needs to be a system which is fair and that doesn't mean at the end of the day, and this is why the term income inequality can be problematic. nobody is seeking to achieve everybody having the exact same income. the language people understand, bridgeport, middle class, or wealthy like greenwich, we should all start with equal opportunity. your life shouldn't be determined where you were born, that's where we need to focus. >> not so much the isms of redistribution of wealth, it's equal opportunity. senator ted cruz went on tv yesterday reprising the rhetoric on obamacare. basically, i want to play a clip of it and what he thinks the president should do tomorrow night, then get your reaction. have a listen. >> obamacare's a disaster, and, you know, for the state of the union, one of the things president obama really ought to do is look in the tv camera and say to the over 5 million americans all across this country who have had their health insurance cancelled because of obamacare, to look in

the camera and say, i'm sorry. >> "the washington post" points out, "republicans hope to make the health care law a centerpiece of the midterm election message, but the polls show that it's less important issue for voters than 2010." how much do you expect that to be the central issue that is run against you? >> the more ted cruz and mike lee speak, and i understand they are both giving responses to the state of the union, the more they speak, the better off i personally am. swing voters in my district, this is connecticut, mind you, listen to ted cruz and mike lee, by the way, republicans say what in the world has become of my party. ted cruz gave a remarkably fact-free statement there. he didn't talk about 10 million americans who now have insurance for the first time as a result of obamacare. >> do you think that will be the number one thing stuck in your face? >> absolutely not. i've been -- the affordable care act has been a big part of the political environment for the last four years. what's different now versus four

years ago when the ted cruzs of the time were talking about death panels is now americans see the reality, and, of course, the reality is not unblemished. i've been saying since this law was passed there's things we should fix, but now americans are understanding a lot of people are getting health insurance, costs are coming down, there are benefits. i think it's going to be, at worst, an ambiguous political effect come november. >> congressional approval ratings what they are, executive orders, does that bother you? >> i hope the president doesn't stand in front of congress and say i'm doing this all without you. i hope he paints a vision and says join me on these things so we can get something done. the pendulum is beginning to swing. we got a budget done with a lot of votes. the environment is getting better. >> congressman jim himes, we appreciate it. >> thanks. what do you want to hear

from president obama in tomorrow's state of the union address? weigh in on twitter @bshactman or facebook. my colleague chuck todd will be speaking with minority leader nancy pelosi tomorrow on a special edition of "the daily rundown" 9:00 a.m. eastern time, and tune in, of course, tomorrow night starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern for our special primetime coverage of the state of the union address. all right, other news to get to this morning, the u.s. bracing for another arctic blast of weather. dangerous temperatures and some snow all the way to the deep south. chicago, schools are closed today as the wind chill going to be as cold as 45 degrees below zero. now this persistent cold around the country putting a strain on energy companies, as well as americans trying to heat their homes. >> we go through about three quarters of wood a year, but we're going through it quick now. >> it's our gas bill that will feel hotter because of the heating in the home. that's it, maybe 20%, 30% higher

than the year before, same time this year. >> weather channel meteorologist mike seidel live in chicago, mike, i was looking at my weather channel app and it said it's getting colder as the day goes on. classic question, how cold is it? >> well, johnny, hey, it's so cold out here, brian, it is down to 3 below zero and the wind chill now 21 below zero. you're right, it's been falling through the morning hours. the arctic front blew through last night, now we're going to break the record of 10 below zero later on this evening, and tomorrow morning's record 13 below, that's a slam dunk. you can rewrite the record book now. you heard it from me first. 18 below tomorrow morning will be the coldest morning so far this season. take a look at the snow and cold here in chicagoland. all the subject of snow, they had another 2.4 inches yesterday. it's the third snowest january

on record, just over 32 inches and so far this season they've amassachuset amassed a total four feet of snow. we've had farmer weather at times, in fact, several afternoons in january where temperatures have been around 40 or so. all the schools in the area closed today, more than likely again tomorrow, and this cold air as it heads south and heads into the gulf of mexico moisture, issues tomorrow into wind. we have winter storm watches and warnings from houston, mobile, pensacola, florida, atlanta, eastern carolinas. by the way, brian, i learned today and knew this was going to be taped, it's a lot easier to freeze an egg in january in chicago than fry an egg anywhere. there's my sunny-side up frozen egg. >> if you need protein, it's right there. that's a first, never seen an egg frozen on live tv.

get in the truck. rand paul accuses bill clinton of predatory behavior. the agenda panel will hash that one out and we're also following developing news. he was caught with crack cocaine and now he's leaving congress. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪

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comforpedic, icomfort, optimum... and wow! four years interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection. [yawns] don't miss the presidents day sale. ♪ mattress discounters some developing news we're following this hour from washington. congressman trey radel of florida confirming to nbc news he's resigning from his house seat. the first term republican was caught buying crack cocaine in november, spent a month in rehab but returned vowing not to step down. we'll continue to follow this story and bring you updates as they become available. let's look at state politics now.

in less than an hour, new jersey lawmakers said they took a new step into investigating bridgegate. the assembly and senate expect to look into lane closures and other allegations against governor christie's administration. right now the new committee's co-chair told chris jansing last hour what they are hoping to learn. >> i would hope that as we subpoena the people who were behind writing those documents, that there will be forthcomings so we can get on with the work of this committee and really find out particularly the george washington bridge issue, the big unanswered question is, who told bridget kelly to do it. >> joining me now, nicolas scuteri. this panel is going to have eight democrats, four republicans. i'll put a similar question to

you, what do you want to get out of this new committee? >> well, i think everyone wants answers to factual questions and i think the truth needs to come out, information from all people involved and that's what citizens of new jersey deserves. >> in terms of this being a national story, as well, ted cruz called the scandal unfortunate. here's what he said yesterday. >> i hope he can extricate himself. i'm certainly rooting for him to do so because i think he's an effective leader and i'd like to see him move on to governing new jersey and not being mired in the scandal. >> what was your take on the ability to govern effectively with everything going on? we know he's pulled himself back from 2016 talk, but it's a lot to handle. >> it's certainly a lot to handle. the governor has so many speedometer responsibilities and now his administration is mired in all these scandals, it's going to be a lot to handle for anybody with

all the different issues surrounding his administration at this point. >> you know, there's bridgegate, then there's the sandy aid issue when it comes to the mayor of hoboken. "the star ledger" is reporting whether she's telling the truth about her diary. the lawyer asked zimmer if she writes what happens during meetings and she said, no, the diary entries about christie were made three months before that deposition. this is a question that's come up a fair amount. what is your sense of her credibility, is this a republican effort to try to take her down, or are there questions that need to be asked? >> well, that's a tried and true type of strategy that people will always take, to attack the person that's made the accusations. i think ms. zimmer has comported herself as someone who tells the truth, who's been a reformer in her own right in hoboken and i guess only the truth will come out with respect to whether or not she had a diary for those kinds of issues when the deposition is taken. i'm aware of it but am not sure

with respect to the conversations she had with the lieutenant governor. >> just quickly, this is a question i'm curious and haven't asked you of it, which issue to you is more troubling in terms of finding out what really happened, the bridge or the sandy aid? >> well, i think all of them are very important to the people of new jersey. sandy aid are important to people who needed it and also from the bridgegate controversy, because that's a tremendous abuse of power and we can't have our government officials participating in such schemes. i've even heard of a third one, as well, going forward. >> what would that third one be? >> the third one surrounds the prosecutor's office where a former assistant prosecutor had charges that he had procured against the sheriff, who indicated they would have the charges dropped against him once the governor took office and the allegations in that are also startling, so i've understood

the committee might be looking at that issue, as well. >> all right. new jersey state senator nicolas scutari, appreciate the time and, of course, will be watching at noon. >> thank you very much. the deadly shooting at a mall in maryland, more on the gunman and how he spent the days leading up to the attack. also ahead, security in sochi, increasing concerns about keeping people safe at the olympics. kiera simmons joins us live from russia coming up. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ (dad) we lived... thanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

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report reporter megan mcgrath is at the scene with more. megan? >> reporter: good morning, brian. in just a few hours, 1:00, columbia mall will open for business again, that's just roughly 48 hours after shots were fired inside the mall, leaving two employees dead and sending shoppers scrambling for cover. police are still trying to figure out the motive behind all of this, why 19-year-old darion aguilar brought a shotgun and a backpack with homemade explosives to the mall. so far, investigators have not found any connection between aguilar and the two victims, brianna benlolo and 25-year-old tyler johnson. while the motive is unclear, we are learning more about the gunman. on saturday, the day of the shooting, aguilar's mother reported him missing. there was a journal found at his home. police aren't releasing much information, they will only say that aguilar expressed general unhappiness with his life in

that journal. we are also learning that the shotgun used in this was bought legally about a month ago. now over the weekend, police used canine units to sweep the mall. no other explosives were found, so the all-clear was given and the mall decided to open at 1:00 this afternoon. there are two memorials to the victims set up here at the mall, and grief counselors will be on site to help anyone who may need to talk about what they saw or how they are feeling. we are expecting a large police presence when the doors open at 1:00. in columbia, maryland, megan mcgrath, brian, back to you. >> thank you, wrc's megan mcgrath. let's take a look at stories topping the news now, a texas hospital has obeyed a court order to take marlise munoz off life support. "the munoz and machado families will now proceed with the somber task of laying marlise munoz's

body to rest and grieving over the great loss that's been suffered." a cruise ship is on the way to port today, trip cut short after passengers and crew members became ill with a possible norovirus. crew officials said they'll take the extra dock time to thoroughly sanitize the ship. a penn state college student is accused of building weapons of mass destruction in his apartment. police were investigating a possible marijuana growing operation when they say they found homemade bombs and bomb making material. the student from russia claims he was going to detonate one of the bombs in a remote field. let's get our justin bieber update, his mentor usher has joined him in panama. bieber was also spotted at a panama beach with chantel jeffries, who was riding shotgun when bieber was arrested in miami beach for the dui last week. let's go to the big winners at last night's 56th grammy awards, deft punk, album of the

year, plus their single "get lucky" named record of the year, and best album. but those wins were slightly overshadowed by pharell's tremendous hat. that's right, it tromted arby's to tweet, hey, can we have our hat back? take a look at the hat. by the way, to my shame, the twitter parody has more followers than i do this morning. i had to say it, it's true. one of the most buzz worthy moments happened when the album of the year was announced. now look closely. >> and the grammy goes to -- random access memories, deft punk. all right. did you see taylor swift, first millisecond of that?

maybe going to be read in the name of her album. we always bust on taylor. my dad and my daughter are huge fans. we'll be right back. this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ [ male announcer ] that's handy. [ male announcer ] can't take a sick day tomorrow. [ coughs ] [ male announcer ] so he can't let a cold keep him up tonight. vicks nyquil. powerful nighttime 6 symptom cold and flu relief. ♪ ♪ make every day, her day

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oh, are we early? [ male announcer ] commute your way with the bold, all-new nissan rogue. ♪ blast from the past. senator rand paul slams the clintons by bringing up the lewinsky scandal. and the so-called war on women, senator paul says women are actually winning. those are today's topics for our agenda panel. joanne reid, igor volsky, and sheera center. i know you've seen it, but let's bring everybody up to speed on rand paul bringing up monica lewinsky, when asked whether bill clinton's relationship with lewinsky can be fair game if hillary ran.

>> one of the workplace laws and rules that i think are good is that bosses shouldn't prey on young interns in their office, and i think really the media seems to be given president clinton a pass on this. he took advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office. there is no excuse for that, and that is predatory behavior and it should be something we shouldn't want to associate with people who would take advantage of a young girl in his office. this isn't having an affair, i mean, this isn't me saying, oh, he had an affair, we shouldn't talk to him. someone who takes advantage of a young girl in his office? >> what's he trying to do here? >> i'm really not sure. i don't understand, if you're trying to argue that the republican party does not have a war on women, i don't know how you should do that by saying you should judge hillary clinton of her husband, his behavior. that doesn't sound like you're taking hillary clinton seriously, number one, and number two, trying to relitigate

the 1990s, at the height of impeachment when the report came out, bill clinton's approval ratings were in the high 60s, impeachment and republican attacks only made him more popular, and thirdly, bill clinton is actually popular with conservatives because they look at the economic in the '90s favorably. it's hillary clinton he should be focused on, not her husband. >> what are your thoughts? >> one thing we know for sure, there are a lot of unknowns about 2016, but one thing we know is bill clinton is not running, he's not going to be elected. why go there? focus on hillary, and, look, this also is very problematic for his brand. this is a guy who kind of builds himself as an independent, as a free thinker who doesn't fit into the republican molds, so the idea he would go after bill in the way republicans did, what, 16 years ago, i think, is really problematic for him. >> he's trying to discredit hillary, but i want to go to senator dick durbin who defended hillary and echoed a lot of what

you said just now. let's take a quick listen. >> and the issues that were raised by my colleague senator paul have been litigated in the public square for over a decade. for goodness sakes, let's judge hillary clinton based on her talents and her vision of america, should she choose to run for president. >> as uncomfortable as it is, is there any validity to character judgments that can be made to what paul was saying? >> i don't think so. look, i'll also respond to his attack on the media saying we're giving bill clinton a free pass on it. yes, we don't tend to cover things that happened 15 years ago. it's just not how we operate. i think any newspaper that would run a story along those lines connecting hillary clinton to monica would be laughed off the media landscape. it's ridiculous. >> you basically talked about how bill clinton isn't that unpopular with conservatives anyway. if rand paul wanted to go after hillary, how should he? >> well, i mean right now

hillary clinton is sort of the punching bag for the right when it comes to the issue of benghazi. that's been the traditional way they've gone after her. this is a novel approach trying to get at her through her husband, and again, the republican base is largely male. they do much better than democrats among men. i'm not sure that this is an argument that resinates with men, first of all, attacking the husband and really when you drill down to the issue with hillary clinton, what happened right after impeachment, you know, besides bill clinton becoming more popular, hillary clinton got elected to the united states senate. she actually became more popular, including with a lot of people who were the traditionalists who saw her staying in her marriage as actually a good thing. is he saying he's now not for people staying in their marriages? i'm really not sure where he's coming from, and again, this is the past, and so far in the past it's not relevant anymore. she's been secretary of state, united states senator, she has a record. >> if these were issues we should be paying attention to,

they would have derailed either of those. >> exactly. >> the war on women thing we want to transition into, because what we heard and mike huckabee, there's a lot to talk about here. he talked about women winning the war on women. let's hear that one, as well. >> this whole sort of war on women thing, i'm scratching my head, because if there was a war on women, i think they won. you know, the women of my family are incredibly successful. i have a niece at cornell vet school and 85% of the young people there are women in law school, 60% are women, med school, 55%. >> like five people said to me today when they talk about, well, they don't talk about the starting salaries when they get out of vet school, do they? it's easy for him to say, obviously, compared to the rest of the country, not saying he's a 1%-er, but lives a much easier life than most americans. >> right, and across the country women don't make as much as men in terms of the dollar.

and also i think generally this is part of the republican struggle to redefine women's issues, right? and the war on women he's referring to, his general definition of the war on women is certainly not the definition that democrats put out in the 2012 election cycle and has come to dominate what those words really mean, which is a legislative battle mostly over reproductive rights. >> it's funny, i'm uncomfortable saying the term, war on women. just there's something about it that makes me uncomfortable. igor, from a male perspective, how do you view what was said in the conversation we're having? >> well, on one hand it's very strange to hear somebody like rand paul not be able to extend his view of the world beyond his family, so if the people in his family are doing well, that means everyone is doing well, but i think if this war was really won, as he said, you'd have republicans and democrats at the table talking about things like universal pre-k, about making sure there's pay equity, about paid sick leave.

that's really winning the war, to make sure everybody has an equal opportunity and women aren't penalized in the workforce for having children and a family and so on and so forth and making it easier for them to do those things and fill dual roles. of course, that's not the conversation. the conversation is how do you make it harder for women to have access for abortion and birth control. so the more i think, and you may be uncomfortable with the term, but the war is still ongoing. >> 39 to 40 years after griswald beat connecticut, war v. wade, which was in 1973, we're relitigating the issues of access to abortion and contraception. you've had more than 200 separate laws passed restricting abortion rights in this country. the house of representatives has done almost nothing else but attempt to pass abortion bills even though they know they were going nowhere in the senate and not signed by the president, so this obsession with abortion,

contraception, restricting women's rights is the reason why democrats talk about a war on women, because of the legislative activity of rand paul's own party. >> makes you a little cynical about the long-term rhetoric of obamacare, too, this has been years and years and we're still talking about these things. guys, we appreciate. igor volsky, joanne reid. by the way, huge, fist bump on that one. congratulations, she's getting her own show on msnbc. it starts february the 24th, so go get to work. >> all right. >> congratulations. >> thank you so much. today's producer pick, stick around, very funny. jonah hill hosted "snl," help from his "wolf on wall street" costar, it's funny, can't show the whole thing, but we'll give you a snippet. >> remember when we were on set and i would get really nervous? >> yeah, yeah, yeah, i remember. >> can we do the thing we always

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>> that was virginia attorney general mark herring announcing last week that he will not enforce the state's ban on same-sex marriage, because he believes it is unconstitutional. now his decision putting pressure on other democratic attorneys general in eight states that currently have bans on same-sex marriage. david freelander wrote about this, thanks for being on the program. just quickly, is the pressure, how real is it, and is the pressure to follow suit? >> you know, i think the pressure is real. obviously, it fedepends which state you go to, but every time i do one of these stories, there seems to be less democrats against gay marriage from when i finish reporting. >> tell me this, though, attorney general in the states that have democratic attorneys general that are more conservative states, the pushback is that, listen, the job is to uphold the constitution, and if there is a change to the constitution, they need to go by the law. they can't selectively choose what to represent. >> it depends, in places like virginia and, i think, in

pennsylvania and illinois, the attorneys general there decided the state constitution was out of sync with the federal constitution, so they are sort of appealing to a higher power. >> arkansas spokesman for democratic attorney general said when it comes to same-sex marriage, "the attorney general's office is carrying out its responsibility to defend the arkansas constitution in pending court cases and will continue to do so." however, attorney general mcdaniel himself opposes discrimination of any kind." i guess in a state like that, what do you think will happen? will legislature change things, or will he change his mind? >> well, obviously, he would prefer something to be on the ballot for the state to change things. it does put these guys in a tough spot and that often is their answer. i think that would be where he would like to see things go. >> 33 couples, including same-sex couples, were married at the grammy awards last night, just have a quick look.

>> by the power bested in me by the state of california, i now pronounce you a married couple! ♪ ♪ open your heart to me baby >> you talk about how every time you do a story there are more democrats that are for it and few are against it. i mean, how much is the general consensus of the tide shifting going to have an impact on here moving forward? >> i think tremendously. even the democrats in deeply conservative states, if i did this story a year ago wouldn't say what they said now, which is i support same-sex marriage or also want to do my job and defend the constitution. >> good piece. very provocative, we appreciate it, david freelander of "the daily beast." thank you. >> thank you. senator john mccain, not conservative enough for republicans in his home state. it's now time for the poly side bar. arizona's republican party formally censuring mccain calling his voting record,

"disastrous and harmful." the party spokesman said the state gop will not take further action, who is currently considering seeking a sixth term in the u.s. senate. congressman steve cohen is going on the record, he will not be tweeting during this year's state of the union. he made headlines last year when he tweeted to a young woman during the address, who he thought was a daughter, paternity test proved he wasn't his daughter after all. andrew jackson hosted an open house at the white house and it featured a 1,400-pound block of cheese. i can't get past this, that's a lot of cheese. something that was spoofed on the tv show "the west wing." they introduced the idea with this spoof video with "west wing" actors. >> how did you get this number? >> oh, melinda gave it to me. >> is that jay carney, is this about the cheese? >> yeah, why am i working with

you again? >> put him on speaker. hey, jay. >> what's up, molina? >> look, i think the white house having a big block of cheese day is a great idea. >> i don't think they are going to have the cheese, though. i think it's just a branding issue here. you can submit your questions on the web. the white house website or on twitter, use th the #askthewhitehouse. we'll be right back. r back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month.

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getting quite candid during a question and answer session after speaking at the national auto dealers association in new orleans. she said it felt like she held her breath for 30 minutes during the raid on osama bin laden's compound and then she told the audience, her biggest regret. >> my biggest regret is what happened in benghazi, it was a terrible tragedy losing four

americans, two diplomats and now it's public so i can say to cia operatives, losing an a.mbassadr like chris stevens who was one of our best -- >> she also responded to bob gates' new book saying the real takeaway is how gates ended up admiring bush and obama. we asked and you answered. what do you want to hear from president obama in tomorrow's state of the union address? arthur tweeted he wants the president to speak about accomplishments and direct this country to strengthen through stronger unions and robin weighed, in the potus not blaming everyone on the right. he needs to man up. from sweet sugar momma, that was her twitter handle, did not make it up. i wanted to say that with confidence, craig? i could go in a different direction. if she tweeted us, i want to hear clear strategy on how to get rid of as many republicans as possible.

of course, keep the comments coming on twitter or on facebook. a mystery in the country of italy, a relic containing drops of pope john paul ii's blood has been stolen from a church. it was stolen sometime on saturday. since other relics were left hipd they believe the thieves were specifically going after this one particular item. let's go to the olympics, the torch made its most dangerous stop today to russia's dagestan region. the scene of two deadly blasts. they moved the ceremony inside a soccer ceremony and repeated threats are drawing more caution from lawmakers here in the u.s. >> i cannot give them 100% guarantee. these are going to be very much threatened olympics, probably more than any we've had in our past, more than greece and

certainly more than london and china. >> i would say the security threat to the olympics, this particular olympics and greatest i think i've ever seen because of the proximity of the terrorist to the olympic village. >> let's cross over to nbc's keir simmons, you're on the ground, what's the mood there? >> reporter: well, the truth is not frightened, brian, there are lots of volunteers here now and they seem enthusiastic, maybe even you could say starting to get a little excited. perhaps some of the reasons why there isn't a sense of fear because this area is on lockdown really. it is surrounded by a ring of steel and very well policed. there is a little security here and also i guess because russians are used to the threats of terrorist attacks, they do happen in this country on a semiregular basis.

so there is a certain kind of understanding of it, i suppose. but then again, there is as you mentioned concern in other areas where the olympic torch has been taken through deg stagestan. >> not knowing the city well and seeing the layout because i'm going there on friday and be there for three weeks. when walk the streets in the afternoon, are there tourists there already or just literally russian people getting ready and nbc people getting ready to broadcast it then it's kind of empty? >> reporter: it's people getting ready. as i said all of these volunteers who have arrived, there are lots of them now, young people, young russians using, sometimes limited english, they are trying and at the same time there is also a slightly surreal sense, brian. in the background here before we came on air, they were playing try skov ski preparing for the opening ceremony.

there is every day more and more of a sense that they are getting ready for people to arrive but at the same time, at the moment the streets are quiet because the people aren't here yet. >> be safe. nbc's keir simmons live in sochi. we appreciate it. that wraps things up for me. craig melvin will pick things up right after the break. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life.

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(dad vo) i want her to be safe. so, i taught her what i could and got her a subaru. (girl) piece of cake. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. to manage your money.r guy around 2 percent that's not much, you think except it's 2 percent every year. go to e*trade and find out how much our advice and guidance costs. spoiler alert. it's low. it's guidance on your terms not ours. e*trade. less for us, more for you. good monday, i'm craig melvin, it is high noon and busy high noon at that. live developments are expected during the hour in trenton where lawmakers will take the next step in their investigation into chris kriflt christie, who by the way will be hosting the super bowl this week. it's time to put the finishing touches on what will be a high stakes state of the union, make no mistake. this maybe be the president's

last best chance to outline the second term agenda and rand paul is making waves for his take on the war on women with a swipe at the clinton, this as we get fresh sound from hillary clinton just moments ago. >> i would be neglect if i didn't ask, what are your plans for 2016? you know i had to ask. >> you did and i have to say i don't know. not a very satisfactory answer. >> we've gotten used to that answer. right now you're looking live at the new jersey general assembly meeting, again, right now to merge the separate investigations into bridgegate into one joint committee with subpoena power, lawmakers are looking to get to the bottom of the lane closures and the allegations of abuse of power as well. we will have much more on that straight ahead. first though, it is once again a

high stakes week for president obama getting ready for state of the union address tomorrow night after a tough year. the president will be going before congress and the nation with half of the country questioning leadership on the eve of the state of the union address, 50% disapprove the job the president is doing and 46% approve and the end of the clock is ticking with 2016 dominating the political discussion. our power panelists, susan bell del percio and we are looking at what could be the last best chance before he's drowned out by the midterms and 2016. what does he need to do tomorrow night? >> he needs to take advantage of the opportunities to set his own agen