rock studios. ice and snow, frigid temperatures from the midwest and the great lakes, straight down to the carolinas, georgia, and even texas will not be spared. houston's preparing for its second winter storm watch in just five days. minnesota's used to cold wind chills, but minus 43? that's just ridiculous. this deep freeze is cancelling flights and trains, not to mention classes for some pretty happy school children, their not so happy parents. we found wendy in chicago, and temperatures are approaching 10 below. can you feel your toes? >> reporter: toure, only when i go to the facilities. we're at chicago's navy pier, and it's usually bustling with tourists and locals, but we've been inside to use those facilities a couple of types, and it's basically empty, because no one wants to go out and brave this polar plunge, round two. this morning, would he did see the coast guard ice cutter, however, break through the sheets that are coating lake

michigan. they do that to protect the boats and ships that are huge tourist attractions in the warmer months. and since most parts of the midwest won't climb past zero for the next couple of days, staying warm out here is a big concern. 24 states have declared energy emergencies due to a shortage of propane gas and firewood. that's not good news, since we basically have two more months of winter left to go. mother nature isn't sparing other parts of the country. this frigid air mass is moving to the northeast, as well as the deep south. and the next couple of days, you guys at 30 rock, don't get too comfy in the chairs. it won't be warm outside much longer. >> a fair warning, wendy. i have to ask you, have you ever felt this cold before? >> reporter: you know what? that is a fair question. i really don't think i have. i certainly wouldn't be standing out in it for some 19 hours at a time if i wasn't getting paid for it.

but i'm from texas originally, so this is pretty much as cold as i've ever felt. >> wow. >> all right, wendy. >> reporter: again, i wouldn't -- i wouldn't recommend it if you aren't getting paid for it. >> we will stay inside, as much as humanly possible. wendy at chicago's navy pier. thank you so much. get back inside soon. meteorologist jared is following the storm from kare in minneapolis, where the expected wind chill will hit 43 below. jared, what you got? >> it's so cold here, we wear our jackets and our hats inside. >> oh. >> we throw the dress code out the window, especially here on a monday. yeah, i forecasted 8 below for a high today. we're actually at a balmy 7 below. wind chill values still about 30 below zero, and air temperatures in the teens below zero, and we've got that wind chill warning through noon tomorrow. wind chills likely pushing 40 below again tonight with actual air temperatures at 20 below. a lot of area schools closed today, and a lot of parents asking me today, are we going to

close again tomorrow? and the answer, probably is yes, because it's going to be cold tomorrow, as well. looks like we get above zero probably on wednesday. so a good two and a half days below zero again. this exact same thing happened three weeks ago to the day. so here we go again with this type of air, at least the sun's out. we have that going for us. but it's certainly cold up here in the upper midwest. >> all right, jared, on a casual monday. thank you for that report. super bowl sunday will also live up to this year's slogan, best served cold. and really that is the official slogan this year. 38 degrees is expected for kickoff. the record low for any super bowl was 39 degrees when it was held 42 years ago in new orleans tulane stadium. and ticket prices were a lot lower then, too. sunday's game is the first outdoor super bowl in the cold weather climate. right now, there's no snow, sleet, rain predicted for game day, but as we know, predicting the weather six days out is an iffy proposition. the teams are here acclimating

to the bitter conditions, but players say they are ready for anything. >> i'm used to the cold. you know, it's going to be aleme had a few cold games. >> we'll be prepared to do what it takes to win, and protect the football and plays. and hopefully it snows, that would be fun to play the xlviii in the snow. >> i can't imagine russell wilson in particular saying, it would be fun doing this in the snow, because if we get the cold, snowy, perhaps rain, windy day, that favors the team that's able to do more running. that will affect the game. >> sounds like seattle to me. >> right. the denver broncos need to be able to throw, and if the elements and the number-one defense in the nfl is sort of attack that, then you have russell wilson, who's able to run, and marshon lynch, pretty much unstoppable, so the elements and the seattle defense seems to suggest to me that we're going to have a seahawks victory. >> your seahawks. >> these are the seahawks from

seattle, washington, d.c. >> i didn't know any of that what you just said. [ laughter ] i haven't seen any games this year. earlier this weekend -- >> they're exciting, fun to watch team. >> and they're from seattle, which i love. i was saying to someone, i haven't watched a game all year but i'm thinking of sitting down and watching the super bowl on sunday, because my seahawks are in it. and i was told that the super bowl is not sunday, this past sunday, yesterday. it's actually next sunday. they give them, and abby, they give them a week off from that game that got them into the bowl, they get a week off, so that weekend, no super bowl. it's next sunday super bowl, and i am -- hold on, toure, and i am rooting for seattle. >> are you a fan of the seattle supersonics? >> well, they're not in seattle anymore. >> oh, you know that! >> wow. >> nice. nice, ari. what's even more sad about your story is the person you were talking to is me, that i knew that and you didn't.

[ overlapping speakering ] we had a very amursing, ari, krystal, talk football in the office. >> what is football? when is football? >> it's interesting, you have to think about -- >> why is football? >> -- about the people that actually go to these games in the weather that we're talking about. this could very well be the coldest super bowl ever, right, the coldest was 39 degrees or something around that. >> would you go if you had tickets? >> i have to say, i -- i -- i actually prefer sitting on the couch snuggled up, making chips, ca queso, and maybe it's just me, but i have a hard time appreciating the moment, because all can think about are the frozen hands, numb toes. >> i'd go. i would go. >> i think it is pronounced queso. >> i'm sure you would. this is four hours we're talking about. getting anywhere at the super bowl is going to be problematic, talking traffic.

>> it's part of the whole game. go early and failgate. mart of the whole theme. you have to have fun. >> a highly nuanced view. i'm rooting for snow. that will make the game more exciting, fun to watch yeah, whatever, and i will watch. i used to be really into football, but i just don't have time to follow it, and i don't like it so much that i can watch it and enjoy it if i'm, not, like, into the game. so i'll cheer for seattle. >> you have to cheer for seattle. >> i think the warm-weather game is usually going to be the better game, the more interesting game. >> i don't know. it's more fun and unpredictable. if i had a ticket, i'm with you, abby, even if it's 70 degrees, it's more enjoyable to watch the games from your living room. you can get the smart commentary. someone can tell me what i should be thinking about this. >> will you be lick my mom and refuse to let your boy play football? >> i was going to say, i want my kids to play indoor sports. >> i worry about the draw mraumn

injury. i don't think high school football is that big in new york city. >> no, it would take him a while to get to a level where he would be risking a lot, even though there are some hits -- >> i don't think i would let him play. >> really? >> yeah. what do you think? >> well, you know, the way my son is right now, i wouldn't want him to play, because i think he would hurt the other kids, he would run them over, and would take joy in running them over. >> it's a good outlet. >> protecting the city from hendricks -- >> he plays college football and he's had injury after injury for years and now potentially not going to be able to play for the junior, senior year, and i watch that, and i don't know if i want that for anybody. >> we're talking about the extraordinarily high level of game we'll see on sunday, ari. >> on sunday. >> two best teams in the league. this is going to be an extraordinary game. especially if the cold does not constrict their ability to actually throw and make these catches. >> well, the other piece to this, we've been talking about seattle, a big time for my

hometown of seattle. and you have macklemore this weekend cleaning up. i know we'll get to that later. when you look at seattle dominating in a sport i don't know a lot about, and then having a rapper dominating in a field that i do know something about -- >> a white rapper. >> i'm a big badminton expert. >> -- seattle is really the town of the year, i think we'd have to say it. >> i'd like to think so. and i also think it's about the per capita thing, right? seattle is a relatively small town. it's about a million people. and here we are projecting cultural and -- >> right. >> -- and sports. >> and really, and the seattle seahawks. >> a big credit the seahawks, the 12th man. they have the best fans in the game. they are the loudest. they make that stadium impossible to play at. >> yeah. >> so seattle, i mean, everybody wants to take a part in their team getting to the super bowl, the nba championships, whatever. the seattle fans are definitely part of this mix, so they could pat themselves on the back. >> you know what, toure, i have a feeling, next year, it will be the redskins next year.

next year is going to be their year. >> i don't think it will be the team from washington. >> it will happen. >> anytime in the next decade. up next, the president is putting the finishing touches on the state of the union address, which will be tomorrow night. the most important speech of the year until his next most important speech of the year. "the cycle" rolls on. it's monday, january 27. and five simple whole grains, new multigrain cheerios dark chocolate crunch is breakfast... with benefits. start your day with a delicious new crunch. healthy never tasted so good. we're gonna be late. ♪ ♪ ♪ oh, are we early? [ male announcer ] commute your way

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we are on the eve of the president's state of the union speech, and as far as speeches go, the president has his work cut out for him. let's take a look at the latest "washington post"/abc news poll.

only 37% think he has answers for our nation's problems. and if you think that's bad, 72% think the dems in congress have little or no clue. and if you think that's bad, 80% think the republicans are lost. and only one issue, fighting terrorism, is the president doing better than worse. so can the president say anything tomorrow night to change any of this? well, we want to check the feeling of washington, and no one says touchy-feely on the cycle more than one man. >> oh, yeah. >> yes, here he is. >> yeah. >> oh, boy. >> love the "washington post" -- >> touchy-feely? >> our touchy-feely correspondent. >> is that legal? >> yes, it is. >> it's just not accurate. it's legal. >> in most states. >> talk to hr later. i'm sure he will. dana, the number in this latest poll that i find most problematic is this 37%, only 37% have confidence in president obama to make the right decision for the future of the country. not a place i imagine that he wants to be in the day before the big speech. that's the mood of the country. but give us a sense of the feeling about the speech in washington.

>> well, i think people are saying that this is the president's sort of last chance to gain some sort of momentum rather than living in this p perpetual lame duck status, and the only way for the president to get back on top of the agenda is succeed in repealing the 22nd amendment, removing the lame duck status -- >> that's what i'm hoping he goes for. go big or go home. >> yeah, particularly with this republican congress, love to see that. >> yeah. >> you know, he's very limited now. he is a second-term president. the republicans in congress have no interest in doing anything with him. the one bit of good news in this "washington post" poll for the president is that republicans in congress are doing so much worse. 19% -- >> yeah. >> -- of the public overall thinks they will make the rigco. but 36% of republicans think republicans -- republican

leaders will make the right decision, so two-nirds of republicans say the republican lawmakers are not doing the trite thing. that's the president's one advantage. the other guys are even worse. >> that must be the only advantage, because i didn't see many others in there. >> oh. abby! >> ouch. >> i had to dig deep for that one. >> this will be the year when you unveils the secret communism, atheist, muslim agenda. >> yeah, he make it is official. >> yeah. [ laughter ] >> in all seriousness, we're hearing is the president going to be shifting the focus more on income inequality and making more proposals in terms of what can be done before that? politico had a piece about what liberals want to hear, and two things they high lighted which i agree with, is the president could issue an executive order now raising the pay of government contractors, so lifting the minimum wage that government contractors earn, and another piece is highlighting how important unions and labor

is to driving -- getting income equality under control, which is something that's been off for democrats to talk about for a while now. do you think we'll hear any of that in the speech? >> i think we will. the question is, how much of the speech will be that? will it just be the usual laundry list? i hope it's not that, because then the president doesn't come away with any serious focus. but he's really got a populist issue on the income inequality. yeah, executive's orders are a piece of it. he has to take it to the house republicans. go after them on the unemployment insurance and say he's there to fight and stick with it. you know, the question is, is it just going to be such a laundry list that people pick on individual issues that they care about or don't. can he actually open up some sort of a populist front and really rally people against his opposition in congress? >> well, one of the few legislative things that a lot of people think may possibly, could

happen this year, is immigration reform. you're already seeing folks saying, hey, let's get tea party congressmen to perhaps shepherd this thing, like justin amash or jason, and maybe we'll be able to push this thing through congress. of course, as you already said, republicans don't want to give obama any major victories, especially this late in his presidency. so the more the president pushes for this sort of a then, and the immigration reform in the speech, the more republicans -- republicans will say, wait a minute, we don't want to help him on this, so -- >> right. >> -- how does the president walk that tightrope on immigration? >> no, and that's been a perpetual problem here, in that republicans will be in support of a particular policy up until the exact moment that the president endorses that policy. >> right. >> right. >> and then the opposition begins. so particularly with immigration reform. so we were talking a moment ago about the need for him to fight on these populist principles, fight nor the middle class, for the little guy. on immigration, where it's that rare issue where congress actually looks like they may be able to come up with something on their own, this is a case

where he may want to step back. so that part of it is rather delicate. i don't think he's going to want to launch a new fight with the republicans there, because it is the one achievable thing over the next 10 months. >> yeah, dana, we know one thing that's likely to come up is voting rights. the president mentioned the last state of the union, a commission he has on it, which put out a report last week. i was interviewing attorney general eric holder about that, and voter i.d. listen to what he said on thursday. >> the reality is that all the studies show that this whole question of ballot integrity, in-person voter fraud simply does not exist to the extent that would warrant these kinds of measures. we had the commission of the president appointed, and they indicated this was not a significant -- is not a significant problem. and so, i think we've come up with a remedy in search of a problem. >> that's the president's top cop speaking about going after voter i.d. abuse, which he's already done. do you see the obama

administration or the president going that far potentially in the state of the union? >> well, he absolutely should be getting into this issue, and maybe we can yet have, again, another case of samuel alito talking about to the president from the front row during this. >> yeah. >> and making objections. he should bring up the supreme court's decisions on that. he should point out that even republicans have spoken out about the importance of restoring the important parts of the voting rights act. so that is definitely a piece of where the president should be and the politics should be fairly easy for him on that one. >> all right, touchy-feely, as always, great to see you. >> yeah. >> don't tell anybody that. >> don't tell anybody, just between the five of us? okay. >> off the record, totally. >> all right. what do you think the state of our union is? submit your answer #sotu is. head to msnbc to see other responses. watch the special coverage

tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern with rachel maddow and chris matthews. and make sure you do not miss that. and up next, there were plenty of surprises and great performances including one last night at the grammys, and we'll have that coming up next. [ female announcer ] hands were made for playing. legs, for crossing. feet...splashing. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill, not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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developing news, tops the "news cycle." trey radel who pleaded dpilty to cocaine possession in november is resigning from congress effective 6:30 tonight. in a letter to john boehner, radel wrote, i have dealt with those issues on a personal level. it is my belief that professionally i cannot fully and effectively serve as a united states representative. radel returned to work in washington earlier this month after taking a leave of absence and entering rehab.

he had vowed to stay in office, but state republican leaders had urged him to step down. a royal caribbean cruise ship is making its way home to new jersey two days early after more than 600 passengers and crew became seriously sick on board. doctors believe the outbreak was caused by the common noro virus. royal caribbean is promising to compensate the passengers. the cost of sending a letter just got a little more expensive. for the sixth time in the past seven years, the cost of a stamp has risen, this time from 46 cents to 49, and it's the largest single hike in more than a decade. postal service is trying to make up for the $5 billion loss last year. another reason to just buy forever stamps already. >> indeed. the "news cycle." a few months ago during a break in this show, krystal turned to me and said -- >> have you heard this song "rowells" because it's really awesome. >> and last night, lorde won song of the year, from a massive

group marriage, where couples were pronounced married by queen latifah and casey mussgravesang about marriage equality. ♪ the grammys are mostly about the performances and the show started with mr. and mrs. carter showing us how "drunken love" they are, and this moment was so powerful, because they're so in love, so steamy, and just awesome. we feel like they've grown up in front of our eyes from jay-z, a little hustler doing "reasonable doubt" and beyonce a little girl from houston and destiny's child and become superstars and become a couple, and now, of course, they're parents. and just to see them in this moment, the love and the

connection between them, it's so obvious to me, because i watched it three, four times. >> beyonce is so sexy. >> so beautiful. >> gorgeous. >> she's one of the most confident women out there in that industry today. >> and i love when jay-z got a grammy and he said, hey, blue, daddy got a sippy cup for you. and also happy to see daft punk get record of the year and album of the year. they're really smart guys, been around for a long time. they make great music. they're not really robots. they just play those in the music business, and they are extraordinarily smart guys. so kudos to them. >> someone who went home empty handed, t. swizle, actually up -- >> who? >> taylor swift, up against -- >> there's a moment that kendrick lamar was performing and i saw t. swizle dancing, and i thought, that's how abby -- >> she is -- >> what are we seeing on the screen? >> she thought she won for best album of the year be even her

parents, i think her dad next to her, thought she won, they sound similar, "red" and "random access memory." so understandable. she always has a surprised look on her face, i can't believe it's me, but clearly thought she won there, and awkward, and that will live on the internet forever, unfortunately. i will give her kudos, because she gave a beautiful and classic performance, singing one of her hit songs, did it in a beautiful down, playing piano, which is tough to do, not only on national tv, but that crowd is huge, the most talented musicians and she proved you can be classy, you don't have to wear a leotard twerking all over the state to, you know, give a good performance and have people talking about it. >> if she did wear a leotard and twerk we would talk about her more. >> yeah, and whose fault -- >> it's your fault, abby. >> as toure was mentioning earlier, my favorite song "royals" won song of the year. let's look at a little bit here.

♪ and i think this is such a great example of a great song, meaning the right moment, because the song is very populist. it's very much about not having been born of blue blood and sort of accepting and loving your life as it is, and i think it strikes a chord. it reminds me, also, we had a lot of films this year that also kind of met the moment, wolf of wall street comes to mind. >> and i thought that music, especially hip-hop, would respond to the recession, because the fans have so much less money, and few to none of the rappers actually did. jay-z still talking about, you know, his private plane and those sorts of things and payback. and you have lorde come in and talk about the sort of things, and it's, like, you know, it makes others say, well, how come you're not thinking about the people? >> and you have macklemore doing -- >> i was going to say, on your

point, we do think it's powerful. we know how materialistic a lot of the songs and artists can be. >> yeah. >> and it is nice to see something different in contrast -- >> so young and feels so wise. >> yeah. contrast that to the '60s and '70s, a lot more focus on social justice from mainstream artists. >> yeah. >> big ups to macklemore, yes, big for seattle, obviously, and we went to the same high school, although i didn't know him at the time. >> oh, my goodness. >> i feel like we knew each other. on the point of social justice, his music and queen latifah's work last night to look at marriage equality and set a real cultural baseline here, a few people on the far right were already criticizing this. but obviously, that doesn't matter that much. they are drowned out by the power and the unity of what we saw there of a marriage ceremony and emphasis on this is equality, and i think it's very important, because there's a tremendously fast shift going on in the country over how people think about marriage equality, a human rights, gay rights.

the cultural piece of that is right now leading much faster than the political piece. so from modern family, macklemore song, the grammys, a fairly staid, you might say centrist kind of mass-marketed programming, can all feel, you know what, this debate is over. it's over for young people. it's over for people who care about equality. it is not going to reverse. in some ways, we have won, but it's a slow-motion win. and so, to me, seeing that last point of unity, across the entire platform, across the entire program, very powerful. >> it's absolutely correct. and it's a testament to, if you're a progressive, you can be loud and public about it no matter where you go, and what can you say about it? i'm in favor of marriage equality, and what are you going to do about it? love is love. up next, the incredible true story that inspired george clooney's upcoming film "the monument's men" the author who brought this piece of world war ii history to light joins us next.

>> monument's men. signed by roosevelt. >> i see that. >> put a team together to protect what's left and find what's missing. >> aren't you a little old for that? >> yes. we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement.

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geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. you want to go into a zone with architects and artists and tell you are boys what they can and cannot blow up. >> yes. we go through basic and wait for orders. >> basic? base intraining. >> mm-hmm. >> oh, boy. >> that is from the trailer for the highly anticipated new movie "the monument's men," opening next week and the film stars george clooney, matt damon, cate blanchett, john goodman, an amazing cast for an amazing and true story of a wartime treasure hunt. an unlikely group of men and women from 13 countries tasked with saving europe's cultural history from nazi destruction during world war ii. these museum directors,

curators, arts scholars and architects turned soldiers travelled behind enemy lines to recover artistic masterpieces to return them to their rightful owners. robert edsall wrote the book, "the monuments men," nazi thieves and the greatest treasure hunt in history, and he joins us now at the table. robert, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> let's start with the facts, the history. what's the real story behind this movie? >> well, the movie, i think, does a good job of tracking the history. obviously, there have to be adjustments trying to squeeze a dramatic portion of history into a two-hour film. but prior to world war ii, part of the united states' entry, there was a great pioneer in the conservation of works of art, george stout, who had the vision to see that the great risk during world war ii was the united states entered the war and in the process of defeating naziism destroyed western civilization, so the initial concern was to mitigate damage to cultural treasures, and as we

know as the war progressed, it was the greatest theft of history and the monuments officers found themselves art detectives trying to track down millions pieces of works of art. >> how do you accomplish that? how do you go into the field and find the works of arts that might be hidden away? >> well, during the war, some of these things were obvious, like the madonna by michelangelo, and the altar piece, like the statue of liberty, even if you don't like art, people know what they are. of course, millions of these things were less -- less visi e visible, less easy to identify. libraries, thousands of church bells from cathedrals, and basically anything worth stealing the nazis stole. the monuments officers are trying to piece together shreds of information to make sense of it, and they start getting these names of places in germany, but they're not sure what they mean. are they cities? salt mines? are they, you know, so this really sets off over a period of two months their discovery and thousands of hiding places, hundreds of thousands of works of art, 3 million books stolen

from libraries throughout europe, 5,000 church bells from the great cathedrals. the numbers are staggering. >> yeah. >> it's a visual story. >> it seems a big part of the story is not only war can be a fight over resources or a battle among armies, but really a battle over the future of what we understand to be civilization itself. we'll look at a brief part of the film that speaks to that. >> if you destroy an entire generation of people's culture, it's as if they never existed. >> we've got company! >> frank, we've gotta go! >> that's what hitler wants. and it's the one thing we can't allow. >> speak to that motivation and how to counteract that as part of the war effort. >> well, i think this is a -- clearly the high mark in civilization really for an army to be fighting a war and still trying to be respectful about cultural treasures. president roosevelt said this was an important -- an important-type operation to have, and jone eisenhower issued

a directive saying it's the responsibility of commanders and troops to protect the treasures. if it comes down to the lives of our men and object, the lives of the men counts more, but it's too often used as an excuse of convenience. so the monuments men, the middle-aged museum directors, curators, artists themselves, men and women who volunteered for service, about 70% american, 30% british, really were left to their own resources and cleverness in trying to figure out how to go about executing this order, and they did an incredible job. >> yeah. >> so, robert, tell me about george clooney. >> well, as i tell my audiences when i lecture all the time, rest assured, one, george is every bit as handsome as you want to believe he is. he's every bit as nice as you hope he is. and he's incredibly hard working. george and graham sloth have given two years of their life to this story. of course, not only just george and grant, but the cast they assemb assembled, these are people that

are in the prime of their careers and could do anything they wanted to do. none of them knew about this story. i didn't know about it when i tripped over it some 16 years ago, living in italy. and i think they all felt very privileged to not only be, of course, working their craft, but the idea of representing artists during war, wearing a combat uniform, two of the guys killed during combat, they weren't sitting in an office somewhere, they were on the front lines. i think they were really, really proud to be bringing the story to the big screen. an emic period of world war ii history, 65 years later, we don't know about. >> well, clooney's proud to bring this to the screen, but lots of great things pass his table or his desk all the time. so why did he choose this particular one? >> well, george, i think, is -- he's got a tremendous social conscience, but i think he realizes the tremendous story and the idea -- just the dislocation of having these artists and architects and stuff in uniform, there's some funny moments in the film, because there's a lot of funny moments,

letters to home during the war, which is key to telling the story, using their words from their experiences, and a lot of the detective work we had to go through in finding the letters, because they were really an important part. >> well, this is not just a story for you or a bit of history. this is really a mission for you, as well? >> it is. it's been the last 13 years of my life full time. we created a monuments men foundation, which received the 2007 national humanities medal from the president, which is the country's highest award for working humanities, trying to rescue the story and make it available to people all over the world. we're trying to honor the men and women. we have a congressional gold medal bill before both houses of congress that people can go to the monuments men foundation dot-org website and put their zep code in and generate a letter of support to the senator or house. we have also created a toll-free number if people have some work of art or object that was brought home during the war, 1-866-world-war-2-art. the foundation doesn't charge

anybody. we try to identify things. >> let me ask you a hard question. people often say that art is part of what makes us human. >> yeah. >> what do you think of that? >> i think it is. what kind of world would it be worth living in without music, without dance, without sport, without great cultural treasu s treasures? one of the monuments officers put it best. an issue of art worth a life? in his view, no work of art is worth the life of any american boy, but risking your life fighting for a cause, democracy, freedom of speech, and certainly preserving the cultural treasures that belong to all of us, that's a cause worth fighting for. >> we put a dollar amount on these pieces, but they seem -- a picasso, michelangelo, they seem to be worth so much more just in terms of human history. >> what they mean. well, robert, i can't wait to see the film. congratulations. >> thank you very much. and up next, menendez mcdonald for all of the talk of money's corrupting influence on

politics, one decade of data is proving we need more money in the system, not less. he will explain that next. [ screaming ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the bold, all-new nissan rogue with intuitive all-wheel drive because winter needs a hero. ♪ open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan --

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the issue of money in politics is back front and center. former republican governor of virginia bob mcdonnell and bob menendez are under pressure for their conduct in office. mcdonnell indicted on bribery charges and menendez facing a widening d.o.j. investigation

into his contact with two fugitive bankers. while many campaign finance laws try to limit spending and approach rejected by the supreme court's famous citizens united decision, there is another way. many states are now reforming politics by adding spending with public funding. more people get a chance to run in competitive races, and candidates spend less time fund-raising with millionaire donors, and grassroots involve many. the next guest calls this "subsidizing democracy." michael miller is a political science professor and former strategist with several congressional campaigns. welcome. how are you? >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> you bet. you document here that there are many benefits to public funding. i think one of the most dramatic may be how these kind of races get more voters involved and in several states you show the public funding led to 20%, 30% spikes in voter involvement in local races. so can you explain to us how

that shift works? >> yeah. when i used to run congressional campaigns, and candidates would ron, inevitably they'd turn to me and say, imagine what we could have done with our message if we'd had more money? so when i went to graduate school and started working on this, i thought, well, let's look into this. and these states really do eliminate fund-raising for candidates. what i found was in the three states you mentioned -- arizona, connecticut, and maine -- which have programs that effectively give candidates all the money they need to wage the campaigns, candidates are spending much less time raising money and reinvesting that in interacting with the voting republic and i'm seeing hundreds, possibly thousands of conversations with voters that wouldn't have occurred, which results in more people actually voting in the low-information elections. >> that's so important. and you break down, quantify to the number, in your book, how if we move to public financing, candidates spend far less time

fund-raising, and far more time talking to voters, as you're saying. are the candidates you're talking to for your research, are they unhappy about how much time they have to spend fund-raising and do they understand the corrosive impact of spending tons of time fund-raising and not talking to voters or working on policy? >> well, i think a lot of politically interested americans feel that way about money. you know, they see it as a corrosive force in american politics. but you might be surprised by, you know, these are state legislative candidates. a lot of them have never run before. and some of them didn't even know the programs existed until they ran. and so, you know, i would hear them say, what a relief it was when the parties would tell t m them, you know, you don't have to raise money in these states. you can just go out and get these qualifying contributions and you don't have to do that anymore. and my survey showed that the candidates that did take the full subsidies, they felt more in control. they had less anxiety about their fund-raising and there was no surprise for them on the campaign trail. so they were much better in command of their resources.

>> and, michael, one of the chapters you highlight thein that make tso that qualified candidates don't want to put their name in. that's a game-changer right there. >> it really changes the dyna c dynamics for these challenging candidates. if you wanted to take on a safe incumbent, you'd have to raise all this money. nobody is going to donate funds to you and it would be a hopeless call. they can give voters the conversation. that's important to them. it's not just about winning anymore. it's about helping the party and having a unified ticket, democrat or republican.

it is really changing the strategic consideration for all of them. >> michael, we talked a moment ago about the indictment of bob mcdonnell and the investigation that menendez is under for taking political favors. you're getting these large checks in. sometimes with the direct expectation that there's going to be something in return. even when politicians have the best of intents, there's a natural human tendency to want to reciprocate. it seems to me that corrupting influence is one of the most important pieces of getting money out of politics or public financing in this case. >> yeah, sure. it's one of the biggest questions in political science. it's really hard to prove, you know, whether campaign contributions change the

behavior of legislators. when i ask legislators in these states, can i buy your vote with a contribution? the answer i always get, you can't buy my vote, but the folks down the hallway, i don't know. the supreme court has said it's the appearance of this quid pro quo that is just as important as an actual one, even if it doesn't exist. when you remove donors and those kinds of relationships from the equation, i think it is a game-changer. i think most people would see that as a positive thing. >> michael miller, some very useful research there as we look at all these limitations on campaigns and politics. thanks for your time today. >> thank you. >> you can check out more of these issues. there's an article up at

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hey. have you ever seen someone lying on the ceiling? neither have i. we're going to mess with your brain a little. which way do you think this is going to go? let's reverse gravity by

changing what you see. >> i love that because it's an example of how you look through something too small of a lens, you get a distorted view. looking through a larger lens will help you see the truth. this will help us understand what happened with rand paul on sunday. >> the women in my family are incredibly successful. i don't see so much that women are downtrodden. i see women rising up and doing great things. i worry about our young men sometimes because i think the women are really outcompeting the men in our world. >> because the women in the paul family are doing well, that means american women are doing well. is the senator attempting a jedi mind trick? >> we don't need to see his identification.

>> these aren't the droids you're looking for. >> there is no war on women. these are not the droids you're looking for. it's men who we have to take care of now. that is how to wage a war on the war on women. attack the meme itself rather than constructing policies that women want. despite america's long-term support for abortion rights, access to abortion has been curtail curtailed in a number of years. women make 77 cents for each man a dollar makes. that is no matter your education. the ceos and politicians remain dominated by men and rape remains widely unpunished in the military and civilian world. we know better than to fall for

the jedi mind tricks. >> i need something more real. >> credits will do fine. >> no, they won't. >> credits will be do fine. >> no they won't. >> you can expect more of this tactic in the future. when voters tell you they feel oppressed the best way to deal is to tell them, no, you're actually not. the war on the war on women doesn't help women and it reveals some view liberation as a zero sum gain. it is not. the advances of women do not equal a loss for women. we're not opposing forces. we're in it together. more power for women is good for women and good for men. that does it for "the cycle." chris christie officially became part of the bridge and

tunnel crowd. it is monday, january 27th, and this is "now," live from washington, d.c. >> the scandal surrounding chris christie. >> lawmakers will take a new step. >> merge those separate investigations into one joint committee. >> the big unanswered question. >> that's what the citizens of new jersey deserve. >> why would anyone think of creating a traffic jam? hundreds of thousands of innocent people. >> i want the truth. you can't handle the truth. >> not a lot of answers at this point. >> we still do not have the answer. super committee formation, scrambling party members, the revival of a tunnel