nicole that republicans are from mars and "the new york times" reporters are from venus. and i guess that's all -- >> it's way too early, joe. here's chuck. >> i've got questions for limb. >> venus is the blue planet, mars is the red one. pushing back on calling the plan small ball, president obama's super bowl sitdown gets rough enough that hillary clinton seems to want to chime in with a playful punch at fox on twitter. plus, the bridgegate battle gives way to a high school parking lot fight as governor chris christie's team trashes a former top official whose lawyers suggest he's ready to burn some bridges. tragic loss of a man considered by many the finest actor of his generation, my generation, hoffman dead at the

age of 46. good morning. this is "the daily rundown." we'll look at whether the president's trade pitch from the state of the union is going nowhere fast. let's get to my first reads. the white house is fighting to keep the president's modest agenda alive. terrified of having the president relegated to lame duck status, barely in the sixth year, top advisors insisted on sunday that the president is not playing small ball. >> $10.10 minimum wage, that's not going to be small for the hundreds of thousands of people who benefit from that. when you think about long-term unemployment, the president bringing in 300 of the country's biggest employers, that's not small to them. >> this morning, the chief advocacy political arm, organizing for action, is out with a new tv ad focused on the minimum wage that targets the democratic base. it aims to beat back the notion that the white house is not putting its key weight behind democratic priorities.

>> you're working hard, all day every day, and it shows. 8 million new jobs. new businesses. new factories. new hope. still, it's harder than it should be to raise a family, save for retirement. so president obama's urging congress to give america a raise. >> this is also part of a push to give the democratic party something to run on that has nothing to do with health care. the white house believes they're in a position to start cheerleading on the economy a bit, as you saw in that ad, while arguing at the same time for policies they believe will level the playing field and end up boosting the middle class. meanwhile, senate democrats seem increasingly comfortable publicly opposing the president. whether it's onner shoes from trade, to iran, and this afternoon, harry rooerd will have the sitdown with president obama in the oval office. it should get interesting, particularly on trade. on friday, the state department did release a report saying the keystone pipeline would not substantially worsen carbon pollution.

well, mcdonough seemed to downplay the report a bit on sunday. take a listen. >> his view is that if this is to go forward, it should not significantly exacerbate the climate -- >> you have a state department study -- >> we have one department with a study. now we have other expert agencies -- the epa and many others -- who have -- the energy department -- an opportunity to look at this and make their determination. >> well, mcdonough is particularally correct on the bureaucratic hoops the administration has to jump through, but the white house message sounds muttled. reject keystone and he will anger red state democrats. they all rushed out releases after the state department released calling on him to approve the pipeline. move forward, and they'll anger environmentalists. the administration refuses to

rip off the band-aid. the issue most likely to give the president a victory in 2014 is not keystone. it's immigration. the white house is signaling he's willing to cut a deal, and prepared to give the republican house as much time and space as it needs to get something passed so that it can negotiate a compromise. >> the bottom line here is he does not want to see an america where we have two permanent classes. that is to say, citizens and noncitizens. nevertheless, the principles laid out by the republican leadership towards the end of last week, we think that's a pretty good step, pretty good progress in the debate, coming from where they were to where they are now. our job is to step back, let this debate happen in the house. >> mcdonough said we feel pretty good we'll get a bill done this year. but house republican leaders trying to sell it to conservatives are wary getting too far out beyond the base and are couching the appeals and criticism of the president. take a listen. >> the president's got to

demonstrate frankly the country and the congress can trust him in implementing laws. look what he's done with obamacare. he has selectively enforced that law -- >> here's a issue we all agree on, we don't trust the president to enforce the law. this is a verify -- >> bottom line, can you put something on the president's desk this year that he can sign? >> i don't know the answer to that question. that is clearly in doubt. >> he said house republicans are under no pressure of a deadline that could, quote, force us into a compromise where we might not like to take. striking easterny overall on sunday, while most of washington is criticizing the president for small-bore agenda, and a lack of ambition, conservatives are railing against his imperial presidency. >> why do you feel it's necessary to fundamentally transform the nation that has afforded you so much opportunity and success? >> i don't think we have to fundamentally transform -- >> those are your words.

>> i think that what we have to do is make sure that here in america, if you work hard, you can get ahead. >> in that super bowl sunday interview, fox news host bill o'reilly grilled the president about health care, the irs, and benghazi. >> was it the biggest mistake of your presidency to tell the nation over and over, if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance? >> oh, bill, you've got a long list of my mistakes. >> detractors did not tell the world it was a terror attack, because your campaign didn't want that out. >> bill, think about -- >> that's what they believe. >> and they believe it, because folks like you are telling -- >> i have to get to the irs, because i don't know what happened there. just as an american, i'm confused. >> and i'm trying to explain it to you, if you want to listen. >> the challenge for the white house is that house republicans believe they have to placate the audience that is looking for answers to those questions, even after a ton of investigations, before they can cut any deal on immigration or frankly anything elsewhere they work with the president. that's one of his real challenges.

the president seems resigned to the constraints of his office. sometimes it looks as if he's given up on trying to break washington's addiction to polarization if he ever really did. by the way, o'reilly's interview raised enough eyebrows on the left that even hillary clinton took a shot at clock, tweeting this of the game. so much fun. more fun to watch fox when it's someone else being blitzed and sacked. not 100% sure if she means the game or the president. democrat attacking fox may seem unremarkable, but hillary clinton has been careful in the past not to do it. if you recall in 2008, she regularly made stops on fox during the campaign. moving on, we may look back on the last 72 hours as the 72 hours that brought chris christie's national political career to an end. there's still time for a comeback. we don't know everything, the actions and reactions suggest that things are likely to get worse for christie before they get better. -- it's a story about how he saves his governorship.

today, the first of thousands of pages of documents subpoenaed by the new jersey legislature from members of the christie administration are set to be turned over to investigators. on friday, former port authority aide david wildstein claimed in a letter from his lawyer that, quote, evidence exists tying mr. christie to having knowledge of the lane closures. contrary to what the governor stated publicly, new jersey lawmakers say wildstein has produced no new evidence. >> 900 pages, nothing implicates christie, is that right? >> nothing that says the governor should contemporaneously. >> so wildstein is in survival mode for himself. legal bills, theks like that. the worst possible outcome for christie is if some of the former loyal soldiers that he publicly felt he had to throw under the bus decided to crack, out of bitterness, self-protection, or because they believe christie is not telling

the truth. and that clearly it has the christie folks in a minipanic. the reaction might have been worse than wildstein's actual revelation. in a moment that the governor's office released, team christie said the following. as a 16-year-old kid, he sued over a local school board election. and he was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior. now, attacking your accuser allows you to live another day. it doesn't help necessarily people to believe your story who aren't quite sure what the real truth is. bottom line, when you're attacking the press or bringing up things that someone did when they were in high school, you are usually losing. this is likely to reignite calls from christie critics to possibly step down from his leadership role at the rga. over the weekend, bobby jindal, who preceded christie, said he

should stay on, but take a listen. it was hardly a ringing endorsement. >> i think the press doesn't quite understand how rga works. no one governor is more important than the other. i don't think he should step down. i think he should stay there. rga is not about one governor, it's about all 29 of the governors, all 36 races. >> one more thing. an interesting development this morning. nbc has learned that christie has been invited to speak at the conservative political action conference, cpac, and he plans to go. talk about your odd timing, but with that crowd, a republican being under siege and the media attention that comes with it, could be something of a positive. enemy of my enemy is my friend, we guess. if christie is complaining about media attention, he'll find plenty of allies at cpac. there's your launch of monday first reads. up next, slow walk for fast track. there's a growing divide in the democratic party, between the white house and senate democrats, over whether they give the president the power to negotiate trade deals that he

pushed during the state of the union. and before we go, here's a live look at new york city where snow is falling. we've got rain here in washington. but snow's coming down a steady pace. the city is expected to get a little over half a foot by the end of the day. a lot of concerns about computers. hundreds of flights have been cancelled. there are delays at la guardia, averaging more than four hours. if you're going to new york city for work, you may want to think again. first, a look at the politicians planner. the most interesting then is at the bottom, folks. the first debate in the florida '13 special election. remember, it's the swing district in a swing state. could be a precursor to something. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. peace of mind is important when you're running a successful business. so we provide it services you can rely on. with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure.

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well, president obama's already facing long odds on everything from tax reform to climate change. now, here's one more reason to be a bit skeptical that anything will get done at least this year. even when the president finds an issue that has republican support, he can't seem to get democrats on the same page. case in point is trade. president obama's calling on congress to give him trade promotion authority, which would essentially allow him to fast track some trade agreements. two of the largest trade deals in u.s. history they're working on now, promoting them as badly needed job creators. >> when 98% of our exporters are small businesses, new trade partnerships with europe and the asia pacific will help them create even more jobs. china and europe aren't standing on the sidelines, and neither should we. >> as we mentioned, we're talking about two separate deals in the works, very large regional trade packs. the trans-pacific partnership is a deal with 11 nations in asia,

covering things like agricultural goods, a fact sheet showing it would provide $77 billion in assets. it's a trade pack with every asian country not named china. the other one is a bigger deal that would eliminate tariffs and build on the $500 billion export market to the e.u. for many nations involved, that's critical, they don't want to sign onto a deal that could get changed. the senate majority leader harry reard says he's not yet on board. >> i'm against fast track. everyone knows how i feel about this. senator backus knows, senator widen knows, the white house knows, so we'll see. everyone will be well advised just to not push this right now. >> by the way, the president has a meeting with reid in the oval office today. you can expect trade to be on

the agenda. reid's not alone. other democrats have weighed in. a january letter to the u.s. trade representative michael froemen, from members of the u.s. finance committee, we are not prepared to support the legislation that does not provide mechanisms that enable congress to hold u.s. trade representative more accountable through the negotiation process. in other words, they're looking for transpaernssy and accountability, something they believe congress must enforce. on monday, 550 labor and environmental advocacy groups sent a letter rejecting fast track, and major unions like the teamsters are pushing back. can't allow this agreement to be rammed through congress with an up or down vote. no one doubts the value of fair trade, but it's not fair if it puts american workers at a disadvantage. the president does have allies. business allies. chamber of commerce. but so far, it's been an uphill fight. republicans back the trade deals, but blame the administration for not working hard enough to rally democratic support.

nevertheless, administration officials say they're confident the deals will eventually get done, but will it be in 2014. froemen told "financial times" moving a trade bill through congress is a marathon, not a sprint. everything is on track, and dennis mcdonough said the president is not done talking to harry reid. >> senator reid has been a great friend of the president's. we'll continue to work on this. his position on trade has been clear. >> will the president try to get on the phone? >> the president will continue to work on this. >> joining me now is the former u.s. trade representative, ron kirk, and ambassador to singapore, now ceo of export now, based outside the united states. welcome to both of you. mr. kirk, let me start with you. this is, i'm sure, in some cases you're not missing your old job, having to navigate the waters. this is not an issue. the concern that nafta -- the perception in the midwest, and this is where the heat is coming from, from labor, nafta, the

worst fears of nafta proved true for labor in the industrial midwest. why do you -- what do you say to them that says tpp and the eu deal won't do the same thing? >> first of all, chuck, thanks for having us both on. i would say, look was we did in this obama administration when we came in in 2008, and one of the reasons i was privileged and honored that the president asked me to take on this trade portfolio is that, frankly, as a democrat from the state like texas, in which trade is essential to our economy, and we see the benefits of it, i didn't want trade to become such a toxic word in our party. and one of the things i did was i reached out to labor immediately. and we engaged them. and i made a conscious decision, as u.s. trade rep, to not just spend my time in geneva and china and india and around the world. but i went to detroit. and i went to maine. and i went to carolina. and i went to pittsburgh. and what i heard from many of them was the frustration that

they understood the big pekt, the u.s. has to be engaged, but they felt like no one was standing up for american workers and they thought everybody else was gaming the system. with you is by enforcing, going on an aggressive enforcement agenda, but taking the time, investing, hoping them understand this is a different place in trade than we were 20 years ago when we did nafta. we have strong environmental and labor provisions, and we do know if you do trade right, it can sustain jobs here in america. we have to keep pounding that message home. >> now, frank, look, you're a free trader, too. i understand that. you're also from ohio originally. and you know there is this -- this is sometimes not necessarily a democratic versus republican party issue. this really is -- >> a possible louse issue. >> sure. like i tell you, when i just did the focus group in december, it was amazing, and it came out of nowhere, the fear of globalization and nafta, as an example. this is what this is about. >> the economy is

underperforming. we have a soft economy. there's a lot of economic anxiety out there, and people project the anxiety against trade. that one of the reasons they got job insecurity is potentially because foreign competition and leadership in washington is giving away too much. that's, i think, largely a myth, but enough truth to it that people with feed off of that. what's dinteresting, when you look at trade agreements that resulted in enormous trade surplus for america, you still get populist sentiment against -- >> what's the -- >> u.s./australia relationships, enormous trade relationship. panama. you have a huge block of voters against that. singapore, huge u.s. trade -- so the point is, it doesn't matter if it's a trade surplus or trade deficit, you have this undercurrent in the u.s. against the trade agreement. >> so what's the pitch to sherrod brown, on tpp, this is

about having a big check on china. is that -- >> well, i'm not from the midwest, but my wife is from detroit. and i've been married 26 years, thank god. i've been to detroit, and i laughed when i went through confirmation that i one of the things i brought to this job was i saw how differently the country looks at trade. you can't do gimmicks. but i went to steel mills in ohio, with sherrod brown, and i remember going to the cleveland's "plain dealer" editorial board, and sherrod brown gave me the most remarkable introduction, for fighting for the workers, and then they said, sherrod, you going to vote for him? he said, no. >> you may not convince sherrod brown, but you don't have to. >> well, but you've got to go, and they have to know that we've heard them. the one thing i respect the president, is he came from this background of a community organizer, fighting for famil s families, displaced by trade. one of the things we did to get the votes, to pass panama and

korea and colombia, was fight or the reauthorization of trade adjustment assistance and talk about global ways to effect america's competitiveness, but those of us pro-trade have to be much more sensitive to the concerns of those that have expressed skepticism about it. >> i understand. in this day and age of sort of nobody trusts government and congress these days, i get the skepticism about fast track authority in general. why shouldn't -- now, frank, you are based in asia. >> yeah. >> fast track authority, the assumption is if the u.s. does not have that ability to essentially short circuit some of the trade negotiations, that some of these countries will bolt. who would bolt? [ overlapping speakers ] >> look, fast track is not a short circuit. fast track tells all of the foreign counterparts that the negotiations need to be taken seriously, because they're not going to be renegotiated after people have done several years of work in the field to come to

an agreement. the congress gets an up or down vote. it's what's gotten us so far in trade. it's important to keep it going. i don't think anybody bolts. it's a signal to the trading partners that the united states is de-emphasizing trade. and it raises broader questions about whether there's still a trade consensus in washington. to my mind, it's presidential leadership. george w. bush had to do this for drkafta. and reagan had to do it for canada. because we've got the populist where there's this undercurrent in the general electorate not for trade, but leadership tends to get it. >> ron, the cynic in me says, you know what, the last thing the president wants is to be in-fighting, 2014. >> yeah. >> it feels -- this feels like, okay, it's going to be a slow walk for 2014, and as soon as the elections are over, then you'll see a bigger push by the administration -- >> i think you're being a bit -- you know, i've heard this sort

of undercurrent that it's about presidential leadership. and i'll remind everybody, after the 2012 shellacking democrats -- >> 2010. >> -- 2010, it would have been nothing in the president's political for him to move forward, you know what, to help jump-start our economy, help put americans back to work, we're going to move forward with the trade agreements with panama, korea, and colombia. we did that. the president gets it. he understands it's always been tough. i was a mayor when president clinton was in office and we had to vote on china pntr. these trade votes are always brutal. it crosses party lines. the country's very, very anxious about it. but i think the truth is an option and the reality with 95% of the world's consumers now living somewhere else other than the u.s., we've got to fight and compete for those consumers' hearts and wallets and trade is the vehicle that we do it. and if we keep pounding that message, we can build a coalition in congress to get it done.

>> why is it better to do a regional pack with asia and not individual country packs? >> i don't think it's exclusive. i think you have to be open to it. there's a growing consensus -- first of all, europe has strong regional architecture, so that's a natural partner. that makes sense, because they spent 30, 40 years building up a great regional organization. asia doesn't have that, but they've -- there's a southeast asia free trade agreement, and clearly a mood, clearly a mood i think international consensus to say, we've got to find a way to connect. united states is viewed as a great partner. that our rules are fair. we have a big consumer market, finance, logistics, distribution, and maybe a backdrop of part of this is the role china plays. we'd rather be a trading partner with the u.s. -- >> well, politically, you could see how china is used as a wedge in a positive way. >> yeah, to be fair, chuck, the tpp grew out of apeg, and china is a part of that. we'd love to have them join -- >> you would --

>> [ overlapping speakers ] >> these are rules they won't abide by -- >> to your point, as much trouble as it takes to get a deal, you'd rather do it on a larger scale than a small one. >> thanks. who says we don't do real -- >> yeah, we'd love to do more with you. >> thank you, both. up next, remembering philip seymour hoffman. fans, friends, hollywood stars are paying their respects this morning after the actor's sudden death this weekend. we'll play you some of his best political roles that he had over the years. and still to come, a deep dive into the state of the u.s. relationship with mexico. is the neighbor to the south about to feel an economic upturn. first, the trivia question. [ female announcer ] who are we?

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[ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ a live look here from toch of the rock. our camera on top of 30 rock, a few inches of snow expected to fall. while i do mock the whole, if it happens in new york city, it's happening in the rest of america, this is not -- this will impact new york big time and really mess with commuting. so it's not to be joked about too much. plus, puppies. time machines. bob dylan. i'll do a little "the daily rundown" look at which super bowl commercials scored big with us, at least politically, and which ones fumbled. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived.

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game. 15,698. that's where the dow begins the day. the first day of trading with janet yellen in charge of the federal reserve. the new head officially took over for ben bernanke on saturday, but technically, she was sworn in less than an hour ago -- actually, i guess technically this saturday, and then sworn in today. she's the first woman to chair the fed in its 100-year history. next up, 38 years, that's how long it's been since the abortion rate was as low as it was in 2011, the lowest figures. the lowest since 1973. the year roe v. wade was decided. another number, 14. that's how many days since the iran nuclear agreement kicked in, and this morning, iran's foreign minister said a final nuclear deal is possible within the six-month window. agreements to start up again, and start negotiations again onto 18th. next up, 785 feet. that's the length of the newly

chriss christened "john glenn." he attended the christening, designed to support troops and supplies to shore. by the way, man, for 92, he is looking good and very spry. finally, a number to commemorate last night's super blowout, 21, that's how many years since we've seen such a lopsided score. when the seahawks scored just 12 seconds into the game, it kicked off a 43-8 romp over the broncos. the 35-point margin of victory matched the margin in super bowl xxvii when the cowboys beat the bills, sorry, luke, 52-17, in '93. it was a flashback to that period when it seemed like the nfc all they did was blow out the afc. there were probably four nfc teams that would have beaten that denver bronco team. and now the shocking and tragic death of a great actor that had everybody just shaking their heads in disbelief yesterday afternoon. academy award winner philip

seymour hoffman found dead on sunday. the cause of death is believed to be a heroin overdose. hoffman was reportedly surrounded by drug paraphernalia. an autopsy is scheduled for later today. hoffman was known for his versatility and skill at bringing some incredibly complex characters to life. just 46 years old, he appeared in nearly 60 films. he had received three tony award nominations for his work on broadway. hoffman won an oscar for the memorable portrayal of truman capote in the biopic. he was nominated for three other awards, including loose cannon cia veteran in "charlie wilson's war." >> here's a test. you see the nerdy looking kid in the white shirt playing against the four guys at once? >> yeah. >> which one of the guys do you think is a strategic weapons expert with the cia? >> hmm. >> that wasn't a trick question, charlie. it's the nerdy looking kid in

the white shirt. no reason this can't be fun, you know. >> it's one of the quasi political roles that hoffman played in recent years. >> so you're saying there's a good chance you won't win? >> no, don't twist my words, what i'm saying is i'm not going to promise you we will win. he protested the second, left the state with a balanced budget and fourth highest education rate, the republicans have no one out there that can touch this guy. so for this moment, this election, this primary is the presidential. and this, ida, is the state of the union. >> he was also an envelope-pushing 1960s deejay provoking the british government in 2009's "pirate radio," and playing a music journalist, giving the single best piece of advice any reporter on any beat could ever hear. >> you cannot make friends with

the rock stars. they're going to buy you drinks. you're going to meet girls. they're going to try to fly you operations for free, offer you drugs. i know it sounds great. these people are not your friends. these are people who want to you write sangt moan yus stories about the genius of rock star and they will ruin rock 'n' roll and strangle everything we love about it. you have to make your reputation on being honest and, you know, unmerciful. >> hoffman had been public about his struggle with addiction. after more than 20 years of sobriety, he reportedly relapsed and spent 10 days in rehab just last year. nbc's christen dahlgren is outside the apartment where hoffman was found. christen, a lot of fans are in shock. i know that we've been hearing from his family and perhaps they are now being forthcoming about what hoffman was dealing with. >> reporter: yeah, what a career he had, though, chuck, right?

take a look. we're outside the apartment throughout the morning fans have been coming by, leaving flowers, lighting candles. we're told that he was subletting this apartment for the past few months. he was supposed to meet his kids at 9:00 a.m. yesterday morning. when he didn't show, his common law wife, partner of 15 years, called a friend who came here and found him about 11:156789 police sources tell us there was evidence of a drug overdose. there were three full bags of hair went found with him, also five empty bags, and we're told that he was found with a needle in his arm. of course, the autopsy going to be done later today, and then the toxicology reports could take some time. really, quite a loss. his family released a statement saying they are devastated, chuck. >> well, just the idea that his kids -- that that's their last memory, that is tough. that is tough. christen dahlgren outside of hoffman's apartment, thank you. coming up, the "deep dive" is next. the u.s. relationship with

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it's high in protein like a cat's natural diet. and no added artificial flavors. we've come a long way. and whatever's ahead, we'll be there for each other. naturally. purina cat chow naturals. two sides of mexico, that's where president obama is headed for the north american leaders summ summit, a few weeks from now. the trip will include the third meeting with the new mexican president, nieto. they met just days before nieto was sworn into office and then get in may of last year. >> given the progress that we're seeing here in mexico, i see so many opportunities to continue to deepen the extraordinary friendship and common bond that we share between our two great nations, and our two great

peoples. >> and nieto trying to pitch himself as a reformer and he did so while he was elected. and while he has managed to make some changes, he's found it hard to make inroads in the crime. he promised to slash the number of kidnappings and murder in his six-year term, but wanted to do it by focusing on civilian protection. results have been mixed. reports from the mexican government show more than 16,000 homicides in between january and november of 2013. while it's a drop in the murder rate from the year before, the rate of kidnappings is up. in western mexico, armed vigilantes have been fighting the local drug cartel, known as the knights templar. they've ignored calls to hand over their leader. now, concerns about violence has led to the state department slap a travel warning on 19 of the 31

states. and for all of the focus on the violence, nieto can lay claim to some of the most progressive reforms in the recent history. nieto passed new forms regarding everything from education to financial regulation to election rules. it's actually things that the previous president tried to do, but the party that nieto was of stood in the way. now, that the old party is back, he's getting the reforms passed. the crowning jewel came in mid-december when they approved a bill that opened the oil and gas industry to private investors, which is a potential gold mine of outside money. it would allow mexico to tap deep-water oil deposits and shale gas. mexican department of energy estimates the direct foreign investment in the sector will rise to $10 million by 2018, and that 500,000 jobs will be created in the process. with me now to discuss mexico is tony garza, who served as u.s. ambassador to mexico under

george w. bush. mr. garza, good morning to you, sir. >> good morning, chuck. how are you? >> i want to start with what nieto has tried to pursue in the first year in office, and that was the decision. the previous president wanted to confront the cartels and essentially it was a war. nieto won on a platform of essentially retreating on this war a bit, getting protecting cities, protecting the public, but retreating on the war. and the question is, has that been the right policy? you've been on the ground, you're an observer, ambassador, what do you say? >> i wouldn't characterize it so much as a retreat, as a focus on a more balanced story coming out of mexico. as you alluded to in your setup, you talked about the reform, an agenda based on making mexico more competitive. there's little doubt, however, that they continue to face security challenges as you talked about in the state of

michucuan, where you have the armed citizens. but the focus continues to be on security with a desire and an effort to build more of a rule of law culture, build the institutions that are not just -- not just the law enforcement people that you put on the street, but the institutions attendant to having a more secure country. >> if nieto is unable to break the cartels, doesn't that going to discourage foreign investment? i mean, isn't a u.s. company going to be a tad hesitant? yes, there's a lot of energy resources in mexico, and that potential. but if the cartels are essentially able to run certain parts of the country, how does nieto balance that and hope that companies don't just walk away, or become hesitant in investing? >> you know, that's interesting, because i talked to investors, and heads of company each day, and while they're concerned about security, in terms of their investments, they feel

very comfortable in the vast majority of this country. you've seen an expansion in the manufacturing sector. mexico has gotten more competitive. the growth in the automotive industry is impressive. the growth in the aeronautics industry is impressive. what you're seeing is investors, they factor that in, but they still continue to -- they continue to recognize that their return on investment is very solid in mexico given its proximity to the u.s. market, given the logistics platform. given the sense that the -- with the reform, there'll be additional investment. now, with that said, you talk about security, and you recognize that there are pockets of insecurity. had we been having this interview a year ago, we might have been talking about juarez, and that's now become more attractive, and people are going back to the city, right across the border from el paso. a couple of years ago we might

have talked about laredo. so you'll have these concerns about insecurity, but the government has when moved and confronted, they've managed to bring some order back to communities, and what they have to do in the wake of bringing w to do in the wake of bringing that border back is build the institutions necessary to maintain that. do i think you'll ever eliminate the cartels completely? no. but you have to build the institution in presence of the government to management back in the box, if you will, and create an environment that is more broadly impressive to the government. >> should the u.s. be continuing this, funneling more government or should the u.s. back off in how much money they send down there? >> absolutely. i think that's part of our partnership. that's part securing, if you will, the northern american

platform. working with your partners, whether it be on the intelligence side, on the training side, on the equipment side, working with them to the extent that they are comfortable and can really utilize those moneys in a way that does build those institutions, does assure security and integrate some more into the north american -- securing the north american perimeter. so i would say absolutely. >> quickly, on nieto and his politics, this was a one-party rule that the country experienced for nearly a century. is this a new pre? >> i was asked that question quite a bit at the time of his inaugural. i said, whether or not it's a new pre is almost secondary. a middle class willing to hold their government more accountable, it has the media

assuring transparency and government. i think it's a new mexico and a pre and they realize they have to work across the aisle. it's two principle parties that they've been able to focus on a pact, is what it's called here in mexico, and a reform agenda. while it's the p.i.r., they are now in a mexico that is going to be held more accountable and transparency in government. it's more democracy, chuck. and that's healthy. and i think you have an ability to work across party aisles here in the country. >> that's what was lacking for so long and that's now clearly the case, they have competing parties. antonio garza, former ambassador to mexico. thank you. >> that was my taped conversation earlier last week.

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