>> get to drink some more? >> louis? something with fashion week. see you later. >> she's starting to look it. >> stick around, we've got the president speaking at the prayer breakfast right now, and chuck todd with "the daily rundown." we'll see you tomorrow. thank you so much. the president and religion, an annual tradition today as the president speaks at the national prayer breakfast in washington. we'll bring you his remarks live, as soon as he begins speaking. also this morning, this is a house candidate. "american idol" alumnus clay aiken is running for the house in north carolina. we'll talk to him. exclusively. in just a few minutes. the only interview in the 9:00 a.m. hour. plus, what does scarlet joe hand -- johansson have to do with the middle east peace process? this is "the daily rundown." good morning.

let's get to my first reads of the morning. the sochi olympics have begun. fireworks won't actually light up the stadium to officially kick off the 2014 games until friday night, but, by the way, the competition has already begun. the men's snowboard opened the games today, and with women's qualifying runs following freestyle women's moguls and the figure skating team competition, all of it has to get started today to get it all in in time before the closing ceremonies. now, hopefully, when the games begin, the athletes will be the star. but this morning, a new terror threat threatens to overshadow the beginning of the competition. the u.s. government is warning airlines that fly into russia that recent intelligence suggests terrorists might try to smuggle explosives onto planes in toothpaste tubes. the intelligence doesn't suggest a specific flight or target, and it's directed to flights that originate outside the united states. so far, there's been no change to carry-on requirements on flights, and the department of

homeland security says they are issuing the advisory, quote, out of an abundance of caution. of course, the idea of politics and the olympics being intertwined, frankly, it has a long history. in august 1936, nazi germany hosted the olympic games. the united states debated whether to attend. american track and field star jesse owens won four medals, crushing hitler's myth of arian supremacy, and putting the own debate of hypocrisy on race. after all the stories about hitler, i couldn't ride in the front of the bus. i wasn't invited to shake hands with the president either. in 1968, athletes took a message of social justice to the podium, raising a black power salute, john carlos, one the athletes said decades later god told the angels, take a step back, i'll

have to do this myself. cold war politics were a staple of the games for decades. from competition rivalries, the u.s. hockey team defied all odds to beat those soviets, 4-3, producing one of the most famous lines in the history of sports broadcasting from our own al michaels. do you believe in miracles? yes. to the 1980 boycott of the summer games in moscow, which president jimmy carter decided after the soviet union's invasion of afghanistan. human rights issues are also nothing new, as well. in 2008, china tried to reintroduce itself to the world during the beijing olympics amid allegations of human rights violations. this time around, sochi is putting russia's record on lgbtish sures on display. an advisor for the global quality said sochi in many ways is a new chapter in the lgbt movement and our work is to educate people at home. president obama has been publicly critical of the anti-gay law that russia passed in june, which, quote, bans the promotion of homosexuality to minors.

and for the first time since 2000, the delegation will not include a president, a former president, a vice president, or first lady. the president instead decided to send a message, including three openly gay athletes in the delegation, led by tennis legend billie jean king who told "usa today," sometimes we need a john carlos moment. in a late development, billie jean king now can't go. her mother is very ill and she won't be able to attend the opening ceremonies. she may make it for some parts of the games. now, america's only six-time winter olympian todd lithwick, where athletes compete in the ski jump and cross-country skiing, he'll lead the u.s. olympic team in the opening ceremony as the american flag bearer. >> it's a very, very deep honor that's bestowed upon the athlete, and, you know, i have 280 athletes behind me that thought i was the best. and i have to thank them for that, and it's a great honor. >> sochi is also a story about

russian president vladimir putin, whose prestige is on the line, not only on human rights but on security. and on the logistics of staging a huge international event. at more than $50 billion, sochi will be by far the most expensive winter olympics in history, and one international olympic committee official has charged as much as one-third of the $50 billion has been siphoned off by corruption. the word corruption in russia, it's been going together a lot these days. putin has had the embarrassment of appearing unprepared, as the games begin, some of the facilities are not finished, and that's been getting plenty of attention from the international press corps, who putin is trying desperately to impress. you've seen the double toilets. one bbc reporter discovered at the olympic biathlon center, they've now become notorious, and the picture was only one of dozens of tweets from reporters. stacy st. clair of the chicago tribune tweeted this picture of a not so appetizing water flow

in her sochi hotel room after the hotel told her, quote, do not use on your face, because it contains something very dangerous, she tweeted. water restored sort of, on the bright side, i now know what very dangerous face water looks like. this morning, there's a new and odd diplomatic standoff, over greek yogurt. the russian government is apparently blocking a shipment of 5,000 containers of chobani yogurt, leaving it languishing in limbo somewhere near the newark airport, and prompting an angry statement from new york senator chuck schumer. chobani, of course, is a product and has facilities in upstate new york. quote, the russian authorities should get past nyet and let the prime sponsor of the u.s. olympic team deliver the protein-packed foods to athletes and media workers. chobani is taking advantage of the publicity, saying i'd like to think yogurt could have diplomatic immunity. in all seriousness, it's the new terror threat that has sochi on edge. richard engel says the mood is

finally shifting a bit. richard? >> reporter: chuck, as you know, russia has been taking a beating in the run-up to these games with so much negative publicity against putin, that these are his vanity projects, that there's been so much money stolen, that there's terrorist threats, and while a lot of that may be true, today we're starting to see for the first time a bit of a positive atmosphere. the mood is changing here in sochi. the athletes have arrived, and maybe that's a reason for this different mood that we're feeling, but you can see them zipping around here on their bicycles, coming in and out of the olympic village. it's starting to look and feel a bit like a college campus. the games are almost here, and, of course, there are security threats. mostly from two different camps. there is the cyber threat, the hacking threat, which we talked about on "nightly news" a couple of nights ago, and then the cyber threat from activists and

hack-tivists, and there was supposedly a cyber attack on the sochi infrastructure yesterday, and supposedly the sochi airport was under attack. we went to the airport while this attack was supposedly under way, and people were tweeting about it and saying they were going to shut down sochi. and we were at the airport, watching people check in, watching flights take off, watching them land. no apparent changes. so either the attack never took place or the defense systems, the cyber defense systems that are put -- that are on the ground here were successful enough. on the terrorist attack, we don't have any real information, any new updates. there is this ongoing threat from terror groups to carry out some sort of attack. we are not far from the north caucasuses, and there is this warning that we've been reporting about coming from u.s. intelligence, coming also from

european intelligence sources that there might be a risk of putting some sort of explosive device on airplanes in toothpaste canisters. we've been asking u.s. intelligence officials about this. they initially weren't aware of this threat. they say they were taken by surprise when it was first issued. but after having looked into it, they say there is some -- some smoke there. there is something to be concerned about, but on a scale of 1 to 10, they did not put it at a very high priority. chuck? >> thank you, richard. constant -- probably the best way to describe it, a yellow threat here. we're dipping in here, this is live now. we expect to hear from the president in about, we think, a minute or two. this is, of course, an annual event at the hilton, this year. addressing the bipartisan group of political and religious leaders, and we will, of course, bring you his remarks live. they're always a little more interesting than people might expect, the president gets a

little introspective, usually, in these remarks, so it will be very interesting to listen to. you'll want to tune in. let's take a quick break. aiken for a win. after we hear from the president, we'll hear from clay aiken, the "american idol" runner-up and newly declared congressional can date, scheduled to be on the show. let's look at the "politics planner." we're going to hear -- we should hear from secretary kerry today. we expect an interesting interview on that front. plus, we've got vice president biden in philadelphia. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. 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.

with limited availability in select markets. ♪ i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. and we now bring you the president, just got introduced, making his remarks at the national prayer breakfast this morning. we will listen in. lou louis golmert, believe it or not, is this year's chair of the national prayer breakfast. [ applause ] >> thank you. please, everyone have a seat. giving all praise to god who brought us here this morning. thank you so much for our two outstanding co-chairs, louis and

jan. and i have to say, i would have enjoyed a behind-the-scenes look at the two of these folks getting this breakfast organized this morning. but there does seem to be that sibling thing a little bit, louis. they love each other, but they've got to go at each other a little bit. i, by the way, have always found louis to be unbelievably gracious every time i've seen him. now, i don't watch tv -- [ laughter ] -- i've got to admit. but he is a good man and a great storyteller, and jan was just reminding me the first time we saw each other was at one of my first events when i first ran for office. and it's wonderful to see all of the dignitaries and friends who

are here today, to the presidents and prime ministers, the leaders of business and the nonprofit community, to my incredible friend and vice president joe biden, to my cabinet members who are here and members of the administration who do such great work every single day, to my fellow hawaiian, it is wonderful to see you. i should tell you that my surfing is not that good. i just want to be clear, but my body surfing is pretty good. that he knows. [ inaudible ] it is. and terrage shaw, who is just such an incredible young leader and is out there every single day. i could not be more proud of his outstanding leadership at u.s.

a.i.d. -- [ applause ] -- and it's a good reminder of the dedicated public servants that i have the chance to interact with every single day. and they do great work. don't always get a lot of cre t credit. sometimes get subject to the sort of criticism that you do when you're in public life. but raj is single-minded in terms of trying to help as many people as possible around the world, and is an extraordinary representative for our country. so i'm very, very proud of him. although he does always make me feel like an underachiever whenever i -- [ laughter ] -- whenever i listen to him. i'm thinking, i should have been working harder and not slouching. [ laughter ] dale jones and everyone else who worked on this breakfast this morning, thank you. obviously, i'm thrilled to be

joined by my extraordinary wife. and she does a great job every single day. keeping me in line. [ applause ] two other things. to our men and women in uniform all around the world, we prayed for them. [ applause ] many of them doing such great work. to keep us safe. and then, there is one colleague of mine who is missing today, a great friend of mine who i came into the senate with, senator tom coburn. tom's going through some tough times right now, but i love him dearly, even though we're from different parties. and he's a little closer to louis' political perspective than mine, but he is a good man. you know, i'm keeping him and his family in my prayers all the time. so just a shout-out to my good

friend tom coburn. [ applause ] so each time we gather it's a chance to set aside the rush of our daily lives, to pause with humility before an almighty god, to seek his grace and mindful of our own imperfections, to remember the admonition of the book of romans, which is especially fitting for those of us in washington. "do not claim to be wiser than you are." so here we put aside labels of party and ideology and recall what we are first. all children of a loving god, brothers and sisters called to make his work our own. but in this work, as lincoln said, our concern should not be

whether god is on our side, but whether we are on god's side. and here we give thanks for his guidance in our own individual faith journeys. in my life, he directed my path to chicago and my work with churches, who were intent on breaking the cycle of poverty and hard-get communities there, and i'm grateful not only because i was broke and the church fed me, but because it led to everything else. it led me to embrace jesus christ as my lord and savior. it led me to michelle, the love of my life, and it blessed us with two extraordinary daughters. it led me to public service and the longer i serve, especially in moments of trial or doubt, the more thankful i am of god's guiding hand. now, here as americans we affirm

the freedoms endowed by our creator, among them freedom of religion. yes, this freedom safeguards religion allowing us to flourish as one of the most religious countries on earth. but it works the other way, too. because religion strengthens america. brave men and women of faith have challenged our conscience and brought us closer to our founding ideals from the abolition of slavery to civil rights, workers' rights. so many of you carry on this good work today, for the child who deserves a school worthy of his dreams, for the parents working overtime to pull themselves out of poverty, for the immigrants who want to step out of the shadows and become a full member of our american family, and for the young girl who prays for rescue from the modern slavery of human trafficking, an outrage that we

must all join together to end. through our office, an office of faith-based and neighborhood partnerships led by melissa rogers, we're proud to work with you on this and many other issues, and i invite you to join us in a new initiative that i announced in my state of the union address, an effort to help more young men of color overcome the odds, because so many boys in this country need that mentor to help them become a man and a good father. i felt the love that faith can instill in our lives during my visits to the holy land, jerusalem, sacred to jews, christians, and muslims. i felt it in houses of worship, whether paying my respects to the tomb of archbishop romero in san salvador, or visiting a synagogue on the eve of rosh hashanah, the blue mosque in istanbul, or buddhist temple in bangkok.

and i felt the compassion of so many faith leaders around the world, and i'm especially looking forward to returning to the vatican next month to meet his holiness, pope frances, whose message about caring for the least of these is one that i hope all of us heed. like matthew, he has answered the call of jesus, who said, "follow me," and he inspires us with his words and deeds, his humility, missionary impulse to serve the cause of social justice. yet even as our faith sustains us, it's also clear that around the world freedom of religion is under threat. and that's what i want to reflect on this morning. we see governments engaging in discrimination and violence against the faithful. we sometimes see religion twisted in an attempt to justify

hatred and persecution against other people, just because of who they are, how they pray, or who they love. old tensions are stoked, fuelling conflicts along religious lines. as we've seen in central african republic recently. even though to harm anyone in the name of faith is to diminish our own relationship with god. extremists succumb to a flagrant anilism that they don't understand the faiths that they claim to profess, for the killing of the innocent is never fulfilling god's will. in fact, as the ultimate betrayal of god's will. today, we profess the principles we know to be true. we believe that each of us is wonderfully made in the image of god. we, therefore, believe in the inherent dignity of every human being. dignity that no earthly power

can take away. and central to that dignity is freedom of religion. right of every person to practice their faith how they choose, to change their faith if they choose, or to practice no faith at all, and to do this free from persecution and fear. our faith teaches us that in the face of suffering, idly by, and we're told to do right, seek justice and defend the oppressed. know the feelings of the stranger having yourselves been strangers in the land of egypt. the quran instructs stand up firmly for justice. so history shows that nations that uphold the rights of their people, including the freedom of religion, are ultimately more just and more peaceful and more successful.

nations that do not uphold these rights, so the bitter seeds of instability and violence and extremism. so freedom of religion matters to our national security. [ applause ] as i've said before, there are time when is we work with governments that don't always meet our highest standards, but they're working with us on core interests such as the security of the american people. at the same time, we also deeply believe that it's in our interests, even with our partners -- sometimes with our friends -- to stand up for universal human rights. so promoting religious freedom is a key objective of u.s. foreign policy. and i'm proud that no nation on earth does more to stand up for the freedom of religion around the world than the united states of america. [ applause ]

it is not always comfortable to do. but it is right. when i meet with chinese leaders -- and we do a lot of business with the chinese, and that relationship is extraordinarily important not just to our two countries but to the world -- but i stress that realizing china's potential rests on upholding universal rights, including for christians and tibetan buddhists and wigar muslims. when i meet with the president of burma, a country that is trying to emerge out of long darkness into the light of a representative government, i've said that burma's return to the international community depends on respecting basic freedoms, including for christians and

muslims. i've pledged our support to the people of nigeria who deserve to worship in their churches and mosques in peace, free from terror. i've put the weight of my office behind the efforts to protect the people of sudan and south sudan, including religious minorities. as we support israelis and palestinians, as they engage in direct talks, we've made clear that lasting peace will require freedom of worship and access to holy sites for all faiths. i want to take this opportunity to thank secretary kerry for his extraordinary passion and principled diplomacy that he's brought to the cause of peace in the middle east. [ applause ] thank you, john. more broadly, i've made the case that no society can truly succeed unless it guarantees the rights of all of peoples, including religious minorities,

whether they're amadiya, pakistan, christians in egypt, and in syria, it means a place for all people, sunnis, shia, and christian. so going forward, we will keep standing for religious freedom around the world. and that includes, by the way, opposing blasphemy and defamation of religion measures, which are promoted sometimes as an expression of religion, but, in fact, all too often can be used to suppress religious minorities. we continue -- [ applause ] -- to stand for the rights of all people, to practice their faiths in peace and in freedom, and we will continue to stand against the ugly tide of

anti-semitism that rears its ugly head all too often. i look forward to nominating our next ambassador at large for international religious freedom to help lead these efforts, and we're moving ahead with our new strategy to partner more closely with religious leaders and faith communities as we carry out our foreign policy. and i want to thank sean casey from the wesley theological seminary for leading this work at the state department. sean, i think, is here today, and we want to thank him for the outstanding work that he's doing. thank you, sean. [ applause ] so around the world, we're elevating our engagement with faith leaders and making it a regular part of our diplomacy. and today, i invite you to join us in focusing on several pressing challenges. let's do more together to advance human rights, including religious freedom. let's do more to promote the development that raj describes, from ending extreme poverty to saving lives from hiv/aids, to

combatting climate change so we can preserve god's incredible creation on all these issues, faith leaders and faith organizations here in the united states and around are incredible partners and we're grateful to them. and in contrast to those who wield religion to divide us, let's do more to nurture the dialogue between faiths, that can break cycles of conflict and build true peace, including in the holy land. and finally, as we build the future we seek, let us never forget those persecuted today. among them, americans of faith. we pray for kenneth bae, a christian missionary who's been held in north korea for 15 months, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. his family wants him home, and the united states will continue to do everything in our power to secure his release, because kenneth bae deserves to be free. [ applause ]

we pray for pastor saeed abidini, held in iran for 18 months, sentenced to eight years in prison related to his christian beliefs and as we continue to work for his freedom, again, today, we call on the iranian government to release pastor abidini so he can return to the loving arms of his wife and children in idaho. [ applause ] and as we pray for all prisoners of conscience, whatever their faiths, wherever they're held, let's imagine what it must be like for them. we may not know their names, but all around the world there are people waking up in cold cells, facing another day of

confinement, another day of unspeakable treatment, simply because they are affirming god. despite all they've endured, despite all the awful punishments, if caught, they will wait for that moment when the guards aren't looking, when they can close their eyes and bring their hands together and pray. in those moments of peace, of grace, those moments when their faith is tested in ways that those of us who are more comfortable never experience, and those far-away cells, i believe their unbroken souls are made stronger. and i hope that somehow they hear our prayers for them, that they know that along with the spirit of god, they have our spirit with them, as well, and that they're not alone.

today, we give humble thanks for the freedoms we cherish in this country, and i join us in seeking god's grace in all of our lives. i pray that his wisdom will give us the capacity to do right and to seek justice and defend the oppressed, wherever they may dwell. i want to thank all of you for the extraordinary privilege of being here this morning. i want to ask you for your prayers, as i continue in this awesome privilege and responsibility as president of the united states. may god bless the united states of america, and god bless all those who seek peace and justice. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> the president's remarks centered a lot on a passionate defense of not just america's religious freedom, but as the push that he says he is doing in the national security and

diplomacy, making religious freedom key there. and he also made once again a request of both the north korea and iranian governments to release americans being held captive simply for practicing and attempting to spread their own christian beliefs. you saw the lighthearted moment there between the president and louis gomert, an outspoken critic of the president, and the president joking that he likes him, because he doesn't watch tv. and a newly declared congressional candidate that you might recognize. his name is clay aiken. first, today's trivia question. which senator has written songs recorded by gladys knight? the first person with the correct answer gets the on-air shout-out. [ male announcer ] we all think about life insurance. but when we start worrying about tomorrow, we miss out on the things that matter today. ♪

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i can't believe your mom has a mom cave! today i have new campbell's chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. well, celebrity and politics

have been intertwined for years, but the leap from hollywood star to grammy winning artist to washington politician has not been smooth. some actors have made the leap from the theatrical stage or screen to the political one. remember a guy named ronald reagan? arnold schwarzenegger became the "running man" winning the governor during the whole recall mess, and stewart smalley, and singer sonny bono was california congressman, and others less successful, paul walton, ralph waite ran unsuccessfully as a democrat three times, john hall, the lead singer of orleans, discovered love takes time. now, more than a decade after he finished runner-up on the second season of "american idol," clay aiken is hoping to join the list of celebrities who successfully made the leap to washington and politics. he announced he is setting aside his singing career to run for congress wednesday in a

five-minute online video. >> you only know the part of my story that begins with the golden ticket, something that still seems unbelievable to me even to this day. you might wonder what would qualify mow to run. well, it starts with the life i remember all too well. mom working nights at sears, clothes from the thrift store. >> well, the candidate himself joins me now. clay aiken, thank you for your patience, by the way. you will discover if you make it here to washington that you always usually have to wait for the president speaking before you get to do things. >> i imagine. thank you for having me. >> let me start with the simple question of when did you first begin thinking about a career in politics? >> well, i've been -- i've been interested in politics for as long as i can remember. in eighth grade, i had to write a paper about someone who i admired, and i called the office of former north carolina governor and u.s. senator terry sanford and asked him if i could come interview him. in eighth grade, i walked over

to his office and wrote my paper on hi. this race in particular is something that i've been looking at for almost a year at this point. it was important for me to keep it as quiet as possible and not talk about it so i could be deliberate and really look at the -- look at the race and weigh the options. but it's not been something that has come up in the last month or so. it's been something that's been in my head and in my heart for about a year now. >> i'm sure plenty of consultants that you've talked to, and political advisors, have explained to you you're running in a pretty tough district. pretty republican district. both mitt romney and john mccain carried it handedly, even in 2008 when president obama carried north carolina overall. how do you think you'll be able to win -- you'll have to win over some republicans onto your side in order to win this race, assuming you get out of the primary. >> well, from a registration standpoint, actually republicans are less than a third of the registered voters in this particular district. a lot of independents. i don't think anybody really lives on either side of the political spectrum.

nobody's all the way on the right. nobody's all the way on the left. everyone lives somewhere in the middle. what we've seen with the votes in this particular district in 2012 is while mitt romney did carry it handedly, the congressman, the incumbent congresswoman, excuse me, carried by a much, much smaller margin. there's a lot of disenfranchisement with her, specifically because i think people recognize she's not represented the district and has gone to washington to represent herself and her own interests and the interests of her party. and i think at the end of the day what people want in washington is someone they know cares about them, someone they know listens. the people of this state really put me where i am today. they were integral and largely responsible for me being able to have the platform and the microphone that i have, and they know me. they know me well. >> right. >> and i care about them. this is where i'm from. i think that's what's most important at the end of the day. >> renee elmer, the congresswoman there, and this is what a spokesperson. aiken is a performer whose

political views more closely resemble those of san francisco than sanford. renee best represents the values of the voters and remains focused on fighting for their families. what do you say to the shot about san francisco versus the north carolina 2nd congressional district? >> well, i'm not sure what that means, san francisco, especially if i'm entertainment, los angeles, i'm not sure what she meant by san francisco. the bottom line is, you know, we're not running on -- we're not running on hollywood values, entertainment, anything except what's important to the people in this district, jobs, economy, veteran issues, education. people want to put their kids through school. these are the things that matters. there's nothing else that matters. >> i want to go through a few issues. first of all, you mentioned that the -- congresswoman elmers was too party line, represented all things republicans first. what's something that you

disagree with, say, with the democratic party as a whole, nationally or president obama, that will make you more distinctive to an independent voter in north carolina, let's say, that supported mitt romney? >> i think in general one of the things that all parties have issues with, and the democrats are not immune from this argument, is people are not really working together. when i studied politics and watched government through the '90s and the 2000s, we've had parties -- presidents in office that disagreed with ideologically with congress, but somehow they found middle ground. i think both parties have an issue with that, not just the democrats, but the republicans, also. i have some concerns about the way the nsa has -- some of the rules and the procedures that the nsa has been following over the past several years. and i believe that privacy issues are a concern. so i certainly don't necessarily line up with the president on that. but in general, i don't think he's immune from the argument that people need to reach across the aisle, and i don't think he's immune from the criticism that he might -- might should be doing a little better job of

that himself. >> a couple of the litmus test issues, anything you would change about the health care law? >> of course. there are things i would change about the health care law. i think we can take a look bit at the ratios between the young people who are signing up for health care and the some of the other older people who are signing up, the republicans have put forth a plan which i think has incredible flaws to it, but i think have some places where compromise could be reached. i think in general, though, the key about the health care plan is we talk a lot about 26-year-olds staying on their parents' health care plan. we talk a lot about not being able to be restricted from coverage, or denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, but we have ignored and not really talked enough about the dozens and dozens of other provisions, like hospitals having to tell you what they're charging you for, doctors not being allowed to be on the dole from pharmaceutical companies. >> right. >> the amount that health care companies have to spend on your health care instead of just profits. there are a lot of things about

the health care law that don't get enough attention, and the point that i want people to understand about the health care law, for me, is that at the end of the day, there are so many things about it that are good, and there are things about it that are bad. there are things that need help. but to throw out dozens and dozens of good provisions is like throwing the baby out with the bath water, we need to fix what needs to be fixed. >> there were a bunch of issues i wanted to ask you about. let me ask one, sometimes big to north carolina, and that is the trade deals that the president wants to do with asia and with europe, instinctively where are you on trade agreements? do you think that power ought to reside -- negotiating power ought to reside with the president, or do you think congress should have a bigger say? >> i think we need to make sure we're putting in measures that protect american workers, so if we're making trade agreements with countries that don't have worker protections in place, like minimum wages that allow companies to go overseas and give jobs to -- and take jobs from american workers, because

they can pay people much more cheaply in other countries, that's taking a i way jobs from american workers. >> where are you on -- specifically, on this asian trade deal with will likely come up as a big debate topic this year and possibly as a vote if you serve in congress, could you support it? >> i don't know enough about the trade deal specifically. i know we need to make sure -- like i said, we need to be protecting workers at home. i don't know that i would necessarily give complete unilateral permission to the president to make such trade deals and to negotiate all of them completely, and i think congress does need to be involved for that very reason, because our primary goal needs to be protecting workers and protecting jobs in the u.s. >> i have to leave it there. a bunch of other issues i wanted to ask you about. but we run out of time. anyway, good luck to you on the campaign trail. stay safe. and enjoy it. i hope you also enjoy yourself on the trail. politics can be a fun thing, too. thanks for coming on. up next, we're taking a "deep dive" into why mideast experts are enjoying a large-scale boycott and concern

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booking.com booking.yeah! in our thursday databank, we've got the numbers on a real american hero, states peppered with salt problems and a major retailer that's venting over s its hacker attack. the number 32. how long it's been since jeff bell lost the u.s. senate race to bill bradley in new jersey. bell tells "the star ledger" he wants to challenge cory booker this fall. bell was tea party before there was a tea party, and this time bell said he'd run on getting back to a gold-backed dollar. the old gold standard. senator booker's spokesperson responded by calling him a carp carpetbagger, because he moved to virginia after his last political loss in new jersey. 686,000 tons. that's how much salt the

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approval rating is now at its lowest point in his presidency. down to 37%. wow. the only way it could get lower, get elected to congress. not good. >> take away time and end of an era for nbc and "tonight show." the final show airs tonight on nbc. in "today's take-away" looking at the politicians and late-night king has targeted over the past decades. 42892 jokes in this mon longs. 9,465 jokes directed at republicans which specific politicians did jay go after the most. top list, hillary clinton at number five at 939 jokes.

president obama, 1, 011. george w. bush was the second most. over 200 more jokes than these other three combined. so who is number one, i think it's pretty obvious, leno loved to joke about powerful figures and scandalous behavior. so it made former president bill clinton his prime target. 1 in every 10 jokes leno made about anybody were aimed at that former president. there's another thing that the legacy of jay and leno, in the comedy community. everybody's got their hold on the generational divide. the new york divide, but there's one thing you got to understand about jay leno. jay leno is the guy who mainstreamed the 80 of political satire back on the air. political satire was huge. seven for johnny carson on

monday nights we looked forward my old days at the "hot line" we knew it would be political, be fun. all of washington tuned in. guess what, after jay started doing it. it seems like the rest of late night became more political and more political satire followed with it. jay, as a political reporter, i thank you for that. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." coming up next, chris janzen, i'll see you tomorrow. by the ho? 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. with limited availability in select markets. ♪ with limited availability in select markets. [ mawhile a body in motionat restends to stay in motion... staying active can ease arthritis symptoms.

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"jansing & company." i'm ari in new york. >> and i'm chris jansing in sochi. >> and that's where we want to begin with terror threats. the department of holland security is warning airlines bound for russia that terrorists may try to smuggle on to planes inside tubes of toothpaste. russian officials still insist that these reports about terror attacks are overblown. there's no reason to believe it's any different than any other big cities. >> i want to repeat one more time, the level of security in sochi is absolutely the same in new york, london, washington or boston. >> but peter king, a member of the hopeland security committee was briefed about the threat yesterday, said the opposite. >> this is a type of threat that is very concerning to us. i can't go into the detail. but i can tell you that our intelligence people are