push, aggressively push our agenda. thinker with they are with us. they are with us, and i'm sure glad i'm with you. >> they are keeping their eye on the ball, as well as on income inequality. the house dems trying to force a vote to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. congressman steve israel urged his democratic counterparts to fall in line. >> if there is a republican who will not sign this discharge petition because they argue that the economy cannot afford an increase in the minimum wage, people are going to want to know why that same republican continues to vote for a minimum subsidy for big oil companies of $40 billion every ten years. >> nbc's luke russert is in maryland for us. good day to you. this is a big retreat. it's all about strategy sessions for the house democrats. look, we're less than nine months or so out from election day, so what's the strategy

you're hearing? >> well, alex, house democrats face a monumental task in order to make nancy pelosi speaker again. they have to win 17 seats, which is a difficult thing to do. in order to do that, they are trying to figure out what can sort of be the silver bullet, the issue to get them those 17. joe biden made a good point today, he said november is three political lifetimes from now, but the issue they want to focus on are the following three, income inequality, which they believe is a defining issue to get a lot of people to the polls, also a federal minimum wage hike, and imgrmigration reform. you're going to see a big push on minimum wage. immigration reform is going to come more from outside groups that have the money that are waiting to move forward on this issue, but haven't done so because they thought there would be a chance for a bipartisan compromise. however, however you slice it and dice it, if you look at the political map, getting those 17 seats is very, very difficult and they have to have a perfect

race. you have meetings like this with joe biden and president obama, they come here and say they are going to do however many fundraisers house democrats would like to have them have, obviously, they'll raise a lot of money, but at the end of the day, it's difficult to see how those 17 seats can be won. that being said, they feel income inequality, middle class issues, focusing on women in the workforce, equal pay, things of that nature, perhaps, alex. >> i'm looking at stats here, california, florida, iowa, virginia, they have a couple of seats that look like possible pickups, certainly, for the dems, but we'll have to see how that plays out, certainly. weatherwise, luke, how is this affecting the turnout for the event? >> turnout was way down here because of the weather, alex. dozens upon dozens of cancellations. vice president biden was supposed to come yesterday. he was not able to get here

because of the snow and hail, so he came today, right before president obama. so, that you say old man winter, saved the house democratic caucus from hearing a long-winded joe biden, alex. >> come on, karen finney and i were listening to him, we love joe biden. >> we all love joe. karen finney joins me right now. fifth time since last year the minority democrats have helped john boehner pass a bill. how significant is that, how does this get played into the election? >> very significant. clearly significant in terms of

the republican caucus in terms of the politics in the caucus and john boehner's tenure as speaker of the house, obviously, there were plenty of republicans who were not happy about how that went down. at the same time, you have those establishment republicans who recognize they couldn't afford to go through another shutdown, another drama. that does give, though, democrats the opportunity to sort of take that off the table. i think that's why they are coming out bold with this discharge position concept on the minimum wage. i think it's also why they are going to push very hard on these women's issues, because they need to get women voters, particularly if you look at the virginia race where terry mcauliffe won, women made the difference. i'll say that again, women made the difference. i feel like, you know. so issues that appeal to women, that's why you're hearing about equal pay and some of these family medical leave issues. those are the issues they are hoping will help make the difference, and particularly in some of those key districts where it's going to be really tough to pull it out. >> can i get, though, your sense of the establishment republicans versus the, i guess we'll call

them the tea partiers and more right wingers. which one has more power right now, overall more influence? >> i think that's what we're going to see play out in the primaries, because i think what we don't know, necessarily, certainly, i don't think john boehner would have done what he did if he didn't feel that he had the support of, like, the chamber of commerce and sort of that establishment part of the party. at the same time, you've got freedom works and other groups saying, hey, we're raising a lot of money and we're going to spend that money in primaries to take on republicans who we think aren't on our agenda. as we see the primaries play themselves out, we're going to see exactly who's going to be able to spend that money wisely in terms of turnout, in terms of affecting who ends up being the republican nominee. >> the president just finished speaking. let's listen to what he said just a few moments ago. >> the fact that we were able to pass a clean debt limit is just one example of why when you guys are unified, you guys stick together, this country is better off, and i could not be more

thankful and more appreciative and prouder of what you're doing. >> in part the reason he's so thankful and appreciative, look at his own popularity rating, down in the low 40s. overall, how does that play out come november? >> it's important he's agreed to do so many fundraisers, because in 2010 he didn't, and one of the criticisms was the white house didn't engage as vigorously as they would have liked, so the fact the president is out there very verbally and traveling and being very vocal about his intention to do a lot is going to be huge. the question will be, as this year plays itself out, are democrats able to make the contrast, will those numbers go up, will his numbers go up, and will he be an asset. remember, he told the senate retreat that it was okay if he didn't want him to come campaign with them. so it's going to be better for candidates if his numbers are strong.

>> do you think obamacare is going to play into the election? >> absolutely, absolutely. we're already seeing it, it's going to be positive and negative. we're seeing the line about if you like your health care, you can keep it being against some candidates that echoed that statement, then there are candidates using it saying, hey, it needs fixing, but i'm still for it, and i think that's a more generally appropriate message, because i think that's where the majority of americans are, but no question it's going to be used both for and against candidates. and the candidates that lean into it and talk about it in a perspective of values and this is why we did this, are going to fair better than those who pretend it's not there. >> it's there, as are you on the weekends, "disrupt" every saturday and sunday. thanks so much. good to see you. all right, so we have some breaking news to share for all of you right now. we have stunning new details emerging in the miami dolphins bullying case. an independent investigation

into former player jonathan martin's allegations of bullying, ritchie incognito, they engaged in a pattern of harassment directed at not only jonathan martin, but other young players, as well, also an assistant trainer is involved here. the report is the assistant trainer is the object of racial slurs, the other player was subjected to homophobic name calling, improper physical touching. let's speak to nbc's kyra sanders. >> you do point out one of the key things here, and remember, this all began when jonathan martin, a big offensive lineman in his second year with the dolphins, who actually left training camp and said through his representatives at the time that he was tired of the bullying. that launched this investigation. an independent investigation, not sanctioned by the dolphins,

but rather by the nfl themselves. ted wells, the attorney, began this investigation shortly after the departure from dolphins camp in october, and pretty near the top of his report, repeating sort of what you said. he said, "we conclude that three starters on the dolphins' offensive line, richie incognito, jerry -- john jerry, and mike pouncey, engaged in a pattern of harassment directed not only at martin, but also at another young dolphins offensive lineman who they refer to as player a., and a member of the training staff, who is referred to as an assistant trainer." now, as i read further down in the report, i have a quote here that we can put up on the screen and it gives you sort of a little sense of the tenure of what was being said, apparently back and forth, some rather offensive language, which was a pattern here. the portion of the report that i've read says that, it is a given that there is language

that in professional sports, this is exchanged back and forth, but as you can see from this quote here, if we're going to be able to pull it up -- okay. apparently we don't have that quote, so here we go. "the evidence supports a finding that incognitincognito, jerry p persistently made graphic, sexually explicit comments about martin's sister, a medical student with whom they had never met." this would really bother martin, it cannot be repeated on television. it is extremely graphic, very aggressive, and it bothered him. now, one of the questions initially asked during this investigation about bullying in a football team, people saw how big that, you know, martin was, and they were like, it doesn't make sense, why didn't he just stand up for himself? a lot of people thought, why didn't he physically engage incognito. that's addressed in the report, as well. the quote here in the report

that was put together by ted wells, it says here, as we look at it -- "we will never know whether a stronger reaction by martin would have stopped his teammates' behavior or exacerbated it, but martin told us that he did not view a physical response as a viable option." in fact, he feared that if, indeed, he engaged in a physical response, according to the report, it might have actually made things worse, because they enjoyed the taunting. again, this is 148 pages. i have not finished reading the report, but the portions i have read, those are the portions that we can actually share with you because of the graphic nature of some of the comments in here. a very thorough report that includes, among other things, according to the report, that richie incognito kept a book, and in that book, they apparently kept notes back and forth of each other. when this investigation began,

ted wells, the investigator, says that richie incognito texted another member of the team and said, destroy that book. we have to get rid of that evidence. ted wells said, that book was never destroyed, he had it, he read it, and he included it in this report. >> extraordinary, 148 pages. interesting also on the heels of these tweets put out by incognito sort of pleading his case and going after jonathan martin earlier this week. let me also just, kerry, thank you, we do have a statement, and this is from the miami dolphins and it officially reads as this, "as an organization, we are committed to a culture of team-first accountability and respect for one another." we will see how they react to all this. just ahead, everyone, a virginia judge has ruled the state ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. we're going to talk to the president of g. l.a. d. on this latest move. and the crippling snow

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better hurry, mattress discounters presidents day sale ends presidents day. ♪ mattress discounters we have quite the valentine's day mess up and down the east coast. multiple chain-reaction crashes caused an icy nightmare along the pennsylvania turnpike this morning. look at that as proof of it. trucks, suvs, all involved in this series of wrecks. 16 people have been hospitalized. elsewhere, schools closed for a second day around new england and this region. farther south, winter weary residents are digging out from yet another winter storm, sleet, ice, two feet of snow in some areas, and that's being blamed for at least 21 deaths, and that includes a pregnant woman, who

was struck by a snow plow in new york city, though her baby was successfully delivered by c-section. what a heart breaker. power crews have worked through the night to restore power to customers. at this hour, more than 423,000 are still in the dark across a dozen states. this adds up to an unprecedented year for travel delays, more than 1,500 cancellations today alone. and a record of 75,000 since the first of december. that is the highest number of cancellations in more than a quarter century. nbc news correspondent ron mott, he got to where he's supposed to be in portland, maine, for us. ron, good day to you. winter storm warning just expiring there, so what are folks doing, are they staying off the roads? >> yeah, folks are actually on the roads. slow going this morning, alex. first of all, good morning. you mention that big accident down near the philadelphia area. there were a couple dozen accidents or so, most of those are minor, but the real concern last night was all this wind that blew along the new england

coast. you can see what it did to trees here. these trees picked up a little thin coating of ice last night. this system pretty much behaved how it did yesterday as it made its way up here to maine. it started with snow and snowed most of the day, then it warmed up just enough and we have that mix, ice last night, then it turned back into snow last night. and now it's warmed up again above freezing, so i'm standing under this tree and all the ice that coated those little branches up there last night is starting to melt. they closed school today, which is a little surprising, considering they got about nine inches of snow here in portland. these folks are used to a lot of snow here, so to close classes, it's kind of a big deal up here, because that, of course, means the kids may have to go a little bit longer into the early part of the summer before school is let out. the government here, the state government, they started later than normal today, but the roads are in pretty good shape. the turn pike, they had lowered the speed limit to 45 or so. that has been lifted, so folks

are now able to get back up to speed, literally, on the highways there. all in all, pretty decent storm here. a guy said is it may yet, well, you've got more snow coming tomorrow and more snow monday into tuesday. i think they are sick of it here in new england, where it's part of life up here, but they are even tired of it. >> don't even talk to me, i'm a california girl, i've had it. nbc's ron mott in portland, maine. there's another round of snow in our forecast. nbc meteorologist bill karins. stop that yeahing. how much can we expect in the northeast? >> some areas, one to two feet. let's wrap up what we just got done with, what was impressive was most areas got, in four hours, most of the snow. albany, new york, 17, allentown was the highest at 19. how's that for a name, mount storm, west virginia, 28 inches of snow was the highest total i've seen on the eastern seaboard.

the big storm, right over the top of maine, and then look back towards st. louis, another storm racing across the country. this is the one alex is really excited about, a little bit of snow coming for her weekend. so the clipper is next, the path is going to be similar, but thankfully it moves in a little bit slower as far as the snow, then when it blows up to a big storm once it gets past boston, too late to pass up heavy amounts, during the daytime, the roads should be just fine. but up towards maine from portland to the coastal areas, that's who's going to get nailed with tragically a blizzard, and i'll leave you with this, because i like tuesday. i like tuesday a lot. d.c. could be 57 degrees and sunny, and as far as weather people go, the worst the weather, that's what we do. we're fascinated by it. i'm done. even i'm over it. when i was shoveling my snow bank yesterday tossing it up this high, i'm done.

>> florida is the only of the 50 states that does not have snow somewhere on the ground. >> yes, we have to get the power back, still 400,000 people without power. >> you don't like it and creates problems. bill karins, thank you so much for that. is washington working again? coming up, what the debt ceiling could mean for immigration reform. and later, why the rapper drake is, quote, disgusted at "rolling stone" magazine and why he is done doing magazine interviews. " but when she saw the room... you turned into a weird "7". when she saw the roof-top pool... you went to: "11" ♪ you two should probably get a room... oh that's right! you already did. at planet earth's number one accomodation site... booking.com booking.yeah!

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a recent spade of bipartisan brokering seems to have broken the log jam in washington, but is it really working? and the politics of snow. new york's mayor bill de blasio sets off a firestorm of controversy over snow days. those are today's topic for our agenda panel. let's bring them in. irin carmon, sabrina, and bill scher of liberal oasis is also a liberal writer at campaign for america's future and a welcome to all three of you. here we go, guys, starting with politico, which has this story gotting us talking about the conversation of is washington working again? this article citing a two-year budget deal, a farm bill, and now you have house speaker john boehner sending the debt limit increase to the white house, no strings attached. sabrina, i'm going to ask you what your take is and do you

think we can note this as legitimate progress in washington? >> i'm not entirely convinced. when you look at times where speaker boehner has relied on democratic votes, it's typically for must-pass legislation where if republicans were going to push the deadline, then the alternative is they get blamed for economic impact that is both immediate and severe, such as the debt ceiling this year and the fiscal cliff last year. other moments of bipartisanship that have been cited are things like hurricane sandy, where the alternative is leaving millions of americans in limbo, relying on that aid to come through. i wouldn't necessarily equate that to progress, and any sort of hope for immigration reform, for example, happening this year, which i think is the analogy that people are bringing up, because when you look at other issues that need to get done, immigration reform being the chief among them, there's no real deadline for that. there are longer term political ramifications, such as if republicans, of course, want to take back the white house in 2016, but this year it's an election year and is a base turnout election, it's poised

to, of course, sort of keep their control of the house and possibly even retake the senate, so republican leaders know that immigration reform and not acting on that is not necessarily going to jeopardize their chances. >> okay, i want to talk about the movement that we've seen somewhat on minimum wage with you, irin, because we have the federal minimum wage what the president's proposing, he was just there talking about it this morning, that can possibly get done, democrats overall saying we're going to double down on minimum wage, but if you look at the extending of unemployment insurance, that seems like we've gone over the cliff on that and we're not climbing back. so when you look at that, is it safe to say that lawmakers are still governing from crisis to crisis? because that's a huge crisis for so many in this country. >> absolutely. i think it really depends what your benchmark is. if you're comparing it to the politics of extortion we've seen the last couple of years, if we're comparing it to baseline things to keep the government running, being tied to huge decisions about america's future, then we're in a good

place. but not for the millions of people who have lost unemployment insurance and certainly not for the millions of people who are caught kind of in limbo based on our broken immigration policy. anything that is going to require the spending of political capital, anything that is not going to be keeping the status quo as sabrina mentioned, a deadline-oriented approach. unfortunately, i think those people are going to only be political bargaining chips. the best hope is just that, excuse me, democrats are going to continue kind of trying to back republicans in the corner, both on minimum wage and on immigration. >> but again, on the extent that unemployment insurance, it's been, what, six, seven weeks since that went down on the 28th of december and we had harry reid and all the democratic leaders saying as soon as we get back from our holiday break in january, we're going to put this to the front of the table and get something done for these people. >> unfortunately, if the votes are not there, that's just talk. >> bill, let's talk about this morning's "washington post," in

which greg sargent is pointing to mitch mcconnell's election, where he's being ripped as spineless and a democrat in disguise as a republican. can republicans justify compromise and still hang on that their base? >> well, they can after the primaries. you know, the primary filing deadlines are generally in the spring and most of the primaries will be done by june, so if you're going to do something that can cut against what the tea party wants, you're probably going to do it in june. that's the sweet spot for immigration and also for minimum wage. i know sabrina and irin are a little more pessimistic perhaps than i am, but i do think we have examples of bipartisan success, mention the politico article, also add to that the repeal of the bush tax cuts, the expansion of violence against women act for gays and lesbians, the ramifications of obama nominees, and bank reform. this has happened.

it happens when the pressure points get applied and they feel like there's no way out. when boehner passed the debt limit this week, he said to his caucus, i'm getting this monkey off your back. immigration is a pretty good monkey. even if it's not a monkey for the 2014 midterms, it's a monkey long term. if you can apply that pressure in a way, they feel there's no way out. they do move. so i understand why people are down on washington, but if you take that pessimism and give up, you might be missing some potential opportunities. >> yeah, i would ask you this, we don't have much time. yesterday we had new york mayor bill de blasio, he kept schools open. do you think he dropped the ball or made the right call? when we look at the politics of this, schools would lose funding if they are not open a certain number of days. you have low-income workers that are not able to stay home, take care of their kids. good call or bad call? >> i think it's a good call, it's a series of unappealing options.

we've had six storms in six weeks, you mentioned parents not being able to find child care, 44% of kids made it in. the ones that didn't, hopefully, there were alternatives for them. >> other things, school lunch programs, that really is how a lot of kids make sure they get nutritious meals. what do you think of the mayor's call on that? >> good call, and you mentioned it there, school lunches. 1 in 5 americans with children don't have enough food and have been last year, 23 million americans, as we know, receive food stamps, so there are many families who rely on schools to provide children with one, if not two meals a day, and if their children don't go to school, they simply won't eat. i think that was the biggest reason both de blasio, as well as the new york city school chancellor gave. >> bill, final word to you, what do you think, make the call. >> well, it would be a better call if de blasio made the arguments they just made, but he had changing stories. he was blaming the weather

service, saying at the same time that it was more so than i expected, but then we're hardy new yorkers and we can deal with snow. it didn't sound like it came from a clear place, and if he snaps his political capital with weird explanations like that, he's going to have a hard time doing other reforms. >> okay. bill scher, sabrina, irin carmon, who's staying right here, because you're with msnbc.com, so don't have the mayor call you. thank you very much. meantime, here's a look at some of the stories topping the news now. president obama heads west to california today. he's going to assess the damage and bring attention to the record drought in the golden state. it is the state's worst drought in more than a century. olympic and paralympic runner oscar pistorius is speaking out, as today marks the one year since he shot and killed his girlfriend in south africa in his home. he mistaked reeva steenkamp as an intruder. here's something you may

like or not like, either way, it's going to get you talking, facebook is going beyond just male and female. the social network is opening up 56 different gender options for users and they range from transgender to transsexual, to neither. and drake is feeling the heat after lashing out at "rolling stone" magazine. the rapper said he was disgusted as the rapper bumped him from his current cover. drake also said "rolling stone" misquoted him after he criticized kanye west's lyrics. drake says he's never doing another magazine interview again. calling all "house of cards" fans. take a look at real-life members of congress having a little fun acting out the washington-based netflix hit. >> i keep things moving and congress choked by pettiness and blasphemy. >> the bill's going to come up with wednesday.

i never make such big decisions so long after sunset and so far from dawn. >> it's still going to come up. >> i have no patience for useless things. >> i love it when the lines between reality and art are blurred like that. anyway, catch the second season of "house of cards" on netflix starting today and read more about the story by heading to my facebook page, and we'll be right back. ere? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ kinda. here in philadelphia you can access a philly cheesesteak anytime, day or night. just like you can access geico anytime, day or night. there is only one way to celebrate this unique similarity. witness the cheesesteak shuffle. ♪ cheesesteak, cheesesteak ♪ ♪ it's the cheesesteak shuffle! huh! ♪ ♪ every day, all day, cheesesteak, cheesesteak! ♪

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recognized as one that is just as real and legitimate and ordinary as every other family in virginia. >> however, this ruling is not an all-out victory yet for same-sex couples. the marriages are on hold, they are pending an appeal, but it does cap a week of victories in the marriage equality fight overall. sara kate ellis is the ceo of g.l.a.d., and pete williams, our chief justice correspondent. pete, i'm going to reach out to you first, because the judge in this case in virginia here used some pretty lofty language saying in part, quote, we have arrived upon another moment in history when we the people becomes more inclusive and our freedom more perfect. so give me a sense of what those words mean in the broader sense regarding equal protection and then due process. >> there is a lot of lofty language in the decision and the judge frequently points to a case from virginia's past, the case in virginia that ultimately went to the supreme court and struck down the distinction between the racism in terms of

marriage and the judge cites that a lot in her case, but she rejected the three arguments that have been put up by the defenders of the state law, namely, that keeping the same-sex marriage illegal in virginia would encourage traditional definition of marriage, procreation, and the raising of children. she rejected all those as not relevant to denying same-sex couples the access to marriage, but as you say, she put a hold on this ruling. now, it goes to the fourth circuit court of appeals, but we have three appeals courts now ready to decide this. we have the fourth circuit on this, possibly another case from virginia heading there. we have the tenth circuit with cases from utah and oklahoma, and the ninth circuit with the case from nevada, so this is all moving very rapidly, and you mention the south at the beginning, earlier this week, a judge in kentucky said the state can't bar same-sex couples who are legally married in other states from having their marriages recognized in kentucky. so it is moving very quickly.

>> uh-huh, uh-huh. sara, to you now, because this is the first victory in the south for supporters of same-sex marriage. were you surprised by this one? >> i was a little surprised by this. you know, virginia is the last to the table in desegregation and the first to the table on marriage equality, and i think that is fantastic, and i think it's valentine's day, love is in the air. this is a wonderful moment for us, but there is a tremendous amount of more work that we have to do. there's over 30 states that we don't have marriage equality in. >> 33. >> 33, yep. and we have 29 states where you can still be fired for being lgbt, so there's a lot more work to be done here, but it is a moment to pause and celebrate. >> you have the 33 states where marriage is defined as a man and woman, one of each, and the 17 where they say, okay, you can have marriage between same-sex couples and ten states in which you are also allowed to have unions, those at least that are recognized. but overall, this shift, pete

says we're moving pretty quickly. quickly enough? >> i think, yes, we're moving as quickly as possible. i love it to be faster, but this is about people, and not necessarily the policy follows the people and it's about changing hearts and minds and the culture across the country, and i think that's happening rapidly and the policy is catching up to that. >> pete, i want to look ahead to the appeal right here. if last night's ruling is upheld, what implication could it have on same-sex marriage bans then in other southern states? you brought up kentucky, but might that have somewhat much a domino effect? >> well, if the ruling in virginia is upheld by the fourth circuit court of appeals, then that would set the law for the fourth circuit, for the other states in the fourth circuit, but looking really ahead, alex, the question is which one of these cases is going to get to the supreme court first and will the supreme court take the case.

remember the supreme court might decide to take a case on whether states can deny recognition of legal same-sex marriages from other states or will it go ahead and take this, won't be this term, but this issue could be back to the supreme court in theory as early as next term. >> yeah. let's talk about what senators ted cruz and mike lee were doing to introduce a bill to essentially outlaw same-sex marriage at the state level, also introduced in the house, neither are likely to go too far at this point, but the debate over the issue is certainly going to continue. so with regard to g.l.a.d. and your organization, what are you doing to counter those efforts? >> well, i think our efforts are really focused on people and personalizing the issues, because that is what changes hearts and minds. that's what moves a culture forward, and once you have a personal face against the policy, it changes the whole story and changes the narrative, so that's what our work is about, making sure that those stories are being told through the media. >> yeah.

pete, what do you think the biggest hurdle is from a standpoint, where's the greatest difference going to be made, is it on the state level, is that where we look back and say that's what changed it all ultimately? >> well, i think the biggest difference is the supreme court's decision earlier this year as striking down the part of a federal law that said the federal government cannot recognize same-sex marriages in the states where they are legal. the legal reasoning the supreme court used there is what case after case, judge after judge, including this virginia decision, those judges are citing that as saying that the states can't make distinctions constitutionally between same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples when it comes to marriage. that's why you're seeing all these decisions and all these cases, dozens of them around the country. >> okay. thank you so much, pete williams, as always, and sara kate ellis. so, who is spreading the love on this valentine's day? it's time now for the poly side

bar. it's the rnc, out with its annual valentine's day cards to democrats. a sharpened cupid's arrow for kathleen sebelius reads, "i'd never delay our love." okay. another one pictures president obama and says, if you like this valentine, you can keep it. i think obamacare really the focus of those, right? openly gay california republican carl de miao hasn't been elected yet, but is already breaking down barriers. the gop congressional hopeful is being seen holding hands with his partner in one shot and seen waving a rainbow flag in another. on this valentine's day, what does your candy say about your politics? well, "the washington post" crunched the numbers and here's what they came up with, it's a sweet but complexed chart. in a nut shell, researchers found democrats want their candy filled with extras like almonds, raisins, and rice, while republicans favor peanuts,

creamy fillings, and darker chocolate, but apparently both sides meet in the middle on butterfinger, reece's pieces and m&ms. and also thanks to one georgia sheriff, valentine's day is on hold. the sheriff posted a message saying, "men who live in the designated no-valentine's day zone are exempt from buying lottery scratchers and hershey stores until february 18th, 2014, due to ice, snow, and freezing rain." yeah, that's not going to go over well, do you think? no. when it comes to good nutrition...i'm no expert.

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the second the torch was lit, the olympic spirit took over. whatever that is, people have become friendly, russian security guards, it doesn't matter, police, whoever you talk to, everybody is just open and

friendly. i've never seen sochi like this. i've never seen russia like this. >> the russian people are so friendly. i'm having the best time i've ever had. >> every day meeting new people, people happy to see us. it's just strange to have people so excited to meet americans. >> and those are some americans enjoying a warm welcome and the warm weather in sochi. you see that second guy with the hat? i'm sure they were probably laughing at that hat, but anyway, russian president vladimir putin is adding to the warm welcome by making a surprise stop at the usa house today. putin was even given a pin with happy valentine's day, team usa, inscribed on it. the team tweeted this photo of the russian president making the rounds there, and organizers say more than a million tickets have been sold for the sochi games, more than half a million people have visited the olympic park, including a record 106,000 on thursday when the russian hockey team debuted. norway leading the medal count, followed by the netherlands, the

united states with the third spot at 12 medals, that includes four golds. russia and germany are rounding out the top five. and among the americans that dominated the slopestyle skiing finals was 19-year-old nick goepper from indiana. you would not expect a world class skier to be raised there, but goepper was willing to go to any lengths to reach his olympic dream and ann is in krasnaya polyana with how he did it. hi, ann. >> nick goepper is now part of olympic history, he is the first bronze medalist in slopestyle skiing, and he's part of an all-american podium. just the third ever sweep by usa at the winter games. nick goepper is at home in the air. >> he's so incredibly solid right there. >> with a repertoire of tricks that make him america's best hopes in slopestyle skiing. >> to be that guy, flying off the jump and flying through the air, you know, that has to be so

amazing. >> especially for 19-year-old nick, raised in the farmlands and hills of southern indiana. >> this is where i grew up skiing. i started skiing here when i was 5 years old. >> this 300-foot ski hill in indiana would be an ideal playground for the eldest of linda and chris goepper's four children. the one his father says was born with ants in his pants. >> everything had to be a jump or jump up on a bench and spin around and land. >> he would jump up on the co t counter and balance on his toes and wash his hands that way. >> in the summer, nick put on roller blades to ride the halfpipe in his neighbor's backyard. >> i called his mom to see if it was okay to buy him the skates. >> thank goodness. >> no problem, it was awesome. >> anything and everything was a launching pad. on that ski hill, it all came together, when one day young

nick caught air going over a jump and got applause. >> i could go even higher and faster on my skis than i could on my roller blades. that was awesome. i was so stoked. >> but to become a competitive skier, nick had to leave lawrenceburg. >> i knew that my parents weren't exactly in a situation to ship me off to a ski academy for $40,000 a year. >> so with his dad's help, nick went looking for work. >> i mowed their lawn and shovelled their driveway, i also helped shovel their driveway in the wintertime, and that kept me busy. that put a little extra cash in my wallet. >> it paid off, nick's won slopestyle at the last two x-games. for those new to the sport, there could be something of a language barrier. to me, this is a pretzel. >> no, this is a pretzel. >> there are double corks and japan grabs, tricks nick performed this season without poles because of a broken hand. this modest man from the midwest

is at last that guy, jumping and flying to amaze the world. and his hometown of lawrenceburg, indiana, certainly showed their support this week. there were signs all over that town, and last night, there were all kinds of watch parties, including one at perfect north, that's that 300-foot hill that launched nick goepper's dream. alex? >> and, anne, didn't he demo his backyard? he would set up things and jump around? no planting available, the grass is just gone. >> no, he would set up turf and rails in the backyard and turn it into the closest thing he could get to an extreme park, but, you know, nick has two speeds, everyone who knows him will tell you that. it's either off or very fast, and there's nothing in between. and he always loves to be moving, and he just found that skiing and doing those tricks were his thing and he found a way to make it happen. >> got to admire his mom.

i tell you, that was a tough one. anyway, nbc's anne thompson, thank you so much for that. that's a wrap for things for me. i'm alex witt. join me tomorrow. up next, men's h norway versus finland. it's time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. when charlie created a golf accessory company, stitch golf, he wanted to source his supplies locally. he found them by going door to door throughout the state, finding the perfect partners and helping the local small business economy. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone.

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personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪ mother russia meet your newest olympic champion, jamie anderson claims gold in slopestyle. from the gorgeous mountains down to the coastal cluster, and sochi. yes, it is the winter olympics. but temperatures topped out at 64 degrees today. perfect weather for hockey. tonight, it's finland and norway. welcome inside shayba arena, alongside two-time olympian jeremy roenicke. we have a great matchup between finland and norway today. >> one of