>> there you go. julie pace. >> >> i learned the vice president is looking for a basketball league to join. >> thomas roberts? >> i just learned that you're cheating on me with another roberts, because you're supposed to do that for me with "new york housewives" with the slumber party. and the smart pill, i can't wait to read this book. >> barnicle? >> just as i was going to ask there kaku about the memory-enhancing pill, i forgot. >> okay, if it's way too early, it's time for "morning joe." now, it's time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. have a great day, everyone. the endless war may be coming to a sudden end. we'll have the latest on what top u.s. military leaders are saying on the ground in afghanistan as president obama plans to move forward with or without hamid karzai. also this morning, the tdr 50 rolls on. florida nobodious this week, and we're featuring an interview with rick scott.

a look at the state race with national implications. 13 days until they vote on the 13. knee-jerk alert. criticism as only capitol hill can deliver. a tax code reform plan gets trashed before it even gets officially revealed. oh, washington in the 21st century. good morning from another snowy washington. sorry, we're whining about the weather, but good grief. we're done. groundhog, go ahead. it's wednesday, february 26th, 2014. and another version of the snowy "the daily rundown." the first reads of the morning. we begin in afghanistan. it's the longest war in history and it suddenly may come to an abrupt end, just ten months from now. the white house announced planning for the zero option, withdrawing all troops by year's end. in a phone call with karzai, president obama said the u.s. had no choice due to karzai's

failure to sign onto plans that would protect u.s. personnel that would stay in the country post-2014. nbc's jim miklaszewski has just travelled to afghanistan, and he has more from the head of the joint chiefs, general martin dempsey. >> it is a statement that we have reached a point where we have to plan for other options, to include a complete withdrawal by the end of 2014. but it's not an indication that we're not continued to be committed to a mission beyond '14, because we very much believe that the afghans need our help. >> this wasn't supposed to happen. despite plans to end the combat mission this year, the u.s., the obama administration, had always intended to keep a few thousand troops there, as many as 10,000, for instance, in the country, to do two things -- help train soldiers and to do counterterrorism, go after any terrorist cells. to do it, the u.s. insisted that karzai sign a bilateral security agreement, bsa, to protect u.s.

soldiers. they've been waiting on him. and waiting and waiting. for months. playing a game of diplomatic chicken, hoping the threat of a u.s. withdrawal would force him to negotiating table. however, it's not clear that u.s. officials believe he was going to sign the bsa, and if he was, they believe he would have done it by now. >> you know, as the military leader of our country, i can't ask young men and women to serve in a country without the protections afforded by a bilateral security agreement. >> keep in mind the relationship between the white house and president karzai has never been good, and karzai's divided loyalties between the united states and taliban have only made it worse. according to karzai spokesman, the afghan leader told the president he wants peace talks with the taliban to begin before signing the bsa. that's something the united states believes would be tantamount to giving the taliban veto power over the agreement. of course, things could change after april 5th when the

country's presidential elections could mean either a new man in power or a change in karzai's politics. the white house spokesman jay carney says the longer karzai waits, the less help he'll get from the united states, even if he eventually signs the agreement. >> the further we go without a signed bsa, any contemplated post-2014 mission would be necessarily limited in scale and ambition because of the requirements of planning for that troop presence. >> meanwhile, we've heard some republicans taking issue with the decision, but it hasn't been the kind of full-throated outrage you might have expected. house speaker john boehner simply released a statement saying this. succeeding in afghanistan is vital to our national security interests and our mission must take priority over any calendar dates. buck mckeon said the president hasn't done enough to rally public support for the war. >> i understand that politics

can affect judgment, but placing politics above duty is tragic. it is tragic, and it is unforgivable. the american people and our armed forces deserve better. >> put simply, there's not going to be an uprising in congress if the u.s. walks away from afghanistan completely. yes, folks in the military will be upset, and in the intelligence community, about losing a base of operations. there is concern that al qaeda, the taliban, could fill the void left by american troops. but without a bsa and without a credible partner in the afghanistan government, it's tough for any lawmaker to make the case that we should somehow stay. speaking of political fights, military cuts have long been a flash point for congress, but that may not be the case this time. this week, defense secretary chuck hagel detailed what he described as difficult choices to reduce military spending and cut back the overall size of u.s. forces. among the proposals in the defense department's 2015 budget, shrinking the army from 522,000 to 440,000, the lowest

level since 1940. that would save $3.5 billion by retiring the air force's entire a-10 fleet. it would place half of the navy's cruiser fleet in reduced operating status. reforming military compensation packages. and then, also, asking congress for yet another round of base closing and realignments in 2017. now, secretary hagel said tuesday the recommendations were made after weighing the risks against fiscal reality. >> the world's unpredictable. i get that. you have to be prepared. i get that. but you also have to use some common sense. would you rather have more soldiers than less? of course, you would. of course, you would. but it's also the reality, if we couldn't have unlimited resources here. >> now, the pentagon's budget, it depends on what you want to call a cut. right now, it's set at $496 billion. it's the same as the 2014, to keep in line with the budget caps under the sequester. but the pentagon is also asking for an extra $26 billion above

and beyond sequestration levels, and plans for $115 billion above sequester through 2019. now, some republicans are criticizing the budget saying the cuts are too deep. but again, we're talking about sequester here. this is where it gets confusing. senator marco rubio released a statement saying this plan by hager does not accurately reflect the security environment. roy blunt, it has the potential to harm america's readiness. we're not likely to see the knock-down, drag-out fight. remember the sequester was supposed to be the stick that would force republicans and some democrats to negotiate a grand bargain. but as we saw, many republicans looked over the edge of the cliff and said, you know what, sequester not so bad. in fact, some conservatives support the sequester, for imposing cuts that congress wouldn't have had the stomach to put in place otherwise, and for republicans, some conservatives who are putting fiscal responsibility near the top of their priority list, this may be a question of picking your

poison. now, according to south carolina governor nikki haley, president obama delivered that message pretty bluntly when he spoke to republican governors at the chamber of commerce -- she was at the chamber of commerce, but this is what he said, according to her, when they met at the white house. >> the tone completely changed when we started talking about the national guard. it automatically went into an aggressive nature by him, implying that many of you have asked for cuts, this is what you said you wanted. don't start coming in now and complaining that these cuts are affecting you, because you said you wanted it, now kwur going to get it, you'll have to live with it. if somebody questions it, i'll have to something to say about it. >> and that's what this is in many ways is about, calling the bluff on squufter. the politics will be more painful than others. particularly in you're in a spot that makes a lot of revenue from military contracts. we've taken a look at this list. all 435 districts. virginia is at the top of that. 11 districts in the old dominion

took in a combined $50 billion in military contracts in 2012. other states that could see a big drop-off in revenue if the military contracts are cut -- california with three districts in the top 20 of congressional districts with military spending. as well as connecticut, texas, maryland, and arizona. so if you're looking for where the five states where this could politically bubble up, that's where you should start first. we just heard from the joint chiefs chairman there, general martin dempsey, sharing his shouts with jim miklaszewski. mik joins me now by phone from kabul. mik, it seems as if the message from the entire american political establishment is, you know what, we just don't trust karzai mae more. forget karzai. we're done. is that the message dempsey has, too? >> reporter: well, you know, it's pretty clear that karzai has been cut out of this process, at least for the time being. general dempsey is not willing to count him out entirely, but

they are already looking well ahead. now, there is some concern and confusion about just what's going to happen in this april election. james clapper, the director of national intelligence, testified on the hill that they expect one, maybe two, maybe three runoffs, which would take the presidential elections well into the fall. now, interestingly enough, in talking about beginning the serious drawdown to zero at the end of this year, today in an interview with nbc news he said that, you know, we still have many months left before we actually have to begin that final drawdown. and when asked -- when i asked him the question today, well, what if you take it so far as november, december when you've drawn down most of the american forces well below -- even below perhaps the 10,000 that is now being at least talked about?

he said, you know, we are flexible enough that we could easily reinsert the troops. and he talked about for the first time a new mission for the u.s. military forces. all along we've been told that the u.s. military post-2014 would remain in smaller numbers, again a force somewhere between three, five, seven, ten, but note the decision has not been made according to dempsey, but that they would advise, assist, and train the afghan military. but for the first time today, dempsey told us that they're not talking about training ground troops anymore. they're not talking about accompanying afghan police, afghan troops on any kind of combat missions anymore. that would be done. what they're talking about is a training mission for the upper echelons of the afghan military and security services.

>> right. >> which would keep the americans off the battlefield. there's always some danger, of course, they would have a counterterrorism, special operations force, and they could be engaged in combat operations, but that would be a very small number, very limited operations. so the role they're looking for any troops that would remain post-2014 would be minimal at best and only at the higher levels. >> all right, jim miklaszewski in kabul for us. mik, thanks. the big news mik making there, by the way, is general dempsey saying he's got months before he actually has to begin the final withdrawal. that says a lot, means the timeline will be stretched out for a lot longer than maybe the administration was sending out yesterday. so for more on that and what's ahead in afghanistan militarily, as a whole, joined by steve clements, the washington editor at large for "the atlantic," msnbc contributor, new america foundation, right?

you're still there. i want to get all of the titles right. >> yeah, too many. >> it's an important piece of news that mik just broke in his interview with general dempsey which is, hey, you know what, if we have to withdraw, we have to withdraw. but we don't have to begin the final withdraw until we go as late as october, november, december. that means there's more time to negotiate with karzai. is there not? >> there's more time to negotiate with karzai. karzai is highly erratic. karzai is -- >> he could call him up right now and sign this thing and -- >> no, karzai is the kind of guy who could wake up one day and all of a sudden -- the last thing to count on with karzai is consistency. right now, he's being consistently negative about the bsa. it doesn't mean he won't sign it down the road. they're there for intelligence. the training function, objection, great, they're really there to protect kabul. the afghanistan is going to be run by warlords largely around the country, to a certain degree by afghan forces. the whole notion we came in to sort of create a constitutional

and a government centralized -- >> this is the country of kabul. >> right. >> i mean, this is the country of kabul. >> yeah. this is not really a country of afghanistan. warlords and -- kabul will be the one place that there's sort of a maybe 19th century -- >> yeah, and i think you have it right. vice president biden said the troops will be there to keep the incumbent government from being overthrown and help shape the terrain. we have limited ambitions in what we think we'll be able to do in afghan fan. there's no appetite in the country to be there. that's the other dimension of this. while we're talking about being there, you look at -- >> you think the president -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> -- afghanistan is 15% of what they're asking for. 15% of a whole budget is just afghanistan. $92 billion in a country with $14 billion gdp. >> that's astounding figure. and if you go to the zero option, they save a whole bunch -- you could almost envision congress going, you know what, great, i get to keep a base in exchange for --

>> -- various cost of living improvements for the military. >> do you get the sense that this administration, they don't -- they're very reluctant -- they don't want to keep many troops post-2014. is this the mistake that karzai has made in assessing that president obama -- that president obama want as force agreement there after 2014? >> yeah, i think karzai somehow thinks that america need him more than he needs us, and he's gambled that the wrong direction. >> yeah. >> and so, that 10,000-troop level was always sort of a little high. there's been more discussion of either five to eight. >> i've heard that. bringing it down. >> so the number is a bit high. there's a lot of people in the system, particularly in the u.s. system, would like to see the numbers whittled down. they don't want to be charged with abandoning afghanistan, as we did in the past, which left it open to the -- both the taliban and al qaeda coming in and taking things over. they want to kind of find some hedge in the middle where we're not real li in, but we're not

completely out either. >> and they need a base of operation. pakistan desperately wants us there, but they're not going to give us -- going to give the united states military a base of operation in pakistan. >> right. >> steve clemens, thank you, sir. >> always a pleasure. >> afghanistan is one of the topics on the table today when john kerry sits down with my pal andrea mitchell. it's a live and exclusive interview right at lunchtime, noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. on the west, right here on msnbc. up next, my conversation with florida governor rick scott. it's part of our tdr 50, and a look at florida. plus, speaking of the sunbelt, all eyes on arizona. the fate of the controversial bill that some say would legalize discrimination against gays in the state of arizona. it's sitting in governor jan brewer's hands, and apparently she enjoys this hot potato. a look at today's politics planner. the president is on the road, headed to st. paul where i'm wondering if it's less snowy than it is here in washington.

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today, in our continuing tdr 50 look at the state of florida, it's likely to be 2014's most expensive race. it's that bitter fight between current governor rick scott and the former governor charlie crist who wants his old job back. men older than 60 are the likeliest of all voters and rick scott is zeroing in on cuts to medicare advantage, the insurer-run managed care program, which has cost the federal government about 14% more per patient than traditional medicare, mostly because it's a massive subsidy to private insurers. >> seniors retire based on the belief they'll have a health

care system that will be there. we already know that 300,000 people in our state were told they'll lose their insurance, but now under medicare, we're seeing the rate cuts. the rate cuts are the wrong thing for florida seniors. >> meanwhile, charlie crist is going after governor scott on medicaid. though scott said in 2012 that florida would not expand medicaid, last year, he decided to back the expansion, but he did little to make it happen, so charlie crist charges, and the florida legislature quickly turn down the federal money, leaving almost 1 million floridians route health insurance. >> he said it he was for it, for about 30 seconds. i'm exaggerating a little bit, but not much. didn't lift a finger to get it passed. even the speaker, the republican speaker of the florida house, will weatherford, said that guy didn't call me once. he didn't try. at all. and as a result, what are the results? about 1 million of my fellow floridians are not getting health care today, and i'm told by friends at siu, that means

six people in florida die as a result of that every day. every day. >> joining me now is florida governor rick scott. governor scott, good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. and when are you going to move back? the weather is better here. income tax. first day of spring training. >> i hear you. i hear you. let me, though, let you respond to governor crist, about ten days ago on my show, making the case that you haven't fought hard enough to get the medicaid expansion. what say you? >> chuck, the first thing i did when i came into office is we revamped the medicaid program to make sure it's a program our state could afford and that our citizens would be taken care of. let's look at what's happened with obamacare. we have 300,000 people told they could keep their insurance and now last fall they're told they will lose it. we now have basic medicare being raided for obamacare. as i travel the state, we have seniors all across the state that are saying, gosh, governor, i can't get my medicare doctor

anymore. and now, with the rate cuts, what's going to happen, is it going to make it harder? the administration has even acknowledged it will be harder to get your doctor, get the hospital you want to go to. the obamacare program is not working in our state. people are losing their insurance, and now medicare recipients who have relied on medicare are losing their doctors. >> we have a lot of things to unpack here. let's stick first to medicaid. the specific charge by governor crist was you have not done much to actually push -- you said you wanted to expand medicaid under the affordable care act to get these folks, obviously the florida legislature essentially turned you down. are you going to go back to them? do you still want to expand medicaid in florida? >> chuck, what i said is, when i receive the waivers from the federal government that's going to -- it allowed us to improve our medication -- existing medicaid program, so citizens get better medication, as long as -- while the federal government is going to pay 100%, i won't stand in the way as a

legislature wanting to do more. the legislature made the decision -- we have three branches of government here, the legislature made the decision -- >> you're not for this. so you're really not for expanding medicaid. you would be okay to sign the bill if it came to your desk? >> what i'm saying is while the federal government will pay 1 % 100%, then if the legislature wants to go forward, i will be fine with that. but what i'm focused on is affordable, accessible health care, quality health care for our citizens. and what we're seeing out of obamacare is people are losing their insurance. they're losing their doctors. it is the opposite of what the president promised. >> now, let's talk about your medicare hit here a little bit, because we sometimes have to unpack -- there's medicare, the government-run health insurance program for seniors, and medicare advantage, which is different. it's a private insurance program that the federal government helps to subsidize. medicare advantage has cost the federal government a lot of money. this is not a good deal for the government. almost -- majority of the

so-called medicare cuts come from medicare advantage. is this a program that you think works well considering that it has been the faster rate of growth when it comes to the cost of the federal entitlement program? >> well, let's talk about the seniors, chuck. they relied on medicare. relied on the medicare advantage program. it helps families all across our state, you know, a lot of the individuals, you know, they can't afford that the increases that they'll see in the premiums, but the biggest thing is they thought they could keep their doctor. they can't. they can't -- they've said -- the administration said, look, the provider networks, which means doctors, hospitals, you won't be able to see the ones you see now. we'll restrict that. it will impact the seniors. they were promised something and now taken away. >> medicare advantage, though, is not medicare. you acknowledge that. it is two different programs. >> but, chuck, it's a program paid for by our government.

>> medicare advantage is not. medicare advantage is a private insurance company that gets some dedicated private insurance program that's dedicated to medicare recipients, but it's not fully a government program. >> right, right. but it's primarily paid for by the government, and people have relied on it. they were told they could keep their doctor, keep their insurance, and now they're being told is, no, that's not true. i mean, we're already hearing that as i travel the state, seniors are saying to me, i can't get my doctor anymore. and now, with these rate cuts, basically it's just a raid -- medicare on behalf of obamacare. it's going to impact the seniors that have relied on this program. it's a government program that they've relied on. >> all right. let me move on. i just want -- i'm curious of your reaction to some of public polling out there. one says 54% say you do not deserve re-election. there was another poll that said that the performance asked to

rate the john performance of charlie crist in office, he had a 63% approval rating. sort of where people were remembering. with you, the split was 45/46. why do you think charlie crist's days as governor as being remembered more fondly than your current days as governor? >> let's look at the facts. while he was governor, the state lost 832,000 jobs. unemployment went from 3.5 to 11.1%. dramatic increase in state debt and borrowed money to pay off -- pay for unemployment insurance. the private sector based on we've cut taxes 24 times. we're going to cut taxes another $500 million this year. the private sector's come back in our state. 462,000 jobs. so my job is continue to do what i've been doing for the last three years, make sure all families can get a job. we have 282,000 job openings. look, i know what it was like. i lived in public housing growing up. i remember when my dad lost his job. i remember when he got his car repossessed.

i'm trying to make sure that never happens to another florida family. >> i want to go, but what do you think accounts for the perception issue? i understand you want to go and go compare your two records. but the perception is something that you have to overcome. why do you think it's out there? why do you think he's remembered more fondly than your current ten years, governor? >> chuck, i'm not a pundit. my job is to focus on families. i worry about families, like mine growing up. they needed a job. they want to make sure the kids get a great education. we've dramatically increased funding for k-12 education, highest funding in state history, because our economy has turned around. >> let me ask you two other quick issues out there. there is some talk, will weatherford, the florida speaker, talking about getting a bill that might hit your desk. a version of a dream act, if you will, for undocumented immigrants that are under the age of 18. would you sign something like that that would allow them in-state tuition, allow them to in-state tuition?

>> as i've said all along, i think tuition is too high. we've seen dramatic increases in tuition. i said i will certainly look at that. i want to make sure that in 2009, in 2007 they passed legislation in the state that allowed basically a 15% increase a year in tuition. it's dramatically increased our tie igs and, plus a cpi increase. we have to stop that. we have to make sure all citizens in our state can afford -- can afford the higher ed. >> let's go back to the dream -- go back to this sort of dream act style of bill that could end up on your desk that would give essentially undocumented immigrants, noncitizens in florida, but were brought in as children, access to in-state tuition. would you sign a bill like that? >> chuck, as i've already said, you know, i'll certainly look at it, but i want to make sure we get tuition for everybody as low as we can get it. i want to get rid of the 15% differential and the inflationalinflatio

inflationary increase. i've gotten universities to do $10,000 four-year degrees. i want to reduce tuition. there are people like me growing up, i had to pay my way through school. my wife did. i want everybody in our state to afford. >> what about the in-state tuition? would you sign this bill? >> i said i would look at it. >> okay. on what governor brewer is going through in arizona. should she sign or veto that bill? >> chuck, i've not seen that bill. i have spring training -- >> if she signed a bill like this that made it as if a lot of businesses would feel as if they might want to do business in arizona, you would, as governor of dpflorida, would you raid the spring training teams? >> well, look, i go after the spring training teams. i'm competing with governors across the country to bring more jobs to florida. then again, chuck, i haven't seen the bill. i want all of the spring training teams to be back here, first day of spring training

today. >> do you think religious -- do you think a bill like that, religious beliefs, should be used as a basis of denying services to a gay couple? >> chuck, i haven't seen -- i haven't seen the bill, but i can tell you i'm trying to recruit companies every day to our state. >> all right, governor rick scott, i will leave it there. republican from florida. >> move back home, chuck. [ overlapping speakers ] >> you have much better weather than what i have behind me this morning. thank you, sir. >> see you, chuck. we'll have more from the tdr 50, coming up in the "deep dive" until 13 days blt special election, which candidate will be the unlucky one? that's coming up. let's share the news tomorrow. today we failrly busy. tomorrow we're booked solid. we close on the house tomorrow. i want one of these opened up. because tomorow we go live... it's a day full of promise. and often, that day arrives by train. big day today?

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to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪

[ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. >>. >> 13 till 13. in 13 days we'll have the first clues of the strength of the two parties' messages going into the fall. both parties do see the race between republican david jolly and albert cink as a petri dish, if you will. the best way to gain momentum. ad spending has hit a whopping $8.2 million. degue digest that a minute. $8.2 million for a single media market. the race is shaping up to be a nail-biter. a recent poll, the chamber of

commerce, shows them leading, a republican poll. but the florida republican party typically builds a lead during absentee voting, but they hold a three-point edge, and that spells trouble for them. the candidates are making the final argument. yesterday, they had the second of three debates, sponsored by the local chambers of commerce. not affiliated with the u.s. chamber, held in clearwater's capital theater. the debate was not televised live, but both campaigns are eager to jump on and circulate any potential stumble. there was one exchange on immigration reform where cink was to be generous politically inarticulate. >> we need to encourage and incentivize legal immigration. we cannot tolerate illegal immigration. >> immigration reform is important in our country. it's one of the main agenda items of the beach's chamber of

commerce, for obvious reasons, because we have a lot of employers over on the beaches that rely upon workers, and especially in this high-growth environment, where you're going to get people to cleaner hotel rooms or do or landscaping. >> neither candidate is particularly happy that the race has been nationalized. sink was very eager yesterday to call herself a moderate fiscally conservative democrat. she was not too eager to praise barack obama and jolly distanced himself from the national republican party. >> people have said you've broken with your own party five, six times during this campaign. will you really continue to do that if you're elected? some of the questions are, you're the only republican in the entire caucus that would vote this way. my answer is simple. if i don't, throw me out. >> instead, it was clear jolly wanted to run on one name, the late congressman bill young.

>> i worked nearly 20 years with my mentor, bill young. i was there with mr. young. following the model of somewhere like mr. young. growing up, son of a preacher, working with bill young, it's the only way i know how to do this. >> you want to know why achieving entitlement reform is difficult, because political parties are poised to pounce on any changes to social security or medicare. last week, republicans bashed sink for supporting the simpson-bowls plan to reform the fiscal situation, and yesterday, both candidates tripped over themselves to argue they will be the fiercest protectors in congress of social security benefits. >> alex, your claims on my social security positions have been rated false. some of the most vocal people in our community are being scared which falsehood. >> i heard in my own eeshs that david jolly said that he -- that social securities with not guaranteed. that happened in the last debate.

i heard something different today. >> tuesday''s debate was moderated by susan. she joins me now, and reed wilson is editor of "washington post" gov beat. susan, it sounds like the odd sound bite of the day belonged to alex sink on that immigration comment. how's that playing locally in. >> it's getting a lot of attention, as you might imagine, all over the blogs, every major newspaper and media outlet has been covering it. i wouldn't say it's the dominant thing. and in the debate, the real dominant concern was the negative ads and the question we ask about is outside money throwing you off your message, and both candidates really were wanting to distance themselves from some of the outside ads coming into the area, which are huge, as you said earlier, millions. >> it's unbelievable, and, reid wilson, this is the thing that

is destroying political campaigning in this country. outside groups. these two -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> the two campaigns want to send a message about who they were. >> right. outside groups aren't letting them do it. >> the chamber of commerce on the right, the other outside groups. one of the big things here, there are something like six groups that have spent since figures on this race. so, you know, competing messages, everybody is getting involved in this. and, of course, you know, we don't really have a lot of data points between election cycles. here's the one that everybody is now going to focus on. it's the only target in the room. >> you know, susan, i guess i go back, you try to -- you talked about this outside money issue. did either one of the candidates express a desire to say, you know what, this is -- this is perverting the political -- the democratic process here. this outside group, the billionaires, the super pacs, it is just essentially messing up the way politics had been

practiced for years? >> actually, they both did, which was really the message that the audience agreed with, and the libertarian was stronger. he had no ads to talk about, which was funny. the bottom line is both of them recognize what this is doing. of course, as moderator, i took cards from audience participants, and used some of those questions. and at the break when i gather the cards, i would say at least probably over a fourth of the cards were why these negative ads, it's alienating people. >> right. >> and even the fact-checking. i asked the question about the fact checkers haven't found the ads to be truthful. have you done anything to change your message? and they pretty much then went after each other as the fact checking inaccuracies. it's been a big issue here, and it's escalating. and the question is will it tamp down turnout for those left undecided, because in 2012, negative ads in florida, turnout went down in florida in spite of

record numbers -- >> right. people forget that. turnout went down all over the country in 2012. it's been a trend i think is unmistakable. the national implications of this race. democrats know if they lose this special, it's weird -- this is a republican seat, and the pressure is on the democrat -- if they can't win a seat like this, they can't make a credible case they can win seats, period, right? >> and that's because this is a district that president obama won by a narrow margin. >> a sweet seat. >> he won it by one point in 2012. democrats were trying to go after bill young for ten years, it seemed. >> they could never find a democrat that had the guts to go against a popular guy -- >> even when they recruited possibly strong candidates, bill young beat them easily. never really had a race. if democrats can't win this seat, they struggle to make the case in a larger sense. and the media sort of works against them in this. works against either party. you know, both sides will tell you today, well, this isn't really an indication of the

larger national scene. but on election day, the guys who win, they'll say, wow, this is clear proof. >> susan, you've been -- you've watched so many races. i'm looking at this money. more money is being spent here than the average u.s. senate race ten years ago. >> absolutely. the fact of the matter is, while this is just for one county, it's a 10-county media market, the largest media market in the straight for registrants, so it's spilling over. and that's why many of the consultants are going to be really carefully combing the results, because they're going to see how messages are playing in this larger media market, and is certainly going to spill over into the governor's race. >> that's for sure. the $200 million governor's race we're anticipating there. susan, i have a feeling i'll see you a lot. florida, ground zero for what may be some of the most expensive races in the country. thank you. coming up, camp counselor. we'll tell you why the effort to simplify the tax code is doomed before it is officially unveiled. but first, the white house

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does breathing with copd weigh you down? don't wait to ask your doctor about spiriva. topping today's data bank, arizona's governor jan brewer seems to be in no hurry to make a decision on one of the most divisive bills of her tenure. three, the number of state senators meeting with governor brewer about sb-1062, and you know what, all three of those state senators had voted yes and they are meeting with brewer to encourage her to veto it. activists would protect people to assert their religious beliefs in refusing service to gays. governor brewer has until saturday to make up her mind, and last night she unbelievably tweeted this, "i assure you, as i always will do the right thing for the state of arizon

arizona #sb1062." okay, don't get the not ripping off the band-aid. in either direction. next up, 81, that's how many years a member of the dingell family has held a seat in michigan, now his wife, debbie, is expected to announce officially friday that she'll run for her husband's seat now that he's retiring. john dingell jr. was elected in 1955. debbie dingell is a long-time strategist, member of the dnc and is almost three decades younger than her husband. next up, six, how many democrats are leading pennsylvania's republican governor tom corbett. that's right, every matchup. governor corbett's toughest challenger appears to be democrat tom wolf. he's ahead of corbett by 19 points, and by the way, wolf is coming from nowhere, a reminder spending big money in tv advertising still works in a state like pennsylvania. sitting in single digits in a

primary matchup there. trivia time. many of you knew this answer, zero. since 1930, florida has added congressional districts after every single census, going from five districts in 1930, to 27 today. congratulations to today's winner, i believe a returning champion, jordan sudduth. send me your trivia suggestions. we'll be right back. ou guys doi? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'. purina dog chow light & healthy [ woman ] hop on over! is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. with 20% fewer calories than purina dog chow. isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. purina dog chow light & healthy.

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what, this thing isn't going anywhere, and ready for this, he's not even unveiled it and it's already receiving massive criticism and a lot of it comes from the right. mitch mcconnell told reporters he doesn't see how tax reform gets done this year. patrick mchenry has concerned about releasing a plan this year. then there's conservative economist steven moore, called it a gutsy and courageous first attempt, but it's buried with bad ideas. moore's knocks echo that of the financial services round table, from what they've been saying for years on tax reform. the criticism is another reminder of how hard it is to do any major reform anymore in washington. these are just a few examples. we've told you about the simpson bowles attacks taking place in some of these races, but bottom line, you can't do anything big, the political system in washington is designed to kill big legislation now. it is not designed to get big things done.

that's it for this edition of the daily rundown. coming up next on msnbc, chris jansing. we'll see you tomorrow. captain obvious: i'm in a hotel. and a hotel is the perfect place to talk to you about hotels. all-you-can-eat is a hotel policy that allows you to eat all that you can. the hotel gym is short for gymnasium. the hotel pool is usually filled with water. and the best dot com for booking hotels, is hotels.com. it's on the internet, but you probably knew that. or maybe not, i don't really know you. bellman: welcome back, captain obvious. captain obvious: yes i am.

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doctors recommend it. a busy, busy morning. 10:00 a.m. on the east coast, and any moment we're expecting speaker john boehner back to make his first press remarks since his meeting with president obama. the president is off to st. paul, minnesota, this afternoon. the white house says it has the best news on obamacare in a very long time. and, half an hour from now, new jersey governor chris christie will be back before his constituents. we've got an eye and an ear on that town hall as his approval numbers may be taking a hit. and tick tock, a late night tweet may actually be the best clue we have to whether or not governor jan brewer will veto sb-1062. good morning, i'm ari melber in for chris jansing here at 30 rock, and we're going to get to all those stories at