"morning joe." stick around, luke russert is next. >> no way. >> he is. boston strong. one year after the horrific bombing attack at the finish line of the marathon, the city and the country pay tribute to the victims. also this morning, after weeks of rising tension over ukraine, the white house makes a point to note that at moscow's request presidents obama and putin had a phone chat. it's unclear whether they discussed the cia director's stop in kiev. it's tax day and new data about how much you're paying compared to your ancestors and other countries. that might surprise you. good morning from washington, it's tuesday, april 15th, 2014. this is "the daily rundown." i'm luke russert in for the great chuck todd. tax day, but we begin in ukraine where the next 24 hours could be a critical turning point as the ukrainian military tries to root out pro-russian rebels once and

for all. the government says an anti-terrorist crackdown has begun. the goal is to clear separatists from buildings they have seized in the east. they have staked out territory in as many as a dozen cities in the border along russia. separatists claim that ukrainian forces are on the move outside of at least two of those cities. ukraine's acting president called the u.n. to see if international peacekeepers would be willing to assist in the effort, but that seems unlikely. the u.n. did weigh in, however, on reports of ethnic russians being persecuted in ukraine, describing the stories as being blown out of proportion in order to create a climate of fear and justify russian intervention. on monday, president obama spoke to president putin by phone. he expressed grave concern over russia's support for the separatists and the white house continues to insist russia is the driving force behind the unrest. >> the evidence is compelling

that russia is supporting these efforts and involved in these efforts. you saw this coordinated effort in a number of cities across eastern ukraine all at once that sure didn't look organic to observers from the outside. >> but the kremlin is rejecting that, saying such speculations are based on inaccurate information. in fact, putin told president obama that the government in kiev is to blame for the instability. nbc producer albina is with us in an area on the leading edge of this counterterrorism operation. i'll ask you albina, where are you specifically and what is its significance today? >> we are about 150, 170 kilometers from donetsk, the capital of this region. we were driving here and passed

four checkpoints run by militias. two of them were armed with rifles and the mood is very tense. as you know, the president -- acting president of ukraine has announced a counterterrorism operation. we have just arrived where forces are now gathering to launch that operation. and there have not been any stand-offs yet in the region, but it seems like the movement of these forces is coming soon. >> i'll just ask you, you say you went through military -- i'm sorry, checkpoints set up by militias. who are those militia groups, pro-russian separatists or ukrainian? >> reporter: they seem to be pro-russian. they seem to be similar men that are taking over the administrative buildings, in about 12 or so towns and cities in this region. they're setting up russian flags

and they are in effect security and you have to go through them. >> nbc producer albin albina kovalyova, thanks for your report. on the diplomatic front secretary kerry will take another shot at resolving the crisis by meeting with his counterparts in russia in geneva thursday. meanwhile the u.s. is considering a new round of narrow sanctions, but officials are holding back on a broader effort in case russia invades. nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, joins me from new york. also with me is former ambassador to russia, michael mcfall. richard, i'll start with you. it seems to be this interesting predicament the ukrainian military is in. it's woefully underfunded, it does not necessarily have the equipment that it needs. there's been anecdotes that the gas has been paid for by a local ukrainian billionaire, that's how in trouble they are to a degree. but if they do in fact try and

go after these pro-russia groups within areas of the country that are receptive to that, it risks almost starting a civil war. >> reporter: yeah, it's amazing how quickly things can change. i just returned from this region, i know the road that albina was talking about. a few days ago that road was not controlled by pro-russian militias. there is a danger that the ukrainian forces could carry out this counterterrorism operation, to use their words, and then find themselves cut off, to find that they don't have supply routes, they don't have ways for the troops to go back home, and they themselves could be outmanned. perhaps not outgunned, but certainly outmanned and operating in very unfriendly territory. this is a tactic that russia used in crimea and it seems to be a tactic that it is using again to have these irregulars

operating, spread out over a large territory and effectively crippling the ability of the very weak ukrainian military. i'd be very interested, though, to hear what ambassador mcfall says. you have an excellent opportunity to hear from him. >> ambassador, i wanted to ask you a question regarding the significance of cia director john brennan going into the region. as you well know, the ukrainian intelligence agency leaks like a sieve. the russians were able to put out the information brennan was there. the united states must have known that was going to happen. what was the significance of brennan being there, especially when we knew it would leak out quite quickly? >> well, obviously i don't work for the government any more so i don't know exactly his mission, but i can tell you when i was in the government for five years at the head of the cia, including john brennan who i used to work with at the white house before he went to the cia, this is his job to go around the world, meet with his counterparts. he does this everywhere, by the

way. and it's part of the regular just diplomatic work that he does with other intelligence agencies. i would not read anything into this particular trip. >> but it is not sort of play on russian fears that the u.s. is directly involved here in launching a proxy war by any means? >> well, we don't have to play on those fears. the russian television stations do that nightly, 24/7, you know, and the new term, of course, is nazis. it's a nazi-led government supported -- the united states is supporting nazis. but in fact what is going down today i think is a very scary day. the government of kiev has announced a counterterrorist operation. the people that they are going to do battle with are very well armed. they seem to be very well trained to me. i've watched some of the videos where they took over these buildings. and if indeed they are going to use force against these

pro-russian armed men, it's going to be a very, very bloody and dangerous moment that i think could then precipitate russian involvement later, because putin has said very clearly if russians are in danger -- >> there are a lot of pictures of local residents who are very receptive to these russian men who we believe are in unmarked uniforms, handing them food, handing them drinks, welcoming them into their town. where do you see the line being drawn into how far this initiative from russia can go, this intervention, mind you, at what point would the residents not be welcoming to these forces? >> well, i think what the ambassador just talked about is very important. the role of the russian media and the russian propaganda machine, which has been telling

the people, particularly in eastern ukraine, that life in russia is better. that the government that took over in kiev is hostile to russian speakers, is hostile to anyone who is sympathetic to moscow. that it is a bunch of nazis. and a lot of people have been swayed by that, so there is a sympathetic environment in which these militia groups are operating and these militia groups themselves are quite well armed and they are -- they are prepared to do battle. and the question is if they start taking losses, if the ukrainian forces start inflicting casualties on these militias, how will moscow react. moscow has 40,000 troops just over the border. this entire area is completely flat. i've seen some of the ukrainian border defenses. there's a small trench there. it looks like -- i stood in the trench, it was only about four or five feet wide and four or

five feet deep. it would take no time for those russian troops to cross over and set up on the ground. >> it could be as quick as 12 hours. ambassador, i'll close this out with you. do you see any significance in moscow requesting the call between presidents putin and obama? >> well, you know, it's interesting because this is a new tactic. when i was in the government, we always initiated these calls. it's now striking that putin has called president obama two or three times, but the readouts of the calls are very different, number one. two, if you read between the lines of the white house statement, it's obvious that these calls did not go well. they were tense calls. i don't think they resolved much. >> something to keep an eye on indeed. richard engel, ambassador mcfaul, thanks for being on the program. we appreciate it. much more ahead on this tax day edition of "the daily rundown." we'll throw you are tdr 50 spotlight on the oceanside.

coming up, rhode island governor lincoln chafee and boston one year later. the city will pause today to mark one year since the boston marathon bombing. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. a lot of stuff around boston, noon the marathon ceremony begins. president obama has a moment of silence at 2:40 p.m. of course we'll have live coverage on msnbc starting at noon. know what the experts at your ford dealer think? they think about tires. and what they've been through lately. polar vortexes, road construction, and gaping potholes. so with all that behind you, you might want to make sure you're safe and in control. ford technicians are ready to find the right tires for your vehicle. get up to $120 in mail-in rebates on four select tires when you use the ford service credit card at the big tire event. see what the ford experts think about your tires. at your ford dealer.

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back now with an update on that shooting outside kansas city earlier this week. prosecutors say they'll charge frazier glenn cross with a federal hate crime and three counts of premeditated murder after sunday's shooting at a jewish community center. that means cross could face the death penalty. cross is suspected of shooting 14-year-old reid underwood and

his grandfather in the jewish community center parking lot sunday. police say cross also shot 53-year-old terri lomanno in a nearby assisted living facility. the woman who lost both her dad and son in the shooting talked to savannah guthrie on the "today" show. >> i'm okay. i'm lifted by my belief in christ and my belief that reid and my dad are in heaven. i know that mrs. lomanno is in heaven also and we pray for their family also. >> the 73-year-old suspect was a member of the kkk and yelled "heil hitler" as he was arrested. police say none of the victims were in fact jewish. they plan to hold a news conference at 11:30 eastern. we'll surely keep an eye on that. turning to politics, we're getting a preview of how you can expect hhs nominee sylvia matthews burwell to defend the health care law during her upcoming hearings. the bottom line, the congressional budget office can make or break you.

back in february, republicans attacked democrats over a cbo report showing the health care law was reducing the labor supply by about two million workers in 2017. now the tables have turned with this morning's headlines which have democrats celebrating and republicans strikingly silent. a new report from the cbo projects the health care law will cost $5 million less than expected this year and $104 billion less than projected over the next decade, mostly because premiums will be cheaper than previously estimated. federal subsidies will also cost less. $3 billion less this year and $164 billion over the next ten years. the cbo and joint committee on taxation estimate that the national average cost for the second lowest cost silver plan on the exchanges will rise only slightly in 2015 from an average of $3800 this year to $3900. premiums are expected to go up more rapidly after that to $4400 in 2016 and $6900 by 2024.

another sign of how difficult it will be for republicans, the cbo estimates that 12 million more nonelderly people will have insurance this year than would be covered without the health care law, with that number going up to 26 million in 2017, one year after the presidential election. and the number of uninsured americans is expected to drop from 42 million to 30 million over the next three years. nbc's senior political director, mark murray, is here with this morning's first read. mark, this was a fascinating development, the cbo report. democrats pouncing on it, really pumping it up. one thing that struck me is while it was certain lly positi news for democrats, it's so wonky, it can get lost in the minutia. those are difficult numbers to explain and a difficult premise to explain. sort of overall reduction of a deficit in a 30-second attack ad when you're getting all this outside money being poured on that the health care law is the destruction of freedom in the

united states. >> this entire health care debate, everyone has their own set of statistics they can point to and say i can point to these things to make my case premiums are skyrocketing. but if you're a democrat and you say the congressional budget office says premiums are lower than expected. i think it's important to take a step back and look at the health care law. it's probably enjoying its west two weeks since its passage in 2010. you had at the beginning of the month the news 7.5 million americans have signed up. now you have a cbo report to blunt any republican attacks about skyrocketing premiums or the overall cost to the system of the and so i think this does give democrats a little bit of a sigh of relief heading into the midterms. we have six months to go before the midterm elections but there isn't the panic involved. certainly as you teed up ahead of that sylvia matthews burwell confirmation hearings when health care will be thrust back in the news, democrats have some good talking points now. >> that is the next significant hurdle for the health care law to jump and public perception will be back on that.

she's absolutely going to get grilled. you'll have a lot of people who have 2016 aspirations trying to help out their friends going after her with specific questions. how well prepped do you think she will be for that and how significant is it for democrats that she comes out relatively unscathed? >> i think it's very important. looking at this hhs secretary from the years ahead, whether it's sylvia matthews burwell, the next time a republican is going to be president, because of this health care law, the hhs secretary is now no longer a mid-level tier person. it is up on the level of being secretary of state, defense secretary, where you need the best and the brightest. not only as far as management skills but also political chops too, because this isn't going away. again, while democrats have some good news to tout in the cbo report, they're not out of the woods yet. we don't know what the premiums will be like for 2015, we don't know what the demographic mix will be in the exchanges, but democrats have had a very good last couple of weeks on the health care law. >> that's a very good point. you're in charge of such a large number of the gdp and have a lot

of political opposition. mark murray, thanks for joining us. time for the first number in today's data bank. three. that's the number of chances left to see the spectacular blood moon in the next 18 months if you missed it last night. these lun lunar eclipse -- the next one is october 8th. if you miss it then or two times next year, then you'll have to wait until 2032. oh, my gosh, we'll all be old by then. coming up, a swing through new england, makes a stop in rhode island. we'll take a look back one year ago today at the boston marathon bombing. first today's trivia question. which two states did not ratify the 18th amendment, which was prohibition? the first person to tweet the correct answer will get an on-air shoutout. the answer coming up on tdr.

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as promised, tdr 50 rolls into rhode island this morning, the smallest state in the nation, dealing with another big political problem which unfortunately is nothing new for the ocean state. a little background, rhode island was the last of the original 13 colonies to become a state. it's tiny but it's packed. despite being just 37 miles wide and 48 miles long, it's one of the most densely populated states in the nation just behind new jersey. it also has the longest name of any state. officially it's the state of rhode island and providence plantations. that makes it the only state that goes by a nickname without anyone knowing it. it relies primarily on the health care industry, manufacturing and tourism, which is a $6.8 billion industry that supports 50,000 jobs. and yet rhode island still has a 9% unemployment rate. that is the highest in the nation. politically it's been reliably

democratic, voting for the republican presidential candidate just four times since the depression but that doesn't tell the entire story. while republican presidential candidates rarely do well in rhode island, local republicans have fared much better. they had at least one republican senator in office for 30 years between 1976 and 2007. while democrats do well in terms of controlling the legislature, three of the last five governors have all been republicans. the current governor is a republican turned independent turned democrat, lincoln chafee. his father also served as a republican governor and senator. the governor's evolution and affiliation isn't out of nowhere. another reason rhode island is unique is the sheer number of independent voters. according to the secretary of state, more than 49% of all registered voters are independent. if you go back to the '30s, democrats got a big push from a politician named theodore green, a liberal governor and four-term senator who at age 93 was the oldest member of congress ever when he retired in the '60s.

more recently rhode island politics have been born with a stain of public corruption. the former mayor of providence, buddy cianci was forced out of office after being indicted for assault. then he won re-election only to be forced out again when he was found guilty of racketeering. around the same time, former governor edward deprett pled guilty to charges of bribery and extortion and spent time in jail. last month, state house speaker gordon fox was forced to resign after state and federal investigators raided his home and office. his second in command took over. >> i'd like to thank speaker fox, who put the best interests of this house first and foremost by stepping aside after the events of last friday. >> situations like this have earned rhode island a spot at the top of the list of corrupt states, according to citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. 49 officials have been convicted in federal corruption cases over the last ten years.

joining me now, rhode island's democratic governor, lincoln chafee. governor chafee, you're not involved in any of that corruption and ran on a platform of trying to rout it out but i want to read a quote to you from john laughlin. he said this is a new category even for us, even for rogues island. how do you govern in a state that has this one could say real difficult burden to overcome, which is this idea that it's eternally corrupt? >> well, we're cleaning it up and having these convictions and these investigations and these raids are all part of cleaning it up. yes, we're going through a transition, but i think a lot of rhode islanders know that we're doing the right thing, and certainly you mentioned me as being governor. my motto running for office has always been trust chafee. the voters know that, so there's a whole layer of leadership that is incorruptible. yes, we have some of our issues

with corruption, but we're addressing it and weeding it out and cleaning it up. >> you have a high unemployment rate, around 9%, highest in the nation. has it been difficult for you to attract business interests because of the reputation the state has? >> yes, it's definitely a factor. i travel all over the country and hear different people say about rhode island, how about that corruption. but it's a transition, just like we're transitioning out of our old textile economy, manufacturing economy, the old economy. it's a transition, transitioning also out of the corruption. it takes time, it takes convictions of law enforcement doing their job. we're doing that. as you mentioned, some of those high profile cases. in a way that's good, it sends the message we're not going to stand for it. >> as somebody who has worked with republicans, who has worked with independents, has worked with democrats, as you've been all three, what can the federal government do for you that would help you the most in terms of lowering that 9% unemployment

rate? that's achievable in washington, d.c. >> well, it came out of the united states senate as a republican and i saw some bad decisions being made by my former party, especially on bringing back the deficits. when i came into office after president clinton, we had almost full employment, statistical full employment. and then when the deficits came back, we had those big tax cuts that favored the wealthy and then we had the iraq war and then the prescription drug benefit. all these multimillion dollar programs, a big huge almost trillion dollar tax cuts, trillion dollar war in iraq. i think the prescription drug benefit was $800 billion and back came the deaf si. that's what i would say to the federal government. take care of the deficits. fund those programs that work, those social programs that help build the middle class, pell grants, head start, those have a proven record of working, growing the middle class.

that's what we need. the middle class is under tremendous pressure as a result of some very bad policies, i think, in washington by my former party. >> what's interesting is that rhode island, as we mentioned earlier, it's about 50% independent, the voter makeup. what's it like running in a state where 50% of registered voters are independent? and what does that mean for the local politics on the day-to-day? >> well, i was a successful rib and that's a tiny percentage of rhode island registered voters. i was a councilman and a mayor and then a united states senator. but you always have to depend on attracting those independents, and they'll go, as you mentioned earlier in the program, to vote for republican on occasion. but there's also a big block of democrats, so you have to reach out to everybody in this state. it's very much being a small state, a retail politics. you get to know everybody in this state. >> and lastly, i'll just ask you this, you've been on the national scene for quite some time, well known in washington, well known in political circles.

you went republican to independent to democrat. why did you go all the way and not just stay independent, which we see a lot of in new england, with folks like angus king up in maine? >> i found it hard to govern as an independent. with the economy being bad here in the state, people under stress, they're angry here, understandably, not being able to find work. so i needed a political party just to help me explain some of the programs. being a solo practitioner i found very, very difficult trying to explain the programs we're implementing here, how they're going to help people, reaching out to make this an inclusive state on so many issues and looking to the future. the building blocks of investing in education, investing in infrastructure, closing the skills gap, making sure some of our distressed communities, our cities and towns, have the resources to prosper. i thought i needed a political party to help explain that. >> it's interesting, what can be done then do you think to allow independents to have that

messaging? you need a party to get your message out there, i assume with the organization and the money. what could an independent do in order to have that ability? >> well, that's a good question. i certainly tried it as an independent. i thought it would be more successful. i know you mentioned angus king, he was successful in the '90s as an independent governor of maine. but the economy was good then. mayor bloomberg, of course, served as an independent mayor of new york city. i've tried it, but in the end i thought you needed to be part of a political party. someone that has your back, if you will, just being out there alone was hard. >> especially in the rhode island politics. always good to have someone have your back. governor lincoln chafee of rhode island, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. a quick reminder, it's time for the elite eight in our presidential near misses contest. make your picks all this week to decide who goes to the final four. vote on rundown.msnbc.com every day this week. we'll be right back with more tdr.

it's deadline day for tax filers across the country. just like for the irs there's a bipartisan feeling for many people, hatred for the irs fueled the tea party movie. remember the tea stands for taxed enough already. >> we haven't talked about fundamental tax reform, and i'll tell you the most important tax reform, we should abolish the irs. >> the conservative who has walked the walk, cutting budgets, not raising taxes. how often do you see that in government? >> the irony is the rise of the tea party movement coincided with the lowest total tax burden in at least 30 years. analysis of congressional budget office data said effective tax rates, what people pay after tax deductions from 1979 to 2010. the average tax filer's tax rate

dropped from 22% in 1979 to 18.1% in 2010. the bottom 20% pay 1.5% in 2010 down from 7.5% three decades before. the top 20% play 27.1%. tax levels dropped to their lowest levels after tax provisions in the economic stimulus came into effect and are expected to rise in the years ahead as those tax cuts expire. one more thing, americans pay far less in taxes than any other industrialized democracies. even after the highest marginal tax rate in the u.s. rose to 39.6% in 2013, the u.s. tax rate still ranks just 34th in the world for lower tax brackets. that number is even lower. joining me americans for tax reforms maddie duckler and harry stein to have a little tax day friendly debate. thank you for being on the show. maddie, i want to go to you. >> all right. >> what is the most important change that can be made to the

current tax code from where we sit today? >> i'm not going to go all ted cruz on you and say we need to abolish the irs entirely. if i had to pick one thing, i think a good place to start would be looking at our corporate income tax. we have the highest corporate income tax in the developed world and that's partially because we're the only country in the world that has a state corporate income tax that we have to levy on top of our federal rates. so looking at that, we're far above most of the european average and that obviously puts us at a competitive disadvantage that is going to harm the american economy. >> biggest change that can be made? >> scale back the mortgage interest reduction. right now a wealthy person gets 40 cents, middle class might get 28 cents. we never designed a housing program to give the most ben at this time to those who need it the least. actually the republican chair of the house ways and means committee has a similar proposal as well to scale it back so everyone would get at most 25 or 28 cents on the dollar and

everyone would still benefit but just the wealthy wouldn't get the most benefit, more than anyone else. >> i want to talk about chairman camp's proposal, it was lauded by a lot of groups saying it was a wonderful place to start moving in the right direction but it was killed pretty quickly within the house gop conference. why is something like that dead on arrival for so many house republicans. >> one of the things i said about the draft is at least right now everyone now knows how expensive tax reform is. people just had a really hard time wrapping their head around how big of a task it is to reform the tax code. it's very difficult to go through our tax code that is thousands and thousands and thousands of pages long and rout out fraud, waste, inefficiencies, talk about what kind of values deductions and credits should have and do so in a way that helps everyone at the table. but there were a lot of good things about the draft but there were a lot of things left in there that we had some problems with and other conservatives did as well. >> i want to go to you on the point maddie brought up of the corporate tax rate, which is

significantly lower in canada, significantly lower now in the u.k. something in terms of trying to create economic investment here in the united states, keep the dollars within the country. how supportive do you think democrats could be of lowering that overall corporate tax rate in due time? >> i think there is room to do that. you know, it's true that the rate itself is very high. but no one actually pays that. when you look at the rate the companies actually pay, what we call the effective rate, that's actually about in line with most of the industrialized world. that's because of all these corporate tax breaks and loopholes and subsidies that we have kcreated over the years. there's definitely room for both sides to come together. dave camp agrees with that, president obama agrees with that and some of that can lower the tax rate. also some of it can contribute to the broader economy and pay down some long-term deficits. the corporate tax rates are much lower share of overall tax rate, overall tax collection than they used to be. individuals are paying a much higher total burden. >> maddie, fiscal cliff is something i covered quite

closely on capitol hill was tough medicine for a lot of conservatives to stomach that the effective tax rates were going to go up and american tax reform did not like a lot of aspects of that deal. do you foresee in the next two, four, six years any type of possible grand bargain that can be done or is the fervor for higher taxes too strong to allow that to occur. >> we were fairly supportive of the deal. if you looked at what the law would have done absent any action from congress, it would have been far, far worse. we actually yesterday looked at all the president's budgets and all the tax increases that he has proposed in those budgets. it totals up to 442 tax increases and he didn't get anywhere near with with the fiscal cliff. you're looking at president obama putting about 85% of the bush tax cuts permanent. that was a pretty big win for conservatives. >> how come somebody didn't realize that at the time. >> we were talking about it. i think everyone was sick of it, which is why you might not get a grand bargain because people are sick of this kind of governing

through crises. there's no appetite left for it, especially now that we're getting into an election year. you and i both know there's not going to be a lot of space for trying to fix some of the bigger problems that we're facing. >> areas that we look into the crystal ball of 2016, can democrats win on the issue of taxes? it's always been an issue republicans have done quite well on. is there a way to tap into that pop lichl which we see throughout the country saying, hey, the its guy shouldn't pay as much, the big guy should pay more. how do they do that message without getting washed out? >> i think there's room for that. middle class people are paying their fair share in taxes. when you look at some of the tax loopholes that only benefit the wealthiest people or the most connected, nobody supports that. certainly a majority of the country wouldn't. so looking at scaling some of these back, making the tax code more fair for everybody, not just the wealthy and the most connected and big corporations is absolutely a message that i think the country would get

behind. >> harry stein, maddie, thanks for being on the show, we appreciate it, on tax day, mind you. one more data bank number today. if you're getting a refund this tax day, google has a way for you to spend it. for the first time ever, google glass is available to the public. the price tag, $1500 plus tax. limited quantities of google's wearable computing device will be able during this one-day sale. our capitol hill producer frank tested google glass last year causing quite a stir with house minority leader nancy pelosi. we'll have to ask him if it's worth the hefty price tag. he certainly looked good doing it, though. before a quick break, our soup of the day, clam chowder with potatoes and bacon on a nice, cold rainy day. get your chowder, fills you up. because it burned so much. as first lady of our church we have meetings. we have activities. and i couldn't do any of that. any time anything brushed up against this rash

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it was exactly a year ago today that a pair of homemade bombs exploded at the finish line of the boston marathon and killing three people and wounding 264 others. 29-year-old krystle campbell, and martin richard, and lindsey lu were all killed as they stood near the finish line. the explosion touch ed off a massive manhunt for the suspects that lasted over 20 hours. m.i.t. police officer shawn kea collier was shot after one confrontation with the bombers, but this week, the city of boston is not focused on the suspect or the manhunt, because

over 9,000 marathon runners are planning to run while some victim s a victims are still struggling. >> it feels like a month has gone by, because everything has been so quick, and i have been doing so much. you are kind of fighting to, fighting yourself to move forward. >> to go back to say that you can't do this to us. no way to deter us from doing what we want to do. >> and only with the love and the prayers and the support that they gave to me and my family, and now, i feel that i have to give back that to people that i see. >> nbc's ron motte has more from boston, and what should we expect to see today? >> well, good morning, luke. it is a somber day of reflection and remembrance today, and the weather is appropriate for the occasion. it is gray, and overcast can skies and blustery, and expecting rain throughout the day, and as much as today is remembering the souls that were

lost here, and three of course at the finish line on boylston street, and the fourth was the m.i.t. police officer who encountered the alleged suspects a couple of days later and as much as the day is to honor them, it is a day to celebrate all of those who survived, hundreds of them, and some of whom owe their lives to the quick-thinking first responders and many of them right here at the finish line and the emts and the firefighters and the extraordinary work of the teams at the hospitals. and we expect to see reunions and moist eyes in the hall today. and vice president joe biden is here and his wife, jill biden, and massachusetts governor deval patrick, and tom menino, the predecessor mayor is expected to be here as well as the new mayor kevin walsh. we caught up with mayor walsh. >> a lot of people are going to be running and people are going to be cheering on not only the elite runners burk a lot of them are running for a lot of people.

they are running for martin richard, crystal kkrystle campb sean collier, and lin zi lieu and a number of people. >> and we asked mayor walsh ant the preparations. >> we will feel the presence out, there and not overwhelming, but all of the safety precautions in place, and we have been working for six months to put the safe measures in the city. >> and now, obvious ly a number of changes to the security protocols for the race on monday, and folks who are at the ending the marathon are asked and encouraged not the bring backpacks or big bags, but bags that can carry up to a liter worth of liquids here, and they are going to be subject to search of course, because everybody wants a good safe marathon here monday, and that is the latest from here, and back to you, luke. >> and i'm joined by boston native and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. and mike, nobody who was in that city a year ago was not directly

impacted by the horrific event a year ago, and the city was on lockdown, and how does the city feel today a year later? >> well, the day is a symbol of resilience and hope, and you know after attending boston college yourself that sit is a 26-mile block party. people by the thousands line the roadways for 26 miles, and people participate in it. and everyone in greater boston and new england and perhaps throughout the country, and everyone around here knows someone who runs the marathon. that is one of the many reasons that what happened last year was so significantly devastating, because you know who participate participates. people run for various causes, for cancer awareness, for aids awareness and multiple causes. and the marathon is one thing, and what happened last year proved the resilience and the strength and the spirit that

surrounds any event like that. i think that many people tomorrow remember not only the victims of last year's bombings, martin richards, 8 years of age, and his sister jane, who survived and walks now with a prosthetic leg, and she is 8 this year. and the richards' family have n been throughout the year raising awareness and creating a foundation, but we will also be thinking about the young firefighters like michael kennedy, engine 33, ladder 15, back bay, boston, and 400 yards from the finish line who a year ago today, a year ago 2:49 this afternoon left that fire house on foot running all 400 yards into the terror, and into the bombings to help save victims and he along with so many other emts and police aofficers and first responders who save sod many lives. michael kennedy died in a fire four blocks away from the finish line 2 1/2 weeks ago. and so there is a certain element of huge emotion involved in the day today as there will be next monday in the actual

race. but it is resilience and hope and character that brought this city through. >> and mike, just to -- >> and those elements would bring any city through in this country. >> and real quick, david ortiz said this is our city, and the best moment in boston sports history? >> no, second. beating the yankees in 2004. >> and spoken like a true hapy n bostonian. >> we really appreciate it, mike barnicle. that it is for this edition of the daily rundown and coming up next chris jans g aing & compand remind you that we have the boston marathon ceremony starting at noon and do not miss that. full coverage on msnbc, take care. cars are driven by people. they're why we innovate. they're who we protect. they're why we make life less complicated. it's about people.

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vice president joins a massive tribute to the victims today. get fired up and get out the vote. president obama knows that he has to help the party overcome an enthusiasm gap. how do the democrats make sure that the base turns out in 2014? and tweet heat. after a dutch teen tweets a bomb threat toon airline, dozens of teenagers follow with twitter threats of their own. will kids do anything to achieve social media fame these days? good morning, i'm chris jansing and the danger this morning is escalating in ukraine, and the world and russia have wildly different ideas of what is going on there. and russia has just announced anti-terrorism in key cities. and they say they are going to re-take buildings taken by pro-russian rebels. and now, ukrainian forces are a gathering with special forces and helicopters, and all of this is amid a tense