according to the online quiz. >> katty? >> everyone else has to take the confidence quiz and join joe in the top bracket. >> all right. coming up next, we have luke russert, mike barnicle -- >> doing the "daily rundown." >> a terrifying sight in south korea as a ferry sinks with hundreds of passengers on board. the u.s. is ready to help in the rescue. the u.s. uses its force to try and stop pro-russian rebels but some ukrainian tanks flying pro-russian flags hint that it may be getting even more complicated. and several democrats with brand name bravado of hitting several bumps on the way to mid terms. this is "the daily rundown." i'm luke russert in for the great chuck todd. we begin with developing news just off the coast of south

korea. at least four people are dead and 300 unaccounted for as a ferry sank off jeju island. government officials say over 300 of the passengers were students. the u.s. navy is standing by as south korean ships and a fleet of helicopters work the area. rescue efforts will continue throughout the night. it's just after 10:00 there right now. lieutenant arlo abramson is the public affairs officer for the commander u.s. naval forces. he joins us by phone now. sir, can you give us the latest on the water? is the u.s. navy directly involved in the rescue operations? >> first of all, luke, thanks for having me. first i want to say that our thoughts are with the passengers of this ship, this ferry, that

sunk today. it is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to those families. >> and what's the latest in terms of the rescue operation? do we know how involved the military is there in south korea? and is the u.s. military involved? >> yes. it's important to point out that the south korean government has the lead in this operation, as you would expect. the u.s. navy is on standby. we do have an amphibious assault ship with about 3,000 sailors and marines there in the vicinity of the area. and we're prepared to provide various kinds of support as requested by the south korean government. >> and with this type of ship going down, obviously a large number unaccounted for, over 300, is it fair to speculate that those folks could be rescued or could they possibly be trapped in air pockets in that type of ship? how does that situation play itself out? >> luke, can i tell you the republic of korea, their navy

and coast guard are doing great job. they arrived on the scene very quickly after the incident occurred, and they're working very tirelessly to locate all the missing passengers. and as for us, as members of the navy and, you know, we work routinely in this area. as you know, you probably know, we operate routinely around the republic of korea, many times with our partners, the republic of korean navy. we have practiced many times and are standing by, ready to assist as required. >> the water temperatures in that part of the world, where are they right now and are they survivable if somebody had to be in the water for a long period of time? >> i don't know the exact

temperatures of the water. i can tell you it is warming up. we've had a little bit of a seasonally warm spring here. this is a difficult environment. there are a lot of passenger ships that go through this area and, again, you know, we operate routinely in this area so if we are called to assist in the efforts, we are prepared and ready to assist our korean partners as required. >> lieutenant arlo abramson of the u.s. navy, thank you for joining us this morning. our thoughts and prayers are certainly with those folks on that ship. take care. >> turning to ukraine, the ukrainian military has launched operations to try and take out pockets of anti-government rebels and enforce the rule of law. there's a problem, though. not everything is going according to plan. half a dozen ukrainian tanks and armed carriers were spotted flying russian flags this morning, indicating the soldiers

inside them had switched sides. it's complicating an already confusing situation on the ground. and in areas, locals are helping pro-russian separatists acquire offices they will occupy. the u.s. and its partners are holding another round of talks in geneva tomorrow. but so far they have failed to stop or even slow the crisis. >> reporter: despite the first offensive yesterday in taking back a key military airport from the pro-russian rebels or separatists, if you will, today the situation remains fairly quiet with both sides, the

ukrainian military and ukrainian militants, they're digging in in areas they can control. armored personnel carriers were greeted with cheers but it turned out they were ukrainian forces who had switched alliances or loyalties to the other pro-russian side. but the scene similar to that unfolded nearby where the airfield is where a column of apcs this time care earri-- car the ukrainian flag. protesters tried to block the armored vehicle the end. there was a bit of a scuffle but no injuries and the patrol carried on. there have so far been no further attempts by the

ukrainian military to take back any of the occupied police stations or city halls or any other symbols of state power. both sides probably waiting now to see what comes, if anything, from the 11th hour diplomacy about to play out in geneva tomorrow. i'm jim maceda. now back to you. >> jim, thank you so much. with us, the great granddaughter of former soviet premier nikia krushchev. thank you for joining us on the program. >> thank you. >> one thing i have found fascinating is the role of the russian media in terms of being a propaganda arm for vladimir putin and really sort of going after the folks in eastern ukraine with the message of there are protests, there's a nazi-backed government that the u.s. is behind that is trying to ruin the specific cities, is

trying to sort of bring the ukrainian language, all sorts of propaganda. talk to us about the role the russian media is playing and wing the hearts and minds of those folks in the eastern part of ukraine who speak russian, who have been very receptive to those folks who do not have an insignia on their uniforms. >> russians have been very in tune to propaganda. in fact, the state always used propaganda for its ideological purposes. vladimir putin is such a great student of the soviet system that today it really is playing out by the book of the way -- and the way krushchev used propaganda and the rest of the leaders. i've been saying george orwell is probably very jealous, turning in his grave, because all the landmarks that putin has been using, nationalism,

fascism, world war ii is a very, very big story in russia, once you say somebody is a fascist, whether you have proof or not, it's becoming a very important message to the russians. there has been almost no evidence that russians were abused when vladimir putin started with that message a few months ago, yet that has been a very, very, very big push. and the war is always very important because you feel like your national identity is threatened, your nationalism is threatened, your borders are threatened. and the russian media has been driving that message all along, even with the english language channel russia today, which was absolutely stunning in really presenting sound bites and party lines that you almost -- you make an argument to them and they immediately have a note of

if you say "a," they would respond with "b." it's quite remarkable how concerted that message is. it's almost stalinesque. it's one ideology driving every ounce that russian people normally have. >> i think you drive home a point. even if the ukrainian government tried to intervene militarily, they're so hard behind because of that propaganda. they don't have a propaganda wing and they also have a military that's quite lack luster. >> absolutely. and because of recognizing -- i find ukrainians very restrained in how they deal with this really quite horrible russian aggression. instead of actually lauding them to take every interest into account, the russian interest,

the ukrainian interest not to push toward a civil war and in fact, they are being portrayed by the russians as horribly weak, as horribly unreliable, fascists in some part and those who are not fascists suggest they cannot lead ukraine as a national entity as one country forward, on with putin's help, as they say, it is possible. >> from your reading of the situation, it seems that vladimir putin continues to push further west. that's his goal, to move into eastern ukraine and sort of go as far as he possibly can. do you foresee the same thing that happened in crimea happening here? how much does that help vladimir putin at home where this poll is quite popular? >> i've maintained that unless he really has to go into eastern ukraine with his own tank, not this sort of fake, non-russian forces that have no insignia but with russian flags and all, he wouldn't do it because that

really was create a much more dangerous scenario, even for russia. but i think his goal, and he has really achieved it, i have to give credit to the man, he destabilized ukraine as much as he could. i think he has really very important bargaining chip for tomorrow's meeting, which is ukrainian government -- the kiev government, as they say, the fascist government, cannot take care of the country so, look, i'm pushing for more federation, i'm pushing for more autonomy. and if we agree with that, if we agree that ukraine is not going to sign any nato agreements, any european union agreements and will remain the buffer between the west, then i may use my influence to take, actually to calm down the pro-russian protesters. so i'm not sure that militarily he wants to go, but he certainly would do everything in his power to maintain that if thanks not go according to his plan, he can

intervene militarily. >> something that will be fascinating to keep an eye on. professor, we thank you so much for joining us this morning. take care. >> thank you. >> still ahead, should congress get to cast some of its vote remotely? the debate over long distance representation. plus tense moments after yesterday's ceremony marking the marathon bombing. and joe biden headed to pittsburgh to talk about the economy. and wizard versus the celtics, got to wrap up that six seed tonight. go wiz. no, no, no! stop! humans. one day we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... not so much. but that's okay -- you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car and we give you the money

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a frightening reminder of the tragedy that shook boston last year played out near the marathon finish line tuesday night. [ explosion ] >> the boston bomb squad detonated two back packs overnight. one reportedly left by necn, a news organization of our parent company. the other by a man acting with disorderly conduct, a rice cooker in his bag. >> the robotic bluefin 21 submarine is back in the water for a second day gathering information from the indian ocean floor. there were technical issues earlier. the robotic sub is bringing back data leading the search. and the judge in the oscar pistorius trial has granted a

two-week postponement. this after a week of grueling testimony by pistorius, that included breaks after the former olympian's breakdown on the stand. proceedings will return on may 5th. and time for the first number in the data bank. $50 million, that's how much former new york city mayor michael bloomberg plans to spend this year on his new initiative to challenge gun violence. it will focus on 50 states to motivate voters, specifically women and mothers instead of lobbying an expensive tv ad. he hopes the group will counter the influence of the nra. >> what we have to do is convince those in both of parties that are running that this is what the american public wants and when they get through their primaries and come to a general election, they're going to have to be right on guns. >> 50 million, a drop in the

bucket for mr. bloomberg. >> coming up, some of the best summer beaches are getting smaller and more fragile. find out what's costing the coastline billions of dollars. >> and which states boasts the oldest covered bridge? i'll give you a hint -- it's not hawaii. try alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief!

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coast is already packed, but it's a fragile strip of land. rhode island's southern shore projects into the atlantic, making it vulnerable to powerful nor'easters that are stripping away more than a foot of beach every year in some parts of the state. the geography around connecticut funnels storm surge into areas packed with a lot of expensive home. in the city of milford, more than a quarter of the homes were damaged in hurricane sandy the ocean is rising more than three to four times faster than the average. and that could get faster if temperatures keep rising. rhode island had a huge growth in coastal communities like north kingston, narragansett.

the hurricane dubbed "the long island express," caused more than $3 billion. if that same storm hit connecticut today, it would cost up to $50 billion. oh, my, we don't want that. with me to discuss this phenomenon, beth daly. thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> why are the seas rising quicker along the coastlines of rhode island and connecticut at a faster rate than the rest of the world? >> it's a really good question. from just north of boston down to cape hatteras, federal scientists have noted the seas are rising really fast. the ocean is not like a bath tub but everything from ocean temperatures affects the local patterns that make water higher

one place and lower in another and we're right in the bulls eye for higher water. >> because a lot of the coastline is low lying, they are at great risk for hurricane damage. >> they really are. there's hot spots. there's a lot of places in connecticut and rhode island where it's low to the ground and just by geography and bad luck, they get the full brunt of the nor'easters and storm surge from coastal storms. >> it's interesting that you see even though with this threat, there still is this desire to have homes directly in the path of these dangerous hurricanes. from your reporting and what you've seen in the science, are these areas uninhabitable because at some point they're going to get walloped with some sort of large storm? >> it's interesting. if you look at some places in rhode island and connecticut, connecticut has the most number of homes in new england that are hit severely and repeatedly by storms. that basically means some houses have been hit 9, 10, 11, 12, 14

times by coastal storms since 1978, the big blizzard. you look at those particular homes and those particular areas and you start wondering, scientists and policy makers are wondering should we rebuild here? >> have you seen initiatives like in new jersey where they buy up the land because they don't want them to build there anymore? >> there's a lot of talk about that but not a lot of practical maneuvering. there's not a lot of money to pay them for an expense of property. >> it's a tough drain on the economy. you did reporting on the sort of sand wars that are happening all about new england. i go to cape cod in the summer. i've seen in firsthand, sort of dealing with erosion, when people want to build back up

some safety for the iftiforcati the properties. >> you have to get the sand somewhere and dredging it offshore is really controversial. it's habitat for a bunch of things, from kracrabs to lobste. state regulators don't want it taken from the beach. so it's a real commodity here. they're digging it from inland sources and they're trucking it home and it goes out to sea again and they're trying to get more of it. any time there's a sand, a navigational dredging project going on, there's like a long line for sand. >> and it's fascinating how people fight almost to the death to a degree. you have all the fights between the environmentalists.

it's a fascinating war. lastly, obviously new york and new jersey and parts of connecticut took a huge hit during sandy. is it fair to say that connecticut and rhode island in the future will take the brunt of a huge storm? i know there's been a lot of worries that folks have dodged bullets in the past, hurricane ike is one. is it fair to say they're in the middle of what could be a really treacherous storm? >> oh, yeah, they're in the bulls eye. you have all these things, up in rhode island, you have basically narragansett bay and there's a big funnel effect there. they built a barrier to protect providence. they're going to barrel up rhode island's coast. parts of connecticut, not all of connecticut, is going to be hit particularly hard for the same reason. these places are facing the atlantic head on. there's not a lot of islands in their way and it's a really serious situation. >> something to keep an eye on and keep our fingers crossed.

thank you so much, beth daly. we appreciate it. let's turn to the next number in today's data bank. 7. it will soon be the number of living recipients awarded the medal of honor for their service in iraq and afghanistan. president obama will honor kyle white for his actions as a platoon radio telephone operator during a 2007 combat operation in afghanistan. the white house ceremony will take place on may 13th. wonderful to see that. stay where you are, don't go anywhere. we'll be right back. ness. new york is ranked #2 in the nation for new private sector job creation. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york - dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. you'll get a warm welcome in the new new york. see if your business qualifies at startupny.com

who would have thought masterthree cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche? the same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds would go with a merging markets. it's a masterpiece. thanks. clearly you are type e. you made it phil. welcome home. now what's our strategy with the fondue? diversifying your portfolio? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*? the number one question going into the election next fall, can republicans net the six seats required to win back control of the u.s. senate? this morning a round up of the latest news in the fight for the upper chamber, 35 seats are up in 2014, 21 seats healed by democrats and 14 held by republicans. roughly a dozen of those of

competitive. and the good news story for republicans over the last six months is they have been able to expand the map. the gop no longer has to run the table of red states, arkansas, alask alaska, louisiana and north carolina that are held by democrats. now thanks to the late entries of republican congressmen cory gardner in colorado and former massachusetts senator scott brown of new hampshire, the gop has more of a margin for error. louisiana's mary landry, arkansas mark begich, can they overcome obama fatigue on the health care law and win reelection? mary landry is taking some heat for reusing reenactments of statements made the senator made

at an energy committee hearing last year. >> do you think there are a bunch of fairy god mothers out there that just wave a magic wand? >> she holds the most powerful position in the senate for louisiana. >> we produce the oil and gas. that's the message we told to the president. >> in response to the ad "maybe mary landrieu is training for a post-senate career in hollywood. an outside group supporting mark begich is on the air with this ad. >> i was lucky, i beat cancer, but the insurance company still dene denied me insurance just because of a preistiexisting condition.

>> cotton is asking mark pryor for a series of five debates to be held around the state. >> what do you say, mark pryor, you and me alone, five times around arkansas, no moderator, speaking directly to the people. >> expect those votes to appear in democratic ads over the next eight months. democrats worried about turning out their own voters in the fall were also hoping the gop would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by nominating weak tea party candidates who cannot win a general election. however, that has not panned out so far. republican incumbents are surviving. the next wave of right-on-right primaries kicks off on may 20 in kentucky. on tuesday democrat allison grimes announced she has

outraised mcconnell for the second quarter in a row. she reports winning 2.7 million compared to mcconnell's 2.4 million. he has spent more than $2 million in his primary against bevin. >> can republicans take care of an electorate expected to be whiter and older or can we see more moments like this one, rand paul caught on camera after scott brown made his senate run official? >> if we want to win, though, we have to win states we haven't been winning. new hampshire's one of them so i'm expecting you guys to do a better job. somebody told me the real answer was building a fence between here and massachusetts. fortunately there's no median

there, right? >> joining me now, democratic pollster fred yank and republican ad making brad todd, chuck's cousin, both are doing work for the senate campaigns. not really. just joking with you. i want to talk about the mary landrieu ad. she's trying to use incumbency to her advantage, saying you might hate me but if you replace me, that person is going to be 97th or 98th in senior iity. >> there are states like the dakotas and south carolina and louisiana where they've had powerful senators in the past, specific industries are related to that state. there is appreciation for what a

powerful senator in washington can do. look, my thing about this is after going through that list, i was wondering if i should leave the table. no. i think it's called making lemon -- lemonade out of a lemon. she's an incumbent, she's been there, that's what you're dealt with and it's an effective way to make a new positive. >> first off, we all got to get a laugh because she's not an actress but she plays one on tv. the ad's not really about incumbency. it's a weak attempt for her to distance herself from the president's energy policies. i think it's noteworthy that that's what the phony part is. she's voted over 90% of the time with president obama. that's the phony part is that she's been independent. it's not whether she reenacted a committee hearing or not. she is perhaps the first senator to try this tactic, the first person to crawl into the life boat and say i've been independent from obama, however true it is or not.

i'm interested to see if anyone else will do it. you've never seen life boats so unpopular among drowning people. >> when they go through the effort of releasing a statement, they have to show -- >> i think because it's late night comedy material. >> what do you think on that? >> look, i think that -- i think that the republicans see this as a possible attempt of landrieu and other democrats expressing independence. look, i think for the average louisianan again, i think that, sure, she's a democrat, she votes with the president on a lot of things but there are some issues where he departs. >> a referendum on how often mary landrieu votes with president obama is not going to work out well for mary landrieu. >> i would argue this is april and we still have six and a half more months. >> let's talk about that, sort of the overall look where we are six months out. obviously colorado is a god send

for republicans to get a candidate like cory gardner in there. he can at least make democrats have to spend some money. they're going to have to spend a lot of money in places like michigan. where do we see it from six months out? >> this recruiting class by jerry moran is so good it makes nick saban jealous. >> out of five stars? >> that's right. if we'd have been here five months ago, we might say there would be six or seven senate seats republicans have a chance to take. now we're saying there are 11 to 13 senate seats. you have places like virginia -- >> that's tough, though. >> mark warner is raising money like he never has before. virginia can go republican in the right circumstances with the right candidate, even against a strong democrat. so winning 6 out of 11 or 13 is a whole lot easier than winning 6 out of 6, which is what we were talking about in december. >> fred, are you guys overextended in a sense,

especially with the amount of money the outside groups will report in on the republican side? >> we're defending more, that's clear. it's the sixth year of a two-term president, which is always hard for whatever party. the democrats may not be alabama but coach saban, but allison grimes, that is a -- if this was basketball, she'd be miss kentucky basketball. she is stellar. georgia, michelle nunn. despite all these bigger trends, we have had good recruits and as brad is saying, you win races with good can'didates. >> the challenges that democrats are mounting would come in at number eight or number nine. the republicans have better than anything the democrats have to flip even one. this is where democrat recru recruitment failed and it's

because of obama and obamacare. >> it looks like lindsey graham will be okay. the one i have a close eye on is georgia. paul brown is one of the more conservative players in the house of representatives. he could get into a runoff if paul brown is the nominee in georgia, that puts the seat in play with michelle nunn. is she that good she can take on anybody? >> she's certainly raising a lot of money. i think it's clear the two top candidates in that race are kingston and purdue. they're arguably the two strongest candidates in the general election for republicans. i think that georgia also is a very red state. it takes very wishful thinking to think democrats could bring it into play against anyone. >> i think, you know, she's got great genes, she's got a great name, she's raising a lot of money. i think georgia is one of these states, like texas, that is sort of shifting to the democratic

side. >> maybe 2024. >> well, to get there you start in these elections. >> because really, there was that runoff in '08 that was so close, there was a recount after that. thank you so much, gentlemen, for being on the show. appreciate it, mr. yang, mr. todd, not really chuck todd's question. let's turn to another data bank number today. 2. in detroit, pension leaders reached two deals late thursday. the first deal would preserve benefits for police and firefighters and the second would require civilian retirees to accept cuts made in their pension checks. and the ""detroit free press" is seeking $100 million in funds.

>> and should congress be able to vote from home? and good fellas restaurant in new haven, connecticut is serving pasta fagioli. we'll be right back. that's a good soup. i tr ied depend last weekend. i tr ied it really made the difference between a morning around the house and getting a little exercise. unlike the bargain brand, depend gives you new fit-flex®, our best protection. it's a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. get your free sample at depend.com.

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with members of the congress back in their district after a two-week recess, and their own spring break, we thought it would be time to ask the question, should our members of washington be there to vote? every monday morning you can find him at san francisco international airport for a 6:00 a.m. flight to washington to be present for the monday night procedural vote so common in congress, and he believes that missed votes because of weather, family matters or whatever, is hurting the legislative matters and he is sponsoring a house

resolution with steve pierce from new mexico asking to vote on suspension procedural votes to vote from the bill and require the absent members and participants to participate through videoconference org other technology. and eric slalwil joining us from washingt washington. >> thank you, luke, for having me. >> i want to start out with a democrat quote, if they don't like traveling so much, they should spend more time in d.c. and not less and allowing the representatives to vote remotely is not going to help what ails washington most, the partisanship, and if you talk to the caucus, it started to get back into the bickering motions when newt gingrich wanted everybody to go back to their

home districts, and is that what it is? >> well, the people i vote for in silicon valley are forward-thinking, and this is the cradle of inforvationovatii they think that we are crazy to be flying back and forth and so that we can do so much work remotely or on the cell phones and so we can work on the nonsubstantive work, and take votes to name post offices and flight centers and allow the boy scouts to use the capital grounds and why not act like the business community, and vote remotely and securely on those votes and spend more time in washington on the more substantive issues like budget, health care, economy and jobs. >> obviously, folks miss votes for a variety of reasons and many of them are justified in terms of the health, but do you think that it could up the participation process, or do you feel that the people could abuse it and not come at all to d.c.? >> well, it could be a way to attract more women to congress. some of my colleagues --

>> really? >> some of my colleagues have had babies and they have had to miss votes, because they are taking care of their child. this would allow women who have had and gone through pregnancies and are going through the early stages of raising their child to participate at home, and still be in touch with the constituents and carry out some of the more perfunctory tasks of voting in congress. >> in terms of the technology, obviously, not the easiest ning in the world for congress to after having covered them, it is not the easiest thing for them to vote. and is there technology to allow this to occur? >> we have technology, luke, but as you know the congress is very slow to upgrade itself. it does not until 2011 that women finally have a bathroom off of the house floor. i see it as my job is to push

the institution to upgrade itself with the times and start to communicating with the voters in a way that the rest of the world does. >> and i want to go back to that one point that you mentioned that you think that it could increase the number of women involved in politics. are a lot of the female colleagues expressed support of that, and you could see a real uptick of women in that? >> up with of my female colleagues told me that as soon as she had the child she had to face the proposition of either missing a ton of votes or spend time with her child and like any mother, she chose to spend time with her child, but if she had the option to stay in touch remotely, and stay in touch with the constituents and vote remotely, she would have done it. so not only allow us to spend more substantive time in the chamber, but stay home more and stay connected in a better way. >> it is going to be interesting to see what happens. i don't know if speaker boehner

will do it, because he is old school. well, maybe something in the future. well, thank you, congressman, for waking up early for us. that is it for our edition of "the daily rundown." and this morning, chris jansing is going to talk to chris collins about the nra in a very smart interview. you don't want to miss that. i'm msnbc bill karins, and winter is not going to give up. after snow iing in colorado and great lakes and up through new england this morning, we are go ing the watch it warming up, painfully slowly, and high of 43 in boston today, and look out for minneapolis to duluth, and another snowstorm for you tonight and as many as 10 inches. unbelievable. p on my mobile phone. p anyone need a coupon? i don't.

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♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. a ferry disaster, a boat carrying hundreds of children on a school trip sinks. we will have more on the survivors. and mayor bloomberg has an aggressive new strategy to fight the gun lobby and can can $150 million cash finally shift the gun debate. >> and should dzhokhar tsarnaev live or die? it is a case that is reigniting the debate over the death penalty. >> and let's begin with the breaking news off of the coast of south korea.

four people are dead and close to 300 more are missing after a ferry sank in cold waters near jeju island. they are scrambling to save more than 320 students on a field trip. and now at last report, 164 people have been rescued, but it is not clear what caused the deadly accident. jeff cain from the global post is in seoul for us, and what are you hearing from the latest of the rescue operations, jeff, and night has fallen, yes? >> yes. night has fallen and rescue operation is ongoing and over 300 missing and there is no word as of what is going on now. we do know that they departed from a port on the east coast outside -- sorry, on the west coast of south korea, and going down the