deep in the heart of texas. president obama says he's not interested in photo-ops on the border and points a finger back at congress to help him fix the problem. we'll get reaction this morning from a top texas democrat. meantime, is fighting between israelis and palestinians growing more serious by the hour. we'll hear from israel's ambassador to the u.s. plus with warren buffett in nebraska and the koch brothers in kansas, we break down how omaha and wichita became a bevy of big shot billionaires looming large in politics. and a very good morning to you from washington. it's thursday, july 10th, 2014, and this is "the daily rundown." i'm kristin welker in for chuck today.

we have some developing news off the top. we just got word that the house side of the capitol building is closed because of a potentially dangerous asbestos issue. nbc's capitol hill producer frank thorpe is on the phone and he joins us now. frank, what's the latest there? >> so i'm outside of that house side of the capitol right now. they just reopened the building for staff and members of congress to go back in. but last night, late last night around 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. they were doing some abe besbestos abatement and there was a fear there had been some potential exposure. they closed down the capitol. members of the aoc, the architects of the capitol, the chief administrative officer, they huddled together, there were hazmat teams that went in to determine if this was a dangerous situation. the reality is that they needed to get the building open fast because the house is supposed to open up at 10:00 a.m. the floor is supposed to open at 10:00 a.m., legislative business

at 12:30. they just reopened the house side of the capitol for staff and members of congress. looks like the situation is de-escalated a bit. >> frank, does it look like they will be on schedule today? >> i believe so. if they're letting members of congress and staff back in, i think it sounds like the house will probably operate as normal. it's unclear whether or not they'll let tours or members of the public in to do tours on the house side of the capitol just yet buts a of now it looks like it will be business as usual. >> frank thorp, i know it will be a busy day for you on capitol hill. thanks for the update. president obama is in austin today raising money for democrats and trying to shift his focus back to the economy. but his trip is being overshadowed by the crisis of undocumented children several hundred miles away. on wednesday the president defended his decision not to

visit the texas border and called on governor rick perry to rally republicans to pass his emergency funding request. take a listen to what he had to say. >> is congress prepared to act to put the resources in place to get this done? this isn't theater. this is a problem. i'm not interested in photo-ops. i'm interested in solving a problem. >> as i recall, president bush got chastised greatly for not showing up in new orleans when katrina occurred, so it's about the message of i see what's going on, i care what's going on. this issue is one of trust, and the american people do not trust this president, and they don't trust this congress, frankly, with securing the border. >> perry, who is eyeing a 2016 presidential bid, has sharply critical of the president. in his meeting with president obama yesterday, he asked for the administration to send national guard troops to the border to deploy predator drones

and change the 2008 bush law which treats central american refugees differently than immigrants from mexico. texas democrat hs will introduc legislation today to change that. jeh johnson will be grilled and hh s secretary sylvia mathews burwell about the funding request. >> i cannot vote for a provision which will then just perpetuate an unacceptable human crisis. >> take these minors, identify where they came from. i have gone online. it costs $207 on a one-way trip in terms of plane flight, put them into a hotel, feed them, and return them to the country of origin. >> frankly, my republican friends can't have it both ways. sue the president for abusing his executive authority, and at the same time come to this floor and criticize him for a lack of

leadership. >> and all across the country americans are debating the crisis. last night people in vassar, michigan, protested a plan that would house central american children there. >> if we don't have a border, we have no nation. i don't want these people here. i want them back where they came from. >> they are still our neighbors. if your neighbor comes to your door and knox on knocks on it a asks you for help, do you ignore it? these people, they're human. you're going to let them go back home and starve? >> capitol hill correspondent luke russert joins me to break all of this down. luke, great to see new person. we're usually on opposite ends of pennsylvania avenue. >> not in the asbestos. >> you lucked out this morning. you hear that debate on capitol hill right now. very heated, republicans not surprisingly skeptical of that $3.7 billion figure. what are the prospects that this is actually going to pass? >> i spoke to a top level house leadership aide last night and they said there's close to zero appetite for the president's

plan within the house gop conference. you heard senator mccain saying he was not going to move on it in the senate. they see it as perpetuating the status quo. democrats say the president is trying to put real money towards border security. he's trying to change an old law from 2008 which makes it more difficult in order to send these children home, trying to do that within the confines of this bill, let's move here. sadly, kristin, it seems this has gone the way of which everything goes in d.c. these days which is to politics. it's to some degree more convenient ahead of a midterm election to allow this crisis to fester and continue for the house gop and they keep talking about securing the border. it's unclear what they actually mean to quantify securing the border. apparently they have a working group together, john boehner says they could possibly have something out by the end of july. >> you talk about the politics of it. house speaker john boehner seemed to hedge about whether or not he would bring this to the floor for a vote. there is some pressure on republicans because, as you point out, they're saying that the border needs to be secured, so how much political pressure is there on house speaker john boehner to move on this?

>> there is some, but there is i would say an appetite within his own conference that the president has not led on the issue, that the president is at fault for this allowing to occur because of his executive actions, and they shouldn't just capitulate to what he agrees to. that all being said, how much of a big issue is this ahead of the 2014 midterms? republicans see it as a bigger problem for them if they were to hedge here because they're more conservative and they don't want to look like they're helping out the cause. >> and quickly that 2008 law, introducing legislation to possibly change it, do you anticipate their support for that? >> this is fascinating. this divides democrats. because the more liberal leaning of the party say this is a good law. if you're from canada or mexico, you're voluntarily deported. you don't have to go through the court system. if you're from another country to cut down on human trafficking, you do. that's what's cause a backlog.

the president wants to change this. john cornyn wants to change this. liberal democrats are saying we don't want to change this. they're saying it's about human trafficking. it's more so because they don't want to have to give ground on this and they want to have immigration reform and they're trying to put their own flag in the sand. it's fascinating. >> luke russert, thank you for breaking it all down. >> good to see you. >> absolutely. well, now let's go to republican senator ron johnson of wisconsin, he's a member of the homeland security committee and joins us from capitol hill. senator, thank you so much for joining me this morning. i appreciate it. >> hello, kristin. how are you doing? >> doing well. president obama is urging republicans not to play politics with this emergency funding bill. you have expressed opposition to that $3.7 billion. why not support it given that you yourself have said that what's happening on the border is a crisis? >> well, because we need to really analyze what the root cause of the problem is. i have always said, the best way to secure the bord ser is to eliminate all the incentives we

have created for illegal immigration. listen, this is a crisis. i want to solve the problem. we need to show real compassion to these kids and these families that are here. i'm also concerned about the kids that are still in guatemala whose parents right now are making the decision or thinking about sending their kids on the very dangerous, very arduous journey. i think the best way to deter those parents from making that decision is very safely send those people back to their home, their country of origin. they were just there a couple weeks ago. there are 7 billion people in this world. so many of them would like to come to america. it's not possible. >> senator johnson -- >> i'm looking at the root cause of the problem and spending $3.7 million is making more housing, making it more welcoming for people to come here is not going to solve the problem. >> let me challenge you on that point about addressing the root cause of this because the emergency funds that the white house is asking for contains

$300 million that is going to go to outreach to central america. as you know, part of the problem is an uptick in violence and poverty in that region. so, again, why not support this measure which does contain funds to deal with the root of this issue? >> do you think spending $300 million is going to alleviate poverty and violence in central america? it's not. it's symbolic. we'd be far better off taking even $1,000 per person times $57,000, that would be $57 million versus $3.7 million and safely return these people. if we're going to spend money, let's spend it on the immigration services of the origin countries so we know we're returning them to a safe environment. i'd rather spend money building detention centers in guatemala, he wiel salvador, and honduras here in america because we continue to create that incentive for people to keep coming. more people will make that decision to put their kids on

the beast and subject them to murder and rape. we have to stop the flow. building detention facilities, getting people along a lengthy adjudication process is not going to stop the flow. >> let me ask you about some comments you made. you said, quote, i have gone online, taken a look at orbitz and taken a look at what does it cost to fly people to el salvador and guatemala. you have fares as slow as $207. there's nonstop flights for $450. part of your argument for why that $3.7 billion might be elevated. isn't that oversimplified a complicated issue? >> it's trying to highlight the absurdity of what the president is requesting. when we could spend $57 million, $1,000 per person and return people to their home of origin in a very compassionate, safe manner. in the president's request he has $119 million for transportation within the u.s.

i'm just pointing out how absurd government treats these funding mechanisms. they throw money at the problem. they're not going to solve the problem p.m. i'm trying to take president obama up on his offer. he's correct, we've got to expedite deportations. we want to help him with that. senator john cornyn will introduce that will. let's fix that problem. let's stop the incentives. eliminate the incentives for these parents sending their children to this country. you know another thing we're not really talking about? so many of these unaccompanied children are teenage boys that just might be actually used by the drug cartel to set up networks in the united states. we also have to take a look at this as a national security problem and if we just -- and this basically is what we're doing, we're releasing these people in the general population. that's a real national security threat as well. the best solution is returning them. >> one quick final thought on the point of returning them. going to potentially introduce legislation that would help fast track deportations by changing

that 2008 bush law. just to be clear, would you support that? are you supporting what the representative and john cornyn are talking about introducing? >> i want to see the specifics, but, yeah, we should have expedited procedures. when people come here, they ought to know they're going to be sent back in a safe and compassionate manner but they won't be allowed to stay here. parents need to understand, don't send your kids on that dangerous journey. they're just going to be coming back to you in a week or two. >> senator ron johnson, thank you so much for your time this morning. >> have a great day. we will have much more on the border crisis straight ahead with wendy davis' running mate at the top of the texas ticket for 2014. and later chuck has a tdr 50 look at the billionaires of heartland who influence u.s. politics with more than just money from their home bases in omaha and wichita. but first a look ahead at today's planner. the president is in austin, texas, where he will speak on the economy, and he will tout what he says are some of the

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and let's turn now back to texas. the center of the border battle this week where governor rick perry is calling on the president to send 1,000 national guard troops and beef up surveillance and blaming bad public policy for the crisis. on tuesday night league city, texas, voted to ban undocumented immigrants from being housed within its city limits. meanwhile, even some texas democrats are criticizing the president for not visiting the border will making time for fund-raising and for playing pool. >> i hate to use the word bizarre, but under the

circumstances when he is shown playing pool in colorado, drinking a beer, and he can't even go 42 milties to the texas border? >> joining me now, the democrat candidate to be the next lieutenant governor of texas, state senator latisha van de putte, thank you for joining me. i appreciate it. >> thank you for having me on. >> let me just get you to weigh in right there. you heard representative cuellar criticizing the president. the president has been criticized by other democrats and republicans for not visiting the border. should he have visited the border? >> well, first of all, i think that the president's package of the $3.7 billion is absolutely necessary. the question is whether he should go to the border. and the fact of the matter is he has sent the top officials of our administration from health and human services, certainly from homeland security, department of education, so many

have given him firsthand reports. my question is not to answer any congressman or anyone else who says he should have come to the border. number one, i haven't heard the invite from the congressman from the rio grande valley or local officials. >> the governor has called on him to visit the border. >> pardon? >> the governor has invited him to visit the border. >> but what i'm saying is we should look and listen to local leaders. the situation that we have with unaccompanied minors has always occurred, and anybody who thinks that it hasn't really doesn't know the texas border. what is different is the numbers of children, and they're fleeing this drug violence. they are fleeing very, very weak government and threats of death. so these children are coming, and, you know, what is really important is to listen to the local elected leaders. i would listen to people like

mcallen mayor jim darling, to the county officials there, to our congressmen who absolutely represent the rio grande valley, south texas. if they want the president to come, but i haven't heard any invitations because what they've told me is they have always dealt with this. they want those resources. but what the real story is is the faith-based communities who have stepped unand w eped up an women and children shelter. the important thing to recognize is people second guessing from michigan or other parts of the country saying parents are sending their children. the real story here, and i visited with these children, is that about 60% are joining, are trying to join their mom and their dad who are already here. it's the aunts and uncles sending them over, not the parents. >> let's talk about resources. you say you support the $3.7 billion that president obama is asking for. governor rick perry has said that the national guard should be deployed to that area, and

the president says that's something he's actually considering. so where do you stand on that? should the national guard be sent to the border? >> i think the use for the national guard could be a little bit of surveillance, but our national guard unit, particularly the unit out of houston is a perfect example of how to respond to refugees. this is the number one unit that responds to crisis on hurricanes. so if they need help setting up baths and meals and portable toilets, those types of shelters, the national guard is appropriate to that. but our national guard mission is very, very different. deployment on the border has different rules of engagement than they do when they're sent into combat theater in afghanistan. and we have to realize that they are two different missions. what i would like to see is listening to those local leaders. if they want the national guard there, but i haven't heard the local officials calling for that. what they're saying is they need more immigration judges. what they're saying is they need

more people to help with the paperwork. what they're saying is they need people to help with the influx of these children, and, remember, they're children. let's go after the crooks but let's not point the guns at the kids. >> and let me get you to weigh in on this debate over the 2008 law that was signed by president bush which essentially says that these migrants who are coming from central america, these children, cannot be immediately deported. as you know, there is an effort under way to change that law so that deportations can be fast tracked. would you support that? is that part of what needs to happen to deal with this crisis? >> there needs to be a delicate balance between the rights of these children, those who would be refugees, those who fear for their lives. those whose brothers and sisters have been murdered in central america. do they meet the requirement? while i think there are laws on the books -- and i have been known as the champion of

anti-human trafficking here in texas and worked with my brothers and sisters in legislatures across the country and internationally. the reason that law was written was because of the human trafficking. so i think that there's a delicate balance there. yes, we want to speed up the process, but anybody who has been trafficked, anyone who is fleeing for their lives, they are children, they ought to be afforded the due process. >> state senator van de putte thank you so much for your time. really appreciate it. >> thank you very much. and time now for the first number in today's data bank. 114. that's how many super pacs have spent money on federal races so far this year, and there's still over three months left to the november elections. according to the center for responsive politics, cease suthr pacs have spent over $71 million. during the entire cycle 83 super pacs spent just shy of $63 million. up next, a democratic rise

in -- a dramatic rise in rocket fire in the gaza strip. where is the israeli hamas conflict heading? i'll ask israel's ambassador to the u.s. next. first, today's first tdr 50 trivia question. name the place that elected the first woman mayor in the u.s. the first person to tweet the correct answer to @dailyrundown will get a shutout. the answer and more coming up on "the daily rundown." avo: waves don't care what age you are.

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dozen women and children. militants have fired hundreds of rockets in israel but nearly all have been intercepted by the country's iron dome defense shield or fallen harmlessly in unpopulated areas. no israelis have been hurt or killed. this all stems from the murder of three israeli boys and the subsequent revenge-style killing of a palestinian teen, but it's escalated dramatically in recent days leading first to protests then rocket attacks then a full-scale aerial assault. israel has mobilized 20,000 troops for a possible ground war and is authorized to mobilize 20,000 more. the u.s. is doing what it can to ease tensions. john kerry has spoken to prime minister netanyahu and mahmoud abbas. he addressed the conflict during his trip to china earlier today. take a listen. >> we support completely israel's right to defend itself against these vicious attacks, but de-escalation ultimately is in the interests of all parties.

>> the u.n. security council will meet today after palestinian leader mahmoud abbas requested help in securing a cease-fire. u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon says he's concerned about where things go from here. >> gaza is on a knife edge. this is one of the most critical tests the region has faced in recent years. >> nbc's martin fletcher has more on the situation inside israel. >> reporter: kirsten, good morning. it's been the heaviest night of israeli attacks against palestinian targets in gaza so far. at least 320 targets in gaza were hit by israeli rockets fired from the sea and the air. the israelis say they're targeting mostly palestinian secret tunnels used for attacks against israel underneath the border fence with gaza, and they're also targeting those long-range rocket systems that have been firing at israeli cities for the last two weeks and in particular the last few

days. now, there's tragedy though. last night about 2:00 in the morning, one israeli rocket hit a palestinian home. eight members of one palestinian family were killed, five of them children. the israelis when they attack homes normally are aiming for the homes of militant leaders or from hamas and they often give warnings to the residents to get out -- for civilian residents to get out before the rockets land. in this case, however, tragedy. and another tragedy a few hours earlier at a beach ka faye. a number of people, palestinians were watching the world cup soccer when they were hit by an israeli rocket. five people killed in that case. and in another i was dencident,d rocket attack killed two members of a palestinian film crew in a car marked tv. the israelis say they will continue their operation until they can get the palestinians to stop firing rockets at israeli

citizens. today there have been sirens all over israel, 20 to 25 palestinian rockets fired against israel today so far. here in tel aviv at least three times residents when they heard a siren were went running for lives, running for the bomb shelters. so far remarkably with all of these hundreds of palestinian rocket attacks again israel, so far there hasn't been one israeli casualty, not even one person seriously wounded and hardly a house scratched by the bombs and that is because of israel's anti-rocket system, the iron dome. >> martin fletcher, thank you. joining me now israel's ambassador to the united states, ron dermer. ambassador, 40,000 israeli troops are at the ready. are we going to see a ground war next? >> well, look, what the prime minister has done is he's mobilized 40,000 reservists. of those 20,000 have been called up. the prime minister of israel has to take the action necessary in order to protect our population.

we have had 6 million israelis who have been in bomb shelters, and these are women, children, elderly, who have to spend nights in bomb shelters. so imagine what would happen in the united states if you had 200 million americans who were spending the night in bomb shelters, what they would want their government and military to do to protect them. we have to take the action we have to take in order to protect our civilians. we hope that more serious action won't be needed and that hamas will end the rocket attacks but as of a few minutes ago they're continuing to fire rockets at israel and we have to do what we have to do to protect ourselves. >> you heard martin fletcher describe some of the attacks. they're obviously going both ways. the reports that as many as five people were killed, palestinians watching the world cup. is that a legitimate target? >> well, i'm sure that no one targeted those people who were watching a world cup. what israel does is we target the terrorists and we target their missile batteries and we target their missile manufacturing facilities. the problem, kristin, is we have an enemy in hamas who actually places missile batteries next to

schools, next to hospitals, next to mosques. they use civilians as human shields. a few hours ago the hamas interior ministry issued a statement to all people of gaza and they said do not leave your homes. when israel is warning you to leave your homes and we send warnings, we drop flyers, we call people, send text messages, get out of a home that's being targeted because we want to keep civilians out of harm's way. hamas is saying stay there and they're using their people as human shields. this is the enemy we face. >> secretary kerry has reached out to prime minister netanyahu, to abbas. he's trying to de-escalate the situation. what can he do? what should he do? what do you think his next move should be? >> the prime minister was the one who didn't want the escalation of this. a week ago he called on hamas, he said quiet will be met with quiet. if you stop these rocket attacks. >> but can kerry play a role? >> i will get to it in a second. at the beginning of the report

you said this started with the murder of three teenage boys. in the three months before the murder of the teenage boys and the subsequent murder of the palestinian boys, we had 200 rocket twks against israel. israel left gaza in 2005. we withdrew from every square inch. since then we have had 8,000 rockets fired at us from gaza. hamas is a terror organization. they fired thousands of rockets. they're committed to israel's destruction. that's what we're facing now. it might be in the last few weeks for this or that reason they have decided to unleash more rockets, but it's not because of this or that action. it's hamas' war against israel that continues and israel has to take action to defend its population. we appreciate the support of the president, the support of secretary kerry in making clear that israel has a right to defend itself. we've gotten that support in europe, the french leadership, german prime minister, british prime minister, canadian prime minister because they know what they would do if their country was being hit by rockets and two-thirds of their population were in bomb shelters. >> yet the situation seems to only be escalating despite the

support that you have mentioned, the outreach from secretary kerry. is this really up to abbas and netanyahu? can egypt play a roll? >> abbas has been completely irrelevant because he doesn't control gaza. he claims to speak for the palestinian people, but he actually doesn't control anything in gaza and it just shows how absurd it is that he's formed an alliance with hamas. we said two months ago that we think it's a big mistake for the palestinian president to actually form an alliance with a proper organization. you see some of the results of that. now he's sitting in ramallah. what is he going to do? he can't disarm hamas. he has no capability to do anything. where i think people can play a role is the world can strongly back israel's right to defend itself. the more they do that the greater the chance there is the terrorists will stop. we had a confrontation a year and a half ago for eight days. after eight days we had a year of relative quiet. hopefully we can go back to a period of quiet after this and restore security to the people of israel. >> ambassador dermer, thank you

so much. up next, new reports of chinese hackers targeting the u.s. government. plus, the mississippi senate runoff gets even uglier. now there's a restraining order involved. we'll explain right after a quick break. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief.

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you know what he brings? any questions? can i get an a, steve? yes! three a's! he brings his a-game! the ready for you alert, only at laquinta.com! and we have an update now on report that is chinese hackers accessed the network that houses personal information of u.s. government employees. "the new york times" first reported hackers apparently targeted files of employees who had applied for top secret security clearances. this morning secretary of state john kerry said it doesn't appear any sensitive material was promised. he's in beijing for an annual meeting with the chinese on security and economic issues. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. so what's the latest, pete? >> well, the officials say it happened in mid-march, this intrusion into the computers of the government's office of personnel management. what they were apparently

looking for is financial information, job history, and perhaps of most interest to the hackers any foreign contacts that were in these personnel files. they're used to conduct background information for people seeking security clearances. they say the intrusion appeared to come from china, but they can't be certain that it's there. as you know, secretary of state kerry was there and said that he did not raise this thing specifically but did raise the general subject about chinese hacking intrusions, and the u.s. has been increasingly e lly con about this over the past few years. >> and, pete, given that, will there be a look into how to prevent this from happening in the future i would anticipate? >> well, you know, it's impossible to prevent these things. what the government says is that they found this intrusion almost immediately after it began and they were able to stop it, and they think that is what preserved any of this data from being compromised. they're still investigating it,

but kerry and other officials today are saying it doesn't appear that any of this sensitive information actually was stolen. >> all right. pete williams, thank you. >> you bet. time now for some 2014 trail mix. first, we head to mississippi where the fighting among republicans is heating up as chris mcdaniel continues to protest the result of the runoff he lost to senator thad cochran last month. yesterday a conservative group called true the vote filed papers asking for a temporary restraining order to prevent further redaction or destruction of records. up next, billionaires behind some of the big bucks in politics. they're not new york or d.c. chuck todd has a look at the heavyweights of the heartland with some very different approaches to influencing u.s.

politics. but first our tdr 50 soup of the day. at the drover in omaha, nebraska, they're serving up beer cheese soup. that is a first i think, folks. we'll be right back. stay with us. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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during the cadillac summer's best event, lease this all new 2014 cts for around $459 a month or purchase with 0% apr and make this the summer of style. when we talk about billionaires and big bucks in politics, you probably automatically think of wall street fat cats, silicon valley standardup guys but this week we focus on nebraska and kansas and we're reminded that two of the most mentioned billionaire names aren't based in washington or california. they're smack dab in the heartland in omaha and wichita. the koch brothers are from kansas and their koch industries are headquartered in wichita. the second largest privately held company in the united states and they do everything from making paper products and fertilizer to refining oil and they lean strongly with the republican party. more with a libertarian streak,

of course. they're widelyly viewed as the funding foundation behind the tea party. >> the koch brothers. >> the koch brothers. >> the koch brothers bought a table here tonight. >> these folks were talking about the koch brothers so much last year you would think they were running for president. >> the kochs personal net worth is estimated at more than $41 billion each making the wichita duo tied as the sixth richest people in the world. now, koch industries has contributed $4.3 million combined to campaigns in the 2014 election cycle. they've added a lot more to foundations and think tanks and political action committees. there's americans for prosperity, it can make it difficult to track the amount of money they have flowing into the little system. we know it's probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars and we haven't even touched on their lobbying influence on issues from energy and agricultural to homeland

security. the koch's neighbor to the north is the oracle of omaha, warren buffett. his net worth is estimated at $66 million. he also owns large stakes in corporations like coca-cola, american express and ib m. he's contributed mostly to the democratic party but a lot of you might have forgotten or never known in the first place that his political roots are republican. thanks to his father, howard buffett, who represented nebraska's second district in congress in the '40s and '50s. but a young warren buffett switched parties in the '60s because his views on civil rights were more aligned with the democrats. he uses his public platform to talk about his economic opinions and charitable causes. a buffett endorsement alone is far more valuable than the amount of money he spends some thing. 2012 he spoke out in favor of

raising his own tax rate pointing out he pays a lower rate than his own secretary. this became known as the buffett rule and had politicians throwing his name around whenever possible. >> warren buffett's secretary shouldn't pay a higher tax rate than warren buffett. >> buffett. >> buffett. >> my friend, warren fuf bet. >> warren buffett. >> warren buffett. >> buffett himself has contributed $222,000 directly to congressional and presidential campaigns since 1997 and an additional $76,000 in joint fund-raising contributions from 2011-2012. most of that, more than $65,000 went to the obama victory fund in 2012. notably he supported hillary clinton's 2008 presidential bid and he also donated to her new york senate campaign in 2000. but it wasn't until last month he made his large contribution ever, a $100,000 check.

he's never written that big million dollar check to the chagrin of some democrats. there you have it. omaha and wichita, the heart of the country and the home of some of the biggest billionaire big shots that influence american politics in many ways today. >> and that was chuck with today's tdr 52 on kansas and nebraska. up next, why sarah palin and some other famous faces may want to curb their enthusiasm for speaking out on national issues. we'll explain that. but first, trivia time. way back in 1887 kansas elected susanna salter as the first mayor in the united states. she was just 27 years old. we want to say a hearty congratulations to today's winner, charlie copley. congratulations, charlie. and we'll be right back with more. yes! well, i found this new thing... called allstate quickfoto claim. it's an app. you understand that?

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brian: 25 years. matt: that's how long we've been talking about the most important social issues. savannah: education. al: conservation. chris: uniting the nation. jim: with a bit of imagination. the more you know. a new poll has some rough

feedback for some of the most famous faces in american politics, a whopping 54% say they have heard enough of former governor sarah palin. according to the latest nbc news "wall street journal," palin made headlines on tuesday kwhecwhen she called for obama to be impeached. palin rated high on the list among those who say they have heard enough. 45% say they've heard enough from former vice president dick cheney. 40% of voters said they have heard enough of former vice president al gore and 32% say former president bill clinton should say les too. as for the economy, unemployment has reached it's lowest point since the fall of 2008. however 40% of registered voters say they don't think the economy has really improved. there's a split over who should

get credit for it. 36% say they would give president obama some credit. 16% say they don't give the president much credit at all. the poll found very little support for the federal health care law, 27% say it needs a major overhaul and 25% say it should be totally eliminated. 36% say it needs some minor modifications. so what are your take aways? i mean the sarah palin headline, kind of interesting because she may have be maintained a pretty big following in 2008. >> what was striking about the sarah palin numbers is that it was more than six in ten democrats who say they have heard enough. a majority of independents -- she still has an influence within a chunk of the republican party, but not as much as she

had when she was governor of alaska. >> what do you make of these numbers that we're seeing in the economy. does that have any bearing on 2014, does that help democrats? >> i think the one bearing the big 2014 take away is that the president is getting some benefit from the economy, and that 36%, that's probably all your die hard democrats and he's able to get those people to the polls, i believe that can mitigate and lessen some losses that democrats might have in these senate contests that are taking place in red states, but clearly, the president would like to be getting the majority of the credit, particularly when he's been out there saying all the statistics are saying things are better than when i took office. but he's not getting enough credit, 36% needs to be higher. >> finally the health care numbers, they continue to be so low. >> it's not low, they haven't changed at all, but it is a negative for the president.

just 25% say the law should be totally eliminated, everyone wants to work to fix the law, whether a major overhaul or a minor fix, but it's still a negative for the president and his party. >> and that is it for this edition of "the daily rundown" coming up msnbc live with craig melvin. and jose diaz-balart premiers on july 14. you won't want to miss it. have a great day, everyone. here's your thursday business traveler's forecast. a little cooldown in the northeast, lower humidity, more comfortable in new york city with a high temperature of 83 degrees. looking for showers and thunderstorms across the mid-atlantic, down towards the southeast, so atlanta, washington, d.c., we could see a few delays there, quiet weather

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♪ every now and then i get a little bit tempted ♪ ♪ by the chocolate all around ♪ turn around brian! ♪ this bar has protein oh yeah!♪ [ female announcer ] fiber one. good thursday morning. i'm craig melvin, the border crisis is once again front and center on capitol hill. in just a few hours, a senate panel will hear from the secretary of homeland security and health and human services. we're talking about that $4

billion request. later this hour president obama is set to headline his fourth democratic fund-raiser in 24 hours. it comes a day after the president met with the governor rick perry and local governors to talk about the situation there. numerous requests from perry and other lawmakers. >> there is nothing that's taking place down there that i am not intimately aware of and briefed on. this isn't theater, this is a problem. i'm not interested in photo-opes, i'm interested in solving the problem. >> as i recall, president bush got chastised greatly for not showing up in new orleans when katrina occurred. so so it's about the message of i see what's going on, i care what's going