after four decades in power and months of fighting to keep control, moammar gadhafi is gone. libya's liberation a vindication for president obama's foreign policy or does it depend on this. with gadhafi out, who is in? mitt romney hits the ground in iowa, but can he be a hit with evangelical conservatives to play caucus king makers. a rising republican star runs into questions about his family history. senator marco rubio gets a taste of what a vp vetting process

might look like. this is "the daily rundown" i'm chuck todd. let's get to my first reads of the morning. we're going to begin with libya. moammar gadhafi is daddy. after fro years in power and eight u.s. presidents, the libyan dictator was pulled from a drainage pipe and executed by his own people. ronald reagan once called him the mad dog of the middle east. his larger foreign policy approach where the president put limits on u.s. military enga engagement and let a coalition of partners in nato take the lead. >> there's no doubt that we did exactly what we said we were going to do in libya. i think it underscores the capacity of us to work together as an international community. i'm very proud of the work we did on this operation. >> yesterday in the rose garden, the president talked about what the white house sees as the foreign policy victories of the

last six months. >> we see the strength of american leadership across the world. we've taken out al qaeda leaders and put them on the path to defeat. we're winding down the war in iraq and have begun a transition in afghanistan. now working in libya with friends and allies, we have demonstrated what collective action can achieve in the 21st century. vice president biden made a point about the mission's low cost in dollars and u.s. casualties in comparison to the war in iraq. >> the people of libya have gotten rid of a dictator of 40 years who i personally knew. this is one tough not so nice guy. in this case, america spent $2 billion total and didn't lose a single life. >> the white house was surprised and frustrated at how few republicans were willing to give the president credit for gadhafi's death. the hawks in the republican party thought he didn't go far

enough and fast enough. the isolationists wondered why the u.s. was in libya in the first place. here's senator john mccain on the "today" show this morning. >> i give the president and the administration credit. the fact is that we could have ended this conflict a lot earlier if we had used the full weight of u.s. air power instead of leading from behind and we wouldn't have the 30,000 wounded and hundreds, if not thousands who are killed. >> i notice the comparison. go get some of the democratic press releases during saddam hussein's death right after that, get some of the republican press releases yesterday after gadhafi. there's a phrase that they have in common. the world is a better place without and insert sadam's name or gadhafi's name. apparently that is how you word a release when you're not sure where you stand on the issue itself. with 74 days to go until the iowa caucuses, mitt romney was

back in the hawkeye state yesterday for the first time since august. he held events in sioux city, trainer and council bluffs. he has just four full time staffers this the state, romney is leading in our recent nbc news poll of likely caucus goers. we wondered how aggressively he'll compete there. yesterday, he gave us an answer, sort of. >> i want to get the support of iowaens. i'll be here again and again, campaigning here. i want to get the support of the good people in iowa. i would love to win in iowa. >> he also added he knows he's not going to win everywhere. he's got advisers that are telling him iowa is a trap. you go there, it's very difficult to win. it's going to be a crowded field. evangelical vote is going to come out. you'll see the same thing that happened to you that happened four years ago. if he goes in the first state, he competes, he loses. that could be a rocket booster for a rick perry, for instance.

that said, it's high risk, high reward. he wins in iowa, and new hampshire, this thing is over. last night the senate rejected the first stand alone piece of the president's jobs bill. a $35 billion prigs which would have provided aids to states teachers and first responders. with all 47 republicans voting aagainst it along with democrats from nebraska, bill nelson and mark pryor plus the independent democrat, joe lieberman. we got what might be the president's next message when he travels next week for a west coast swing. "every american deserves an explanation for why republicans refuse to step up to the plate and do what's necessary to create jobs and grow the economy right now." here's what we know. the we know that the fact is that the president didn't get what he wanted here in congress. it's setting up, drawing the

bright lines that he believes he needs to have, run against congressional republicans. you're seeing the discipline with the republican side on this. looks like nothing is going to get passed much on this jobs bill. the republican candidates have weighed in on gadhafi's death. as you might expect, they were wary about giving too much credit to the administration. ray sullivan is rick perry's communication director. he joins me now. good to see you from austin. >> good morning. >> we know, i want to read this statement that you guys put out on this on gadhafi. "the u.s. must take an active role in ensuring the security of any remaining stockpiles of gadhafi's weapons. these weapons pose a real danger to the united states and our allies, we cannot help secure them through simple observation." what does governor perry want to see the president do right now on that front? >> again, getting our arms around what stockpiles of weapons, whether there are chemical weapons on the ground

in libya, and help secure that and then work with the libyan people. they take the lead of course. to make sure that that country is peaceful and brings together a coalition government that can succeed and hopefully be pro western. as you alluded earlier, the proof on this policy is going to be in the pudding in the long run. is libya going to be a workable, hopefully pro western or at least not anti-western country. we need to see where this goes in the long run. >> you know, during the debate last week, all the candidates on stage, particularly governor perry was wary of foreign aid in general. governor perry was talking about not providing many funds to the united nations. would a president perry be holding back funds at this point to libya, or would he be

advocating foreign aid to libya? >> i think a president perry wants to make sure that our foreign aid is going to countries that are going to at least work with us to be pro american to the extent possible, certainly not anti-american. part of all of this discussion, when it comes to the obama policy is the whole thing is muddled. it's hard to determine what exactly is the obama foreign policy, why they take certain actions in some places and not others. we need to go back to a foreign policy that is in america's best interest, first and foremost, and that builds a stronger u.s. economy, a stronger u.s. foreign policy, military, and doesn't reward bad behavior across the world aimed at us or our allies. >> i want to move to the republican primary and the battle that's been going on this

week. charles kronheimer wrote this. "perry's clueless responses portray a deeper problem. he simply hasn't thought through the issues on a national scale. he is still texas. and texas simply is not enough. how do you respond? >> we put forward a bold jobs plan friday in pittsburgh to quickly unleash 1.2 million good american jobs by opening up u.s. lands and waters across the country to more energy exploration. we believe that is a good, quick way to jump start the economy that does not require congressional approval in many circumstances. the governor is going to have another major pillar of that jobs policy next week in south carolina. we have a record of job creation in this state as we've often said. 40% of the new jobs since june

of '09 have been right here in texas. we are putting our policies forward to bring that energy, that enthusiasm, that job creation vision to the rest of the country. that will expand next week in south carolina. >> so you think he's got it wrong that it's fine that governor perry is texas and texas is enough? >> the texas record is a huge benefit and huge foundation to build upon, but we're going forward with a vision for the whole country to spark job creation, spark economic growth, spark a stronger, more fiscally conservative, fiscally disciplined america. again, we saw that in pittsburgh a week ago friday with 1.2 million job plan. we're going to have more plans and more economic reforms out next week in south carolina. >> i know one of those reforms

is going to be advocating for a flat tax. here's what governor romney said about a flat tax yesterday while campaigning in iowa. >> the flat tax has a positive features. you have to look and make sure that it doesn't raise taxes on middle income americans. for me, one of the key criteria in looking at tax policy is to make sure that we help the people that need the help most. in our country, the people who need the help most are not the poor who have a safety net, not the rich who are doing just fine, but the middle class. >> that's been part of the key criticism of herman cain's 9-9-9 plan. it's part of criticisms of flat tax proposals in the past that, when you take away all of those deductions, that the middle class enjoys and that are popular, whether it's homeown homeowner's deductions, child tax credits, the flat tax ends up being a hindrance on them

financially. how are you going to address this? >> let me say first, with governor romney, we'll see what he has to say about this tomorrow. it seems his ideas and positions seem to evolve on a daily basis. chuck, i'm not going to give you a whole lot more about our plan today. you need to stay tuned for next week. but tax rates will be lower, flatter, fairer for everyone. it will be a whole lot simpler to deal with the tax system, to file taxes in this country, and we believe, those lower rates, those fairer rates, combined with some good, solid fiscal conservatism in washington will really unleash job creation, entrepreneurship, investment in this country and get our economy back on track where it needs to be. >> i got to leave it there. ray sullivan, communications director for the perry campaign. thanks for joining me. >> thanks, chuck. up next, we're serving up

"the daily rundown" trail mix with our two favorite people to do it with. jay mar and the fix man. they are both here coming up. we'll have more on the republican reaction to gadhafi's down fall and some of them doing their darnedest to give praise to anybody but the president. marco rubio's past. new details about steve jobs, including his warning to president obama and what he really thought about rival bill gates. a look ahead at the president's schedule. he's signing some trade deals today. it's not going to be a big signing ceremony. we think they tried to, and not everybody was clear not everybody could show up at the time they wanted to do it. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ♪ ♪

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a lot of republicans are singing the same tune, the world is a better place without .moammar gadhafi. here's what the republican candidates said then about the president's decision to intervene. >> it would be foolish. it would have a down side and we should think very, very carefully before we go expanding the wars that we're already involved in. >> i would not have intervened. i think there are a lot of other ways to effect gadhafi. >> his inability to have a clear and convincing foreign policy made him delegate to the united nations and the arab league, a decision about our involvement there. >> john la martin, senior political reporter for politico.

so, nobody believes this race, jonathan martin, is going to be decided by foreign policy. the president feels they have a story to tell that's pretty good on answering the issues about leadership, and the republicans do seem to be all over the map on what their concept is of a foreign policy. >> the republicans are generally unable to give this president credit on any issue, whether it's foreign policy. that's not uncommon in a presidential race. we saw 2004 when joe lieberman tried this. domestic policy, he had differences. it's tough to do that. that is a way. there is no question, in a general election con tegs, this president has taken off issues from the table that republicans have used in recent years against democrats. ie, they're week on national

security. that's a tougher case to make. >> this morning -- >> john mccain, that was the key line of attack. >> this morning on the "today" show, that was pointed out to senator mccain by ms. guthrie. >> what happened to her? >> she used to be on a popular morning show. >> i don't know where she is. mccain's answer was yeah, but, he's pulling troops too fast from iraq and he didn't like afghanistan. which by the way, that wouldn't be popular in this republican primary. >> here's what's hard. the nuanced argument of moammar gadhafi is dead or osama bin laden is dead. >> you know, like, yes, you have talked about this on your show. libya is a complicated place. yes, there's a lot of work to be done. for the average person, moammar gadhafi being dead is a victory in foreign policy, it's a bolstering of obama's leadership.

they should say congratulations to the president. this is a victory for america. now about that economy. that's your best bet. >> speaking of the economy, joe biden has become the attack dog, it seems. here's what he's been saying. he used tough language in trying to draw a bright line with republicans on these pieces of the jobs bill. >> there's nothing temporary about your house burning to the ground, because your fire department has been deneuted because they can't get a fire truck to you in time. i don't know where these guys live, seriously. i don't know where they live, because it's know in the neighbors we grew up in. >> this stuff is making republicans nuts. he's gotten under their skin. it's driving him crazy. is it effective or is he walking the line being too hot? >> joe biden is always walking the line.

he's joe biden. joe biden is doing jobs president obama can't do. >> that's what your vice president does. >> this vice president for this president, this is somebody who grew up in scranton, pennsylvania, who is a populace democrat at his core who loves nothing better than standing in front of an audience of labor democrats. >> firefighters and cops. >> making the old school lunch pail case for firefighters and cops. that's not the president's strength. >> i got to play this clip. this is the confrontation that biden had with a conservative reporter that he wasn't very happy about. >> do you regret using a rape reference to describe republican opposition to the president's bill. >> no, no, no. let's get it straight. don't screw around with me. >> you didn't use a rape reference? >> listen to me. >> i'm list zblng i said rape was up three times in flint. they are the numbers.

go look at the numbers. murder is up, rape is up and burglary is up. >> if the republicans don't pass this bill, rape will continue to rise. >> murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, all crimes will continue to rise. >> that is a popular video among both liberals and conservatives. >> it is a win-win. >> for this polarization climate we live in. >> if you're a democrat, you love that clip. joe biden giving it to conservatives. what you want out of barack obama is a little bit of fight. barack obama is many things politically. he's incredibly gifted politically. one thing he's not is a good pop lass. he's not empathetic. >> he's not comfortable doing it. >> he isn't good at faking it. a lot of politicians know they're not good at it but they can fake it. >> mitt romney, iowa, how serious is he? >> he's still testing the waters out there. >> that's what it felt like.

>> there is a center right business crowd out there. >> desperate for him to do it. >> 30% in a primary. that vote is there. i don't see where else they're going to go. if there's no huckabee candidate coalescing the right, he's got an opportunity. they are so gun shy about what happened. >> it's a trap. it's a trap. >> you said it before. >> the 2008 example, he dumps $10 million in there and loses to a guy with no organization. it's risk-reward. if romney wins iowa, he wins new hampshire. >> who is admiral akbar? >> i say he wins in iowa. >> thank you both. >> trivia. >> up next, i'll tell you what it is. >> secretary of state hillary clinton weighs in. i got mike mcara interviewing the secretary of state.

she keeps up her tough talk on pakistan while in pakistan. plus we know we're celebrating new year's in iowa. will it mean christmas in new hampshire? how far the granite state is willing to go to keep its first in the nation status. today's trivia question, how many sitting u.s. senators were born abroad? give us their names and where they were born. tweet me @chucktodd at "the daily rundown." the first correct answer will g get.

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secretary clinton continues to travel abroad in pakistan. she spoke earlier about the death of moammar gadhafi. >> the death of colonel gadhafi has brought to a close a very unfortunate chapter in libya's

history. i want to underscore the commitment of the united states to supporting the libyan people as a friend and partner as they embark on this new democratic path. >> nbc's mike vikaris traveling with secretary clinton. she had tough words while in pakistan. tell me about it? >> chuck, it's interesting. she was in kabul yesterday at the presidential palace with president karzai there and had tough words for pakistan, harboring the safe havens within the borders of this country. saying the time has come to act. she's unveiling a new proposal, they're calling it fight, talk, build. there's a new tremendous amount of pressure from the united states and president karzai for that matter for the pakistanis to do something about the network. they've carried out high profile attacks including two back in september that included a

bombing or shelling of the u.s. embassy. in my interview with secretary clinton, she said that was something the united states had to act on. secretary clinton appeared here in pakistan in islamabad with her counterpart, and kept up the drum beat. a lot of people thought she was going to soften it up. here's a quote. she says you can't keep snakes in your backyard and only expect them to bite your neighbors. she pretty much took pakistanis to task during the entire visit here in islamabad. she met with top officials in discussions lasting four hours last night. she had petraeus and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff with her in frank talks. >> mike in islamabad. travel safe back here. the opening bell rang on wall street which means it's time for the market run down.

cnbc's bertha kooms. >> we're going to open higher here. european markets are higher. it's a big game stakes of high deal. they are getting closer to structuring a comprehensive funding plan. we have to wait until next wednesday. we're getting lots of earnings this morning. honeywell is better than expected. general electric is more in line. they hope to have a better handle on costs in 2012. the dow is going to get a boost from mcdonald's, reporting better than expected sales growth. they've raised prices. this afternoon, the drama of the news court hacking scandal hits hollywood, rupert murdoch is going to face a jury for the first time. we'll see if they get a pie in the face this time. >> there's going to be a lot of cell phone video there. "the daily rundown" will be

back in 30 seconds. other stories making headlines this morning. moammar gadhafi's expected to be buried today according to islamic law. members of the international criminal court are planning to look into the circumstance of gadhafi's death. in the united nation's human rights office is also calling for an investigation. a biography about steve jobs is shedding new light on the apple co-founder. reports that in 2010, steve jobs told president obama that his

administration neilded to be more friendly to business and warped him "you're headed for a one term presidency." jobs said he was willing to go thermo nuclear war with google over the android software referring to bill gates. jobs said this, bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything. he shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas. by the way, steve jobs was willing to do tv ads for president obama even after he said you're going to be a one term president. california now is the state in the nation to adopt cap and trade. they voted thursday to impose a system that impros poses companies to lower their greenhouse gas emissions.

the northern california preacher who predicted the end of the world twice. he says today is the end of days. harold camping blames math errors. so far, it looks like we're in the clear, but be forewarned as people using this as cheap pickup lines. the showdown is not between two people, it's between two states. the 2012 primary may move up. with the date change may come a host of other problems for people in new hampshire. jo, take it away. >> chuck, good morning. the word on everyone's mouth here, everyone is asking when is that primary actually going to be. if it is going to be in december, the town clerks who administer the primary are going to face some very real

challenges that may actually put them into the red. here in auburn, the primary. with other states jockeying for earlier dates. new hampshire may move up its primary to december. that's december of this year. however, small towns like auburn simply don't have the money. >> we don't have a budget right now for an election in 2011. >> secretary of state bill gardner has set the date of the new hampshire presidential primary since 1976. >> i have to follow the state law, and if it has to be before the end of this year, it will be. >> reporter: when nevada recently moved up its 2012 caucus date to january 14, they cited state law saying there must be a seven day window between new hampshire and any

similar contest. many in nevada and other states think that gardner's position is a vegas style bluff, however, a december primary could hurt the new hampshire economy. >> there's hundreds of hotels, thousands of hotel rooms that are filled. they're spending money in the restaurants. manchester and the state of new hampshire gets on the map. people are looking at it nationally. it gives us great exposure. >> new hampshire's political legacy is also at stake. >> the intense listening to candidates is just starting. to shorten that to december is wrong. >> the state's voters aren't exactly thrilled about the prospect of a holiday election. >> i don't particularly like it. i think it's too early. >> it's unfortunate, i think, because it plops in the middle of the holiday season. >> reporter: meanwhile, back in auburn, town clerk is preparing to slash her budgets just in case. >> it's a tradition. it's a tradition in new hampshire. we like to keep our traditions.

>> reporter: basically, you can see people in new hampshire are very unhappy with the prospect of a december primary. of course, i spoke to secretary of state bill gardner last night who says he's in close touch with nevada, south carolina and iowa, and there's an important meeting on saturday in nevada which they may push their date later. we have to wait and see what happens. >> we do. we know the rnc is stepping in trying to convince nevada to do that as well. jo, thanks very much. president obama took plenty of heat when he decided to commit some parts of the u.s. military to fight in libya. now that the mission of removing gadhafi from power is over, has the president been vindicated? joined by frank glavine, joins me now. president's foreign policy, should he feel vindicated today? >> he deserves a victory lap, in

my view. he certainly deserves the applause for mission accomplished. good news for him. unfortunately, there's a half life for this. it doesn't necessarily impact thair day-to-day life. the good news is going to fade quickly. we saw this a few months ago when osama bin laden was killed. it was a good day, but it only lasted a few weeks in the poll numbers. >> at some point, foreign policy will be a discussion point in the campaign. if mitt romney is the nominee, i want to play a couple back to back sound bites and yesterday. >> now the president is saying we have to remove gadhafi. your question comes up, who's going to take his place? this whole powell doctrine which is if you break it, you own it. who is going to own libya? >> the world is a better place with gadhafi gone.

>> he didn't look too drithrill about answering that question. it goes to, does the president -- what his campaign folks will say is they get to tell a story about the accomplishments. it can help blunt this leadership question that's out there. >> they can argue competence of stewardship foreign policy. they can make that case on the back of libya's success. there has not been a major catastrophe or drift the wrong way. you can talk about american declinism or aggressiveness in certain parts of the world. it's easier for the obama team to say we played a steady hand. >> i want to get your reaction when i knew you were coming on this week and i saw the debate, talking points about foreign aid. let me play the clip for you. >> i think it's time not only to have that entire debate about all of our foreign aid, but in particular, the u.n. why are we funding that? >> i happen to think it doesn't

make a lot of sense for us to borrow money from the chinese to go give to another country for humanitarian need. we ought to get the chinese to take care of the people. >> i know we're in the primary season. are you surprised romney took the bait? >> and romney came around later and 15id some of this foreign aid is humanitarian. some of it has a military dimension. he made a case for some of it. some of it is sort of silly. we have concessionary loans through the asian development bank through china. some of it is frivolous and we should trim back. it ain't going to fix the budget deficit. we got to get in these issues like social security. >> today the president signing three trade deals. your book is about that. >> book plug a little bit. how do you calculate how many jobs do get created with a free trade agreement? >> there are a few different models. it comes down to how many jobs

per billion dollars of exports. it will be in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of jobs through the free trade agreements. >> how quickly? >> it can take full maturity. the first order of effect is removing the barriers. the second effect once you're in forward motion, you're inducing other countries to move your way. this is a big problem with china where we have trade issues. once we're signing free trade agreements with other countries, china has a strong incentive to move our way. it sets the ways for our world. >> are you worried about china bashing? >> no, i don't think it's been over the top yet. >> frank, always good to have you, your visits to d.c. >> thanks for the book plug. our big friday political panel joins us next. don't miss "meet the press" this sunday. david plouffe, plus meet the candidate series continues with an exclusive interview with a

republican candidate, ron paul sunday on "meet the press." "soup of the day" time, it's friday, it's cold outside and you're giving me chilled cucumber? seriously? save that for july. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. follow the wings.

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cuban exile community. it defines what so many of us who are a product of it are. i know this. no matter where i go or what title i may achieve, i will always be the son of exiles. >> let's bring in our panel, karen finney, david lenhart and former republican member of congress, susan molinari.

marco rubio finding out what a national vp vetting process would be like. david, i don't want to put you in the position of judging other reporting. not going to go there, but is this fair game to talk about this in the sense of a son not vetting his parents? >> i'm happy to judge other reporting. it's good reporting. they did good stories. absolutely this is fair game. marco rubio for a long time has been going around saying my parents came here after castro. his biography had the word following in it. it's not true. we can get into a debate because of family lore, that his family told him something different, despite years of saying this publicly. this puts him in a list of politicians who spent a long time in public saying things that aren't true. richard bloomenthal, richard kirk. the judgment here is for voters.

how much does this matter? i don't think there's question about the facts, for a long time, something central to his biography we know is not true. >> he brought up two cases where it was their own biographies. in this case, it is family lore. >> sure. >> your dad, a famous politician in new york, did you ever catch him and saying you're exaggerating. >> we weren't sure where our background came from. we went to italy and we were trying to recreate where we were from. for so many of these people, when they came over, what the details were are a little sketchy. it wasn't that important. i'm presuming for marco rubio, i know him and spoke to him. i know so many people that came over from cuba, they couldn't go back because they lost their families, because they lost their homeland. i think the point remains in this day and age, you have to be so careful about every piece of

information. there's no doubt about it. i think the great american success story still lives in marco rubio. >> karen, but is it now politicians have to vet your parents? >> you got to vet yourself. you can't go out there with a story that becomes the central part of your story, who you are, your rationale for where you stand on an issue like immigration by saying we were refugees when that's not true. i wrote something a couple weeks ago, i called my mother to make sure i had it exactly right. >> you called your mother. >> okay. >> did you fact check your mom? should he have fact checked his dad? >> we're talking five or six years. if you read the piece, it's 60 this, 70. there's a lot of different numbers. you would have thought if you're a senatorial candidate, you check that stuff out. particularly, this is a problem for the republicans in that his whole rationale for his position on immigration reform is that

they came here as exiles. you know what? they were economic exiles like a lot of people who come here. >> david, the bigger picture here, it's a reminder that he didn't go through the tougher vetting process that some senate candidates go through because he had an easy race. >> that's right. he did. he had an easy race ultimately. originally, the primary was not an easy race it. makes me wonder, should we be scrubbing everybody's background. >> that's what it's going to jump start. >> because of your point, we don't know so many of us don't know the exact facts of our families. >> if you don't know the facts don't base your whole campaign, whole candidacy on something you don't know is correct. >> it's like not being able to go back, a significant part of economic exile of the persecution. >> the kind of criticism he has leveled against immigrants currently and the debate we're seeing, it is shameful to have that kind of mistake.

>> i don't see how one has to do with the other. >> i'm going to pause there. karen, david, susan. trivia time. we asked how many sitting u.s. senators were born abroad. we asked for their names and where they were born. the answer is two, senator mccain was born in panama canal and you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. you're kidding. no. where's that mey coming from, steve? did it even cross your mind to ask your wife before signing us up for something so expensive? my mother was right; i should have married john clarke. they were free. i got them when i signed us up for unlimited messaging. [ male announcer ] get more value from at&t. buy an unlimited messaging plan, and call any u.s. mobile phone free. at&t. i'm consolidating my assets. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions.

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we bring back our panel. all right. we had a member of congress retire yesterday. now between the gadhafi new, now not a lot of people noticed. he put out a statement that was trying to channel him. he sate this the constant focus on skreerms and the horse race of elections is smothering useful discourse and meaningful debate of public policy. this, in turn, is fueling the increasingly harsh tone in american politics. my experience tells me that

those who shout the loudest and give the most speeches, have fewest good solutions for america's channel america's challenges. it's amazing. >> look. he had a tough race last time around. this is a significant portion of the blue dogs have decided to retire. you+> and republicans won nevada and new york and special elections and think probably congressman cardoza said even if i were to win re-election, there's a pretty good chance the republicans are going to stay in control. so i think there's a whole bunch of things he might have left out of his press release. >> david, what about his criticism of the press? he might as well have said channels. >> thanks a lot. >> i was going to go cable channels, thanks a lot. >> but this whole that, you know, you -- basically it's the

far left that gets the most attention. do you think that's a fair assessment? >> i think it's easy to say if only reasonable people got together. i don't think that's exactly true. there are honest differences in american politics. there's not like there's a secret reasonable solution that every p in washington has figured out. i do thing there's the affair crick tee. part of the statement that actually got my attention most was the criticism of the obama administration on housing. you know, i think that's a really fair criticism. think it's something that the obama administration now agrees with in retrospect. >> karen, i think this economy has to do with housing. these policies. he tried something early, didn't really push it. and i was stunned at the lack of execution by the republicans in nevada going after it. everybody seems lost on the housing crisis. >> they're not quite sure what we should do. and certainly somebody from

california. >> that's got to be front and center for him. >> i want to pick on something else he said. you kind of alluded to this. conflict is cheap, good television, right? unfortunately -- >> let's not forget it's cheap good tweets. now we're seeing the internet as sort of relishing that. >> i've talked to friends who worked on the hill who really believe what they're doing, a service. even they say it's exhausting how deviivisive it's become. while i agree it's easy to, you know, kick the can while you're walking out the door, it's become a pretty toxic environmental. >> shameless plug time. >> i'm going to plug a restaurant in rockville, maryland, which is new york-quality szechwan food. >> not too many italian restaurants but that's for a whole other story.

my shameless plug is the last time i was on and talked about this group, rebecca project that i'm vice chair that deals with at-risk women and their children. we're going to have a fund razr next week with tore rhode island burch who's opening a new store and she's going to donate a significant portion of the proceeds to the rebecca project, and i'm thrilled. >> i'll see you there. my shameless plug -- sorry, i'm going back to politics. there's an ad coming out. we'll talk about this issue and the conflict of what's true and what's not. >> all right. >> we'll be back on this talking about this again. that's it for this edition of the dale "the daily rundown.run" coming up next, chris "jansing & co."

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