needs a little more stickle. it was raining, right? bill clinton's birthday? >> it's my dad's birthday. >> happy berth dirthday, mr. st. stick around, chuck todd is next with "the daily rundown." shocking violence in egypt, including an execution-style ambush of egyptian police. the fighting showses no signs of showing. as president obama faces calls for the u.s. to do more and possibly cut off aid to a one-time ally. plus with still 800 days till the iowa caucuses, are they positioning too early? we'll talk about that. and a deep dive today. back nearly 30 years ago to the republican convention that cemented reagan's legacy and what today's gop can learn from it. good morning from washington. it's monday, august 19, 2013. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd.

let's get right to my first reads the morning. egyptian officials say at least 24 policeman were killed in an ambush-style attack near raffa on the gaza border. according to egyptian security force, armed men stoppeded two buses carrying off-duty police, forced the passengers to get out, before shooting them execution-style. more than 900 people are reported to have been killed since wednesday when the interim egyptian government began a bloody crackdown on supporters of ousted president mohamed morsi. on sunday, the egyptian government confirmed security forces had killed 36 islamists while they were being transferred to a prison north of cairo. the prisoners were attempting to escape to justify the attack. the muslim brotherhood said 52 prisoners were assassinated, shot and tear gassed through the windows of a locked prison van. president obama, who returns to the white house, returned last night actually is being pressed

to suspend aid to egypt. he canceled a joint military exercise with egypt that was planned for next month. it's a step many are calling insufficient. >> for us to sit by and watch this happen is a violation of everything that we stood for. when we threaten something as we did that we would cut off aid, the administration did, and then not do it, then you lose your credibility and your influence. >> i do not see how we can continue aid. i believe it must be suspended. >> the acts of the last few days by the egyptian military are unconscionable. i do believe we have to change our aid. i think also we have to have included in the legislation a national security waiver. >> there you go. don't overlook the importance of that last caveat from jack reed there. it suggests that even if congress does pass legislation that cuts off aid, it could be toothless, leaving the white house flexibility make the final

call. every step of the way, calls from congress to cut off aid has gotten louder. the white house has slow walked its response. the president released a statement citing concern and saying, quote, the united states is monitoring the very fluid situation in egypt. we believe that ultimately the fo future of egypt can be determined by the egyptian people. now "the new york times" reports another baby step. the administration has put a hold on civilian economic assistant to programs that directly involve the egyptian government out of concern that the interim government has violated congressional rules that bar foreign aid to countries where there had been a coup. the administration is careful not to call morsi's ouster a coup. morsi has been under house arrest for 48 days and he still is under house arrest. at what point does the argument this is not a coup become impossible to make? national security council

spokesperson issued a nondenial denial about cutting off domestic aid. saying, quote, as we made clear, all our assistance to egypt is currently under review and we'll consider additional steps as we deem necessary. no additional decisions have been made regarding assistance. but a senior administration official tells us that while no money has been stalled, a decision must be made by september when the federal government's fiscal year ends. the nearly $1.6 billion in aid, $1.3 billion is military aid. israel, jordan, saudi arabia and the uae have lobbied the u.s. not to cut off aid, arguing the egyptian military still offers the best chance of stability. today, ambassadors for the eu meet to review the european union's relationship with egypt. meanwhile, in the latest site it has no intention of complying with u.s. demands, egypt's

foreign minister said it is reviewing its relationship with the united states and other governments. for every dollar the u.s. could withhold from egypt, right now it would be replaced from the saudi arabia and the gulf stat states. the u.s. is leaning towards having some impact internally if they keep the relationship alive rather than cutting them off complete completely. the mantra of trying to have an relationship with whoever wins takes precedent. it's not elegant and certainly not representing democratic ideals. the question is whether this '70s era of foreign policy is workable in the 21st century. nbc's ayman mo hayden joins us. the breaking news out of egypt it seems is while mohamed morsi remains under house arrest, the former president of egypt, hosni mubarak, may be released. tell us more. >> good morning, chuck.

yeah, it's almost out of a page here that many people would not even imagine as being possible. the fact that the former president who so many people united to topple now has at least cleared one more hurdle for his release. that is after a cairo court essentially ordered him released pending a trial for new charges of investigation. in essence what the court order is saying is president oba ing mubarak should be released while his trial has yet to begun. he's already convicted in one case, in negligence to protect protesters. that conviction landed him a life sentence. but since then he appealed that. he has now a retrial under way for that specific charge. he's facing a lot of charges of corruption. but because he is facing so many charges, one of the court orders today is he should be released pending these legal proceedings

against him. that would anger a lot of people here, chuck. >> amazing he would be released while morsi is still in custody. i want to ask you about your reporting last night, about the increased religious violence between muslim and koptic christians. >> since last wednesday, there's been a spike of attacks against the christian community here in egypt, against churches, their business, schools and homes. in fact, nearly 60 churches have been attacked or damaged in some sort of attack. now, many in the community here are blaming that on sympathizers or supporters of the ousted president. many of them felt that the koptic church here has taken some political views, christian church has taken some political views, closely aligning itself with the military. so some of that anger has spilled over to street violence. however, speaking to people across the divide, the muslim brotherhood has rejected that type of sectarian violence. as that organization, they con depp condemned it. the church said this is not an

example of egyptians or muslims at large. they're saying this is an extreme fringe group within the society behind these attacks. some have even gone so far as to say these are the old intelligence operatives of the previous regime which have been known to kind of fuel that type of sectarian violence. so a lot of blame going around, but no doubt, one thing that is a fact is that the christian community here has suffered in the last week as a result of the political unrest. >> clearly believe they're being targeted. ayman, thanks very much. back at home, president obama is facing growing calls from congress to do something to punish egypt, either cut off aid or something temporary. joining me now, the columnist from "bloomberg view." the question you asked me, who do we root for? w which side? if you're in the united states, it seems right now, the decision is try to figure out who's going to win. >> that's the practical question. the moral question is, which side do you come down on?

you have a party, the muslim brotherhood, that's essentially a theocratic fascist party that's obviously behind a lot of this anti-christian violence on the one hand. you have an authoritarian military dictatorship on the other hand that has obviously perpetrated some massacres. if you're the average american citizen, you're saying, why do we have to get in between these sides? it's kind of like syria in a sense, how do you get behind these? if you're the obama administration, at a certain point, you have to make a practical decision. this is what they're hearing obviously from the israelis, the saudis. go with the military because the military will prevent chaos but at what price. >> i want to play a clip from lindsey graham. no fan of the muslim brotherhood. who is finding himself almost siding more with the muslim brotherhood. particularly after he had some very -- it looks like a meeting -- meetings with the military that didn't go very well. listen to what he had to say.

>> the brotherhood would get creamed at the ballot box. but they're going to be a very formidable force on the streets. they're going to get aligned with al qaeda. al qaeda's going to come uninvited to egypt. you'll have a failed state. that means gas prices go up for us. the suez canal gets compromised. and egypt becomes a staging area for terror attacks against it israel. an absolute disaster in the making. >> went further in "the new york times" story on this, he said, what you're doing now is making mor morsi a martyr. it's no longer about how badly they ruled the country. >> i think he's exactly right. remember, al qaeda was created essentially in egypt. it grew out of -- yes, right now in egypt, you have to imagine there's some 16-year-old, you know, who is becoming, his mind is moving more radical. i mean, they are creating new terrorists i think by so harshly

cracking down on the muslim brotherhood. they could have ignored these protests, these sit-ins. instead, they chose to go right at them. >> is there anything differently the obama administration could have done? what's interesting, i don't find -- you're not seeing this sort of breakdown of political polarization on this. because there doesn't seem to be -- there's this idea that maybe there's no good response. >> well, you know, let's -- you have to roll the clock back unfortunately in order to find a solution. one of the early steps they could have taken more forcefully -- morsi tried to exclude everyone but the muslim brotherhood. american could have tried to use leverage then to try to make him open up the government. didn't really happy. got a little too close to the muslim brotherhood perhaps. even now, there are moments -- we talk about the letdev raj wed from the aid. >> do we have it? i mean, the way the saudis in the gulf states are basically telling the egyptians don't

worry about the u.s. >> no, no, i mean, what the army gets from the u.s. is certain types of weapon systems that they like to have. and that only we manufacture. in terms of money, no, the spigot is open, the uae, saudis, will fund this government, they don't need american money. this is where i have some sympathy for president obama. because sometimes we overestimate our leverage over people. from the egyptian military's perspective, they're in a zero sum fight against islamist extremism. they don't care about fighting, damaging the relationship with the united states. it has the shape of a civil war. i wouldn't go so far as to call it a civil war yet. we're sliding toward chaos in a kind of way. >> iraq, lebanon, syria, egypt. >> yemen. don't forget yemen. pakistan's not looking so great. >> this is becoming -- yeah. >> this is very hard for a

president who wants to focus on domestic issues. >> that's for sure. jeffrey goldberg, always a pleasure to have you on. we'll bring you new developments on egypt as they happen throughout the hour. the idea of mubarak released and morsi not, just contemplate that. plus, more of the first reads coming up. the very early 2016 presidential race is under way. is it under way too quickly? the race is on to recall embattled san diego mayor bob filner. he's set to return to work this week amid allegations of more sexual harassment. in an effort by his constituents to kick him out of office. today's politics planner. the big meeting happens to be with financial regulators today. it's all about getting them to speed up implementation of the dodd/frank financial reform. and of course tonight, all you rg3 fans can watch kirk cousins play the pittsburgh steelers. we'll be right back. ♪

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who says august slow? the untended consequences of hillary's early engagement in the 2016 campaign. will she regret laying the groundwork for her white house run so soon? and speaking of hitting the ground running, is christie just weeks away from kicking off his unofficial presidential campaign? sure looks like it. guess where we found scott brown. he was in iowa. so what is he running for? he claims he could be running, you know, because that's one way to run for massachusetts governor, at the iowa state fair. or it's to flirt with presidential ambitions. all of that is coming up. first, today's trivia question. who was the last democrat to chair the house committee on

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is hillary clinton starting to lay the groundwork for 2016 too early? clinton is diving into domestic political issues with a series of speeches. instead of tamping down the enthusiasm, she's embraced it. she's set to speak on national security in philadelphia on september 10. now word she'll give a speech at yale law school in early october. with her brand name, clinton never needed to dip her toes into the presidential waters this early. since he got beaten up over benghazi, he numbers have been declining. but the more political she

appears, the more those still sky-high bipartisan approval ratings she had while at state will erode even faster. last week brought a critical "new york times" look at the clinton foundation. with reported allegations of mismanagement, perks for celebrities, worries about financial conflicts of interest. weird infighting. bill clinton did a blog post to push back on it. "the times" singles out anthony wein weiner's wife. the special employee status which allowed her to work for the state department while working for clibt enclinton per. one of those private clints was bill dan company, a longtime bill clinton confident. terry mcauliffe doing in the governor race as we head into the fall as well. there's another unintended consequence, speeds up the process of president obama

becoming a lame duck leader of his own party. the more public she is with her april busine ambitions. at some point it's inevitable, the nominee in waiting. president's group organizing for action is struggling to be relevant in the immigration and budget debates. suddenly, it finds itself competing with hillary clinton and her gravitational pull. that's tough. maybe don't be surprised if there's an event in clinton's future this year as well by the way as a way of trying to slow that process down. moving on to the other guy who's signaling he's ready for 2016 to start now. "new york times" jonathan martin has a look at new jersey governor's effort as he heads for election. using it to build a political donor base. 50-state support network. that would be necessary for a presidential bid. facing a weak opponent, christie's strategy modeled on

what george w. bush did in texas in 1998, running up the score. had huge numbers among hispanics and did well among african-american voters. it was a way bush tried to use to demonstrate a wide appear. martin reports christie met with the rnc chief fund-raiser in boston last week. there's harold simmons, the billionaire backer of karl rove's superpac. there's bush's finance chair in 2000, big guy in cincinnati. conservatives who think they've compromised on an establishment candidate for four elections in a row are not exactly eager to get on team christie. a fact the former white house adviser noted with enthusiasm this weekend. >> governor christie, this is probably the kiss of death, he would potentially be a strong presidential candidate. in the current party that's going to show up, someone like he can't win in my opinion. >> christie will also have to defend his record in new jersey. did you know this, it has an

8.7% unemployment rate. in fact, only five states have a higher one. nevada, illinois, mississippi, rhode island and north carolina. pretty stunning. by the way, christie has kept a football field's worth of distance between himself and controversial gop senate nominee. but finally decide to endorse him at an event on tuesday. the first and last time chris christie probably campaigning with him. washington chief correspondent dan balls. and political eder to for the degreo.com harry bacon jr. and liz showny from the associated press. mr. balls, we have dined out on candidates starting presidential campaigns early for decades. in some ways, we love it as political junkies. what's surprising is when front-runners who don't need to do it dip in too early. hillary clinton, dipping too fast? >> i'm not sure. i think you're right. part of this is driven by us. >> doesn't take much to feed --

>> our april tied petite to get next campaign grows so that's part of it. the other is could she avoid it anyway? she's being drawn into the conversation in a sense whether she contributes to it or not. the fact that she's decided to contribute to it, it may be a little surprising that she's doing it early. in terms of trying to talk about her own policies and where she fits, maybe she needs to do it earlier rather than later. >> what is the case to doing what she's doing? what's the defense of it? because i got to tell you, you talk to any presidential strategist who all think the process is too long and that long process has hurt front-runners, they don't get it. >> one defense, she may not run for president. and in that case, in that case, she should talk about, because she wants to be a democratic leader, one somewhere s, someon out ideas for the party. if you run smartly in 2013 and

2014, maybe you don't have to run in 2015. maybe she clears the field. a case where hillary clinton's running and her nearest rival is howard dean or someone who will never be a strong challenge. >> liz, that's the idea, she's fighting the last war, right? the last time she allowed arguably maybe they think that she allowed for the opportunity, she never -- she never fixed her left flank and she allowed for the opportunity for obama. >> right, but the danger as we saw in 2008 is becoming the inevitable candidate, right? the aura of that around her was what ended up doing her the last time. so there's that component. i also think that we're going to cover her now regardless of whether or not she's running. because she is a national political figure. the question's still out there. so if the negative stuff is going to come out, they don't give us something to write about, we're going to actually go and look for other things to report. >> it doesn't matter, it all -- this is the way --

>> there's some merit in that. the question is, will voters remember any of that? you know, come on, it's 3 inch years out. >> now, chris christie, dan, it's clear -- you know, he takes over the rga. this huge national platform in 2014. will be all over a bunch of states. including the election in iowa of course more than any other race. the most critical race in the question as far as christie's concerned. there's an argument. he's going to be starting his national campaign early too. he may need it though. he's got a lot of work to do with conservatives. >> he does have a lot of work to do. jonathan did a terrific piece in yesterday's "times." the bush analogy is interesting because one key to bush in 2000 was his ability to coalesce support among governors very early. early in 1999, a whole group governors got around him. i don't think that's going to happen this type. and but christie needs to try to

show some broader support in conservative elements of the party. that's what he'll try to do. >> he's going to walk a line. we're not looking like he's going to flip-flop. chris christie will say one thing and the media market, something else. >> the thing about the story, christie's got conservatives so much, he becomes the man the media covers who is always attacking rand paul, people in the party. republican voters don't like that. that's one thing he has to rein in. >> the other thing that strikes me, that dan was talking about, this other governor, scott walker, to me, he was just on "morning joe," that guy's running for president. so there's going to be another fairly well-known governor running in the state. >> i would make the argument if you're christie and looking at the field now, there are a lot of folks in the field who look more conservative. if we saw what happened with mccain's victory and romney's victory, everyone on the right

split that highly conservative vote. the person who was casting as more moderate swept everyone else. >> the right's going to say, boy, bush 41, dull, bush 43, mccain, romney, all were establishment compromises. >> they've been saying that for years and look what happens. >> at some point, that's going to erupt. >> well, it will erupt. the question is whether they have enough critical mass in the party this time to elect -- to nominate one of their own. >> good news for christie, somebody may run to his left, scott brown. i'm sorry, i was, like, i didn't believe it either. i thought it was a spoof. >> and he floated -- >> he raises the question, shall we not cover some candidates going to iowa, set to make jokes about them? scott brown is not going to be -- >> is he running in the republican primary? look, you know, maybe he's laying the groundwork. that i would believe me.

you guys laugh. >> no, i believe that part. >> you laugh too hard. >> no, i believe that. >> i'm just saying. maybe he just likes -- >> well, sure. i mean, he -- a two-year senator, right, who got beat for re-election. now, look, a lot of people, myself included, didn't take rick santorum seriously enough in iowa. >> there you go. but you're not going to be following scott brown. >> scott brown is less a good fit if i could put it that way in iowa than rick santorum. >> fair enough. you guys will be back. next, speaking of the last time conservatives were happy with a nominee, a look at ronald reagan's last run for president. as the republicans search for a leader who can unite their party. taking a deep dive into how reagan did it. and created the so-called big tent that even inclubded some democrats. for another take on the republican rumble, check out our website, we've got the very latest on the kentucky senate race. remember, it's the presidential-like race of the

2014 cycle. a leading conservative group looks to pressure mcconnell on going for the defunding of course obama care strategy. that's on our website. check us out on facebook. conversation continues all day long. attack me all day long. that's what it's there for. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. i woke up to a blistering on my shoulder. the blisters were oozing, and painful to touch. i spent 23 years as a deputy united states marshal and i've been pretty well banged up but the worst pain i've experienced was when i had shingles. when i went to the clinic, the nurse told me that it was a result of having had chickenpox. i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

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in fact, we've invested over $55 billion here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor. our commitment has never been stronger. we spent a little time talking about the search for a leader. some would say ronald reagan's appeal. it was 29 years ago this week that president reagan officially accepted the nomination. as august rolled around, reagan's presidency was on an upswing at the time. having survived a struggling economic recession of the early '80s, reagan was basking in the globe.

the gains that had racked up in los angeles just weeks before when our athletes didn't have to compete against anybody. when it was his turn to address the gop convention in dallas, he reminded the crowd of how much america has changed in such a short time. >> four years ago, we raised a banner of bold colors. we proclaimed a dream of an america that would be a shining city on a hill. we cape togethme together in a cr crusade to make america great again. now it's all becoming together. we're in the midst of a springtime of hope for america. greatness lies ahead of us. >> at the time, reagan was enjoying a double-digit lead over walter mondale. 1980, reagan game voice to the idea that government was the problem, not the solution. in doing so, he forever changed the debate about how americans would see the relationship

between themselves and their leaders. >> we should also answer the central question of public service. why are we here? what do we believe in? we're here to see that government continues to serve the people and not the other way around. >> the democrats were the ones in disarray. while speaker after speaker hammered the party, reagan took a different approach. insisting that the party had left him, not the other way around. he reached out to his opponents. giving rise to a new breed of political animal, the reagan democrat. >> as democratic leaders have taken their party further and further away from their principle, it's no surprise so many responsible democrats feel our plat for is closer to their views and we welcome them to our side.

>> there's no one better to talk about this than my next guest. he's the author of "reagan revolution." and of course "rendezvous with destiny." he had a front-row seat for the convention in august of 1984. listening to regular maagan mak pitch, it's not dissimilar to the pitch obama was trying to make to disgruntled republicans in '08. >> i would there's more to make the case that reagan was making the appeal to culturally conservative democrats to join what he called a coalition of shared values in 1980. in the 1980 convince, he made an open appeal to democrats and independents. and cited franklin roosevelt. he continued that throughout the first four years of the

administration. and then of course did so again in the convention in dallas. he was always thinking about building. he was always crew crueli irecre party. >> everybody views rereagan's legacy through the lens they want to make their point. if they're a conservative firebrand, they think of reagan 64 and reagan 76. and they don't think about the -- of course and there is this, but you talk about this, reagan was trying to figure out how to build a larger coalition. it was out of necessity. there were a lot more registered democrats. so it's out of necessity. you don't hear that rhetoric from some of these conservative leaders. >> such an important point. we've gotten away from the broad-based appeal. what reagan did was narrow the appeal but broad ens the base. a consistent message of a lot things it that are culturally conservative, politically conservative, economically conservative, but they fit within his political framework.

he got 25% of the democratic vote nationally. in pennsylvania, he got over 30%. >> look, part of that was his convention '84 -- >> in detroit -- >> the '84 one we were talking about, this is the one that made jean kirkpatrick a star. and it was the label of -- so a two-pronged approach, right, want to paint the other party as out of the mainstream, which is what that convention's job was. >> that year, wasn't hard to do with the democrats. >> they went into san francisco and then created this moniker that stuck with the party since. >> yes, yes. no, everybody was really surprised at kirkpatrick's speech. of course, it was wildly received there. and don't forget, too, the republicans were mindful of their gender gap problems. so they were putting a lot of women forward. catherine otega opened the

convention. and maureen reagan spoke. >> when you look at what christie is trying to do. everybody is going to claim in 2016 they're using the kaleidoscope of reagan. if you're christie, how do you fix your problems with conservatives use a reagan model? >> he's got a good record as governor. he's done a lot in terms of union reform and cutting spending and -- >> quote/unquote liberal governgo govern governorship, chris christie or ronald reagan in today's terms? >> reagan did a lot for welfare reform. he cut a lot of property taxes. he actually said, you know, my feet are in concrete. when he realized he was going to have to raise tax, he said the concrete around my feet is cracking. so a sense humor about those things. he did things he didn't feel like he thought he was going to do but once he elected he felt like his hand was forced. >> how does christie -- seems

it's the libertarian wing on the one hand that will be skeptical of him. christie is coming across as a pro-democrat republican. in an age where the republican party is not very -- >> i think what he has to do is a, corruption, has to run against washington corruption. can do that easily. two, run on his record. tree, as an outsider to washington. he can make a broad-based appeal by running against washington. >> of everybody that's mentioned, if you're watching, you know reagan's biography better than anybody, of who's running has the best chance being a 21st century reagan? >> if it plays out if christie makes a mistake, then that makes rand paul the heir to the reagan/goldwater rein. >> going to be fascinating to watch. thank you for coming on. he's author of reagan's revelatire revolution and rendezvous with destiny, download both of them. next, more of this morning's first read. filner follies. the petition under way to remove

him from office. will it work? we'll find out. plus, with his vineyard vacation over, president obama gets back to business. egypt is just one of the issues on his plate this week. what does he come back to when it comes to soup? the white house soup of the day, look at this. tom kha goon. a little thai soup i think. we'll be right back. discover the new way to help keep teeth clean and breath fresh. new beneful healthy smile food and snacks. he'll love the crunch of the healthy smile kibbles. you'll love how they help clean. with soft, meaty centers, and teeth cleaning texture healthy smile snacks help keep a shine on his smile. it's dental that tastes so good. new beneful healthy smile food and snacks. more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger.

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with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week. centurylink® your link to what's next. san diego mayor bob filner said he's planning to return to work at city hall today. meanwhile, his constituents are in the effort to kick him out of office for good. >> bob filner. the citizens of san diego have a message for you. it's time to resign. >> petitioners have just over a month to get more than 101,000 signatures. 15% of san diego's registered voters.

to force a recall. it's not easy. but they've got a steep hill to climb. the report that all six past movements against mayors have fail to reach the ballot. women have accused filner of making unwanted sexual advances. 16 women. latest is a 67-year-old great-grandmother. there are also new questions about whether filner misused his citi credit card. so far filner is refusing to resign. joe fire is covering the petition drive. the petition drive is everything. it's not easy. they have these deadlines to meet. where are they getting their money? do they have the money to hire signature gatherers, which is what they're going to need? >> yes, that's the big question. they're going to need to raise a lot of money. these recall efforts are not traditionally successful. that's because san diego has set up a very strong mayor position to reach that 15% threshold in

such a short period of time. it's going to be a challenge. they certainly had a lot of folks out yesterday, out trying to collect signatures. it wasn't clear how many they were able to collect. it was a sunday and it was the first day they hit a half marathon. they had of course the rally in the city. they did everything they could to try and get those signatures. but it is definitely going to be hard to get more than 100,000 in less than six weeks. the big question is filner going to return to office today? a while back, this date, august 19, was set as the day he's supposed to return. more recently, there's been no real confirmation or indication from his staff he is actually going to return today. one political science expert summed it up bust. he said this would be the case, they are calling for due process. then say wait till the investigation is complete before calling him. mean why, other options besides the recall. one possibility, as you

mentioned, he's investigating whether he misused his city use credit card. there's a possibility he could be removed for doing that. without a recall. of course, that would still be more investigating. >> who are his supporters? >> the city council is unanimous. all nine say they want him to resign. nancy pelosi even last week came out and tweeted mayor filner is out of rehab. now it's time for him to be out of the office. so most of his supporters are sort of among constituents, those are supported him during the campaign. but so far no one in city hall is standing behind him. >> all right, joe friar, thanks very much. trivia time, we asked, who was the last democrat to chair the house committee on veterans affairs?

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back from vacation. president obama faces an ongoing crisis in egypt and the threat of the big government shutdown fights that are going to take place in the next couple of months. the president does have a low-key start to his week before hitting the road for what has become an august staple, a bus trip somewhere. this one is taking him to universities and colleges in new york and pennsylvania. talk about making college more affordable for the middle class. will he be able to increase public support in general he needs for the fall fights? let's bring back the gaggle. [ inaudible ] watching the president here.

the summers are never kind to him politically. a bit of an erosion but he has to have one more rally in him if he is going to win these fights in the fall. >> he does. the one thing he has is the republicans are less popular than he is. you look at the last month. republicans came in the -- we will defund obama care and 12 people signed it in july and 12 people signed it now. he has the advantage of facing opposition not technical at times. >> what he is going to get done? immigration seems farther away than ever. is he going to have a big second-term accomplishment? >> everything that is the big question. i think it's hard to see right now how much more he can do. i think, you know, a lot of this has to do with the house republican leadership which is showing no willingness to compromise on anything. dispatched all of the republicans out this month to say, you know, this is the white house's fault. >> it's interest, i thought charlie cook wrote about this

maybe a month ago. he said he feels like, in general, the middle of the country, the middle of the electorate is put the mute button on all people in washington, including the president. >> well, you know, it is summer and not surprising. these fights seem endless. the budget fight that -- >> seem repetitive. >> comes to another head this fall and one we have been through repeatedly the last few years and understandable people look at it. >> the public doesn't watch reruns on comedies or dramas on television why watch politics? >> shameless plug. >> dan ball is number eight on the best seller list. his book is out and it's great. definitely read it. >> i love it. >> national spumoni day is wednesday and i'm italian, i'm a foodie! italian ice cream. >> okay. >> a certain kind of italian ice cream. >> not gelato? >> no, but a certain kind.

>> spumoni. i did not know. >> we are launching today "the post" gov beat headed by reed wilson. it's all about state and local government. >> excellent. where stuff is actually being done. my plug is another mention in memory of jack who was just somebody who he was exactly what i hoped he would be when i finally met him and somebody who i simply watched him as a fun loving one on mclaughlin group and read him for all of those years and he turns out to be fun loving and in that good way of being skeptical of all things washington. ways of reporting are very missed around here. that is it for "the daily rundown." see you tomorrow. coming up next is chris jansing. i'm meteorologist bill karins with your business travel

forecast. in the southeast once again, spot we will see more rain area money afternoon thunderstorms. traveling from atlanta to orlando, miami, possible airport delays. northern half of the country remains warm. 90s in the mountain west and that warm temperature is spreading through the east but travel wise looks great from the northeast to the great lakes. have a great day. man: 'oh i can't go tonight' woman: 'i can't.' hero : that's what expedia asked me. host: book the flight but you have to go right now. hero: (laughs) and i just go? this is for real right? this is for real? i always said one day i'd go to china, just never thought it'd be today. anncr: we're giving away a trip every day. download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us. expedia, find yours.

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