and casey hunt asked him about those rumors that he's in iowa with presidential aspirations. >> in 2011, governor perry did this with the congressman when he was running for president. are you here for that? >> that's a very dangerous comparison on a lot of fronts, not the least of which is governor perry is a lot better shot than i am.

in an interview with nbc's casey hunt today, ted cruz levied a wild accusation.et's listen. >> the position of the democrats is remarkable. they want 100%. that's why we're facing this shutdown. because their position is extreme. >> i don't know what to make of that. take a listen to this twisted logic when he then was specifically asked about a default. >> no rational person supports a default. we should never default on the debt. the democrats want government by crisis. they want shutdowns. this is harry reid's shutdown because he thinks it benefits democrats politically. and they want to threaten a default to scare people. it's how we've gotten a $17 trillion national debt. they believe it furthers their partisan interest to scare the american people. under no circumstances should we default on our debt. and it is irresponsible of president obama and harry reid to suggest otherwise. >> jonathan martin, i'm pretty good at following people when they talk. i mean, i can't follow that. he's saying under no circumstances he implies i support a default. then he says

. >>> we want to turn now to casey hunt. this is the first government shutdown in 17 years. what is being accomplished by all of this? >> not a lot at the moment. at this point the question is really who is going to take the blame for this over the course of the next hours, days, potentially week as we see how this is going to play out. democrats are really counting on this playing out in a similar way to how the last government shutdown worked which is to say republicans took the blame there. that has sort of been the thinking among those in charge in the senate in washington as well as democrats in the house. and for house speaker john boehner who is struggling to balance his conservative right wing against demands from americans that the government stay open that is really the question. are we going to get to a point where the right wing feels that it is so painful that they have to give in to democrats who say that they won't budge -- >> it is interesting to me when we talk about the back and forth because what is at the core of the shutdown is centered on obama care whi

thank you kristin welker, casey hunt and howard fineman. chris matthews and "hardball" picks things up when our coverage continues. they're doing of the public uly. he was a matted mess in a small cage. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list. we found riley at the shelter, and found everything he needed at angie's list. join today at angieslist.com [ male announcer ] we all have something neatly tucked away in the back of our mind. a secret hope. that thing we've always wanted to do. it's not about having dreams, it's about reaching them. ♪ an ally for real possibilities. aarp. find tools and direction at aarp.org/possibilities. >>> we're back for the second day in a row veterans stormed through barriers in washington. they were helped by republican members of congress. hundreds of veterans had arrived on honor flights for a prev

still with us, msnbc casey hunt and james, i'll start with you., two personal alliances that define george w. bush in the public eye, one was karl rove and george w. bush. can you talk about which of those relationships was maybe more significant to his presidency and how specifically that cheney one evolved over the course of the presidency? >> rove is the political guy, the guy that came up with the strategies based upon what he thought would be effective policies. but i think context is important in this whole thing, chris, because bush, the way he governored in texas was with a more of a macro approach to -- he's not a details guy. i think what cheney saw, the reason cheney -- the reason cheney was brought in and asked to find a vice president, and he found himself, cheney saw the opportunity and bush's naivete that bush did not have the insider washington expertise and understanding of policy and cheney saw an opportunity. when cheney became vice president, you will remember the first thing he did was he arranged a secret meeting with members

in an interview with nbc's casey hunt today, ted cruz levied a wild accusation.et's listen. >> the position of the democrats is remarkable. they want 100%. that's why we're facing this shutdown. because their position is extreme. >> i don't know what to make of that. cruz has been the part of the tea party shutdown. take a listen to this twisted logic when he then was specifically asked about a default. >> no rational person supports a default. we should never default on the debt. the democrats want government by crisis. they want shutdowns. this is harry reid's shutdown because he thinks it benefits democrats politically. and they want to threaten a default to scare people. it's how we've gotten a $17 trillion national debt. they believe it furthers their partisan interest to scare the american people. under no circumstances should we default on our debt. and it is irresponsible of president obama and harry reid to suggest otherwise. >> jonathan martin, i'm pretty good at following people when they talk. i mean, i can't follow that. he's saying under no circumst

. >>> now we turn to nbc news political reporter casey hunt. we got to talk about this. who really are the winners and the losers in this besides those 800,000 being furloughed. >> reporter: those who won't see their paychecks are the biggest losers. the democrats and the president are counting on republicans losing out. that's something senate republicans and other sort of moderates in the republican party are fearful of and worried about. at this point it's not clear how this gets resolved unless one side really starts to feel enough pain that they're will tock give to give in. >> reporter: they're worried how this looks. congress' approval ratings are low and everyone who i've spoken to up there is aware they're not doing any favors. overall american trust in government is down. the brinksmanship has gotten so difficult and gridlock so difficult to work through that at this point, members really don't see the end game. >> yeah, let's talk about the gridlock. what is so interesting to me in all of this. at the core of the shutdown centered on obama care not being affec

now let's go to casey hunt in washington. how is it the shutdown's resolution impact the leaders of the republican party, what do we do now? >> the men of the hour are speaker john boehner and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. john boehner saw a swell of support from some of his conservative members yesterday and the house was able to speed up that vote late last night. but you're already seeing some signs that those members could turn on him. there are conservative blogs that are already talking about how he gave up what he called the good fight. on the senate side, senator mcconnell is facing potentially the re-election contest of his life. and behind the scenes, those close to him are privately saying that the fact that he stepped up and helped cut this deal really proves that he's more interested in governing than he is worried about the primary tea party challenge that he has back home. but the reality is mcconnell's also concerned about taking back the senate potentially. and this was just terrible for the republi

on every front. >> ted cruz set to deliver the keynote address this hour in lamars, iowa, where casey hunt joins us live now. casey, how is he being received out there so far? >> reporter: hey, craig. so far he's being received well. he actually did go pheasant hunting this morning with congressman steve king who's now hosting this lunch. i actually went with him for several hours. we were traipsing through the brush. cruz flew his own shotgun with him here from texas on united airlines. he checked it in his luggage. he spent a lot of time just sort of talking as they walked through the brush with many of these supporters of congressman king, many of whom are conservative activists in the state that you'd want to court and get to know should you be interested in mounting a 2016 campaign. so what he's doing here is really starting -- it's a slog to campaign here and to actually win. and you have to start building the networks really at the ground level. and voters here really want to hear directly from the candidate. so he's a little bit behind some others who have run here in the past. and

we go to casey hunt on the scene. >> reporter: hey, ari. we're actually standing here right where the capitol police just told us all of this occurred. you can see behind me what's left, what the police are sort of clearing away. the scene here in particular was a capitol police car that i spoke with several witnesses, and they said they heard the capitol police car crash into the barrier. there are several flat, metal barriers that come up out of the ground at that location that are designed to be able to lockdown, lock out the capitol. clearly those were not up when this car went racing up the street. so it was ultimately one of the last cop cars in the line that chased this suspect up the hill that ultimately was caught on the barricade and potentially injured. so i spoke with several people here. they were just visiting washington, d.c. they were actually scheduled to have a meeting this afternoon with senator mitch mcconnell. they're from louisville, kentucky, which is his hometown. they were eating hot dogs on the corner where they sa

she has a fund-raiser for bill de blasio. >> casey hunt in falls church, virginia. casey, thank you. again, folks, stay with us for live coverage of clinton's speech. that is coming up within the hour. we hear that hillary clinton is going to be taking the stage about 2:30. we'll bring it to you live here. >>> now that the government is once again open for business, president obama laid out his legislative agenda this morning. >> there are three places where i believe that democrats and republicans can work together right away. first we should sit down and pursue a balanced approach to a responsible budget. second, we should finish the job of fixing our broken immigration system. there's also a broad coalition across america that's behind this effort. third we should pass a farm bill, one that america's farmers and ranchers can depend on, one that protect s vulnerable children and adults in time of need. >> lynn swede is the washington bureau chief for the chicago sun times. when we last left off, the senate passed this immigration reform bill. it does a number of t

anyway, casey hunt, enjoy the pheasant hunting. i know that that's what ted cruz is doing tomorrow with steve king. so again, you know the wing of the party that he's trying to appeal to. anyway, casey, stay warm. it's october in iowa. >> reporter: it's chilly here. >>> gaggle, robert costa, national editor for "the washington review," and cnbc who just returned from iowa. and democratic pollster margie o'meara. hello, all. mr. costa, i'm going to start with you since you just came from iowa. moderating this republican senate bee date whendebate whic get to in a few minutes. the ted cruz freight train just moves through iowa. and i have to say, i can't tell you the number -- and i know you hear the same thing -- the number of republicans off the record throwing up their hands going, did this guy learn nothing from the shutdown? >> you see a lot of republicans frustrated. when i was at drake university in des moines, almost every single candidate on that stage running for u.s. senate in the republican primary citing ted cruz. >> in a

. >> nbc's casey hunt joins us live from des moines.t is not a welcome to iowa remark to say the least. whatever his feelings maybe, said a lot with that remark. >> terry branstad falls closer into moderate republican, pragmatic practical republican. and those people here in iowa are not necessarily excited to see ted cruz. they are the only ones in doubter's camp, the activists are excited to see him. they have a crowd of 600 people for an off political year for the reagan dinner they are hosting tonight. on the flip side, the other group that are welcoming him here are democrats. they just put out a memo, all five the party committees charged with electing get democrats essentially saying ted cruz has been the face of the republican party here in iowa and especially after the shutdown, that's something they think will again fit their candidates, it will let democrats run against cruz instead of running against a democrat governing in a different way. >> ted cruz has not been in office a year. he's always ever elusive when it comes to

casey hunt joins us from the d.c. bureau to break down the shutdown. >> reporter: good morning.ppens next? >> reporter: we're going to see the senate come in this morning and just continue this brinksmanship that we saw late into the night. so at about 9:30 this morning they're expected to reject what the house sent to them, which was a proposal for a conference committee. then it's right back to where we've been all along, which is gridlock. neither side is willing to budge. so at this point the question is how much political pain is it going to take for one side or the other to give in. >> and if this is going to be gridlock, what will ultimately break the stalemate, casey? >> reporter: well, at this point many republicans, moderate republicans, republicans in the senate believe that the gop is going to take the blame for a lot of this, that the pain that americans feel and the longer this goes on, the more painful it will be, the more it will affect the stock market, issues like that, the more americans will see it in their day-to-day lives. the question is does that get to t

ted cruz of texas, one of the architects of the shutdown, telling casey hunt today that the polls are skewed. specifically the new "wall street journal" nbc news poll is skewed and secretly, people actually love the government shutdown. you heard him say that the new nbc polls which says americans overwhelmingly blame republicans for the shutdown and hate it, he says the poll cannot be trusted because 20% of the people polled were government employees and according to him, quote, 20% of the people of this country are not government employees. actually, they are. about 20% of the country is employeed by the government at some level like cops or firefighters or members of the military or teachers. they would turn up as government employees. which is why the poll has that sample size. but ted cruz does not believe it. the polls must be skewed. he's sure of it. joining us now is is john stanton. it's good to have you here tonight. thanks for being with us. so, unskewing the polls is back. i have to ask you is this is a widespread thing you are hearing from republican sources that they don

ted cruz of texas, one of the architects of the shutdown, telling casey hunt today that the polls arewed. specifically the new "wall street journal" nbc news poll is skewed and secretly, people actually love the government shutdown. you heard him say that the new nbc poll which says americans overwhelmingly blame republicans for the shutdown and hate it, he says the poll cannot be trusted because 20% of the people polled were government employees and according to him, quote, 20% of this country are not government employees. actually, they are. about 20% of the country is employed by the government at some level like cops or firefighters or members of the military or teachers. they would turn up as government employees. 20% of the country which is why the poll has that sample size. but ted cruz does not believe it. the polls must be skewed. he's sure of it. joining us now is is john stanton. it's good to have you here tonight. thanks for being with us. so, unskewing the polls is back. i have to ask you if this is a widespread thing you are hearing from republican sources that they don'

casey hunt just reported that the deal in place in theory would fund the government through january 15tht through february 15th. so the government would be funded for january 15th and debt limit would be funded -- extended to february 15th. and within the confines of that extensions for both, you would then sort of see large scale negotiations between the house and senate to figure out a longer term budget. presumably there would be something in there health care related. there's been a lot of talk about this repeal of the medical device tax for two years. look for that to possibly be in here. these details are going to trickle out slowly and probably change three or four times before the actual meeting happens. but that's where we see -- from where we're standing we see a way out, again, this temporary extension on both fronts. we kick the can down the road but presumably within this deal they would have this idea they would have to have these negotiations. once again, we need to say, what does john boehner do with this? we do not know. we expect a lot of anger from the house gop. they

nbc's casey hunt it's there alongside him or will be later.s looking a little like january right now in the great state of iowa. give us a sense if you can, set the scene. where is senator cruz going to be this weekend? which other well-known republicans will join him. >> hey, peter, we are having a little cold snap in iowa. cruz is starting here in des moines where he'll be speaking at the reagan fundraising dinner, an annual event. heading for a pheasant hunt with congressman stephen king, the right wing congressman whose district is out in the more conservative part of the state, a critical area for conservative republicans to court. cruz is the republican of the moment out here in iowa, gracing the front page of the des moines register today. i actually spoke with king at some length about where he stands. he pointed out there are three things he's had to do, king had to do to keep him independent of the party which is where cruz is heading. independent funding, independent media profile not dependent on establishment figure and staying po

for american progress, ohio secretary of state john huston, elected official in ohio, and nbc's casey huntapitol hill. welcome. i want to start with our outcider, the on? washington guy, the nsa story. it's one of those things that you hear lawmakers will say, you know what, the public actually doesn't want to know a lot of this information. do you buy that? >> no. i think the public does want to know. >> what do they want to know? >> whether we're spying on our friends. you don't do that to friends. >> no justification of it? >> look, there are a lot of reasons that people might think that it's a good idea, but if you're going to have a relationship with a friend, you don't spy on your friends. you're going to also want to know did the president know about this, are they telling the truth. i think those are the things that people want to know. >> the objections we're hearing from capitol hill, i'm not sure it is them trying to respond to the media attention. we're shocked that this happened, made it look like they would not condone something like this and at the same time, they're private

they could unveil a deal coming up at noon, but nbc's casey hunt is reporting that ted cruz would not answer questions about whether he plans to hold up the emerging senate deal. meanwhile house speaker john boehner says he will put it to a vote on the house floor and rely on democratic votes to pass it. an aide to speaker boehner says no decision has been made about how or when a potential agreement could be voted on in the house. joining me now is independent senator from vermont, bernie sanders. sir, what are your thoughts on the potential that they could emerge and do so within a matter of minutes. >> we are cautiously optimistic that we have the support now in the senate to pass a piece of legislation that pays our bills and reopens the government. i hope it's not wishful thinking, but we are beginning to hear that in the house, finally, finally, finally boehner will allow democrats to participate in the process. if he does that, then i think the legislation will pass and will be -- this nightmare will end. >> is it your gut feeling that ted cruz is going to try to muck up the wo

okay, casey hunt, thank you so much. >>> new today, senator ted cruz is not backing down after the governmentlater this hour at a women's conference in san antonio but a short time ago he did this addressing the texas medical association in austin unleashing new criticism of obama care. >> smart people say just wait, let it collapse on it's own. let it collapse on it's own and republicans will get the political benefit from it collapsing on it's own. i call that theory the bad samaritan theory. just let people hurt so much that finally they have no choice but to vote for you. >> at the same time, president obama's pushing forward wasting no time promoting three major policies today. >> first, we should sit down and pursue a balanced approach to a responsible budget. second, we should finish the job of fixing our broken immigration system. third we should pass a farm bill. one that america's farmers and ranchers can depend on. >> some local government offices are new jersey are open today. they're accepting marriage applications for same sex couples. they ruled same-sex marriage can begin in t

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kasie hunt is there. casey, a good day to you. ant hunting thus the attire. how are iowa republicans receiving him? >> well, i actually have had to clean up a little bit since that hunt. we were out for several hours this morning, trudging through the brush with senator cruz and congressman steve king, the congressman from western eye known as a fiery conservative and somebody ted cruz is clearly courting. the republicans here are receiving him we very. there was a lot of enthusiasm. although as with anything in iowa, everyone looks at these candidates as they come through here with a little bit of skepticismism because they do have to problem themselves here. the voters here really take ha responsibility seriously. it's pretty clear from watching cruz yesterday and essentially this morning that he is sort of embarking on that slog, whatever it may look like to potentially mount a campaign in 2016. he wouldn't talk about that. i asked him about it this morning. he said it's dangerous to go there to talk about the presidential race.

casey kasin are taking to the streets in l.a. >>> and the author behind some of the best thrillers of all-time has died. tom clancy passed away overnight after a brief illness. "the hunt for red october" was later made to a film. >>> turning to business news, the government shutdown is causing a negative drag on stocks. a number of america's top financial executives met with president obama at the white house to discuss the seriousness of the government shutdown and the urgency of raising the debt ceiling. >> there is no precedent for default. we are the most important economy in the world. >> there is no debate that the seriousness of the u.s. not paying its debts, whether social security checks, small business loans all the way to the treasury notes and bills is the most serious. >>> united technologies says it may have to furlough more than 5 5,000 employees if the government shutdown continues into next month. >>> the cost for a gallon of regular gas has dropped six cents in a week. aaa says the nationwide average is $3.39. >>> the companyt that owns rental car companies says it plans to hire 11,000 new workers next year. enterprise holdings adds the most will be

joining us is our correspondent kasie hunt who i believe is actually on the scene where this incident began to unfold. casey? >> reporter: hi, martin. yeah, this is still an active crime scene. you can see it i'm sure behind me. this is where that capitol police officer who has been injured was hurt. you can still see the car that crashed actually sitting in the middle of the street on constitution avenue, which is, of course, a major thoroughfare here in washington. what we're waiting on from the capitol police is just more of a discussion of exactly what happened. it's still murky as to who shot first, who was in the car. there's another car that's further up that road that, as you can see, the suspect continued to drive up constitution. so this police officer was actually stopped, according to eyewitnesses i have talked to, by barriers that are built into the road here at the capitol, and those barriers are designed to prevent exactly this kind of an event from happening. so the barriers that are closer to the capitol building itself are actually up all the time, and a police officer has to lower it for