we want to begin this evening in washington with our nbc news political director chuck todd. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: we're using our nbc news decision app to show you the most likely place we would see a change in power is the house of representatives. here's where things stand now. the democrats with a very large majority. the blue squares represent the 255 seats, the red squares are the 178 republican seats. what's really competitive are 100 seats. 90 are held by democrats, just ten are held by republicans. these are the seats that could go either way. let's dig into those 90 democratic seats even further. look at this, 49 of the 90 of these seats are mccain districts. what i do mean? districts that john mccain carried in 2008 over president obama. well, the republicans only need 39. so they just win mccain seats, they already have the majority. as you can see here, this battle for the gavel here between speaker pelosi, republican leader john boehner is getting close. if you just take away 50 seats, john boehner would get to 228. that's why at this point this is al

chuck todd in washington starting off our coverage. chuck, thanks. >>> california republican senate candidate carly fiorina was released from the hospital today after an overnight stay. she was treated for an infection related to the reconstruction surgery she had after she was successfully treated for breast cancer. she's due to resume her campaign schedule tomorrow against the incumbent, senator barbara boxer. >>> also in california, it's been a tense and very nasty race for governor there, which brings us to a moment from a candidate forum at the maria shriver women's conference yesterday. with the current governor sitting there among them, matt lauer asked democrat jerry brown and republican meg whitman whether they would be willing to tone it down in the homestretch. >> would either of you, or both of you, be willing to make a pledge that you would end the negativity? [ applause ] >> if meg wants to do that, i'll be glad to do that. we can settle a little discussion today and work something out. >> here's what i'll do. i will take

chuck todd will be here with us for all of it. chuck, thanks. >>> tonight in chile, those 33 miners rescued from that tiny hole in the ground are now facing a new challenge, getting back to their lives, which are suddenly all about money it seems and movies and book deals, and who knows what else they'll be offered for their courage and their sudden fame. and it seems that at least one of the men is venting some of the first public frustration we've heard about their ordeal. there's even one report tonight about fighting among the group. kerry sanders remains on the job, with us again from the hospital in chile where the miners have been treated. kerry, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. three of the miners are still here at the hospital. the others have all gone home. doctors here say their eyes are adjusting to the sunlight faster than they expected. most of the miners did spend the day here with loved ones. folks they once weren't sure they would ever see again. the miners can't escape the attention, even if they wa

so to the white house we go, and our chief white house correspondent chuck todd, who was covering this, as well as the political scene today. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the president is quickly turning his attention away from national security matters and back to politics as he heads down to virginia tonight to try to save a house seat for the democrats. first term democratic congressman tom perriello was swept into office two years ago. on president obama's coat tails, handing a safe republican seat to the democrats. a loyal obama vote in the house is behind the republican challenger robert hurt in this conservative district. but hurt has had a hard time building a majority because of a more conservative third party challenger in the race. it's a problem perriello is exploiting in tv ads. >> no wonder hurt is afraid to debate jeff clark. >> reporter: he's one of about a dozen democratic candidates the president is going to campaign for this weekend. in connecticut, pennsylvania, ohio, and illinois. with voting less than 96 hours away, candidates campaigns a

political season with what 11 days to go till the midterm elections, but our white house correspondent chuck todd has just gotten reaction from the obama white house. first all, and chuck's in our washington newsroom. first of all, talk about this release of these documents, chuck. >> reporter: look, they're in concert with the pentagon at this point and condemning the release, believing that it is putting national security at risk as well as the sources, as jim was talking about, the fact that there are some important sources and folks that helped on the iraqi side of things and possibly those folks' lives are in danger. that said, in talking to various officials on this, brian, they emphasize that it appears to be that this leak is historical in nature, and they don't believe per se it might not affect some things today as much, and that there is not new news here. emphasize the n-e-w in news. that said, they've got a task force that they're organizing to try to get to the bottom of these leaks, because as i said, they are very concerned about putting the lives in danger of iraqis that helped w

chuck todd will go inside the numbers a little bit, chuck. let's talk about the house right now. go inside the fight for the senate. magic number is ten for the republicans. >> let's look at the path to ten here. four democratic seats that look like democratics have. the question is, where do they get six more? let's move along. they believe the republican -- these ones in yellow, you talked about all three races, that the republican wins will get them these three seats, pennsylvania, illinois and colorado. that gets them to seven. how do they find three more? these are the four toughest hills to climb for the republicans, these four in red. west virginia, nevada, california, and washington. republicans think they'll get nevada, but it's a real coin flip as far as turnout is concerned. washington is the next best shot. the problem they have is they have to win one of west virginia in california and california and this week both republican candidates have faded. >> let's talk about the house here. inside the numbers, the key number is 39. that's what republicans need. you're looki

our chief white house correspondent chuck todd with us tonight with a look at where things stand. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. look, election day inching ever so close and the white house is still searching for a message that's going to resonate, now with the president focusing all of his efforts on trying to get democratic voters to the polls. that means a lot of time in big cities like philadelphia sunday and miami tonight. with just three weeks left, democratic control of congress is tenuous. and that's why the president flew to miami to help save one house seat. republicans need 39 seats to win control of the house. ten seats to do the same in the senate. and democrats are engaging in trench political warfare. where it will help deploy the president to fire up his base like sunday in philadelphia. >> they're counting on young people staying home and union members staying home and black folks staying home. >> reporter: and in places like kentucky where president obama is unpopular, sent former president bill clinton. >> but you can't be played. >> repor

for more perspective, we turn to our political director, our chief white house correspondent chuck todd. so chuck, here's the question. nature of politics, nature of the news business. we concentrate on a few big races, but with so many congressional districts, governors, senators up on election night, give us the national picture beyond just the tea party movement, which has stolen a lot of headlines, rightfully so, this year. >> reporter: let's go from 30,000 feet. this was a week that the campaign battleground came into focus. money, number one. the democratic advantage from the summer, gone. the enthusiasm and momentum the republicans have is playing itself out in fund-raising. junlts every close right now, it's the republican outraising the democrat. the biggest number is what john yang reported about, that sharron angle number, the all-time record, $14.3 million raised in three months. never mind the contribution from outside groups which is far larger for republicans than democrats. number two, on the issues front, health care is trumping the economy. this is a big debate all ove

>> chuck todd, watching it all from washington tonight. chuck, thanks. >>> as we mentioned, there was a big development here today in the california senate race. one of the big races we'll be watching closely on election night. the republican candidate, former hewlett packard carly fiorina was hospitalized today. this was a sudden bit of news today? >> sudden and bad timing. she was hospitalized with an infection related to reconstructive surgery she had after breast cancer. her campaign says she'll return to the trail soon but it comes at a tough time. the two candidates for senate are locked in a fierce race that both parties are watching closely. >> what's with the hair? >> reporter: when she announced her candidacy, she had just finished chemotherapy for breast cancer months before. today, a scare, she was hospitalized with an infection from reconstructive surgery over the summer. the campaign said in a statement, she remains cancer-free but the timing for her is not good. >> anything that takes a campaign off focus is going to have an

. >> nbc chief white house correspondent chuck todd joins me live from washington. chuck, the president made it clear there's a political component to this. based on the long list of high level people in attendance. >> sure. >> the white house is really taking this seriously. especially when a lot of people would say the community colleges have been undervalued in the past. >> that's right. what they're being viewed at, and you heard this conversation yesterday. when we had the meeting of business leaders. he calls this economic recovery board. the community colleges in each community can serve as your job retraining centers. it's the fastest way to go and get a skill that you may not need. you don't need the extra degree. people are hesitant to take on the extra debt that would mean to get a full degree. but this is the fastest way if somebody in their 50s needs to learn a specific computer skill, the community college is the best place to do that. that's the motivation here. clearly there's a job retraining issue that is going on with the unemployed and underemploy

chuck todd in washington. chuck, thanks. >>> it was six months ago today the deep water horizon oil rig blew up in the gulf of mexico and it started one of the saddest summers in memory. while, our chief environmental correspondent anne thompson spent five months in louisiana covering that story. she's here with us tonight with a progress report. anne, i was listening to local radio down there today and they are still hurting. >> they are still hurting. the good news is most of the gulf of mexico, the federal waters is open to fishing. only 7% remains closed but oil is still coming ashore. the federal government says 560 miles of coastline have oil on them in louisiana, mississippi, alabama and florida. the hardest hit area remains louisiana's plaquemines perish. mississippi, alabama and florida mainly has tar balls. plaquemines perish, particularly bay jimmy, has that thick, gooey oil. just last week, they collected about 18,000 gallons of oil and water mix. can you imagine? that's six months after this happe

chuck todd, andrea mitchell and david gregory all with us from washington. chuck, we're going to start out with you. where do we think of things five days out? >> right now, campaigns are focused on two things. number one, winning over any remaining undecides. and number two, trying to get out the democrat or republican bases who remain a tad unmotivated or unconvinced. after two days in the hospital to treat infection related to her successful battle with breast cancer, california republican carly fiorina was back on the stump today, trying to close the narrow gap with senator barbara boxer. >> this is a very tight race. >> reporter: taking a break from their own california campaigning, first lady michelle obama and dr. jill biden showed up on "ellen" and did a little dancing. while nationally republicans have momentum in these waning days, analysts expect them to fall short of the ten seats needed in the senate. why? two words. tea party. >> the pea party has been a big plus in terms of energy and excitement and boots on the ground. but tea party nominees h

the question is just how strong will that win be. >> chuck todd in washington tonight. thanks. >> there is more to report tonight of the war in iraq based on hundreds of thousands of u.s. military documents made public this weekend by the organization wikileaks. they shine a harsh new light on the roll of security contractors in iraq. hired guns who found themselves in high demand after the invasion. here's nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: the iraq war was supposed to be quick. the guidance was to go fast and light with relatively few american troops on theground. but within a year an insurgency began. and baghdad became the most dangerous city in the world. to fill the growing security vacuum, the u.s. military, state department and private companies hired thousands of foreign security contractors, most of them ex-americans and british military. but quickly there were accusations the contractors used excessive force. the most notorious and public incident was in september 2007 when 17 iraqi civilians were killed in baghdad. witnesses told u

chuck todd, starting us off tonight. thanks. >>> there are big races with big name big money candidates all across this country. one of them is to the north of us in connecticut, a wild contest for senate, pitting former wrestling executive linda mcmahon against state attorney general richard blumenthal. our own kelly o'donnell reports. >> reporter: senate hopeful dick blumenthal is just the kind of candidate drawing fire this year. >> connecticut is going to have an election, not an auction. >> reporter: a democrat and veteran politician running on his record, 20 years as connecticut attorney general. up against political newcomer super-rich former wrestling ceo linda mcmahon, an election big on personality. >> is money making a difference in this race? >> my opponent has launched a $50 million attack machine. >> i'm a business woman and he is is a life-long politician. that's i think the primary difference. >> reporter: mcmahon ran her family's wrestling entertainment empire, real world business experience she hopes wi

thank you, chuck todd. great to meet you, joy-ann reid. we will have you back. >>> up next, todd palin fires back, a great intramural fight, a little snow fight in alaska, the republican candidate for senate up there couldn't quite bring himself to endorse sarah palin, mentally or physically or whatever -- emotionally qualified to be president. her husband took offense, no surprise there, catch up on that little spat. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. interesting grooming. thanks. i got the idea from general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... (announcer) general mills makes getting whole grain an easy choice. just look for the white check. a tool where people can enter the terms of the refinance offer they got from their mortgage guy, and know instantly if they're getting bamboozled. and i will start after lunch...tomorrow. don't just think about it. introducing lendingtree's free "look before you lock"

thank you, chuck todd. great to meet you, joy-ann reid. ill have you back. >>> up next, todd palin fires back, a great intramural fight, a little snow fight in ac a the republican candidate for senate up there couldn't quite bring himself to endorse sarah palin, mentally or physically or whatever emotionally qualified to be president. her husband took offense no surprise there catch up on that little spat. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. for the status meeting. ♪ bingo. [ tires screech ] ♪ ♪ bang. [ male announcer ] that's right. we put a turbo in a sport cross. the all new nissan juke. innovation for success. innovation for all. have got such a might crunch they'll surely get us saved. [ crunch ] look, it's a rescue helicopter. [ helicopter noise ] [ crunch ] [ grunting ] [ helicopter departs ] [ birds chirping ] [ male announcer ] introducing new wheat thins crunch stix. no matter how the market changes, your retirement savings need care and attention from year to year. open a t.rowe price smartchoice rollover ira, and let our

thank you, chuck todd. great to meet you, joy-ann reid. l have you back. >>> up next, todd palin fires back, a great intramural fight, a little snow fight in alaska, the republican candidate for senate up there couldn't quite bring himself to endorse sarah palin, mentally or physically or whatever -- emotionally qualified to be president. her husband took offense, no surprise there, catch up on that little spat. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. >>> back to "hardball" now. the side show. first, tempest in a tea party? remember this refusal to answer out of joe miller last month? >> do you think that sarah palin is qualified to be president and would you like to see her run? >> you know, i'm running a u.s. senate race in the state of alaska. that is what i'm focused on. i have been asked about various candidates throughout the country during this race. that's not my role to comment on those candidacies. >> blah, blah, blah. anyway, the palins who, after all, made joe miller were none too pleased with that nonanswer. the alaska blog

i'm chuck todd in new york. savannah is on assignment. we begin with the growing heres that al-qaeda may be plotting to attack european capitals. it's prompted the state department to issue a new travel alert to americans heading overseas. jim maceda has more from london. >> in addition to the u.s. travel alert, now we're learning that japan has joined in. it has issued a travel alert as well. so all japanese thinking about or on their way to any country in europe. also, we know about the latest british travel alert. raising its level of threat for brittons traveling or living in france or germany, raising that from general to a high alert. now, this puts great britain in line with the other countries that would be potential target is in any al-qaeda attack. that would include france, germany and the united states. we have underline that it's a high level, but not a critically high level. there is no sense at all there is an imminent threat on the horizon. unlike the previous alerts, these are nonspecific. there is no specific warning to

>> chuck todd joins us. we had a great panel. marie johns from the sba, dr. rebecca blank on the left and teresa daytner runs a construction company, has six kids, runs a huge corporation. her husband works for her and a had to teach him how to ask for a raise. on the end is bobbi brown of bobbi brown cosmetics, and now the major ceo of a large corporation. >> you did a great job. >> and now the rundown to chuck todd. donald trump for 2012. i know you had your questions for him. he's absolutely thinking about doing it. bloomberg and -- excuse me. i sound like jonathan now. what's the white house thinking on all the possibilities out there two years down the road? >> reporter: on the white house front, i don't think they're thinking much on a third party front. if you probe them for 10 seconds about it. the one thinking about it would assume a third party candidacy would only ensure their reelection. the base of the democratic party for the president would probably put more states in play. he could probably c

let's talk about the debate, chuck todd.ebate. >> winner one was rubio in a lot of people's minds because nobody really seemed to -- a lot of these slipped off him. he's become teflon a little bit. among crist or meek, which challenger did the best? looked to me that meek was the stronger, more gres sive -- in many ways when you're ziting in third place and you've got nothing to lose, crist is still struggling. he wants to try to attract more democratic voters. he's afraid to loose that 15% to 20% of republican voters he has. i think that's constrained him. i think you can see it in these debates that instead of the -- he was talking about being an independent candidate was going to give him some freedom to be comfortable with what he was with his ideology. instead, it does feel like crist is sitting there trying to find this piece of the electorate over here with jewish voters or this piece over here with seniors or this piece with moderate voters. so i think he came across sort of as just a little off his game. >> hey, dav

conservative or harry reid is pro-government, because that was clear coming out of the debate. >> chuck toddhank you very much for your time tonight, and this one we will watch right dun to the wire. >> yes, we are. >> thanks, chuck. >> you got it, bud. >> one of the candidates not on tonight's stage, but still is seen as a factor in the nevada senate race was tea party candidate scott ashton who joins me live now from las vegas. scott, you are on the ballot in nevada along with harry reid and sharron angle, but you were not allowed in this debate, and did both sides want to exclude you from the debate? >> i think that i'm not sure if both sides wanted to exclude me, but i surely was excluded. i'm not sure why, because everybody's opinion should have been heard. >> and if you had a chance to ask one question up there in debate as the moderator since you weren't a participant what question would you have asked? >> i probably would have asked both of them since they are career politicians, why are they charging the american public when both of them clearly sharron angle 15 years and harry reid

we'll bring in nbc news political director chuck todd. the president is facing resistance from the left. we'll bring in the founder of the website firedoglake. first, here is bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> joe, we're looking at airport delays. the rain is not that heavy. the wind and low clouds are causing problems, two-hour delays going into philadelphia. laguardia, delays are building u. probably worse during the day today. take the train if you can. the rainfall in d.c. has been on and off all morning log. it continues along the i-95 corridor from d.c. nord warth toward philadelphia. the rain will return to new york city about mid morning. boston, on and off rain all morning long. this is going to be a dreary beginning to our october. we won't see the sunshine in many locations until thursday or friday. here is today, here is tuesday. even as we go into wednesday, more or less the same type forecast. the opposite of that is the middle of the country to the southeast where it's gorgeous. congratulations. you're watching "m

chuck todd, nbc's chief white house correspondent. explain the verbiage. what part of the country is obama country? >> well, what he's been doing is when you go around and you look at the last, and this is now seven places, seven counties in a row he's campaigned in the last week. we went and did the math on this over the weekend. in las vegas with 59%. he's going to places, minneapolis, san francisco, seattle, now providence where he won 70, 75, 80, 83% of the vote i think it is in providence because we are now in the turnout portion of the campaign. this is about in general midterm elections can be battles of the bases. and democrats in particular are struggling with their base and trying to motivate them to come out. the best use of the president's time most people believe is doing that. in addition, providence has a decent amount of money. one of the best fund-raisers of anybody running for congress on the democratic side. they wanted to use his prowess on that with the president. >> explain what's the message as we go into the homestretch, just seven

. >> 25 seconds over and we apologize to chuck todd. i was thrown off leaning too forward. >> it's "morning joe." this is "the daily rundown." >>> don't let them hijack your agenda. the american people deserve to know who's trying to sway their elections. >> president obama keeps turning up the heat on republicans saying secret special interest money is fueling their campaigns. but does he have any proof? >>> plus, florida's democratic senate candidate kendrick meek under pressure to drop out of the race by some. he joins us live to respond. >>> and light at the end of the tunnel for those miners trapped for months, all 33 could be out in two days and the fight to be the 33rd guy to get out is interesting, as well. >> crazy. >> october 11th, 2010. 22 days until the midterms and columbus day. i'm chuck todd. >> good morning. i'm savannah guthrie. we start in new york this morning where the republican candidate for governor carl paladino is once again the center of controversy after making these remarks of homosexuality over the weekend.

chuck todd is the chief white house correspondent and msnbc political correspondent. so the talks have started about how this white house might be different moving ahead. >> they bring in pete rouse. this white house is preparing itself more for a political battle going forth that's going to be taking place in washington but outside of washington. when you look at what's going to happen next year, this is going to be less a policy fight and less about getting legislation through and more of an ideological debate about the future of government and the budget between potential ly an all-republican house or all-republican congress or whatever comes through in november. this is the beginning of that preparation. look at pete rous stepping up in the world with the addition of david, and that's what you're seeing there. take a listen to what rahm emanuel had to say about his boss. he did do part introduction of himself to chicago, but part thank youing the white house staff and the president. take a listen. >> mr. president, i thought i was tough. but as someone saw firstha

for more on the man who will replace him, peter rouse, chuck todd joins us now. chuck? >> reporter: good evening. the departure ceremony today for rahm emanuel as outgoing chief of staff served almost as a pep rally and a trip down memory lane of the first two years of the obama presidency. both rahm emanuel and president obama going through the different achievements that took place. but it was also an arrival ceremony for peter rouse. pete rouse was a one-time chief of staff to then senator obama. before that, he was nicknamed 101st senator when he was the chief of staff to tom daschle. by bringing in pete rouse, you see the obama west wing preparing now for what are going to be political battles over the next two years. so first year with a new congress in some form or another, withand the presidenti campaign in 2012. >>> oversees tonight in pakistan, video as at least 27 tankers carrying fuel for nato troops in afghanistan were attacked and set on fire overnight. this attack came just a day after pakistan closed a major border crossing to protest a nato helicopter s

. >> thank you, nbc's political director, chuck todd.has former president bill clinton taking the wheel from obama when it comes to helping democrats? he's stumping candidates from kentucky and west virginia all the way to california and nevada. almost as if his name were on the ballot on november 2nd. this hour he's attending a rally for west virginia governor joe mansion and will continue to chris cro crisscross the country for all democrats all week long. but the republicans are making news by expressing sadness he's no longer the president. a story in "the ney york times" had this quote. many republicans with aç deep animus for president obama find their hearts aflutter with the memory of a former leader. he was a compassionate conservative, a man who reached across the aisle. senator orrin g. hatch recently said former president bill clinton will go down in history as a better president than the sitting one. today in kentucky it appears the feelings were not exactly mutual. >> this is a choice. and you cannot let the people of kent

chuck todd, thank you very much, get in out of the rain. anks for being there and join chuck and savannah weekday mornings at 9:00 eastern for the daily run down. >>> and now to our schools, education nation suffering a major setback in the battle for reform right here in the district of columbia. the nation's capital, at the polls for the d.c.'s mayor, the public schools chancellor will step down in two weeks. during her three and a half years on the job, she became a reform and joins us now. great to see you, chancellor. >> nice to see you. >> i know this is a very tur by lent time and micked emotion, i wanted to focus ahead on what's going to happen here once you are no longer chancellor, i know your deputy is taking over and there is an effort by the incoming presumptive mayor but there are a number of issues, i want to put them up on our own blackboard, a number of questions that are out there. first, what's going to happen to your very controversial program to deal with minimally effective teachers? there is going to come a crunch time

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. >>> up next, chuck todd has this morning's developing headlines out of the white house.e" magazine discovered on his 24-day cross-country journey. first bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> good morning, mika. if you live in new england, good news for you finally. today is your transition day. you'll be rewarded for an upcoming period of weather right into the weekend. still one last batch of rain left over, precisely more or less from syracuse into albany, new york. it's going to rain from albany down to kingston probably for another two hours or more. this will slowly shift over to massachusetts. just showers left over, upstate new york, western mass into the berkshires. d.c. today, that's a nice day. as i mentioned, the forecast around the rest of the country has been perfect all week. finally that's arriving in new england. look at today. gorgeous weather for the 6:00 start time for the yankee-minnesota game outdoors. 73. can't beat that. dallas very nice. nice in atlanta. on friday, the whole country is in for a great stretch of weather with the except

heading to the polls which brings us to our political director and chief white house correspondent, chuck todd, the keeper of the numbers. >> we have a macro look, 30,000. here's the president's job rating. he has more people disapprove than approve. that's not a big change from the last couple of months. 49% disapprove of the job he's doing and 47% approve. you can see why the president goes to selective areas. out west, for instance. tomorrow more popular in urban areas and less popular in rural areas. look at the direction of the country, 59% say we're on the wrong track. 32% say right direction. compare this to the last two times congress changed hands. 2006 in october, look at the track, 61%. 1994 in october, it was 55%. bottom line, this is a national environment that indicates we're headed to a change election. so, the big generic number, republicans have a seven-point lead. they've hit the magic 50% mark. democrats with 43. last month it looked like there was some democratic momentum. they cut the lead but that's now gone. what's the bright line? we talk about health care and the econo

chuck todd is nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent as well. i want to start with john ralston but first take a look at some of the action. here's sharron angle, the challenger, the tea partier, delivering -- i think a cheap shot at the senate democratic leader, harry reid. let's listen. >> you came from search light to the senate with very little, and now you're one of the richest men in the u.s. senate. on behalf of nevada taxpayers, i'd like to know -- we'd like to know, how did you become so wealthy on a government payroll? >> senator reid? >> mitch, that's really kind of a low blow. i think most everyone knows i was a very successful lawyer, i did a very good job in investing. so her suggestion that i made money being a senator is simply false and i'm disappointed she would suggest that. >> john, is this the new politics? is this the sleaze way we go? this is the dirtiest, oldest trick, the stuff you do in politics. you play a little number. if you made money off money you had before, you're stealing. >> well, she's playing into what a lot

let's bring in chuck todd. chuck, we are talking about this yesterday. how big is the gap between the understanding of the anger in this country and the ability to actually address it in washington? >> what's interesting is that that seems to be the gap. on the campaign trail, you're seeing candidates channel it. but what seems to be where there seems to be a disconnect is what is it they're frustrated about because different voters, you have an angry set on one side. you have a frustrated set. you have a very frankly, a pessimistic set of voters and the whole stew is created in antiwashington sentiment out there, so you're even seeing democrats trying to capture that and channel it where they can. if they're not an incumbent specifically and since they have an opportunity to hat, but it's mostly benefitting the republicans because they're not the other guys. that's what the mandate is going to be clear on election day which was we're upset at washington, figure it out, make it work. the question is, how that mandate gets interpreted. from. >> joining th

washington speak it's todd and samantha or suzanna or contessa. loosely translated it means chuckd savannah. >> both my father and grandfather had to go by todd. they went with it. i'm fighting the todd. >> i'll answer to any leigh syllable "s" word. savannah, sahara. >> if you have washington speak you'd like us to clarify send to sahara at dailyrundown@msnbc.com. okay, guys, heads or tails. heads. no, that's the name of the new oreo cookie. what's the name of the new oreo cookie? [ eli ] heads or tails. tails. tails. heads. heads. tails. heads. heads? oh, no. heads. what? [ shaq ] heads. [ venus ] tails. [ apolo ] tails. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more $2, $3 fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no more paying to access your own money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it'd be like every atm in the world was your atm. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the schwab bank high yield investor checking(tm) account. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 zero atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a great interest rate. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no minimums. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the biggest thing in checking since checks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account at 1-

let's turn to chuck todd and "the washington post" chris cillizza. ks like that race is stuck around close to 20 points for chris coons. this is one of the luckiest people on planet earth election cycle. it's a terrible year year for democrats with the exception of chris coons. >> anytime you see candidates think about, i don't know if i'm going to run this year. well, that's what mario cuomo said in 1991. let that guy from arkansas have the nomination. sure, let bill clinton have it. he'll never beat bush for a second term. every nomination is worth having chris coons prove it. scott mcadams in alaska may prove it. if you think it's your time to run, run. >> a democrat could win up there. chris? >> i was going to add to chuck's point. in real estate, it's location, location, location. in politics, it's timing. everybody said a senator named barack obama just got elected, he's going to run in 2008 against hillary clinton? that makes no sense. barack obama new times. if you're beau biden, son of the vice president, you've got to bç kicking yourself a l

let's stop protecting these guys. >> chuck todd had one minute. lutely. boy is he tough. tina brown, thank you so much. coming up next, our good friend, hoda kotb, shameless promotion of her own book. of course we'll continue to monitor the breaking news out of chile, the rescue of those miners. we're looking at a live picture right now the 10th miner emerging. 7:52 here. 8:52 at the site of the mine. 10th miner, 10 of 33 reaching the surface after 70 days underground. we want to stay with this for just a moment. over the course of our show we've watched three come up. one every 45 minutes or so. and, again, you have to tip your cap to the operation here, another seemingly completely flawless rescue by the teamworking down there. >> the skill level and courage employed by people working on both sides of the mine shaft. the people who went down to help rescue the miner, the miners themselves, and the world watching this. i would submit we need to watch this because of the absolutely infuriating depressing news clip we see during the day because of t

. >> chuck todd is nbc's political director and our white house correspondent. how fluid is that race in alaska? >> reporter: it is fluid, but a lot are glad that lisa murkowski's bid is going so well because judging by how miller's been able to perform on the trail, there are fears that democrats might be able to steal this race and keep it more competitive. lisa murkowski is probably going to ensure that it stays in democratic hands. >> a lot of times at this stage of the campaign, we look for the october surprise, something in the news or something in a campaign that turns the right on its ear. the fact that people are saying it's all about jobs and the economy, do you think that it's unlikely that we're going to see some october surprises? >> reporter: not at this point, in individual races, we have seen some prices what happened in california to meg whitman and what happened to her nanny and that maid issue. the kentucky senate race and the controversy over this ad, the aqua buddha ad, that probably turned that race in the direction of the republicans. but

. >>> coming up, chuck todd, chris matthews breaking down the numbers.of america's smartest cities including the dubious number one after this. interesting grooming. thanks. i got the idea from general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... (announcer) general mills makes getting whole grain an easy choice. just look for the white check. but my allergies put me in a fog. so now, i'm claritin clear! claritin works great on all my allergies like dust, mold, pollen, or pets without making me drowsy, cause i want to be alert around this big guy. live claritin clear. indoors and out. >>> are you smarter than a crook ed politician. smartest cities based on the number of college grads. number one, washington, d.c. apparently, it takes a lot of brain power to mess up a country this bad. we brought back sam so have to conversation. am i too cynical? >> no, i don't think so. i think it's the wrong people. i mean, you know, you have joe down

chuck todd, thank you so much.ming up right after "morning joe." straight ahead, the national journal's major garrett will be here. his latest article to discuss what mitch mcconnell is doing to try to make obama a one-term president. when we come back, the "morning joe" football frenzy. now we can talk about football. highlights including brett favre's sunday night showdown against his former team, the packers. we'll be right back with more "morning joe." ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote. that advertise flights for 25,000 miles? but when you call... let me check. oh fudge, nothing without a big miles upcharge. it's either pay their miles upcharges or connect through mooseneck! [ freezing ] i can't feel my feet. we switched to t

. >> and i'm chuck todd. its 20 days until the mid-term elections. >>> we will begin in pakistan where a u.s. missile strike has reportedly killed a number of germans. they investigate a possible link between westerners and suspected terror plots in europe. stephanie gosk is live in london with the latest. any new intelligence on a specific threat to some of these european cities? >> good morning, chuck and savannah. still, nothing specific. that's why this remains a terror alert and not a terror warning. u.s. officials reminding people they are not telling them to cancel their trips to european but they are telling them to be cautious. it is worth pointing out. you talk about the drone attack yesterday in pakistan. there has been no confirmed connection between the drone attacks and that region of pakistan and the recent terror alert. u.s. officials tell nbc news that the multiple streams of information that led them to declare this terror alert included the fact that europeans have been traveling to that ar

i'm chuck todd. savannah is off today. also this morning, the chamber of commerce responds to president obama's charges about foreign money fueling campaign advertising. the daily rundown interview ahead on that. let's get right to the rundown on our whip and we'll begin with the tea party favorite put to the test, christine o'donnell got her, perhaps, last chance to prove her political metal, going head to head with chris coons in their first senate debate. >> he is a career politician who has proven he knows how to play the i'll scratch your back, you scratch mine game. >> miss o'donnell has experience at running for office but not really running anything. >> kelly o'donnell's capitol hill correspondent, joining us from newark, delaware. kelly, this may put the nail in the coffin in this race. this didn't seem like a game changer for christine o'donnell, did it? >> reporter: this was an opportunity for her to talk about a lot of issues and she did that, after we paid attention to some of the nutty things about this race,

>>> with us today, mark whitaker and eugene robinson and chuck todd and show us your papers, california's meg whitman denies she knowingly employed an illegal immigrant. >> neither my husband nor i received any letter from the social security administration, and if there is a letter out there, i don't know how they got it. it's not in our house. >>> will $121 million on campaign ads buy her a new mailbox? >>> and who knew i had an evil twin? >> for more, let's go to nbc's andrea mitchell. >> thank you, brian. good luck. >> that woman is not the chief foreign affairs correspondent of nbc news. so, who is she? >>> good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. with everyone filling the east room of the white house other than the salahis, rahm emanuel got a great sendoff. with us mark whitaker washington bureau chief and eugene robinson, a pulitzer prize-winning columnist for "the washington post." that was a big deal, what a send-off for outgoing chief of staff, mark. usually it's in the white house briefing room, it's the president, it's the press corps. this was the entire cabinet and