and this has only begun for kelly ayotte. this is just the beginning for kelly ayotte. she is going to have so much political firepower poured on her political operation and she is a northeast republican. that's a vanishing breed. she's got some decisions to make moving forward. maybe she helps rewrite a new background check bill with pat toomey? i'm telling you, we are not going away. americans are going to remember newtown. they are not going to forget easily 20 first graders gunned down and not forget what what happened in oregon or in a mall or what happened across america. >> what can done to pressure her now. >> i think it's happening. >> and so you've got elements like gabby giffords and mayor bloomberg's operation and like the president's grassroots operation. and i think that the key will be can they find some vehicle where she and other republicans who voted no last time and maybe some of the democrats can say, this is a different bill. they improved it. is there some sort of big leaf operation and vehicle? and i think she is very gettable in that situation. n

you can tell how serious these numbers are being taken because in the case of kelly ayotte, the folks at the nra feel they need to provide her with political coverage firming up these radio ads defending her against expanded background checks. >> senator kelly ayotte is focused on meaningful bipartisan solutions to our nation's problems. that's because kelly ayotte is not just a senator, she's also a mom who cares about protecting our kids. it's why kelly had the courage to oppose misguided gun control laws that would not have prevented sandy hook. >> and this remarkable and surprising polling relates to another key bit of electoral analysis out today which is that we now know for the first time ever, black voter turnout was higher than white voter turnout. in ohio, pennsylvania, virginia, florida and colorado. that is further evidence of the true significance of the obama coalition. it represents a genuine progressive majority in this country. and when the obama coalition is activated and invested on an issue they can change political gravity. they can make things orbit in a differen

predictively how much this is going to be a problem and how effectively you can run an ad against kelly ayotte or jeff flake when they're next up for re-election that hammers on this vote? >> sure, well, i think the ones to look at. let's talk about ayotte and portman, because they're up in 2016. they got elected in 2010 in a terrible year for democrats where democrats didn't show up and weren't enthused but their states are pretty democratic. they've started voting pretty consistently democratic. so next time they're up, it's going to be a presidential election, hillary clinton might be the democratic candidate, an abc -- absolute dynamo. there's no way they're going to get reelected unless voters see them as being centrist. and this gun vote three years later when they're up for re-election, i think for democrats, will be part of a broader narrative showing folks like ayotte and portman aren't centrist, just as extreme. >> the point for them, right, they can't win just a breakdown party vote in those states increasingly. and this gets me to another strategic question. there's now talk in was

kelly ayotte joins me from the hill.you hear today that. >> was at all reassuring about the state of play is? what do you think the state of play is? >> i think andrea, the issue is this, certainly we were used to dealing with kim jong un's father in terms of these bellicose rants that would happen periodically. but this is taking it to a new level with the son right now. as the admiral described him as impetuous, it's very unpredictable situation. the reason i raise china in the hearing is because a big part of the north korean economy, what economy they do have, is reliant on china, including as their biggest trading partner for food, for fuel, so i think china could end this right away. if they would come down harder on north korea. and so that's why i focused on that area of questioning before the hearing today. >> we did hear a warning a little bit oblique, but certainly pointed, at north korea. from the new chinese president, president xi, this past weekend, saying no one should make such threats against their own

>> kelly ayotte's numbers have dropped 15 points.have not heard directly from the senators, but we know just from watching on twitter that people are going through every single slide on the website, and they're tweeting at every single senator. so whether they're responding, i don't think they're responding, but they're hearing what we're saying. >> that's what so important. i want to ask you faun. the gun victims are not just from sandy hook. you use the image of trayvon martin opposite john cornyn and why did you decide to extend this beyond new town? >> it was really important for us to have a conversation that was larger than just really unfortunate mass shootings meaning what's happening in chicago every single day what is happening in detroit what is happening in oakland, what is happening from gun violence, gun violence is bigger than just these mass shootings. we wanted to make sure that the conversation was expanded. these kids--these children would not have died if we had better gun control, full stop. >> michael: yes, and

let's play a little of that. >> remember that ad kelly ayotte ran saying she's one of us? ere she's out for a run? >> well, it surt didn't take long for her to go washington. says here, ayotte voted against improving back ground collection to keep guns out of the hands of criminals of. >> are you serious? >> y89% of the people in new hampshire support universal background checks. >> she just ignored us? >> sure did. >> that follows up on that, we hadn't seen this action from those who want to see legislation regarding gun purchasers who can buy them. >> that's right. notable in this ad they are using the voices of two women in this ad. and you know what has happened to us so far in 2012 with that big gender gap you saw. wrapping this around mothers and women is probably a strategy that the white house should have tried to employ more frequently. you saw them do that near the end. i think this is sort of a template of what they'll try to do in 2014. >> yeah. and i think, i'm curious, senator heidi heitkamp has some time before she has to fight to keep her seat. but she's a d

and kelly ayotte, less inclined to be voted and 25% less inclined. has done significant damage to herself. are you priced at the price--surprised at the affect of her vote has had on her approval ratings. >> now it's a bluer state and ayotte should have been able to tow that line a little better knowing what the numbers were for background checks even in her home state. i'm not surprised by it and it's encouraging that even people who voted against this are suffering even in the polls right now. >> cenk: chris are people going to be spooked by these numbers. she dropped 21 point among moderates after the vote, and 66% of votes say they're less inclined to vote for her. that seems devastating. >> perhaps she's not up to be re-elected until 2016. it may an gift, but public opinions change very quickly just as we saw as you ran through those numbers. she has quite a bit of time to change things and turn things around. she's not gone. this is not a sitting senator that is going to be gone in in 2016. she has a long way to go, and i think at this point sh

the nra coming to kelly ayotte's defense. ardon me. i'm just coughing up a lung nobody help me. >> that's why you have two. >> stephanie: she you weren't going to help me anyway. >> we'll call hal sparks. >> stephanie: the five senators who voted against background checks have seen their approval ratings decline, and voters say they are less likely to support them next time they are up for reelection. for that i say yay. who lost their head in the hutson river? anybody? [ crickets chirping ] >> stephanie: there is a giant head floating in the hudson river. >> bill o'reilly? >> stephanie: anyone lose a giant head made of styrofoam and fiberglass? >> that could be bill o'reilly. >> stephanie: the object turns out to be a 7-foot tall replica of a man. it has the appearance of a greek or roman-style statue. officials believe it is a theater prop. but so far no one has come forward. >> some high school performance of antigoni. [ laughter ] >> stephanie: jill in ithaca. >> caller: hi -- >> stephanie: jill is that your head? >> calle

and kelly ayotte. it applies to both sides. go ahead, tom. >> i've been trying to -- senator, i've been trying to sort out the max baucus vote because i was surprised by that pole quite honestly, that showed 90% of montanans were in favor of background checks and trying deal with why he made the decision to vote against background checks. you know his statement was my job is to make sure that montanans are heard in this debate and montanans have told me loud and clear they are overwhelmingly opposed to new gun control laws and i will not support anything that enfringes on the second amendment rights of special law abiding montanans. how do you respond to him when he says that? >> i guess i just wish he would maybe revisit the bill that we actually wrote because it really does not enfringe on any law abiding citizens rights whatsoever and if it had, i wouldn't have supported it. trying to make it harder for people who have no legal right to have a weapon, to obtain it, that's perfect consistent with the constitution and, frankly, common sense.

. >> neil: we're just getting word out of senator lindsey graham who, along with senators kelly ayotte and john mccain, have put out a statement on dzhokhar tsarnaev that he be seen as essentially an enemy combatant, quoting from the senator here, the suspect, based upon his actions, clearly is a good candidate for enemy combatant status. we do not want this suspect to remain silent. we're encouraged. our high value detainee interrogation team is now involved in working to gather intelligence about how these terrible acts were committed and the possibility of future attacks. a decision to not read miranda rights to the suspect was sound and is in our national security interest. so this is going to be a big debate here whether you treat him as just any u.s. offender, or in this case, someone who would be an enemy combatant, meaning harm to this country. obviously some key republicans are saying enemy combatant. whatever the case and whatever happens to the suspect, how does boston find closure? how do americans who also shared their anxiety about just going out in public find closure? d

handled as an enemy combatant is coming from republican lawmakers, john mccain and lindsey graham, kelly ayotte, and new york's representative, peter king. let's give you a accepts where this is right now. so law enforcement enacted basically an effort not to read tsarnaev his miranda rights. that means not telling him he has the right to remain silent under what they call the public safety exception, allows them to get as much information as they can within the immediate hours after his arrest. in case there is information about other plots or perhaps other accomplices but it's li likely that he hasn't even been questioned yet because of his state, his serious condition, that this may not matter. he may have been read his miranda rights by a judge as early as tomorrow. the republican lawmakers, of course, say the public safety exception doesn't go far enough, that he should be treated as an enemy combatant. we do not want this suspect to have the right to remain silent. here is a little bit more about what they said. i'll put this graphic up on the screen. this is from a statement released by

kelly ayotte's numbers go from a net positive to now a negative. a majority of voters support expanded background checks in each of the five states ranging from 60% in alaska to 75% in the state of new hampshire. >>> meanwhile, quinnipiac polling shows that pennsylvania voters gave pat toomey hi highest marks ever >>> senator ted cruz who threatened to filibuster the gun bill is openly mocking members of his party. he broke tradition by publicly discussing what went on behind closed doors when fellow republicans criticized him forgiving democrats ammunition to portray the gop as obstructionists. cruz hit back. >>> we have had probably five or six lunches with a bunch of republican senators standing up and looking at rand and mike and me and yelling at us at the top of their lungs, really upset. they said, look, why did you do this? as a result of what you did, when i go home, my constituents are yelling at me that i have to stand on principle. there are a lot of people that don't like to be held accountable. here was their argument. they said, list

so last week, we showed you senator kelly ayotte's numbers in new hampshire go from a net positive inctober to a net negative now. >> and the majority of voters support expanded background checks in each of these five states ranging from 60% in alaska to 75% in new hampshire. and you saw this quinnipiac poll, it works the other way. you have on the other side, pat toomey was in charge of this bill along with joe manchin. a lot of people said, oh, gee, this is going to hurt him -- no, he's registered his highest approval ratings ever since he's been the united states senator. >> what do we make of all of this. >> well, wants to jump in here. this is obvious stuff. and we've said it's pretty obvious stuff. and there's no doubt some are going to be hurt a lot more than others, but right now jeff flake is in a freefall, kelly ayotte is in a freefall. we'll see what happens to heidi when her time comes. >> real question is how much this hurt lingers and when people do next go to polls or asked to donate money and get politically organized whether this sticks and whether they pay a price or

kelly ayotte from new hampshire.se are the folks who were -- >> bill: mark pryor from arkansas not on the list. >> not on the list. these are the guys you thought would maybe switch their vote. would maybe vote the right way. we're under a lot of pressure from the president and the vice president, from the advocates. >> bill: newtown families. >> newtown families. they voted the wrong way. voted against background checks. again, this wasn't even a universal background check amendment. this was a very limited bipartisan compromise only at gun shows only online. a lot of different kind of compromises built into that. >> bill: right. joe manchin pat toomey compromise. >> their approval ratings these guys have dropped some 16 points in their states. >> bill: good. good. >> after the vote. >> bill: i would call that a good start. >> a good start. >> bill: meaning i hope it goes down even more. >> look, it is going to be a tug-of-war here because now you have the nra sweeping in and thanking these senators on radio, runnin

you certainly have a lot of influence over kelly ayotte in new hampshire. ciding vote to support background checks? >> i've never done that in the years i've been here. i talk to kelly. i talk to many of my other colleagues, but it's up to them. they are grown people and they make their own decisions. i've never been one who has gone out and told people what i think they ought to do. i've made my case and let them make up their own minds. >> let's make a turn now to another, if you can believe it, big story that we're following here which is an attempt at a bipartisan immigration plan. senator schumer, if you can give us a sense where we stand there first. >> today the eight of us will officially kick off the campaign for our bill. we will have people from every different segment of the american society standing with us. we will have business and labor. we will have the religious community from the liberals to the evangelicals. we will have some very conservative people like grover norquist ahead of the american liberal community and the head of c.a.p. this

another sensitive issue raised by republican senators, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte, peter king, theyreleased a statement, the suspect, based upon his actions, clearly is a good candidate for enemy combat tant status. we do not want the suspect to remain silent. we have concerns that limiting this investigation to 48 hours and exclusively relying on the public safety exception to miranda could very well be a national security mistake. is this realistic he would be named as an enemy combat talent, denying him rights even though's u.s. citizen, he was naturalized on september 11th of last year and he was arrested in the united states? >> no, this is a deep philosophical division between the obama administration and some of the republican -- sorry about this and what that means is the obama administration has said the criminal justice system can make this work, the criminal can handle national security risks like this person, terrorists have been prosecuted, moussaoui. this administration is committed to using the american courts there are some critics, like senator mccain, like senator

it's the image that kelly ayotte was going for.oming a leading voice in the republican party, campaigning with mitt romney, becoming one of john mccain's foreign policy amigos, helping to lead the right wing hitch hunt against susan rice, generally never giving president obama a break or a benefit of a doubt. it's worked pretty well for her. it's worked well but lately things are not looking so good for senator ayotte. after voting against expanding for gun buys, she's seen terrible headlines. the "concord monitor" says, if you want gun control, vote ayotte out of office. voters seem to be thinking about it. her approval rating is down to 15%. 15% of voters said they would be less likely to vote for her because of the background check. she sure did ignore her constituents. but back to that old man on the mountain. it couldn't handle the wind and rain and cold and a few years ago it collapsed, gone, out of sight. senator ayotte can adopt what her constituents want, maybe the same thing will happen to her. the reason people went and

johnny isaacson and kelly ayotte said they're not going to filibuster. >> we have not seen the final draft of the legislation that was produced. i understand last night, but i think it deserves a vote. >> this is what they do on everything. he said look, if you vote against the filibuster, you're voting for the bill. i remember -- there's a question. they, what's remarkable, i think this gets back to what you were saying. >> what you love about it, what it has done is set the precedent for this to unnormalize the filibuster. when we said the filibuster -- i'll allow you to have a vote and tell you what i think about it. absolutely normal. for most people. >> that hadn't been said before we get too enthusiastic, although i hope that it is, it's not every day you get an issue where 90% all asking for the same thing, so i hope this is a marking of the beginning of a good trend, but we'll see how it goes. >> and in washington, the great ryan grim of "huffington post." thank you. we'll be right back. >>> junior sao took his life last year. family members say it's because of the sustained,

background checks on firearms in the united states senate, new hampshire's republican senator kelly ayotte significantly pushed up her disapproval rating. public policy polling found in october she had a 48% approval rating and a 35% disapproval rating. today, public policy polling shows her with a 44% approval rating and a 46% disapproval rating in new hampshire. 75% of new hampshire voters, including a majority of republicans, say they support background checks. and 50% of voters in that state say ayotte's no vote will make them less likely to support her in the future. big surprise. >>> up next, the politics of terrorism. [ jackie ] 's just so frustrating... ♪ the middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom. ♪ i'm fed up with always having to put my bladder's needs ahead of my daughter. ♪ so today, i'm finally talking to my doctor about overactive bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know that gotta go feeling? ask your doctor about prescription toviaz. one toviaz pill a day significantly reduces sudden urges and accidents, for 24 hours. if you have certain sto

for example, they're running ads against kelly ayotte in new hampshire where i think it can be terribly damaging to her. she's lost ten points or more in her favorable rating -- >> is that a pro gun or middle of the road gun state? >> think about it, the southern half of that state is in the boston media market. >> i know. >> i think it's more and more becoming -- >> is that a live free or die state in terms of guns? >> i think it is. especially in a republican primary. >> she's not -- but a general election. >> 2016 when she's up again, a lot of water is going to be under the bridge. >> isn't it the smart move if you're going to shoot at somebody, politically kill them, pick people that are really in trouble. if you knock them off by pushing them a couple inches over you can take credit. why not go after max baucus who's not running gun? why would you go after -- >> everyone knows that vote helped max baucus. >> you know the politics of this. heidi heidkamp is taking a lot of heat. you're virginal politically. just get in office. democrat winning in a red state. don't make your first b

background checks on firearms in the united states senate, new hampshire's republican senator kelly ayotte has significantly pushed up her disapproval rating. public policy polling found in october she had a 48% approval rating and a 35% disapproval rating. today, public policy polling shows her with a 44% approval rating and a 46% disapproval rating in new hampshire. 75% of new hampshire voters, including a majority of republicans, say they support background checks. and 50% of voters in that state say ayotte's no vote will make them less likely to support her in the future. big surprise. >>> up next, the politics of terrorism. >>> i will tell you one thing. from 9-12-01 to the time president obama raised his right ♪ none of us think bad things are gonna happen to us. i'm here at my house on thanksgiving day, and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. an artery in your heart, it's called the widow maker. and mine was 95% blocked. they took me to the hospital, and the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone, so be su

you had lisa murkowski and kelly ayotte, senators who had voted against the background checks. that come up? >> this was not a negotiating meeting. the president wanted to get our views on what were some of the issues that were facing us. in terms of the violence in our country. we expressed our support to the president, not support about a particular public policy, but the role he has played in reaches out, particularly to communities that were affected, the role he played as kind of first comforter in boston, and that he told the people of west, texas, he would never forget them. reaching out to governor perry, the sense of bipartisanship. we did talk about national security issues, cyberto syri - cyber to syria. we have to end gridlock politics, ultimatum politics, and how we could come together to reduce our public debt, but to increase or funding, particularly we want you cannot in any budget deal throw women and children under the bus. not that he would ever agree to that, but we spoke about the needs for public investment and our support for his programs, particularly in

. >> to some degree, does ted cruz force lisa murkowski and kelly ayotte to go further right or doesace to go to the left? >> i think if you are looking for moderate support, and most of these people are in states where they actually need to have statewide support, right, and even in texas, even in texas, there are democrats that need to be a bit more, this may be herre is sy, that's how you build the coalition. not like a house race. if the pressure continues, then ted cruz will be out. >> i think when you see republicans double down on why it is good to support assault weapons, it is a testament to the fact they think it might be a controversial issue. the nra launched a new channel to appeal to women we know are probably swing voters on this issue. let's take a listen to some of the audio and video from that. >> they want everyone to be afraid of firearms, they're not focusing on a woman being able to protect herself. >> we've always come back, say why do you need this, why do you need this, why do you need this, they're not assault weapons, military style weapons, that's terminol

last week we told you how new hampshire republican kelly ayotte has slid 15 points in a new ppp poll.ardly alone now. look at this. arizona's jeff flake has become the most unpopular senator in the country since voting against background checks. he's at 32% approval in arizona. a republican. versus 51% disapproval, again, in arizona. up in alaska, lisa murkowski's no vote cost her as well. back in february she was among the most popular senators. now her approval is under 50% with almost as many disapproving as approving. now in ohio, rob portman, couldn't believe this, has lost a net of 18 points. he's now at 26% approval. 34% disapproval. those numbers were reversed six months ago. hmm. people like background checks, it looks like. maybe the senate needs to start listening to the people and not the gun lobby. we'll be right back. >>> we're back. comedian conan o'brien may have been the headliner at saturday's white house correspondents' dinner but the president stole the show with biting political commentary. >> thank you. thank you, everybody. how you like my new entrance music? ru

, i've got a couple of things i want to tell you, first, on guns, we were first to report that kelly ayotte, republican of new hampshire, will be making it very difficult for those who are supporting manchin toomey to get that passed, but just seconds ago, we had a loud speaker announcement here at the russell senate office building where police say there is a suspicious package near the office of richard shelby and therefore, they are trying to clear the area. everyone here is on high alert because of what's happened in boston and because of what's happened with a ricin letter, a suspicious letter sent to roger wicker, republican of mississippi. off site, they detected as a mail facility, a letter that contained a white granular s substance that in an initial test proved to be ricin. work on that continues. where i'm standing now, if you can hear overhead, there's sort of a muffle ed sound of police announcing they are clearing the area around richard shelby's office because of a suspicious package. now, that is a function of the world we live in now. there are often circumstances where ba

small retailers, the bricks and mortars, they're not tax collections for 9,600 jurisdictions as kelly ayotteointed out. let the states collect their own taxes if there is an issue there, dan. >> larry, you know this court decision reached in 1992 was for catalogue mail order sales. obviously, the technology today is and this bill requires states to give retailers software to compute whatever the tax rates are due. you today, larry, when you buy, you can push a button, this is my zip code, there are six option, the soft 2004 will keep track of it, will actually remit to others. that's just a red herring na there is 9,600. >> i only have 50 seconds. we'll give you the last word. >> we have to have our online businesses reline on a tax software. any kind of jurisdiction changes their software, they have to figure it out. it's unprecedented to make your businesses tax collect ovrs for the nation. >> dan griffith, mark simone, i appreciate it very much. that's it for tonight's show. i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, wh

kelly ayotte, as you said, jeff flake, seeing their numbers hammered after voting no. the gop branding problem, generally, doesn't it? >> very, very much so. not only are they getting hammered, they're getting hammered in pro-gun states. look at the numbers in arizona, ohio, new hampshire, other places that have traditionally been very, very pro-gun states. those numbers are getting hammered. i thinyont - those senators are getting hammered. your point is the key point, martin. these things take many, many years to pass. the brady bill as you mentioned passed seven years. i think if the politics keep going the way day are going right now, the nra sand castles will quickly blow out to sea and we'll think of nra in a couple years as standing for not relevant anymore. >> okay. this is a very good issue if you are ted cruz. take a listen to how he describes bravely standing up against his own party on gun control. >> right. >> we've had probably five or six lunches with a bunch of republican senators standing up and looking at rand and mike and me and yelling at us at the

there was a dramatic moment just this afternoon at a town hall meeting of kelly ayotte in new hampshireagainst the manchin/toomey bill. today she was confronted by a relative, a daughter of one of the victims up in sandy hook. erica lost her mother, the principal of the school. listen to this change. >> you had mentioned that day of the verdict, owners of gun stores, that the expanded background checks would pass. i'm wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the halls of her elementary school isn't as important as that. why isn't that something that can be supported? >> erica, certainly let me just say that i'm obviously so sorry, and as everyone here, no matter what our views are, for what you have been through. and i think that ultimately when we look at what happened in sandy hook, i understand that's what drove this whole discussion. all of us want to make sure that that doesn't happen again. >> wonder what she meant by that. >> well, i mean -- >> what did senator ayotte mean when she said, i hope it doesn't happen again, and there's a daughter of one of the prime

kelly ayotte, john mccain, jeff flake, and lindsey graham. congratulations.by chambliss, tom coburn, and susan collins. you had the courage to actually allow a debate on gun legislation. unfortunately, others were not so brave. as newtown families watch from the galleries, republicans, including ted cruz, marco rubio, and mitch mcconnell, voted no. they were joined by red state democrats mark pryor and mark begich who voted against even allowing debate on solutions. while the defeat of a filibuster in today's vote is a big step, majority leader harry reid warned we are a long way from the finish line. >> i'm grateful to all republicans who joined with us to allow this debate to go forward. now, the hard work starts now. >> that is no understatement. some ten amendments are expected to come to the floor with opponents potentially pushing for days of debate on each one of them. senator lindsey graham, who voted to allow debate, tweeted afterward, "the gun control legislation can still be filibustered after today in the united states senate." graham, who appears

take new hampshire's kelly ayotte, the only no vote in the whole northeast on the manchin/toomey background checks compromise. her polls are suffering because of it. 44% of new hampshire voters approve of the job ayotte's doing now versus 46% who disapprove. that's down a net 15 points from last fall. take a look at this new poll number on pat toomey. good news for him. 48% of pennsylvania voters approve of the job toomey's doing. that's the highest favorability he's had in three years in office. by the way, he's even with bob casey now. background check deal was smart. i said it here, it's going to save that seat for him. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] does youvibrant color just seem to fade away...? now start vibrant, stay vibrant! new vidal sassoon pro series has an exclusive hydrablock system that helps fight fade out -- for up to 8 weeks. vidal sassoon pro series. salon genius. affordable for all. by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. >>> would

maybe a few of the republicans and a few suburban soccer moms, but other than that we're -- >> kellie ayottes not -- i mean, she works in cahoots with lindsey graham and john mccain. you're talking about more moderate republicans, maybe they will face blowback for not having gone maybe the way of sort of the moral choice. >> the problem is, even if you succeed in congress with some kind of legislation, you still will not get enough to do much about gun violence, as important as background checks are, that is not going to significantly bring down the level of gun violence in this country. >> the fight lives another day. thanks to luke russert and bob. i'll see you back here tomorrow. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. >>> and a big cold front is stretches across most of the country on the northwest side of it. we have some heavy snow, especially across nebraska and south dakota today, but we're also looking at the threat of strong storms, especially down through oklahoma, where some isolated tornadoes are possible today. also see a round of thunderstorms in atlanta, detroit and chicago. tempe

take new hampshire's kelly ayotte, the only no vote in the whole northeast on the manchin/toomey backgrounds compromise. her polls are suffering because of it. 44% of new hampshire voters approve of the job ayotte's doing now versus 46% who disapprove. that's down a net 15 points from last fall. take a look at this new poll number on pat toomey. good news for him. 48% of pennsylvania voters approve of the job toomey's doing. that's the highest favorability he's had in three years in office. by the way, he's even with bob casey now. background check deal was smart. i said it here, it's going to save that seat for him. we'll be right back. >>> would you like to see your >>> would you like to see your son, jeb, run? >> he's by far the best qualified man, but no. i really don't. i think it's a great country. there are a lot of great families. and it's not just four families or whatever. there are other people out there that are very qualified and we've had enough bushes. >> we've had enough bushes. welcome back to "hardball." that was barbara bush with what was perhaps the line of the year poli

in the last armed services authorization bill, kelly ayotte was the last one to vote with us, but she voted for this autism amendment to make sure that members of the military who have children with autism could get the treatments they needed. that was 100%, all 17 women voted for that bill during that authorization. and i think there will be future measures like this, that we need to focus on, whether it's immigration or the economy. i think the women are open to crafting legislation, finding common ground and getting things done. >> i want to ask you about one of your big issues, you've heard hearings on the sexual assault issues. and there are, is a new report that one in five female service members have faced an unwanted sexual contact. what have we learned from the hearings so far and what can be done? and is this a subject that you're going to be raising tonight? >> yes. it's an issue that you know, it's not new, andrea. we've had sexual assaults in the military forever. and what the new report, the d.o.d. published found is that one in five women are receiving unwanted sexual c

you have a lot of republicans up in blue states like pat toomey, for example, ron johnson, kelly ayotteys, there might be even a better chance closer to those elections. >> how much was 2014 versus 2016, it was a big difference? it was. got to leave it there. been a very busy day. michael crow by, shira, kristen, got a lot of work to do. >> indeed. >> that's it for this edition. keep watching for the latest. more from texas on the explosion and more on the boston investigation, the interfaith service is set to start in one hour. we will have that live here. we just learned that the president will be meeting with families of those who were injured or killed in those boston marathon bombings. that will happen probably after the service. he'll also meet with those first responders who were there on the scene running towards the bombs and trying to rescue people? anyway, stay with us all day. coming up next, chris jansing. >>> i'm meteorologist bill karins. the middle of the country is dealing with a huge storm system. we have severe weather of tracking through areas of arkansas, louisiana

i just want to say that for the record, we did make a request to have heidi heitkamp and kelly ayotteiticism on because of their no votes because we wanted to have them on because we wanted them to explain their vote. maybe we weren't being fair. what did she say? >> kelly just passed on information to us so we have some of it. heidi people said they would not consider our request for some time now. >> here is the good news of what happened. >> wait a minute. they won't be on for some time? >> yeah. >> we get off the show and all we are doing is talking about 90% and 84% and heidi's case, 94% of the people in north dakota, you know, for background checks? and she got a couple of calls. >> 4-1. >> that upset her. i get off the air and somebody calls me. the nra has leaked your 1994 questionnaire. the nra went back 20 years to find my questionnaire and very consistent what i believe in today. i believe in second amendment rights and no compromise on second amendment rights. scalia confirmed in 2008 that my view on the second amendment was right all along. and so the nra, though, is just