mark begich in alaska, mark pryor in arkansas, mary landrieu, max baucus, kay hagan, and tim johnsonre all looking at potentially tough races in states mitt romney won as will the democrat who runs for jay rockefeller's seat in west virginia. nor is it a cake walk in the few blue states either. for example in iowa, minnesota where you have democrats running for the senate. conservatives see a big opportunity. they took a look at this front page story in the washington times today. quote, obama agenda is risky for red state democrats. guy cecil has good news for democrats. he pulled a rabbit, rather a donkey, out of his hat last year when the democrats gained seats. actually gained seats in a year that looked like a sure loser for democrats. that's his job, to pull off another miracle and hang onto the senate. maggie haberman is at politico, a senior politico reporter. this is important, although it's a year and a half off, people want to know how obama is going to make it. is he going to put points on the board, immigration reform, something on gun safety. he likes to talk about hims

it's interesting to watch who's applauding and who's not but the senate democrat -- mark pryor from arkansas, mary landers from louisiana, and a few others, will not want to vote on this because they're up for election in 2014 so we focus on republicans but it was a message for democrats, as well. john: he friday congress doesn't move, i will. eamon, i want to talk to you about the specifics. we'll talk about what was in the speech. let's talk about minimum wage. this was new in the speech although he supported it before. what's the economics behind that, what are the chances that minimum wage is going to come and is it a good idea? >> it's probably a long shot politically to get this thing done. minimum wage now is $7.25 an hour. the president would like it to go to $9 an hour. a lot of states have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage now and what a wage should be in a given market varies across the country a lot based on the economy in that local area. typically you find big companies have more ability to absorb the costs of minimum wage increase and it's the small business l

harry reid and you work with him and the democrats, would you encourage him to expose people like mark pryorin arkansas and max baucus out in montana? would you ask them to vote on an assault weapons ban? >> i think harry reid will give them the same advice i give them in private which is when you agree with the president, you should say so. and when you disagree with the president -- >> don't buckle from pressure from the white house. >> we have seen mark pryor has come out in opposition. i suspect you will see a couple others, but i would just juxtapose that against what's happening on the other side. the reason we're starting in the senate first is because john boehner and the leaders on the house side can't get anything done. they can't get a majority of their own party to support the speaker's own -- >> do you realize how their strategy could work. you and the senate will be the first cut. you are the first guys going over the top in world war 1 blowing the whistles, cutting through the con ser tina wire. you guys could get mowed down. i'm thinking about pryor, begich, landrieu, haguen,

mark pryor, mark begich from alaska. i don't think he wants to even bring it up for a vote.might because it might be better for those guys being on record voting against it, but that's kind of risky, so we'll see. >> i think it's tricky for him. >> it is. >> how does he hold the majority of senators when you see every time you have a gun issue the middle of the country, from california to new york, is against you. >> everybody a looking back at what happened in 1994 saying it could happen again. the numbers this time are entirely different than they were in 1994. they're overwhelming in favor -- >> you know the intensity issue. who gets out and votes on this. >> but the people who are going to vote against somebody for voting in favor of responsible gun control are already voting for republicans, so, democrats, you have nothing to fear but fear itself. >> you want heidi heitkamp and jon tester to run on this issue? >> everybody knows nobody hunts with an assault weapon. if there's anybody out there that hunts with an assault weapon, please come hunting with me. >> i don't se

there's democrats, obviously, pro-gun democrats like kay hagan in north carolina and mark pryor in arkansas probably a path of resistance for the president on some of these issues but the background check goes in to exactly what i was talking about. the background check albeit cumbersome for those that follow the law does have somewhat of a reputation of stopping criminals from getting guns. there will always be an element of citizenry criminals that go around the types of laws because they don't care about them in the first place. >> but the nra once supported it. >> you're right. >> mark, the hot water's not just on the nra. you have the mayor of minneapolis coming on msnbc earlier today and going as you heard straight on with harry reid. challenging him on the fact he's not read the bill and, again, stumbling through the answer in that interview we saw harry reid not take a definitive stance on assault weapons ban and he has an r-rates with the nra. you have some democrats also if you will in hot water when it comes to moving this conversation forward with action. >> well, i think ultima

max baucus, mark, kay hagen, mary landrieu, and mark pryor.you talking to them about specific measures in trying to get them to really stand up for some of the safety measures? >> we just had several families who lost loved ones in newtown, connecticut, down here on capitol hill yesterday, and we took them around to every one of the offices you mentioned to meet with the members of time possible, if not with all of their stats, to talk about -- to put a human face to this, to no longer make it about statistics or data, which we do have, but to put a real human face, to understand the realities of this decision making process and what the implications are if certain votes go certain ways. this is a really life or death issue. you know, we want to take the voice of the american people and close that gap between what our elected officials are doing for us and we basically have to fundamentally change that paradigm and we're seeing it change now that they can make a vote for our public safety. they can make a vote on sensible gun policy, and we'll

you can ask mark pryor in arkansas how he feels. >> van, hold the point. i want to go to break but i want to end on we can't let the perfect get in the way of the good. that's the line of the night so far. we will take a quick break and we will look at the republican response that marco rubio impressive as well and we will show you why and take you to a focus group that got to think of senator rubio's remarks and our reality check. we will have a team looking a the proposals on jobs some stay with us. oh! progress-oh! [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying "progress-oh!" share your progress-oh! story on facebook. target is in sight. people are saying yes, dad, i see him. now pour some chloroform into a white rag and.... no. hi. i understand you're looking for a hotel with a pool. with priceline express deals, you can save big and get exactly what you need. do i have to bid? use the stun gun. he's giving you lip. no! he's just asking a question. no bidding. awesome. get t

you can ask mark pryor in arkansas how he feels. >> van, hold the point.want to go to break but i want to end on we can't let the perfect get in the way of the good. that's the line of the night so far. we will take a quick break and we will look at the republican response that mark coe rub coe impressive as well and we will show you why and take you to a focus group that got to think of senator rubio's remarks and our reality check. we will have a team looking a the proposals on jobs some stay with us. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. it's just common sense. we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of tim and laura. it's amazing how appreciative ople are when you tell them they could save a lot of money on their car insurance by switching to

this push from the white house, will the president be able to convince senators like reid, like mark pryor from arkansas, like mary landrieu from louisiana, et cetera, to go along with the kinds of gun regulations they have not supported in the past and then once that happens, can he create pressure among house republicans? again i think where he might be able to get something done is with an expanded type of background check, banning assault weapons, i just see as a nonstarter completely. jon: david drucker from "roll call". david, good to have you on. thank you. >> thanks a lot. jenna: the pakistani girl who survived being shot in the head by the taliban is speaking clearly and has now released her own video statement. the brave teenager's message to the world, a show of resilience for you this monday next. >>> also last night's battle between the ravens and 49ers set a new record for the longest super bowl ever, thanks in part to this, the blackout during the third quarter. we're going to take a look what may have caused the outage. is it beyonce's fault, jon? that is the big question.

this year it was mark pryor, democrat and jeff sessions the republican. it is a wonderful affair.it tinged off into politics gave a lot in the media an opportunity to continue fan the flames of division. it is really unfortunate. ben carson is wonderful guy with a personal story. i wish the media had spent more time focusing on his personal story of all of the obstacles he has overcome instead of the political side. that is the problem when you bring politics into this breakfast. that's what you get. jon: alan, february 11th. are you going to agree with cal again? do we put this date on the calendar? >> i would underscore everything about this date. i think cal was right in what he said about car son's speech, first part being very appropriate. second thing less appropriate. i think the president would be wise, any president, whether president obama or any other executive, or anybody in public life to criticize the media. don't go after the people who rather big bullhorn and especially when he is singles out individual networks. i wouldn't do that because why pick that fight? the

in arkansas, mark pryor, mitt romney with 60%.n louisiana, and mary landrieu, mitt romney got 57%. in montana, max baucus, mitt romney with 55% of the vote. in north carolina, kay hagan up for reelection, mitt romney, about 51% of the vote. south dakota, tim johnson, mitt romney, 58% of the vote in 2012. these democrats, looking closely and hesitantly at president obama's agenda, on the issues he laid out in the state of the union address. also, a story about senator johanns, republican of nebraska, he has decided that he is not going to run for reelection in 2014. that is the story many papers have this morning. possibly the governor of that state could consider are wrong. senator mike johanns, not running in 2014. john in florida, an independent scholar. -- caller. caller: if they make these guns illegal, we have tens of millions of people in this country that are here illegally, that we cannot seem to find, and we cannot keep tabs on them. how are we going to find these guns and keep these guns out? what about the illegal peopl