Transcripts For MSNBC The Daily Rundown 20100708

>> oh, i can hardly stand the suspense, chuck. good morning, everyone. july 8th, 2010. i'm savannah guthrie live in washington. i will not be le-fawning over lebron, chuck. >> no. we'll discuss, savannah, what to do and what the next move will be. >> i'll leave. you can have that hour. >> no. but it's possible we may decide to do this hour one more time again tomorrow but stay tuned to the end of the show and let you know. i'm chuck todd live in aspen. so let's get to the lebron rundown. we're going to begin with the russian spy saga. call a flashback to the cold war. u.s. officials appear on the verge of swapping alleged agents with moscow. pete williams is nbc's justice correspondent. pete, round up the usual suspects. we're suddenly still have spies in moscow and handle this case? >> reporter: well, so it would appear. we can't say that for 100% certain and sure looks that way now. there are two sort of things happening. the first is the defendants have all been brought together in new york for a hearing today. they could well plead guilty. this is a very fast-moving case. the government just filed the indictment against them yesterday after the earlier criminal charges filed. they will be in court. first chance to plead and may plead guilty. if that happens, then we go to step two which is at least in the works a swap. those ten, perhaps not all, but most of those ten in exchange for ten people held in russia charged by the russians with spying for the u.s. now, on the old days, chuck, they would have been brought to the bridge of spies in berlin but that's no longer a divided city and could be happening very fast in vienna. a man who was convicted six years ago of spying for the united states has been brought from his gulag in russia to a moscow prison and told to stand by headed to basically shuts it down. puts the light of day on it. shows the russians we were able to penetrate it and take it down and the u.s. believes it's put russia out of the business of these people coming into the u.s. and mass ka raiding as americans and being secret agents for russia. >> a different concept of justice. not in court necessarily. >> a bonus. >> we'll see. pete williams, we know you will be following it, thanks. the president stepping up the campaign activity today stepping into senate races in two states. first missouri and then nevada where senate leader harry reid hanging on by a thread. athena jones joins us live from the white house. good morning. tell us about the president's trip. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. today is about the economy and the midterm elections. the president heads first to kansas city to a plant that got a $32 million stimulus grant for electric trucks part of what is white house call it is recovery summer with officials traveling the country highlighting the ramp-up in recovery act spending and they say the most active recovery season yet and part of the pace the president and officials trying to make to voters that the obama administration with the help of democrats in congress who they want to send back was able to take these steps to get the economy back on the right track. the challenge is he's doing this when everyone knows that millions of americans are out of work and balance talking up the economy saying the recovery isn't happening as quickly as we like but the economy is stronger and stronger. maybing that stop in kansas city, speak on the economy and then two fund-raisers for a senate hopeful there in kansas city and then heads to las vegas to stump again for harry reid, probably about the third time we believe he'll be on the stump for harry reid. of course, harry reid is in a tough race himself. we have heard from white house press secretary robert gibbs that the president will be very political in the speeches on the stump at the fund-raisers today making the case that democrats should be sent back and making the right moves. republicans are out of touch. likely to hear him bring up the joe barton apology to bp and comments of regulatory overhaul being like killing an ant with nuclear weapons and hearing political language today in the stump speeches. back to you. >> athena jones at the white house for us, thanks very much. clearly, the president not just trying to sell democrats but the recovery. bp is making a big promise. now saying its relief wells could be finished weeks ahead of schedule by july 27th. anne thompson is nbc's chief environmental affairs correspondent. anne, july 27th happens to be a special date as far as bp is concerned because that's a big earnings report day, is it snot. >> reporter: it is, chuck. in fact, it is the day that the bp will report the second quarter earnings and, wow, what kind of good news able to kill the well on that day. they are very close. they're about 15 feet away horizontally and 300 feet vertically. but this is the real delicate time in this operation because they have to be extraordinarily precise as they approach the well. they go -- they're now moving in like 15 to 20-foot increments and they drill and then they send a magnetic wire down where they've drilled to make sure they're going in the right direction so this is absolutely crucial. if it does happen before august, it would be the first thing that has actually gone ahead of schedule and actually gone right in this entire disaster. nothing has. the other thing, the other big news today is that government lawyers are going back into court today to try to get that deepwater drilling ban reinstated. the 5th circuit court of appeals will hear the arguments today in new orleans. there's one-hour oral arguments and then the court is expected to rule perhaps in weeks. chuck and savannah, back to you. savannah, how come he gets to go to aspen? >> anne, you know, by the way, chuck, i did not put anne up to this. anne, i think you raise an excellent point. this is one of the reasons we think you are one of the finest reporters here at nbc and a question that i'm sure our viewers are asking, as well. how did chuck get this gig? i don't know. >> reporter: yeah. >> asked the tough questions. >> we're in sweaty places. >> quite unfair. anne thompson, great job. thank you. >> reporter: bye. >> bye. we'll move on now and at the pentagon today the military's launching a major effort to get a read on how the rank and file feel about plans to repeal don't ask don't tell. jim miklaszewski joins us from the pentagon. is this a survey? >> reporter: that's right. they consider it a necessary first step toward the paft of repeal of don't ask, don't tell. the pentagon is sending out 400,000 e-mail surveys to active duty national guard and reserve service members to get their opinion on the possible impact of don't ask, don't tell. they'll be asking such questions as, how would you feel about serving with a gay or lesbian in the same sleeping quarters, shower facilities, bathroom facilities and the like? those survey results have to be returned by august 15th. at the same time, they will release a second survey to family members of service members to get their reaction to the possibility of the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. and on the survey, although they're all confidential, those gays and lesbians currently serving in the military will have an extra layer of confidentiality. they can click on a separate site for comments anonymously without fear of being singled out, identified as a gay or lesbian and forced to separate the services as the law requires. military and pentagon officials say this is not to determine whether don't ask, don't tell should be repealed but how best to repeal it with the least amount of disruption to the services, particularly those involved in two wars. savannah? >> hey, mick, very quickly, i understand general petraeus in afghanistan may clarify the, quote, rules of engagement for sole iesoldiers on the ground i that war. >> reporter: well, these rules of engagement involve air strikes and nighttime operations in which many civilian casualties occurred. and general stanley mcchrystal when he was the commander put in some strict guidelines to prevent those kinds of things happening but what the military's found out is some commanders overinterpreted those rules so as not to return fire and launch air strikes putting americans on the ground under fire in peril. so what they're going to try to do is clarify the rules and highway to interpret them. >> okay. jim miklaszewski at the pentagon for us, as always, thanks very much. all right. well, sports is making big news today. the king, the self proclaimed king holds court tonight as millions are expected to tune to find out where lebron james will be playing next season. darren ravel joins us now. the rumors are flying it's all about the heat, making this from connecticut. do we read anything into that? what are the tea leaves saying? >> as you know, chuck, it is all about rumors. first staying with the cavs and then going to the heat and then going to the bulls. yesterday, he was going to the knicks. so much so that msg stock, the parent company of the knicks, madison square garden, up 6.4%, trading at 8 times the normal volume. everyone thought it was the knicks. he was hearing at a steakhouse allegedly even though he was in akron at the basketball camp. yes, this morning, both espn having the show called the decision and newsday reporting that lebron is leaning towards miami. i have no idea how at this point he hasn't made a decision considering he has a show 12 hours from now. but yes. and that certainly driven a lot of ticket requests to the heat who are going to sign both chris bosh and dwyane wade. they could get the three biggest free agents here. you go on the miami heat website right now. they say due to an overwhelming request, they can't accommodate any tickets. but i just called online and the cheapest price right now for season tickets is $6,450 per seat and that's face value. >> wow. how about that? miami heat might actually sell out their games in an actual season as a native, i will be shocked if that's the case. darren, on top of the story. follow darren on twitter today with good stuff. thanks very much. >> thanks, chuck. all right. still to come, president obama's top adviser for domestic policy melody barnes joins us here in aspen. as president obama hits the campaign trail out west today, we are checking in on the upcoming midterms. and yes, there will be math. the bbc's katie kay and number crumpler extraordinaire joins us next. but first, a look at the president's schedule. he is on the road today. did we mention that? anyone for ice cream? we got it on rollback. that's what i'm talking about. blue bunny premium ice cream. i know you want it. [ humming ] this is my ice cream dance. ooo, peanut butter. obviously we are getting much, much closer to the fall elections and the president will -- will have -- will do more things leading up to that. but i think he's -- he has been very involved in -- in raising money and in making an argument and he'll certainly continue to do that. >> well, as if the president didn't have enough on his plate, he is on the road trying to help democrats maintain control of congress. >> the talk in washington is that holding the house may already be a lost cause for democrats. but let's look at the numbers. for that, we turn to stu rothenberg. let's lay it out as we go here. for republicans to gain control of the senate, they have to have a net pickup of ten seats, of the house, 39 seats. let's start with the house and give us the most likely scenario. >> well, remember. they need to net 39 in the house, savannah, but losing a handle of their own and need to knock off 34 hr 35 democrats. right now, we believe the republicans have substantial gains, 25 to 30 range. other people who are talking 35, 40, 45. it is a big year and won't know until later in the year how big but the republicans have a chance. the house is in play. i think that's absolutely true. >> now, stu, going to the senate here, you know, history says the house never flipped out the senate and directly elected senators. it seems as if ten is a tall order. and yet, just this week we get, you know, more news and more n confirmation of another senate seat and wisconsin and in play and 12 sitting on the table there that republicans are targeting for democrats. you know, do you feel like, you know, what are your prospects at this point on the senate side? >> chuck, talking about the senate a year ago and somebody raised the possibility of the senate flipping i would have thought they were delusional. now it's still a long shot and can't rule it out completely. you're absolutely right. there are a handful of races on the board that a year ago were nowhere near the board. states like california, wisconsin, washington. ten is an awfully big number. and it is in some ways bigger although it seems bigger. it's smaller than 39 in the house talking about far fewer seats in play so i think right now the republicans likely to gain between 5 and 8 seats but kind of within spitting distance of 10 and far enough states now with competitive challengers, competitive candidates i can't rule it out completely. >> we showed the republican senate seats in play. there are five of them. which to you are the most vulnerable? >> right now, i'm becoming more uncertain daily about florida. obviously, it is a three-way race. the democrats have their own primary. savannah, i thought early on in assessing what would happen with charlie crist as an independent that significant republican support peels away from him and would become a two-person race, the republican and the democrat. we haven't seen much of marco rubio lately. kind of disappeared and charlie crist with the blood pressure oil leak to use, to demonstrate the leadership and authority and hands on. the polls show he's hanging on there. this is an uncertain race. i don't know if there's a republican or democrat. >> we don't know who he would caucus with. >> the big question. >> yeah. all right. >> thanks. now we bring in katy kay for bbc. i want to bring it up to a little bit of 30,000 feet and take advantage -- >> up here in aspen, you mean. >> technically 7,555 feet give or take a couple of yards. take advantage of your bbc aspect. we just saw in great britain a change election. we have seen a change in japan. we have seen a change in australia and now this change atmosphere. are we talking the economy is suddenly making everything, everybody in western democracies anxious and wanting change from your government? >> i think you are quite right and goes back to the economic shock. wasn't just america and europe but went right around the world has populations feeling uncredibly uncertain and unemployment rates going up and debt ratios going up and left people nervous and when they're nervous they're looking to the leadership and thinking are you the right people to lead us out of this? interesting thing that's happening now between europe and america is this kind of split on approach to resolving the economic crisis with the europeans saying, listen, we have the debt ratios. look what happened to greece. we must start making spending cuts. cameron made the cuts you could not imagine this administration making, particularly with four months to go before a national election. >> katty, as the president steps up campaign activities if missouri and nevada today, i mean, how do you see this? is it a no-brainer that having the president come campaign for you is a plus if you're a democrat? or is it more of a mixed bag? >> i think it's not a no-brainer. i mean, look. how long have the president's coat tails been in elections over the past 12 months? not particularly long. kind of ragged. they must be making the calculation that it's worth having him throughout, particularly for fund raising i guess it is worth having him out there and in missouri talking about jobs as well as having the candidate by his side and critical. look, there are four really important numbers between now and the midterm elections and those are the four job report that is come out at the end of july, august, september and october. and what the white house is hoping is if they can get incremental approval -- improvement across the country on the jobs numbers then that gives them a chance, a better chance in the midterm elections and for all americans, that's what we're all really focused on is whether this unemployment rate can start coming down and why the president's not just campaigning but talking about jobs, as well. >> more of a selling of the economy and not the democrats. >> yeah. what the administration needs to do is look competent on this. they need to look like they're on top of this and moving in the right direction and not out of control and i think what the republicans are trying to say is they don't have a plan on jobs and criticism ahead of the president's visit to missouri is going to be a small green factory, produced 50 jobs and we have lost thousands of jobs and that's what the administration needs to focus on, as well. you can't just focus on 50 jobs. that is not nearly enough. the pain is so great that you need a much bigger plan than that. >> enjoying the altitude of aspen, thanks. still to come, andrea mitchell. plus, in today's "decision 2010," vitter going on record. they warn the race will get dirty. but first, "washington speak." bushback. this is the word to lit cos use and overuse for a proposition and rather than tell you, let's show you an example. here's the president in the oval office this week pushing back on a reporter who suggested the israel-u.s. relationship has a rift. listen. >> let me first of all say that the premise of your question was wrong. and i entirely disagree with it. >> ah, there you have it. pushback in action. if you have "washington speak" to clarify, send us an e-mail. chuck, as we know, the pushback can be more heated and uncomfortable than that but whatever. >> particularly from the aides, yeah, that's for sure. >> yeah, yeah. we'll be right back. 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"decision 2010" time. david vitter went on the record after dodging the press. he addressed the resignation of aide who was arrested in 2008 for assaulting a girlfriend but remained a staffer in vitter's office into june of this year. a charge vitter called old news. >> the event was two years ago. the discipline in the office was two years ago. >> what kind of discipline in the office? >> anybody else? >> senator, why was he assigned to women issues after you knew about the arrest? >> he was not. >> he was not? >> correct. >> why did you -- >> and that's just, just one of several issues that have been completely misreported. >> at a second campaign stop in louisiana, vitter was asked about what issues he worked on. >> women's affairs? >> that's absolutely incorrect. he handled issues including abortion issues, including several other issues but not women's affairs. >> now, a directory of congressional staffers did list women among the issues he was assigned to as a legislative aide. vitter is comfortably ahead in louisiana. democrat charlie mulinsom trying to run as a centrist yesterday distancing himself from national democrats and going after vitter on the less humble roots. >> he is an uptown new orleans boy that went to harvard. look, people in louisiana vote for the person. they don't when it comes down to it look at the president, the speaker as long as that person's not just a go-along, follow-along person. >> well, we shall see what happens here in louisiana. republicans believe they're going to be fine but they do admit to us that they think they'll have white-knuckle moments when it is nasty for vitter that those numbers could go pretty quickly. staying with the battle for the senate, good time to check in on colorado since, well, we are here. there's contested primaries on both sides. appointed senator bennett fending off a challenge of romanoff and aunch launched a fv ad. take a look. >> it's like a rigged casino. washington takes special interest money. wall street gambles with our economy and then washington bails wall street out. special interests in washington have more power than the people. and that's not just wrong. it's corrupt. the difference is, i don't take a dime of their money. >> bennett running as far from washington as he can tells voters in his latest ad he is anything but some sort of elitist. >> while others learn to read, you struggle to make sense of the page. and while others moved ahead, you stayed back. but in the end, you per severed to help kids, you challenged the old way of doing things. and now, you're asked to serve. so you set out to fix a broken washington. for colorado. >> bell, by the way, right now on the republican side, the establishment candidate jane norton fending off a challenge by ken buck and buck actually in the lead in some polling. colorado's primary is august 11th. that is an actual heat wave time here in savannah in august. maybe not july in this part of the mountains but heated on the campaign trail and at that time in august. >> nice try. yeah, nice, nice try, chuck. >> no? doesn't work? >> comfortable and lovely there. no. let's move on, shall we? coming up, education and the economy. will the president's plans to save our schools be sidelined by tough budget cuts? the interview next with white house domestic policy adviser live in aspen. a man tries to break the world record of sharing time with 40 of the deadliest snakes in the world. we'll check in on his progress. but first the trivia question. in 1972, colorado said no thanks to hosting a major sporting event. what was it? the answer and more ahead on "the daily rundown." here, kitty. here, kitty. oh! just come snuggle with mama. [ male announcer ] missing something? like 2 pairs of glasses fo$99.99 at sears optical, with bifocal lenses for just $25 more per pair. hurry in to sears optical today and don miss a thing. bottom of the hour now. a quick look at what's driving the day. >> bp has moved up the target date to plug the leak in the gulf. now saying the company could have a cap on that well by july 27th. that is also the date bp executives will hold the company's second quarter earnings call. spy suspects in the united states and moscow are waiting for confirmation from either nation on a possible swap between the countries. in moscow, riot police fortifying security. the proposed gathering point for people convicted of spying for the west. and the wait is almost over for the teams still in the lebron james sweepstakes. the king as he calls himself will make his decision live tonight in an espn one-hour special. other stories making headlines today, three suspected members of al qaeda are under arrest in norway for what officials say was a bomb threat. the three men under surveillance for more than a year. in new york, five more men charged yesterday in connection with that plot to bomb the new york subway. the suspects are also accused of planning to an attack an unidentified target in britain under orders of al qaeda leaders in pakistan. the coast guard is searching for two people missing after a duck boat crash in philadelphia yesterday. 37 people were tossed overboard when the stalled sightseeing tour boat hit by a barge and sank in the delaware river. in texas today, massive flooding along the border with mexico. authorities forced to close bridges and roads and evacuate tens of thousands of residents. moving on now. school is out for the summer, of course. the pressure for the nation's teachers shifting from class performance to job security. >> schools across the nation are facing massive budget cuts and while president obama's fighting a proposed cut to his key education initiative, the race to the top. melody barnes, director of the white house domestic policy office and joins us now here in aspen. >> a pleasure to be here. thank you, chuck. >> i want to start with the issue of the funding. the democratic chairman of the house appropriations committee, he's retiring. not running again for reelections and did major cuts to the program and said, quote, i didn't come here to be arne duncan's congressman. who do people think put the money in the programs in the first place? i did. welcome to washington and welcome to hard choices. president has a veto threat on the supplemental bill. is he going to follow through on the threat? >> absolutely. race to top the one of the president's top priorities. chuck, the president talked about four pillars to the new foundation and education reform was one of them. we believe it's necessary to make sure that the country is competitive. we believe it's necessary for innovation and growth in the economy. we have to educate our kids. the race to the top has done a tremendous job of doing that. we have been catalyst, race to the top is a rat list for education reform all over the country. even before a single dollar out. well received. it's brought together teachers and administrators, parents and local communities and states as they have started to work toward their competition applications. so we think it's very, very important. we also think, however, that it's a false dichotomy to believe that you have to cut race to the top funds to preserve teacher jobs. one of the things we did in the recover act is create or save 3,000 teacher jobs. we don't let that investment go by the wayside. we have to teachers teaching kids and reforms to initiate. >> hey, melody. i know the administration put a priority on education reform. be candid here r. the teachers' unions an obstacle to reform? >> no, you know, savannah, first of all, good morning to you. we have been working with teachers' unions as asaid. the two states that won the two -- the competition in the first round for race to the top, delaware and tennessee, did a wonderful job of working with teachers, with administrators, with other state officials, bringing everyone together as they put their applications in. we want to drive reform and the president always said anyone that wants to come to the table for the sake of the kids is welcome. and we believe that we've been able to do that with what happened in tennessee and delaware is indicative of that. >> it puts a pinch on school budgets, as well. do you really think, though, there's the stomach in congress here? you can't get the race to the top funded. is there stomach in congress if states say we need more money to not lay off teachers? will you fight to the end to try to find the money? >> as i said, there's a false dichotomy. the fact that people believe we have to cut race to the top dollars while trying to find dollars to preserve teacher jobs. what we have said, what the president said when he indicated or the senior advisers to recommend a veto is that we are going to work with congress and anxious to work with congress to find money to offset the dollars necessary to preserve teacher jobs. >> have you found that money? >> we have articulated ways that we believe this can be done to members of congress anxious to sit at a table to get that done and move the necessary education reforms forward. we can't do the same old, same old for our kids anymore. we aren't as competitive in education as we have been in the past and as the p said if country that out educates us in terms of providing what their children need today will out compete us tomorrow economically. >> all right. >> all right. melody barnes, i hope you and chuck are having a swell time out there in colorado. we're handling the heat wave here in washington. >> wish you were here. >> yes. thank you. okay. chuck, do the trivia. colorado edition of trivia. in 1972, colorado said no thanks to hosting a major sporting event. what was it? >> it was the 1976 winter 0 fim lick games after denver won the bid. voters went to the polls, rejected the bond that would have financed the games with public funds. only state to reject the olympics. savannah, what makes this appropriate is it was over a budget crisis issue. they needed to worry about funding and dealing with the economic crisis of the early '70s so sometimes history can repeat itself. all right. up next, live from -- i'm supposed to say this beautiful aspen. >> rub it in. >> but could the economy -- yeah. could the economy be headed for a second bottom? double dip. we'll have a look at the growing signs pointing to this worry of a double dip recession. white house soup of the day. one of chuck's favorite. gazpacho. as cool a breeze through chuck's hair right now in aspen. >> it's perfect for a hot day. >> yes. yeah. what would you know about that in aspen, chuck? we'll be right back. 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♪ ♪ ♪ now when you open and fund an account, you'll get 200 commission-free trades. fidelity investments. turn here. ♪ 1835, the u.s. liberty bell in philadelphia cracked while being tolled for chief justice john marshal. it was never rung again. well, here we've been ringing the bell a little bit about the fears of a possible double dip recession. not trying to cause a panic but people are talking about it more lately, chuck. >> it is serious. been a hot topic of conversation here in aspen. today president obama trying to counter some concern with an economic speech in kansas city but it comes on the heels of a report predicting just how big of a risk europe's debt crisis poses to the global recovery. here with now, james fallows with "the atlantic" and of course our own colleague here andrea mitchell. >> good morning. >> jim, let me start with you about the global fear and the global sort of pinch that is affecting the american recovery right now. >> sure. there's been a sense ever since the depths of the crash two years ago at governments of the world has to collectively find ways to apply the recession to avoid a repeat of the 1930s when it was not enough and another dip occurred and as the unpredicted events, notably the european debt crisis piles on doubt about whether the path and propulsion are enough to keep things going. >> andrea, you spend time talking about the economy off camera shall we say. what are you seeing? when you talk to folks, what they seeing about the sort of this recovery? how fragile is it? >> fragile but i don't think there's great risk or people don't think there's great risk of a double dip but it isn't perceived to be improving enough politically and that's the challenge for the president. the jobs numbers just have not moved enough and that's what they have got to do is hope to sell this recovery summer. it doesn't feel that way in the key states where they're worried about losing senate seats. >> jim, i want to extend this more globally here. particularly, you spent a long time in china reporting on sort of the rise of china as a great economic power. one of the rumors and fears throughout is a housing bubble in china that maybe china's economy more fragile than we in the rest of the world think it is. >> certainly there are and always will be challenges for the chinese economy. i think the fear is probably overblown and misinterpreted in the west. in a few big coastal cities, the housing prices going way up but the chinese government has more resources to deal with this than the u.s. does. the banks are full of money. >> our money. >> when you say full of money, is it real or manipulating the currency? >> partly. one of the reason they have resources around the world in dollars is held the currency flat for two years. so that's one reason why they have so many assets in general. but also, the banks are more subject to direct state guidance on whether they loan or not loan and so if an impulse starts they have ways to stop it. >> go ahead. >> one of the things that the president is trying to pitch now is that he's going to increase exports. and one question that you have to ask is, who's going to buy our exports right? >> what are we going to export? >> is europe gwynn what's happening going to be buying from us and china? it is just not that realistic to expect that this is going to be something to turn on and off with a switch. >> let's talk about the debt issue here a minute because this seems to be what is going to be the political focus of the first six months. i mean, no matter what happens, republicans make gains and the deficit is a key issue starting. is this a global issue? europe is talking about its fear of the debt. is there an issue also in asia? >> there's a global debate on this point that everybody agrees in the long run, five years from now, maybe sooner than that, the question of solvency of government starting with the u.s. is an important one. can we tax our selves to pay for the benefits in the short term, the opposite of that problem. is there enough spending going on to keep demand up and u.s. factories and chinese factories and i think that debate you find in every country of the world, including asia. >> i'm also hearing that the next budget director will be, it will be a big person. that this isn't going to be a bureaucrat type of appointment or someone gets a promotion, it is going to be a big person because they know this is going to be a big issue in the next year, which is dealing with the debt. >> that would certainly answer some of the concerns on the republican side from the critics and also globally. you know better than anyone what happened at the g-20 there was this huge divide between the u.s. being blamed for still focusing on stimulus and all of europe aligning itself against the american officials saying that we've got to do something to control spending. >> andrea mitchell, a current colleague. jim fouls a former colleague. very excited to have you both. people should read your blog all the time. i learn so much about china. andrea, what do you have on the show today? >> we will talk to jane harden and he has done in harlem for 8,000 kids what we really want to see around the country, charter schools, huge solutions and big questions but he has a lot of answers. >> there you have it, savannah. kind of warm here today, little warmer than yesterday. >> you just can't resist, can you? the deadly animal edition of the shallow end. what better way to spend the season than locked in a room with o40 venomous snakes. >> smats that's all the time in the white house booth. our tweet of the day. but the soup of the day in aspen is likely cream of perrier. we'll be right back. 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[ imitates engine ] i'm darrell, and i save people money so they can live better. before we go, time to take a dip in the shallow end. for some it's a nightmare and for others it's a chance at history with poisonous snakes. david jones is in south africa to set a world record for sharing a room for four months with 40 of the world's most venomous snakes. the last man to make a similar attempt was hospitalized after being bitten by a cobra. jones understands that this isn't for everybody. here's how he explains it. >> i do get that quite a lot. people die all the time when they climb mt. everest, but it doesn't put other people out from climbing mt. everest. this, if you like, is my mt. everest. >> sure it is. >> he tries to stay calm all day by watching the world cup. that's not too exciting and also surfing the web. if it works, chuck, he will break the world record at the end of august. everybody has their mt. everest. >> that's right. and he gets promoted to become, he'll get the front row seat at the white house press briefings because if you can survive all that time with snakes, you can survive being in the front row, right? >> i like how that joke got two rotations today. >> really? i do. sometimes you take a joke and you use a sledge hammer. >> what are you talking about like my weather jokes about aspen. we'll do that again tomorrow, too. that's all the time we have today for "the daily rundown." coming up next, chris jansing. >> then at 1:00, don't forget "andrea mitchell reports." i can take one airline out... and another home. so with more flight options, i can find the combination that gets me there and back quickest. where you book matters. expedia. you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood sugar spikes and may help reduce high morning blood sugar. 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