jeff said he can be 27 seconds over. unfortunately, we came in 34 seconds over. he made me do it. what do you learn today, richard? >> cuba. interesting things are happening. 52 political prisoners about to be released, the economy is opening up for the first time in 55 years, we are seeing political change in cuba. >> jeff zucker? >> i learned you are probably going to use piers morgan against me. >> yeah, we are. . >> he took mine. >> call my act. >> >> you will notice that jeff zucker said mika, not going there. you're free to go chuck and savannah, i want you to know i constantly try to get to you guys at 9:00 straight up. i tell mika all the time. it is just -- >> whatever he says. go right ahead. in fact, let's let jeff throw to us. >> hi, jeff. >> mr. zucker. >> so jeff, i say it is way too early, you stay is "morning joe." now chuck and savannah with the daily run down. >> let's go to chuck and savannah with the early run i do. it is pacing. i got to get there commercials we got to get in. way too early, if it is way too early it is "morning joe." it is morning joe. >> now let's go. >> now let's go. >> to chuck and savannah. >> to chuck and savannah with the morning run down. >> close enough. >> close enough. >> house democrats headed to white house still smarting over rob robert gibbs comment. we love awkwardness, don't we? >> nothing like the good awkwardness. i'm chuck todd. get to the run down. start in the gulf. another setback in the effort to stop the oil spewing into the gulf. bp is delaying critical tests on its new tighter fitting cap on the ruptured well saying more analysis needs to be done first. meanwhile, oil keeps flowing into the gulf. nbc chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson is in her post in venice, louisiana. i understand the government asked for this delay. what is the big concern here? >> the big concern is trying to determine what the pressure readings are going to tell them. i just got off a phone briefing from kent wells, who is a senior vice president with bp. he says the well integrity test is currently on a 24-hour hold. they expect they will initiate it about midday today. the were they decided to put it on hold, there was apparently a disagreement among the scientists and bp officials there about just what the pressure readings would mean. and it is not so much, you know, we have talked about if there's high pressure, that means the well is intact. what they are more concerned about, if they can't build up pressure in the cap and if they get low pressure readings, does that mean -- what does that tell them? does that tell them that there is oil coming out of the well, perhaps closer to the surface or further down below? and so they are trying to agree and they have apparently now agreed on coming one with a protocol for that. so, that is what they say is the reason for the delay. they said the decision was made about 3:30 central time yesterday afternoon, although i will tell you, quite frankly, we didn't hear about it until about 8:00 central time and then bp didn't issue its statement until overnight. so, the funneling on the time line here certainly raises a lot of questions. but again, they say they are going to do this midday and when they do this, they are going to stop working on that first relief well. the well that is at the closest point intersecting the gushing well. and that is going to be delayed until this integrity test is completed. chuck and savannah? >> anne thompson in venice, louisiana, thank you for your report this morning. in other news, an iranian nuclear scientist who vanished last year and turned up mysteriously at the pakistani embassy in washington this week is now on his way become to iran. nbc's jim miklaszewski joins us from the pentagon. mick, such a fascinating story. iran claimed this scientist was abducted. the u.s. says that isn't what happened. what's going on here? >> savannahs, even in the an nals of spydom this sister roy is somewhat bizarre. this iranian nuclear scientist, shar ran amiri disappeared with a year ago. he turned up here in the u.s. where he reportedly shared some of the secrets of iran's nuclear weapons program with u.s. government officials. iran claimed as you said that amiri had actually been kidnapped and tortured by the cia. but even as late as yesterday, secretary of state hillary clinton denied that saying amir riff here of his own free will and could leave at any time. all that played out as amiri showed up at the iranian intersection here in washington earlier this week saying he wanted to return to iran and as far as we know, he is on his way this morning. what makes this case strange is over the course of the past several months, amiri released three videos, one saying he was kidnapped and tortured, the second saying he was attending graduate school voluntarily in the u.s. and a third saying, again, he had been kidnapped and tortured. u.s. officials are suggesting that iran had probably threatened amiri's wife and young son, who he had left behind in iran, and that amiri had no choice but to return to his country. >> a bizarre story. five americans killed in the past day as nato forces pushed into taliban-dominated portions of southern afghanistan as part of the entire kandahar offensive. i know is not surprising we with would have more troops at risk here but what happened? >> in this latest incident three, americans were killed in kandahar. one of these police stations that is shared by afghan security forces and the u.s. military mentoring those security forces. a car bomb went with and slammed through the gate, exploded. other taliban fighters stormed through that opening, opened fire, killing the three americans, five civilians and at least one afghan security officer. and what this really indicates, we know this is the height of the fighting season and as more american troops pour in, we can expect more u.s. casualties but it is clear the tall been are not going to give up kandahar without a serious fight. >> that is for sure. jim miklaszewski on his post at the pentagon. thanks very much. at the white house today, president obama is holding meetings with senior democrats from both the house and the senate. the goal, pick what needs to get done in the next four weeks before legislating is all but eclipsed by campaigning. however, nbc's mike viqueira live at the white house to testify to this, that isn't going tonight beginning of the conversation. the beginning of the conversation is going to be this dispute between what robert gibbs said on sunday and answering a question pretty honestly, probably as honest as any other political analyst would have answered t. >> that is seldom a plausible motivation in washington, right? >> and what house democrats heard, they are very upset and now dragging it into a four-day story. what's going on? >> part of that chuck, is bus our bow loved house of representatives doesn't usually come into session until tuesday night. so members have had a chance to stew for the last three days after robert gibbs said that on "meet the press" on sunday morning, allowing for the possibility, everybody is pretty much predicting, republican does take back the house after four years in the wilderness, but they had a chance to stew these house democrats, came back on the there are last night for a series of votes and sort of shared their frustration and reached a sort of critical mass from what i'm told this morning it sort of backfired, gibbs' statement. if he was trying to fill that enthusiasm gap between the core democrats sort of sitting on the their hands, independents who came and voted for the president two years ago it may have backfired. there's some initial evidence or some anecdotal evidence talking to source tlurng the democratic owners reacting like so why are we giving money to you if you are going to be losing the house of representatives and conversely they fear, do democrats that republicans will have the opposite it is going to have an effect on their fund raising, now, no less a personage than robert gibbs is allowing for the possibility than they can win, encourage more donors. another interesting point pointed out, the resentment, a little bit of resentment from house democrats, pointing out president has had more fund-raisers for harry reid than the entire house democratic caucus combined. >> oh, hello. >> yeah. yeah. 'cause there is -- first of all, mike, you know this better than anybody, there is always just that residual house versus senate bitterness and now it is play nothing thing into this, a indicate, some feel the white house favors the senate, taking the tough votes and the senate has kind of been dallying around. >> the dark arts of washington, the white house would have the republicans win the house so the president could have a foil her his last two years in office. no one wants to lose but actually democrats who buy that. >> you know, ask the white house about darryl eye sa, him becoming the chairman of the oversight committee and subpoena power, say they don't want republican was to the house because of that fear alone. >> nbc's mike viqueira at the white house. thank you, mike. the feds stepped into one with of the most notorious cases to come out of hurricane katrina. four new orleans police officers are accused of charging with shooting unarmed civilians and trying to could have term. pete williams is the justice correspondent. tell butts federal charges against the police officer. >> this takes this case to a whole other level because the justice department has been investigating. seven officers have now been charged, five have pleaded guilty to covering up what happened. this was september 4, 2005, the week after hurricane katrina. constituent staggering under the devastation a call goes out that there is a shooting on a bridge over the industrial canal there are -- some people going one direction, some people going to another. the police got -- arrive in a rented truck and when it is all over, four people are wounded and two people are killed. now the charges yesterday accuse four of the policemen who responded to killing the two civilians. and this is very serious because these are civil rights charges. this is the only wait government could have charged the case. but these civil rights charges that they use, just an indication how serious it, the maximum sentence under these civil rights charges is the death penalty it and the justice department in announcing these charges yesterday, very tellingly said we haven't even decided yet whether to seek the death penalty in this case that would be remarkable if in the case of conduct boy police, the government seeks the death penalty. the lawyers for the policemen say the government completely misapprehends what happened. there is great stress that these policemen were operating in. out trying to save lives, rescue people. they get this call. they show up there's massive confusion and they said none of that is reflected in the federal papers. >> people hear civil rights and say was there a racial motivation to this? >> no. this is a different -- is a different take on the civil rights law. basically what the government is saying, this sounds very simple minded, but what the government is saying here is this is the ultimate deprivation of your civil rights. you have a right not to be shot by the police for no good reason. these civilian republican articled, not doing anything illegal. that's the civil rights aspect of this but not the normal way we think of. >> most criminal statutes are state laws, the federal government wants to file charges has to hang it on a federal hook. there is no federal murder charge. >> thanks, pete. fate of a diabetes drug taken by millions of americans is going to be decided today. an fda advisory panel is looking into evidence that avandia increases the risk of heart attack and maybe be too dangerous to stun at market. nbc's tom costello has been following the story. tom it does seem as if all the evidence is pointing to the fda is going to yank this thing. >> if you read the body language and you listen very carefully to what all the fda panelists were asking of the expert witnesses yesterday, it certainly seems that they are very skeptical about glaxosmithkline's own studies which glaxosmithkline insists prove that avandia is safe. the evidence, as reviewed by the fda, according to the fda analysts, says the exact opposite, in fact there is a dramatic increase in heart attacks and stroke and also in death and the cleveland clinic's cardiologist, dr. stevens intoen, widely known and respected, did his own research and found 56 studies involving more than 35,000 patients there was a 28 to 39% increase in heart attacks. all this evidence is mounting now as glaxosmithkline has reportedly agreed to settle some 10,000 lawsuits at $460 million related to avandia. now, glaxo is refusing to comment on these reports but it has been reported out there and glaxo knows about the report and won't confirm or deny. so all of this is coming to a head today as this fda panel is expected to make a recommendation, a final decision will be taken by the fda shortly, we expect. >> all right, tom costello in our newsroom, keep us posted on that one. still ahead, our washington speak, the one thing you have got to do before offering anyone a political job in washington. plus to drill or not to drill in the white house says safety first but gulf residents say the ban on deep water drilling is making a bad situation worse. and up next, we are going to hear from a louisiana parish president who says put the big easy back in business. and the white house chief of staff or somebody else from chicago ties be forced to take the stand in the blagojevich corruption case in the defense gets ready to call its first witness it is going to be a doozy. yeah but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. as said, he is having lunch with senators and night time with the house dems. >> soup of the day will be stew. >> watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. 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[ male announcer ] it's simple, love your heart so you can do what you love. what do you love? see how cheerios can help you do it. >> is it the administration's goal or desire that deepwater drilling resume after the safety review? >> was it safe, yes. >> the white house says deepwater drilling is too dangerous until the cause of the spill is discover bud gulf coast resident says they cannot wait that long to get back to work. local officials in the gulf the obama administration's moratorium on deep water drilling is compounding the suffering in that region. >> charlotte made her case to the commission yesterday. what is it you believe, i think one of the concerns that the administration has is, okay if there is another blow, oil well that blew up tomorrow in a deepwater area in the gulf that they couldn't respond properly and it would completely make things andmy kill drilling forever in the gulf what do you say? >> i think what they are saying is that they are not sufficient resource and what we are responding with is the fact 18 miles off lafourche parish's coast is a million barrels of oil tankers off the gulf. they go from the port of houston throughout different ports in the gulf coast. and quite frankly, we are just as concern and wondered about the mixed message we are getting from the white house. they not concerned about a tanker leaking its oil? the chances of a tanker are four times greater of leaking their oil than an oil rig are. >> do you think they should do something about the tankers as well? >> i think what they are saying is they are using this bp explosion to further their agenda. i think the tankers are something they are ignoring because they represent countries throughout the world that we do business with and they are ignoring the tankers. >> so, you are mentioning the tankers because you are saying you think it put the lie to their claims of car brig safety in the gulf but not suggesting that you're also concern about the tankers and think there should be a moratorium on deep water drilling and do something about the tankers, too, right? >> well, i would like to got opposite on that i don't think there should be a moratorium on offshore drilling. right. i think what happened on that bp rig is that some people made some stupid, tragic, disastrous decisions. and that's what we should be focusing on, the not the remainder of the industry. >> what is reasonable here? somebody could look at this not from the gulf coast but somebody could look at this and say, well, you know what let's have an investigation, let's determine after we know everything that that what you just said about the deepwater horizon, it was a series of mistakes and -- by bp to or transocean or whoever is in charge, but what is reasonable? is three months reasonable in your mind to at least gather all the facts and determine that is exactly what happened? >> it has been almost three months they have been investigating this spill, even a criminal investigation into this by the attorney general's office. there was a report provided to secretary salazar 30 days after this explosion and i have strong feeling that is report revealed there was negligence on the part of the operators of one particular rig and not an industry-wide problem. >> all right. charlotte randolph, president of lafourche parish. i appreciate your time this morning. feels like afternoon already, but it is the morning. thank you, appreciate it. >> all right. well up next in today's decision 2010, the tea party favorite, one of them falls short in alabama. plus, politics and plagiarism. you know what that is never a good pair. find out who is landing in the crossfire on that one. first, our washington speak of the day, investigate, checking into a the background of a person for office to make sure there is no skeleton lurk. the investigate happens before the person is offered the jobs. >> two sets of vetting, yesterday the president announced the appointment of jack lou to be the next budget director, he has been vetted once, he is in a confirmed senate position at the state department to manage their budget there, however this is a different job and yesterday the white house was being a little bit defensive about whether his time at citigroup running a hedge fund, whether that needed to be revetted, essentially, before he accepted this job. >> those questions in the press briefing are what can be called a public vetting, the vetting that official does officially behind the scenes. >> don't forget the senate vetting. >> we will be right back. there's oil out there we've got to capture. my job is to hunt it down. i'm fred lemond, and i'm in charge of bp's efforts to remove oil from these waters. bp has taken full responsibility for the cleanup and that includes keeping you informed. every morning, over 50 spotter planes and helicopters take off and search for the oil. we use satellite images, infrared and thermal photography to map and target the oil. then, the boats go to work. almost 6,000 vessels. these are thousands of local shrimp and fishing boats organized into task forces and strike teams. plus, specialized skimmers from around the world. we've skimmed over 27 million gallons of oil/water mixture and removed millions more with other methods. we've set out more than 8 million feet of boom to protect the shoreline. i grew up on the gulf coast and i love these waters. we can't keep all the oil from coming ashore, but i'm gonna do everything i can to stop it, and we'll be here as long as it takes to clean up the gulf. any candidate tied to the establishment, last night, alabama republicans rejected bradley burn and picked robert bentley as their nominee for governor. burn had been endorsed by jeff session, even jeb bush weighed in on his behalf. bentley wound won handily with 56% of the vote, double-digit victory ahead of burn in other key races in alabama. the tea party support wasn't enough to bring rick "gather your armies" basher over martha robie, beat him with 60% of the vote the second congressional district is going to be a hot district to watch in the fault. only one woman has ever represented alabama in congress but the state could elect two this year, attorney terry sewell won her heavily democratic birmingham-based district. the seventh district, 55% of the vote to county commissioner shelia smooth's 45% of the vote f sewell wins in november and she should, she would become the state's first african-american woman to be elected to congress. all right, moving on to colorado, mail-in ballots go on on monday for the august 10th primary much the tea party-backed candidate ken buck in the senate race has been winning straw polls and leading in some phone poll bus outmatched financially by ann norton, brought in twice his haul in the second quarter. buck claims to have more cash on hand. we shall see. buck has been depending on outside groups like this one from third party groups like the americans for job security. this morning, norton is out with her first negative ad against buck on this very topic. >> seen those tv ads attacking me? they are paid for by a shady interest group doing the bidding of ken buck. you'd think ken would be man enough to do it himself. we need a senator who has actually cut spending and has the backbone to stand her ground. >> she shady and man enough? the ken buck/jane norton slugfest being blown out of the water today in colorado by coverage of the revelation that the leading republican in the governor's race lifted large sections of essays from one of colorado's supreme court justices. scott mcguinness was paid about $300,000 by a foundation to at some point write essays on water policy. yes this is the west and so, yesterday, he was asked to explain the plagiarism of justice gregory hobbs and he largely blamed his researcher. >> said, gosh, i did this all through. he thought it was public domain. that information that was in the public domain that he could put into it. so just got a straight man up. i understand will is some machine, computer software up there that you can take research and put it in there and it tells you whether or not it's similar to other research. i wasn't aware of that at the time. this is a nonissue if it weren't a political race. it is a political race. and they are going to try and, you know, divert are from their weaknesses and their weaknesses is they have done a lousy job. >> well that research, raleigh fisher, only went on the record yesterday to say macinnis is responsible for it. macinnis' opponent primary has problems of his own. dan mace agreed to pay as 17,500 this week for campaign finance violation. savannah, scott macinnis is a former member of congress, trying to cut his washington ties. right now, people are tuning into colorado and turning into politics and this is the first thing they see is this plagiarism charge, not good, especially 'cause his democratic opponent is the mayor of denver. he has a day job that keeps him basis. macinnis is full-time campaigning. >> chuck, thanks. up next, we will reveal the white house soup of the day with two ingredients that really shouldn't be in soup. plus, more serious matter, much more serious, actually, tell where you in the world terror officials are most worried that al qaeda is gain strength areth. plus -- >> rod blagojevich tried to set appointment to the senate seat vacated by president-elect obama. the conduct would make lincoln roll over in his grave. >> so did the prosecution's case live up to that hype? we are heading live to chicago where the defense is about ready to get its shot at the case. but first, today's trivia question. from the almanac of american politics, which presidential candidate once referred to lambeau field as lambert field? chuck's laughing. why? the answer and more coming up. memories. >> memories. and i actually feel sorry for him on this one. usehold, purina tidy cats scoop helps neutralize odors in multiple cat homes... keeping your house smelling like it should. purina tidy cats scoop. keep your home smelling like home. ♪ three decadent flavors. 60 caloes. me clock. time for jelo. bottom of the hour now. let's take a quick look what the is driving this wednesday in washington. >> wp wants to run more tests on that tighter fitting containment cap, saying further analysis is still needed. engineers say the tests could take up to 48 hours to complete. the barefoot bandit is back in the united states to face prosecution for a two-year string of break-ins and thefts. colton harris-moore was deported to the u.s. hours after pleading guilty to a minor offense in the bahamas. and a house panel is taking a closer look at those fees recently added by the airline industry. the bureau of transportation statistics says airlines collected billion of dollars last year from baggage charges alone. >> wait a minute, there is a bureau of transportation statistics? >> apparently. >> think about that who knew? i have to admit. >> the baggage fees, i'm thrilled. >> that was a new one on me. former illinois governor rod blagojevich is about to get his say in the corruption trial, at least we hope. we want to see him on the stand. the prosecution has rested in this case. >> the key defense question, we will see. >> the defense seems to be blagojevich got bad legal advice and the defense witness list reads like a who's who of illinois politics with big names like rahm emanuel, valerie jarrett and senate majority leader harry reid. that is washington politics. >> nbc's john yang has a front row seat, covering this trial for us in chicago. and john, those washington names are on the list, but how likely is it any of them will actually be forced to testify and more importantly, when is the circus of blagojevich on the stand going to happen? >> reporter: you will not be disappointed, chuck and savannah. yesterday, there was a hearing outside the ear shot of the jury that has defense repeated time and time again, blagojevich will testify. he is going to appear in his own defense. they are going to ask for tapes to be played. they are taking sort of a break here after the defense -- the prosecution ended its case yesterday, actually much sooner than was expected so the defense has given the defense a couple of days to get their case together and they will start presenting the defense on monday. but they said time and time again that, yes, blagojevich would testify and they also said that their defense, as savannah indicated, he got bad advice, there was no willful intent to commit a crime and that he was relying on the advice of the people around him, some of whom were lawyers, as to what i could and could not do. now, are we going to hear from valerie jarrett, rahm emanuel in the defense certainly would like to they are talking about one of the reasons why they wanted to take this break, they said they needed to work out the security logistics of bringing in people like rahm emanuel and valerie jarrett. of course, they are got to prove to the judge that they have got something relevant to say. of course, the defense rather also wanted to hear from president obama. the judge said no they wanted to see the notes from his fbi interview, which he gave before he was inaugurated as president and the judge said no. so, we will just have to wait and see who does finally appear went defense mounts its case, beginning on monday. >> i think things aring about about to get real interesting, sounds like the illinois governor wants some company there in that chicago courtroom. john yang, thanks for reporting, i know we will check become with you. >> the tapes will be good enough alone. president obama is dipping into the clinton personnel files for this choice to replace peter orszag at the office of management and budget. >> jacob jack lou held that omb job at the end of the clinton administration and the white house is not shy to remind us he was the last budget director to leave behind a surplus. let's bring in the budget man himself, douglas holtz aiken, former director of the congressional budget office. doug, i guess my first question is certainly you know jack almost ew with. do you think this is a good choice and do you think it signals that the white house knows that deficit and spending, those issues, are foremost at the minds of voters? >> i think he is a superb choice. jack is actually a washington phenomenon because you can't find anything nine this town who has a bad word to say about him. he's consummate professional. the staff who works for him admire him greatly and he does harkin back toon era when there was bipartisan efforts to control spending and something badly is needed now. i think they are counting on that. >> you are on capitol hill because you are going to be testifying on some issues having to do with the deficit and spending. we have this deficit commission that met with the governors over the weekend and we heard, i think it was erskine boles and allen simpson, one interchangeably and one called the debt a cancer but there isn't an expectation that we are going to get some sort of agreement on what to do next and if this deficit commission can't come to an agreement on how to tackle the debt the 14 votes they need on compromise and spending cuts and tax, how can we expect capitol hill to get it? >> they are going to have to if you look at the administration's budget earthquake the red ink so dramatic, running a deficit ten years from now the national debt will have exceeded 90% of gdp, the traditional line where countries get into international lending crises. republicans and democrats alick do not have a choice. under the numbers, the real problem spending, they will have to come to grips with their great desire to spend, we can't afford to do it anymore. >> clearly spending needs to be reined in. can't do anything about the deficit. the entitlement programs the primary drivers of our structural deficit what about taxes, too, seems neither side, democrats nor republicans want to put their sacred cows on the table. democrats it is spending republicans, taxes, cut taxes at a time when perhaps the country can't afford it. >> i don't think anyone should be proposing a tax cut. i think the real issue is raising enough to pay the bills, the top issue is the bill is too big and then really tax reform so that we can get all the growth we can out of this economy. we are going to need every bit of it to manage not just the debt burden but obligation to leave to the kiddance economy as strong as the one we have seen that is really in danger right now. the recipe is spending restraint and tax reform hopefully we can get congress there. >> you are testifying today on the decision or not to extend the so-called bush tax cuts and it does seem as if there is an agreement that some of them will be extended and some won't be. can you support a compromise agreement like that, where they extended the so-called middle class tax cuts of the bush era of these bush tax cuts but on those making over 250,000, those went back up to what they were during the clinton years? >> i think that's mistake. on the policy, we should be looking at what will create growth in the united states. we are growing too slowly and seeing millions of people out of work as a result. the top rates are ones that hit small businesses, about 50% of small business income is taxed at those rates. i think that would be a mistake at this moment. quite frankly, what we shouldn't extend are the subsidies to consuming things. what we need is a reorientation of our nation from saving, investment and growth and that's how they should view the decision to extend some or all these tax cuts. >> douglas holtz eakin, former director on the hill. your old stomping grounds. thanks for being with us. >> my pleasure. let's do our trivia. which presidential candidate once referred to green bay's lambeau field as lambert field while on the campaign trail in wisconsin? it hurt, too. >> i'm a packer fan, it was like sacrilege, it was senator john kerry are. the only defense you got to give him on this, he was tired and lambert field is in st. louis. he was likely still trying to stump there as well. but lambeau. i mean it is like -- it is the yankee stadium of the nfl. i mean period. >> i would certainly get it wrong. >> of course. even you would get this right. coming up, hunting al qaeda. how it is no longer just about scouring the desolate caves of afghanistan and pakistan. >> yeah, we will tell you where the administration is really worried. but first, the white house soup of the day. two ingredients that i'm going to go out to on a limb saying i don't think they should be in soup, asparagus and feta. >> the best way to deal with asparagus and feta? >> baken? >> no you put asparagus out, annen of, sesame oil, feta on top of it let the feta melt on the asparagus. >> that is not a soup right? >> i hear ya. i hear ya. when it is feta bat fwhad a soup? not bacon level. >> cheese is cheese, we know better than anyone else. you are watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] if you've had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you. protection that helps save lives. certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. it was it the best of time, it was the worst times. 1789, citizens of paris stormed the bastille prison and released the seven prisoners inside i have to say i love bastille day, i know it is only loosely affiliated, but "tale of two cities" best dickens novel by far, anything french revolution, throw in a little "les mis." >> now talking about recipes now "tale of two cities." >> most rereadable classic. >> chuck, i hardly recognize ye. >> the world got a remind they are week as if it needed one, a terrorist organization is looking to expand its reach. the explosions in uganda put the terrorist group al shabaab on the map, because they struck outside their home base in somalia. >> senior administration officials told us for them there is no worrisome area other than yemen, aqap, roger cressey san nbc terrorism analyst and a partner at good harper consultant, briefed by a senior white house counterterrorism official, that was the head loin that jumped out at us, yemen. obviously, al shabaab is in the news this week. but in yemen, they are concerned that that is where al qaeda is now most operationally capable t is not afghanistan it is not even pakistan. >> i think there is still al qaeda central, of a pack, the number one priority for the administration, what you see with aqap is several things, one, the christmas failed bombing, flight 253 you see an organization that continues to attack western -- the difference between al shabaab, somalia and aqap, al shabaab has tangential ties to al qaeda. aqap has tangential ties. >> not a year since the fort hood shooting we count fort hood as aqap, fort hood, christmas bomber, times square, al shabaab, less than a year, four attacks we are talking about in the states, you just brought up some others there is going to be a natural question, particularly with folks concern about the war in afghanistan saying, look why aren't we militarily doing more in yemen, this is clearly at qap is a threat to the united states. >> the other element is this american cleric, anwar al awlaki part of the aqap leadership. a couple things, chuck, we are doing a lot with the yemenis to deal with aqap, military operations, military training but we can only do as much as the government and president wants us to do he now understands for the first time that aqa st. a threat to him as much as it is to western interests but he has a rebellion in the south, a hutty problem in the north and then aqap floating around everywhere else. it is complicated for him, sometimes we butt up against that how much more we want to be able to do but not allowed to do. >> in terms of reach, dan benjamin, the state department's adviser on counterterrorism on our show yesterday talking about some links between aqap and yemen and al shabaab. how much do you see that i guess manifesting itself? because this is are the first time al shabaab has tried to hit targets outside of somalia. >> being success envelope doing it, why you saw the president speak about it today that's why i think we are seeing a lot mor. understand one thing, though, shabab is a somali-focused entity. they support the jihad phrases and what they're really about is to establish. there is cross fertilization between shabab and yemen. there is a large somali population in yemen. an ark of instability. >> you just brought up the president and what you're referring to an interview that he did with an african news agency and he said, look, al shabab and al qaeda in general, they don't respect african life. what was the message he was trying to send there? >> an important point. al qaeda and its affiliates have killed more muslims than anybody else. that is a message that we, as a government, are trying to get out. >> now president obama. >> part of it is messenger. this is a point we need to be getting out and there is a point that people in the region need to be getting out. the terrorists killing muslims more than anybody else. >> al qaeda is a racist organization that does not value human life. >> pretty powerful words. >> roger, thank you. 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 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 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. d# 1-800-345-2550 d it's ic-insured. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 e schwab bank high yield vestor checking(tm) account. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the biggest thing in checking since checks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account at 1-800-4schwab or schwab.com. you may have been expecting a cooking segment, considering where the show was headed today. a little politics and sports here. the american league's dominance in the all-star game is over, at least for this year, thank goodness. after the national league's 3-1 victory proving that the dh is a failure. baseball's best started the evening with a pregame moment of silence, by the way, to honor george steinbrenner. the game was a pitcher's dual and in the year of the pitcher it should have been with the american league holding a 1-0 lead when brian mccann ripped a bases clearing double into right field. it was all the national league needed because their prize for ending a 13-year drought is home field advantage in the world series. one of the dumbest developments in the history of the rules of baseball. but savannah, not just a big win for the american league, a big win for republicans. why? eric ostermier and, by the way, i'm a subscriber, i love it. he checked all the box scores and found out there was a national league victory that has proceeded every election with double-digit gains for republicans in the house since 1950. the pattern is similar in the senate. republicans have gained at least five seats when the national league has won the all-star game in that year. another scary fact for democrats, when the national league rallies to win the game, republicans make gains in the house of 34-54 seats. the national league made a late-inning rally to come back and win this, what should be a meaningless game but not because of the craziness of actually making the world series home field advantage a part of this game, but that's a whole other story. but what it means, good news for the republicans, apparently. go figure. >> we'll see if it's right again this time. that's it for "the daily rundown." >> coming up next chris jansing. >> and at 1:00, "andrea mitchell reports." looking at hot and steamy temperatures and rain in the forecast and atlanta 93 and dry and dallas 97. have a great day. ♪ (laughing through computer) good night, buddy. good morning, dad. (announcer) oreo. milk's favorite cookie. bare foot and back on american soil. the teen suspect known as the bare foot bandit is just hour away from appearing in court. in a fascinating twist, it turns out his pension for going shoeless could be his