26 minutes north longitude and 34 degrees, 19 minutes west latitude. today is friday, april 12th, 2013, and this is "the daily rundown." now, here's chuck todd. >> love it! the maritime watch! thanks to craig shipman for that dispatch from international waters. keep sending in your videos, from land or sea, one by each. dailyrundown on msnbc.com. the senate will begin the first debate on gun legislation in a generation, after a solid majority voted 68-31 to move to the debate on gun safety proposals. but after a week of action, this could take a while. as senators offer up a slew of amendments. some of them will be poison pills, aimed at killing the legislation, but they're going to be all over the map. 16 republican senators join 15 democrats and 2 independents in voting to proceed the debate on the legislation. i want to focus on the 16 amendment. on that list of 16 republicans, just three senators, arizona's jeff blake, mark kirk, and dean heller have not been to a dinner hosted by president obama. mark kirk has been central to the compromise on guns. and heller has made his willingness to do something on guns known for a while. but as it becomes clear which group of republicans want to be legislatures, working across party lines in the senate, and if the white house has any hope of negotiating with a group of republicans, this is the group. whether it's on guns, immigration, or on the budget. so file away this list of 16. you'll need it quite a bit if you're covering congress. this is, you know, this is going to be the group of 16 republicans who frankly hold the president's legislative legacy in their hands. now, of course, there are the other group of republican senators who want to move the senate in the other direction, but was also a reminder of that and the vote was also a reminder that politics of guns are local issue. let's look at the two red state democrats up for re-election in 2014. arkansas's mark pryor and alaska's mark begich. they voted against moving the vote for. begich explained his vote to nbc. >> i vote what's important for alaska. it's not a party decision, it's not a conservative versus liberal. my issue is that the base bill that's in front of us right now does not show, it has a lot of issues with it. >> gun ownership is highest in rural america, in red america, and in the south. take a look at mark pryor. he represents all three. meanwhile, take a look at a kirk or even pennsylvania's pat toomey, the republicans who have signed on to the background check compromise. they represent blue states with large urban populations, where the idea of gun control is very popular. by the way, three endangered senate democrats from red states who are up in 2014 did vote to move forward with the didn't. montana's max baucus has already made it clear, though, he's against the bill. for congress watchers, 68 votes to proceed the debate was a startlingly high number for the newtown families who spent the week lobbying their senators, it was a wake-up call about what's considered functional in washington. >> i was very pleased with how many yeses we did have and happy that we were able to get this passed, but i was still completely shocked that there were so many who were still against this and who still believe that we don't need to be heard, that newtown doesn't deserve a vote and that nothing needs to be done. >> so where does the gun debate go from here? late yesterday, manchin and toomey released the actual legislative text of their background check bill, which will end up looking like an amendment, technically. on tuesday, the senate will vote on whether to move the manchin/toomey amendment forward. they're expected to hit the 60-vote threshold with a vote on the substance of the background check deal expected on thursday. that just needs a simple majority to pass once you get passed the 60 threshold. and next week, former congresswoman gabby giffords and her husband, mark kelly, will lobby senators who might be on the fence about the bill. kelly has voiced robo calls congratulating toomey and manchin for their efforts. >> i'm calling to thank your senator, pat toomey, for working across party lines. >> those robo calls are going to over 185,000 households. voters in suburban philadelphia, chester, bucks county will hear about toomey's efforts. giffords will be at the capitol on tuesday with mark kelly to dedicate a room in honor of gabe zimmerman. that's the giffords' aide that was killed in the tucson shooting that injured her. new york city mayor michael bloomberg who ran ads targeting toomey are now running ads in support of him. have the politics of guns changed? yesterday we got an early taste that 68 votes in favor of debate does not mean gun legislation will have an easy time actually making it to the president's desk. >> i'm not going to be with the underlying bill. i don't agree with it. but i agree with the issue. and it ought to be debated. >> the majority of the people in the state think we ought to have this debate, which is why i voted for cloture. i doubt i'll vote for the end product. >> and house speaker john boehner said yesterday in a news conference that he fully expects that the house will act in some way, shape, or form. but could that mean sending a bill to committee? >> i would expect if the senate does move the bill, that i would send it to the judiciary committee for an open hearing and for their deliberations. and i fully expect that the house will act in some way, shape, or form. but to make a blanket commitment without knowing what the underlying bill is, i think, would be irresponsible on my part. >> a long way to go in the house vote. all right. the who dun it in kentucky, involving a secret recording of mitch mcconnell and his campaign team strategizing about how best to undermine an ashley judd candidacy has taken another term. jason conway heard the leaked secret recording of mitch mcconnell on the mother jones website. he tells nbc news, he knew who did it. >> i knew what was in the tape, and then when i heard the mother jones article, i said, i know who that is. i don't think they were trying to make money off of it. they weren't trying to get famous off of it. i don't even think they were planning on using it. conway says two activists, part of a group called progress kentucky bragged to him back in february just hours after they had recorded it. conway, with who was interviewed by the fbi on thursday, says he didn't think of telling anyone about the recording when he first heard about it, because he was unaware that the two activisted hat potentially committed a crime. and he asserts he is making this public to protect democratic candidates in kentucky in 2014. >> i did not want their silly mistake, their overzealous behavior, to hurt the party which i love and care about and our candidates. whether it's a candidate running for county surveyor next year or a candidate running for u.s. senate. because senator mcconnell wants a republican majority in our state. >> one of the men conway identified, shawn reilly, through an attorney, denies involvement in the actual recording, but admits to being a witness to it. >> he is not a suspect in this investigation, but like i said, he's been cooperative with the investigators and we don't want to compromise their investigation. >> as for the other activists conway alleges was involved in recording the meeting, when staffers were discussing the possibility of running against ashley judd, neither he nor his attorneys have returned calls to nbc news, because there has been no cooperation of that story, we are not reporting his name. ironically, when the tapes first surfaced tuesday, mcconnell openly speculated that he thought progress kentucky was behind the recording. >> apparently, they also bugged my headquarters. so i don't think that pretty well sums up the way the political left is operating in kentucky. >> at the time, he had no evidence. now it turns out he was right. left leaning watchdog group asked the fbi and the senate ethics committee on thursday to investigate whether mcconnell's staff members, senate staff members, violated the law by using senate resources for doing campaign research. now, mcconnell aides have said the work was done on weekends, it was not done in the office. the research take place on february 2nd, a saturday. progress kentucky's treasurer confirmed to nbc thursday that he had resigned from the group after the publication of the audio, but he would not comment on his motivation for quitting. all right. if it's friday, then it's time for our road to 16, 2016 roundup, if you will. in the past 24 months, we've tested the personal popularity of seven potential presidential candidates and we'll look at them with key voting groups. the group of seven includes marco rubio, paul rand, chris christie, ryan should be the nominal front-runner, and that's how he starts the cycle, if you will, when we tested him in december. ryan narrowly has leads, if you will, paul and rubio, among republicans, higher popularity rating among republicans. 49-point positive rating. that's nearly 20 points higher than where christie starts in 2013, among members of his own party. we tested him in january. same month that he blasted the house gop majority for stalling a hurricane sandy relief package. among self-described conservatives, the order and person popularity is the same. ryan, paul, rubio with christie trailing. 35 points, by the way, separate ryan and christie. only 41% of romney voters have a positive view of christie, his public embrace of the president during hurricane sandy may go a long way to explaining that number. 56% view rubio positively, 62% for paul, and ryan leads with 68%. but looking at a broader slice of the electorate, christie, general election advantages become clear. he leads among men. 23-net positive rating. christie also dominates the field among women. rubio is in positive territory with women by eight points, but both ryan and paul are in negative territory. christie has the distinction of being the only republican in this foursome who democrats like. and the numbers are striking. while christie has a 22-point net positive rating among democrats, rubio has a negative negative of 14 points, paul, 31, and ryan, 48. as for independents, check this number out. rand paul, not christie, leads the field. and while also performing well among republicans and conservatives, by the way, look at who doesn't perform so well with indies. independent mayor michael bloomberg, he's 11 points under water. christie dominates, he's double digits ahead of anyone else. rubio is next, paul is barely in positive territory. there's another general election variable here, her name is hillary clinton and she's in another stratosphere. biden has been edging out rubio in recent surveys. so why does biden have his eye on every hillary world 2016 move? because the clinton/biden competition is a blowout. clinton dominates among obama voters, liberals, democrats, men, women, republicans, you name it, she does better than biden among all those groups. one interesting note of caution for clinton, christie may be less popular overall, but he has more crossover appeal right now. while she is more than 30 points underwater among republicans, he is in double digit positive territory among democrats. of course, if clinton had blasted democrats like christie did with republicans, then she might have slightly better numbers a s with republicans to. christie is thinking most immediately about running for re-election in a blue state. something to keep an eye on. coming up, political weapons. the senate has jumped the first hurdle on the gun debate, but they're a long way from the finish line. plus, locked and loaded. the u.s. officials tell nbc news pyongyang's missiles are fueled and ready to go, as newly unveiled intelligence reveals north korea is likely capable of firing nuclear armed missiles. but first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. as you know, secretary kerry in seoul today. that's something to keep an eye on all day today. and i believe the president is handing out the commander in chief trophy. always a fun event at the white house. the navy is getting it this year. air force usually thinks they dominate that competition, but not this last football season. you're watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. zap technology. arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly! [ male announcer ] bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. since aflac is helping with his expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage, groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick... feel it! feel it! feel it! nice work! ♪ you got it! you got it! yes! aflac's gonna help take care of his expenses. and us...we're gonna get him back in fighting shape. ♪ [ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes now that the senate has agreed to open debate on gun legislation, both sides are digging in for weeks of emotional and passionate arguments in public and behind closed doors. we've already seen high-profile lobbying from the newtown families and the nra. could be just tip of the iceberg. tom perriello is a former democratic congressman from virginia who is now president for the center of american progress action fund. michael needham is the ceo of heritage action for america. welcome to both of you. michael, i want to start with you. you guys have been upset by what you've seen pat toomey's done, somebody who's an ally for you guys on a lot of fiscal issues. why is this gun action so important to heritage action? >> i think this is a pretty good example of everything that's wrong in washington. we don't need pat toomey and joe manchin going behind doors and drafting up this legislation. there's all sorts of problems in this bill. there's the potential that employers will be able to use the database to do background checks without the permission of somebody applying for a job. that's not what we want. what is this going to do to the privacy safeguards that are in place between an individual and a psychotherapist? there's all sorts of stuff that needs to be looked at. we were looking at it last night. we should have an open process where people know what they're photoing on and know what the implications are. it's not going on here. >> there is going to be an open process now. >> over the course of the next week. we'll put lots of information out there about what's going on. i think you'll see very different votes as we come forward. you have 31 republicans who are on record opposing this already. 16 from a lot of red states, a lot of voters are getting aware of what's going on, knowing this is going to lead to a federal gun registry, that's going to lead to a lot of votes. >> this issue, he brings up the mental health, and there's been a lot of attempts to tray to improve this database, and they call it the nics database, but it has to do with there's a filing on all of this. the nra has been called for getting more aggressive at including some mental health issues in the a database. they donate wa't want to change law, but it has came up a lot. >> i think it's being discussed a lot by the policy experts as well as by politicians. i think the most important thing here is our elected officials are going to have to go on the record, saying where they stand and i think it's important for that to be a deliberatiive positive. it's easier to be a no than a yes, but it's even easier to not have to vote in the first place. i think what the clearest message was to demand a vote, we deserve to see where people stand, and there are going to be some progun safety amendments and some progun rights amendments that are offered and we're going to see those things debated out and i think elected officials are going to have tell their constituents where they stand. >> michael, why did you guys -- you guys are scoring the cloture vote, right? why? why do that? why are we in this position? members of congress should be scored based on the vote that matters. and the vote that matters in the senate often is the procedural vote. we've done that a lot. >> you think a procedural vote to start debate is what matters? i can at least buy the argument, the one at the end. but why the one that starts. >> this is a bill about optics. it's been interesting, we've seen in the last 24 hours, people on the right and the left, this is a bill that does nothing to stop what happened in newtown. pat toomey was on tv, i'm sorry, on radar yesterday in philadelphia, and he admitted that this bill wouldn't do anything to stop newtown. this is a bad bill that's about political optics, not about solving problems. and our goals to stop it. >> when activists have brought that up in the nra statement as well, often leave out virginia tech and gabby giffords' shooting when they mention that. because this bill does address tightening up and helping states that participate in the database that could affect some of the people that have purchased guns. we've seen over a ten-area people, nearly 2 million people who were dinged on background checks. this is generally happening within a matter of a couple of minutes. nobody thinks this is going to solve every problem, but i think what mr. toomey and mr. manchin felt, this is where we could make one step forward, where we can say what everyone i know, right and left, thinks is, we should with able to keep guns out of the hands of people who have been convicted of felonies, and in order to do that, you need to have a stronger background check. >> does heritage have a gun bill? do you have an alternative to this? >> we have a lot of ideas about what you can do on cool safety. we have a lot of ideas on what you can do about mental illness issues. but you look at tucson, that's somebody who passed a federal background check. you look at what happened at virginia tech, that's somebody who should have been in the system. we have separate problems, which are about school safety, about mental illness that we need to address. this is a bill that's fundamentally about giving politicians political cover to be dealing with a problem while they're not actually solving it. >> that's going to be one of the arguments from conservatives. a lot of liberals are going to look at this and say, let's say you get this background check bill. i mean, we are talking, some gun control advocates are going to say, it's doing this much. and then the issue is going to go away. what do you say to that? >> i think that's going to be up to the american people and up to activists on both sides to see whether this is the beginning of a longer conversation or not. for example, there are going to be up or down votes, probably, on assault weapons and on magazine capacities. there are going to be ones from the other side on conceal carry and other issues. people are going to use those going forward to say, okay, as gun violence continues, which it will, the question is, can we show that these things made a difference or not. i think if people can show that by supporting, by tightening up the background check, where an enormous percent of sales are happening at gun shows and over the internet, tightening that up, making sure states are complying with the database, to make sure people are checked in this system that they need to be, i think people will want to build on that and appreciate what happened and if it doesn't make a difference, that's significant as well. >> i want to go to this issue, we were talking about it right before we went on, both of you admitting this idea about the votes about whether to have votes have become important to voters. should they be? the idea of the cloture votes. >> look, if obama care's passing, if obama care's 2,400 pages -- >> shouldn't it only matter if it's signed by the president? shouldn't it only member if this thing passes? >> and the house and members of the senate should do everything they can to stop this. when we look at the bill, this bill creates virtually universal background checks. you can have stings, and it's specifical specifically stipulated in the bill, you can have stings. they can put you in jail for up to five years, even if you didn't know you were breaking the law. >> even if you didn't know you were breaking the law, you're breaking the law. not breaking the law, i went 40 in a 25, i didn't know it was a 25. >> do you think you should go to jail for five years? so when we have universal background checks and you're talking about stings going on at gun show, you're talking about a federal gun registry and implications of that, i agree with the judge on the ninth circuit court who says, the american people only get one chance to vote for a federal gun registry -- >> which is why it's explicitly in the bill about knowing who you're selling to, that's the difference between it being a misdemeanor and a felony. these are good people trying to get this thing solved. these are people who care deeply about the second amendment, in the cases of senator toomey and senator manchin, trying to balance with common sense the rights of privacy and the rights of the second amendment with the fact that kids are getting gunned down in our school, and i think this was a bill of common sense -- >> i think we should get together and talk about -- >> but let me -- >> we've been talking for years about it. >> let me go to this issue of quote/unquote gun registry. every time there's a crime committed, police seem to know immediately, they're able to take a serial number from the gun and they're able to figure it out. it seems to me we already sort of have a registry. >> but chuck, you know what happened in new york, with gun owners released publicly, twice in missouri, information going out that wasn't supposed to go out there. you have a problem, people are supposed to register and talk about what guns they have. >> we've been doing this for 40 years. this is not groundbreaking stuff. i don't think we need to put red herrings out there. there's a lot of good faith by the gun sellers. >> but where does this stop? in the underlying bill, i go away for two weeks, if i don't transfer my gun to my roommate and pay all the background check fees -- >> but that's a good start. where we take a smart -- >> i think it's interesting. where does it start versus where does it stop. and they're playing my song. thank you both. this was great. thank you for sharing your views, doing it civilly, and i think the debate will continue, just not here. >> thanks for having us. up next, raising the stakes. secretary of state john kerry arrives in south korea as the region watches and waits for a north korean missile launch that apparently could come at any time. we'll get the very latest from seoul. but first, today's trivia question. the constitution sets the minimum age for u.s. senate service at the age of 30. how many senators served before they were 30 years old? the answer is not zero, i promise you that. first person to tweet the correct answer to @chucktodd and @dailyrundown will get the on major shout-out. the answer and more is coming up on t"the daily rundown." 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[ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. well, fallout from republican congressman greg walden's opposition to president obama's proposed social security reforms and doing it using progressive left arguments, it continued thursday as house speaker john boehner voiced his disagreement with his friend, the rncc chair on the idea of changing social security's cost of living adjustments. >> i've made it clear that i disagree with what chairman walden said. this is the least we must do to begin to solve the problems in social security. chairman walden and i have had a conversation, and we'll leave it there. >> house ways and means chair dave kemp also weighed in, expressing his support for the president's proposal saying, "i think the president made a step forward on entitlement reform in the budget and i welcome that step forward with chained cpi." meanwhile, the conservative club for growth has added walden to the website called primarymycongressman.com, saying, "we always knew greg walden had a liberal record, but he really cemented it with even his opposition to even modest entitlement reform. walden should be held accountable for his anti-growth voting record as well as his anti-growth rhetoric." joining us, karen finney, who will be hosting a new show on msnbc weeks at 4:00 p.m., and pete seid, former communications aide to president george w. bush. okay, we can't help but laugh. david, let me start with you. you follow the -- you have to cover the political aspect of this. we all thought greg walden was going to walk this back yesterday and, you know, i had multiple political consultants going, have you seen these polls, have you seen these polls? oh, by the way, you know it's a tax increase too. there's plenty of ways for republicans not to support this and this is radio active. >> well, first thing, it made my head hurt. it still kind of makes my head hurt. i guess what i'm wondering is, is he now going to -- he's the head of the nrcc, does this mean he's going to start counseling republicans in tight races -- >> to go against this? i mean, i can't imagine it. i can't imagine the speaker is going to let him do that. >> i think that's the curious thing. i think he is -- my understanding is, that's what their polling tells them. >> that's what their polling tells them and i can't -- i've got to have some faith that there's other polling that says, you know, having your head spin around is -- >> yeah, not a good idea. garrett, the president's going to find out who wants to work with him and who doesn't. to see who denounces greg walden and who doesn't. >> sure. but i think the longer game, at least i hope the white house's longer game on this is to put this budget out, to say, here's my last best offer, and look at what's already happened within this republicans. it's one of those things where democrats can kind of step back. yes, bernie sanders and others have already started up chained cpi and what they don't like, but you've got, within the republican caucus, i have to look at the television to make sure i was hearing right who it was that was, you know, saying that yesterday. >> but, pete, actually, this does now, it's why i'm, we were watching why republicans wouldn't own entitlement reform. they always kept saying, they wanted the president, no, no, no, you put out a plan first, you put out a plan. because it's not popular. >> well, i feel like i always get the fun topics when i'm on the show, so thank you, congressman. but, look, yes, they always do say that, but, it was house republicans that put something out first. the paul ryan -- >> and that went over well. >> yeah, but at least we're putting a plan on the table. it took the president two months past the deadline -- >> that isn't what greg walden said. that's the thing. that's what i assume he was going to say. what do you hear? >> obviously, there's two sides to this. the other side of what he said is, you know, that he's looking forward to the elections. i saw a quote from his former staffer at the nrcc saying, he's thinking about those 30 districts that make the difference in having the house majority, and maybe he's trying to inoculate them. >> and to be totally crass, karen, midterm elections are about older voters and smaller turnout. >> in general. unless somebody changes the dynamic. >> i'm just saying. >> that's exactly right. and it was pretty clear in that answer, that that's what he was thinking about. he was not thinking about what the leadership was going to say. he was thinking about, i've got to get these people elected, nobody wants to own this thing. i've got to put this out there, we'll figure it out later how we talk about it. >> he didn't go for the secret tax increase angle. >> it's much more plausible. >> it's hard to explain. >> it's a hard to explain tax increase. but the white house now, don't they have a walk away free card? >> absolutely. >> from talk now, in a way that they didn't even? >> it's an extra walk away free card. >> in a way that really sort of complicates politics. >> which was odd, i thought the president going all the way with the first offer was a strange move. >> and it actually ended up being brilliant. it may. >> we'll see. >> all right, you guys, we're boing to take a pause. it's raining in washington. you can stop laughing -- actually, you can keep laughing. they're great comedy routine. the deep dive is coming up next, as we take a look at that. don't forget, "up" returns live this weekend with its new host, our friend, steve kornacki, saturday and sunday at 8:00 p.m. don't miss it. by the way, today's white house soup of the day, a friday regular, rajun cajun gumbo. you could be our next winner who gets to open our show from the middle of the ocean or the crazy cartoon. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. in today's deep dive, we're taking a closer look at the culture wars, and some new numbers from our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll tells us whether our country as changed. what's a more important goal for society? creating greater respect for traditional values or encouraging greater tolerance? it's a question we've asked for decades. overall, 50% say promoting traditional vas are more important. but it's a much smaller gap than when we asked this question 14 years ago. back then, it was 60 on the traditional side, 29 on tolerance. but here's the thing. that shift is almost entirely due to movement by democrats and independents. in 1999, democrats picked values over tolerance, 49-41. independents still favor traditional values, but by a five-point margin, down from a 23-point margin back in 1999. but in 1999, republicans picked values over tolerance, 76-16. that number is almost identical 14 years later. values over tolerance, 77-18. we see the culture shift reflected in our polling on same-sex marriage. overall, 53% are in favor of allowing it, 42% are allowed. it's a double-digit swing from four years ago when we saw plurality, 49%, opposed to the idea. if you look deeper at the political divide, again, we see the gop and the country seemingly headed in two different directions. we took a poll last december, before the supreme court took up the issue, and compared those numbers to the new poll. among democrats, support grew by four points. among independents, it was up eight points. republicans, they deny budge. in fact, the opposition went up. at the same time, opposition among democrats and independents went down among the republican opposition group by three points. joining me now, democratic pollster fred yang and bill mcinturff, and behind the numbers, welcome to both of you. bill, it's very interesting to see the numbers and where republican voters are versus where party leaders want for party to be. i want to play what reince priebus said about the cultural stuff during his autopsy. here's what he said. >> focus groups described our party as narrow-minded, out of touch, and, quote, stuffy old men. the perception that we're the party of the rich, unfortunately, continues to grow. that's frustrating. because we care about every voter. >> what's interesting, there, and we've seen bobby jindal, paul ryan yesterday with a very, perhaps, important speech on the issue of abortion, and what he told some pro-lifers about the issue, it seems the leaders want to move the party in a different direction. but republicans are in a different place. >> look, the republican party is a pro-life, pro-gun party. and it is a party that has these kind of values that are part of our coalition. and as a party, we have to respect those values. it's part of who we are. it's in our dna. but at the same time, we have to demonstrate to people that you understand their economic troubles and that you are open and tolerant and understand that people are living different lives. and i think that can be done. >> that's what's interesting here, the independents. let's look at the swing voter, the independent. they're moving not as fast in the direction that the democrats are moving, but they're moving in that direction culturally, while republicans in some ways are swinging against the current. >> moving away, not as quickly as democrats, obviously, but moving away from the republicans. republicans, as your graphics showed, seem to be rooted where they were 14 years ago on some of these issues. but, look, i think the republican party is republican party. one of the things is economic and fiscal issues. and we saw this in the last couple of polls, that even that is moving away from them. if that's the third leg of their stool, they're in big trouble. >> i want to go dip a little bit deeper into the same-sex marriage issue. because i think what i was surprised by the large majority that wanted a federal standard. we asked, do you want the federal government to set this or leave it to the states, 56-38 picked the federal government rather than leaving it to the states. were you surprised by that number? >> a little bit. because if you ask people about an issue, they usually pick states. >> they don't want the big, bad federal government involved. >> and this is one of those great cross tabs. people say federal support same-sex marriage three to one, with people say states oppose same-sex marriage by three to one. it's very clear when they answered, what they were picking was, let the states decide, because in utah and a lot of other states, we're not going to have same-sex marriage in our lifetime. but, yeah, it's a little counterintuitive. the other thing that's interesting about polling, when you said, what you want is a federal standard, it was dead even. >> that was the other thing. they weren't sure what they wanted. >> on the thing about the federal, the court, or the states, the majority of americans want same-sex marriage. the norminority of states do no have same-sex marriage. th this is let the government -- >> makes a little bit of incidence. >> let utah. i think the one man/one woman should include same-sex marriage. i think that's the power of language. and this is still a fluid situation. among voters who are against same-sex marriage, doesn't matter if you're strongly or weakly against it, you're united that you want one man, one woman. it's the soft pro-marriage voters, adults, that are more mixed. >> one other thing i want to point out, we're picking on republicans here on the cultural stuff, bill. but if you took the democratic numbers in isolation on social and culture values and helping the middle class, do people favor the democratic position, it's not great. only 37% agree with democrats, 38% disagree. only 33% believe in the way the democrats handle middle class issues, compared to 42% who disagree. boy, those are terrible numbers. then you look at the republican numbers and they're worse. 22, 47 degree on social, and middle class, 22-51. >> we frequently say, we're republican or democrat, but if you want to be a fair pollster, the country is saying they're fed up with both parties. we're in a five-year recession and they're saying, stop fighting, improve the economy, get something done, improve our day-to-day lives. and each political party has all of these battles and fights around all these issues. when the direction from the public is, we've sort of had it with both of you. >> there is, it's interesting, democrats can only take heart in the fact that they're not the republicans. >> the elections are about choices and we have two parties, so, we're doing okay right now. >> all right. fred yang and bill mc works. thank you. tremendous poll, we have morton role of women that we'll talk about next week. thank you very much. tribute time, the constitution sets the minimum age of service for senators. how many serve before they turn 30. john eaton, andton winner of our tournament of the most consequential senator henry clay all served while they were in their late 20s. how about if you're henry clay and an incredible influence on house to and then an incredible senator and you did it all before, you know, you even finished getting active. today's win is aubrey. we'll be right back. ♪ [ female announcer ] the sun powers life. ♪ and now it powers our latest innovation. ♪ introducing the world's only solar-powered home energy system, which can cut your heating and cooling bills in half. call now to get up to sixteen hundred dollars back or 12 months deferred interest on select lennox home comfort systems. offer ends june 14th. plus download our free lennox mobile app with an energy-savings calculator. ♪ if your current system is 10 years or older, start planning now and take advantage of special financing. so call now to get up to sixteen hundred dollars back or 12 months deferred interest on select lennox home comfort systems. offer ends june 14th. and download our free lennox mobile app. lennox. innovation never felt so good. 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[ female announcer ] pore refining cleanser. it's friday. we got anthony weiner trying to make come back and mark sanford actually making a come back. anthony weiner's wife, huma, she's in. she's still married to anthony weiner. the ex-wife of mark sanford, i have to read you sthamt. he's in a special election. we're watching very closely. she was asked whether she would endorse her ex-husband. her ex-husband asked her to run his examine. i don't have any thoughts on the race that i am currently interested in sharing with the public and i have no plans to. i remain completely focused on the four wonderful men in my life and happily so. >> mark sanford had good political skill by not hiring his ex-wife. really you're going to ask your ex-wife to tell everybody on television you were in love with your mistress? come on. >> he's done as well as company. this reminds me, dogs and cats living together mass hysteria. >> he's running to cleanse not running to win. >> maybe. he's running to run again. run now, lose but do it respectfully and get his mojo back. >> very ugly. shameless plug. >> new blog on front page company in roll call. wrote about sanford versus weiner this morning. >> there you go. >> i'll go super shameless. saturday, sunday, 4:00. >> starting win? >> sometime in may. >> we have to come with a new name. >> my first msnbc column posted on the first page. >> totally shameless. have a great weekend. we'll see you back here monday. coming up next, chris jansing. >> i'm meteorologist bill karins with your weekend forecast. the rainy weather we're dialing in the northeast will be gone as we go throughout the day. nice weekend. masters golf tournament down there in georgia looks fine on saturday but rain coming up out of the gulf on sunday. stormy down here in the southeast and storm for our friends in the northern plains. 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[ female announcer ] ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. to hear more patient stories, visit lyrica.com. good morning. i'm chris jansing. with the first big hurdle cleared for new gun laws we're learning more about how it will play out in the senate. next week there could be votes tuesday, thursday and friday and with debat