republican jim bunning from kentucky force 2,000 workers to take furlough and hold up benefits for millions more? we'll have governor haley barbour. we begin today with the very latest from chile. food and drinking water reportedly in very short supply in concepcion, ground zero for the 8.8 quake. survivors under the rubble, rescuers communicating with victims trapped inside a fallen apartment building in concepcion. mark potter joins us live from the capital of santiago. what's the latest? >> reporter: hi, andrea. that's a little bit of good news in an otherwise bleak environment. in that apartment complex, they've already pulled 25 survivors out and eight people -- eight bodies, people who did not make it. that building collapsed during the earthquake. they heard some tapping inside and they're now digging toward it to see if they can rescue even more people from that complex right now. that earthquake was so massive, andrea, that even here in santiago, 200 miles away from the epicenter, the power of that earthquake could be felt. damage here in the capital city is not that great, you can see an example of some of it, though. this building behind me, an apartment building that's leaning forward. they've knocked off the foundation by the earthquake. the building will be condemned. residents can't live here anymore. firefighters are having to go in to get valuables for the residents. it's a bad situation but much, much worse along the southern coast of chile, concepceon, costitucion can be described as devastated, catastrophic in that area, hit very hard not only by the earthquake, but by tsunami-type waves. there's a lot of desperation down there, as you go block after block, finding houses and buildings destroyed for hundreds of miles. a very tough scene. the military has been called in to bring order, andrea. >> as we've been pointing out, chile was really so much better prepared than the poverty-stricken haitians were, the construction there so much better for this kind of a disaster. but still, it's going to be an enormous effort to rebuild and locate all the survivors. thank you very much, mark potter. we'll be looking for all your reports today. and the president has a major decision to announce later this week on health care. first today, he tackled education. the high school dropout epide c epidemic, joining colin and alma powell, co-founders of america's promise to announce new grants for the lowest-performing schools. melody barnes, the president's domestic policy adviser at the white house. melody, what is the urge ency here? i know it's $900 million for the 5,000 most at-risk schools. that's not in massive education terms a huge amount of money. what does he hope to achieve? >> as you say, this is a critical moment. every single day there's about 7,000 students who drop out of school. that's about 1.2 million students every year. perhaps there was a time when you could leave high school and make sure that you had a secure, economic future. but we know today isn't that time. so we have to do something about it. we have to turn this around. in the stimulus bill, the president actually worked to make sure we have tools that we can hand over to states and to local districts to make sure that they can work with their students, work with their schools to try and turn this around. so, we're supporting them in that way. in fact, you've probably heard about actions that were recently taken at central falls in rhode island, where we -- the local unions were working and talking to the local school boards. and, eventually, had to come to terms with a tough solution to make sure that students, those who are not able to pass their state math test, who are not able to go on and graduate -- in fact, they have a graduation dropout rate of below 50%, that we are able to turn that school around, working with parents and working with the locals. we have to take measures all over the nation, not always that drastic, but we have to work with teachers, parents and local school boards to make sure that they're able to stem the tide on this dropout rate. in fact, students can graduate from high school and go on and be prepared for college or go on and be prepared for a career. we're also particularly proud that we were working with general powell and alma powell today to talk about these issues. they are so committed to them. we think this is an issue that crosses partisan lines that we can all work on together. >> indeed, america's promise has been an extraordinary organization. i know something about it from working with the powells. that was a very drastic step in rhode island that rhode island officials were willing to take on the teacher's union and basically fire the whole lot. >> well, andrea, as i said, there are different kinds of tools that schools can use all over the country. what we've said is, states, look at your lowest performing, 5% of your lowest performing schools in your state and choose from among these tools, do what you think is best. work with your parents. talk to your teachers. talk to the teachers' unions. but you have to do something about it. we can no longer afford to fail our children. they have to be first and foremost. they have to be our first, second and third priority. >> let me also turn you to health care. we know that the president this week is going to basically announce the new strategy. we've all seen the setup, the health care summit and the reaction to the republicans really sets the stage for proceeding, at least in part, through this 51-vote strategy reconciliation. this is what mitch mcconnell, the republican leader, had to say over the weekend. >> there are a number of other democrats who do not think something of this magnitude ought to be jammed down the throats of a public that doesn't want it. this is really the democratic majority ain, frankly, an arrogant way saying we're smarter than you, americans, and we're going to give it to you whether you want it or not. >> how did the president react to that republican take? >> first of all, no one is jamming anything down their throats. health care can come to the american people and we know the american people desperately want health care reform. they want costs to be lower. they want greater competition. they want to make sure if they have a pre-existing condition or their child has a pre-existing condition that there are fair rules of the game so that they've got insurance coverage. these are the elements that they have expressed overwhelming support for, and we know that a majority of americans want us to do something. so, the conversations that started last week and that we want to continue, the president working in a bipartisan manner with the house and the senate to come up with a proposal that can be passed and that we can deliver this to the american people. there's nothing arrogant about that. that, in fact, is caring about the american people. that's also caring about small businesses, caring about individuals who are struggling right now, either because they don't have health care or their health care priced premiums are going up and up and up. >> speaking of health care, the president's health, he got a good bill of health. has to do something about the cholesterol, maybe fewer burgers. what about that smoking? this was the president during the transition, just before he took office, with tom brokaw on "meet the press." >> have you stopped smoking? >> i have, but what i said was that there are times where i've fallen off the wagon. >> well, wait a minute. then that means you haven't stopped. >> well, the -- fair enough. what i would say is that i have done a terrific job under the circumstances of making myself much healthier. >> now, as the leader of the nation and commander in chief, and the father of two, he does a very good job of not letting any of us seen him smoking. i take it some of you have seen him, on occasion, with a cigarette? >> andrea, i have not seen any of that. i will leave that to the first lady. the president's first job right now is making sure that all americans have access to the kind of health care they need to make sure they can lead healthy and productive lives and that they don't have to worry if they get ill, if they have a chronic disease or if they're worried about their child that they're not going to have the means to be able to cover it and pay for it. >> those of us who have been through this route, and millions and millions of americans have, wish him all the best on this with the nicorette. thank you, melody. >> thanks, andrea. up next, nancy pelosi's road to 216 votes. how does the speaker bring them on board? we'll help you keep score. 2,000 transportation workers forced on furlough after kentucky's jim bunning single-handedly blocks benefits. [ lighting a match ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've wanted to quit smoking so many times, but those days came and went and the cigarettes remained. ♪ today's a new day. talk to your doctor about prescription treatment options and support. and this time, make it your time. about prescription treatment options and support. we call the bunches in honey bunches of oats the prize in the box. well, now there's a prize inside the prize. pecans! pecans! baked into crunchy oat bunches. taste the delicious surprise in every spoonful. honey bunches of oats with pecan bunches. beautiful. so-called nuclear option may be the only option left. all indications are that later this week, president obama will signal his support for a majority vote on the health care bill. joining me now, chuck todd, nbc news chief white house correspondent and co-host of "the daily rundown," politico jonathan allen and "new york times" white house reporter gel zeleny. thanks to all of you. first to you, chuck, they're obviously going to spin this against what the republicans are claiming, that they're jamming it down their throat. we heard melody barnes just now. how does he persuade his own democrats that this is the right approach? >> reporter: look, when the president rolls out his strategy publicly on wednesday, this is about getting nancy pelosi to 216, which, by the way, is down one for her, thanks to a republican house resignation today in georgia. 216 is that new magic number for her. she needs to get that wavering democrats, dennis cardoza, democratic member of congress who is on the fence. they need to see the president publicly put one final piece of skin in the game type of thing. and that's what wednesday is about and show he will have a full shoulder in on making sure not to let up on the senate, that they will cut their deal. ultimately, it does look like the house is going to end up going before the senate in this sort of two-prong strategy. remember, the senate is not voting on the sboentire health e bill. what the senate is doing, via reconciliation is the so-called fixes, what would have been done if this had been a conference committee, if there had been an old-fashioned conference committee between the house and senate, what they would have negotiated on. now it's going to be in a separate budget bill. >> jonathan allen, let's talk about the house senate combination. what pelosi has to deal with is a lot of democrats who don't trust that the senate will come through with those fixes, getting rid of the cornhusker deal and louisiana purchase and all the other things that they said that they were going to negotiate out. they just have taken so many hard votes and waited and waited and waited forever for the senate to follow. >> that's right, like many past house mantles, they've stacked up a lot of bills at the senate's door and i don't think there is a lot of trust right now. we're not just talking one bill, senate health care bill, but the reconciliation bill, sidecar bill with changes in it and possibly even a third bill that house members are going to have to trust the senate will take up. there is a trust issue there. the president, as chuck suggested, putting some skin in the game at the end is something that's meant to help the house feel better, that he will actually push the senate to act. >> jeff zeleny, who are the key groups that we need to be watching in this coalition that pelosi needs to put together to get to 216? >> reporter: perhaps the most important coalition are the democrats who might likely lose re-election anyway. this is a hard argument, i guess, for the white house to make, but there are a handful, maybe 10, 12, 15 democrats, who are in very tough seats. mary jo kilroy from ohio, for example, is one example. if the white house is able to make an argument, sort of do this on behalf of legacy, do this on behalf of something bigger than you, who knows, maybe this could end up being a more positive argument than they could even imagine in the summer. the people i'm watching for are the arm-twisting of members who are in very dire political circumstances anyway. >> let's talk about some of the action on the republican side. john mccain with david gregory this weekend on "meet the press." let me play the tape of what he had to say when asked about whether or not he was misled by republicans, particularly the bush white house treasury when he ended up voting for t.a.r.p. for the bank bailout. let's watch. >> we were all misled. we were all misled. i mean, he said that they were going after the toxic assets. the toxic asset is, were, was the housing market. he testified to that. we were all misled. so, what did he do then? they started pumping money into the financial institutions. >> now, i've got to remind you all of the september 26th debate in mississippi when john mccain said this isn't the beginning of the end of this crisis. this is the end of the beginning. if we come out with a package that will keep these institutions, these financial institutions stable. what did he think, chuck, that he was voting for? >> reporter: that's what's not clear. he is in the middle of a republican primary. that bailout is very, very unpopular with conservatives d and, you know, there's plenty of people accusing him of rewriting history. that could be the way he remembers it now. in hindsight, the fact is the explanation for the t.a.r.p. did change a couple of times at that time, if you recall, andrea. they didn't even know -- we've learned this over time in different reports. the $700 billion figure was kind of pulled out of thin air, if you see some of the reports of neil kashkari and these folks involved in that minute-by-minute, day-to-day decisions at that time. that's where john mccain says, hey, we were misled. the question is, were you intentionally misled, did you -- everybody seemed to hear what they wanted to hear during this debate, not just john mccain, but what treasury was saying to the white house, was saying to the two presidential campaigns at the time, was saying to congress. in defense of john mccain, i think it's clear that it was confusing, but also it does seem as if, looking back in hindsight, it's hard to -- we knew there were multiple reasons why they wanted that money. >> jeff zeleny, i didn't run for president. i didn't have decades in the united states senate. i'm not sure saying that i was confused would be the best answer to give to the voters even now, in arizona. besides which, he halted the campaign, came back. had the meeting with the president in the roosevelt room, was undecided whether or not to even go to the mississippi debate, the big debate, you know, having suspended the campaign. he made a big deal out of this at the time. >> he did make a big deal out of this at the time. and what i think this sort of signifies is what some folks at the treasury department were telling us privately at the time, that john mccain just does not have as good of a grasp on the economic situation and the prescribed fixes as senator barack obama at the time. i'm with you on this, andrea. i think it just shows that senator mccain is really trying not to flail too much in this republican primary. and these voters -- him saying he was misled, it almost makes him sound that he was a little confused. i don't know how well this is going to play in this republican primary. his age could be an issue. i was surprised he said it yesterday and i don't think -- it's just one more indication we're seeing a new john mccain. >> jeff zeleny and jonathan allen and chuck todd, thank you all so much. be sure to watch chuck and savannah guthrie on "daily rundown," weekdays at 9:00. and he's back, return of ahmed shalabi. why team obama is so worried. michael isikoff has in next. what's it called? 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