Sure, it may still be like something 77 days till the caucus but it feels like 2016 in iowa as republicans rev up the base with red meat rhetoric. Democrats decide whether some things are inevitable. A little later today, a major announcement coming from attorney general eric holder on drug sentencing policies here in the u. S. It could have a big effect on who goes to jail and for how long. Well have the latest on that. It is also election eve in new jersey. Frontrunner corey booker appears to be coasting to a seat in the u. S. Senate. This morning, were going to talk to one of his democratic opponents, state Assembly Speaker sheila oliver, why she thinks the newark mayor is not the right candidate for the job. Good morning from san jose, california, its monday, august 12th, 2013. We go now to washington for the daily rundown. Heres chuck todd. Peter alexander in for chuck todd. Thanks to him, pass and go for 200 bucks in that video. Sorry to hear canadians beat your record for the largest chess set but you have the Worlds Largest monopoly board. Now we get to this mornings headlines. President obama is on a working vacation. Congress is in recess. Theres no debate from the intelligence debate. Reassuring the public about his surveillance programs be s by a a privacy advocate to his mix. Some republicans argued that it simply is not practical. The idea of having a public defender, you know, when really what it is is a search warrant to the fisa court which you wouldnt have in a normal criminal case would slow down the efficacy of our counterterrorism investigation. I dont think thats the right way to go. I think it would be very impractical to have it done. Maybe on some general policy issue where the courts going to make a decision, perhaps you could bring in an advocate. On day to day life and death decisions, i believe absolutely not. The debate comes as concerns about the threat posed by al qaeda in yemen seem to have eased. All but one of those diplomatic posts closed last week have now reopened. Includes the u. S. Embassy in cairo. At the same time, the u. S. Is dealing with more fallout from russias decision to harbor confessed nsa leaker edward snowden. President obama got bipartisan support for scrapping facetoface meetings with vladimir put in but many urged him to step up the pressure on the russian leader. Hes an old kgb colonel who has no illusions about our relationship, does not care about the relationship with the United States. Continues to oppress his people. Continues to oppress the media. Continues to act in an autocratic and unhelpful fashion. I think if you talk to people within our state department, within others, theres just complete exasperation. Ive called putin hes a schoolyard bully. And the only way you deal with bullies is stand up to them. For more on all of todays headlines, were joined by nbcs Kristin Welker in marthas vineyard, nbcs Michelle Kosinski in cairo. I want to get a sense how closely we know the president is following this back and forth over the plan he introduced on friday. Already we noted Senior Republicans are criticizing him, warning his plan could account an actually slow antiterrorism efforts. As you mentioned, this is a working vacation. His National Security adviser susan rice is here with him on marthas vineyard. Hes getting briefed regularly on a whole host of topics. Including, you would have to assume, the ongoing debate about his government surveillance programs. As you point out, republicans they really went after the president , arguing that he hasnt done a good job of explaining the program. That is why there are these problems really getting the public on board, and will worry that ultimately it is sort of draining and limiting his ability and the governments ability to fight terrorism. So that is what republicans have been saying. Democrats, hes getting some criticism from them as well. Some democrats essentially saying that they still have concerns about privacy rights. These are concerns we are seeing play out sort of nationally and in the Public Discourse according to our latest nbc news wall street journal poll. 56 of Americans Still have concerns that these programs could limit privacy rights. So the president to some extent has a pr problem when it comes to this issue. Certainly something that he will continue to monitor here on his vacation. Peter. All right. Certainly a little blackberry interference there but we trust nsa was not able to see any of those emails as we were speaking. President obama has been vocal about his frustration with the russian presentident, not just r his decision on snowden but over the decision that many say amounts to discrimination against homosexuals. Nbcs Michelle Kosinski is in moscow. Ahead of this winters olympics in sochi, not far from you what are we hearing from athletes that are there, especially track stars competing in the same stadium, especially in the same area where the olympics was last boycotted . I would say this law absolutely amounts to discrimination against gay people. That is who it singles out. It bans the distribution of, quote, propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to children. Obviously, ambiguous in its meaning, but clear in its intent. There have already been arrests here in russia. And some dutch filmmakers who interviewed a teenager about the gay community. Here we are, 179 days away from the Winter Olympics in sochi, russia. And were hearing strong reaction from top leaders in government, arts and sports. Some celebrities have been all out calling for a boycott of the olympics. Lady gaga tweeted, why didnt you arrest me when you had the chance, russia . Was it because you didnt want to answer to the world . And twice president has spoken against this law. He said its offensive. It violates basic more raralitm. But he said a boycott isnt the right answer. Also one athlete competing right now at the track and field World Championship in moscow, runner nick simmonds, he wrote, if i was in a race with a russian athlete, i would thank him for his countrys generous hospitality and then after he said, soundly beating this athlete, he would silently dedicate the win to his gay and lesbian friends back home. The International OlympicCommittee Says they want to make sure this is not going to affect the olympics but it just hasnt been clear and theyve now asked russia for more clarification. Maybe just announce some added motivation for those american athletes. We want to go to egypt where Security Forces are holding off on plans to break up crowds of protesters who continue to hold rallies demanding that ousted president Mohamed Morsi be returned to power there. Can you give us a sense, what led to this decision to, again, postpone any crackdown . Well, the word of the day is clearly within the Egyptian Government that there are some divisions about how to proceed forward. What weve learned over the course of the last 24 hours is there are those within the Egyptian Government who have expressed grave reservations about Going Forward with this type of operation to break up these types of forces using Security Forces. It would obviously lead to a lot of bloodshed and that is not something egypt can withstand. As a result of this, it seems the egyptian cabinet has been divided on how to proceed. Already, it has voted to give the minister of interior authority to break this protest up. Some notable figures are reportedly very concerned about what that would do to egypts domestic political scene. One of the countrys most senior religious figures is inviting members of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as the interim government to come down to the institution and hold talks and try to achieve national reconciliation. That so far has fallen on deaf ears. As we understand, nobody has accepted that agreement. There is still a political standoff. In the eyes of many, time may be running out. Pete. Reporting for us from cairo. Mohamed morsi still not seen since july 3 in that country. Still to compane, the Obama Administration is today going to call for the end to mandatory minimums for some drug offenders. What it will mean for the massive prison population in this country. Were just a single day away from the special election in new jersey. Can anyone catch this man, corey booker . Well talk to one of the democrats who is putting up a fight. First, todays politics planner. Get a sense of everything going on, including eric holder. Those remarks to take place at 1 00 p. M. Eastern time. A conversation coming u, Anthony Weiner talks to buzz feed tonight at 6 00 p. M. In new york. Youre watching the daily rundown on msnbc. [ male announcer ] Research Suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. One a day mens 50 is a complete multivitamin designed for mens Health Concerns as we age. With 7 antioxidants to support cell health. One a day mens 50 . Now you can give yourself a kick in the rear v8 vfusion plus energy. Natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. Need a little kick . Ooh couldve had a v8. In the juice aisle. Much more ahead on this monday edition of the daily rundown. The field of dreams for president ial wanna bes where the first votes will be cast for the race to the white house. The republican heavy hitters converging. Putting the partys family feud on full display. Democratic hopefuls are not far behind. Vice President Biden marking his calendar. And Hillary Clinton supporters are already out in force. In des moines, we have it all for you next in this mornings first readings. First, todays trivia question. 44 women have served in the u. S. Senate. How many different states did they represent . The first person to tweet the correct answer to dailyrundown or peteralexander will get an on air shoutout. Is like hammering. Riding against the wind. Uphill. Every day. We make money on saddles and tubes. But not on bikes. My margins are thinner than these tires. Anything that gives me some breathing room makes a difference. Membership helps make the most of your cashflow. Im Nelson Gutierrez of strictly bicycles and my money works as hard as i do. This is what membership is. This is what membership does. Thto fight chronic. Osteoarthritis pain. To fight chronic low back pain. To take action. To take the next step. Today, you will know you did something for your pain. Cymbalta can help. Cymbalta is a pain reliever fdaapproved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. 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Dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. Take the next step. Talk to your doctor. Cymbalta can help. Were back. Youre watching the daily rundown. The Iowa Caucuses are still more than 28 months away. Theyre so far off that the actual date for the caucuses isnt even set yet. The next round of president ial wanna bes are net wasting time converging on that state that will cast the first votes for 2016. Biden will be the keynote speaker next month. Of course a launching pad for president ial candidates. San antonio mayor Hulian Castro who keynoted last summers convention will also be there. This weekend an eclectic mix of 2016 hopefuls and hangerson gathered in april ed ied in amf social conservatives. There is no more important Regulatory Reform we can do than to repeal every single word of obama care. A young charismatic leader rose up, talking about hope and change. His name was fidel castro. Socialism requires that government becomes your god. Thats why they have to destroy the concept of god. They have to destroy all loyalties except loyalty to the government. Thats what is behind homosexual marriage. My challenge to the Republican Party is to take a page out of our book and start putting forth an agenda. Of ideas to raise up folks who want to vote for us. You saw it from the last election. They didnt want to vote for president obama. But at least he went out and talked to him. Obama should have been beaten. Hillarys going to be tougher to beat. And the republicans have to do whats right. If they dont pick the right person, and i mean the right person, perfect. Its got to be the perfect person. They are going to get drubbed in the 2016 election. Hillary clinton has not held any events in iowa this year but Hawkeye StateShadow Campaign kicked off on friday at a forum hosted by emilys list. Getting everyone excited now about what i hope will be that moment in 2017 when we all get to say, madam president , to Hillary Rodham clinton. Nbc news senior Political Editor mark murray is here with this mornings first read. We included ted cruzs data in there for his headline making comments this weekend in iowa. The vice President Biden, give us a sense of the significance of this steak fry appearance. Do the clintons, you know, have to make a move given what happened to the Clinton Campaign in iowa the last time around . It is very early. The assumption is both Hillary Clinton and joe biden wouldnt run in 2016. Its going to be one of the two most likely. But this is a way for joe biden to keep his name in the spotlight. Its never good to be a lame duck, especially a lame duck sitting vice president. By joe biden going to speak in iowa, hes gone to speak in South Carolina before and elsewhere, keeps his name in the news and keeps his options open which is very important. Good friend of senator harken there of course. The texas senator ted cruz, this was his second trip to iowa in a month. Hes scheduled to return again in the fall. Hes going to be speaking at the iowa Republican Partys fall fundraising dinner. Is he tipping his hat to real political ambitions or just sort of raising his name recognition and bringing in more dollars . Its probably both. As i mentioned for joe biden, getting your na inting your nam spotlight, ted cruz has been doing that and more. Hes going to go to new hampshire. He is all over the place. But i will repeat, again, it is very, very early. At this point in the 2008 cycle. August of 2005, Hillary Clinton was the clear frontrunner. You had george al len was the cofrontrunner on the republican side. So it is very early with still more than three years to go, peter. I want to get a sense, do you think its very early with just kidding. Let me ask you about acknowledging iing its early, with me here. He made some headlines speaking out basically, you know, sort of attacking the past republican ticket, mitt romney, and saying the president won because he spoke to blue color voters. Is Rick Santorum 2. 0 perhaps the candidate will be focused on again . I think everyone should keep their eyes on Rick Santorum. They have a history of rewarding that person who finishes second. Other second players were john mccain, mitt romney. There is that precedent. Rick santorum might be the only person with that kind of populous economic rhetoric. If no one else takes that up, he could be someone to watch. Mark murray, thank you. We look forward to doing this with you 870 more mornings till iowa. The last few days have looked and sounded a lot like august 2015. Still, at this the point in 2000, consider this, barack obama had served just seven months in the senate and Hillary Clinton looked like the inevitable nominee. If you go back to this time in 2005 specifically. Lets bring in our gaggle. Chicago tribute columnist clarence page. Republican ad maker kim al phono. And the Washington Post chief correspondent dan balls, author of author of collision 2012 that i spent most of my flight back to d. C. Reading. Nice to see you again in person. I want to put up some remarks that were rid written by mauree dowd on this topic. She said, they see the first woman president as the natural successor to the first black president. In other ways, hillary is not just a natural successor. Some of the excitement about barack obama was the prospect of making a clean start, after years of getting dragged into the clinton messes. A conversation where they seemed to be offering a wet kiss to one another. Your column this weekend, you sort of identify some of the dangers of a clinton restoration project. What exactly do you mean . You know, one of the things i put in the sunday piece was if she was as formidable a politic