you don't want to miss it. "the rachel maddow show" starts in and out. >> you're keeping me nervous. >> i think it will probably be the greatest interview in the history of american journalism. >> and if it isn't -- i know, thanks, man. vice president joe biden will not succeed barack obama as president of the united states. vice president dick cheney did not succeed george w. bush as president of the united states. vice president vice president al gore did not succeed bill clinton as president of the united states. the last time a vice president did succeed the president, who he served alongside in the white house, was george h.w. bush, who won one term as president to succeed ronald reagan in 1988.

before that, it was gerald ford, who never actually ran for vice president, but was appointed vice president after the previous vice president had to quick in a scandal. gerald ford then ascended to the presidency itself in 1974 after richard nixon's resignation, but gerald ford is a special case. he was never elected to either the number one job or the number two job in his own right. he just sort of stumbled into it. being vice president in theory, it seems like the best possible warm-up to becoming president yourself, right? it almost feels like an understudy job in a way, but it almost never works out that way anymore that the vice president next becomes the president of the united states. it hasn't for a long while. and when barack obama chose then 67-year-old senator joe biden to be his vice presidential running mate in 2008, it isn't talked a

lot about now, but it was all but implicitly understood at the time that joe biden probably would not be a contender to succeed president obama as president himself down the line. there's nothing particularly personal about joe biden. it said nothing about whether joe biden would be a good choice for vice president back in 2008. it was the same kind of choice we understood george bush to have made when he picked dick cheney eightine prior. remember the four more years chants? those formore years chants were sarcastic, or at least ironic, or intendeding to purposely shocking. no one expected dick cheney would run to succeed george w. bush, and he didn't. the unique thing today is not that there's some amazing novel for a vice president foregoing

the opportunity to go next in line for the presidency in his own party. that happens to a lot of vice president. it's not terribly unique that vice president biden would have been an older candidate for president. ronald reagan was 69 years old, and joe biden is fit as a fiddle and only three years older than that. neither of these things make today's decision unique. what makes today's decision unique is that it's about this -- what is unique about this decision today is unique to joe biden himself. joe biden is so universally well liked. you may or may not have voted. but no one of his political stature has built up move of a legitimate huge emotional goodwill.

nobody has that reservoir of goodwill. nobody has anything like that, compared to joe biden. >> if you can't admire joe biden as a person, then you probably have a problem. you need to do some self-evaluation, because what's not to like? here's what i can tell you, that life can change just like that. don't take it for granted. don't take relationships for granted. i called him after beau died, and he bakley said, well, beau was my soul. we talked for a long time, he came to my ceremony, and said some of the most incredibly heartfelt things that anybody could ever say to me, and he's the nicest person i think i've ever met in politics. >> is that right? >> he is as good a man as god ever creted.

>> lindsey graham tearing up while describing his respect and affection for his friend joe biden, which persists alongside all of their very active political disagreements. when "time" wanted to profile vice president biden as one of the most influential people in the world, the profile written for him was written by eric cantor, the republican house majority leader at the time. he two too obvious in washington, opposing sides don't speak to one another. the best way to find solution and common ground is to build person relationships based on trust. no one understand this better than joe biden. his list of accomplish mints is impressive, but most impressive is his ability to bring people together, he does that by treating people with kinds in, respect, and speaking with honesty and candor. this was in 2013, at a time of just abjet partisan warfare, and one of the biggest warriors in that fight, the number two

republican in consequence at the time was still able to write about the democratic vice president to praise his decency and his honesty, and to call him his friend. this year when vice president biden was considering running for president, the abjectly fiercely partisan top republican in the united states senate said he wouldn't weigh in on whether or not mr. biden should make a run for the presidency, but he too called him his friend. >> i'm not somebody would be seeks his advice about whether to run for president. i do like joe a lot. i think he's a good man. >> i hear that a lot about joe biden. what other democrat in politics -- not some conservative wannabe rep democrat, but what true-blue democrat, who else in politics is a democrat would ever be talked about this way, particularly by republicans? >> joe biden and i have been friends for 38 years. we've shared some wonderful experiences together.

we've experienced combat, and we've experienced differences of views, and some of those may be parent in these conversations, but our relationship has been characterized by affection, but most of all, by respect. i respect this man as much as anyone who i've ever known, because i don't know anyone who is more dedicated to serving his country. >> republican senator john making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo the obama legacy. the american people have worked too hard, and we've come too far for that. democrats should not only defend this record and protect this record, they should run on the record. >> vice president biden made this announcement today flanked by his wife dr. jill biden and by president obama himself, and

that announcement ends a months-long process of feverish speculation. the speculation started in earnest on the first day of august when the "new york times" fearly anticlinton columnist maureen dowd published an explosive column saying he was thinking about running. shortly thereafter, it became that he had known elizabeth warren to come to washington and meet with him at his house privately, to have a very long talk about politics. not long after that, the vice president started to open up a bit in public about the fact that he really was thinking about it. >> i leg straightforward with you. the most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and i have the emotional energy to run. some might think that is not appropriate, but unless i can go

to my party and the american people and say that i am able to devote my whole heart and my whole soul to this endeavor, it would not be appropriate. and everybody talks about a lot of other factors -- the other people in the race, and whether i can raise the money, and whether i can put together an organization. that's not the factor. the factor is, can i do it? can my family undertake what is an arduous commitment that we would be proud to undertake in order circumstances, but the honest to god answer, i just don't know.

>> within the week of those remarks, he was bounding through a campaign-style appearance on a labor day rally in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. he didn't just look fired up and energetic. it actually looked like he was running, if only because for much of the day he was literally running through that whole event, jogging around. he spoke about the process he was going through again on stephen colbert 'news show. he talked about his grief over his son's death and how that was competing in his heart and in his emotions with his real desire to run. last week it was a letter from his closest political confidant, his former chief of staff, fred kauffman saying if the vice president mounted a candidacy, this is what it might look like. there was constant news of the vice president reaching out by phones to democratic leaders in the early stays, to prominent democrats and activists, never

committing that he was going to run, but definitely talking it over. as recently as yesterday he talked at a public event in on in a way that convinced some that he was going to run. but today when he finally ended that long process, there was inevitably talk about whether this long public process hurt somehow, whether it was undermining to hillary clinton's front-runner campaign, whether it distracted from the project of the democratic nominating process, whiches to pick a candidate who beats a republican in november and brings along as many down ticket democrats as possible. if it were anybody else in democratic politics. anybody else just in politics who had just gone through this arduous project, honestly there might be some hard feelings. but this is joe biden, and nobody is capable of having hard feelings about joe biden.

>> my daughter ellie. >> ellie, how are you? so good to see you. porter, how are you? >> my zonal tom. >> hello, tom. >> who is this guy? >> hi. how are you? are you doing okay? he said, grandpa, can i talk to a democrat? >> this is my sister-in-law lorraine. >> how are you? >> mother of ten. >> my mother would say no purgatory for you, straight to heaven. >> thank you, if you need somebody to negotiate a big prize, call me. >> he can do it. >> he'll make it -- >> oh, man, this is boring, boring, boring. how are you doing? can i borrow your hat? can i borrow your hat? good to see, you man.

man, what a great family. c'mon. i like kids better than people. the last big unknown is now known about the democratic field for the president sis. after the presidency of barack obama with his decision by vice president biden that we won't run, we now know the contours, the size of the field, but we don't know the full implications of this decision. we don't have anything to compare this to. that's because specifically there's nobody like joe biden in modern american politics. there's nobody else who's universally personally liked, even by those who disagree with him strongly. he spent 40 years in public office, but very high levels. after that 40-year-plus career, the same bottom line for his friends and his enemies, when everybody thinking about him is that he's a good man.

a, how do you do that? life in and in such a long successful political career? and b, how does that pay back to you in the world on a day like this? in what we know will be the apex of your career, a career which you have earned over the lifetime the amount of personal goodwill and affection that nobody else can brag about, the amount of personal goodwill and affection, that accrues because of the way he as lived his life in politics is unparalleled? how does that go ahead paid back to him? joining us is mike cassel, a republican who made a run for joe biden's senate seat once mr. biden became vice president, even though he's a republican, a longtime friend and colleague of vice president biden. thank you so much for being with us tonight. >> thank you, rachel. a pleasure to be with you. >> as a longtime friend of the vice president. are you disappointed that he's not running?

>> i'm disappointed for a couple reasons. one of whiches is delaware just obviously loves joe biden he is a very popular figure. he's joe at home, not vice president biden. people no him and like him. it was just exciting for a state of fewer than a million people for someone who might have been running for president and truly running, as opposed to the other tries where he never readily made up much ground. that's disappointing, but as a republican, i like the idea that would you have joe and hillary sort of going at each other, perhaps easing the way for her republican candidate to be able to move forward. i don't know if it would worked out that way or not, but that was another aspect to it all t i totally understand joe's decision, and he is a good friend. he went through a tremendous loss with beau. of course he went through an

earlier loss with his first wife and daughter, but the bottom line is that it's very understandable. i think he's absolutely right when he talks about the emotional strain on the family. he's a wonderful family man, as well as a very engaging and interesting person, and i believe that was more controlling than any thoughts about whether he could win or not win. that probably entered into it, and obviously getting off to a very late start, but i do believe it was the emotional ties to his family that were more important to him than anything else in politics today. >> governor, as home state colleagues from such a small state, especially with political careers that overlapped for so many years, with you in opposite parties, i imagine there must have been both things you had to work together on, because you both agreed they were right for del away and things you disagreed. i wondered, as a republican, who

liked d. and you guys liked each other, did you ever have it out on an issue where you disagreed? >> no, we never had it out. we never spoke ill of each other, that i know of, and certainly not publicly and i don't think privately. i think we always respected each other. i think that was true of tom carper, in the senate in and out and other people who have been elected in delaware. we're small, you know each other. you go to the same events. on the weekend you may bump into each other ten times. you might be at a delaware football game or a chicken festival. whatever the heck it may be. as a result, it's different than when you're sort of lobbing grenades at each other from television stations all over a big state. because of that personal knowledge, i think we have a sort of easier politics, if you will where he run gentz each other, but tend it to be more

gentlemanly about it than you'll sigh in most states, i believe. >> that extrapolated to his national career in a way we're all appreciated now. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, rachel. my pleasure. we still have lots ade tonight, including some breaking but slightly confusing news about whether we have a new speaker of the house. we'll have that straight ahead. stay with us. >> so i've known him a very long time. i didn't stop liking him when hillary and him ran against each other, and if he runs again i won't stop liking him then. he's a good man. he's been in public service in the united states. he was first elected when he was 29. he's been in public ever since. he's a a good man, and nothing will ever change that.

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the breaks news last night is paul ryan said he would only serve as house speaker if the monl conservative caucus endorsed him. that caucus voted tonight and everybody is still trying to figure out what the results were, or at least what they mean. it's not at all clear, but in its confusion it's fascinating. details on that are next. stay with us.

not mathematically possible. >> it is mathematically possible, it's been done before. it's precisely what we're proposing. >> it's never been done before. >> a couple times before.

>> now you're jack kennedy? >> when we look weak, our adversaries are more willing to test us -- >> with all due respect that's a bunch of ma larky. not a single thing he said is accurate. >> this is a bunch of stuff. look, here's the dealing. >> what does that mean? >> it's irish. >> it is. we irish call it ma larky. >> vice presidential debates are always the most fun. nothing will ever beat sarah palin versus joe biden, remember, can i call you joe? he was like, sure, governor, but joe biden verse paul ryan that was a high point, because if only because he appeared to think ha paul ryan was hilarious. in the last 24 hours, though both of the debate irs veld fairly epic days in the news. vice president biden announcing he will not enter the

presidentacy race himself this year, and his 2012 debate opponent congressman paul ryan announced he will throw his hat into the ring to try to become speaker of the house, but will only do it if republicans great to a whole host of -- paul ryan is demanding unified support from the three caucuses in the house that center rite republicans right-wing republicans and super hard-line republicans. he wants all three of those caucuses on board endorsing him by friday of this week. he says he wants to be excused from the usual fund-raising responsibilities of being speaker of the house so he can spend more times with his families and wants a rules change to make it harder to fire him as speaker once he gets the job. that last one has been a sticking point for the super hard-line right wing caucus called the freedom caucus, who are already the most unlikely

group of republicans to support him for speaker anyway. tonight there's news. members of that freedom caucus group tonight came out after a meeting with congressman ryan and think say they do support him for speaker. that made everybody think that was the biggest hurdle, now he's a shoo-in to be a speaker, but moments later, the cofounder came out and said oh, wait, perhaps you misunder, when we said we support him for speaker, we didn't say we supported him in sufficient numbers that he can actually get or endorsement as a caucus. paul ryan did say what he needs is their endorse muppet as a caucus. as one of his conditions for even running. technically he is not going to get that endorsement. so now nobody knows what happens next. they support him, but they don't him. he says he needs that are endorsement. they do -- see how this works out?

yeah, me neither. watch this space.

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four days ago, conservative pundit bill kristal said he jefferson jackson dinner. then yesterday hi tweeted that joe biden had confirmed to president obama at lunch that he was running.

see, bill kristol was hiding under the table. he said it was going to be today at the university of delaware. bill kristol is famous for making very bad, very confident predictions, like victorious vice president sarah palin, and president obama's nominee for the united states supreme court? jennifer granholm? and rudy giuliani is going to run for president in 2012, definitely, which he definitely did not do. mr. kristol may be a nice person, and i do not mean it as an insult, he's famous for being wrong and very loud in that. this time he had a lot of company on that limb. a fact that's been obvious and true for weeks. fox news, three sources close to the vice president telling me he's expected to announce he's

running. three sources. 'em a democratic congressman, i have a very good source close to joe who tells me vice president biden will run for president. that doesn't even include the innumerable writers and pundits and analyst who is said they heard or just knew that he was running or knew he would make a decision by the end of september or this weekend or in the nest 48 hours or next five minutes. honestly, what we did all know is if we waited long enough, joe biden would tell us, he would get in or not. so honestly, seriously there was no reason to make it up before then. and the point is not so much that all those people were wrong. they were. the point is that what they were talking about was unknowable unless your name was joe biden. you couldn't know what joe biden's decision was going to be, because it was his decision alone. yes, there were a lot of sources who wanted to talk, but for the most part they wanted to talk,

because they wanted joe biden to run. and that's not news. you can't turn your wishes or hopes or rumors into news just by calling it news. and so i sort of hope this whole salha, the last three months can be a cautionary tale. joe biden had to make up his mind. everybody who got out ahead of their skis on this is rightfully embarrassed for having done so. joining us is nbc historian here. michael, do you have any insight into why so much of this was both overheated and so wrong? >> i think people have a tendency to think if a politician is saying he's undecided about running, obvious times in history, you would be the first to say it is fakery and they're trying to encourage a public draft, but in this case

this was a story that it's more clear today than it's been during the last five months, it's a story of a man who was in a situation that was poignant and cruel. beau biden only passed the last day of may, less than five months ago. so you see a vip who's been thinking about running for president for decades coping with this horrible event in his life, trying to see if hi family is okay, trying to get through the grief process at the same time these nominating processes these days are very front loaded, harder and harder for a candidate to declare this late. you see him going back and forth in public. i think it was natural for people to assume it was posturing, in retrospect, the zigs and zags, that was all very real. >> any historical precedent for the public playing out of this saga? obviously a lot of people take a long time, and as you say, his emotional predicament is

unprecedented. has there been a public wishing and waiting? >> oh, absolutely. mario cuomo famously in 1991, the primary process that bill clinton finally won in the democratic party, mario cuomo kept on giving signals, i will, i won't did not declare-not going to run until the 20th of december, so that's later in the process that we're talking about. robert kennedy, when he was thinking about whether to run lbj over the vietnam war issue in late 1967, 1968 was agonized, finally only declared 16th of march of that election year, the spring of the year that election would have been held. michael beschloss, thank you. great to have you here on these nights to give perspective. >> thank you, rachel. we have not had a vice president succeed the president

since -- very is powerful i wonder if the vice president -- the vice presidency is a job that's evolving to be less of a steppingstone and more of just a good job in its own right? we'll be right back. just about anywhere you use sugar, you can use splenda®... ...no calorie sweetener. splenda® lets you experience... ...the joy of sugar... ...without all the calories. think sugar, say splenda®

who is the authority on this issue? the chicken or the egg? >> a lot of people are on becky's side, but a lot of people point out there was an egg that probably mutated. >> but it wasn't a real egg, so the chicken came first? >> oh, my god, this you don't see every day. >> smun was calling in my ear. >> i'm from ohio. >> a commercial when you guys are running together. >> senator rob portman. who says snooze button with you? you're on fire. >> you want to hear the chicken laying the egg? [ clucking ] >> this is a man who -- >> that answers the question. >> there you go. he's on my side. >> former republican from ohio.

ohio senator rob portman does a good chicken impression. [ clucking ] >> where is the egg? senator portman of ohio, if you know nothing else, you will always know he makes bird noises very very well. as does republican presidential candidate george pataki. >> at the risk of appears to be a complete nerd, which sadly sometimes i am, you know what you do to attract a bird is you make sounds, because they're curious. so like -- let me just try this now. birds will hear that, and they'll actually come to see what's making the sound. i attracted a 707, i think. >> former new york governor george pataki calls birds with

his mouth, fairly well, i think, though i'm no expert, but apparently he does birdwatch and can make that noise. george pataki can do that. what he cannot do is make it onto the major stage for the republican dedates. he's been the tallest kid at the kids table for the last two debates. tonight we learned he will be stuck at that kids' table again for the third debate as well. we just got the announcement after the last qualifying poll came out. the last qualifying poll is an abc poll that shows donald trump way out ahead with 32% of the vote, one of the highest he's had all years. it has mike huckabee, chris christie, rand paul, and john kasich all doing terribly, but the 2% and 3%, those are enough to get all of those candidates qualified by the skin of their

teeth. these are the ten this will how they'll be arranged on stage. donald trump will be in the center, and then radiating outward by polling number, ben carson marco yule rho just about bush, carly phonia, mike huckabee, ted cruz -- i don't know what order they'll pull them in, but the strivers, it's rick santorum, lindsey gram, george pataki, and bobby jindal, though i should tell that you jindal's campaign is making noises he might not even bother showing up for the next debate if in fact he is at the kids table again. i should tell you that good old jim gilmore did not even get invited to the kids table, but whether we asked for comment on that today from the campaign,

all we got was our own voices ricocheting back out to us from the swirling vortex of void into which we had shouted, kind of, sort of, but him not making the kids table i think probably means that he's done.

programming note times two -- friday night on this show hillary clinton will join us live for an interview. this will be secretary clinton's first sit-down interview since vice president biden announced he will not be running for president. also the secretary's full interview after her testimony on capitol hill. again, hillary clinton here for her first interview after both of those rather epic political events right here friday night, 9:00. i'm thinking about maybe just sleeping here at the office until it happens just to make sure nothing goes wrong. i'll be right back.

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there was a time in american history where whole cities were named by the ethnic group that decided to move in there. this, for instance is germantown, an area of st. louis that saw a huge infliction of german immigrants. germantown was later renamed baden, but still a tiny play, population of about 400 people. it consisted of 11 stores, three wagon shops, four schools and four churches.

one of those churches, the earliest protestant church was called ebenezer lutheran organized by eight families who first held their worship services in a log house. over the years, baden has changed a lot. it's now more than 90% after kaj american, for one, but ebenezer has been there all along, in this big, beautiful building, it sits right in the middle of the residential neighborhood. the neighborhood is predominantly black, but the congregation is racially diverse. all kinds of people worked shipping together. when you worshippers arrived there this past sunday morning services, they found that something had tried to burned the place down. the front door was scorched black. it was clear that somebody had set a fire there before. with that discovery, it became the sixth church in less than two weeks that had been set on

fire in that immediate area in what officials are now calling a string of arson attacks. the string of fires all happened at predominantly black churches in predominantly black neighborhoods, all in about a three-mile raddies in north st. louis. the first was october 8th as bethel church. there have been a string of them since. investigators say in each of the six incidences, the church's front doors were set on fire, so similar crimes. most of the churches sustained relatively minor damages, but one of the churches was nearly destroyed. investigators are not calling it a hate crime yet, but officials from the atf, the act is sent to send a message. $9,000 reward is being offered for anyone who has an information that leads to an arrest. one of the churches that sustained the worst damage is the new life missionary baptist church.

the front doors were charred in again what appears to be an argon attack. the siden was completely melted. new life missionary this fire-setting activity is meant it is not yet clear what the motive is here, but joining us now is the pastor of the new life missionary baptist church in massachusetts. it's a real honor to have you with us tonight. >> thank you for having me, rachel. when you got the call that the church had been damaged by fire, what went through your mind? what did you find in terms of the extent of damage when you got there? >> it was a really disappointing site when i got on the scene. the damage is very extense i, as you read in the report, we were

not able to hold service in the church. but we did want to send the message, although the building was broken, the body is still going to stand strong. we will not be able to use the church again the way that we used to use it, but we are moving forward with high spirits and high hopes that we will be able to rebuild. >> have you found alternate accommodations. are you going to continue to hold services in some ad hoc way until the repairs can be done? >> absolutely. we've gotten tremendous support from the neighborhood. companies like better family life, we've been partnering with, several other pastors in the area, the red cross may be helping us out with tents in case of the weather conditions this coming sunday. but we do still plan on holding services outside. we have to send a consistent message that we're going to continue to stand and our voice isn't going to be silenced and we're not going to hide in fear. >> one of the reasons that this is a national story and we're

talking about it, the atf is involved and all the federal agencies is involved because church burnings happen. burnings of commercial buildings, all sorts of things happen. sometimes it feels like there's more of a string than usual. in this case, it seems very clear. the patterns of arson seem very similar and all the surj churches are so close together, such a tight radius. does that give you any insight into what might have motivated this? where this might have come from? or was this a complete shock? >> it was a complete shock. moufr, we are going to always have people who are against whatever god is trying to do good for our neighborhoods. this was someone who is spiritually sick. enmaybe it's someone who has been hurt by the church. i don't know what this person's history is, however, i do believe that this person is very familiar with these churches. and in some ways we have failed to reach the community as a

church. but what this has done for the churches in the st. louis metropolitan area is it has accelerated the need for us to become united, to come together to put our differences aside by denomination, by tradition, by race, color, nationality .and come together, united, making one sound through one spirit. >> pastor david triggs from new life missionary baptist church in st. louis. it's inspiring to hear you be so positive and constructive. good luck. >> thank you. >> what you need to know for tomorrow's big event on capitol hill, which is going to be a big event here on msnbc. stay with us. that's next.

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this is john kerry confined to his hospital room after breaking his right femur in a biking accident. he's an avid cyclist. this is not his first fall, but that accident kept him sidelined for weeks. this is john kerry's predecessor in that same job. >> secretary of state hillary clinton took a nasty fall as she boarded her plane yesterday. she was leaving for yemen. the secretary of state is okay this morning. >> secretary of state hillary clinton was not hurt in that fall on that plane. but then the following year it happened again in a much more serious circumstances. she was at home recovering from a stomach virus when she became dehydrated, fainted and suffered a concussion. secretary clinton was out of work for three weeks because of that concussion, and the injury wiped something off her calendar at the time. she was forced to postpone her planned testimony that december to the congressional committees investigating the terrorist

attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. secretary clinton was scheduled to testify before the house and senate on that matter, but she had to delay her testimony after she got hurt. lots of republicans at the time got really classy and accused her of faking it. george w. bush's of u.n. ambassador john bolton at the time said secretary clinton had come up with a diplomatic illness, which is an outrageous thing to say, but for john bolton that just meant that it's tuesday. when she testified she wore special glasses that she had to wear as a result of that concussion. that testimony was supposed to be her definitive testimony on the benghazi attacks. that was the showdown republicans had been waiting for. but when all that was over, they decided they wanted more. that testimony yielded this report on the benghazi attacks. there was also this one. there was also this one.

there was also this one. and also through there have been seven congressional investigations into this attack and even though secretary clinton sat for five hours testifying about it the last time around, now it's time for the next round. tomorrow morning starting at 10:00 a.m., former secretary of state hillary clinton will testify again in front of yet another benghazi committee. her testimony is expected to go on for eight hours or more, not including breaks. this latest round of testimony comes in the wake of two house republicans acknowledging on tape that this latest investigation has basically just been an exercise in trying to bring downhillry clinton's poll numbers. so it will be interesting to see how secretary clinton reacts to that new dynamic tomorrow, if at all. it will also be interesting to see whether democrats on this committee resign en masse once her system is over, which is something they suggested they might be dop they might wait till her testimony wraps and say right, are we done here? we're out.

that's the threat. the testimony begins at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. it could go all day and into the night. and yes, you can watch it on msnbc. it's thursday, october 22nd. right now on "first look" preparing with top advisers behind closed doors all week, hillary clinton is facing what might be the most gruelling day of her political career today. testifying before the benghazi committee. with joe biden out of the race, clinton's poll position has already risen to an almost unstoppable status. new developments and an arrest in the road rage case that resulted in the shooting death of a 4-year-old girl. plus firefighters held hostage at the scene of an ohio fire. first lady michelle obama teams up with lebron james. and the new york mets, they are headed to the world series. "first look" starts right now. good morning, everybody. thanks so much for waking up with us today. i'm betty nguyen.

here we go. in a matter of hours hilla