high stakes on tuesday and thursday night. awesome conversation. thank you all. before we go, do not miss our super special coverage tuesday coverage beginning at 5:00 p.m. eastern on nbc news now and 10:00 p.m. on the network and tune in on thursday night for president biden's third state of the union address. that is all for today. thank you so much for watching. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday it's "meet the press." the media's like -- the media's been all themselves trying to figure out why am i not getting out of the race, why does she keep fighting? what's she doing? first of all, when 70% of america says they don't want donald trump or joe biden, yes,

i'm going to keep fighting. >> we will restore peace through strength. get that war settled. it's a bad war. and putin, you know, has so little respect for biden, he's throwing around nuclear. >> that's nikki haley while donald trump mixed up president obama from president biden. that's straight ahead. plus kamala harris called for a cease-fire and it comes as the biden administration continues to face pressure over the growing humanitarian crisis in gaza. and also ahead, we'll bring you the latest from capitol hill, where lawmakers faced another short deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.

good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this monday, march 4th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day and week with us. we have a lot to get to this morning and we'll begin here. for the first time since announcing her run for president over a year ago nikki haley has won her first primary. she won the washington, d.c. republican primary with more than 60% of the vote. she's now the first woman to ever win a gop contest. the washington race was seen as one of trump's most vulnerable with the former president remaining unpopular with the moderate republicans who tend to live there. turnout was also extremely low with just 2,000 republican voters casting their ballots. former president trump responded to his loss on social media by calling d.c.the swamp and once again insulting haley. the pair will face off again

tomorrow in multiple states on super tuesday. now former president trump did tally three more victories over the weekend in his requestest to secure the republican nominations. trump notched wins in missouri and idaho. meanwhile in michigan trump woman 55% of the delegates. trump's now locked out 244 delegates while haley has 43. 1,215 delegates are needed to secure the republican nomination. and, of course, we're now just one day from the busiest day in the entire primary process, super tuesday. tomorrow republican contests take place in 15 states with 865 delegates up for grabs all told. the day could mark the end of the road for haley's campaign,

but the republican challenger didn't rule out continuing past super tuesdays during interviews she gave to nbc's "meet the press." >> i've always said this needs to be competitive. as long as we're competitive, showing there's a place for us, i'm going to continue to fight. that's always been the case. >> would you consider yourself competitive if you didn't win super tuesday? >> usually you all decide whether it's competitive or not. you all decided. we're going to continue to keep pushing through. >> for the democrats, 1,420 delegates are at stake in 15 states for tomorrow's super tuesday. additionally democrats will hold their primary. president biden the heavy favorite in all of them. now ahead on super tuesday nikki haley ramped up her criticism of former president donald trump, doing so during several campaign

events and more on "meet the press" yesterday. >> this primary isn't between donald trump and nikki haley. yes, on the ballot, that's what you see. this primary is what is the direction of the republican party. are we going to go where you had donald trump. he grew government. he didn't reduce the size of government. he put us $8 trillion in debt in just four years, more than any other president. and you're seeing a republican party follow him into that wasteful spending, not talking about fiscal discipline. this is a donald trump who believings you should be more of an isolationist, that america doesn't need friends. that's his focus. >> the media's been like all over themselves trying to figure out why am i not getting out of the race, why does she keep fighting, what's sh doing? first of all, when 70% of americans say they don't want joe biden or donald trump, yes, i'm going to keep on fighting. >> all he's doing is talking

about himself. what he doesn't get is this isn't about him. this is about the american people. >> if you look at the early states, he ma i have won them, yes, but he didn't get 40% of the vote. that's no small number. in michigan, he campaigned there for eight years. i campaigned for two days and we got 30% of the vote. >> you look. did he win the early states? i'll give him that. he did. but did you notice? he did not get 30% to 40% in any of those states. that's not a small number. there's a lot of us. and i will tell you this. if you don't think you need that 30% or 40% of us, you're showing exactly why you're going to lose a general election. >> meanwhile trump for his part hit the campaign trail in north carolina and virginia.

in richmond, he struggled to speak and different times and confused joe biden for barack obama. >> putin, you know, has so little respect for obama, he's starting to throw around the nuclear term. you heard that. nuclear. >> did you see modura. you know argentina, they won may gachlt great guy. we will expel the war mongers. we heard saudi arabia and -- >> i'm not sure what happened on the last one. those incidents with donald trump keep piling up with more and more frequency. joining us now, politics

reporter shelby talcott. i'm sorry. i had to laugh at the last one. let's talk about super tuesday. donald trump, the heavy favorite on the republican side. is there a contest where haley could whip? and even if she faces a clean sweep, do we really think she's going to stay in the race? >> good morning. yeah, that's a good question. i think the answer is this super tuesday seems pretty prime for donald trump. and when i talk to his team, there's not too many concerns they have. he's going to be spending it at mar-a-lago, and the view of donald trump's team is that this primary is effectively over. they've been trying to shift into general election mode more and more. we saw it during his speak after he won south carolina when he really didn't mention nikki haley at all. you know, of course, donald trump will go back and as we also saw, continue to attack nikki haley particularly after the washington, d.c. results, but by and large, it feels like

for donald trump's team, this primary is over. it's a difficult road ahead for nikki haley. but at the same time, does she drop out? that's the ultimate question, and that's the question that people have been asking her for weeks and months. i remember sitting here in d.c.on friday at a small round table and asking her a similar question that kristen welker asked, which is, you know, what happens? what happens if you're not competitive? and, really, what does competitive mean to you if you lost some of the early voting states, and she gave a similar answer, essentially blaming the media. the media determines what competitive means. >> and caret it to her for winning d.c. as noted. she's the finish woman to win the republican. are they keeping an eye on the trump criminal trial, which is scheduled in a couple of weeks, that even if donald trump is on

the verge or a secure number of delegates is needed, is that part of it, to stay in the race in case trump goes off the rails? >> they haven't said that openly, but you heard them talk about donald trump's criminal trial as lot lately. i think it's fair to say this is part of the calculus. this is an unprecedented situation. you've never had a presidential candidate who's dealing with all of these legal problems, so, of course, anyone who's had a run against trump, including people who are no longer in the race, that was always one of the factors, the what-if factor of the primary that we haven't seen in the past. certainly i think it's fair to say however quietly, that is a calculus when it comes to whether or not nikki haley continues on past super tuesday, despite how she does in all of these states. >> haley suggested she would not follow through on the rnc pledge to endorse trump.

lastly talk about how biden keeps plugging away at tiktok. don't expect to follow suit. tell us about it. >> as we know, donald trump has been extremely critical of tiktok over the years when he was president. when i asked around within his orbit, that, listen, there are a lot of young voters on tiktok and young voters are up for grabs as we've seen in some of the polls. president biden is nod doing well and donald trump is trying to get them. it would be a huge flip for donald trump to all of a sudden go and join tiktok and it would also irritate a large swath of his base who's very staunchly anti-tiktok because of its china ties. so i think it's safe to say we should. expect to see the former president on tiktok, but at the same time, he is targeting young voters in different ways. he's going to sporting events,

getting endorsements from rappers and doing different things, endorsing different groups the same way president biden is. >> shelby talcott, thank you. still ahead here on "way too early," what we're learning about arrests made after russian opposition leader alexei navalny's funeral last friday. plus, vice president kamala harris calls for an immediate cease-fire in gaza. what that could mean for the administration's approach to the ongoing war. those stories and more and a check on weather and sports when we come right back. and sports n we come right back

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friday. a rights group tracking political arrests say at least 91 people have been detained at events commemorating navalny across russia. most of them were allegedly stopped while trying to lay flowers at monuments dedicated to victims of soviet repression. navalny, of course, died at a russian penal colony on december 16th. several ambassadors were among the mourners. his wife yulia was not at the funeral but wrote on instagram writing this, i don't know how go forward without you but i will make you proud of me. we will definitely meet one day. i love you forever. back here in the states, donald trump's classified

documents case in florida is likely to be delayed until summer. they suggested new trial dates, but no decision was immediately made. judge cannon did not give any indication how she would ruling but dumping the hearing she described the government's suggested start date of july 8, quote, unrealistic. trump's attorneys suggested mid august, but also argued it should be pushed back even further until after the election. it's set for march 20th, but it's expected to change. it was the first time the former president has attended a public hearing in this particular case. trump is accused of illegally hoarding classified documents at his mar-a-lago state and obstructing government efforts to get them back. he's pleaded not guilty to all of those charges. elsewhere or the trump legal

front, lawyers for the former president and his georgia co-defendants made their final arguments on friday in a trial that could remove fulton county district attorney fani willis from the ricoh case. defendants allege her personal relationship with the special prosecutor she hired for the case constitutes a conflict of interest. if the presiding judge over the case agrees, it couldismiss the charges. judge scott mcafee says he hopes to have a ruling within two weeks. still ahead, a historic weekend in basketball that started with lebron james reaching 40,000 points and ended with caitlin clark as she broke an all-star wnba sports record. that's next in sports. you won't want to miss it. next. you won't want to miss it. [paparazzi taking pictures] introducing, ned's plaque psoriasis. ned, ned, who are you wearing? he thinks his flaky red patches

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history. she does it on a far shot. >> there it is. caitlin clark sets the score, baking pete maravich's all-time record for both men's and women's scoring totals set back in 1970. chark got the record-setting point thanks to a technical foul just before the end of the first half. she finished with 35 points in the win over the number two ranked ohio buckeyes. this comes a day after lebron james made some history in the nba. he ooh is the first player ever to score 40,000 points, and, frankly, he might be the only player ever to do it. the next closest is kevin durant. but the 35-year-old who has a history of injuries is 11,000 points behind james. it did come in a loss to the

nuggets. the boston celtics had a historic day yesterday. the celtics went into halftime, up 44 points. 44 point. that's a franchise record. boston would go on to win 140 to 88, the third largest visit in tran chietz history. they also set app nba record by 50 points or more. it felt personal against the warriors and it felt good. moving now to soccer and the u.s. women's national team bounced back in a big way. they scored three first half goals starting with this penalty kick by lindsey huran. they gave team usa a comfortable lead. they shut out colombia. we turn now to a massive upset in women's college softball. the university of louisiana snapped a 71-game winning streak

for the oklahoma sooners. the ragin' cajuns knocked off a win. the sooners who have won three straight championships have not lost since february 19th of last year. time now for the weather as we start off another workweek. meteorologist michelle grossman is here with the forecast. how is it going? >> it's the worst day of the week. tomorrow is looking up. we have a lot going on. in the west, we had so much going on. some places saw 48 inches of snow in 24 hours. we have another system coming in that will bring another 1 or 2 foot. we'll see wind and flash flooding. this will last through wednesday. then as we look toward the middle of the country, really warm in the eastern half. some temperatures 40 degrees above normal for this time of year. we're looking for a storm system that will bring a chance of rain from the southern plains to the

mississippi valley and the west. you could see some snow and a little mixture there as well. we could see pretty heavy rain along the gulf coast as well. same story out west. we're looking at more rain along the california coast. we're looking at intermountain west snow. adding feet of snow. big difference in the southern plains. we're going to be mild for march. we're going to see heavy rain over tuesday, wednesday, thursday. some could be heavy in portions of new jersey and down to parts of the carolinas. by friday, we're looking at more rain and storms. some could be gusty. we'll be watching that. also on the backside we're looking at snowy conditions in the rockies all the way to the midwest. happy monday. >> thank you as always. still ahead here on "way too early," we'll bring you the very latest on capitol hill amid the threat of another partial government shutdown. the deadline comes in the middle of the week. we'll be right back with that. k. we'll be right back with that. you always got your mind on the green.

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welcome back to "way too early." it's just ahead of 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast. so 2:30 out west on the monday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. we return to washington now where top lawmakers are racing to vote on a series of funding bills with the government set to run out of monday this friday. the spending package comes five months into this fiscal year and will cost the government roughly

$460 billion. democrats are praising increased food asus stabs funding. meanwhile house speaker mike johnson, republican of louisiana, is celebrating, quote, key conservative policy victories that include team cuts at the epa, atf, and the fbi. still, both the house and senate will need to pass this first set of bills by friday and a second by the 22nd to avoid a government shutdown. march 8, march 22, two deadlines. joining us now from capitol hill, good morning. >> for those keeping track at home, this is the fifth time this congress is finding themselves up against a government funding deadline.

at this time, this time around, it's very unlikely we're going to see that partial government shutdown come friday at midnight. yesterday congressional leaders unveiled a package of spending bills due on friday. they're calling it a mini bus. they struck a deal, a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on that tranche of six spending bills, so the expectation is it will make it through both chambers in time to avert the partial government shutdown on friday. but looking forward, march 22nd, that's going to be the tougher lift because included in that are tougher remaining bills like the department of defense and the department of homeland security, things we have not yet seen an agreement on from congressional leaders and appropriators. i'll tell you, there is time until they get those bills crafted and to the floor, but folks are saying that is going to be the tougher deadline to

hit. again, that's going to be the sixth deadline we're going to face. >> there are some on the far right who wouldn't mind, and we also know how much power they wield over speaker johnson. when you speak to republicans there, do they think johnson can keep the government open while keeping his job? >> i'll tell you, jon, the sense i got from conservatives in speaking to them the last couple of days, they've reached the end of this fight and didn't get what they wanted. the fiscal year is almost halfway done and we're still working on crafting government funding. since the beginning of this government funding fight, we've seen conservatives lay down the gauntlet. they want conservative spending cuts. at the end of the day, they got a few cuts and policy wins here and there, but nowhere near the level they were pushing for, and no with congress about to

approve the six spending bills this week, six around the corner for march 22nd, conservatives are largely realizing they have no more leverage at their proposal to push for the cuts and policy wins. the only thick they have is that motion to vacate. i spoke to a number of conservatives last week who just say the conference is not there yet. at this juncture, there's no appetite to force that vote on ousting speaker johnson, even though they're not happy with how the funding talks are going. >> with that as the back drop and the backdrop. what is the latest on ukraine funding? is the earliest it comes up is after the march 22nd deadline, and is there any momentum to get it passed? >> the expectation is this won't come up until government spending is said and done. speaker johnson was asked what is your urgurgency? he said right now i'm on government funding world.

let's avert the shutdowns and then let's look at the next priorities which includes ukraine. speaker johnson is still demanding with any ukraine aid passed in the house, it must be accompanied by border security provisions. but remember it was not too long ago the senate bipartisan group struck a deal and agreement on border security tacked onto a foreign aid package but it couldn't get past the senate. some conservatives were even frustrated with the idea of trading border security when they actually had an agreement before them. so how you crepe aid gets over the finish line, that remains to be seen. there are a few discharge plans in the works with game buts that if it has at least the majority support of the chamber, you can by pass leadership on the floor for a piece of legislation. that's a long shot bid. so right now it's all and

see on how johnson handles the aid because sirens continue to go off. kyiv needs this support now >> congressional reporter for the hill, mychael schnell. thank you. we'll talk to you again soon. still ahead, we'll look at what's driving the markets and new reporting about america's national debt. it's rising by about $1 trillion every 100 days. we'll get into what that might mean for the u.s. economy. "way too early" will be back in a moment. . economy. "way too early" will be back in a moment

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here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. time now for business, let's bring in arabile gumede who joins us from london. arabile, good morning. stock is a littlechanged after a record-setting week for nasdaq. what can we expect from wall

street tort today. >> well, if you're looking at premarket trade, you can look at the semiconductors and chips on a bit of an uptick. you have the likes of nvidia up 1% and some of the other chipmakers pushing up as well. it could continue headed into this week. it's very significant because this week while we've moved away ever so slightly from the earnings report from the fourth quarter of 2023 as well as that ppi and cpi print, this week is all about the jobs market. we have jobs data, private data, adp, plus we have the nonfarm data. that comes out on friday. all of that becomes a key and critical factor to look out for for the rest of this market. all of those will certainly be on the eye of investors, plus

macy's has been putting things together. that will be looked out for in this market picture today. >> as we teased before the break, the united states debt load has grown in recent months. give us the latest. >> that figure is $34.4 trillion at present. that's as of wednesday. the last trillion itself actually grew within 100 days and that's happened consecutively now since september of last year, which kind of gives you a clear factor. let's remember that that debt is because the united states is borrowing money in order to cover operating expenses. we're still facing an economy in the united states that is, of course, still facing a possible shutdown. so a lot of borrowing is still happening in the market,ro up t. is it a false promise?

it's a significant rise and that jump is consistent, few analysts saying that that rate of 100 days looks like it may be consistent, running up to 35 trillion u.s. dollars. if that is the case, then, of course, by the end of the summer, we'll hit the $35 trillion mark. >> we'll be keeping an eye on that. cnbc's arabile gumede live from london. thank you as always. still ahead here, we'll turn to the middle east, israel and hamas appear to be making progress on a cease-fire deal, but some real sticking points remain. this as vice president kamala harris issues a sharp rebuke and calls for a cease-fire. we'll bring you the very latest on the conflict when we come right back. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley.

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welcome back. we now bring you the latest from

gaza. a cease-fire could be reached before the muslim holy month of ramadan. "the wall street journal" is told israel has talked about a deal that includes a six-week truce. there are two sticking points, which palestinian leaders the group wants freed by israel and how many for each hostage released. because of that, israel has not sent a delegate. members of hamas are there railroad. meanwhile vice president kamala harris is sit to meet with a member of israel's war cabinet at the white house, this one day after kamala harris called for an immediate cease-fire in gaza. she made the comments yesterday during memorial events in selma, alabama, saying israel must do more to protect the civilians

there. take a listen. >> the conditions are inhumane. and our common humanity compels us to act. the israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. no excuses. they must open new border crossings. they must not impose any unnecessary restrictions on the delivery of aid. they must ensure humanitarian personnel, sites and convoys, are not targeted. and they must work to restore basic services and promote order in gaza so more food, water, and fuel can reach those in need. >> i will repeat, the threat of

hamas poses to the people of israel must be eliminated, and given the immense scale of suffering in gaza, there must be an immediate cease-fire. for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table. >> at the same time the united states has made its first air drop of hooumt aid in to gaza. in a combined effort with the jordanian air force, the united states air force dropped over 38,000 meals on saturday afternoon. the packages were stacked on pallets where in gaza where thousands of people are starving. u.s. is looking for more ways to send aid to gpz including by sea. joining us now for "politico," alex ward.

he's author of the new book, "the irn ter internationalists." it's a terrific copy. alex, good to see you. let's start with air drops. the fact that the u.s. has to do that, considering aid by sea, what does that say about the relationship that they have where they could. just get israel to facilitate the food coming in? >> yeah. i mean, let's be honest. this is a sign of either american weakness or effectiveness. at this point israel has been very clear that they've wanted to open up all of the convoys. but at this point even though they've pushed very hard, they've got a few open but not enough. but now with the air drop which is the most inexpensive way to deliver aid, which the people in gaza don't care.

it shows that as much as president biden and his team have been pushing bibi netanyahu and his team to do more, they just won't. so the u.s. is doing this pretty dramatic move in order to get as much as possible in at this point. >> and what do we make of the call from the vice president yesterday for this immediate cease-fire and some pretty stern words for israel and the conditions they've allowed to materialize there in gaza? this feels like it's part of the process of ratchetling up. what made the biden white house go there now? >> it's unclear. one aspect could be the administration is finally fed up with bibi netanyahu and his team because they're unable to add more humanitarian assistance. it could be the uncommitted vote in the michigan primary was so high, 113,000 people or so. mane they finally felt there was a political reckoning, that they

need to address what's happening in gaza. you've heard the administration talk for a long time about the need for a pause and the deal they're trying to work with hamas and israel, but they haven't used cease five. the fact that harris used cease-fire, literally the word, and you heard the reaction to it, this is a massive boon to progressives and those organizing for a significant pause to this war. it really signals a different stance to this, a stronger stance, and it previews or at least puts kamala harris today benny gantz, you know, part of the war cabinet of israel. >> lastly and briefly, what do u.s. officials tell you in terms of the likelihood of this deal, this cease-fire for hostages deal, getting done in time for ramadan, just a week or so away? >> it's looking better than it was perhaps the end of last week, but no one is overly confident.

everyone is skeptical. no deal is done until it's done. the issue seems to be hamas here who hasn't really been responding to the latest, you know, objectives. i think if you would ask anyone privately, they say, yes, it'll get done, but it might be down to the wire. >> national security reporter for "politico," alex ward. thank you. we'll speak again soon. nikki haley gets a couple senate endorsements. we'll tell you about those and more on her win in washington, d.c. coming up on "morning joe," the private chats and chance encounters that shape joe biden's thinking. "the washington post" tyler pager will have a look at his new series digging into how president biden learns and leads. plus, a look ahead to super tuesday as republican presidential candidate nikki haley appears to walk back her pledge to support donald trump if he is the republican nominee. and we'll bring you more from trump's gaffe-filled weekend of events. at certain moments, he simply

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welcome back. ahead of super tuesday, republican presidential candidate nikki haley secured her first gop senate endorsements. on friday, republicans lisa murkowski and susan collins both announced their support for haley as voters head to the polls tomorrow. murkowski and collins had been notably critical of trump, both voting to convict him in his second impeachment trial following the january 6th attack on the capitol. haley now has a total of three endorsements from capitol hill, including republican congressman ralph norman of south carolina. as we noted, she got her first victory over the weekend in washington, d.c. joining us now, national political reporter for "politico," thank you for joining us. haley got a win and endorsements but faces a tough hill to climb and might be looking at a clean sweep tomorrow on super tuesday. is there a state she could win?

assuming the day goes trump's way, what's the future for haley's campaign? >> she picked up two endorsements from alaska's senator and maine's senator. if establishment endorsements still make any dent or difference in the races, look to those states as potential places where maybe she could run up the score. at this point, we do expect that donald trump looks like he is on track to collect the delegates he needs to be the nominee come super tuesday. we watch 15 states go to the polls. look, that's a very difficult math for nikki haley as she moves forward, even though it is worth noting that she's the first woman to win a republican presidential primary by winning in the district of columbia on saturday. >> yeah, that matters and is worth underscoring, to be sure. elena, there was democratic freakout over the weekend. a series of polls that were not great for president biden. one of the new polls shows donald trump leading biden by five points among registered voters. another suggests biden's age appears to be a major concern,

with 73% of voters saying he is too old to be an effective president. 42% say the same about trump. the poll goes on to say there are even democrats who voted for biden in 2020 who now are not sure they will again this time around because of his age. give us the latest as to what democrats are saying about these figures. >> if you talk to the campaign right now, the biden campaign, that is, there is certainly pushback from them in terms of where we are in the calendar. there are many months to go before election day. polls are snapshots in time, not predictive of voting behavior. all of that being said, though, when you talk to democrats privately and some publicly, there is a deep concern about where things are right now and what the president needs to do to claw back some of the support and to reassure people that he is capable of being the nominee and serving another four terms. so there's been, you know, a broad range of advice we at

"politico" reported on about what the team for the president will do. showing up more on the campaign trail. doing more of the contemporaneous events where he works the rope lines, moments he's famous for, showing he is as strong as they see him privately. there's a lot of advice to go around on how the campaign moves forward, but those are not poll numbers they love to see. >> let's be clear, there are other polls showing americans are feeling better about the economy, boding well for president biden. as we highlighted earlier, donald trump is prone to misstatements and meltdowns on the trail. how do democrats want to highlight the trump factor, just a few years younger than biden? how can they turn this back on the republican? >> you're putting your thumb on what the biden campaign and democrats believe they need to not next couple monthmonths, whs

remind voters donald trump also aged four years the last four years and he is also just a few years behind president biden in terms of age. he also makes mistakes, particularly confusing politicians on the trail. he was confusing former president barack obama and joe biden over the weekend. he's done the same with nikki haley and nancy pelosi. they want to use the contrasts and make sure voters remember and are aware that these moments are happening. a lot of folks haven't tuned in fully to the race, and that choice between these two quite old candidates are what biden and democrats hope to drive home. >> the state of the union, a chance to show vitality. last year, he delivered a strong performance. give us a sense of your "politico" piece where you highlight the $100 million the american and israel public affairs committee plans to spend this year.

what would the impact be? >> this is an enormous amount of money we've heard from toledo -- donors about how much they want to spend in democratic house primaries primarily. safe seat, blue democratic seats where they want to shape the kinds of democrats who are going to washington. that goes from everything from sort of the so-called squad, people like bush of missouri or bowman of new york, all the way to open primaries, where we reported on the first opening salvo in southern california where they've picked a candidate they prefer in an open race there. they really are looking to shape the kinds of democrats and, in their mind, who they deem more pro-israel in their mind, to go to washington to push their issues. but what is really notable is that progressives, obviously, are trying to push back on that and are trying to point out the fact that a