0 scrutiny from all sides in tough questioning over drones, waterboarding and leaks. popular vote, hillary clinton is day's removed from public office but a new poll finds her public image soaring. time to put another log on the 2016 speculation fire. and the northeast braces for a giant winter storm that could deliver historic and dangerous amounts of snow combined with gale force winds. the latest update on what to expect in minutes. good morning from washington. it's friday, february 8, 2013, and this is "the daily rundown." from the moment cia nominee john brennan entered his confirmation hearing on thursday, it was clear that the first major public discussion of the obama administration's drone program would be on the combative end, offering a rare public display of democratic dismay with their president a president's policies. after protesters interrupted brennan's opening statement five oversee evidence against americans who might be targeted by strikes. brennan was also pressed about his evolving answers on enhanced int interrogation methods. >> what steps did you take to stop cia from moving to these techniques you now say you found objectionable at the time? >> i did not take steps to stop the cia's use of those techniques. i was not in the chain of command of that program. i expressed my personal objections and views to some agency colleagues. >> do you have a personal opinion whether water board something torture? >> i have a personal opinion waterboarding is reprehensible and something that should not be done and, again, i am not a lawyer, senator, and i can't address that question. >> nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell joins us now to talk about a busy day on the hill. kelly, let's start with the brennan hearing. what was fascinating to me is unlike most of these recent hearings we've seen, the criticism came from the president's own party, ron wyden, angus king, what did you make of it and what was the reaction afterward? were they satisfied with what they heard? >> well, not entirely yet but there were some things that did please them in the fact john brennan seemed to take seriously their concerns about transparency and he said, of course, that will have to be tested if he's confirmed and he can actually demonstrate he's heard them in the job. this has been pressure among democrats building for a while and this hearing gave them a chance to put it all on display which made it striking to have that many frustrated with the white house. when you hear dianne feinstein say why can't staff be involved? they have experts who work on their staff and, you know, if you were handed or i was handed a memo that was complex and we got a chance to read it but then they took it away and no one else could see it, yes, you had some oversight but you really didn't get a chance to study it to make lots of informed questions about it, that sort of thing. so that's part of that appeal. barbara mikulski said she's been jerked around time and time again. that gives you a window into a frustration where highly trusted members of congress are not getting answers and they let it be known. >> now, kelly, the brennan hearings sort of took up all the oxygen in political washington yesterday, but there was a hearing earlier in the day, senate armed services committee, leon panetta, the outgoing defense secretary, talked about many things but i want to play something about the attack in benghazi and the exchange between he and lindsey graham. >> it lasted almost eight hours. and my question to you is during that eight-hour period it the president show any curiosity about how is this going? what kind of assets do you have helping these people? did he ever make that phone c l call? >> look, there is no question in my mind the president of the united states was concerned about american lives. >> with all due respect, i don't think that's a credible statement if he never called and asked you, are we helping these people? >> reporter: now in another exchange, because that happened several times not only with graham but other republican senators, graham said no one disputes that the president cares about these people, those who were in harm's way, but the question seemed to become an issue was the president actively involved? graham said during the bin laden raid we saw evidence that the president was very hands-on and here was a case where for the first time in 30 years an american ambassador was missing. there was a direct attack of some kind on a u.s. mission even though they didn't know all the details. so he was trying to press them and both panetta and dempsey said they department speak to the president or to hillary clinton personally. while there is a sort of apparatus in the white house to keep a president informed, they made it clear they weren't talking to anybody at the white house during the hours when this was just really on fire both figu figuratively and literally and graham was making the point no one knew how long the assault would last and so he was raising questions about why wasn't more military force and readiness available. there's a lot still not understood about benghazi and what happened and certainly people in both parties but we heard a lot from republicans who want to look even more closely even as panetta leaves this job. >> and we heard obviously something that has been a common republ republican refrain. you heard it during the questioning of hillary clinton over benghazi. kelly o'donnell, it's been busy on the hill. thanks for staying on top of it all. >> exactly 40 years ago tomorrow, president obama traveled to elkhart, indiana, to sell his economic stimulus plan. at the time the manufacturing industry had collapsed and nearly one in five people were out of work. the president vowed to carry those stories with him. >> i promised you back then that if elected i would do everything i could to help this community recover, and that's why i came back today, because i intend to keep my promise. >> because of that promise, nbcnews.com began a series called the elkhart project, tracking their progress. chuck todd checked in with the president. >> reporter: let me show you the front page of the elkhart truth. clearly your presidency now and how it's playing in elkhart and they believe your fortunes. is that fair? >> absolutely f. i'm successful i'll be able to look back and say elkhart has not just come back from the brink but is poised to move forward in the 21st century. >> the elkhart truth. a great newspaper name. fast forward to today. the president can deliver his state of the union address tuesday. elkhart is pretty much still the story of america. things are better but not back to where they were before the economy crashed in 2008. elkhart's unemployment rate is 9.3%, down significantly from its peak in 2009 but still above both the state and national average. this morning's first read, i love the elkhart project. you know what always happens with these things, the president says it and we forget about it. this is a nice way to track through. how is elkhart doing? is obviously we have our re-elected president of the united states. is it because it was -- the unemployment rate 19.4% in elkhart. december 2012, 9.3%. >> a little bit of a manufacturing rebound. now, still, 9.3% is above the national average. this does tell the story of the economy still being the biggest story that's out there and really kind of underreported almost. it's been under the radar, let's say, because guns and immigration -- >> very true. >> has picked up to be the main things that the president needs to talk about in the first six to eight months of his second term, but the economy still very important and going to -- and there's still going to be this debate between conservatives and liberals on what to do about it. austerity, something tried worldwide, spending cuts and debt that you've seen public sector growth decline and that's something liberals pushed to to say we need to have more stimulus spending which is something republicans automatically say no way. >> you know, it's fascinating. a lot of talk about the inauguration address and president obama. one thing about his inaugural address, to your point, how little the economy was mentioned. i want to talk quickly house democrats retreat. they get together and sort of talk about where they are. bill clinton set to speak today and stephen colbert. what do you make of it? >> no one quite rallies democrats the way bill clinton does. so there's a little bit of a pep rally feel to something like this and i think that's what bringing in someone like stephen colbert does. but it's fundamentally not serious to have a comedian at something like this. we'll see if he's in character -- >> right. presents himself as a republican. >> and ribs some democrats. or if he presents himself more what his off camera appearance is. democrats kind of, people forget, dropped the ball having colbert testify at a hearing that became an embarrassment. they need to be careful with a little bit of that. >> thank you. one other point worth mentioning on colbert, his sister elizabeth colbert is running as a democrat for running in the congress in a special election it to replace tim scott. so there is -- >> yeah, the race mark sanford is in. >> mark sanford, ted turner's son -- it is a circus. thank you. now a blizzard of historic proportions is expected to drop three feet, yes, you heard that right, three feet of snow in parts of the northeast along with packing winds of up to 75 miles an hour. already some 2,600 flights are canceled, schools are closed. in transit service suspended from new york to boston and the snow has barely started to fall. msnbc meteorologist bill karins joins us now. bill, what's the latest? yeah, the snow has moved in. you're talking 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts with three feet of snow. drifts up to five feet high. that's like up to here as we go throughout rhode island and eastern massachusetts. already the radar, the storm is just off virginia beach. the green is the rain. the snow has already broken out in southern portions of new england. and up in north new england, too, a separate storm has brought four fluffy inches up around portland, maine. the main show hasn't even begun there. that shows you how crazy it will be for coastal areas of new england as we go throughout the next 24 hours. bottom line, you're running out of time to make preparations. you will be asked to be off the roads by noon in much of massachusetts, connecticut, and r rhode island where the worst of the storm will be. and you can see the providence area already snow beginning now. as far as what we're going to deal with, as far as the timing of this event, the cold air is in place in northern new england. all snow for you throughout the entire event from providence to hartford and northward. a little bit of mix is possible in new york city during the day today with rain also there out on long eisland. it will change over to snow later on tonight. if anything, here is how it will look late today. the heavy snow, the snowstorm at full fledged force over new england and then tomorrow morning when everyone wakes up, blizzard conditions, high winds, hurricane force gusts off the coast from cape cord all the way down eastern long island and by saturday night it's all over with. the bottom line is the travel nearly impossible, historic storm. the bull's eye possibly 0 of 24 inches plus from boston to providence. not a bad hit for hartford to portland, maine. chris, in the new york city area talking 6 to 10 inches later on tonight but, again, new york city is the big question mark with this storm. a lot of rain at the beginning of it. >> my hometown is just south of hartford, looks right in the bull's eye. >> easily a foot. >> next, a member of the senate intelligence committee who accused the white house of practicing secret law when it comes to drone strikes. we'll ask senator ron wyden of oregon if john brennan calmed his fears about the united states targeted killings. but first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. as we mentioned, there it is, 10:00 a.m., bill clinton speaking in leesburg, havevirgi. so if you have a flat tire, dead battery, need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geico's emergency roadside assistance is there 24/7. oh dear, i got a flat tire. hmmm. uh... yeah, can you find a take where it's a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah? 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