>> i'm mark halperin. >> and i'm jnjn. "with all due respect" to kanye west -- i'm john heilemann. "with all due respect" to kanye west, damn right you're going to let us finish. national bagel day sports fans. in our lineup today general takes his knocks, obama runs out the clock and alabama gets a shock. but first, hillary's superpac loses david barack. the soldier in clinton's inner circle has removed himself from the board of priorities u.s.a. action and his resignation letter obtained by "politico" alleges a priorities plot against two of his own political groups, american bridge and media matters.

infighting in the clinton world is as reliable as the sun rising in the east. but my question to you about this is whether this is kind of a sign of bad stuff to come? >> well it's leading the dredge report. i'm getting 1990's nostalgia. chaos in clintonland. it's going to be all over the right wing. david brock went from being on the right to a real clinton insider. this points to a problem that hillary clinton's going to have. which is, there are things like this, overreaction to stories and reaction to stories, in every presidential campaign. when it happens to her watch out. >> also you've got --s just so huge. it already has this atmosphere of jy beganities much. 200 policy advisors advising her on economic policy. i was talking to someone very close to them just a few days ago who said that his concern was that the whole thing was going to collapse under its own weight because there's so many people all trying to get in on the action and that creates so many opportunities for

infighting and that. >> david brock is an op ratic figure. there are so many people. again, every time something like this happens, unlike with anyone else running for president, it will be a huge deal. hillary clinton can can be alarmed and try to fix this thing from happening. >> when david barack sation the priority -- brock says the priority is out to get his other groups, how likely do you think that's true? >> it will be a problem less so when she decides to generally run and directs money toward her. all right. now to talk about the other frontrunner. these days jeb bush is taking more hits. some attacks from bobby jindle today after ted cruz yesterday all over his positions on immigration. then this new web video. constitutional rights pack. it's so perfectly distilled, the most poe department anti-jeb argument.

we're going to show it to you at length even though we know the group who made the video made it to trick shows into showing it. >> jeb bush has announced his intention to run for president in 2016 and we need you to take action to stop his campaign. america is not a monarchy. we do not want dynasties in our whowls. we need a new direction for our country and electing a liberal republican like jeb bush is not the answer. but the washington establishment will try to anoint another bush as our next leader. he supports amnesty, increased taxation and common core. we must show the g.o.p. that we do not want another bush as our presidential nominee. >> love so many things about that video. the imagery of the clintons and the bushes but also invehicling -- invoking karl rove and john boehner. the potency of that thing is manifest because that is the anti-jeb bush message. my question to you is jeb bush's campaign operation making a mistake or it doesn't really matter if he defends himself? >> the question is how long

they continue to have this posture. as of today they haven't waited too long. but it's going to get to be pretty soon that they've waited too long. the early things get baked in. you think about a guy, if you're going to defy your party's orthodoxy on crucial issues, you have to be ready to defend yourself against the attacks that are outside the mainstream of your party. bush right now is going to be getting a lot more of this coming in. i don't think he can wait a lot longer. >> our colleague pointed out the day may be coming, the c-pac speech, that will be a great opportunity for him to try to convince everybody that he gets the concerns people have over these two issues and make his case. i don't think he'll go in there and be mealy. i think he'll take it on. but there is something out there, as strong as i think jeb bush is as a candidate there is something out there about the grassroots really not wanting another bush. >> i think it's less about -- to me, it's less about common core and about immigration than it is about this establishment thing. that's the most powerful part of that argument i think.

not the specifics of the thing. >> break out the theme from dynasty. those other issues matter too. >> moving on. gay marriage is legal in alabama. or is it? the federal courts say yes. the state's chief justice says no. in dozens of counties today judges are declining to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. so i have to ask you, on the road to national gay marriage, if that's where we're headed, is this a blip or something bigger? >> the biggest thing that happened today in the long-term is that the supreme court in choosing not to grant a stay to the federal judge's order here basically tipped their hand as if there was any doubt before. there are five, maybe six votes overturned outlawing same-sex marriage. at the same time, you can go to public schools in alabama today and some other southern states and they're teaching and they're doing prayer in school. there is a history not just of the segregation test but disregarding the law of the land and i think for a lot of couples in alabama and for a lot of people who are concerned, this thing's still

got to play out. i think there are going to be some administrators there, clerks there, who don't grant marriage licenses. and they'll be found in contempt. then what happens? >> you can't defy -- there's a legitimate argument about whether state courts have to respect the precedence of federal courts or the supreme court. there's not an argument about court orders. that's what this was. it was a court order. >> there's no doubt about the law. watch what happens in practice. >> this supreme court justice has already defied federal court orders in the past on letting people pray do christian prayers in his courtroom, and he erected a giant hunk of granite in the state judicial building as a monument to the 10 commandments. this guy is flagrantly outside the mainstream and outside the law, i would say. >> he took a public opinion poll in alabama today and asked people should same-sex marriage be legal. what do you think they'd stay in >> i don't know. but there would still be a large number of people who would say no in the south to

blacks and whites getting married. if you want to support the rule of law you have to follow through. >> what happens when one of these clerks is found in contempt? what's going to happen then? >> i will cheer. that's what's going to happen then. >> all right. angela merkel and heir obama did the old joint press conference at the white house today and the president made a luke warm news about two adversaries, iran and russia. the president asked what the rush was in ramping up more sanctions against iran and he said he still is deciding on whether to send weapons into ukraine to help that government fight separatists that are backed by russia. on these two issues, iran and russia does president obama have a strategy to actually win or is he trying to stall and run out the clock and hand them off to his successer? >> i'm fairly certain president obama wouldn't say the ladder -- latter. on the iran thing, i think he feels he has a strategy to win. that doesn't mean he's going to win. but if he can get a deal on this nuclear thing -- >> people in the administration -- >> that would be a strategy -- >> they don't think there's going to be a deal. >> it may be a failed strategy but it's a strategy. he's trying to win that game.

>> it's a strategy to run out the clock. >> you think he's not trying to get a nuclear deep deel? >> he's trying. he's trying but they haven't thought for months they could get a deal. they're trying because they're trying to run out the clock. >> he's trying to win on iran. i think on russia, stalling. because i don't think there is a good way to win that. i'm not sure what the strategy for victory would look like in that. >> could this president accept a deal with iran that the israelis opposed? could he accept one and bring it to congress? >> he could. >> he couldn't. he can't. that's the problem. don't get me wrong -- >> you're saying there's no nuclear deal? if there's no nuclear deal that the israelis would ever accept. >> i think stalling on these two issues is the best available option. i think he's smart to do. it but make no mistake, what he showed today on these issues at the press conference, is he's running out the clock, he's trying to minimize these problems and hand them off. >> you have no faith in the president of the united states. >> oh,, no i have faith in him on a lot of issues. there's no deal that could he make that the israelis would

accept. and that means there's no deal to be had. >> that means there never, ever could possibly be a deal. >> this morning vox posted a wonky interview with barack obama. they wonked it up with some graphics and music and buried inside is a nug net which obama spoke about the -- nugget in which obama spoke about about spreading the wealth around. >> has this put us in a place long-term where redistribution becomes in a sense a positive good in and of it sneff >> that's always been the case. i don't think that's entirely new. the fact of the matter is that relative to our postwar history, taxes now are not particularly high or particularly progressive compared to what they were say in the late 1950's or the 1960's. >> this comment comes on the heels of president obama's controversial comments at the national prayer breakfast are we talked about christianity

and the crusades. is obama consciously are trolling the republicans? if he is trolling republicans, does this make it harder for him to do deals with them moving forward? >> he's carelessly saying things that are going to i think potentially tip the balance against a deal. there's lots of arguments for deals on things like trade and infrastructure. and there's lots of -- and tax reform. there's some forces against. every time he does this he riles up the right so much that it gives boehner and mcconnell an excuse and makes it harder for them to do a deal. >> i totally disagree with you about this. i don't think it's ever easy for barack obama to do a deal with republicans. republicans like the president like everybody in politics, they act according to self-interest. all the rest is just noise. you know how i know i'm right about it? i know because al hunt agrees with me. if ofrpble he was here so i could get his backup. al? al? >> you're right on. mark halperin's my main man on national politics. he's manhattan's michelangelo. but let me tell you how washington works.

pennsylvania avenue ain't the sis teen chapel. it's all about self-interest. john boehner and mitch mcconnell have said, we have to get some things done. and if they can cut a deal on infrastructure on trade, on corporate tax reform, no one's going to sit back and say, we're not going to do it because that whole meanie obama talked about the crusades and class warfare. >> that's not the cause and effect i mean. it's not -- it is about self-interest but in their self-interest, for john boehner to get something through that president obama supports requires a live peace and when he says stuff that riles up talk radio and riles up the internet, just much harder for them to make a deal. not saying much harder is wrong. the margin of error is small. >> talk radio and the internet are going to be against any deal with obama's name on it no what ther -- no matter what. i love having al on my side. nice to be able to call for a life line. we'll see you shortly. coming up, the rare rarest of trifectas, in iowa poll, a new hampshire poll and more of

albert hunt jr. when we come back. ♪

>> our guest tonight is our best guest of all because -- because helike never turns us down. al, we published these two polls, last week iowa, this week new hampshire. the big takeaway in both states is that really they're more up for grabs than they've been in a long time. probably in recent memory. both iowa and new hampshire. there's a slightly less big take which is when we looked at both polls, we found two guys are doing surprisingly well in both states. talk about that. >> rand paul who runs second in both states, high favorability in these two quite different venues. and that support i think is pretty darn solid. the other is scott walker. first in iowa third in new hampshire. probably has more upside potential than anyone else. but now he's going to be also more scrutinized. >> so so we saw last time when his father, ron paul, ran,

people thought could he do well and did he but he kind of flamed out after iowa and new hampshire. never really was a factor again. you think rand can do more than just be in the hunt here. you think he can win in these states right? >> i think he conceivably could win in both. new hampshire's more of a reach. he's a better candidate than his father. he's not the flakey old uncle in the closet that ron paul frequently came across as. he's made mistakes. but i would be shocked if he doesn't finish first, second or third in both of those states. >> my favorite ron paul analogy is the old man in the park feeding bread to the pigeons. rather than the closet. talk about scott walker and why he'd be a strong candidate in both? how he does that crossover thing? >> he might be able to bridge the differences. what iowa is about is movement and conservatives. these are people who really are pretty right wing. he has some appeal with that group. new hampshire, with independents voting, is much more centrist, it's more establishment republicans.

he's a governor from a purple-blue state and he has some appeal there. that's a delicate balancing act. because he could get swiped on both sides. but if he can keep that balancing act up, he could be a formidable candidate. >> walker moved up in part because of that great national media coverage he got in that iowa event that congressman king did. do you think he should be doing more now to mobilize, to support, to take advantage of where he is? should he be on the ground in those states? >> i think he's right now still staffing up. he's got his moment right now. i still am not totally convinced that he has the performance ability and if he's working right now on getting better on the stump, that would be the best thing he could do. the thing we have to emphasize before we go back to al, what's so fascinating about these polls is they're wide-open races in a way that they haven't been in many, many cycles. where you have both iowa and new hampshire kind of wide open. even though those two guys are strong in both places. because they're so wide open, i want to ask you, those two guys that we just talked about, strong in both places. others are very strong in one place or quite strong in one

place and totally weak in the other. talk about, among those who are super weak in new hampshire, that means iowa is what they got to do, they got to win in iowa, who is a must-win in iowa and who has a chance to pull that off? >> for huckabee mike huckabee, rick santorum, it's a must-win. if they can't win in iowa, they're not going to win anywhere. clearly mike huckabee has the best shot right now. strong numbers, strong favorability. he won seven years ago. but the whole ballgame for him is iowa. >> shaping up where people are going to not -- other states aren't challenging iowa and new hampshire and they're going to be important, but let me question this notion of the must-win. what if you had a strategy of doing well, but then thinking down the road a little bit, with the superpac or otherwise and saying, i'm going to pick up delegates in iowa and new hampshire and go to the national press and say, i'm in a delegate game. is it possible not to skip iowa and new hampshire, but to be someone and say, i'm going to pick up delegates in the southern primary and after that i'm going to be in the game?

>> let me tell you why i think that doesn't work. especially for someone like huckabee. because when you don't compete someone else does and someone else wins. and that person the big thing might be exaggerated but there's something to that. the delegates you want to pick up later are more likely to go to who finished first or second in iowa and new hampshire. if you don't finish first or second i think you're gone. even someone much more formidable than mike huckabee, namely jeb bush. >> i've been fascinated by the notion that someone could make this argument. you don't skip a state but you say, i'm in it for the long haul, go to the media and say, i've got strength in mississippi and other states down the road. i'm not saying it would definitely work but it seems like a good hedge against the prospect that you got to win or you're done if you don't win it. >> that was a strategy, that was a strategy of president giuliani. >> phil graham too i think toyed with that. >> exactly. >> let me ask the flip side of this question. about new hampshire. two guys who did really poorly in our iowa poll, pretty

significantly poorly were jeb bush and chris christie. neither did well in iowa at all. both did much better in new hampshire. do you see new hampshire as a must-win for those two? and if so, which of them is in a better place to pull off that victory at this point? >> i think it's a near must-win. it goes to what we were talking about with mark. jeb bush, as of this poll, looks in a stronger position. you take his first -- as a first and second-choice, he's up around 30, christie's around 18. his favorabilities are higher. i think he has more upside in new hampshire than chris christie does. and for christie he's got to win new hampshire. if he doesn't, he's rudy giuliani. i think jeb probably has to win but finish a strong second. >> polls a snapshot in time and jeb bush hasn't been in iowa and new hampshire to campaign. our polls both show that in both states there are some issues that for him, for some voters, they say are deal killers. if you were mike murphy and jeb

bush, would you take those polls seriously or simply a snapshot that he can turn around? >> you have to take him serious -- them seriously. these two totally different venues, you get some quite similar results. i didn't think immigration would be an issue in new hampshire and apparently it is. but when you come, you know, to questions like immigration, common core, he has to address those issues. he has to address them in those states. >> kind of surprising that in new hampshire, where education has always been a big issue and state control, many more voters told us in our poll that immigration was a deal killer for them than jeb's position on common core. >> i was priced -- surprised by that. >> everybody right now i want to do an exercise. we're going to count to three and all say, at this moment in time, who we think is going to win the iowa caucus. one, two, three -- >> walker. >> mark totally chickened out. >> this game was my idea.

>> you want to do new hampshire? >> i called him michaeling an low i take it back. >> new hampshire, ready? one, two, three -- >> the people of new hampshire. >> bush. >> he comes up with the idea. suckers into playing. and then abandons ship. >> al, thanks very much. appreciate it. when we come back, we found the director's commentary for that very intriguing vox interview with president obama. get out your millennials. all of that and more right after this. ♪

>> you all probably saw that vox interview with president obama. we had a lot of questions about that like, what's with all those graphics and that sound track? we got our hands on the correcter's commentary -- director's commentary.

they provide some explanations. >> liam and jeff here. we have so many great comments and questions on our barack obama interview so we want to fill new on our creative process. >> the problem with conventional presidential interviews is that they look like this. just the president talking. yawn. so we thought, what if we simply blur out the president and use simple eye catching motion graphics to make his points better than he ever could? and it worked. a lot of you wrote comments on youtube like jamie steven who wrote, thanks, vox. i wouldn't have understood this video without these crappy illustrations. >> thanks, jamie. >> one problem with the president, though, is that he uses a lot of hand motions. so he can be hard to follow. so i created these animations to keep the viewer focused on the message. >> you'll notice we used a lot of squares. one square turns to two. then three. four squares, five squares,

eight squares. people between the ages of 18 and 30 really love squares. it's about using a visual grammer thats remain nateses with millennials. >> another way to keep viewers engaged is with charts jam-packed with important information. >> wait, what does that chart represent? >> um -- i don't know. like axes or -- it doesn't matter. that's not the point. back to obama playing with squares. >> here's a trick of the trade. to speed up our turn-around time, we premade some useful graphics like tanks, money wrenches. you can use those anywhere. >> i premade a map of honduras and guatemala so when obama brought that up -- >> honduras and gat ma'ama -- >> i was like, hell yeah. we always love hearing your feedback. on youtube beverly wrote, adding background music is annoying and the illustrations are distractions. this is a common misconception. they're not distracting at all. >> yeah. how could anyone find this distracting?

>> i love those directors. they're fabulous. >> a lot of insight. jammed into one short video. >> congratulations to vox and that great interview with president obama. we'll be right back with one more bonus feature of that interview we just discussed. ♪

>> this was just for fun. we love those graphics in that vox interview so much, we had a little bit more fun with. it here's president obama playing a vox graphic like an accordion. hit it. ♪ >> we are only on the tube a half an hour today. we're live 24/7 on bloomberg.com and

fiddlerontheroof.com too. >> up next, peter cooke has an exclusive interview with the federal reserve board of governors light from catholic university in washington state. tune in right now for that. we'll see you tomorrow. ♪

>> hello. i'm pimm fox. this is what i'm taking stock of this monday february 9 2015. president obama and german chancellor merkel met today in washington. the two leaders discussed find finding a resolution to the conflict between russia and ukraine. among other topics. president obama saysed united states is examining all options. >> the possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of those options that's being examined. but i have not made a decision about that yet. >> no matter what we decide, the alliance between the united states and europe will continue to stand. will continue to be solid.