>> thank you so much for starting your morning with us. >> "inside politics" with john king starts right now. mitt romney tries to convince skeptical republicans he's still their best hope of winning the white house. >> i'm giving some serious consideration to the future. >> chris christie is gearing up, too. >> your nation is set by anxiety. >> the president gets a big stage this week, state of the union address. >> kind of in a rush. i didn't want to wait until the state of the union to share my ideas. >> poll numbers are up but the president's new proposals have little chance in the republican controlled congress. >> let's lead with a big, bold positive agenda that says to the american people, you had a referendum and you rejected the obama agenda. >> "inside politics" the biggest

stories sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to "inside politics" i'm john king. thanks for sharing our sunday morning. with us to share their stories, julie pace, robert costa, cnn's peter hamby and malika emerson of the washington post. president obama is ready to share a wish list aimed at the middle class but one that has zero chance of passing the republican controlled congress. that in a moment. we begin this sunday morning with mitt romney and a moment he compared to a high school reunion. he's gearing up for a presidency run in 2016. >> in the last few days the most frequently asked question i get is, what does ann think about all of this? and she believes that people get better with experience.

and -- heaven knows i have experience running for president. the results of the hillary clinton/barack obama foreign policy have been devastating. you know that. terrorism is not on the run. the american people are struggling to make ends meet and so our policies in this regard are designed to help create economic growth and put people back to work and get rising wages. >> there you have it, mitt romney signaling he's back. it's been a bit of a back dllas. for minimal fundraising network, a very crowded republican field. you would make a mistake if you under estimate his potential to be the nominee again. >> checking in with romney allies, he's still moving forward. this is still an aggressive former nominee who wants to be back on that stage. what's most interesting is that when he was at the rnc he was trying to modulate his pitch.

he was talking about poverty in a way he never did in 2012. he recognizes if he does do this he needs to change his message and start to reach out to the voters who are skeptical. >> so you have the generational schism in the party, you have romney, bush, rick perry would be with them. the younger guys, marco rubio, ted cruz and rand paul. you have the ideological debate, santorum, huckabee, i guess you would put christie, romney, ted cruz would say the mushy middle. it's fascinating. >> absolutely. on the establishment side of things we actually haven't seen this for a while where you have a bunch of credible contenders on that side. usually it's sort of the conservative grassroots wing that has a bunch of people. then you have your romneys, your john mccains, your george w. bushes who drive through that lane. that is going to be interesting to watch. christie is interesting here because both jeb and romney draw

from not only the same voters, mainstream business friendly folks, but also the same donors. you know, over the last few weeks both jeb bush and mitt romney have been aggressive in calling these big donors, most of them new york based. remember, a year ago that was supposed to be christie's crowd just over the river. he is calling donors but he seems to be moving a little bit more slowly. if you talk to christie world, they say, what's the point right now in chasing new cycles? it's january 2015. we've got time. i would look for christie to actually launch some kind of pac in the next couple of weeks after, you know, larry hoge is sworn in as governor and the rga chairman. that's an interesting launch to watch. christie's message if he runs is going to be what you just said, that romney and jeb are sort of avitars of the past and we need a fresh face to go up against hillary clinton. >> at the very same meeting, scott walker, governor of wisconsin, newly re-elected, he thinks he's the now generation

for 2016, like governor romney he went directly after hillary clinton. listen to scott walker who has governor romney in mind, not just hillary clinton, when he says it's time to move on. >> fresh, new perspective that says the answers do not come out of our nation's capitol, they come out of our states but more importantly from the people in the state at the grassroots. >> to peter's points it would be on paper an impressive field. not taking sides, but if you've got a bush, a romney, maybe a christie, a walker, a perry, a huckabee guy that's run before, santorum has run before, ben carson. mike pence, the governor of indiana, john casey, governor of ohio runs. >> yeah, a big, big field. they'll need a big debate stage. certainly walker there, not the most charismatic of guys if you look at him compared to everyone else in the field. he has a case to be made. somebody who's run. somebody who certainly has a lot of attention from the tea party,

the grassroots activists. the argument. on top of the nation being sent by anxiety. it can soothe the nation. he's got to figure that out. now he's sort of saying the question is is he going to leave that could be a very strong argument if you're lined up next to mitt romney and jeb bush. >> the larger dynamic, why not? you know, jeb bush -- jeb bush is a front-runner but guess what, he's not a front-runner. he has a lot of work to do with republicans and so does everybody else. chris christie is vastly

diminished from a year ago but that puts him on an even playing field. >> you say why not. it's a wide open field. you have the ideologically split area. same-sex marriage, the supreme court agrees to take that. there's no question whatever decision the court makes by june will be front and center. education, governor bush is for common core education standards. many would say no way. you have ideological steps that would play out plus this. increasingly they're not saying hillary clinton is not formidable. they look at 2014, where the president is standing. maybe they're deluding themselves. they think now more than if you ask them six months than a year ago that she's beatable. >> you saw that from romney's remarks on friday. they're trying to tie that to president obama's foreign policy and they believe they have an opportunity coming off the momentum in 2014 to contend for the white house. to julie's point about the change argument, a lot of republicans do want to make that argument against clinton, have a

fresh face. at the same time republicans coalesce around a familiar face and to win the nomination you have to beat bush and you have to beat romney, two of the biggest families in the republican presidential policy. >> maybe you want somebody more experienced. certainly hillary clinton is experiencing running for president and being on the national stage if you're a republican and you see this as sort of a bet, where do you want to put your money? do you want to put somebody out there as a fresh face -- >> that's what's so fascinating about romney, one day you can say he has the experience, he's been tested and the next day you can say the romney face tattoo guy, so like a bunch of different people interviewed him. this guy? i'm not for him anymore. why should we trust him? he got out there last time and screwed it up and fumbled the ball. >> your argument for running for president cannot be that i would have been really good had you elected me the last time. i told you so. >> that's a bumper sticker. >> buyers remorse. >> along with the poverty

message, that he's credible on foreign policy, that's what his sort of aides say, he'll be credible on foreign policy because i told you so. he accidedoesn't have foreign p remarks. he stepped in it, saying this is mitt romney, a wealthy man who has trouble talking about his wealth. making his case that under president obama the rich have gotten richer and the working class have been hurt. i mean, it's an argument republicans want to make but it was odd watching mitt romney given what happened in the last campaign make it. >> people close to chris christie and jeb bush, when you watch romney he has sympathy for the poor and working class but does he have empathy? they think in a long run as the republican party tries to address the gap between the rich and poor, christie with his middle class roots and they can resonate. >> the way they've limited the debates and stretched out the calendar. the decisions were locked in at the same meeting that he spoke

to. you can make the case that, again, you know, for all the doubts about romney, that it helps a guy who you know has a good fundraising network and has an infrastructure and proved when he wobld that he can sustain for the long haul. >> romney's problems weren't necessarily on the debate stage. they were the 47% remarks. they were, well, poor people have the safety net. there are things he sort of said and positions he took outside of the debate stage. >> one interesting point on the calendar, you can make the argument that a shorter, condensed calendar favors a well-funded, well-organized candidate. at the same time there are a bunch of southern states lining up to go on march 1st which will be after the first four states. say you have someone like romney or jeb bush come out, then you could have a bunch of southern states split their votes and give it to delegates. you could look at the argument that it might -- >> look at what happened to huckabee in 2008 and santorum in 2012. you can have that but unless you

have the money to play long term, to play even to the convention this time, you won't survive. >> that's the thing. i talked to folks close to the huckabee camp and that's the thing. they're not sure he's going to be sustainable in terms of real money. he can sustain himself by doing sort of the talk show circuit but in terms of real money from that. >> that's why he got in early. that's why he quit. >> start now. >> if you've got a romney, a bush, maybe a christie in there, those other guys, whether it's governor walker, governor kasich, live off the earth, rand paul, triple check your list, make sure you have money for the long time. remember in post citizens united era, you have your campaign stash and you have pac super structure. >> that's right. >> you have to build the team, get the lawyers. >> so investing even in the last campaign people were still a little nervous about super pac. now everyone is all in. there is no shying away from super pacs. they are so crucial if you're going to play up to a convention. >> we're kind of like seeing the

death of the exploratory committee. now in this campaign finance world they're having leadership pacs, super pacs. >> i e-mailed foster free, santorum's guy. he had him help him in 2012. they're looking at the foster freeze move. >> to borrow the phrase we hear repeatedly now. some people mean it, some people don't want to answer the specifics. up next, the state of the union and why president obama is adding to a wish list he knows republicans in congress will ignore. first, this week's politicians say the darnedest things wraps up our mitt romney thing with the take of his 2012 opponent. >> i'd really like to hear your reaction to the news that mitt romney is thinking about running for president again. >> um -- on your last question, i have no comment. at t-mobile you can hook up the whole family for $100 bucks.

get 4 lines with unlimited talk and text and up to 10 gigabytes of 4g lte data. plus get the brand-new samsung galaxy note 4 for $0 down.

welcome back. the president has his state of the union address. i hope you'll join us. let's take a look at his political standing compared to some of his predecessors. where he began back in 2009. after going down and then flat lining for much of last year, the president is up in recent weeks since the election at 47% now. his aides are hoping that number goes up. how does that compare? let's take a look. these are two-term presidents. ronald regan was at 49%. bill clinton leads the pack at 64 3.

47%. 47%. he's feeling better about himself but the republicans just walloped him in the last election. the president is going to give a list of proposals the republicans say he's really hopeful he can get these passed or is this about framing contrast? >> they always hope they can get things passed. they know real liz stickically that the vast majority of things he's going to announce on tuesday night will not get passed. this is about sending two messages. one is sending a message to republicans, i know what you want and i'll sit back and let you push your agenda through. i'm going to be pro active. the second piece of this, i think, is about setting the tone for democrats heading into 2016. if you look at the proposals on taxes, this is just a classic democratic message. raising taxes on the wealthy to front taxes. if he can set that agenda he feels like he can prop uphill ri clinton, perhaps another challenger if she doesn't run.

the president is making himself part of the conversation. >> the president is noting he wants to give college tuition hep. that paid family leave is on the president's list. there's a tax hike for the wealthy. credits for the middle class. there's no question they think it's an agenda that helps the democrats. the question is what does it do for the climate in washington. especially if the president's numbers keep inching up. maybe got to do a deal. >> well, there will be some sort of deal around tax reform. that seems like the only thing that might be able to get done, but mostly it is about this sort of a legacy agenda. what does the democratic party stand for? what does obama stand for? we've seen him do that. after he got walloped as he said in the mid-term election, he

started to make moves around immigration reform, with the executive order, around cuba. all of this has played in. what does the democratic party stand for? that's much more. you can't help and notice john podesta is sitting in the white house. in a couple of weeks he'll be working for clinton. >> what's interesting on the clinton front, she obviously understands that things have changed since bill clinton's presidency. bill clinton, he reduced capital gains tax as part of the '97 budget deal. he contributed and had a wall street friendly administration. it will be kind of interesting to watch as these markers are laid down by democrats nationally how far away she moves from bill and how she talks about that. >> yeah. >> what republicans have to do. you have mitt romney talking about income inequality, what are they going to do in terms of real plans. >> with economic growth up, there will be more tax money in

washington. the question is enough pressure to give the presidents one or two things. give them that. this is a job that everybody seems to want until they do it. marco rubio, have a drink of water, it's a hard job, i'm not trying to pick too much fun there. jonie ernst, you might remember her. she's going to deliver the republican response. if you're not quite sure who she is, here's a little flashback of how most of you met joany ernst. >> i'm jonie ernst. i grew up castrating hogs. i'll know how to cut pork. let's make them squeal. >> it is interesting. that was a great ad. she broke out of a field. robert, out of the state of iowa, what are they hoping to accomplish. it's a tough job. >> what arrived for joni ernst,

shooes running in a competitive party. she's a king maker and she's giving the state of the union response. it's like when cathy mcmorris-rodgers gave the response last year. republicans know they have problems to reach out with republican voters. they also believe ernst because she has blue collar roots and has background and appeal, that it's beyond the wealthy and i'm sure that it attacks a lot of republicans. she is the voice they want. >> right. one thing i would note on this, i find it so interesting that the way to attract women is to be symbolic. that they're women. >> that's right. we happen to do our state of the union response. you have to get more into the party response. >> president farena. >> the state of the union is like an over hyped pageant show. the response is even more so. yes, the opposition party tries to put us with a friendlier face on their agenda, whatever

messenger they choose. kathryn mcmorris rogers was great because we forget everything she said. if you do that speech, don't have a floating eye brown like tim kane or bobby begjindal. we remember the response -- >> when they're bad. >> on the joni front, i talked with one of her consultants. he did say he's worked with a lot of candidates and in person she doesn't really pop but he did say that other candidates he's worked with, she is one of the more telegenic people. >> there's something airless -- >> we have a time issue. join our coverage tuesday night for the state of the union. you can get whatever you want. our reporters share from their notebooks including about john mccain's side kick gearing up for a possible white house run of his own.

financial noise financial noise financial noise ♪ when i didn't worry about the hepatitis c in my blood.

♪ when i didn't think twice about where i left my razor. [ male announcer ] hep c is a serious disease. take action now. go to hepc.com or call 1-844-444-hepc to find out how you and your doctor can take the next step towards a cure. because the answers you need, may be closer than they appear. ♪ and we're here in detroit with, our amazing team members.appear. the best part about working with quicken loans, is that you have a mortgage expert on the other line that's always gonna find out the best possible solution. we just don't treat you as a loan number. we wanna make sure that we help you out. we're people just like them. ya know, and we know that they have jobs, they have kids, they have soccer. their home is where their heart is. so we wanna make sure that we take care of them. call quicken loans today for a mortgage experience that's engineered to amaze! to get out, to escape and now ok you are outside and you are safe but what do you do now and that's where the red cross came in... .

we ran out of the house just wearing our pajamas. at that point just to even have a toothbrush that i could call my own was so important... . ...you know it just makes you feel like a person again. every 8 minutes the american red cross responds to a home fire or other emergency. you can help. please donate now.

let's get you out ahead of the political stories. >> what will the president say on tuesday on race and policing?

in many ways this is an issue that has receded from the conversation even as you've had eric holder going around the country talking to different communities. you've got the cbc in ferguson today as well as calling for money, for body cameras. this past week the task force, the policing task force met unexpectedly i think to a lot of people in the administration, police on very different sides than some of the protesters. a lot of people waiting to see what the president will say, if anything, about policing. >> peter hamby? >> one name that hasn't gotten a lot of attention so far in all of the talk of republicans is senator lindsey graham, maybe with good reason. he has floated himself for president, but i'm told it's actually pretty serious. he had a meeting with some of his top donors in south carolina and told him in the first quarter of this year i'm going to raise half a million, go to early states, see if there's a space for me. he's a foreign policy hawk. he might be issue driven

campaign rather than serious. if he runs south carolina is an early primary state. that would put his donors and opera tifs. if their hometown guy runs for president they have a choice to make. >> we know john mccain is on board. >> not the greatest buddy. >> the three a me eg amigos bac together. >> on monday former governor mitt romney will in california to give a paid speech. he's speaking to a corporate audience for about an hour. there will be q and a. this is his first public appearance since he spoke at the republican national committee on friday. we're going to have to see how much farther is romney going to move? is he going to send some more signals about his message and his pitch should he run for president? >> maybe we can find some people in the room and suggest questions. julie. >> president obama crosses into one of the indisputable stages of a lame duck presidency. he's going to india basically

for a parade and a visit to the taj mahal. yes, there are strategic interests with india but think about the timing of this. the president is going to india three days after his state of the union address. a period fl time when he would be trying to rally congress and the agenda. this says all you need to know about the likelihood anything he announces gets done. >> you're not missing the taj mahal? >> i can't wait. it will be great. >> i'll close with this. it's been more than a month since hillary clinton held a public event. that doesn't mean she's taking a break from politics. quite to the contrary. secretary clinton building a 2016 team. her husband's former chief of staff john podesta leaving the obama white house to lead team hillary. she'll have a top clinton strategist and chief media advisor. the biggest question is whether secretary clinton has been using this down time to hone her campaign rationale, to answer the liberals who say she's too

cozy. while awaiting her return to the public stage, even senior republicans and those democrats pushing to draft elizabeth warren concede her 2016 staff recruits are top notch. that's it for inside politics. again, thanks for sharing your sunday morning. i'm off to foxborough this morning. go patriots. we'll see you soon. "state of the union" starts right now. as many as 20 sleeper cells, 180 jihadis waiting to bring more terror across europe. is the u.s. next? i'm jim sciutto and this is "state of the union". >> this is breaking news. breaking news across the atlantic. all of europe under siege now. military and police deployed by the thousands across belgium and france as the chief of that continent's combined police force says he cannot guarantee anyone's