coming days. >> there are reports months before the east village blast, utility workers discovered a gas line to a restaurant had been illegally tapped and natural gas was leaking into other buildings. city officials say this gas leak was the source of the fire and explosion that injured more than 20 people. two people are still missing. that's it for us. thanks for starting your morning with us. >> "inside politics" with john king starts now. ted cruz offers himself as the right choice for president. >> i believe god isn't done with america yet. i believe in you. >> his entry stokes the fight for vevangelicals and the tea party. >> he's a guy with big mouth and no results. >> obama care turns five and his

name's sake irks critics. >> a lot of things didn't come true with this. >> hillary clinton is offering hugs to the president and to reporters. >> a new grandchild, another new hairstyle. a new e-mail account. why not a new relationship with the press? >> "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing your sunday morning. with us to share their reporting, betty with the daily beast, robert costa with the post and ed o'keefe of the washington post. whatever happens in the weeks and months ahead, ted cruz will always know this. he threw the first official pitch of the 2016 campaign season.

>> i believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of america. and that is why today i am announcing that i'm running for president of the united states. >> robert costa, the first candidate in, especially important maybe for a guy who is, a, at 4% in the polls to start but, b, also has a lot of crowded space where he wants to plant his flag, on the right of this republican field. grade the rollout week. >> the battle for the hearts of conservatives is already so intense in the gop field that cruz wants to get out there early and assert himself as the movement candidate. i think he was smart to get in there this week. he's getting ahead of rand paul competing in that space. he is sending a signal to rick santorum, ben carson, mike huckabee and so many others. he has to compete with others in the arena for that block. >> i think the rand paul/ted cruz relationship will be something that's interesting to watch because they have emerged

as rivals in the senate and now beyond and it was kind of funny that we found out when rand paul was giving the announcement, ted cruz kind of stepped on his fire there. >> stepped on it because he's watched. he watched it. jeb bush got a lot of buzz. scott walker gave a cpac speech. the cruz calculation, let's see if i can do the same, get in first, have a little space between me and rand. start the complication. will this complicate the rollout? his wife is taking a leave of absence to support the campaign. good for her to do that. campaigns are hard on families. senator cruz is looking for a health care plan. he was on his wife's insurance. here's what he tells cnn's dana bash about how he is going to insure he, his wife, and his children? >> we'll be getting new health insurance and we'll presume bli do it through my job in the senate. we'll be on the federal exchange like millions of others on the federal exchange. >> you will be getting obamacare effectively? >> it is one of the good things about obamacare is that the statute provided that members of

congress would be on the exchanges without subsidies just like millions of americans. >> as the week ended the staff said he was still mulling his options about how to do this. if the guy who made his name, was instrumental in the government shutdown over funding health care, if he goes on it, is that -- >> it's a little disingenuous for sure. there were a few moments of that this week. the one i can't get over is the fact that there he was in this packed room. those people weren't there by choice. the university has this convocation every what is it, two or three times a week. they're required to be there. he essentially, you know, came in and used a packed house to his advantage to make it look as if he had this great big enthusiastic crowd behind him. many in the crowd probably are because they would be consistent with his beliefs, but, you know, i think it's another example of he was clearly trying to rush this out, trying to pick up some momentum this week.

we have seen some early stumbles and we'll see where he ends up as the field begins to formally get into it. >> we watched the numbers. he is trying to change the field and change his own position in it. as robert noted, for some of the others, iowa is the most conservative place you start. mike huckabee's won it before, rick santorum has won it before. ted cruz is trying to say to people, it's time for somebody new and it's time for me. >> john, that's what makes this obamacare argument so difficult. he has spent his career in the senate hard charging against the policy that now people can say, oh, wait, he's sign being up from obamacare? i've heard from a lot of folks who are kind of puzzled, even not those. wait, ted cruz is signing up for obamacare? what? that has the potential to do some damage because it's short, it's catchy. one he hopes won't be a problem. >> what you said that nailed it to me, this is an inspirational battle in the republican field. ted cruz is in his 40s. marco rubio is in his 40s.

rand paul is more youth full. this is what cruz wants to do. set himself up as a new face for a new generation of conservatives. they may not care for scott walker. >> he's a senator, as is marco rubio, rand paul, a bit older. three of those four, lindsey graham, that means you have to vote. that means you have to vote a lot. one of the things they vote on this week and disagreed about was marco rubio wanted to increase defense spending. standing with him were lindsey graham, standing with him was ted cruz. rand paul wanted it different. yes, i'll give you money if you find it somewhere else in the budget to cut it. >> my amendment increases defense spending but pays for it with spending cuts. it is irresponsible and dangerous to continue to put america further into debt. we need a strong national defense but we should be honest with the american people and pay for it. >> so we will watch the four senators and see when there's areas of agreement, when there are areas of disagreement.

that was one interesting area there. we've talked a little bit before about rand paul's interesting race on national security. they had to vote. democrats know not only do you have presidential candidates on the floor, you have a number of republican senators in 2016 who are in blue states or battleground states. what i found interesting is there was a proposal to get paid sick leave in the budget. all four of the presidential candidates, rand paul, marco rubio, ted cruz, lindsey graham vote no. there was a proposal to allow benefits for same-sex couples, social security and all four of them vote no. a conservative voted yes. kelly ayotte in new hampshire, again, a state that has gone presidential blue in recent elections, she voted yes. pat toomey voted yes. paid sick leave. conservative senator from pennsylvania. we're going to see the pressures, are we not, on the senate floor? >> these are little 30 second ads in the form of bills. the war on women.

you can already see it happening. these senators don't have to worry about primaries. they are looking at the general election and they live in a world of reality that way. >> every time they vote no on one of these things, hillary clinton prepares if it's one of them to say, they don't care about you. they're not fighting for you. they're not compassionate. they're intolerant. >> and they don't care. they have to get through iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. until they can do that can they go back. >> we're all watching cruz. cruz pulls them all to the right. we're watching them on the senate floor. if he's going to vote against it, i have to vote against it. the other thing about the defense debate, where is it in the republican party? >> is he possible to lead it? >> all hawkish voices moving in that direction. >> it's important to look at what rand paul did instead of supporting this argument. he supports something that would offset the costs in order to increase defense spending. that could actually potentially give him a little bit of cover to those who might think he's a little bit out on a limb when it

comes to foreign policy. >> he's going to say i was willing to do it but only in a fiscally conservative way. find the money somewhere else. >> it's part of a bigger debate within the republican party. >> he doesn't think his father, ron paul supporters, will go anywhere else. he thinks he can go a little bit to the right on defense and have the libertarian defense. >> let's go to the nonsenator, scott walker. most people view this early on, very, very early on, jeb bush, scott walker, who knows. we're waiting to see who else fills out the top tier. there are indications and people at a private dinner in new hampshire who say when he was at that private dinner, political pros, people at chamber of commerce, state republican party, they're not neophytes when it comes to politics, they are very clear. they say he said in that meeting that he supports a path to citizenship. no, no, you have to go to the back of the line. no special treatment. if you are in this country illegally and you come out of the shadows, you can apply. you can get legal status and work and eventually get

citizenship as long as you don't get preferential treatment. different people have different definitions of amnesty. to most tea party conservatives, that's amnesty. you allow them to stay in the united states. scott walker says this never happened. his spokeswoman says he never said this. does he have a problem here? >> he does. we don't know where he stands. nor do most republicans. i was there in new hampshire the day after that dinner when he said to a bunch of reporters, look, yes, my position on immigration has evolved because i've been listening to border state western republican governors. i agree that we have to do border security first. we have to get that done. >> he went to the border on friday to take an air rial tour. immigration has been the quicksand of republican politics. mitt romney went from a supporter of bush, kennedy, mccain, a path to citizenship, to being i'm not so sure about that to talking about self deport. is scott walker going to get caught in the same trap? >> his campaign is certainly

aware of these problems. and when you talk to walker insiders you say, what are you doing behind the scenes? they're reaching out to conservative news outlets who are very weary of walker's position on immigration because they're trying to balance. they want the establishment support. they don't want to lose the hard right. immigration is a key issue. >> if you know that, and the governor's spokeswoman says he did not say citizenship, that he is not for that, but if you know that, again, these are not nobodies in the room. these are people who understand the issue who are saying, he did say that. so we'll see what happens but if you know how toxic this issue can be, don't you have to be extra carefuling with your words? isn't that one of the things we're seeing about scott walker? >> there's a difference between running nationally and running in wisconsin and a state. he is having trouble closing that circle it just seems. it seems like he hasn't been able to do it yet. >> we'll keep an eye on this. i suspect there will be clarifications, clarifications, clarifications. he has to make clear himself how he feels about this.

everybody sit net. from i'm no tammy wynette to what difference does it make? hillary clinton's relationship with the news media. politicians say the darndest things. mitt romney, a late night look in the mirror. >> all right, mitt. one last look before show time. looking good, mitt man. ready for the big interview? >> well, actually, i'm a little nervou nervous jimmy's probably going to ask me why i didn't run for president? what should i say? >> you enjoy the freedom, sit back, play golf, get to go on vacation, aka, be president. >> good one, me. you know me, i love to laugh. ha, ha, ha, ha. know your financial plan won't keep you up at night. know you have insights from professional investment strategists

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welcome back. we know this, hillary clinton, we see her right here out in

public last week. she's preparing to make her campaign official. she wants a new beginning. >> i am all about new beginnings. why not a new relationship with the press. >> oh, why not. for some of us this has been a 25-year roller coaster ride, hillary clinton's relationship with the news media. this was 1992 when then governor bill clinton was getting into the race. she was viewed as a asset. liberals loved her. two for one. the relationship continued early on. we campaigned in new hampshire. this was a key moment where hillary clinton proved herself to be a huge media asset. again, her husband was the governor then running in the democratic primaries. "60 minutes" super bowl sunday. a key assist from hillary clinton at a time her husband's campaign was off the tracks because he was accused of marital infidelity. >> i'm not accused of some little woman standing by my man as tammy buy knelt. i'm standing here because i love him. >> he placed in new hampshire, continued to survive.

a couple of months later she became a source of controversy. this is in chicago. i was there. march 1992, she got a little testy when questioned, why did you continue to be a high powered corporate lawyer when your husband was governor. >> you know, i suppose i could have stayed home and baked cookie and made tea. i decided to continue my profession. >> bill clinton went on to win the presidency. hillary's relationship with the media took some ups and downs. this is 1998. 1998. the paula jones allegations, the monica lewinsky, the white water, special council, on the road to impeachment. hillary clinton went on the road and said, sure, there are a lot of allegations but consider the source. >> the great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president. >> jackie kucinich, she's about to be a president.

she wants a new relationship with us in the room and others. does it matter? we should be flattered i suppose. does it matter, is the relationship with us the most important challenge or voters? >> her relationship versus the relationship with us. i'm not sure that that relationship will improve. we'll have to wait and see. with voters she has to come off as someone approachable. she does. someone who can be a good retail politician. in the past that really hasn't been the case. we'll see if she's changed. really, that's the question. >> did it seem genuine or forced? >> it seemed a little forced to me. there is this joke about a new grandchild, new hairstyle, let's have a new relationship. the fact of the matter is if you look at the press core that has followed the clinton family throughout their campaign as hillary, secretary of state and whatnot, it's a very insular group. not known for having a good relationship for those new to the pac so to speak. i'll be interested to see if we can move this past a line of rhetoric. >> those things. answers to e-mails and things like that.

>> yeah. >> if she's going to try to do this, this was probably the best venue to do this. robin toner, this was an event from the late new york times political correspondent, she covered clinton and covered health care. they had a relationship. this was an event to honor our colleague dan baltz. he won the award. she came. she stayed the whole night apparently. again, it was designed to sort of say to the washington press core, i'm trying to restart with all of you. will it work? you know, that remains to be seen, i think. >> i covered secretary clinton last week in atlantic city. i sat a few feet away from her at the robin toner dinner. look, this is a politician who is on. she does not have a primary challenger of any significance. she is poised in her confrontation with the press. there is a confidence there and an ability to almost already start playing to the general election that i don't see on the republican side. i don't think she cares if the press thinks this or that. she is moving towards the white house quickly and aggressively. >> it's important to note that she does best in these events

that are very structured, where they have control or she knows what she's going to say. >> she mingled. she stayed for 30 minutes. she was sending a signal to the press there, i don't just run away from these events. she stayed. she shook hands. >> for now is the interesting part. she was part of that. at times they were very open to the press, they mingled and chatted. other times they pulled back. depended to be hot and cold. we'll watch. we know as part of her rollout, her team is trying to get her into more intimate settings. forget about reporters. we should forget about ourselves. get her into more intimate settings. up next, our reporters empty their notebooks and include talk of a dream ticket but one that would require a big move.

just stay calm and move asno sudden movements..

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let's head around the "inside politics" table. ask our reporters to give you a taste of tomorrow's news today. jackie. >> the minute harry reid announced he was retiring, the progressive outside group started revving up, okay, we can have elizabeth warren run for leader. she's not going to do that. there's a lot of skepticism with chuck schumer because he's so close to wall street. it's an issue they're hammering on. i have a feeling they'll make their voices heard. >> do they think they can clone her to run against hillary

clinton and chuck schumer at the same time? >> details. details. >> senator rand paul likes to cast himself as the champion of young conservatives, but look for senator ted cruz to announce his campaign on a college campus to also really try to eat into paul's coalition among young people. he's playing at a lot of happy hours with conservatives in the coming weeks and months and he believes he can ignite the young conservatives who aren't familiar with bush and looking for something new. >> one of the most interesting dynamics of 2016, the young people who tended to be obama voters. where do they go? >> john, last month it looked like a lot of republicans were ready to write house speaker john boehner's obituary. he's come back strong and had a lot of wins as they were headed out for a two week residential recess. he passed a bubbling get that appeased fiscal conservatives. and he made a fix to the doc fix. part of that was because of the speaker's misused unconventional

tactics. they worked with nancy pelosi for the medicare reform. it will be interesting to see if he can hold on to that. congress has a big debt lines when they return. if he can hold on to that will be fascinating. >> we'll watch that. ed? >> john, these days my job is to spend jeb bush and marco rubio. i have to spend time in miami. >> tough. >> in talking to florida republicans about the emerging race, obviously there's concerns about how will the race go to replace rubio? there's talk wishing that the two of them could run on a ticket together. that, of course, can't happen. it's against the rules. you can't do it that way. that's why dick cheney who was living in texas went home and reregistered in wyoming so he could run with george w. bush. bush has the executive experience, he's bilingual, he has a mexican/american wife. rubio is young, has an interest in foreign policy. why not? think about it. could be at this point next year they're both still the

front-runners and one wonders would one of them consider moving somewhere else? >> i think not but fun to talk about. >> fun to watch because they talk about it. the ohio governor, john kasich remains the man of mystery. he got a pretty good taste this past week. he made good impressions on a fundraising swing through new york city. he mixes an appeal that the can't get anything done unless politicians of all stripes come out of their ideological silos and work with each other. will he run? several top new hampshire republicans who are potential kasich supporters say he gave no clear signs which they translate as considerable hesitation. a source that knows kasich well says the governor thinks it's best to wait perhaps into the summer months to see how the field looks then and then make an assessment to see if there's an opening for them. kasich isn't the only governor planning that summer assessment. rick snyder unlikely to run because of the strength of the field but like kasich, he tells

close friends he wants to see if the existing field stumbles before making a final call. that's it for "inside politics." thanks for sharing your sunday morning. we'll see you soon. "state of the union" starts right now. shocking new details about the doomed germanwings flight's final moments. and the house speaker plots new moves against iran. this is "state of the union." this is cnn breaking news. new terrifying developments in the germanwings plane crash. house speaker john boehner issues a new warning about iran. senator ted cruz on why he wants to be president. and the senate's top democrat's surprise decision to call it quits. good morning from washington. i'm dana bash. we are learning chilling new details about the last moments of germanwings flight 9525 as well as the co-pilot who intentionally crashed the jet