something more than that, the premise we're all created equal is an open line in our american story and we don't promise equal outcomes, we strive to deliver equal opportunity. the idea that success does not depend on being born into wealth or privilege, it depends on effort and merit. you can be born into nothing and work your way into something extraordinary. and to a kid that goes to college, maybe like michelle, first in his or her family, that means everything. the fact is, if we hadn't made a commitment as a country to send more of our people to college, michelle, me, maybe a few of you, would not be here today. my grandfather wasn't rich but when he came home from the war he got the chance to study on the gi bill. i grew up with a single mom. and she had me when she was 18 years old. there are a lot of circumstances

where that might have way laid her information for good but there were structures in place that allowed her to go on and get a ph.d.. michelle's dad was a shift worker at the city water plant. mom worked as a secretary. they didn't go to college. but there were structures in place that allowed michelle to take advantage of those opportunities. and as michelle mentioned, our parents and grandparents made sure we knew we would have to work for it, that nobody was going to hand us something, that education was not a passive enterprise. you just took your head over and somebody pours education in your ear. you have to work for it. i tell the stortry, when i was living overseas, my mother would wake me up before dawn to do correspondence courses in english before i went to the

other school. i wasn't that happy about it. but with that hard work and also with scholarship and student loans and support programs in place, we were able to go to some of the best colleges in the country, even though we didn't have a lot of money. every child in america should have the same chance. so over the last five years, we've worked hard in a variety of ways to improve these -- these, you know, mechanisms to get young people where they need to be and to knock down barriers that are preventing them from getting better prepared for the economy they are going to face. we've called for a clear higher standards in our schools. 45 states and district of columbia have answered that call so far. we've set a goal of training 100,000 new math and science teachers over the next 10 years and the private sector has

already committed to help train 40,000. we've taken new steps to help students stay in school and today the high school dropout rate is the lowest it's been in 40 years, something that's rarely advertised. the dropout rate among hispanic students by the way, has been cut in half over the last decade. but, we still have to hire more good teachers and pay them better. we still have to do more training and development and ensure that the curriculums are ones that maximize the chances for student success. when young people are properly prepared in high school, we've got to make sure they can afford to go to college. we took on a student loan system that was giving billions of taxpayer dollars to big banks and we said, let's give that money directly to students. as a consequence we were able to double the grant aid that goes to millions of students and today more young people are earning college degrees than

ever before. so we've made progress there but as i've discussed with some of you, we're still going to have to make sure rising tuition doesn't price middle class out of an education. the government will not be able to continually subsidize a system in which higher education inflation is going up faster than health care inflation. i've laid out a plan to bring down costs and make sure students are not saddled with debt before they start out in life. even after all of these steps we've taken over the last five years, we still have a long way to go to unlock the doors of higher education to more americans and especially lower income americans. we're going to have to make sure they are ready to walk through those doors. the added value of a college diploma has doubled since michelle and i were under graduates. unfortunately today only 30% of low income students enroll in college right after high school and far worse by their mid 20s,

only 9% earn a bachelor's degree. so if we as a nation can expand opportunity and reach out to those young people and help them not just go to college but graduate from college or university, it could have a transformative effect. there's a huge cohort of talent that we're not tapping. now, what this meeting today tells me is we've got dedicated citizens across the country who are ready to stand up and meet this challenge. and what i want to really do is highlight some of the commitments that have been made here today. >> so we know not enough low income students are taking the steps required to prepare for college. that's why i'm glad the university of chicago, my neighbor, and the place where michelle and i both worked in

the past, is announcing a $10 million college success initiative that will reach 10,000 high schools over the next five years. it's why i mentor. a mentoring program that began 15 years ago with 49 students in the south bronx committed to matching 20,000 new students with mentoring in more than 20 states over the next five years. we also know too many students don't apply to the schools that are right for them. they may sometimes underestimate where they could succeed and go, there may be a mismatch in terms of what their aspirations are and the nature of what's offered at the school that's close by and they kind of assume, well, that's my only option. so uva, for example, is going to experiment with new ways to contact high achieving low

income students directly, encourage them to apply. organizations like the college board will work with colleges to make it easier for students to apply to more schools for free. i know sometimes for those of you in university administrations, the perception may be $100 application fee is not a big deal. but for a lot of these students, that's enough of a barrier that they just don't end up applying. number three, we know when it comes to college advising and preparing for tests like the act and s.a.t., low income kids are not on a level playing field. we call these standardized tests, they are not standardized. malia and sasha by the time they are in seventh grade are already

getting all kinds of advice and this and that and the other. the degree of preparation that many of our kids here are getting in advance of actually taking this test tilts the playing field. it's not fair. and it's -- and it's gotten worse. i was telling michelle, you know, when i was taking the s.a.t. i just barely remembered to bring a pencil. that's how much preparation i did. but you know, the truth of the matter is that we don't have a level playing field when it comes to so-called standardized tests. so we've got a young man here today named lawrence harris who knows this better than most. he went to the university of georgia and like first generation college students, it wasn't easy. he had to take remedial classes and work two part-time jobs to make ends meet and one point he had to leave school for a year while he helped support his mom

and baby brother. those are the kinds of day to day challenges that a lot of young people with enormous talent are having to overcome. he stuck with it and graduated. but now he's giving back. he's made it his mission to help other young people like him graduate as a college adviser at clark central high school in athens, georgia. and today the national college advising corps, the program that placed lawrence in clark central, is announcing plans to add 129 more advisers who will serve more than 80,000 students over the next three years. finally, we know that once low income students arrive on campus, michelle spoke eloquently to her own personal experience on this, they often learn if if they are at the top of their high school class, they have a lot of catching up to do with respect to some of their peers in the classroom.

bunker hill community college is addressing this by giving more incoming students the chance to start catching up over the summer before their freshman year. we've got 22 states and the district of columbia who joined together in a commitment to dramatically increase the number of students who complete college level math and english their first year. so these are -- these are just a sampling of the more than 100 commitments that your organizations and colleges are making here today. and that's an extraordinary first step. but we've got more colleges and universities than this around the country and more business leaders around the country and philanthropies around the country. we have to think of this as just the beginning. we want to do something like this again and we want even more

colleges and universities and businesses and not for profits to take part. for folks who are watching this who were not able to be here today, we want you here next time. start thinking about your commitments now. we want you to join us. for knows who are able to make commitments today, i want to thank you for doing your part to make better the life of our country. because what you're doing here today means that a bunch of young people like troy and like michelle, and like me, who suddenly may be able to see a whole new world open up before them that they didn't realize was there. i'll end with a great story. that i think speaks to this. there's a former teacher here today named nick airmen.

where's nick? here's nick right here. five years ago nick founded a new york city non-profit called blue engine and they recruit recent college graduates to work as teaching assistants in public high schools that serve low income communities. teaming up to help students build the skills they need to enter college ready for college. the first group of students to work with those teaching assistants are seniors now. one of them, stephan rodriguez, who also is here -- where is he? there he is. good looking young guy right here. could not speak a word of english when he moved to the united states from the dominican republic at age of 9. didn't speak much more english by the time he entered sixth grade. today with the support of a tightly knit school community, he's one of the top students in his senior class at washington

heights expeditionary learning schools wheels. they put on their wheels t-shirts and marched down the streets in washington heights through cheering crowds. you would have thought it was the macy's parade but the crowds on the sidewalk were parents and teachers and neighbors. the flags were college pen naents and the march was to the post office where they mailed in their college applications. and -- [ applause ] >> stephan just heard back, this son of a factory worker who didn't speak much english, won a competitive scholarship to atte attend dickinson college this fall. [ applause ] you know, everywhere you go, you've got stories like

estephan's and like troy's but we don't want these to be the exceptions. we want these to be the rule. that's what we owe our young people and that's what we owe this country. we all have a stake in restoring that fundamental american idea that says, it doesn't matter where you start, what matters is where you end up. and as parents and teachers as business and philanthropic and political leaders and as citizens we've all got a role to play. i'm going to spend the next three years as president playing mine and i look forward to working with you on the same team to make this happen. thank you very much, everybody. >> hello, everyone, i'm craig melvin. it is a busy thursday afternoon. president obama, the first lady at the white house there whereas you've just watched and heard, just rolled out a new initiative to expand access to american

colleges and universities especially to low income students. we're going to have much more on that in a few moments but we start with the investigation of new jersey governor chris christie which has officially started at this very moment, the new jersey state assembly and senate are beginning the process of putting together special investigatory committees and subpoenas could come later today. the focus of that investigation, however, playing it very cool, this morning governor christie was an hour from the state capitol, meeting with homeowners hurt by hurricane sandy. a not so subtle reminder of why he's still quite popular in the garden state. >> when you take that oath, the tag line at the end is not if everything goes the way it's supposed to. the tag line at the end is so help me god. right? and i think all of us have thought about that over the last year and plus. >> you've got christie appearing to try to keep the focus on

everything about the closures of several lanes of the george washington bridge. the democrat leading the assembly investigation says he's not taking his eyes off what they've uncovered so far. >> this has become a very complicated issue. we started in a simple investigation into the port authority and we followed the trail into the governor's office. >> what's happening behind the cameras may be just as interesting. both sides lawyering up. christie's people hired an outside law firm to help with its own internal review. joining the assembly committee, reed char, reed schar the man who helped put blagojevich in prison. why they believe this scandal is so serious. >> this is not just petty political politics. that's a serious matter and strike at the heart of the governmental contract, why the citizens give power to

officials. >> michael isikoff, walk us through the process. what's happening right now? >> reporter: right now we've got the assembly meeting. they are going to authorize this new special committee with subpoena power that will then be meeting at 1:00 to begin the process of issuing subpoenas. we should see those subpoenas or hear about them later today. that's the assembly committee. 13r5i9ly separately the senate is authorizing its own investigation committee headed by loretta weinberg. one significant development on that front which the senator revealed here on msnbc a little while ago, her first group of subpoenas will include subpoenas for regina, who is christie's new chief of staff. so right off the bat, we have a

subpoena coming today to the top aide to the governor. that puts it right in the governor's office. at the same time, we have the statement from the governor's office saying they've hired this new special counsel to coordinate the responses to these investigations. >> national investigative correspondent michael isikoff in trenton. a new poll shows a mixed bag for christie nationally. the scandal so far has not changed too many minds about christie. his favorable showed most people nationally don't know a whole lot about it. as chuck todd pointed out this morning, that represents a danger to christie's 2016 prospects. >> chris christie is still being interest dugsed roduced to the this is a first or second i am

preg pregs, this is more damaging to him than we appreciate. >> democrat strategist and hogan, let me start with you. do you agree with chuck todd, that assessment there? >> absolutely. i think a lot of people don't know who this guy is yet, even in republican circles. i have long said the very thing that could catapult in guy to the nomination is the very thing to sink his campaign, it's his personality. and as you know, craig, from living in south carolina, camden new jersey is not camden south carolina. to run that gauntlet early on he'll have to temper his comments. he's calling out the democrats and president and the media, we all rally to him and love it. but every once in a while, all too often, i would say, he focuses on republicans. when you're calling out rand paul by name already and megan mccain by name, that's going to be a problem. he's going to have to understand, let a few pitches go

by and that's someone who worked for rick santorum. this guy needs to let a few bounce in the dirt before he makes a comment. >> that was a nice metaphor. christie's favorables in the garden state are still quite high. do you agree with one assessment that christie is doing quite well despite this noise about the scandal, or are we not seeing the effects of the scandal yet in the polling? >> i don't think he's doing quite well. i think what the nbc poll showed is that this actually impacts voter's opinion of him versus hillary clinton. that lead that hillary clinton had about a month ago was 48-45. now it's 13 points, 50-37. for the first time in most polling history, his fafs, unfaves are upside down. now to hogan and chuck todd's point, a lot of people don't know who this guy is but that's a real problem because they are

getting to know him through this scandal. it speaks to his leadership and judgment. why would he hire these aids that have less than the jersey shore working for him? i think the governors are kind of rallying behind him, but the base of the party is not comfortable with him and this is not going to help. >> any work to the "jersey shore" reference. what more does he need to do to move past this? we saw him talking about superstorm sandy. from here, where does he need to go? >> well, if he wants to run for president in 2016, he really needs to convince people like the grass roots activists and gop donors and power brokers who help through resources behind a candidate in the primary. he has to convince them that he's a viable candidate. right now they are watching every stumble and every misstep. really carefully saying is this the person we want to give money to to be our candidate to try to

beat hillary clinton or whoever the democrats put up. sunday he's going down to florida and meeting with a bunch of gop donors and i'm sure they'll have a lot of questions for them. >> he has a fund dz razor tonight as well. >> rick scott is not doing any of those events with governor christie in public. they are all private. it's interesting he's not comfortable being in public with the guy. >> did not know that. breaking news for us. thanks to all of you. again, folks, we're keeping our eye on developments out of trenton. i'm going to talk to the long time mayor of elizabeth new jersey about why governor christie seems to be making a play for the tea party base. first though, can anyone stop hillary? we'll have the writer of that new time magazine article. we'll talk about lies ahead. should hillary rodham clinton decide to get in this thing pretty soon? mom, dad told me that cheerios is good for your heart,

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for quite some time it's been assumed inside and outside of washington that hillary clinton is the front-runner for 2016. this is partly because it's difficult to think of anyone or anything that can stand in her way. as "time" magazine puts it, can anyone stop hillary? here to talk about the answer to that question is the author, david vonn drally. when talking about whether she made this decision, we can believe she hasn't decided to run because there's almost nothing that a decision would change for her. it would be like jennifer aniston deciding to picture in a supermarket tabloid or warren buffett deciding to be quotable. how has she seemingly cleared

the field without even announcing she's in? >> this is a person of global fame. her name recognition is off the charts. she's experienced and mastered the issues. she has connections with all of the big money donors and she has a tremendous connection coming out of that 2008 race with women across the country, coast to coast, who felt that she maybe deserved that nomination in '08. she very gracefully stepped aside. she supported president obama and people feel she has a ticket punched to this next nomination inside the party. i do think she is a genuine front-runner of the sort that we haven't really seen a part from incumbents in a long, long time. >> let's look at this cover one

more time. what are we supposed to take away from this image? i want to put the cover back up here. is the guy under hillary clinton's foot, is he hanging on or is he about to be stepped on? what's the message here? >> i don't think she wants to step on anybody. i think he's trying to keep up with her. obviously it's a whimsical image and part of it is poking fun at the fact that we're this far out from the 2016 election and talking about it as much as we are. but she is a genuinely fascinating character. historic individual and so we're saying that she is the outside -- out sized figure in this race and anybody who's going to beat her has got to go through her, has to somehow bring her down to life size in order to do that. and we're trying to signal all of those different things with

an arresting striking image, i think our director, d.w. pine did an -- >> is that supposed to be martin o'malley? >> fill in the blank. this week we're seeing the chris christie scandal and a couple of potential scandals that could haunt him should he run in 2016. according to the latest poll, hillary has the lead over christie, now even larger than one month ago, 50% preferring hillary and 30% saying they support chris christie. we do not know how much bridgegate is going to affect christie in 2016 should he run. but we don't know whether and how many benghazi haunts hillary clinton, the intelligence committee placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of her state department. how concerned is hillary land about benghazi? >> i think it's part of the list of issues that they know are going to come at them. some of them are 20-year-old issues and some of them are as

recent as benghazi. and some of them in are the future still to be discovered. it's a long time out. one of the things about senator clinton is that she almost uniquely understands what this process is. she's seen if from every conceivable direction running herself, running with her husband, over many years. she knows it's a long course that the polls today are pretty meaningless. if you look at the polls two and a half years before '08, you wouldn't see much of a barack obama phenomenon back then. so this is part of the reason that she's not in any hurry to formally enter this race. while she's not formally in it she can avoidancine answering t questions. >> now to higher education and

getting college degree. you saw the president here on msnbc, he and first lady unveiling these new programs to expand economic opportunity to try to make college more affordable to a wider swath of folks in this country. at the white house summit today, president and first lady gathering education and business leaders urging them to reach out and for first couple, it's personal. >> with support programs in place, we were able to go to some of the best colleges in the country, even though we didn't have a lot of money. every child in america should have the same chance. >> julio castro joins me. mayor, how do we go about doing that? >> there are a lot of ways we can go about it. what's happening at the white house is more than just talk. there are over had00 commitments

that colleges and non-profits are making specifically to outreach to low income students throughout the united states that have the potential and brains and aspirations to go to college but often times don't believe they can afford it or don't know what the process is like. so, for instance, one of the great examples is college advising corps. this is if you will, kind of a teach for america but for marriage counseling, sending 22 and 23-year-old just graduating from great universities into high school in rural areas and urban areas and low income high schools to advise students on how they can get into college and how they can afford it. they just announced they got $10 million from a non -- from a foundation to go ahead and expand. those are are the kinds of things along with universities making a bigger push, reaching out to low income students and their families. those are the kind of things that i think over time will add

up. >> we're talking about the expanding access. i want to ask about another issue. health care, you are a mayor in a state that has been not so friendly to the affordable care act to say the least and also a state with so many of those invincibles that the white house needs to enroll. you've heard about the numbers. those numbers not as high as the white house would like. how much does that concern you at this point? >> well, it's concerning. i do believe that the affordable care act is going to be successful. but it's been very disconcerning to watch what's happening in texas, the way this the republicans there have tried to throw up roadblock after roadblock. the latest is this issue with the navigators there. we have begun to hear the stories from folks who have signed up about how much money they've been able to save or that they've been able to get health care in first place for the first time. so in bear county, in harris county over in houston, in dallas county, in the big counties of texas, you do see a

significant effort to get the information and resources that people need to sign up and families who need health care going ahead and getting it. and at the end of the day, despite all of the obstruction that's been put out there in texas, i'm confident that millions of texans will now have great health insurance who didn't have it before. >> we'll let the truck pass. before i let you get out of here, last week of course, president obama announced the first of five economic promise zones, one of them in your city. what is that going to mean for san antonio? >> it's going to mean a couple of things. first and foremost, that we're going to be able to cut through a lot of times the bureaucratic red tape that sometimes slows things down. it's focused on the east side of san antonio, trying to improve both the schools and neighborhoods there and secondly, with the help of congress they'll allocate tax credits it will mean they'll be able to stimulate economic investment and create new jobs

so we both create economic opportunity, get stronger families and also lift up the schools and we're very excited about it. we're very proud to be part of the first five promise zones. >> if congress acts being the operative phrase there. >> that's a recurring theme, but here with these promise zones you see tremendous potential for good in some of the more distressed areas in the united states. >> san antonio mayor castro, good to see you. we're going to check back in on new developments this afternoon in the chris christie ordeal. a real life drama about power, public officials and political payback and it is exactly that potent blend with the new jersey ki-in that pushed "american hustle" to the top of the list of the nominations this morning. >> always pick a favor over money. i think jesus did that as well. we're gonna be late.

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on capitol hill today, cloe ba char pointed out the average household made less in 2012 than it did in 1989 when you adjust for inflation. democrats aren't the only ones pushing for the initiative. john boehner telling americans that a struggling job market is their ticket to major gains in november. amy cloe bu char, talk about that income inequality meeting today, senator. i know there's a key statistic, 95%, 95% of all of the income gains since 2009 going to the very top tier of americans, the famous 1%. what came out of your hearing this morning that's going to address that? >> thanks, craig, we had an

amazing hearing, 14 members there, it was democrats and republicans, former secretary rice was there who has a new movie out on income inequality. one of the most startling statistics in addition to the one you mentioned is that the top 400 americans have the same amount of wealth as the bottom half. and so what we talked about were solutions. the minimum wage, obviously something that's going to be coming up and you don't just have some of the people, republicans talking about it. bill o'reilly said he was okay. can you believe it? with increasing the minimum wage. we're going to have proposals coming out on that very soon. unemployment insurance, something very timely -- >> i'm glad you brought that up. brought unemployment insurance. 1.4 million americans had their benefits cut two weeks ago. there does not seem to be a great deal of hope that anything is going to happen on the hill

right now to get those restored retroactively even, even though 60% of americans say they support extending these unemployment benefits. why is it that congress is so paralyzed on this specific issue? not just in general but on this issue in particular? >> i haven't given up on this at all. we had a a lot of resistance on this issue from the house. we're going to keep pushing it. because when you look at the numbers in the past, you literally -- we are -- you've had double right now, double the unemployment numbers for the long-term unemployed than you had in the past when we discontinued this emergency unemployment competence. so we are pushing for that as well as the minimum wage. the last thing that came out of this hearing was work skills training and the fact that and the president is focusing on that with the college affordability issue. the fact there's an amazing correlation between the ability to get a college degree and not

just a four-year degree, a one year or two-year degree where there's a lot of job openings right now with manufacturing and making sure that we make it easy for kids of all income levels to get those kinds of degrees. there are some jobs that are starting to open up in those area in my state. those are some of the things that we talked about as well as the lack of income mobility, the fact that now about at best, 1 in 10 are able to make it from the bottom quintile, to the top right now in america. our rates are much lower in that kind of income mobility that a lot of other developed countries, in fact in all of them. that's something else we need to acknowledge moving forward. >> i want to talk about retirmts in d.c., 16 house members say right now they are getting out. and some of these are expected. many of these were not as expected. first of all, why the exodus

from washington, d.c. and secondly, what does this mean for your party's chances at winning back control of congress? >> first of all, on the senate side, i feel good about our incredibly strong candidates as well as the great candidates we're seeing across the country, like my friend michelle nunn in georgia that are running. you can't get much stronger than people like kay hagen and mark pryor. i'm feeling good about those races. on the house side, again, when you look at these issues and talk about the gridlock, we're simply trying to move this economy forward and get more jobs in the country and focus on those issues instead of things that divide us. i'm hopeful that that will carry the weight with the american people as they see the positive things that we have done and the positive things we want to do. >> senator, we will leave it there, amy klobuchar from

minnesota minnesota. >> it was great to be on. >> lawmakers are beginning to file in for the special session to deal with the chris christie investigation. a live look there in the chamber. coming up, i'll talk to long time mayor of elizabeth new jersey. welcome back. how is everything? there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

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or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. this is a live look inside the new jersey state legislature. they are ramping up the investigation into chris christie and the ft. lee traffic scandal. we're going to talk to a mayor who says he was scorned by the governor in a few moments. first, the detroit auto show just got a bit cooler. let's hit the political playground. joe biden, america's happy warrior made an appearance at the car show to give a speech and kick a few tires as well. despite rules preventing the vice president from actually driving a car, biden shared a recent story about his '67 corvette and patch of burned

rubber in his driveway. >> finally i pulled it out of the driveway, i have a long driveway where i live. i said to the chief, look, either get in the passenger seat with me or shoot me because i'm moving. and i laid about 60 feet of rubber up my driveway. they are still talking about what the hell is the matter with that guy? i shouldn't be saying this probably but -- ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ [ male announcer ] the beautifully practical and practically beautiful cadillac srx. lease this 2014 cadillac srx for around $319 a month with premium care maintenance included. ♪

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today.

at had thundershowhour, the assembly holding that session to create a investigatory committee to look into the controversial lane closings and the process for issuing subpoenas, that could happen as soon as this afternoon. meanwhile, governor christie's handling of hurricane sandy, once one of his most celebrated

accomplishments is being called into question as they are auditing $25 million in federal relief funds. some of which his critics accuse him of using as political purposes while the governor tries to refocus on the future, many remain focused on alleged abuses of power in the past. for more on that, joined by the long serving mayor of elizabeth, christian bollwage. let's start with this fundraiser tonight. we know the governor will spend time raising money for conservative steve lonergan, who launched the bid against corpsy booker and trying to run for a congressional seat. to refresh memory at home, this is the guy that said social security is a ponzi scheme and said something about hurricane sandy victims as well. every day around this country, somewhere, somebody is suffering a tragedy of equal or worse

impact and we don't run and hand them a check. so that's steve loner g eer gan. why would governor christie associate with i a guy like that? similar to the state of the state exist and para dox, he's moving to a sure district to run while he's critical of sandy aid which makes no sense. the people who live in this district, were hit by hurricane sandy and they are going to rely on additional sandy aid. now you have a guy running for congress who doesn't believe the federal government should help those folks recover from sandy. >> since the scandal broke, we heard more and more from other mayors like yourself who have alleged abuses of power in the past as well for folks who might not be familiar with your story, it was your post office. >> the division of motor vehicles. >> in 2010 when the governor took office, one of the first things he did because he

disagreed with not only my position on legislation but senator and assemblymen, he decided to close down the division of motor vehicles and put a sign in the door. we tried to work with him on a better lease structure and move the dmv into a city-run building. we tried almost everything but received a letter on december 30th that your appeal will fall on deaf ears. that's not all, we made an application for red light cameras, a lot of surrounding areas were able to get the red light cameras that helped enhance revenue to the budget. we were denied the rered light cameras with no explanation. >> none at all? >> no explanation. >> now, with regards to your dmv, they say it was because the dmv was not used as freakiquent as others. >> they said they had a study but the salaries of the folks that lived there were relocated or assumed by others and therefore all you have left with

were lease payments and we wanted to work with the dmv to move them into a building that may have been even owned by the city because the service is important. our demographics and community needs a dmv located on bus lines for people to get to to re-up their motor vehicle application. >> i want to talk about the latest polling. christie still has a 60% job approval rating. that's high and that's actually lower than it was just post sandy. what do you make of that? why does it seem as if lots of folks in the garden state don't seem to have a problem what's happening? >> he came through a big election and won in a sizable way. there's still a lot of residual effect to that big win. i think what's going to happen over the studies, he does not lose the governorship. i think a lot of people in new jersey will understand when he talks about transparency, it's not transparency towards the public. it's transparency and how it benefits chris christie. >> elizabeth new jersey mayor, chris bollwage, always good to

see you. thank you very much. what do you make of the two investigations? >> it doesn't make any sense. >> it seems odd to me. >> it's a waste of taxpayer money and time and resources and about who can get on television the most. wisniewski has done a great job along with senator weinberg. >> that's going to do it for me. i'm craig melvin. up next "andrea mitchell reports." [announcer] a healthy dog is a playful dog.

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♪ [ male announcer ] old el paso frozen entrées. now in freezers. i'm as focused on completing this mission as i was when i woke up on morning of october 30th, 2012. and nothing will distract me from getting that job done. nothing. >> right now an "andrea mitchell reports," stronger than the storm, new jersey governor chris

christie tries to get back to governing. but when christie met with homeowners still recovering from sandy, in trenton, the new investigatory committee is meeting to decide who to subpoena first. if the shoe fits, as the political world waits for clinton to make a move, "time's" new cover asks, can anyone stop hillary? and reporting for duty, my interview with former defense secretary robert gates. on the president's team of rivals, the only american soldier still a prisoner of war from the afghan conflict and the fallout over hillary's handling of benghazi. >> but it seems to me that the critical questions are what was offered to the ambassador, what did he reject? what did he ask for, and was it turned down and if so, who turned it down and what time line. and did the question ever get to