doctors recommend it. a busy, busy morning. 10:00 a.m. on the east coast, and any moment we're expecting speaker john boehner back to make his first press remarks since his meeting with president obama. the president is off to st. paul, minnesota, this afternoon. the white house says it has the best news on obamacare in a very long time. and, half an hour from now, new jersey governor chris christie will be back before his constituents. we've got an eye and an ear on that town hall as his approval numbers may be taking a hit. and tick tock, a late night tweet may actually be the best clue we have to whether or not governor jan brewer will veto sb-1062. good morning, i'm ari melber in for chris jansing here at 30 rock, and we're going to get to all those stories at home, but

we begin with a potentially big change for thousands of our troops overseas. the president has run out of patience with afghanistan president hamid karzai. the president has pulled out all u.s. troops in afghanistan by the end of the year. this is new, and that is unless afghanistan signs a bilateral security agreement. that pact would, of course, protect any american troops who did remain. now with this potentially major shift in ground deployment, nbc correspondent just released a new interview with general martin dempsey, where they talked about the new plans, the military's role, and dempsey -- to provide maximum diplomatic flexibility. here is some of that conversation airing for the first time. >> how did they react to the announcement that we've been directed to do planning for options other than the resolute

support mission regional approach, they weren't surprised by it at all. i mean, they understand that there are factors out of our control, some of which are sovereign afghan issues that have to be addressed, then, you know, i think they probably wondered why we hadn't told them to do that up till now. >> and why hadn't we? >> well, first of all, because we didn't want to be seen as trying to influence president karzai's decision. >> let's get reaction now from "the huffington post" political editor and reporter sam stein and "washington post" white house reporter, david nakamura. this has been, obviously, big news, a long time coming. what do you think there what you heard in that new sound from the general, and what's the white house's view? >> well, it's been a frustrating process for the administration. obviously, they wanted some residual combat force in afghanistan after 2014, but

karzai basically determined his own fate on this one, so now they are pulling out, or announcing they are going to pull out combat troops. it would be caveat if someone wanted to cut an agreement, they could always put troops back in. i think what's fascinating about this is the domestic politics have changed so dramatically. eight months ago this was not expected to happen, now it seems the likely course of action and what you're seeing is generally a positive reaction from people on capitol hill. for example, joe manchin was praising this idea. people are tired of the war, tired of supporting the war, want the troops to come back home. i expect easier for obama to pull this off than it would have been maybe a year ago. >> i think that's right, sam, and the folks looking at this as a substantiative level have to be real about karzai and the total lack of cooperation here, which is just a public fact, and that's different than rhetoric you have of staying to win. david, i want to put up to that

point what john boehner said. he said, "succeeding in afghanistan is national to our interests and must take priority over any calendar dates." that's fine as it goes, not a super tough reply. what do you make of that from the speaker? >> interesting, afghans are going to pick a new president in april and each of the candidates said they will sign the agreement. and i think if you look sort of out broadly, there's a lot of pressure still to keep forces there, because, you know, analysts are concerned that this will sort of dissolve into civil war, taliban will regain control. so i think, frankly, for someone like john boehner, he doesn't sort of see that point of view. others do, as well, even if there is weariness about the war overall among the american public, i think other countries, too, are weighing in on this. nato is having a meeting and they are trying to figure out what to do with their own

troops. they say they won't stay unless the united states leaves forces there. there's a lot of people in the administration that would like to leave several thousand troops for training missions and once someone replaces karzai, i think you might see the administration send different signals. >> that's why this is ultimately a very real military plan, but one with a diplomatic undertow. john boehner, you mention him, we're looking at live pictures of him with his big weekly address there, and as we mention, his first big press remarks since that meeting with the president. we will dip in if need be if he says anything new. sam, i want to turn to "the huffington post" on the domestic politics, your publication there, going big with your front-page space, "4 million enrolled." that's a number, that's a fact, and it is one that the white house is arguing today, sam, is not only great news for them, but is the right way to assess a long-term health care policy, a

point that has been discussed before when you look at state-level initiatives, you have to take time and not the first cut, first month or two numbers. what's your take and what do your sources say, tell us about that splash page. >> well, the splash page is beautiful, as is all the stuff on "the huffington post," as everyone knows. as for the facts of the story, i mean, listen, if you had said they had gone to 4 million at this point when they were starting out in october, when on the first day i think there were six enrollees, people would have laughed at you, so this is clear progress in favor of supporters of the affordable care act. there's obvious caveats, how many people of these have actually purchased their first month's premium, there's some estimate 20% of the people haven't done so yet, but all signs are pointing in the right direction. keep in mind, this is five weeks left to go, and if you look at the massachusetts model under mitt romney, big signups as the deadline approaches, including big signups among younger populations, which tend to put this off.

the administration still need those people. they seem confident that will happen, but i expect a big p.r. push among stakeholders and the administration. >> you mentioned p.r. it's p.r. and it's also, according to the white house, organizing. take a listen to the president here in organizing for action meeting just last night. >> what you need to do is to continue what you're doing and reach out with your teams in your respective cities, states, towns, counties, because right now, we've only got a few weeks left. >> david, "the washington post" reported on this, including a big story about one of the obama political organizers who's now in the white house doing this, but it's a lot harder than rounding up votes, isn't it? >> absolutely, you really have to pound the pavement, find out who's not insured, get them enrolled, but they announced a big campaign sort of based off

of yesterday's meeting for the rest of next month, and you saw vice president biden going on "the view" yesterday to talk to mostly female audience, mothers, pushing mothers to get younger sons enrolled because they need younger enrollees to make this program work, so there's a big push on all fronts. they are trying to target specific demographics like that and others as they go door-to-door, but it is difficult and they find they spend a lot of time and manpower in the communities getting people signed up and have a low return on their investment sometimes. >> yeah, and you see that is the challenge. not just "the view," vice president biden swinging by 30 rock here to see seth meyers and fred and try to have some lighter moments. >> absolutely. >> sam stein, david nakamura. we did "huff post" splash page stuff. it's good all around. thank you both for your time today. important programming note, secretary of state john kerry will join our own andrea

mitchell live today coming up on "andrea mitchell reports," at noon eastern on msnbc. it will be very interesting to see what the secretary says, particularly in the context of these changes in afghanistan. now we're going to turn and get you the news feed and what you need to know this morning. very busy, any minute you could hear whether arizona governor jan brewer will sign or veto that controversial bill we've been reporting on, which tries to authorize a way for businesses to refuse service to gay americans on religious ground. people are lining up urging the governor to veto the bill, mitt romney, delta airlines, and intel. the governor weighed in a little bit with a tweet last night, "i assure you, as always, i will do the right thing for the state of arizona" and add the th the #sb1062. another governor, meanwhile, feeling pressure today. new jersey governor chris christie will hold his second town hall meeting since the

george washington bridge scandal swept up his administration. the town of sterling, relatively friendly territory politically, republican leaning. it's a chance for the governor to push his newly released budget. we don't know whether he'll be asked about the bridge scandal. he was not, of course, last time. you never know how the garden state residents will feel. will they want to test christie on something he's called rule four for town halls, if you give it, you're going to get it. and, live pictures right now from capitol hill where a hearing's about to get started on a very important topic, military assault. the link between sex assaults, post-traumatic stress disorders, and suicides in and around the military. earlier this week, efforts stalled again on that bill to change the way the pentagon handles sexual assaults. an important story that we are, of course, going to stay on top of. and coming up, what is going on with the minimum wage? well, house democrats say they are going to fight obstruction with brand new maneuvers, but

harry reid may be slowing things down. we're going to talk to congresswoman debbie wasserman shultz from the hill about all that and hillary clinton. that's up next. just had to stopy the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪

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this afternoon, house democrats will put pressure on republicans trying to force a vote to raise the minimum wage. at the same time, the senate seems to be putting the brakes on. >> the slowdown has been a result of continued obstruction. you have the right to vote however you want, but it makes it a little tough around here when you have companies like gap who have 65,000, 75,000 employees who have just done it, raised the minimum wage already. it's happening all over the country. >> raising the wage is, of course, a critical sign the democrats' 2014 agenda.

we're going to bring in congresswoman debbie wasserman shultz from florida, live from the hill. how are you? >> good, ari, great to be with you. >> talk us through this thing here, we heard about the minimum wage in the president's state of the union. your colleagues are now leading the charge here to do something called a discharge petition, try to force this, because, according to your arguments, speaker boehner will not hold the up or down vote. what's going on here? >> well, ari, the majority of the american people, 74%, overwhelmingly support an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, because they want to make sure that people who work full time don't have to live in poverty. no one should have to provide for their families through food stamps, and that's why the private sector like the gap are making the decision to increase the minimum wage for their employees, but also why we are going to keep up relentless pressure through procedural moves like a discharge petition to try to force the republicans to bring the bill to the floor,

because we know that if it comes to the floor, we're going to be able to have the votes to pass it, and we know that the senate will bring it up, as well. president obama later this week when he speaks at our winter dnc meeting, i know, will continue that momentum and that pressure, because building ladders to the middle class and making sure that we focus on continuing to get this economy turned around is democrats' number one priority. republicans' priority, as leader reid said, being obstructionist and throwing obstacles in the path of working families. >> congresswoman, you mention, of course, the public support. pugh research has 73% support for that, only one out of four people opposing. that's pretty unusual, even on economic issues, and definitely a lot of other political issues to have that sort of overwhelming majority. that's what's at your back, but when you say discharge petition, what you're talking about is a parliamentary procedure that

usually fails, is that right? >> well, because the majority controls the agenda and you need 218 votes to pass legislation, yes, we've got to get 218 signatures on a discharge petition to bring it to the house floor, and we know that we'll get the overwhelming majority on democrats on that petition. we need some republicans to grow some back bone to find some courage to listen to what their constituents are saying. 73% of the american people supporting an increase in the minimum wage means that the majority of most republican members of congress constituents support it, as well. hopefully, they are going to be able to stop their civil war. and step up to the american people and the middle class. >> you mention back bone, governor bobby jindal has clearly made waves, if not offered a lot of specifics. take a listen to him on "morning joe." >> you really didn't hear much of a defense of why isn't this president doing more. he says he's got the power of the pen, power of the phone, why

isn't he doing more to create good-paying jobs in our country? >> your response? >> you know, we've had 51 months of job growth in the private sector since president obama took office, and we've seen the unemployment rate go down to below 7%. president obama this week announced two manufacturing institutes that he awarded, thanks to his initiative, because congress isn't being at all helpful because of republican obstructionism. the president is focused on whatever he can do to continue to get this economy in a more robust posture and the republicans are welcome to help. he's extended his hand to ask them to work side-by-side with him to do that. they seem to be continued to be immersed in their tea party civil war and doing everything they can to stop him from helping our economy make progress. it's really sad. it really is. it's unnecessary and, you know, we are here, ready to work with them, but if not, then president obama and congressional democrats will move forward without them. >> i hear you on that. on the politics, we would be

remiss if we didn't ask you about the clintons. you have a good relationship i know with this president, working with the party chair right now and the past president, who made his first midterm appearance and hillary clinton, of course, someone whom we're seeing very high numbers now, up to 59% in recent poll favorability, higher, quite frankly, as you know than both parties in congress by a lot and higher than the president she served. your thoughts here on how the clintons are engaging short term in the midterms? >> it's not at all surprising that president clinton would be a popular surrogate in a state like kentucky. this is a president who presided over the longest sustained period of prosperity, certainly in modern times, and had a surplus when he finished his presidency that was turned into a record deficit by the republican president that succeeded him, so we are looking forward to having surrogates like president clinton and others stump for our candidates

all across the country, and this week at the dnc meeting, we're going to be making sure that we can continue to focus on continuing our progress and helping to add value to elect democrats up and down the ballot. >> yeah. it is an interesting balance, as i mention, president clinton doing the stumping, hillary clinton doing a foreign policy event, she is down in florida today. these are not midterm stumping events. they've found a division of labor within the family for now. dnc chair debbie wasserman shultz, thanks for your time today. >> thanks, ari. coming up, two years ago tonight, a story we all remember, trayvon martin was shot and killed. a tragedy that sparked a national conversation. we're going to talk about that case and the implications that continue to shape a lot of policy discussions. but first, before we get to that, we have here today an exclusive one-on-one interview with one of the most influential environmentalists in the republican party, christine todd whitman about what she calls the defining environmental challenge of our time.

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president obama's making climate change a priority in his second term, and this week the supreme court heard arguments in a case challenging the obama administration for exceeding its authority to regulate green house gases. now under current law, the clean air act gives the epa pretty broad powers to define and regulate pollution. many republican legislatures criticize the epa, a former republican leader of the agency, christine todd whitman came out in favor of the epa's powers, writing, i absolutely agree with president obama, the epa has broad authority to issue regulations addressing climate change. christine todd whitman served as president george w. bush's first epa chief, a two-term governor of new jersey, the only female governor in the state's history and this is her first tv interview since monday. hello and honor to have you

here. >> thank you, good to be with you. >> why don't we start with the case? we had oral arguments monday. we have something that is often looked at at a deeper technical level because they get into some administrative law, but you wrote and argued here this week that at the broad level, this is about a clearly established power to deal with climate change and pollution. >> if you look at the history of previous court decisions, whether it was a massachusetts's decision or second circuit in d.c., both said epa has broad responsibility to regulate pollutants and greenhouse gases, obviously, fall under that. and it's always been -- the basic premise here is, it has to be a federal agency, because mother nature doesn't observe geopolitical boundaries and the methane produced or carbon doesn't just stay where it's emitted, it transports and affects everybody, people across

state lines, so epa has, in the past, enjoyed bipartisan support for this interpretation of the clean air act. in fact, it's pretty well clearly written out there. congress put it that way, made it broad, so epa could act. >> you're hitting on such an interesting and important political point, which is you were a republican governor, as i mentioned, a lot of governors, especially conservatives, do talk about areas where they want the states to play a bigger role. are you arguing at this point when you look at the environment, technology, what we're up against, there isn't really a logical place for federalism here because of what you just mentioned? >> no, there's certainly a logical place and the states can easily go beyond what the federal government is requiring, and they are. you've had the northeastern states that entered into a compact on greenhouse gases and do some carbon trading, so there's a lot the states can and will do, but bottom line, these are issues that affect all americans, actually, they affect the world, and we need to be

taking action on them. the world's not going to end tomorrow. nobody says that, but i think anyone who has been outside in the last year understands that things are changing. i mean, the world has changed since it was formed, but what we're putting into the atmosphere and the way we're changing land use is having an impact, making these things happen faster and be more severe, and we've got to slow them down to start to anticipate what we're going to have to deal with. >> and what do you say to republicans who say that we don't really need an epa because climate change hasn't even been scientifically established? >> well, first of all, i think they ought to remember it was ronald reagan who made climate change one of the regular issues before the national security council. let's just start there. he recognized that this was an issue that because of the consequences, i.e., you have some melting, the bering sea may open up, what's that mean for our relations with russia, who controls the oil under there, what's our navy going to do?

what about when we deploy our military to tsunamis on the other parts of the world? what happens when you have droughts and people moving from one country to another and start to get conflict and destabilization? all that effects us as a national security issue, and let's remember, it was richard nixon who established the environmental protection agency and signed the clean air and water act working with a democrat congress. this is a bipartisan issue because it affects all of us. saying we need to do away with the environmental protection agency and it's overreached, epa would love it if congress would act and take action on climate change. that would be great if they set the levels of carbon, but they seem incapable of doing that, so the agency has a legal responsibility to take the action. >> yeah, i think it's clear under current administrative law they do also have the authority to deal with what you're talking about, some of the gaps when this congress is inactive on a host of issues, including this

one, they have to continue to do their job, regulating, you mention bipartisanship, an important point, and secretary kerry, of course, making a similar point that this is also a national security issue. another big news item today, as we have been reporting, chris christie is out doing another town hall. you as a former governor of new jersey, i did want to ask you, the governor here has broken ties with aides accused of improper behavior. as a governor, do you think he needs to do anything else to meet his responsibilities on this ongoing controversy? >> he needs to focus on his job as governor. he needs to talk about the budget. this is a huge issue. he's got big challenges within the budget. that's where he needs to concentrate. there are several investigations going on, let them run their course, let's make sure that they are done in a bipartisan, above-board way. the public needs to be reassured these issues are going to be looked at thoroughly, but in a way that focuses on the issues, not on partisan politics, and the governor's job is to run the state. he can't lose sight of that, and

he hasn't. >> would you say from what we've heard publicly on the record, you're satisfied, you take him at his word about this issue? >> well, i have no other way to do it. yes, i take him at his word and there's been nothing so far that's said anything different. there are people who acted in a rogue fashion, it appears, but we'll know more. that's the whole point of having an investigation, but so far from all what i've seen of the documents that have been given in response to subpoenas, even the chairs of the committees, democrat chair of the committee of the bipartisan committee, says nothing new here, nothing startling. there are no smoking guns that link directly to the governor, so there appear to be other issues that need to be dealt with. >> all right, christine todd whitman, i really appreciate your time today, especially your thoughts here on that case. we're going to be following what the supreme court does on climate change and the epa regulations. thanks for your time. >> my pleasure. >> all right. we will be right back.

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29 days ago, man, and it's sad to say that, you know, i feel as though this country actually values guns more than they do our children's lives, and, you know, that's sad. >> that was trayvon martin's father talking to my colleague, reverend sharpton last night on "politics nation." tonight marks two years since his son was shot and killed. zimmerman claimed he killed the unarmed teen in self defense. since then, zimmerman remained in the news at times, twice received warnings, once was issued a speeding violation, also charged in november with aggravated assault of his girlfriend. those charges were later dropped and since his acquittal, the debate over the role of race and stand your ground laws has continued. those laws did originate in florida and they've only intensified as a political issue, particularly after a

recent mistrial of michael dunn on the trial of first-degree murder in the case of the shooting of jordan davis, also in florida, fatally shot. that was just months after trayvon martin. we're going to turn here to our guests, editor and chief of global grind, michael, and yamiche. how do you do? >> doing all right. >> i want to start, yamiche, with your interview of sabrina mcbath and put up something she said to you, the mother of jordan davis. "it's an established mindset that young black males in this country are dangerous and they are people to be feared." that's her view coming, obviously, from a very serious place. i also want to put up on the screen some research that really undergirds how shelves. in a nationally representative sample of white americans, more than 40% said many or almost all black men were violent. less than 20% said that of either black women or white men. talk to us about her feelings

and how that relates to that data. >> she really believes that her son was not seen as a person. she really believes that when michael dunn came to that gas station and made that statement about thug music that he looked past her son's humanity, and i think she really thinks that it's part of this -- her son's death, is part of a larger national issue that you stated in those studies, the idea he was killed because he was already seen as someone who was going to be attacking michael dunn and that he might have already had this reasonable fear based on something that had nothing to do with her son. >> that's interesting. i'm listening to what you're saying, almost like you're talking about not only a miscat gorization, is this person a threat or not, and people have to make those decisions in life, but also a complete dehumanization? >> yes, she's saying her son wasn't seen as a person. i asked her about the idea of the verdict and what do you think about the fact even though the police never saw a gun or saw a weapon, they believe your

son at least may be have had a weapon. that's when she said that question, so the question was really, why do you think people still think your son may have had a gun and that's what she responded, she said it's because of this national idea that people really think my son was dangerous and people that look like my son are dangerous, so that's kind of the context of that question. >> and we're talking about jordan davis in part as a national media story because of trayvon martin and we know, michael, and you've done a lot of work on this, reporting and activism, that so often these are local stories, they are crime stories, they are forgotten stories. something was very different here, and you're here today partly because you played a role on that. we're going to put up on the screen immediate cultural action, lebron james, the twitter picture, use of people wearing hoodies, something you did, they did. we believe, i believe, michael skolnick up on the screen, as well, and you wrote a piece talking about why you are viewed

differently than trayvon martin might have been in the same outfit. >> far too often when white kids are killed, we remember their names, jonbenet ramsay, natalee holloway, eton patz. black kids were killed, we don't know their names, statistics, numbers are barely in the news, but trayvon martin was murdered two years ago today, we felt there was, obviously, something much deeper and bigger than just a child being killed walking home from the 7-eleven to watch a basketball game, and it was that moment when dwyane wade and lebron james, the entire miami heat, put their hoodies up in support and made it okay for mainstream america to get involved and said, you know what, we're going to put our hoodies up in solidarity to trayvon because no child should be based on the hoodie they are

wearing or the color of their skin. jordan davis was in a car with tinted windows playing loud rap music. in michael dunn's mind, could he have thought there was a gun, because in his mind, that's what those kind of people do and that's what those type of people have, and never actually seen a gun, but thought, oh, young black teens, rap music, tinted windows, suv, they have a gun, i got to shoot first and he gets away with murder. >> right. and when you say gets away with murder, that's your view and you're here to give your view. legally, this was, ultimately seen as what in the law they call a justified killing, because in the trayvon martin case there was not a murder conviction. briefly, your thoughts on what michael said and the reporting you've been doing? >> i think what michael touches upon is what parents that i've talked to, which are really tracy martin and sabrina fulton, i spent two years talking to those parents. i think this case, the case of trayvon martin, really did go national. i think in this case it was something that was a national

story that then became local, because people really thought this is going to be the case where people really felt like it was personal, this was not just some kid that was in a bad neighborhood, but this was some kid that was walking home and i think a lot of people that resinated with people, which is why i think it was remarkable we followed that case for two years. that's a long time. >> you mention that evolution. this is something that actually m.i.t. was studying, because as you say, a local story that went national, as you talked about, the way that the names were attached and then it became such a political story and a civil rights story that you have the president of the united states weighing in and other politicians, and one of the things they found in this article is called how a crime becomes political, trayvon martin and the way different media cocreate the news. one of the things they found, and we're putting it up on the screen, these bubbles basically are networks of what they call precipitory media. that's something different than tv or a newspaper telling you the story and telling you when the story is over, and i should mention, your website, michael,

global grind, is on there as one of these precipitory network sites that said, no, we're not going to let this story get old, even though traditional media would say, hey, there's nothing more to say here. >> we put a space for a conversation that needed to be had in this country, and two years later, tomorrow the president will announce a major initiative, talk about political politics and what's happened, there's a lot of good that's come out of the last two years. the president will announce a initiative to lift young men of color. i wear this rose called sons and brothers, a new campaign putting up $50 million to create programs to uplift and educate young men of color to build better and healthier communities. that's what's come out of the legacy of trayvon and will continue to fight for him and jordan and all young men of color, because nobody deserves to be killed in the way they were killed. >> right. i know that's why you're working on this, why you've been reporting on this. thank you for your time today. >> thank you. >> thanks.

all right. we are going to turn briefly to the economy and the bitcoin battle for survival. cnbc's morgan brennan is here with what's moving your money. what's going on with this mysterious money causing such an uproar? >> thanks, ari. mysterious is right. even more fire than usual this week, thanks to the sudden collapse of tokyo-based mt.gox, one of the biggest bitcoin exchanges, or used to be. mt.gox's website went blank on monday amid rumors of bankruptcy. yesterday it issued a statement saying it decided to, "close all transactions for the time being." the problem is, an estimated 744,000 bitcoins, about $400 million, is said to have been lost. "the wall street journal" is reporting federal prosecutors in new york are investigating and this has made the debate about bitcoin's future even bigger, but most experts say this won't break bitcoin, rather the company's failing is a weeding out process that happens with any new market.

we'll have to see. >> yogi berra said if you don't know where you're going, you might end up there, and if you buy a lot of bitcoins and don't know what they are or where they are, you might have trouble finding them. we'll be right back. ♪ detect hidden threats... ♪ see the whole picture... ♪ process critical information, and put it in the hands of our defenders. reaching constantly evolving threats before they reach us. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. and a hotel is the perfect place to talk to you about hotels. all-you-can-eat is a hotel policy that allows you to eat all that you can. the hotel gym is short for gymnasium. the hotel pool is usually filled with water. and the best dot com for booking hotels, is hotels.com. it's on the internet, but you probably knew that. or maybe not, i don't really know you.

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today as a brand new poll shows eight out of ten democrats want her to run for prison. politico points out 33 pages of documents are set to be released from the national archives. if there are any for the clintons, fuel republican attacks or it might not. you never know until you get the story. joining me now, republican strategist joe watkins and julian epstein. welcome, gentlemen. bill and hillary clinton, you know they are a force to be reckoned with, whether you like them or not. what do you make of this, shall we say triumphant return? you tell me. >> i think hillary clinton is going to be very, very strong no matter what anybody says, and you just got to have a great deal of regard for her, respect for her, given her career and what she's accomplished. you know, i know politico wrote the article today saying, you know, these new papers are

coming out. i'm not convinced that any new findings from old clinton papers are going to do anything to derail secretary clinton's strength. >> i got the politico story here. it runs six pages when you print it out, the clinton library's secret files. they are pretty excited about it as a story, but i think for republicans who do want a deal with her, this may not be the best approach? >> well, i just think that at the end of the day, the only way that secretary clinton is not the nominee is if she doesn't wish to be the nominee. i think she's very, very strong right now, and i don't think any new findings by old papers are going to do anything to derail her strength. >> interesting. julian, to joe's point as a piece of objective political analysis, he's saying hillary is the likely nominee, whether he likes it or not, take a look at this new number from the new york times/cbs poll. 42% of democrats want biden to run in 2016. when you ask about hillary, 82%.

this is not a case where it's apples to oranges, they both have high name i.d., they both, by the way, ran last time there was an open season. what does that tell you about the potential unity for hillary, even though last time we heard about unity, she didn't get the nod. >> everybody likes joe biden. he's warmly loved within the democratic party, but hillary clinton having these kind of numbers is almost unprecedented for a candidate in either party. i can't remember a time when two years before we hit the heed of a presidential cycle, one candidate in one of the parties has 8 out of 10 in that party wanting them to run for president. it's just unprecedented and what it means is if she does want to run, which i think she will, she pretty much has a cake walk into the general election, which means -- >> i think you're right there. folks at home can, you can tweet @jansingandco. joe, i want to bring you back in

on bill clinton here. he was attacking someone that i know you have had positive things to say about, mitch mcconnell at the event yesterday. take a listen. >> politics is not rocket science. it's either creative cooperation or constant conflict. it's either a focus on people or a focus on keeping yourself in power by keeping people torn up and upset so they can't think anymore. your opponent is a genius at that ladder course. he skated a couple of elections here doing that. >> joe, do you think that's what mitch mcconnell does? >> no, i don't think so. i think mitch mcconnell has proven himself over the years to be a real leader in the senate and somebody if re-elected will continue to be a real leader in the senate, not just for republicans, but americans everywhere. president clinton, of course, is a very effective campaigner and still very, very popular, easily the most popular, i guess, past democrat president in recent history. >> you think he's got carter beat there?

[ laughter ] >> i think by a few percentage points. >> try the most popular national politician on either party. he is the most valuable player in politics period. his numbers are at 70%. there's no other national figure that has that kind of popularity, and not only that for bill clinton, and you'll see him far more than president obama in demand during this midterm elections, because president clinton has huge appeal, not only in democratic areas, but in the south and in the west, so he continues to be the most valuable player in american politics, and to joe's point, if republicans think that there is some opportunity with the release of the clinton documents, it is a fool's gold, because these issues have been litigated, they were litigated 12 years ago. >> to be fair, joe was saying that. >> no, no, no, i'm agreeing with joe. i'm agreeing with joe. some republicans think there is an opportunity here, and these issues were litigated 12 years ago, the public doesn't want to

hear about it and there's not much new about whitewater and impeachment and those issues. >> back to joe quickly for the final word. >> i think julian actually is right. i think this is old news. i don't think it does anything at all to derail the strength of secretary clinton right now, if she decides to run for the presidency. >> well, you know, we got two politicos who think politico overwrote that story. i tend to agree with you guys. julian epstein, republican strategist joe watkins. one final note, today's tweet of the day comes from jonathan martin referencing how alison lundergan grimes doesn't want president obama to appear on her behalf. i asked grimes about air brushing obama out of the picture. "i'm a clinton democrat through and through, she said." how about that? helps reduce the risk of heart disease. keep heart-healthy. live long. eat the 100% goodness of post shredded wheat. doctors recommend it.

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guess what? this wraps up the hour of "jansing and co." here on a snowy 30 rock. i am ari melber in for chris

jansing. quick reminder, andrea mitchell will sit down for a live interview with secretary of state john kerry today at noon. right now, "news nation" with tamron hall is up next. i'm nathan and i quit smoking with chantix. when my son was born, i remember, you know, picking him up and holding him against me. it wasn't just about me anymore. i had to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. chantix didn't have nicotine in it, and that was important to me. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood,

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good morning, everybody, i'm tamron hall. this is "news nation." developing now, the clock is ticking. arizona governor jan brewer could announce as early as today whether she'll sign or veto a controversial measure that would allow business owners to refuse based on their religious beliefs to serve gays and lesbians. she's holding meetings, in fact, on the matter today. overnight, though, the governor tweeted this. i assure you, as always, i will do the right thing for the state of arizona. the so-called religious freedom restoration act had been a target of daily protests ever since it won final approval by that state's legislature last

thursday. opponents have dubbed it the right to discriminate bill. meantime, governor brewer is under pressure from a growing list of companies to use her veto power. those companies now include apple, american, and delta airlines, marriott, intel, yelp, at&t, and pet smart. also urging a veto, arizona's two republican senators and gop presidential candidate mitt romney. plus, three republican state senators originally voted for the bill. all that as the debate rages among ordinary people in arizona. >> i have a right as a business owner to say i refuse to serve you for whatever particular reason. >> got $12,000 to $14,000 in lost revenue to the hotel, and that itself results in almost $2,000 in local and state sales tax revenues. >>