if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping, and unusual dreams. my quit date was my son's birthday, and that was my gift for him and me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. that was a standing ovation for president vladimir putin as the russians scoff at sanctions coming from the white house, daring president obama to do more after crimea's vote to join russia. full-court press, the white house trying to capitalize on march madness. 5 million have signed up for health care so far. now they're giving young people the 16 sweetest reasons to get covered. and for some republicans, it's never too early to go to iowa. for ted cruz, today will be his fourth trip in eight months. but his fellow senator rand paul overshadowing his conservative counterpart? good morning, i'm chris

jansing. a tantalizing new clue this morning. day 11, following the mysterious disappearance of malaysia airlines flight 370. nbc news has now confirmed that whoever was flying the boeing 777 programmed the auto pilot to divert the plan from its course. it almost certainly had to be done from the cockpit. and frustrated malaysian authorities said again at the morning press briefing there's still no clue where the plane and its passengers might be, even as the search has exploded to an almost incomprehensible size. >> the search area is now 2.24 million square nautical miles. this is an enormous search area. and it's something that malaysia cannot possibly search on its own. >> so the search expands, but the "uss kid" will soon end

operations in the indian ocean. the u.s. role is not open-ended, raising the difficult question of how long will it make financial and common sense to continue the search. nbc's kerry sanders is following the latest developments for us. kerry w, good morning to you. let's start with the significance of using the out-pilot to change the course of the plane. >> well, as you note, it takes you directly into the cockpit, to the flight management system. most importantly, it suggests whoever was doing these changes to the plane had an intimate knowledge of not just flying, but of boeing 777, because every plane is different. you have to time in certain information, know what you're doing, otherwise, you're looking at something that is basically gibberish. it takes the investigation back, most importantly, to the pilot and co-pilot, or somebody who somehow got access to the cockpit and had enough knowledge to actually program that

information in. and the way they're able to conclude it was actually programmed, when you're at the controls of an airplane and you physically have them, even if you're an experienced pilot and you're making a turn like that, there's a tendency to have a rise or a dip in your altitude. in this particular case, because it was all computerized, there was no significant rise or dip that suggested that somebody was physically steering it, but rather the computer was taking it on that turn. >> kerry, stand by, i also want to bring in robert hager, who has covered major airline disasters for nbc for more than 25 years, including some, you and i together, bob. so let's start with what kerry just said. what do you think of this new information? >> i think it puts the spotlight right on the crew, the captain or the co-pilot. i can't imagine a passenger having those skills to come up and break through from the door. i think they're going to be looking at the captain or co-pilot. as hard as they've looked already, they found nothing, and some other cases where it was suicide by the pilot, they've led to nothing too.

no preliminary findings right away. so i think this could take some time. >> bob hager, much in demand, is that your phone? >> gee, that's terrible! that's terrible! >> let me ask you about what kind of psychological profiling is done these days on pilots, and is it something that's ongoing, bob? is this where we're focusing now? >> and they do it in the u.s., not really seriously, but they do get little psychological checks. not nearly the attention paid to that as there is to the flying skills themselves. but, in another country, malaysian airlines, i just don't know. i can't imagine it would be that careful. nor could i also imagine that the kind of screening they'd get would catch something that might be as subtle as some kind of mental disturbance to cause somebody to do sympathetic like this. >> and the other big piece of information that we got, kerry sanders, and it floored me. i can't even comprehend 2.24,

what, that's about 2.6 million square miles, as opposed to nautical miles. how do you even begin to narrow that search down? >> well, narrowing it down is a matter of elimination. it's sort of like, they say, mowing the grass, where you go out, down, back, out, back, down, and so right now, the u.s. military, while it's pulling back its ship, the "uss kid," it still has the p-3 and the p-8, which is an aircraft that can electronically fly down. the p-3 and the p-8 will fly out of kuala lumpur. the problem is, as it goes out and comes back, it has a limited range. so, it's about eight or nine hours airborne. if it goes out three hours and wants to search here, it takes 45 minutes to an hour before it wants to turn around and come back.

so as this area further from land expands, the search actually takes longer, because the airborne electronic surveillance is actually less. i can tell you that the p-3 and p-8, when they were up in this area here, actually, according to the u.s. navy, picked up on more than 400 different items out there on the surface, all 400 of those items your examined. not one of them was a piece of wreckage. but it does show the technology is in place to see something if it's floating on the surface, just, so far, they haven't found anything. >> let's talk about some of the other possibilities that are being raised here, then, bob. one, that the plane was able to land safely. but the numbers are, what you need, 5,000 feet of runway, typically, for a plane this size. and given the projected flight path, there are 634 runways spread across 26 different countries. >> my own opinion, i would give that zero chance. i just think -- i mean, yes, you might be to land it on a

5,000-foot runway, but hiding it for 11 days now, and nobody knowing it, on land, i just don't think that's possible. >> and if you presume that the people are still alive, how do you get -- >> yeah, you've got to feed them. yeah. >> so what else is, do you think, is still within the realm of reasonable possibility here? because there are different trajectories if the plane did, indeed, crash into the ocean, that it could have gone in, and fit did, that would make a difference about how easy or difficult it is to find it. >> so this is going to be pure, pure speculation. so as long as it's labeled, i think it's okay to do it. the thing that makes the most sense to me is somebody in the cockpit, probably one of the crew or the other, not together, deranged, and not with a motive, because this plane is flying all around. if you're going to just kill people or kill yourself, why not take it down right away? but flying it around like that implies making a show of it or

something. or just a pure derangement. that's just a wild guess, which we're not supposed to do as journalists, but here we are 11 days out with nothing. i think it doesn't hurt to do some speculation. >> and i mean, the heartbreaking part, obviously, is all these families who don't know and may never know. i know, from having worked with you for so long that you're a big believer that we figure out what happens in these cases. but could this end up being one of the great enduring mysteries? >> yeah, i really think so. i've tried all my career not to say that it looks like we may never know what happened. because so often it looks that way and investigators would happen on something or stumble on something. but with a wreckage as difficult to locate as now and the fact that even if you get those black boxes, you don't know whether you're get the cockpit voice recorder in particular or a clean box that gives you some information, i just think there's a real chance here that we just may never know. which means years and years and years of the kind of speculating that i was just doing, where -- or conspiracy theories of all

kinds, where we don't have any answers. and that's really too bad. and it's awful for the families. >> we're going to talk more about some of the possibilities if our next half hour. bob hager, great to have you back here at nbc and kerry sanders, thank you so much as well. checking the newsfeed this morning, defense secretary chuck hagel is ready to make some changes as a result of the navy yard shooting in washington last year. secretary hagel will join the navy secretary next hour to talk about the investigation. the security review, and implementation strategy. last september, aaron alexis killed 12 people at the navy yard before killing himself. today is primary day in illinois, where republican voters have the most at stake, choosing candidates for u.s. senate, as well as the challenger to democratic incumbent governor, pat quinn. republicans have targeted the state's economy and hope to use it to their advantage in november's general election. next hour, new jersey's governor, chris christie, will hold a town hall meeting in south river, a down inundated with flood waters during

superstorm sandy. his latest town hall comes less than a week after protesters in the southern part of the state heckled him over the george washington bridge scandal. we'll be keeping an eye on what happens this go-round. heiress rachel "bunny" mellon has died at teenage of 83. she was well known in art and philanthropic circles, was friends with jackie kennedy, but her name may be well known in modern times from the john edwards finance scandal. in an effort to cover up his relationship with his pregnant mistress. mellon was never accused of any wrongdoing. coming up, apresident putin talks to the world about annexing crimea. is it too late or can the u.s. stop him? vice president biden on the ground in poland right now, stepping up the u.s. presence. also, could march madness help the white house hit its target for enrollment in obamacare? they're even calling it an

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the white house says it's getting close. more than 5 million people enrolled in the affordable care act, with a goal of 6 million. but there's less than two weeks to register a million more. so president obama is putting on a full-court press during the ncaa's march madness. he's called on basketball icons, including lebron james, and university of north carolina head coach, roy williams, to try to get more young people to sign up. and a brand-new white house website shows the 16th sweetest reasons to get covered, complete with a gift of michele bachmann,

dunking a basketball in a teeny, tiny hoop. joining me to talk about the deadline, congresswoman shelia jackson lee of texas. good to see you, congresswoman. good morning. >> chris, good to be with you. i'm excited. it's nothing like rushing to the future and rushing to success. >> well, the clock is ticking for the president at a time when republicans, as you well know, are basing entire campaigns on their opposition to obamacare. whitt ayers, a gop pollster, says the core message is running against obamacare. that is the most effective message. so the question is, with all this pushback still by the republicans, can the white house meet its goal? >> absolutely. today, i'm hosting an event with women, when women succeed, america succeeds. we'll be talking about issues that impact women. we'll be enrolling at that particular event the numbers of women that we expect to come to here information about an economic agenda. in fact, the affordable care act is an economic agenda. it does have an impact on

families and women, heads of household, and children. and the people that i have interacted, they just want the information to make the right choice. we're enrolling here in houston, texas, with events and enrollment sites every day. >> let me ask you about what's going on in texas, if i can. as of march 1st, 295,000 texans signed up. less than 10% of those eligible for coverage. so why do you think the president's message on aca isn't getting through in your state as well as some others? >> well, i think, quite the contrary. what i will say, it really is shame on our state officials, for refusing the expanded medicaid, which would have helped many low-income working families. so, now, families have to determine their eligibility. many of our families are young. they're working, they're busy. and so we have to reach them where they are. and that's what we're trying to do. as i indicated, we'll be having another enrollment session on thursday. we're doing it almost every day, but we'll have the secretary of

transportation here for a number of different issues, and even he will be engaging in helping to encourage people to get the facts about the affordable care act. i believe that once you get the affordable care act under your knowledge level, meaning, that you understand all the facts and the option, and the attached rebate, the extension of your young people on your insurance, past 26, the idea that there will be no lifetime caps, and as well, the pre-existing conditions, i think that is important. but let me say one other thing. one of the other great aspects of this bill is the increasing medical professionals, nurses, doctors, and others, that will allow young people to go into the medical profession, so there is both an outreach for young people to get covered, and everybody knows, they think that nothing will happen to them. but i think all of the exciting stars and celebrities that are going to be out these in these last two weeks, we're going to at least reach to the heights of

meeting not only the deadline, but meeting the numbers that we like. this is not about meeting numbers only, chris, as you well know. it's about helping people, it's about the affordable care act, that has been an anchor in changing the way we get our health care, and making sure that all people are covered, and that we have the kind of ongoing health care that is preventative, that louse people to prevent sickness, by being able to access doctors earlier. that's very important. >> can i say, was that an unintentional or intentional pun, when you were using the basketball metaphor and you said, reach the heights. that was good. congresswoman shelia jackson lee, always good to have you on the program. thank you. >> thank you. we look forward to the women coming out today, to when women succeed, america succeeds. thanks for having me. >> let me bring in perry bacon, and jackie kucinich, politics reporter for "the washington post." obviously, a very positive assessment by the congresswoman.

but you've got lebron james, roy williams, march madness, the new white house website. frankly, looks kind of like buzz feed. perry, was this promotion part of an overall strategy -- or let me start with jackie. is this part of an overall strategy or a hail mary, to mix sports metaphors, during the last few weeks before the deadline? >> probably a little bit of both. but you have seen him reach out on funny or die with zack last week. they don't want a lot of people going on the website on the 31st, on the last day of the deadline, to slow this process down. >> you mentioned zack and the two ferns, and even though republicans have called that

unpresidential, reince priebus said obamacare is complete poison, the fact is it did drive young people to the website and actually got people to sign up. technician the overriding question with this 1 million outstanding, though, is can it get those kinds of numbers, particularly of young people, which are so important. >> i mean, and that is the question, isn't it? and you know, you also have republicans, you mentioned reince priebus, they were ads running in several states by conservative groups that are countering what the white house is saying. so they also have a little bit of head winds going into this. so it really remains the to be seen whether this really gins up what they need to get before the deadline. >> we should say these ads are running on places like tnt, doesn't take much to see who's being targeted. but dana milbank writes in "the washington post," i'm quoting him, the administration announced last week that only 1.08 million people ages 18 to

34 had signed up for bobamacare by the end of february or about 25% of total enrollees. the proportion doesn't improve significantly, the result will likely be fatal for the affordable care act. perry, does the 6 million matter, even if they reach it, if there isn't a strong percentage of young enrollees? >> i guess the question, i would phrase it differently, the 6 million is important, because you want to make sure you reach that level. the key thing is, they're behind the number of, enrollees they wanted, but they're not so far behind. if the number was 10%, i think fatal would be the right term to use. we're at 25 to 30%. it's not as good as the administration thought. this rate is important, because insurance companies are going to raise their rates next year. if insurance companies are not going to have a huge rate increase if 30% instead of 40% are in that block. the key thing also to look at is, it's really hard to reach these 18 to 35-year-olds. no state has got 30% yet. it's not just that the white house is struggling with this.

the states that have done this on their own, like kentucky and new york and california that have their own exchanges, they also are not getting the right number of young people either. so this may be less about outreach and obama and more just about maybe young people don't really want the insurance right now and haven't been convinced it's worth the cost. >> yeah, you know how we always say, young people feel like they're invincible, didn't we all when we were 20 years old, although it's hard to remember that far back. perry bacon, jackie kucinich, thanks to both of you. the russians are making it official, signing a treaty to annex crimea. and gm is shaking up the leadership at the top to deal with all these recalls. we'll have the details, next. you know what phones are supposed to have? buttons. one for each number. so-called smartphones have two, maybe three buttons max. that's neat, but what do you do when you want to dial a four? it's not so smart then, is it?

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vladimir putin just signed to make crimea part of russia. putin signed the treaty right after a major it have address, where he vigorously defended crimea's vote to secede from ukraine. and right now vice president joe biden is in poland, the country bordering ukraine, and talked about the sanctions just minutes ago. >> russia's political and economic isolation will only increase if it continues down its current path. and it will, in fact, see additional, additional sanctions by the united states and the eu. >> joining me now is reuters' investigative reporter, david rode, and william taylor, the former ambassador to ukraine. gentleman, good morning. >> good morning. >> ambassador, the white house yesterday touted that these were the toughest sanctions since the cold war, but "the washington post" basically told them a slap on the wrist. and let me read to you from their editorial board. mr. obama had promised consequences if mr. putin followed through with the

crimean referendum, so we doubt the west's president's actions would be even this week. he thought some prankster had prepared the drafted sanctions. so are you surprised by this reaction and what more can the u.s. do? >> not at all surprised. and there's a lot more that the united states can do and should. what we said, what the united states said was, if this referendum, this sham referendum, goes forward, then some sanctions would be put in place. and they were. what we've also said, what the u.s. government has also said, is that if further steps, like today's annexation, mr. putin's attempt at annexation goes forward, then additional, stronger sanctions will come. we've shown that we can put on sanctions. and we've shown that the europeans follow our lead on sanctions. we should take the next step and economically punish the russians for this step and get the europeans to follow again. >> and it's one thing to mock, david, which we saw from the

russians today, but when you look at the stock and currency markets, they both spiked, almost like a celebration of what happened here. so what's going to turn the tide? >> i think major economic sanctions, particularly that target russian banks. these sanctions were a slap on the wrist, like you said. the russian stock market actually rose by 2% after we unveiled these tough sanctions to the europeans. so we're not inflicting economic pain. and there's a political problem here for president obama. his approval rating is about 41% in the united states. there was a weekend poll that showed that 64% of americans thought of hillary clinton as a strong leader in terms of a president. president obama, 50%. this makes him look like a weak leader, if he can't come up with a stronger strategy against putin. >> and of course, the question becomes, we've talked about this over the last couple of weeks, ambassador, sort of the end game here, what does vladimir putin really want, what does he think he can get. there was an interesting article about a guy who had sat down

with him at dinner and wrote this. this was from 2007, i should point out. everybody is made to believe it's okay to pinch the russians. they are a little bit savage still, or they just climb down from the trees and probably need to have their hair brushed and the dirt washed out of their beard. putin, he suggests, is motivated by his belief that the west looks down on russia. do you think there's truth to that? >> i do think there's truth. and i think there's increased truth in that. vladimir putin has made it clear that russia is not a part of the big table of international relations. vladimir putin's actions have isolated him totally from the international community. he's just kicked out of the g-8, he lost in the security council. the united states security council, he got one vote, his own. the chinese didn't even support him. so he has demonstrated, yes, russia is not at the big table. yes, russia is looked down upon. and yes, russia is scorned by the international community. >> and former president bill

clinton had a very similar message about putin yesterday, so i want to play that. >> he is highly intelligent, deeply, deeply patriotic in terms of russia, but he sees it more in terms of the greatness of the state and the country than what happens to ordinary russians. >> what's going to be the change agent here, david? is it going to be the oligarchs, that the pressure gets put on them, that they're going to consequently put the pressure on him? how do you see this working through? >> right now, the change, there's no change agent in russia. this is hugely popular. he got standing ovation today. it will be private markets. lawyers and analysis, there's been $325 billion invested by private investors in america, in places like pimco, in russian government bonds or company bonds.

if the markets start pulling that money out over time, it's going to start hurting the russian economy, but, again, these are very minor sanctions and i don't see a dramatic price yet for putin in the short-term. so it's really going to depend on what happens and whether, you know, we go after banks. because, again, essentially "the post" was right. it was a slap on the wrist. >> david, always good to see you. ambassador taylor, thank you as well. >> thank you. we're going to go live to kuala lumpur for the latest on the criminal investigation into the malaysia flight coming up right after this. hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hilarious. sorry. you shoulda taken it to midas. get some of that midas touch. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. next time i'm going to midas. high-five! arg! i did not see that coming. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling) i just ah woke up today and i said i need something sportier. annnd done.

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the size of the search for missing malaysia airlines flight 370 is almost too big now to comprehend. more than 2 million square nautical miles or nearly 2.6 million square miles. what hasn't changed is the criminal investigation. and there's a continuing focus on the pilot and co-pilot. we want to head right to nbc's keir simmons, who is live in kuala lumpur. keir, what are you learning about these two men?

>> reporter: hey, chris, good morning. the mystery surrounding the pilots just deepens every day, to be honest. what we heard today was the authorities saying that they don't believe that anybody else on the plane had the capability to fly a 777, and that they also believe that at least one of the turns that it made was pre-programmed. so that's pretty mysterious. and at the same time, we have spent the last few days looking at the pilots, who they are, their background. we were there today at the area where the pilot lives. it's an upscale neighborhood, to be honest. it's a gated community. security guards. he's a well-off guy. he's a family man, he has three children, a grandchild, we understand. in fact, the house that we were at today, we're told, is one of two houses. so friends are saying to us that it just doesn't make sense. why would he be being investigated, whatever they exactly think happened, why would he be being investigated for this. there's no way, his friends say,

that he could be in any sense involved with the disappearance of his own plane. he was proud to be a pilot. he loved flying. none of that points to a man that they say would do anything in the realm of what they're talking about. and when we go to the co-pilot, he lives in a less up-scale area, he has a girlfriend, a fiancee, friends say the same about him too. a continuing mystery. we don't know what happened, we don't know where the plane went, we don't know who was responsible. >> nbc's keir simmons, thank you. and for more on the criminal investigation, let me bring in nbc news terrorism expert, michael leiter. so we got this latest news of the jet's path being altared by a computer system by somebody in the cockpit, certainly seems to focus on the pilot or copilot. i guess the question is, and you heard what keir just said about who they are, where do you look to find a motive? >> this is an incredibly difficult. it really has gone from a mystery to a mystery wrapped in an enigma. i think there's still a lot more work to be done by the malaysian

police. and i hope, again, using resources from the u.s. and elsewhere, to dig into their electronic communications. people leave a huge digital path behind them. so looking at e-mail, looking at phone records, looking at some indication, it would not be the first time that you had an individual who looked from all outward appearances to be absolutely perfect and no issues, but, in fact, there was something else deeper going on. but i think what we're seeing, coming out of kuala lumpur, there is no easy answer here. >> the partner of phillip wood, who is one of the americans on that flight, gave her theory about what might have happened. she was on rachel's show last night. let me play that. >> the crash didn't make any sense. but this clearly looked like an abduction. and you know, without evidence of them doing something immediate and visible with that very powerful tool of a big plane filled with people. i believe this is just one step in a bigger plan.

and sooner or later, we're going to learn what that is. >> there's a lot of speculation about that, michael, online. we heard yesterday that israel is increasing its security measures, in light of the missing plane, concerned it could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. what is the likelihood of that? >> i really, i feel so much for the family members and so many people are grasping for some bigger issue here. i have to say, in my experience with terrorist organizations, and what we've seen thus far in this, i think the likelihood of seeing this plane in any way in the future is absolutely minuscule. i think the likelihood that it actually could have been landed somewhere is extremely low, without detection. and we all imagine terrorist groups being highly sophisticated from movies and tv. and some of them are pretty good, but the idea of abducting a crew, taking a 777 and using that for a future terrorist act, i have to say that even our most

extreme war gaming of possibilities post-9/11, we never came up with something like this and there's a reason we didn't. >> and the other thing that we've seen is maybe piracy, for some kind of economic reason. but, i guess, the same reasons, it's just so hard to imagine that this is somewhere, intact, but nobody has seen any sign of it. >> that's right. i mean, the world is a big place. and there's not radar everywhere. but, certainly, that northern route, there's a pretty extensive ray of both civilian and military early detection radars. and somebody would have seen something. to the south, much less so. and i do hope with the australians and the u.s. taking a lead for that search in the southern indian ocean, we might be more likely to find some remnants at this point. but, again, appreciating why people think there could be some next step in a very sophisticated plot, i just don't think that anyone in the national security community right now, and certainly, i

don't think, that that is how this is going to play out. >> nbc news, terrorism analyst, michael leiter. always good to see you, michael. thanks. >> thanks, chris. a day after announcing another massive recall, general motors this hour has named a new vehicle safety leader to help tackle the growing crisis. in a video statement to employees, new ceo, mary vera, on the job for just two months now, is promising to do better. >> something went wrong with our process in this instance. and terrible things happened. as a member of the gm family and as a mom with a family of my own, this really hits home for me. we have apologized, but that is just one step in the journey to resolve this. >> cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. now, what, more than 3 million vehicles being recalled by gm. >> right. we heard yesterday about the next round of wide-ranging recalls. clearly, the company, chris, is really trying to tackle the crisis with a new sense of urgency to look like they're

really on top of this. so these new recalls cover 1.7 million vehicles worldwide, on top of last month's recall of 1.6 million have chevrolet cobalts and other models. and these recalls are for a number of different reasons. like the recalls the for the suvs because of a wiring problem that could cause air bags not to deploy in a crash. what i should say, though, chris, is apparently there is no indication from gm that any of the affected models have been involved in accidents that resulted in injuries or deaths. this is the new lot of recalls. but i guess they're trying to be, better safe than sorry. some of the vehicles involved, if you're wondering, they're buick enclaves, gmc acadias from the 2008 to 2013 years, chevrolet traverses from 2009 to 2013, and saturn outlooks from 2008 to 2010. and also, gm has named a new vehicle safety leader by the name of jeff boyer. his first priority is going to be to quickly identify and resolve these product safety issues globally. >> cnbc's mandy drury, always

good to see you, mandy. >> see you tomorrow. this afternoon, president obama will take a step to right old wrongs. he will present the medal of honor to 24 army veterans from world war ii, korea, and vietnam. these men previously overlooked because they were hispanic, jewish, or african-american. only three are still alive and are expected at this afternoon's ceremony. speciali specialist santiago erevia died in 199. staff sergeant melvin morris risked his own safe to recover the body of his fallen team leader. from vietnam as well, jose rodela's actions prevented injuries during an attack. it starts at 3:40 p.m. eastern time. the full list of medal of honor recipients is up on jansing.msnbc.com. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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it's time to start taking rand paul seriously. that's the big headline in "the washington post" today. and it's clear the kentucky senator is taking a possible presidential run in 2016 seriously. the latest cnn/orc poll shows him leading the field, although the lead is slim. and over the weekend, he won his second straw poll at the northeast republican leadership conference in new hampshire. his first win was at cpac. meantime, his main competition, certainly on the right, senator ted cruz, is back in iowa for the fourth time in eight months today, with two events. another strong signal he is at least thinking about running in 2016 too. i want to bring in our strategist, angela ry. joe watkins is a former george h.w. bush white house aide. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> so, joe, rand paul has won two straw polls. he's topping the latest 2016 poll. so to chris cillizza's point, does he need to be taken seriously now? >> clearly, he's somebody to be taken seriously.

winning these polls early on means a great deal and he's got a strong following. it still is early, though, chris. remember, there have been lots of folks who looked strong early on and ended up not being the party's nominee. the ideal person to be the nominee for the republican party is somebody who cannot only draw on the base, but can likewise win women and independent voters, hispanics and african-americans. people who we were not able to draw in the last election cycle. >> well, to that point, i think his timing, some people might argue, is very good. not only is his appeal on the rise, it kind of coincides with the rise in popularity of libertarianism. and he was just in utah, talking about growing the republican party. here's what he said. "we need to welcome new members. we need more african-american members, more hispanic members, more jewish members, more asian american members."

the republican party keeps talking about inclusion, but he does seem serious about at least trying to approach this. is he somebody the democrats would worry about? >> chris, i don't think so. and here's why. i don't know if you remember, but rand paul was on this network saying all kinds of crazy things about inclusion and what it means for private businesses, a long time ago, to be able to discriminate against people of color. so i think that a lot of us have long memories about that. and furthermore, i know today they're celebrating the growth and opportunity project, the gop autopsy report, and there's still a whole lot of work to do. so while they may be celebrating 2014 and the wins that may may get this year. i think they've got a long way to go for 2016. and he's not as formidable as people might think. >> does history work against him in any way that you see, joe? and, obviously, any conversation about rand paul also usually includes his dad. >> yeah, well, his father certainly raised a lot of money and had a strong following. was not ever really somebody that seriously had a chance at

winning the republican nomination. rand paul certainly has a chance to be a serious candidate going forward. but, again, i wouldn't count out people like jeb bush and chris christie. and various other candidates on the republican side, who have shown the capacity to governor and also win over the support of minorities, independents, and women. >> but, of course, the question always is, joe, can moderates, like the two you just mentioned, win in the primaries. if you're going to talk about rand paul, angela, you also have to talk about ted cruz. and he was -- it's sort of interesting to watch how they flipped. because for a long time, cruz was kind of seen as maybe the best hope for conservatives. and that seems to have switched recently. >> well, yeah. i think that whenever you have someone new, there's a honeymoon stage. and i think that his honeymoon stage is certainly over. i know that he's really trying, really hard to demonstrate that he can be, to galvanize the

conservative base. but he's going to have a hard time. i think, in part, because he's burned so many bridges in the senate with some of his colleagues. i don't know that ted cruz is a big 2016 hopeful either. >> let's talk about that. one of the things you have to do, i don't care if you're a conservative or a moderate, joe, as you well know, at some point you have to win over the party establishment. at some point, they've got to get behind you. their money, their infrastructure has to get behind you. is ted cruz somebody that could do that? >> well, it's really early to tell. he has a base, he's a favorite, of course, among tea party republicans and conservative republicans. he's won of several conservatives who want to be the nominee. i mean, you've got rich santorum as well. rich did very, very well in the last cycle. to run again, he'll have a lot of people supporting him. and rand paul will have his strong base. so ted cruz will be in competition with various others for that conservative base going forward. again, the question remains is whether or not ted cruz has the capacity to win over those

groups that did not vote with us in the last cycle. and i'm not sure that he does. he's certainly a smart and talented candidate and the leading member of the u.s. senate. but our best candidate for president is going to be somebody who can win women and moderates and independents, hispanics, and african-americans. >> joe watkins, angela rye -- >> as well as the base. >> and the base, that never hurts. thanks to both of you. we'll be right back. and aged parmesan. it makes our lasagna a delicious centerpiece for this table this table and your table. stouffer's. america's favorite lasagna. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement?

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two politics now, and oh, jimmy fallon making fun of the crimea vote to join russia. listen. >> officials in crimea actually published an exit poll to show the results were authentic. just average crimeans to see what they have to say. >> is smart vote, russia is strong country. you would be a fool not to join. >> nicholas smirnoff said, is

smart vote. russia is strong country. you would be fool not to join. >> while she said, is smart vote, russia is strong country, you would be a fool not to join. >> the secret service is already looking for a new presidential limo nor the next president. only u.s. automakers can apply. and even though the obama administration has been pressing carmakers to expand their green offerings, it's likely the new presidential limo will stick to the old, reliable, gas. and is president bill clinton the world's most famous vegan. his daughter, chelsea said so. it used to be barbecues and pies, but he made the decision on his own after he had heart surgery. and after almost four years of marriage, chelsea is giving out marital advice, telling couples to have date nights and talk a lot. that's going to wrap up this hour of "jansing and co." i'm chris jansing. next on "news nation" with

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good morning, everyone. i'm tamron hall, and this is "news nation." we're following the mounting evidence that malaysia airlines flight 370 was deliberately diverted by someone in the cockpit. now, 11 days into this mystery, we're now learning the turn west the plane made, that was not in its planned flight path. it was actually made using the jet's computer system rather than its manual controls. we'll explain what that means. but the new revelation intensifies the scrutiny on the pilot and the co-pilot. in fact, this video posted to youtube appears to show both men passing through airport security. however, nbc news hat not verified the time, date, or source of this video.

meanwhile, we are learning from loved ones of the passengers, including the girlfriend of american phillip woods, that they are keeping hope alive that their family members are somewhere, somehow safe. actually, she spoke to my colleague, raechel maddow last night, and says she believes he's still alive. >> as early as sunday, the day after the flight disappeared, already, amongst my group of friends, we were already talking about the fact that a crash didn't make any sense. that this clearly looked like an abduction. and, you know, without evidence of them doing something immediate and visible with that very powerful tool of a big plane filled with people, that they have to have a future purpose for it. >> meanwhile, millions of people are actually going online to help in the search, using a website called tom nod. people are actually highlighting areas where they think that