romney is holding two conference calls with supporters and donors. the news is three weeks after he first told a meeting of donors that he might be interested in running in 2016. let's bring in moderator of "meet the press," chuck todd peter alexander who covered the romney campaign. here in studio steve kornacki host of" up "with steve core nami. talk about a whirl wind the last couple hours. the calls, it was spreading like wildfire. you tweeted earlier as romney supporters talked to each other. feels like how wall street trades on rumors. they were thinking yes, now they think no. and it is no. let's talk about it. >> look it does sound to me that somebody had the larger conversation for mitt romney. let's play out what a mitt romney campaign would have looked like for the next six months. if he had decided to get in every day was going to be a day

where the story would be hey, look who's not with mitt romney today. either a staffer, we saw that yesterday, jeb bush signed up his iowa director from the last two cycles or major donor, or frankly his lead in the polls. he looks good in the polls now, but as the campaign would have heated up his numbers would have only gone down simply as other candidates started getting attention. he was going to have to deal with this fact alex. in the next six months he was going to be doing nothing but sort of fading and eroding. think john mccain, 2007. the question is do you have the constitution, governor romney to deal with the fact that you would be battered in six months then say to yourself do you have it to come back do you think there would be a way back from that abyss, or the perception of an abyss. so i think it does sound like they had a real sort of sober conversation of what the next six months would look like and i get why he said no." >> and steve kornacki have been

breaking apart what was sent out, a transcript of what we expect to have on that call. let's break that down. you and i were reading this as we were getting miked up. the first three or four paragraphs were about nothing but why he should be running for president, why he would win, until a pivotal point. it looked ahead. >> yeah. this is the statement e-mailed to hugh hewitt, conservative radio host a staunch ally of mitt romney. the first, he lays out all the ground work why he should be a candidate for president. what he ends up saying is that he thinks somebody else might might emerge. what i see in this statement, i think there was a personal element to this in the last few months. a lot of people are saying why would mitt romney after running in 2008 running in 2012 and losing, why would he think about running again. i think there's a personal element between mitt romney and jeb bush. he saw all the attention jeb bush was getting in december,

all of the talk about jeb bush will unify the republican party, maybe the best bet, maybe the only bet. all that talk. seems here two things were on mitt romney's mind when he saw that. first, he looked at poll numbers the last few months. he said all that talk about jeb bush being a strong unifying candidate. yet as well known in name as romney. every time you polled mitt romney and jeb bush mitt romney was beating jeb bush not impressively. you would think based on hype jeb bush would be running ahead. when you looked closer you saw specific problems with jeb bush among tea party republicans, the most conservative hardcore element of the republican party. a lot has to do with the history of george w. bush and how the tea party sprung up in part in reaction to george w. bush and what they saw as his selling out of conservatism. it showed vulnerability for jeb. there's a personal thing here that has nothing to do with the numbers, bush family and mitt romney were very close for a long time. mitt romney gave a speech in the 2008 campaign about mormonism.

some said this is his john f. kennedy speech like when john talked about roman catholicism. he was introduced by george bush senior had a close relationship with george bush senior. in the 2012 campaign mitt romney was basically left hanging by jeb bush. the fate of the candidacy was on the line. newt gingrich crushed him in south carolina. romney had to bounce back win florida. who do you want on your side in a must win situation, you want jeb bush. what did he say to mitt romney no i am not going to do anything for you. didn't lift a finger. there's resentment there, also after the election in 2012. after the election in 2012 jeb bush more than other republicans, there were plenty of republicans that piled on mitt romney after that more than other republicans jeb bush was specifically critical of the romney campaign privately and in some cases publicly. certainly private stuff worked back to mitt romney public stuff was impossible to ignore. when you take that personal element and you're mitt romney

watching jeb bush make his move for 2016 then saying wait a minute, i don't think this guy is more popular among republicans than i am at least right now, i think that starts to give you motivation to give him a hard time. one quick thing here. this statement, this jumps out at me. this romney statement. he says i believe one of the next generation of republican leaders, one not as well known as i am one that hasn't yet taken a message across the country may well emerge as being better able to be the republican nominee. i expect and hope that to be the case. jeb bush is 63 years old, he is not the next generation of republican leaders. mitt romney is taking a shot at jeb bush there. >> absolutely. and you're out doing double duty you're coming from glendale, arizona, you were speaking with people that were on that call. what was their expectation going in? did you get a sense of that? did they think he would say i'm all in? >> let's be clear, there were

two conference calls, the second one taking place now with a larger cast of romney supporters. first began at 10:45 a.m. eastern time. spoke to close aides of the governor shortly before that call began. two said they believed he was going to say yes, he would likely form a pac. two said they're hearing it is likely a no. this is how it was for many on the inner circle even up to the last minute. let's pull back the curtain, at the present you about the phone call that took place at 10:45. governor romney spoke to individuals that gathered on that call before the end of the call his wife ann got on thanked supporters said they believe they have the money, they believe they have the support, and yet they for all reasons you and steve and chuck discussed ultimately decided they thought it would be best to hand over the reigns to somebody else in the republican party. there are consequences to this that are important to keep an eye on what it does on the establishment lane for the republican party looking at 2016. seemed like it would be

difficult for jeb bush mitt romney and chris christie to run effectively side by side for establishment label among republicans competing for the same type of donor money and ultimately support. this now gives governor chris christie if he chooses, better rationale to decide he wants to compete with governor jeb bush for that spot. >> you make a good point there. we were saying back in news areas that were mitt romney to run, that might very much deflate chris christie's chances of getting into it. chuck, i am curious your thoughts on the personal aspect here. how much do you think what this would have done and expose the romney family to weigh in on mitt romney and we all remember ann romney not long ago saying no no, no, it is not going to happen. >> look, i think this has been a personal -- i am with steve on this. i think some of the interest in the race was personal. yes, some driven by -- look jeb has had problems with romney

going back to '07 romney was jeb's candidate in early '07, and romney flipped on immigration and jeb never forgave him. he thought the way he used immigration as a wedge against mccain, he never forgave him. he wouldn't be shy about criticizing romney. he thought he is pandering too much. and that continued through 2012. and that's really what drove jeb from romney it is the way romney ran against immigration reform. but i think when it came to romney, if i thought one of the reasons he wanted to run is this is a man who hadn't failed at anything else in life before successful businessman, when he lost in massachusetts, got up off the mat eight years later, won a rasce in massachusetts. he eventually succeeded. that personal ambition and drive to prove that he could do this

is what sort of -- i think look it is clear he wants to be the nominee. it is clear he didn't see a path to get the nomination. that's what i think happened here. >> do you see a political future for him in any way? >> you can never rule anything out. obviously mitt romney is going to be -- i think the way i look at it is this. if for some reason it is total chaos in the republican party and they can't settle on anybody, he is going to be the sort of generic backup. but let's be realistic, the likelihood of that is one in a million chance. i think effectively mitt romney's political career is now in the rearview mirror. >> you agree with that. who do you think is backing out of potential nominee helps the most? >> in terms of political career one interesting thing, he told an audience recently he is registered to vote in utah. he had property in new hampshire, massachusetts there was a point in his political career he had to decide between waiting in utah couple years

after the olympics and trying to run for governor in 2004 or returning to massachusetts and running there in 2002. it was a somewhat difficult decision, he made some moves in utah back then. ultimately opted for massachusetts, now back in utah. maybe a few years down the line governorship may open he may run, but determining where the race goes from here this is it. for jeb bush this is a big, happy day for jeb bush what he is trying to do is coalesce the party around him as much as possible the next few months. line up people behind the scenes donors behind the scenes, political support behind the scenes to assemble something, roll out something that will intimidate a lot of other people out of the race send a message to the rest of the party that the train is leaving the station, you better get on board. in that sense this can be seen as a big victory for jeb bush. that's what happened here. mitt romney saw what was already happening in terms of

defections, jeb people are cracking the whip behind the scenes. this is the model. this is what george w. bush did. how did he become president in 2000? because in 1999 what began as the -- at the time seemed like the most wide open republican field in history, sound familiar, what we are seeing now, first six months of 1999 george w. bush quietly and persistently raised an astronomical sum of money. when they reported numbers for second quarter of 1999 he raised ten or 15 times more than the nearest kpelt tore. in sex months six republican candidates dropped out. george w. bush had -- mccain gave him a scare, had an easy path to nomination. jeb is trying to replicate that. we will see if he can raise that money, make that statement the next few months. >> in terms of finances commonplace that the only two guys that can raise the volumous amounts of money to pull off a

presidential run are jeb bush and mitt romney. pete alexander, are you still with me? i wanted to get a sense from peter, having been on the campaign trail what this feels like for mitt romney right now. chuck, i know you covered him for years and years, and interviewed him certainly. what is he feeling now? is there a sense do you think of relief? of great loss? >> i think the only sense of relief is probably with ann. look i think mitt romney wanted this. i think he wanted this so you know look i assume he's going to -- i think this is going to be a hard decision to live with for quite some time particularly as he watches the campaign go on as he watches issues he believes he knows in hindsight he should have prosecuted better perhaps on foreign policy. i don't think this is an easy decision for him. he go back to something, he is a very personally driven man.

and i think this was an easier would have been easier in some ways for him to run. i think it was a hard decision for him to look here and admit that he couldn't do it or wasn't worth the toll that it may take to do it. i go back to john mccain. i still think one of the more stunning moments of presidential campaign history is the fact you had a guy like john mccain who started high went to the depths stared into the abyss. one man candidate, carrying his own luggage in new hampshire, clawed his way back to the nomination. that doesn't happen all the time. did he have the stomach for that. john mccain had the stomach for something that to this day i think is remarkable when you think back on it. and romney was probably going to have to risk going down that route in some form or another. fact of the matter is everybody likes a new car smell. and romney was not going to be the new car and there was going to be excitement around him. we'll see. >> chuck, has he done a better

job of shaping his legacy? the fact is had he gone down he would have gone down three times a loser. the number of statements could be made about that. in this case people will look at him now after they have adjusted this as having stepped aside. >> that's right. there's a fine line being between being thought of as bob dole and harold stas in. i basically said that for steve. but my point is harold stas in was a legitimate candidate for president first couple times he ran. then ran every year until he was 80 then it became a running joke. and bob dole here is a guy that ran three times for president and after he got his nomination didn't run again. after he got his nomination there's a positive legacy there for bob dole and you're not going to say three time losing presidential candidate with bob dole. i think his stay in the history

books is there. so i think there's something to that. but i want to go back to something about jeb, this is sort of -- this gives christie a narrow opening to be relevant. i think that's a longer shot than others do. he had no shot at financial path if both jeb and romney were competing for big donors. it gives christie an opening. i am curious to see how many big donors go with walker. i think walker to lesser extent paul. but this big where you raise your billion dollars from a small group of people, the assumption is they're mostly with jeb. i will be curious. if they're not be jeb, then who? who wins the second sort of second amount of big donors. walker christie? i don't think it is a rand paul. i think he has to go another route in order to do this. i think he is a major player but needs to go another route on the money front.

and that's something i will be watching the next six months. how can walker make end roads in the financial establishment wing of the party. now that romney is out. >> joining me shawn mccoy former iowa communications director and spokesman for romney's 2012 campaign now publisher of inside sources. and columnist for daily beast and frequent krit i i can of mitt romney. shawn, how much do you think the defection if you will of david koch he will goings to jeb bush team how much did that influence, was that a final straw? >> i think that mitt made a thoughtful decision this morning and knew that it was time for a fresh face to lead the party. it had to be difficult looking at the polls and seeing that he was leading across the board to then make that decision and say it is time to let a new face lead the party.

but he did so. and i think overall this is going to be extremely important for the money primary, and giving especially jeb bush an opportunity to raise money that he needs to run for president. >> michael, i am curious how surprised you are at this. you are not a fan of mitt romney, you called him a women p after a speech he made in israel. if you look at poll numbers, a bunch of americans, the majority who had a favorable opinion of him. so where do you come down on this? >> you know i mean i think that he was a plausible candidate, as plausible as any of the rest of them. he had the retread factor but had a couple things going for him. the main one being that all his dirty laundry has already been out there. bain capital was not going to be an issue this time around unless somebody unearthed some new thing, and i don't think

that was likely to happen. and you know he has been through it. and he had as good claim on this as anyone. i think his biggest disadvantage if he had done this was going to be that it apparently looks like all of the dire things that he said about the economy back in 2012 during that campaign aren't looking very smart now. >> of course the president has weighed in on all of the rumors. there was the house democrats annual retreat in philadelphia last night during which time the president took -- some calling it jabs against the opponent there. listen to what the president said. >> we've got a former presidential candidate on the other side who suddenly is just deeply concerned about poverty. that's great! let's go! come on let's do something about it. >> mitt romney was very quick to respond on twitter. he wrote mr. obama, wonder why my concern about poverty? the record number of poor in your term and your record at failure to remedy.

chuck, do you think this is the kind of thing we can expect from mitt romney in the next less than two years, i guess 21 months trying to do math next 21 months is this what we are going to see from mitt romney or do you think he will go quiet? >> i think he goes quiet. now that he is the role of statesman, could be a king maker. look, i think mitt romney can carry, it is interesting. and i say this when people asked me about elizabeth warren can she be more influential running or not running. sometimes you can be more influential when you don't run. i think elizabeth warren is more influential on hillary clinton not running as candidate than she would be the second she got in type thing. sometimes when you're a candidate, your influence can weirdly shrink for awhile. i think romney has an opportunity to be sort of the statesman of the party, elder

statesman, big guy of the party, perhaps where his endorsement becomes more meaningful and things like that. i don't expect him to continue to have tit for tat like last night on twitter. >> what about the prospect of becoming an adviser of sorts to a jeb bush campaign notwithstanding what you said there's a little bad blood there, overall, bush family romney family held tight through the years. would that be possible? >> the bush campaign very unlikely. again, i am struck by that statement that romney statement where he talks about finding somebody from the younger generation, somebody who's not that well known now who might catch on. he hopes that's the case. chuck is talking scott walker and that's right. we are entering what the walker people hope will be a scott walker moment. if you look at the polls, he is down 3, 4% among republicans nationally, does not have a lot of name recognition. however they had that event, congressman steve king right wing iowa congressman had a big cattle call two weekends or a

weekend ago. scott walker basically stole the show. he showed up got the best reviews, best response of all candidates there. anybody in that audience including chris christie that was there, and jeb bush skipped the event. it seems there's potential opening for scott walker because i think what the republican party is looking at is bush fatigue. they're looking at it two different distributions, reflected in lukewarm poll numbers. the first is pragmatic. do we want to nominate another bush. can we win doing that. the second as i said the tea party right, the anti-establishment base of the republican party that has a serious problem with george w. bush. and the ideological legacy of the george w. bush presidency. the idea. remember with george w. bush it was about compassion government wasn't bad government can be helpful, we want to do it right. no child left behind. expanded role for the federal government. when you got to the end of the bush years, the economy

collapsed, poll numbers were down, iraq was a mess barack obama became president. the base of the republican party looked at that said you know what happened, george w. bush sold us out. he sold out conservatism. what we as republicans need to do is go farther to the right to purify ourselves, make sure we never nominate another compassionate conservative. now eight years later, here is jeb bush offering himself as the moderating influence in the party. the party is different than eight years ago. >> sure is. >> that's where there's opening for scott walker. you look at the romney statement, if walker gets traction, maybe that's somebody romney can take interest in. >> gentlemen, thank you so much. we appreciate your time guys. pretty exciting day with this news. want to give you a programming note this weekend, "meet the press," chuck is interviewing paul ryan. see what role he may play. watch up with steve kornacki weekends at 8:00 a.m. eastern here on msnbc. coming up live to arizona

where super bowl preps are under way, and the measles wake up call. a new health warning from officials as they track down just how measles was brought to disneyland. and a rapper arrested on suspicion of murder in los angeles. >> people thought it was intentional act. >> he turned himself in overnight in connection with a deadly hit and run. one of the stories we are following around the "newsnation." find the team on twitter and online. when it comes to good nutrition...i'm no expert. that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [

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ahead on "newsnation" for you. meantime the centers for disease control warns the recent measles outbreak is a, quote, wakeup call. the cdc is urging people get vaccinated. saying more than 84 people in 14 states have been infected since the first of this year. most cases have been linked to an outbreak that started at disneyland in california. the cdc says it believes it all began with someone infected overseas. the cdc says unvaccinated people are to blame for how quickly the disease has spread. joining me a pediatrician with university hospital case medical center. doctor, thank you so much. can you give me perspective how big this problem is? >> let's talk about what it was like before we had the vaccine. the vaccine we use now came into effect in 1968. before that 3 to 4 million a year would have measles. 4 to 500 would die. 48,000 a year would be

hospitalized. and about 4,000 would have encephalitis encephalitis. 400 would have encephalitis. that's swelling of the brain. measles is no joke and people don't take it seriously because they haven't seen it because since 2000 we basically thought we had eliminated it in the united states. >> all right. what about the anti-vacs movement. that gained popularity. now many doctors are refusing to treat patients not vaccinated. there's one doctor in california that came right out and said he won't allow patients in the practice not vaccinated. how do you feel about that? do you think that's going to be a trend with more doctors? >> well the scary thing is that with measles, you're infectious before you know you've got the measles infection. >> which explains the logic. >> it can be 7 to 14 days before you know you're infected. you have a child sitting in the waiting room who may be infected and i've got 20 kids and pregnant moms sitting in the waiting room being exposed to this.

yes, i totally understand it and really the anti-vaccine people are not rational in thought. think what immunizations meant to world health and child health in the united states we don't see meningitis any more don't see polio. things that children used to die from, or be crippled from have been eliminated in this country through vaccines. >> all right. many thanks for your insights. we appreciate them. up next a live report from arizona on the super bowl. the head coaches wrapping up a big news conference. also ahead, miraculous stories of survival involving a deadly explosion at a children's hospital in mexico. it is one of the stories we are following around the "newsnation." plus, how a delta pilot became locked out of the cockpit mid flight, and what happened next. we will be right back.

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and the breaking news of the hour mitt romney has announced in a call, two separate calls to supporters donors and others that he will not be running for president in 2016. we have been getting reaction, first senator lindsey graham saying he was surprised and disappointed a qualified republican wouldn't be in the field. we are waiting for jeb bush's response. gotten word via twitter. mitt romney has been a leader in our party for many years. there are few people who worked harder to elect republicans across the country than he has. i am sure today's decision was not easy i know that mitt romney will never stop advocating for renewing america's promise through upward mobility encouraging free enterprise, and strengthening our national defense. mitt is a patriot and i join many in hoping his days of serving our nation and party are not over. i look forward to working with him to ensure all americans have a chance to rise up.

we wish mitt ann and the entire family the best. joining me now, mark murray and jonathan capehart opinion writer for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor. okay. mark, your reaction to this. i know the nbc news first read team noted that romney had to make his mind up asap. why was that? >> alex one of the biggest reasons is there were parts of the mitt romney world almost crumbling beneath his feet top iowa strategist was signed up to be jeb bush's campaign manager in 2016. other folks probably in the mitt romney orbit in 2008 and 2012 were either going to jump on board the jeb train or were even leaning towards doing so. so romney had to put up or shut up type moment if he was going to do this thing, he had to do it now. the decision we ended up learning is he did not. it is worth noting mentioning that statement from jeb bush being very nice to mitt romney

calling him a patriot, when you read into mitt romney's comments he gave on the conference call today, a not so subtle swipe at jeb bush where mitt romney was calling for a new generation of republican leaders, people with not the greatest name id talking about a conservative. to me he is making a call for somebody who's name isn't jeb bush. >> i am curious, mark. if you have to pick one reason would you lean more in the category of the reason he doesn't run is because he believed that rather the donors and all defecting that he would not run or because he wouldn't win the 2016 gop nomination? why were people fleeing the camp? >> you know alex there are many different reasons. one of the reasons people were fleeing the mitt romney world to jeb bush world is many of the people worked on past bush campaigns, going back to bush 41 and bush 43's presidential campaign. there were bush people before romney people. that's one important thing to keep in mind. but there was kind of a clear

message from the republican party. many party elders even from former romney supporters saying hey, mitt you had your chance now it is time to go with someone else. i think romney that influenced him. probably the biggest consequence of all, you have mitt romney who would have gone from the republican party presidential nominee in 2012 so with most of the party behind him to somebody who would have less support. he wasn't going to have much support as he did when he was the party's nominee, that had to be calculation as well. >> look at what happened in the last three weeks. all of this started january 9th told a group of former campaign donors in new york he still wanted to be president, made no secret of that. has been acting like a candidate ever since, working the phones and it is most recent public appearance wednesday night at mississippi state university he really attacked the presumed democratic candidate hillary clinton, calling her, quote, clueless. he also said the nation is on

decline under our president, but that it could turn a corner quote, with the right kind of leadership. it sure sounds like he was getting warmed up for the big race. what do you think ultimately happened? >> i think mark's analysis was right. the world was crumbling beneath his feet not necessarily public support, because he was the 2012 nominee, his name id is very high and big. when it comes to folks he needs to actually run for the nomination and get the nomination the money people, the political operatives on the ground in various states needed to win primaries and caucuses they were going elsewhere. so that had to have played into his consideration. and also in his statement, he made a point of saying you know i know i am high up in the polls now, but this would have been a very hard fought race. so i don't think he was -- sort

of had rose colored glasses on thinking he could jump into the race and win. >> do you think david kochel, his defection to his camp saying we believe he will be the campaign manager for jeb bush do you think that was sort of a final straw that that very much wounded him? >> is that for me or mark? i would defer to mark. from everything that i've read that must have been a major factor in his decision to not run. >> mark, you take it. >> yeah. you know the timing is very clear, alex that we end up seeing this move yesterday, and of course a lot of people might end up saying what is one iowa strategist who worked for mitt romney in 2008 and 2012 working for jeb bush in that meaning, but people that followed the last couple presidential campaigns knew there was somebody who -- there were very few people more committed to mitt romney and his presidential efforts than david, and to see

him go and run for jeb bush had to almost make him question well, how many people are going to be there for me as my colleague chuck todd mentioned on the conference call one person that got an invite was someone who the romney campaign sent the invite to was already leaning to be on the jeb bush team and probably many others like that. seeing these things crumble below mitt romney's feet had to make impression. >> going to ask you to give me one name and answer to the question. each of you. whom do you think this benefits more jeb bush scott walker chris christie, or somebody else? mark, you first. >> all of the above, alex. >> pick one! >> immediately, chris christie if there's someone that's going to be able to have more of a room, more space today than yesterday, that name is chris christie. >> you are echoing chuck todd saying it would bring a small opening. jonathan? >> i was going to say chris

christie. i would also throw in scott walker. folks have been giving him more of a look see in the last week. i think with mitt romney out of the way, there's more air for his potential candidacy to breathe. >> gentlemen, thanks so much. let's switch gears, turn to major preparations under way as excitement builds for super bowl xlix with 48 hours to go before kickoff. seat seahawks pete carroll and new england coach bill belichick wrapped up the traditional joint press conference. >> thrilled to have the matchup that we have with a great organization and bill and the way they do things have done so well for so long it presents just as high class a matchup for us as we could expect. everybody is in good shape for us ready to go. fortunately made it through without anybody getting nicked as healthy as we could hope to be at this time of year. so we are ready for it. it is getting close. we can feel it we are ready for game time. >> certainly a huge challenge to

prepare for the seattle seahawks, they're a great football organization have a great team strong in every area you know i think everyone knows how much respective for seattle. with that being said our team is excited. >> as glendale gets ready to host the biggest sporting event, major security precautions are being taken, they expect more than a million visitors to the phoenix area. also under tight security footballs being used for the game with deflate-gate in the headlines, the nfl is laying out how the 108 game balls will be prepared inspected, and guarded. both teams hand over their footballs today. craig melvin is outside phoenix with more on growing excitement ahead of today's game. i don't think the umbrella or rain is dampening anybody's spirits there, right? talk about the security too. >> reporter: not really not at all. although we can tell you that this is only the second or third time it has rained here this

part of arizona in the past two or three months. the security as you mentioned will naturally be tight, every year it is. some 4,000 private security personnel being brought in just for the event. black hawk helicopters started to fly over the university of phoenix stadium behind me to enforce a no fly zone. they also instituted a no drone policy as well. those are a handful of security precautions that will be in place for the big game. as you indicated, this is one of the rare instances in the super bowl where you have the best team record wise from the nfc taking on the best team record wise from the afc, the patriots and seahawks should be a very very good game sunday. >> absolutely. nothing fluke about this. that's for sure. what about the players, craig. any concerns about tom brady's health? >> no. and there's a lot made over the

past few days about tom terrific's cold but anyone who knows tom brady, anyone that followed tom brady or seen him play you know that some sniffles are not going to stop tom brady. we can tell you that he is treating that cold with some sort of garlic concoction that he spent some time talking about yesterday. he is going natural. he is going with a home remedy to treat the cold. he will be fine for sunday, alex. >> no kissing after that garlic concoction. anyway. thank you, craig melvin. you're not touching that. coming up tonight on msnbc, watch special live coverage of super bowl xlix with "hardball" with chris matthews live at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. then the "morning joe" team picks up at 8:00 p.m. live from phoenix. more on breaking news that mitt romney is not running for president in 2016. we are getting in audio from the phone call to a group of supporters. let's take a listen.

>> to volunteer time. welcome and thank you. your loyalty and friendship and desire to see the country with new leadership does in fact warm the heart. after considerable thought of another run for president, i decided it is best to give other leaders of the party the opportunity to become our next nominee. let me tell you some of my thinking. i am convinced with the help of people on this call we could win the nomination and we have more than enough funding to be competitive. the reaction of republican voters across the country was surprising and heartening. i know that early poll numbers moved up and down a great deal in the campaign but we would have no doubt started in strong

position. one poll out today shows me gaining support and leading the next contender two to one. i am convinced we could win the nomination, but i realize it would have been a difficult task and hard fight. i also believe with the message of making the world safer providing opportunity for every american regardless of the neighborhood they look in and looking to break the grip of poverty -- that's before the other contenders have had the opportunity to take their message to the voters. i believe that one of our next generation of republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as i am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the democratic

nominee. in fact i expect and hope that to be the case. i feel that it is critical that america elect a conservative leader to become our next president. you know that i wanted to be that president. but i do not want to make it more difficult for someone else to emerge who may have a better chance at becoming that president. can't imagine how hard it is for ann and me to step aside. the support of so many people around the country. but we believe it is for the best of the party and the nation. i've been asked and will certainly be asked again if there are any circumstances whatsoever that might develop that could change my mind. and seems unlikely. accordingly, i am not organizing a pac or taking donations, i am not hiring a campaign team. i encourage all of you on this

call to stay engaged in the critical process of selecting a republican nominee for president. please feel free to sign up on a campaign for a person who you believe may become our best nominee. i believe republicans winning back the white house is essential for our country, and i'll do whatever i can to make that happen. to all my supporters friends and family who worked tirelessly and loyally to support my campaign in the past and i will always be equally appreciative. what you've already done is contribute to your patriotism, i am overwhelmed and humbled by your loyalty to us by your generosity of spirit, and by your friendship. god bless you all. and god bless our great country. bye-bye. >> a gracious thank you there from mitt romney to his donors and supporters throughout the years, those that were contemplating staying with him should he decide to run for the

presidency. he announced at the top of the call he decided it is best to give other leaders in the party to become the next nominee. made three good points as to why he thought he could win it. then in what may not be a thinly veiled anything other than thinly veiled jab at jeb bush saying the next generation of republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as i am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the democratic nominee. and that many interpret as a slap against jeb bush. we will be right back, everyone. that. well, did you know that playing cards with kenny rogers gets old pretty fast? ♪ you got to know when to hold'em. ♪ ♪ know when to fold 'em. ♪ ♪ know when to walk away. ♪ ♪ know when to run. ♪ ♪ you never count your money, ♪ ♪ when you're sitting at the ta...♪ what? you get it?

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the arrest the notorious hip hop mogul, charged with murder after turning himself in overnight in connection with the deadly hit-and-run in los angeles. authorities claim he plowed into a group of people in compton

thursday afternoon shortly after an argument ensued. his truck was found hours later in a empty parking lot. he says he was being attacked by two men and fled to escape. pretty tense moments on board a delta flight forced to make an emergency landing in vegas after the pilot was locked out of the cockpit. the first officer was forced to land the plane after the cockpit lock malfunctioned. the passengers notified of the incident broke out into applause when the first officer made a perfect landing. and saturday night live is set to welcome back one of its biggest stars after three decades, eddie murphy is returning for the 40th anniversary special on february 14th. he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984 and it launched his career. well forget the super bowl for some people it's all about the commercials. each spot costs more than $4 million for 30 seconds of air time. and each year you have to be better than the last. that's budweiser's plan releasing another heart tugging

ad. the puppy gets lost and finds its way home and helped by it's buddy when confronted by a big bad wolf. [ barking ] ♪ i would walk 500 miles ♪ and i would walk 500 more ♪ ♪ just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door ♪ >> with me now is tony case executive editor of ad week. what commercial you and i were talking about -- >> when all else fails, a puppy. >> let's talk about how much money and the worth of it $4 million. does this one get its money back? >> this is for the 30 seconds of air time. there's many millions more that

go into producing these ads, so obviously and this is become we're here talking about it today and talking about it all week, advertisers had been re rerealizing for a few years and maximize the investment. >> this ad has been viewed 12 million times on youtube and the super bowl hasn't even happened. >> is that the norm then these teasers? >> absolutely. >> that's the future of it. let's take a look at snickers because that released a full ad after the teaser got more than 2 million hits. here's that. >> marsha what happened? >> peter hit me in the nose with a football. i can't go to the dance like this. >> i'm sure it was an accident sweetheart. >> eye for eye, what dad always says. >> i never said that honey. >> shut up. >> marsha eat a snickers. >> why? >> you get a little hostile when you're hungry. better? >> better. >> that's a fun ad for those who know the brady bunch back in the day.

but do you think this was helped a lot about being a teaser? >> absolutely. this is one of my favorites by the way. there's a lot of nostalgia this year and a lot of celebrities and it's sort of a kinder gentler super bowl in terms of the creative because of the nfl scandal. and so the ads that -- seem to be for the most part finding the right tone the ones that are setting out to be funny are actually funny. >> what about the new comers this year? which stand out to you? skittles and weight watchers and mofi the cell phone chargers have a big budget ad which is absolutely incredible. it's like watching a movie. >> it is. interestingly though you talk about puppies as being a winning combination except forgo daddy. what happened there? >> well as most people know now

because many people who have seen no super bowl ads who haven't seen anything they've at least seen this one. it was just really a miss on the part of go daddy and its agency. i mean if you're going to try to be funny, animal abuse is an area to stay away sfr. >> avoid. tony case one of my favorite segments every year. it's fun to speak with you. >> thanks alex. >> that does it for this edition of "news nation." up next "andrea mitchell reports" with much more on the breaking news that mitt romney is not running for president.

we're in seattle to see which 100 calorie black cherry greek yogurt tastes best. definitely that one. that one's delicious. it's yoplait! what? i love yoplait! the other one is chobani. really. i like this one better. yoplait wins again! take the taste-off for yourself. right now on quts"andrea mitchell reports" third time is not the charm. last hour mitt romney told key donors and supporters he will not run for president in 2016. >> after putting considerable thought into making another run

for president, i've decided it's best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee. >> coming up here, chuck todd on what it means for the crowded republican field. anger and anguish. the fate of two isis hostages still unknown a day after the deadline passed to exchange the jordanian pilot and japanese journalist for a would be suicide bomber on jordan's death row. we'll have a live report from bill neely in amman, super friday, only 48 hours to go. today the nfl has added security, not for the fans but for the 108 official game balls. what about that halftime show? >> i don't think i'm so much of an expert on the game of football but i think i can assure everyone in here