e pictures from livingston high school. that is in the great state of new jersey where minutes from now governor chris christie will formally announce that he in fact, is running for president, becoming, if you're counting the 14th candidate in the gop field. mr. christie confirmed that he is running in a conference call with donors just this morning. the kickoff event at christie's old high school will look like a town hall we're told and in keeping with the governor's new campaign slogan telling it like it is governor christie will apparently speak off the cuff. he's not going to have a prepared speech. but questions remain about christie's brash personal style and his policies. the man who was once considered a gop front-runner is now facing an uphill battle even in his home state. take a look at your screen with these numbers. just 30% of new jersey voters approve of the job he is doing. according to a new poll that is down from a high of 80% in 2012. joining me now from livingston high school in jersey is msnbc's

kelly o'donnell, also with me john piric, and bob engle, senior political columnist, and he's also author of "chris christie the in star rise to power." a lot is being made that chris christie will speak off the cuff having this kind of town hall feel. we know that's his strategy the guy he wants to present to the country. >> reporter: he is going to try to talk about his story and introduce the country to the chris christie that livingston new jersey knew first. so expect some of the biography, expect some of the family nostalgia, expect some of the stories that are familiar to those of us who have traveled around the country with him, but maybe less familiar to a wider audience today. trying to define the influences that developed that big personality that has become the brash political figure that some people like and some people don't. so by using his skills to speak

more ex temp raintemporaneously in a broad field. how do you stand out? part of it is making the best of that big personality, which as we talked about, doesn't always win him friends. talking to senior advisers they described the poll in new jersey this way. get ready for the spin. because new jersey is predominantly more democratic and as christie drew closer to this day of announcing he would run for president, the democrats would feel less comfortable supporting him, a because as one adviser said he's putting the red jacket on today, being a republican. so expect him to talk about who he is and embracing that personality with the thought that you can hop from here in new jersey tamron to new hampshire where that more up front style is often reward bided

by voters. that's what we'll have to see. >> let's start with the team numbers in this explanation. he's putting on his red jacket. that elected him at one point with the same red jacket. he was at 80% and now he's down to 30 i believe. so what's happened here? >> he couldn't be elected dog catcher if he ran now in new jersey. one of the things that new jersey people don't like is he's never in new jersey. after he makes the big announcement today, he's off to new hampshire for five days because he's put all his eggs in the new hampshire basket and people think they elected a full-time governor and they want to have a full-time governor. >> so this has nothing to do with his policies? because in the end, then if the theory is they are sad to see him leave, which is what chris christie said then the rest of the nation would benefit. >> i think he's joking actually, when he said that. i think it's the first thing off the top of his head but you can say absurd things and make it look like he's being serious.

the state is in bad shape any way you look at it and people of new jersey aren't happy about that, either. >> it's interesting, he can say absurd things and treat them seriously, but the people of his own state doesn't know what absurdity they are. the university poll last month showed 66% of his fellow citizens felt he didn't have the temperament to be president of the united states 59%. >> i know there was huge backlash when people brought this up about senator mccain when he ran. we're not necessarily looking for the nicest guy, nicest person or nicest woman, we have two genders running in this case. you can take what's happening with the economic recovery and take it further or some issues we have from education on to even where he stands on the core curriculum. >> you're raising a very important point. if he's not going to be able to run on temperament and

personality, the country is moving forward economically so that takes an argument away and the theme of telling it like it is driving all his positions to compete nationally that doesn't tell a lot, either. >> bob, let's talk about some of what people see, or certainly inconsistencies that he will need to acknowledge and clear up. climate change? >> he was for the corporate world before he was against it. >> immigration reform. >> immigration, and he would talk in new jersey about having to cut the funding for women's health clinics, and he said it was because of the money. then he would go out on the road and say, well i cut planned parenthood funds. so he can take both sides of the same story depending on where he's talking. >> john let me bring you in this conversation. as we mentioned, this is the 14th candidate in the gop field. can he have kelly o'donnell said something

very interesting, that some of these candidates want to make the best of their big personalities. we're going to talk about donald trump here in a second but the idea this may boil down in some of these debates, who has the quickest lines, who has the smackdown that may go viral, how concerned are you that policy gets lost in all of this personality talk? >> i like chris christie's big personality. i think it plays well with republican base voters. i think he's going to talk about big issues which i think need to be discussed. things like entitlement reform. i think chris christie has got a problem, obviously, with his track record in new jersey but he has the right issues in his matrix that need to be raised at the debate. i hope he makes the debate stage because i think he can talk about these things in a very articulate fashion in a way that is compelling to voters and i think it's really important for him to be on that stage. >> let's talk about immigration reform. how is he compelling and how does he break through the noise when it is not very clear where, i think, he stands here. i just want to point out to our

audience this is sheila goldklein. she is head of the board of education. she will introduce governor christie and his family. go ahead. >> he needs to talk about his ability to attract hispanic voters which he did in his reelection campaign and i thinkbraceabshlgs -- abrasive immigration reform. >> you said he's attracted to the base. if he starts pitching an immigration reform and some of that base is amnesty, how attractive is that? >> he's got to be able to like jeb bush and marco rubio, he's got to be able to thread that needle. >> he's not threading that needle well with your base. let's be clear on that. >> well listen i think he's attractive in his style on the base. i think the immigration reform

are attractive to some elements of the base. other parts of the party, they want immigration reform. if you look at the polls, republicans do want immigration reform. they know the system is broken. >> john, once you leave new hampshire, the next 25 contacts are very heavily weighted against southern liberal states. so the very strategy you're suggesting may work for him in new hampshire where there is a more libertarian, economically conservative state. but that rationale alienates him from the rest of the party, i think. >> it's going to be a very interesting contest because you have jeb bush going for those very same voters. we have to have the ability to not only win the primary but the general election. i think chris christie can help with that debate and shift it back towards the middle where we need that debate. >> i think we have that new hampshire poll, and if we do we

can put it up because it highlights some of the conversation that jeb bush is leading in that poll and second is donald trump in that latest poll there. at the cutoff mark i don't recall because i don't think we have it here with us this is the poll. you've got jeb bush donald trump, rand paul scott walker carly fiorina, and page two, smr is -- somewhere is chris christie. >> tamron, if chris christie could do one thing for me in this entire race is take out donald trump, who is a disaster for this party. >> we'll talk about that shortly, but right now donald trump in that new hampshire poll, they don't want him taken out. >> i understand that and i think he's a fundamental problem for us. also, these polls are usually done on personality and who people have heard of. the polls are very fixable at

this juncture. >> we go back to that word personality. let me play a montage of what has been referred to as some of the chris christie's biggest hits greatest hits. let's play that. >> did i stay on topic? are you stupid? on topic, on topic. next question. thank you all very much and i'm sorry for the idiot over there. it's people who raise their voices and yell and scream like you that are dividing this country. we're here to bring this country together, not to divide it. [ cheers and applause ] >> if she wants to get on a plane and come here to new jersey and ask me if she wants to examine me and review my medical history, i'll have a conversation with her about that. until that time she should shut up. you want to have the conversation later, i'm happy to have it, buddy. until that time sit down and shut up. [ cheers and applause ] >> so, john i think all he needed to say was "you're fired" and he might have sounded like your favorite guy donald trump. >> he's not mr. congeniality.

that's very appealing to some people and very unappealing to other people and i think that's chris christie's biggest problem. how can he be a big personality without being a big turnoff? i think that's something we haven't answered yet. >> i don't want to get too stuck in the ground on this personality issue. i do think it is about policy and where chris christie will stand. and we've not heard, quite honestly, a lot of that. he's going to go off the cuff. his campaign slogan is "telling it like it is" which again to me goes back to this same song about being this brash guy. what are you telling the voter what it is? what are we talking about? what's his stance on what's happening right now in greece and the global impact it's having on the markets? isis. what are we going to do about the crisis in syria? when will we get these answers and some of this from chris christie and these other big personality characters on the list of 14? >> we're still waiting in new

jersey and he's been in office for six years. this is his mode us.o. this is his show and this is what he does. you don't get a lot of depth. >> this is lynn groene a former classmate of governor christie at livingston high school and delaware university. kelly o'donnell? >> reporter: well, tamron one of the points i wanted to add to what you're saying is on the policy issue. christie has been traveling the country. he's done about four major policy speeches so far where he did use the teleprompter, where he did lay out his views. he'll touch on a little bit of that today as part of his vision for the country. but this will be a shorter address, and when we talk about it being off the cuff he has a prepared outline, he just won't be using a page-by-page reading along kind of method. i'm told he'll do additional topics as he travels on the road. so far he's talked about foreign policy, he's talked about

education reform economic growth, and he will get into some of those ideas today, but today isn't about the super in-depth sort of thing. so style is a big part of it but the policy ideas are there, too. what he will try to talk about is being a conservative in a blue state, which has been part of your conversation so far. how will that play? in the republican nominating process, new jersey is not the factor that he's going for. he sure needed new jersey voters to get him over 60% when he was reelected, but he's really trying to communicate to those persuadable republicans in early states like new hampshire, but also places like nevada. not likely to do well in iowa. that's going to be tough. but he's trying to sort of appeal in a new way to voters who maybe haven't been paying attention to it. >> to that point, though kelly, as you mentioned, he's given a series of marriage speeches. what was -- major speeches. what was the headline from his foreign policy speech? >> he believes in going stronger

than our current president. he was pretty tough on president obama, and he was also very tough on a figure like rand paul of the republican party, believing there has to be a bit more of the reagan style of strength and that kind of thing. he's been studying with foreign policy advisers who come more from the reagan book if you will and he believes in foreign policy from those points. he believes there is weakness on different targets, with iran with syria, with dealing with isis. that's just a taste of it. but he's got to formulate these policies and he's got to lay them out and then defend them. >> kelly, not to continue to make this comparison with donald trump, but exactly what you laid out as the headline for governor christie, the exact line we're hearing from donald trump, that the current president is not tough, that he's going to bring stronger words and the united states is in a weakened position. here's governor christie a seasoned politician basically

from what you said using the same rhetoric as a tv star who is no longer now on tv. >> reporter: well i think you'll also see jeb bush would accuse the president of not being strong enough. it is within the mainstream of the republican party where i think you find chris christie's foreign policy views are more in line with establishment republicans. he'll break away from a rand paul, but i hear the applause so i want to be mindful. i believe he's entering the room here. so that's something he's going to have to lay out and defend in the weeks to come. but today is most about introducing himself, describing his leadership style and the vision he will have for the country, and it's going to be a day of rapt in jersey glory from the music that's being played and the hometown vibe. and people will judge for themselves if they like what they see. >> as kelly pointed out, in jersey glory, bob jindal in

louisiana unpopular about the states they want to have glory in. >> i think the current governor is the only one who has high approval ratings. scott walker is facing the same problem, jindal and chris christie. >> but the difference here john, is that governor christie stands with donald trump in terms of most unfavorable of republicans. that's a serious issue. in fact, one poll recently out just showed that 55% of republicans said they would never consider supporting him for president. >> i think that bridgegate really hurt chris christie. >> let's listen in. i'm sorry to interrupt you. let's listen in to governor christie. >> thank you jersey. thank you. and thank you, thank you to livingston. you know, lots of people have asked me over the course of the last week why here. why here. because everything started here

for me. everything started here for me. the confidence the education, the friends, the family and the love that i've always felt for and from this community. when i decided to make this announcement, there wasn't any choice. i had to come home and livingston is home for me. [ cheers and applause ] >> and i want to thank sheila goldklein, a dear friend of my mom's and a wonderful representative of this town for welcoming us here today. and i want to thank my friend lynn groene. listen some of you may be confused. it may be that you thought she was being booed by her high school classmates. she was not. for reasons that i will not

explain, lynn's nickname in high school was the juice. hence, it's not a boo. it's the juice. and lynn thank you for being here. i'm also here because this is where my family raised me. you'll hear a lot and have heard a lot from me about my mother and father. all of us know that for good and for bad, where we come from is from our parents, and so you heard sheila and lynn both talk about my mom today. i'm here in livingston because all those years ago, my mother and father became the first of either of their families to lead the -- leave the city of newark and come here and make this home for us. my mom isn't here with us today, but i feel her, and my dad is here with me today, and i'm really, really privileged to have him.

[ cheers and applause ] >> they raised my brother and i, brought us here to livingston when we were four years old and two years old, and then our sister dawn joined us a few years later. and this is where we grew up. these are the fields we played on, these are the playgrounds we played on this is the school we built our friends with and came and learned with and up until i left to share a room with mary pat, i shared a room with todd the entire time. it was a smooth transition. and my sister dawn and todd are as big a part of today as anybody else and they're both here and i love them both. thank you.

everyone thinks i'm the politician in the family. we did a coin flip when we got married. i called tails. tails never fail so i'm the guy who ran, but the politician just as good as me in the family is the woman i met all those years ago at the university of delaware from a family of 10 people. people say, why aren't you shy in a crowd? i said, you should see the family i married into. my wife has been an indispensable part of everything that i've done with my life over the last 30 years, and she is largely responsible for the four amazing people that you see standing with her. [ cheers and applause ] >> ever since i've been governor, i've been happy to use the veto at home, too, and so far, so good.

i have not been overridden there, either so i'm glad they're here today, and for andrew and sarah and patrick and bridget, i couldn't be prouder of four children than i am of them. [ cheers and applause ] >> i told you my parents moved to livingston, and they moved to livingston to make this part of their fulfillment of their dream, of their version of the american dream. they both lost their fathers at a young age and were raised by extraordinarily strong women under really difficult circumstances. my dad, one of the best students in his high school class, admitted to columbia university because his father passed away he couldn't go. they didn't have the money.

he went to work and got drafted in the army and came home. and went to work at the breyer's ice cream plant in newark new jersey. and then decided after he met my mom that it was time for him to make more with his life and he went to school at night at rutgers for six years while working at those jobs during the day to get his degree in accounting, and my mother one of the proudest pictures that she ever had was the one she called our first family picture. it was my mom and dad on the day he graduated from rutgers in june of 1962 the first person in either of their families ever to get a college degree and it was the first family picture because she was six months pregnant with me. and the smiles on both their faces that day were indicative of what -- not what they had accomplished, but what they saw coming ahead of them. their smiles were about the fact

that they thought that nothing was out of reach for them now. they had each other, they were building a family they worked together, and then with the help of both of those strong women, they gave them $5,000 each probably all the money they had in the world, to put a down payment on a house in this town to give their children a chance to take the dream they had started to build and to make it even bigger and even better. so i not only think about my mom and dad today, i think about my two grandmothers women who raised children largely on their own, women who knew how to work hard and knew that that hard work would deliver something for their children. and i know that both of them are watching now today and that part of today is a fulfillment of their dream, too. i'm thinking about both of them. [ cheers and applause ]

>> one of the things my mother always used to say all the time to me was, christopher, if you work hard enough you can be anything. she said god's given you so many gifts if you just work hard enough you can be anything. and that story is proof. it's proof. parents who came from nearly nothing, except for that hard work. parents who brought little to their marriage except for their love for each other and that hard work. that hard work not only produced a great life for me and my brother and sister but think about how amazing this country is that one generation removed from the guy who was working on the floor of the plant, of the breyer's ice cream plant, his son is the two-term governor of the state where he was born and raised. [ cheers and applause ]

>> see, that's not only what my parents have done for me but that's what new jersey has done for us. see, this place, this place that represents the most ethnically diverse state in the country, the most densely populated state in the country, we're all different and we're all on top of each other like you're on top of each other in this gym. and what has come from that what has come from that is the absolute belief that not only can all of us achieve the dream we want to achieve because of the place we live and the opportunities it gives us but that we can not only do it together but we have to do it together. we have no choice but to work together. this country needs to work together again, not against each other! [ cheers and applause ]

>> when i became governor six years ago, we had a state that was in economic calamity and an $11 billion deficit on a $20 billion budget and a state that was erased 16 times before i became governor a state that didn't think anyone could make a difference in the lives of this state. we've balanced the budget six times in a row. we've refused to raise taxes on people in this state for six years -- [ cheers and applause ] >> -- we made the hard decisions that had to be made to improve our education system. we reformed tenure for the first time in 105 years. we made the difficult decisions to reform pensions and health

benefits and continue that fight today. we have stood together against each and every person every cynic who said why are you wasting your time? this state is not governable. the last six years we proved not only can you govern this state, you can lead it to a better day, and that's what we've done together. [ cheers and applause ] >> and now we face a country that's not angry. when i hear the media say that our country is angry, i know they're wrong. last year i went to 37 different states across this country in one year. i met people in every corner of america. and they are not angry. americans are not angry. americans are filled with anxiety. they are filled with anxiety because they look to washington d.c. and they see a government that not only doesn't work anymore, it doesn't even talk to each other anymore. it doesn't even try to pretend to work anymore. we have a president in the oval

office who ignores the congress and a congress that ignores the president. we need a government in washington, d.c. that remembers, you went there to work for us not the other way around. [ cheers and applause ] [ chanting ] >> and both parties have failed our country. both parties have stood in the corner and held their breath and waited to get their own way. both parties have led us to believe that in america, in a country that was built on compromise that somehow now compromise is a dirty word. if washington and adams and jefferson believe compromise is a dirty word we would still be under the crown of england. [ cheers and applause ] >> and this dysfunction, this lack of leadership has led to

an economy that's weak and hasn't recovered the way it should. it's led to an educational system that has it 27th in industrial math and 24th in science. it's led to weak leadership around the world where our frinds friends can no longer trust us and our adversaries no longer fear us. it's sent a wave of anxiety through our country. but i'm here today to tell you that anxiety can be swept away by strong leadership and decisiveness to lead america again! [ cheers and applause ] >> we just need to have the courage to choose. we just need to have the courage to stand up and say, enough. we need to have the courage to course a new path for america. america knows that new path it

knows where we need to go it must start with this. we must tell each other the truth about the problems we have and the difficulty of the solutions, but if we tell each other the truth, everybody, we recognize that truth and hard decisions today will lead to growth and opportunity tomorrow for every american in this country. [ cheers and applause ] >> what are those truths? what are those truths? those truths are that we have to acknowledge our government isn't working anymore for us. we have to acknowledge that and say it out loud and we have to acknowledge it the's the fault of our bickering leaders in washington, d.c. who no longer listen to us and no longer know they're supposed to be serving us. we need to acknowledge that all of that anxiety and those failures are not the end, they're the beginning. the beginning of what we can do together. what we need to decide is that

we can make a difference. that we can stand up and make a difference in this country. you see, that's why i love the job i have. that's why i love my job as governor, because kids ask me all the time the fourth graders who come to the state house every week they ask me -- the two questions that are always asked: one, what is your favorite color? always. second, they always ask me what is the best part of your job? and i always tell them i wake up every morning knowing that i have an opportunity to do something great. i don't do something great every day, i'm human. but every morning i wake up with an opportunity to do something great. that's why this job is a great job, and that's why president of the united states is an even greater job for a greater number

of people. [ cheers and applause ] >> i have spent the last 13 years of my life as u.s. attorney and governor of this state fighting for fairness and justice and opportunity for the people of the state of new jersey. that fight has not made me more weary, it has made me stronger and i am now ready to fight for the people of the united states of america! [ cheers and applause ] >> america is tired of hand wringing and indecisiveness and weakness in the oval office. we need to have strength and decision making and authority back in the oval office and that is why today i am proud to announce my candidacy for the republican nomination for president of the united states of america! [ cheers and applause ]

>> and now as livingston and new jersey turns its gaze to the rest of america today, what do we see and what do we have to confront? we need a campaign of big ideas and hard truths and real opportunity for the american people. we need to fix a broken entitlement system that is bankrupting our country. we have candidates who have said, we can't confront this because if we do we'll be lying and stealing from the american people. let me fill everybody else in. the lying and stealing has already happened. the horse is out of the barn. we got to get it back in and we can only do it by force.

[ cheers and applause ] >> we need to get our economy growing again at 4% or greater, and the reason we do is we have to make this once again the country my mother and father told me it was. that as hard as you work that's as hard and as high as you'll rise. that's not the case anymore. we can't honestly look at our children and say that to them, because we have an kbhe that is weak and doesn't present them with the same opportunities that mary pat and i were presented with in the mid 1980s when we graduated from college. when we graduated from college, we didn't worry about getting a job. we worried about picking which job was the best for us. we didn't worry about whether we were going to be successful. we knew if we worked hard we were going to be successful. this country and its leadership owes the same thing to my children and yours and i'm ready to give it to you. [ cheers and applause ]

>> we need a tax system that's simplified and will put cpnot put cpas like my dad out of business. we need to put businesses back into regulation and we need to encourage businesses to invest in america again, not overseas invest in our country, in our people. [ cheers and applause ] >> and in a world that is as dangerous, as frightening as any time i've seen it in my lifetime there is only one indispensable force for good in the world, and it is a strong unequivocal america that will lead the world and not be afraid to tell our friends we'll be with you no matter what and to tell our adversaries there are limits to your conduct and america will enforce the limits

to that conduct! [ cheers and applause ] here it comes. after seven years i heard the president of the united states say the other day that the world respects america more because of his leadership. this convinces me it is the final confirmation that president obama lives in his own world, not in our world. and the fact is this: after seven years of a weak and feckless foreign policy run by barack obama we better not turn it over to his second mate hillary clinton! [ cheers and applause ]

>> in the end, in the end, everybody, leadership matters. it matters for our country, and american leadership matters for the world. but if we're going to lead we have to stop worrying about being loved and start caring about being respected again both at home and around the world. i am not running for president of the united states as a surrogate for being elected prom king of america. i am not looking to be the most popular guy who looks in your eyes every day and tries to figure out what you want to hear say it and then turn around and do something else. when i stand up on a stage like this in front of all of you, there is one thing you will know for sure. i mean what i say and i say what i mean and that's what america needs right now.

[ cheers and applause ] >> and unlike some people who offer themselves for the presidency in 2016 you're not going to have to wonder whether i can do it or not. in new jersey as governor i've stood up against economic calamity and unprecedented natural disaster. we have brought ourselves together. we have pushed back that economic calamity and we are recovering from that natural disaster, and that's because we've led and worked together to do it. as governor i've proven that you can stand up and fight the most powerful special interest this state has to have stand up and stop them but at the same time reach across our aisle to our

friends in the democratic party and say, if you have a good idea, i'm willing to work with you because that's what our country needs. [ applause ] >> and as governor, i've never waifrd waivered from telling you the truth as i see it and then acting to make sure that you know that is the truth as i believe it in my heart. you know as a candidate for president, i want to promise you just a few things. first, a campaign without spin or without pandering or focus group tested answers. you're going to get what i think whether you like it or not or whether it makes you cringe every once in a while or not. a campaign when i'm asked a question, i'm going to give the answer to the question that's asked, not the answer that my political consultants told me to give backstage.

a campaign that every day will not worry about what is popular but what is right, because what is right is what will fix america, not what's popular. [ cheers and applause ] >> a campaign that believes. that believes in an america that is as great as the hopes and dreams that we want every one of our children to have. not a campaign that tears people down, but a campaign that rebuilds america to the place where you and i grew up and where we want our children to grow up in again, and where we want free people around the world to grow up in in their countries as well. that's what america has always stood for and that's what this campaign will stand for. [ cheers and applause ]

>> all the signs say tell it like it is but there's a reason for that. we are going to tell it like it is today so that we can create greater opportunity for every american tomorrow. the truth will set us free everybody. [ cheers and applause ] >> all the years, all 52 years that i've spent in this state with our people have prepared me for this moment. we have no idea where and how this journey will end, but we know that it's only in this country, only in america, where someone like me could have the opportunity to seek the highest office the world has to offer. only in america could all of you

believe that your voices and your efforts can make a difference to change a country as big and vast and powerful as this one. only in america, only in america have we seen time after time after time the truth of the words that one person can make a difference. you see, the reason that's true is because it's the only thing that's ever made a difference in the history of the world, one person reaching out to another to change their circumstance and to improve the lot of their children and grandchildren. i don't seek the presidency for any other reason than because i believe in my heart that i am ready to work with you, to restore america to its right ful

place place in the world and to restore the american dream to each one of our children whether they live in livingston or mendum newark or camden patterson or jersey city. no matter where they live across this country, we need to make sure that every one of those children believes that they have a president who not only speaks to them, but who hears them. who hears them and understands that their voices that their voices, is what makes any american president great. if you give me the privilege to be your president, i will wake up every day, not only with my heart strong and my mind sharp, but with my ears open and my arms open to welcome the american people no matter what party, no matter what race or creed or color, to make sure that you know that this is your

country, too. we are going to go and win this election, and i love each and every one of you. thank you very much! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> a very fiery speech in livingston new jersey as the governor of new jersey chris christie, makes it official he is now the 14th candidate running for presidency seeking that gop nomination. i have with me republican strategist john thierry, political editor mark murray. i think people from social media feel that chris christie had that passion, that tell it like it is spirit that he definitely wants to convey, saying that he is willing to tell the truth as he sees it and not look to focus groups and some of the spin from politicians. he also pointed out, mark that he blames both parties for the failures in this country. with that said his follow-up is what i'm most intrigued about.

his first interview when he's asked about some of the economic issues in his state, will he be able to hold true to that tell it like it is spirit? >> tamron he's an impressive politician particularly when you actually look from the oratory, and what you see there is not something you'll see a lot of other politicians are able to do. in a way i'm reminded from the movie "major league," if you throw a fastball down the middle, the guy can hit it 500 feet for big runs. the problem is when he starts throwing curve balls, he's not able to hit it and that is christie's limitation here. he's a popular speaker, he's great at town hall forum, but he has so many other problems on his plate, whether it's the credit in his state, the bridgegate controversy, and also the idealism problems he had with the republican party. those are big challenges. he's making a huge bet saying i'm just going to camp out in new hampshire and do town hall

after town hall but that's going to be an incredible task for him. >> let's go through the list of some of the challenges mark pointed out. it's one thing to focus in on this great speech and we know many politicians have these oratory skills as pointed out by mark murray. but when mr. christie sits down and he's pushed by some of the differences he has with his party and just starting with the credit downgrade of his state, and he says he's traveled to 37 states, people aren't angry, they have anxiety about the economic future. when he has to explain his state's anxiety, what does he say? who does he blame? >> well first of all tamron that was a hell of a speech. we have to give credit where credit is due. no other candidate on either side of the aisle can give that speech. as you pointed out, though it's not just about one speech it's about trying to have a track record of success. and also kind of get beyond controversies. i think that's chris christie's biggest problem.

he can give this speech but as governor has he been able to translate that speech into real action back home and a lot of mixed results there. and i think that -- >> mark murray if you're advising him, how would he answer the credit downgrade of new jersey when he says for example, i've talked to folks who have anxiety around the country and they are worried. governor, what happened in your state? >> he won't listen to me because i'm a pundit and an insider, but first of all, i would blame washington because this is a huge problem for any state as governor. and also blame democrats because they wouldn't work with you. if you want to give that speech, you have to point to results, and i think that's his biggest downfall. >> he did squarely point the blame at both parties, saying they have failed this country on both sides of the aisle. >> you know he can point his finger and blame both parties if he wants to he can blame washington if he wants to but when you're running for president, it comes down to your

personality credibility. he can give a speech saying he's going to bring economic growth back to our country when his own country ranks 44th in the union in economic group. when he talks about his electability and he runs lowest out of all the candidates. if i were him, i would avoid using the word anger, because it doesn't hit how he's going to run our country with his diatribes he's engaged in. if you don't have credibility, if you don't have a candidacy, i don't see how he moves beyond new hampshire just because of the state of the republican party today. when he talked about telling it like it is he might want to begin by taking on donald trump for his racist behavior his racist rhetoric or taking on other republicans for engaging in lgbt dog gery.

>> i think it plays in places like michigan i think it plays in places like iowa -- >> he's not going to iowa. he's going to new hampshire. >> it's not just new hampshire where this will play. i think it actually goes beyond new hampshire. the problem for him, though it's a very crowded field. there have been people in it with a lot more money. he also has a track record that his opponents will point to. it was a hell of a speech but he's still got some fundamental problems. >> let me bring in mark to talk about the money here. mark, early on at the height of the bridgegate scandal, it was said many of the potential donors who were interested in christie were looking to jeb bush and maybe even scott walker. but his big donor here the billionaire home depot founder, ken landau has said that he won't write a $10 million check, but the quote s iis, i will go out and get a lot of people to write checks and hopefully result in a hell of a lot more than $10

million. that's what he's saying now about his support for chris christie. at least one of the big donors that mr. christie would need is still on board after this bridgegate scandal. so bridgegate scandal. mark, is that scandal behind chris christie? is that something that maybe people in the northeast corridor talk about but outside of this area is that a dead issue, as he reintroduces himself to people for the first time? >> the problem that bridgegate presents tamron is when he talks about i always try to be a bipartisan governor, i want to bring democrats and republicans together that the central complaint and the central charge in that entire scandal was he was punishing a town because its mayor ended up was not going to endorse chris christieernatorial re-election in 2013. that was the motivation behind the bridgegate lane closures. so that's very tough. when you talk about the money though if we learned anything

in 2012 it was that some candidates like a rick santorum like newt beginning xwrich, you can stick around for a while and not raise a whole lot of money. it does stams a only take one or two super pac sugar daddy or one big donor to keep you in the game for a while. there is a situation where you have so many different republicans well financing this field. i think he can be able to have a campaign strategy with his money to stay through new hampshire. the question is what if he only finishes in thoirdird or fourth place in new hampshire? >> i know that chris christie is giving matt lauer an interview that will air on "nightly news" as well as the "today" show. thank you for being on the ground in new jersey. bones you. guess what: your insurance company will only give you 37-thousand to replace it. "depreciation" they claim. "how can my car depreciate before it's first oil change?" you ask.

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we are back with breaking news on the deadline for the iran nuclear talks. nbc news chief foreign affairs

correspondent andrea mitchell reports the deadline in reaching a deal with iran has now been extended until next tuesday. that is july 7th. negotiators who include secretary of state john kerry and his counterpart from iran had been racing against a deadline of midnight tonight but officials began warning yesterday the deadline would be missed. britain, france germany, russia, and china are also involved in the talks, taking place in vienna. also developing now, more fallout after the escape of convicted murders richard matt and david sweat. nbc news has learned several employees and top officials at clinton correctional facility that's in upstate new york including the superintendent have been placed on leave. this comes as investigators are learning more about the escape from david sweat himself. according to new york governor andrew cuomo, sweat revealed he and matt originally planned to go to mexico but headed towards canada when joyce mitchell did not show up. the governor says they also planned to kill mitchell's

husband. david sweat is still recovering in an albany hospital. his condition has improved from critical to serious. a couple of story we needed to update you on. that does it for this edition of "newsnation." i'm tamron hall. up next chris matthews hosts "andrea mitchell reports." american express for travel and entertainment worldwide. just show them this - the american express card. don't leave home without it! and someday, i may even use it on the moon. it's a marvelous thing! oh! haha! so you can replace plane tickets,

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where were we? 13 serving 14! service! if your boss stops by, you act like you're working. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," we're following breaking news on several big stories this hour. moments ago chris christie became p 14th republican to announce a run for president in 2016. speaking without a script in his old high school gym the new jersey governor promised to tell it like it is. but will voters listen? in vienna it's deadline day. andrea mitchell will join us shortly from vienna with the latest as iran nuclear talks are set to go into overtime. back here in washington we're watching the eastern right now, there you see it at the white house this hour where president obama will hold a news

conference with brazil's president. we will bring that to you live. there they are together this morning. good day. i'm chris matthews in washington. andrea is going to be joining us in a minute from the iranian nuclear talks in vienna. let's start here at home with chris christie's presidential bid. >> america is tired of indecisiveness and weakness in the oval office. we need to have strength and decision making and authority back in the oval office. and that is why today i am proud to announce my candidacy for the republican nomination for president of the united states of america. >> joining us right now is msnbc political correspondent kasie hunt and in new jersey political analyst and former rnc chair michael steele here in washington, and msnbc political analyst ed rendell, former pennsylvania governor. let me ask you now, kasie, gave us a sense, who are those people in that gym?