there's no sugar coating it. the website has been too slow. people have been getting stuck during the application process. and i think it's fair to say that nobody's more frustrated by that than i am. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," damage control with the health care website in critical condition, president obama vows to fix the technical problems and defends the health care law. white house communications director jennifer palmeri joins us on the latest efforts to fix the glitches. family feud. ted cruz isn't backing down from his defund obama care strategy. but the latest shutdown battle has some leading republicans outside of washington preaching patience. >> i think republicans need to just take a step back and allow -- show a little self-restraint and let this happen a little more organically. >> and change of heart? chris christie ends his standoff

with the new jersey supreme court over same-sex marriage. we'll talk with the top lawyer at the human rights campaign about the key battleground states in this fight as new jersey becomes the 14th state to recognize gay marriage. a very good monday to you. i'm kristen welker in washington today for andrea mitchell. for the first time since its launch, president barack obama formally addressed the rocky roll-out of his health care website today. take a look. >> nobody is madder than me about the fact the website isn't working as well as it should. which means it's going to get fixed. >> joining me now from the white house, jennifer palmieri, white house communications director. thanks for joining me this afternoon, jen.

>> happy to be with you. >> so, jen, i want to start off, according to "the new york times," some federal contractors who have been enlisted to help fix the president's health care website believe it could take weeks or even longer to fix the problems. you heard what the president said there. he has said he's going to fix it, but will this actually take weeks? >> well, we're going to stay at it until it's actually fixed, as you heard the president say today. and i saw some anonymous contractors appearing in stories, but you know, our view is that we're making progress every day. we're going to stay at it. we added some more technical experts, a tech surge is what they are calling to help advise them on the best ways to deal with the problem. but we'll stay at it until it gets done. and in the meantime, as you saw, the president did today, we've made options available for people to be able to get more information about the insurance

plans and to be able -- actually be able to enroll over the phone or by downloading application or in person with someone assisting them with so-called navigators. >> can you be more specific about the timeline. will it be operating smoothly before the december 15th deadline which is necessary for folks to enroll if they want coverage january 1st. >> i'm not a tech expert but i can say that it's getting -- we're making progress every day and we're going to stay at it and we're not going to predict time lines on addressing particular problems, but we're just going to stay at it until it is fixed. >> well if you don't have it fixed -- >> it's been a rocky start, but we are 21 days into 180-day process. so we will take this as it comes. >> jen if you don't have it fixed in time, will people still have to pay that penalty? i mean, would you think -- >> that is a -- if we don't have

it fixed in time is a hypothetical that we don't expect to encounter. we're taking this day by day and we're making progress every day. and we're going to keep at it and in the meantime, we're going to find these options for other ways for people to enroll. and we're happy that there's an interest. it's very frustrating for people that they can't -- that not everyone is able to process their applications online. many people are. we don't want people to be frustrated so we'll fix it. >> jen, the president said that people who have been frustrated, as you just talked about, are actually going to be contacted. who is going to contact them? who is going to help these people? when will that happen? >> hhs will have more to say about that later, but the idea is that they would be reached out to probably by e-mail, but -- and invited back. but we want people -- we know that there's a population of people out there that are -- that have had these problems and so the president, he -- as he

said, no one is mad ber it than him. i can personally attest to that being true, and he wants to make sure that everyone who is contacted the website understands how concerned he is and his commitment to making sure that people who are trying to get on and trying to enroll have the opportunity to do that in a nonfrustrating way as soon as possible. >> jen, i want to move on to hhs secretary kathleen sebelius. she was there at the event today with the president. there's a growing list of people calling for her to resign. does the president think that she should keep her job given these glitches? >> yes, he does. he has a lot of confidence in kathleen sebelius. implementing this law is a hard piece of policy business. it's a hard piece of technology business. and it's very hard politically and kathleen has taken a lot of hits over the years. and she can very much handle them. as the president said today, the health care is more than a

website. we've created a marketplace where people can get insurance. insurance is very popular. the marketplace is working well. people are applying, enrolling. so overall, we think that this is working. let alone, people already receiving benefits from the health care law. >> jen, let me just jump in really quickly because we're going to run out of time. even robert gibbs, the president's former press secretary has said that someone should lose their job over this. so if not kathleen sebelius, who? and does the president agree with his former press secretary? >> the president is focused on fixing the problem. he's not focused on assigning blame to the problem and we want everyone that's involved as focused as possible and addressing the problems with the website and getting it fixed so people are no longer have these frustrating experiences. >> and one more quick question. secretary sebelius has said she's not available to testify this thursday at a congressional hearing. will she testify eventually? when will that happen and will the president call for her to do

so? >> hhs does a lot of testifying. they work pretty closely with congress on oversight and i think that they will work this out so there's a representative there. she's got a scheduling problem this week, but, you know, i think they are going to work this out with the hill. >> all right, jen palmieri, thanks for joining us today. we really appreciate it. >> happy to be here, kristen. joining me now for our daily fix, amy walter, national editor of the cook.com. and chris polizza. first your reaction to what you just heard from jennifer palmieri. what were the standouts and takeaways? >> jen echoed a lot of what the president had to say. we know the website doesn't work that well right now. we have to stick with us. but the law itself is not just the website. the thing that stood out for me is, to your question, kristen, about will it be ready by

december 15th, some outside reports saying it would not be which would obviously put people in jeopardy, penalize them potentially for not signing up. she didn't say yes definitively. now politicians never like to -- and their press folks never like to talk about hypotheticals, but it shows you that there is some doubt about the possibility. if -- i guarantee you if the white house can say 100% yes it will be ready long before december 15th and if not it will be ready on that day, they would have said it. >> amy, to you, jen echoed a point that president obama said, which is this is not just about a website. this is actually about health care. do the republicans start to lose ground in terms of their talking point if this does ultimately start to run smoothly and people start to get the coverage that they are looking for? >> well, i think that's the bigger picture here. thinking about this beyond just the website. there's no doubt this is a problem for the administration. there's no doubt that this is

going to create some perception problems for the administration about the health care law overall. but fundamentally when you look at where people in this country get their health care and the people who are going to show up to vote in 2014 get their health care, most of them, the great majority already are covered either by their employer or they are covered by medicare or medicaid. so this is a problem that is significant, but the question i think politically, this is for republicans and democrats, is how are people who aren't signing up for this health care, for getting on that health care.gov site currently have health care, how is this going to impact their health care, the delivery of it and how much it's going to cost them in the next year? >> all right. i want to head back over to the white house and my colleague peter alexander who is standing by. peter, we know that administration officials are going to hit the road. they're going to start talking about what the president talked about today.

help people sign up for this. what is the white house's strategy moving forward? >> i think in some ways this sounds a lot like a campaign. obviously, with remarks on october 1st by the president. the remarks again today to try not so much to dismiss but tamp down the concerns about the website and focus on the product itself. over the course of the next several days, several weeks, frankly, beginning this week, the president is going to send out his team, cabinet officials, top members to try to head to areas they really rely on. the populations, the communities with large populations of the uninsured, obviously, to focus on them. one of the real problems i think that focus -- that has been a concern point for a lot of the folks here is that it's almost worse, but it's very difficult to get into the website than it would be impossible to get in because the fact that it's very difficult signifies the fact that those people who really badly need that health insurance or want that health insurance, those people likely with pre-existing conditions, the people who are more expensive to treat, will do what it takes. they'll stick around for the

extra 25 times to check but the younger people, the healthy people that the white house is relying on to make this system work, they may be less inclined to say, it didn't work the first second or 15th try, i'll come around for a 16th. that's a really concern for the equation that goes into making this system process. >> a good point. those young people are critical to this entire system working. i want to turn to new jersey state politics. something big that happened there today. governor chris christie stopped his appeal of the gay marriage law just hours after it went into effect. so chris cillizza to you, what is the significance of the fact that he's backing away? >> well, so it's interesting, kristen. i think he had fought this all the way, pretty aggressively, but i think this is an acknowledgment by chris christie that charging at political windmills which he believes continuing to fight this law is is pointless. and that nothing is to be gained from it. it's a fascinating contrast between what we -- between that decision and what we saw in

washington by the republican party over the last 3 1/2 weeks, which if you ask members honestly, republican members honestly, not on the record, just tell me if you think that obama care is going to be delayed or defunded based on ted cruz and some of the actions? 99% of them would say no, it's not. so i think the party is going to have a real choice between sort of the real politic the chris christie wing represents fd the principled, you fight for the sake of fighting that ted cruz currently represents in the party. >> and, amy, i want to get you to weigh in on this. take a look at a recent nbc news/"wall street journal" poll that we just did which shows from april 2013, 53% of people favor gay marriage up from 30% in 2004 with the same poll showing that 27% of republicans support gay marriage. 66% are opposed to it, amy. so how does it play in upcoming elections porks tential ll ll l

2016? >> chris christie is doing the -- he is providing the contrast right now between what governors do and what folks in washington are doing. which is the governors have to be realistic. the governors have to fight the right fight. the governors have to focus on the real issues. in washington you can fool around with all this parliamentary procedure and do 21-hour filibusters, but that's not going to get you what you want. that's not going to push the policies forward. so i think the contrast for christie as a governor versus the sort of dysfunction in washington is going to be the real issue in 2016. and cultural issues are always important in a republican primary. i don't dismiss that. it's not as if christie is coming out right now and embracing same-sex marriage. he's not taking the fight that he knows he's going to lose any further. >> i want to turn to another possible 2016 contender, hillary clinton. we all saw her. she was stumping over the weekend in virginia to support terry mcauliffe, her longtime

friend and aide in the virginia governors race. her first time back in the ring since she left the state department. so, chris, do you think saturday's event gave us any indication about how seriously she's considering a run? >> not really. i would say, i think that in contrast to what we saw in the new york city mayoral race with another sort of former clintonite, anthony weiner, for good reason, but the clintons distanced themselves big time from anthony weiner. they are embracing terry mcauliffe. they probably had no choice in it. he has been sort of the top fund-raiser and best buddy of bill clinton for a very long time. but it's not just that hillary event, which i think does help in northern virginia, fairfax county, falls church. i think it's the bill clinton doing a three-day tour with terry mcauliffe. they are all in here, and i guarantee you, if terry mcauliffe wins, and it certainly looks like he will, now we've got a couple weeks left. if terry mcauliffe wins there

will be back-door chatter of, well, see, the clintons know how to win in swing states. there's no question. they know that story line is out there. and they want to now embrace it, particularly as mcauliffe looks like a winner. >> amy, timing is everything. some people say that clinton announced too early back in 2008, she's being a little more cautious this time should she decide to run. is that accurate? >> yeah, when you have a 100% name i.d., you do not need to get out early and announce your intentions. also when you can raise like 5 gajillion dollars in ten minutes. also her being at the terry mcauliffe event was as much about what the focus of the virginia governors race has been, certainly for terry mcauliffe, which is running up the score among suburban women in virginia. it was a key in the 2012 campaign with president obama. it's key for terry mcauliffe and it's going to be very important for whoever runs in 2016, too. >> peter, final question to you. you talked about the fact that

the white house is launching its own campaign of sorts right now. what is the mood there behind the scenes as they try to defend the president's health care law? >> i was only going to point out quickly about the mcauliffe conversation. you saw how big the word women was behind terry mcauliffe and hillary. they recognize this. they were hoping to use their political capital after rethoepg government and deferring the default debate as it were on things like immigration and budget talks. and now they recognize they'll be heavily bogged down in a fight over health care once again. and i think one of the things even in your conversation with jen palmieri a little bit earlier is still unclear with this tech surge if they have yet identified what the problem is. this problem appears to be much deeper than we had initially heard that it was. even in terms of those glitches, the technical issues. when you are bringing in the best and the brightest in many cases it may indicate you aren't exactly sure what's wrong in the first place. >> all right, peter, amy and

chris, thank you so much for joining me this afternoon. appreciate it. and we have a little bit of breaking news to update you on. this out of nevada. at least two people are dead and two more are in critical condition after a shooting this morning at a middle school in the northern part of the state. right now, local police are investigating the incident. county officials have said the area is all clear at this point. the students are being treated at a regional hospital. we will keep you updated on the very latest details as we get them. stay with us. and also, at 12:01 a.m., newark mayor cory booker presided over the first same-sex marriages in new jersey. marrying nine couples who each took turns cutting the cake. the midnight marriages were interrupted by one protester who spoke when booker asked if there were objections. the mayor was quick to respond. here's what he said. >> and not hearing any substantive worthy objections, i

now will proceed. >> quite a reaction he got. we'll talk with the top lawyer from the human rights campaign next about chris christie's decision. and the battleground states for same-sex marriage. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. okay ladies, whenever you're ready. thank you. thank you. i got this. no, i'll get it! no, let me get this. seriously. hey, let me get it. ah, uh. i don't want you to pay for this. it's not happening, honey. let her get it. she got her safe driving bonus check from allstate last week. and it's her treat. what about a tip? oh, here's one... get an allstate agent. nice! [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call an allstate agent and get a quote now. just another way allstate is changing car insurance for good.

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a huge victory today for supporters of same-sex marriage. new jersey has become the 14th state in the u.s. to recognize gay marriage. cory booker, former newark mayor

and now senator-elect marked the occasion by officiating the wedding of seven gay couples just after midnight. so what isex rights activists? joining me now i the legal director for the human rights campaign. thank you so much for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to read what chris christie said today after he made this announcement. he said, quote, this is from his office, although the governor strongly disagrees, the court has now spo cle as to their view of the new jersey constitution and, therefore, same-sex marriage is the la the governor will do his constitutiony and ensure his administration enforces the law as dictated by the new jersey supreme court. so i just want to get your reaction. how big of a surprise was this? >> well, a bit of a surprise. certainly when the new jersey supreme court told us unanimously they weren't going to stay the implementation of the lower court and they weren't going to stop people from getting married early this morning, as you mentioned, it was certainly a very good sign of what the supreme court would probably eventually rule in that

case. so not shocking that the state maybe saw the writing on the wall but still a bit surprising for us. >> to put it into a broader context, what could the implications be in other states of what christie did today? >> certainly it's one more state supreme court that's made clear that state constitutions and their guarantees of equality apply to same-sex couples equally. we see more cases proceeding. in new mexico there's litigation in the state courts and many same-sex couples getting married in some counties there. that may help influence that court. it's really about new jersey alone but certainly it's one more state getting us closer to full equality. >> you talk about new mexico. what's your strategy moving forward, what states your focused on? which states do you think are close to potentially legalizing same-sex marriage? >> sure, there's ongoing efforts in illinois and hawaii with the legislatures in those states. they are poised to pass marriage equality legislation in both of those places. but the next step really is to try and attack these many constitutional amendments that are out there in many states banning marriage for same-sex

couples, folks in oregon are working on getting that on the ballot next november but there are obviously many more of them to go. >> our latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll showed that more and more americans support same-sex marriage but it's a very different story when you look at the republican party. so how do you target republicans? what specifically are you doing to try to change that narrative? >> sure, we've seen republicans actually be very strong supporters of marriage equality in a number of the most recent battles in states like new york and in maryland. and, really, to put out those messages about why seeking marriage equality is really an issue that should appeal to conservatives. it's about family. it's about strengthening families and protecting them and those are really classic conservative values. so freedom and really equality are not things that should be foreign to republicans who want to support marriage for same-sex couples. >> where does your overall battle stand in you have these two victories coming out of the

supreme court. as we are discussing, there are a lot of states, a lot of people who still have strong disagreements with you. how would you sort of characterize this moment in time? >> well, i think we're coming off these tremendous victories as you say and we're going to have to continue to have that conversation about marriage, not just in the states where we've won but in the many states in the heartland of this country where we're not anywhere close to that and really talk to people about the lives of lgbt people and the importance of these protections. >> brian moulton, thank you for your time and for your insights. this morning, arkansas republican congressman tim griffin officially announced his decision to retire from the house of representatives at the end of this term. griffin first elected in the tea party wave in 2010 won his 2012 re-election contest with 55% of the vote. he said in a statement that he was ready to return home and spend more time with his family. griffin was known for bringing his children to work with him and was seen pushing a stroller to meetings during the government shutdown. after the break, charlie cook on

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♪ ♪ the political drama in washington that shut down the federal government made it perfectly clear to americans that our government is strongly divided. but in the wake of that, it's the internal divisions of the republican party that are now taking center stage. >> you know, divided government is frequently done very, very important things. divided government is actually an opportunity to tackle tough stuff. >> the house republicans marched into battle courageously. and the senate republicans should have come in like the cavalry to support them. unfortunately, a significant chunk of senate republicans instead came like the air force and began bombing the house

republicans, our own troops. >> have a little bit of self-restraint. it might actually be a politically better approach to see the massive dysfunction but we don't even hear about that because we've stepped on that message. and i think republicans need to just take a step back and allow -- show a little self-restraint and let this happen a bill more organically. >> so how will congress and the gop, in particular, be affected by the aftermath of the joining me is edward cook. thanks for being here. >> my pleasure. >> i want to start with what we just heard. the deep divisions within the republican party. some are calling this a civil war. is that how you'd characterize it and who wins this war? >> it could get to be a civil war. senator cruz showed he's only been in the senate, what, ten months. that he still doesn't understand the legislative process and that it was an impossibility to repeal or defund as long as president obama is in office and

republicans don't have two-thirds plus one to override vetoes. was factually wrong. but beyond that, what you are -- the tea party effectively took over the republican party in 2010. and the establishment didn't really object because they benefited from all of that. now what you are seeing is the establishment and the business community starting to say, wait a minute. these guys are going way, way, way too far. they are endangering things. they could hurt their chances of picking up a majority of the senate. and if this continues they could jeopardize their majority in the house. so you're starting to see some pushing back going on. so are we in a civil war yet? technically, no. but, you know, fort sumpter probably isn't far away. >> i want to start by talking about the house before we get to the senate. they could be jeopardizing their hold of the house. you say in the cook report that 15 house seats have moved away from being solidly republican. that's still not the 17 that

democrats need to take back the house. so where does that stand and have they really hurt themselves? >> sure. these are seats that have moved from pretty good shape for republicans to various degrees of jeopardy. but we're still not there yet. the people that are saying the house is in play are getting a little over their skis. it's not there yet. democrats would have to -- we have 43 competitive races rated right now in the cook political report. democrats would have to win 41 out of 43. so it's pretty much running -- but the thing is if we were to see another shutdown or two between now and the election if we were going to see some more republican retirements and potentially competitive districts like griffin this morning. if we see some more good democratic challengers or people that would turn out to be getting in like james lee wit, also in arkansas, these are the people that could make it real that democrats could have a good

chance of picking up the house. >> let's talk about the senate. i've seen some people say it's possible that republicans have lost their chance to take back the house -- the senate. have they? >> they've not helped themselves. what we have to remember that the six seats that i think are going most likely going to determine control of the senate and that would be mark begich in alaska, mary landrieu in louisiana, kay hagen in north carolina, the open republican seat in saxby chambliss' seat in georgia and mitch mcconnell, all six of those seats are in states that romney carried. so to the extent there's a backlash against the republican party, and there certainly is, it would probably be less in some of those states than in most others. and so but are they helping themselves? oh, heck no. of course they haven't. >> how much does gerrymandering play into the fact the house probably won't flip? >> there are a lot of reasons and gerrymandering is one

because republicans for the first time in decades had their hand on the pen drawing the maps. but also a population sorting. democrats tend to live in urban areas and college towns concentrated. and republicans are more spread out. and that helps -- that works in there as well. >> this weekend we saw senator ted cruz out. we had a rock star reception in texas. also hillary clinton out. does ted cruz have a shot at getting enough support to actually be a general election candidate? does he have broad enough appeal and hillary clinton, what were you takeaways this weekend? >> i think democrats are on their knees praying every night that ted cruz is the republican nominee. in a big field of four or five republican candidates, ted cruz can come in first and second. but when that field narrows down, the question is, can he do it? that's a little tougher. i'd look more at rand paul and scott walker as more likely to get into the finals, if you

will, for the republican nomination. >> and hillary clinton. is she in, do you think? >> i finishing her health is good and her husband's health is good and they feel -- she feels like running, she will run. but those are important qualifiers. >> all right. absolutely. charlie cook, thank you so much. appreciate it. hurricane raymond has strengthened just southwest of acapulco, mexico, with winds increasing to 120 miles an hour this morning. right now forecasters don't believe the category 3 storm will travel any closer to land. but it is still expected to bring heavy rains to acapulco residents still rebuilding after deadly flooding just four weeks ago.

recently in washington, unfortunately, we have seen examples of the wrong kind of leadership. when politicians choose scorched

earth over common ground. when they operate in what i call the evidence-free zone. that is not the kind of leadership we need in virginia and america today. >> hillary clinton was campaigning in virginia this weekend for her friend terry mcauliffe but sounded every bit the candidate herself. can the current challengers of the republican party leave clinton in a stronger position if she should decide to run? well, that is the question michael hirsh asks in a new piece for the "national journal." michael joins me now. thanks for being here. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> just your reaction to what we saw and heard. she certainly looked like a candidate. she sounded like a candidate. i know a lot of people close to her have said she hasn't decided yet whether or not she expects to run, but do you think she's decided? do you think she's made up her decision? >> no, i don't think she has

finally, but there's no mistaking the difference in rhetoric. things that she said in response to these questions now compared to when she was secretary of state. and, you know, was all but going shermanesque on us saying, i'm not -- i have no interest in running. those are the kind of things she said again and again. now, you hear as you just heard in that speech for terry mcauliffe, you know, addressing the issue of national leadership. if that doesn't sound, you know, somewhat presidential seeking, i don't know what does. >> indeed. i want to read you something that you wrote, michael, and then i want to get your reaction on the, side. you write, because the trend lines are unmistakable and they are looking better all the time if she wants to run in 2016, hillary rodham clinton could have the easiest walk into the white house of any candidate. the presidency is looking like it's hers to lose more than ever. i want to ask you, isn't that a little bit early to be making statements like that?

especially given what we saw back in 2008, barack obama came from behind and, obviously, won. >> yeah, it's a fair point. and i have usually avoided making statements like that. in fact, sort of tend to make fun of people who write this early on 2016. i thought perhaps someone should write what a lot of people are thinking. and there's two major components to this. one, hillary is enormously popular among the democratic party. polls are consistently showing if she decides to run, almost no one can challenge her. so she's head and shoulders above potential democratic nominee contenders. and then if you look at the republican side, this is a party that as you indicated in your previous segment is nearly in a state of civil war. very dysfunctional in which any nominee is probably going to have to go through some of the same hoops that mitt romney did in 2012 where he had to try to outflank all of his contenders to the right. and so by the time the fall

campaign came around he was already far too right wing, too conservative in his views for the general electorate. you see those trend lines are unmistakable. nothing is likely to change. and so in that environment, it does look like if hillary really wants to make a goo of it, she could have a relatively easy time. >> michael, former president bill clinton was asked about his wife's political ambitions. take a look. >> if she is running to your knowledge, blink twice. i blinked once. you know if i did know, i wouldn't tell you. but i honestly don't know. chelsea doesn't know, and i -- hillary doesn't know. and that's a good thing for america. we should focus on these big challenges now and talk about how to get this country back on track. >> all right. he says he doesn't know. do you think that those close to hillary have figured out how to use bill clinton as an asset, should she decide to run?

of course in the last campaign, a lot of people thought he was more of a liability? >> no, exactly. and they made serious mistakes in the last campaign. you alluded to how can you write something about hillary now when you might have a surprise event like the phenomenon like barack obama coming along. i don't think there are any other barack obamas out there. it's potentially possible to have, say, elizabeth warren, senator from massachusetts, she's very popular. populist deciding to run. but i think the clintons are going to not -- they are going to be very careful not to make the same mistakes. the kind of things former president clinton said when the obama insurgency began. the way that they strategized. they didn't have to contend in some of the smaller democratic caucus states which was a huge mistake because it turned out the obama campaign racked up a lot of delegates and put him over the top. so they'll not do that again. and i don't think in this environment you'll find another barack obama. this is a guy who was like

100-year storm. how often does that come along. so i do think that she's going to do better this time than she did in 2008. >> all right, michael hirsh -- >> if she decides to run. >> thank you for your insights. we appreciate it. we want to update you on some news out of florida. the manhunt is over in that state after police apprehended charles walker and joseph jenkins days after the two convicted murderers were freed by the state because of phony paperwork. the cell phone video was taken in panama city during their capture. authorities are taking the next steps in the investigation trying to find out who helped the convicts with those forged documents. we'll have much more after the break. stay with us. ♪ [ jen garner ] what skincare brand is so effective... so trusted... so clinically proven dermatologists recommend it twice as much as any other brand? neutrogena®. recommended by dermatologists 2 times more

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so which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? joining me is chris cillizza, who is back. i want to update you and you and everyone on breaking news kathleen sebelius's spokes person says we are in close communication with the committee which wanted her to testify this week and expressed our desire to be responsive to their request. we fully intend for the secretary and other hhs officials to testify before congress as early as next week. as they have numerous times in the past but nothing is confirmed at this time. we've already indicated to the committee that she ip tended to testify but had a scheduling conflict. we continue to work with them for a mutually agreeable date. sounds like she is going to testify. >> you know what, kristen, i

think she would have to testify at some point. i think what you're seeing there is the white house wants to sort of pick its spot. they probably can't keep her congress from getting her to testify but they can pick what she testifies. and president obama coming out this morning as he did and basically saying, yeah, the website is not great but the law is -- i think you're hear more on that line. white house officials are fanning out across the country. i use the word campaign because it is like a campaign, to sell this idea that the website isn't the whole law. there's a lot there. don't let it get obscured. my guess is that's the message from the week. any testimony from kathleen see breel yus, she would be under questioning from republican lawmakers, they want this week to sell that message and next week and following week you'll hear from her. >> the white house is in damage control mode as we have been reporting. did the president do what he needed to do this morning when

he spoke? >> you know, kristen, i thought it was fascinating. it seemed to me like it was as close to an infomercial as you ever get from a presidential speech. the president literally saying the 800 number is this, the website is this. i wrote all people are waiting for operators are waiting for your call. that's the only thing it didn't have. he's been explaining this law why, it will work and parts are not working are, literally since he signed in law in spring of 2010. in politics when you are explaining you tend to be losing. the law is hard to implement, we've seen that with healthcare pgov, they have to hope these problems are a blip. three weeks you look back and say, that wasn't ideal but now the law is working. otherwise it's just been a difficult law politically,

focusing on the politics of it, politically to sell to a public that remains skeptical about the efficacy. >> let's turn to ted cruz, he's going to have a big welcome home event in houston. he got a rock star reception this weekend. he certainly has been a divisive figure in washington but not the case in his home state. it seems like ted cruz is angling for potential 2016 run. >> i wrote something about a week ago now, all blurs together, but something -- the headline was how ted cruz won and the republican party lost. i do think with the shutdown. and i do think ultimately ted cruz, if you're looking at winning a republican presidential nomination, ted cruz did himself a lot of good. he is received as a rock star. he will continue to be received as such. he will go to iowa and get a huge ovation at his events there. the issue for ted cruz, there

were many within the republican establishment who didn't like him anyway, they are going to like him even less and i would say work against him if he did run in 2016. if he happens to be the nominee, the nbc washington journal poll shows that among independents he really damaged himself brandwise in what people think of him in this three and a half weeks, the shutdown and debt ceiling debate. what he did is help himself among the rank in file grass roots most conservative part of the republican party. that does often help decide the nominee but the rest of the country i think he hurt himself. >> thank you so much, chris. we appreciate it. and that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. i'll see you back here tomorrow. thomas roberts has a look at what's next on "news nation." coming up in the next hour, breaking news we're covering, another school shooting, this time at the middle school, two boys in critical condition. we take you there for the very latest. plus, trouble shooting, the

president giving his first major response to the botched health dare rollout saying there's a problem with the website but not the law. should someone be fired over this? that's today's gut check. and mystery surrounding the girl kidnapped by the couple in this picture as they get inundated with tips on her true identity. all coming up next on "news nation." [ man ] hey, brad, want to trade the all-day relief of two aleve for six tylenol? what's the catch? there's no catch. you want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol? no. for my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve. it guides you to a number it guides you to a number that will change your life: your sleep number setting. it even knows you by name. now it's easier than ever to experience deep, restful sleep with the sleep number bed's dualair technology. at the touch of a button, the sleep number bed adjusts to each person's ideal comfort and support. and you'll only find it at a sleep number store. where right now our newest innovations are available with 36-month financing.

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