worked on past bush campaigns, going back to bush 41 and bush 43's presidential campaign.ple 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 pre

he goes up against bush's weaknesses. he is clearly rusty. >> if romney freezes the establishment bracket and scares away people like john kasich or scott walker who think i can't compete with chris christie, jeb bush and mitt romney. i'm just going to stay out. and then mitt romney decides he's not going to run, it could leave bush and a better position. >> we have not heard a lot of dissenting voices, and i expect a wave of that but romney is getting a lot of encouragement. in part because the press loves the notion of a romney-bush-christie battle. right now it is bad for jeb bush but let's see how romney does. people like john boehner and other republicans are not thrilled about it. >> people are going to start pointing out that romney was a horrible candidate in 2012 and hasn't done anything to make himself better. jeb bush is not the only one for whom the prospective entry of mitt romney changes the game. if both of them decide to run, the presence of these heavyweights would reshape the republican contest. the? que

here's jeb bush. he said mitt is a patriot and join many in hoping his days of serving our nation and our party are not over. another reaction here from another republican candidate is scott walker. the governor of wisconsin. he said on twitter yesterday, had a great conversation with mitt romney. he's a good man. thanked him for his interest in opening the door for a fresh leader in america. mitt romney had dinner with chris christie. katie, you know romney very well. you worked on his campaign. the role he's going to play going forward in the nominating process. and where do you think mitt romney ends up when he looks at the field? who does he like in the field, you think? >> i would expect mitt will be focused on building the party and very focused on defeating hillary clinton. that's his ultimate goes. a lot of folks will remember that chris christie did support romney early in the process. at a very critical time. certainly you remember people that played a significant role. i wouldn't overstate

say both jeb bush and mitt romney are in.andicap that. >> i would defer to fred but i would that on bush. i think he's more likely to be the establishment choice but i think that's more complicated that it has been in the past. every cycle, it's getting harder and harder for the establishment to impose choice. if the field is fragmented, they probably do it again, but i would bet on bush. i think that's where most of the smart money would go. i think there's a general consensus, fair or unfair that romney did not run a very good campaign in 2012. would go the same route. even though his name is bush, jeb is the newer deal. >> the country is looking for a fresh new change. >> how about the back to the future election with push and clinton? >> i want to ask this question. we all basically assume because it has been the historical reality in the republican party that the establishment candidate ultimately staves off the grassroots candidate to become the nominee. the party has changed a lot. is there a chance the establishment c

bush, christie, romney. you attack one -- or do they have to come up with some critique about all three to make it work? >> i think that is it. but that critique exists. if you go after these three big candidates you're going after the establishment -- >> what do you say besides the word “establishment”? they are old? liberal? what is the unifying theme for the outside critic of these three? >> on jeb bush, chris christie “establishment” is code word for not far enough right. code word in the primaries that matter early on. these guys will not resonate. that is what what they will latch onto. >> i have got to say -- we know that ted cruz and rand paul will do it. i want to see if carson, huckabee does it. if they do not, they will be left out of the conversation. all right, obama, biden, boehner, mcconnell, a bunch of other congressional leaders. it took an enormous amount of guacamole to feed that group. what is the state of the union between the president and the congressional leaders, particularly the rep

his father was president bush, his brother was president bush, and now he wants to be president bush. >> we had enough bush's. >> sorry, mother, it's time for another. former florida governor jeb bush. >> give it up for judge mcintosh. >> i think there is a real strong consensus. you have the bush last night which is the bush last name. you have a lot of people thinking this is a consensus front runner. >> i'm really looking forward to sam taking my candidate. >> i kind of wanted sarah palin anyway. >> no, i don't have bush -- >> josh barro, use your technology from the "new york times," a fancy pants newspaper. >> i want the number one candidate, i will take number one. josh barro, a genius. number one is scott walker. >> scott walker. they call him mr. unrecallable. winner of three elections in four years, no matter how many staffers went to jail. he is wisconsin governor scott walker. >> that is big. that is big. scott walker right now i would like to say, we're having a scott walker moment in this country after his performance in iowa. lots of buzz. lots of people excited. his fat

you can't have bush. the last thing we need is another bush. >> the seriousness of a donald trump candidacy, the crowd here peter, really liked his digs at romney and bush. >> yeah they totally ate it up which plays right into what we have been talking about for many months which is that iowa is going to be tough for mitt romney if he runs, and jeb bush if he runs. because there is such a vocal conservative electorate here. that doesn't mean there isn't space for those guys. remember mitt romney almost won iowa with about 30% of the caucus vote. but again, this is the conservative action in the republican party. the establishment action was actually last night in san francisco, where jeb bush was speaking to an auto dealer convention. and he actually talked about that meeting, that intriguing meeting he had with mitt romney in salt lake city a few days ago. this is what he said about that. >> i went to visit governor romney. i have enormous respect for him. the meeting was set up three months ago, under s

bush, clinton, bush now clinton -- >> hillary there hasn't been a republican white house without a bush since 1977 and we're ready to be back. >> let me shoot straight with you, jeb, okay bill and i are dead broke. we need a place to stay. 1600 pennsylvania avenue it's calling me home. >> make we can work something out. we both agree on so many issues. bigger government common core and amnesty for illegal immigrants. >> well, we've both got problems. you've got problems with the grass roots and i've got all of those damned conservatives. let's say we make a deal. sorry, hillary, i have to go. mitt keeps calling. >> that's rand paul and we can't help but smile. part of that call is how they discuss how they share a lot of same policy objectives such as immigration reform and that goes to the idea of jeb bush perhaps being more like a centrist than way on the right. >> there it is again, it's the difference between jeb and george w., the difference between the climates. back in 2000 when george w. ran, it was the success in the 90s, we have to emulate bill clinton and that was what he was

not even a veiled swipe at jeb bush. that's a direct swipe at jeb bush. hard to see looking at mitt romney going forward, if he decides he wants to play an active role in picking the republican nominee versus the idea of stepping back and trying to be a more unifying figure if he wants to get involved and endorse somebody and line up money for somebody very hard to see how that will be jeb bush. the two that i look at in this vast cluttered field, you could see it being chris christie. you have jeb bush -- skoumexcuse me, you have mitt romney -- >> steve, that's just spite on his part. he's not going to get through the legal mess! he's not going to get through all the legal mess? because if anybody gets indicted they'll point the finger at him. it will be a courtroom flight with bridget kelly or somebody else pointing the finger at him. this is such a mess for him. i don't see how we can keep talking about chris christie being a candidate after the mess in new jersey. >> i covered this story as aggressively as anybody has. >> you were out front. >> look a

not even a veiled swipe at jeb bush. that's a direct swipe at jeb bush. hard to see looking at mitt romney going forward, if he decides he wants to play an active role in picking the republican nominee versus the idea of stepping back and trying to be a more unifying figure, if he wants to get involved and endorse somebody and line up money for somebody, very hard to see how that will be jeb bush. the two that i look at in this vast cluttered field, you could see it being chris christie. you have jeb bush -- excuse me, you have mitt romney -- >> steve, that's just spite on his part. he's not going to get through the legal mess! he's not going to get through all the legal mess? because if anybody gets indicted, they'll point the finger at him. it will be a courtroom flight with bridget kelly or somebody else pointing the finger at him. this is such a mess for him. i don't see how we can keep talking about chris christie being a candidate after the mess in new jersey. >> i covered this story as aggressively as anybody has. >> you were out front. >> look at

the third bush to be president of the united states.ig deal? no, the bushes are a dynasty and dynasties run in the u.s. dna notable examples are the rockefellers, the kennedies, the clintons, the browns of california, the cuomos of new york, the nunns of georgia, the pryors of arc and the bushes. >> question, if jeb bush runs, is he an instant front runner for the gop nomination? >> he's already a front runner and he's smart to have made his move early because in today's republican party there's only one for one sane character. he's considered moderate, he's run a state for two terms, he can raise money, which is really key, and i think the last name bush is not going to hurt him as much as people might think. >> name identification. >> i think we live in a world of branding and i think the american people, they know the brand and they are comfortable with it. so i think if he runs he has a good shot to win. >> so he's got the name and he's got the bush political network. >> he certainly has all of that but he has something else that's

bush against kerry, november of '04. and e the remarkable thing about that election in my mind was it was more about john curry's performance in -- john kerry's performance in vietnam than it was about george bush's performance in iraq. it was a masterful bit of jiu-jitsu by the push campaign team -- bush campaign team. and it also reflected the difficulty which we saw in vietnam, we've seen a number of times. it's hard to change course debate who's to blame deal with the responsibility for war when soldiers are still at risk, when soldiers are still in the field and dying for the country. and the '04 election should have been an election where iraq was debated, but it hardly was an issue in that election. the senate excellence committee made two more reports saying -- one in '06 one in '08 -- the one in '06 said hussein had nothing to do with al-qaeda, never was going to arm al-qaeda and hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. and those three things had all been promoted by george bush before the invasion as reality. and a

bush years. the idea that because he betrayed conservative values, he gave it a bad name, which paved the road for barack obama to become president. so that name bush to that side of the party is electoral poison. >> so gene, romney, as liberal as we know he has been in the past in massachusetts as a politician, kept getting -- becoming harder and harder right and more and more right wing as he was a presidential candidate. and so now he is to the right of jeb bush, and those republicans are always looking for who is the most conservative person who we can nominate. who can also win. there's always a more conservative person in the field who they don't think can win. but is that the spot romney thinks he can find? >> well, he seems to think he can get there. there's always a question, though, with romney, you know, changeable though his positions might be. how far to the right can he get? he did invent what became obamacare. he does believe, and he said it again recently, i think today. he believ

mitt romney 19 jeb bush 10. mitt romney 19 jeb bush 11. those are not great numbers.tt romney you hear jeb bush is coming the party is getting behind him, you see poll after poll that shows you doubling up jeb bush in some cases, i think you look at the numbers and say why not me? >> interesting. msnbc's steve kornacki. we know the first of two phone calls expected today by mitt romney is under way. we will see how that goes. be sure to watch "up" with steve kornacki at 8:00 eastern here on msnbc. >>> take you live to the annual super bowl press conference under way, two opposing head coaches hoping to take their team to victory. up next super bowl predictions from some unlikely sources. >>> and jimmy fallon's panel of puppies may have missed last january, but they're puppies. >> let's release the puppies. the broncos got a good lead there. they're going back. looks like a clear win there. you got denver broncos going to win the super bowl. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know words real

the bush name is known but governor jeb bush is not widely known outside of florida.e has a chance to introduce himself to the country, not as another bush but jeb bush. >> thanks so much. with only two days to go we've been talking about the super bowl and vin is a vikings fan. we won't talk about that. will there be major fumbles before the game? the match-up has been flooded with news about deflate-gate. a measles outbreak in phoenix and security concerns. one bright spot seattle cornerback richrd sherman's girlfriend is set to deliver a baby any day now. he was asked about the chance if the baby was born early, the star player might miss the big game. >> he knows he has an opportunity to face a big decision. whenever our players have a personal or family issue that comes out, it's about family first and they have to decide what's best for them and i support that. however he goes with that if he's faced with that decision we'll support him. and we'll see how that goes. wish him luck and can't wait to see little pety. >> nbc's craig melvin joins us from glendale ari

one will be the bush name. is there bush fatigue?, amnesty and common core will plague governor bush for a long time to come. when it comes to -- go ahead. >> you were moving on to governor christie. i apologize. >> governor christie has been out here a few times with governor branstad. people getting used to the way that governor christie campaigns, will he be a candidate, will he not be a candidate? i have no idea. the most i have seen of him is at dallas cowboys games in jerry jones' suite. >> right now, what two issues do you think are at the top of the list of concerns for iowa republicans in politics? >> first of all, i think republicans are looking for a full spectrum conservative. >> not in terms of what they are looking for in a candidate, but what issues matter? economic issues, jobs? what is on the minds of voters what issues they want to address? >> i think limited government and economic issues like jobs, but another one that rises to the top very quickly is religious liberty. we see businesses under the threat of being

about much when bush did support him. i think he felt bush breathing down his neck. he had to react quickly. he did. he's trying now to basically close the barn door before all the donors get out. >> annette, what do you make of mitt romney floating this behind closed doors in front of donors? >> i think he realizes that the donors are competitive with jeb bush in the game and the two of them do have bad blood, especially when it comes to immigration, when jeb bush tried to get him to be more moderate on immigration and has tried to get other people. but definitely during the presidential -- and he did not listen. he had to be the most conservative conservative. how will that work for jeb when he's not really a moderate, as they claim? both mitch and i will tell you he is conservative. but when it comes to immigration, he has always believed in a path to citizenship, which may come back to bite them. that's the difference between the two of them. >> we're going back to the old questions of who is going to release the taxe

bush a third reagan term. reagan's numbers were going up, george h.w. bush won the white house.ppened in a long time. the question is where will president obama be at the end of the his numbers are going up now. only early 2015. watch his numbers as we head into 2016. it is possible if president obama stays up above 50 that it helps hillary clinton. no disrespect intended with the s seesaw. >> hillary clinton has to be thinking i want this president, i need this president to be moving this way. >> absolutely. she had to be very happy with the message that he laid out in the state of the union, very aggressive, kind of setting the distinctions between the two paertsds. here's what i would do for the middle class. let's hear represent scans tep -- republicans step up. we heard that where he's saying, listen, these are the battle lines, let's fight. with the clip you played there he was very kind of belligerent, sort of very in your face with republicans. you don't like it, well, we won the last two elections and let's see what you can do. i think hillary as you pointed out, it's s

bush?l pros call this early fund dz raising part of it the first primary. well tonight we have a winner. george w. bush stunned everybody by disclosing he raised $36.2 million, that smashes all previous standing records. >> it was 37.2 when they tallied everything up. this was stunning. you look at this money today, 37 million, not that much. in 1999 it was shocking that george w bush raised this money and made a definitive statement and signal to republicans who were maybe on pt fence, it was time to get on board. look what happened. because he raised the money in the middle of 1999 look what it did. first of all, you take a poll and suddenly he was he was overwhelmingly ahead, 47 points ahead. look at this look what happens over the next two months. six different candidates john kasich lamar alexander, elizabeth bowldole, pat buchanan. because george w bush raised so much money and brought in so much early endorsements six of them dropped out without a single vote even being cast. it take

jeb bush, about fracking?uest: i am not sure about the specific lawsuit the caller is talking about. this is somewhat of a problem for jeb bush and it was a problem for mitt romney, in a lot of ways -- the sense that these candidates are a part of big business, the wall street crowd, and it plays into the republican party's perception that it is a party for the rich. of course, on the democratic side, hillary clinton has a big problem with this. she is very well-connected with wall street donors and a lot of the money comes from wall street. that is an issue with both parties. on the issue of fracking and energy, i think this is a great issue for republicans to hang onto. two and half years ago i spent a week in north dakota and it is a fascinating story happening -- it is really the wild west. interesting things moving -- happy with people moving out there with no connection to the oil industry. north dakota has some of the lowest unemployment rates highest growth rates in the economy out there. i think there

bush thing. in this current media environment there are too many , players in the game who were not there. >> you cannot stop the supermarket tabloids and drudge and other websites. if you work it in a disciplined in principle -- and principled way. the candidates will know what they have out there on their families. think of a pushback strategy ended -- and intimidation strategy that works. siblings are the hardest area they're adults but not so close to you that you have the same leverage. >> chelsea clinton is part of the campaign. three guys who might run for president are in the news because they said some interesting things. mike huckabee said women should not use the f-word in the workplace and lindsey graham suggested a connection between same-sex marriage and polygamy. bobby jindal said muslims coming to america are part of a conspiracy. in a crowded field when you are trying to stand out, is saying something controversial. more smart? >> it can be supersmart. he can rally the base and i

bush. the references to bush fatigue. your comments? guest: the bush name comes with some baggage, but i don't think there is any question that it is not positive in a republican primary. there is a double-edged sword. jeb has a strong record of his own as governor in florida. the message he delivered in san francisco i thought was excellent and an important counterpoint to some of the messages we heard coming out of iowa yesterday. with respect to that event, it is important to note that mitt romney and jeb bush, marco rubio and rand paul stayed away from it. those are arguably four of the five leading candidates in this race. they didn't want to be associated with steve king. they were leery of looking like they were pandering to the base. jeb bush said that not what my candidacy is going to be about. last time around, we had a series deficit of serious candidates. jeb bush adds depth to that field. that is impressive. host: your comments? the conversation with jeb bush? guest: i think he needs to come here to iowa. i would disagree w

the reality is, although the name is well known, governor bush himself, jeb bush, is not well known to of the market people. he is wanted in florida. to party insiders. he has an opportunity to introduce himself for the first time to most americans who may have heard his name, but don't know much about him. >> last question real quick. do you think the republicans have an easy chance to be hillary clinton or it will take a really strong nominee and a great race to beat her? >> i think would take a strong nominee in a great race, but it's most closer to being a 50-50 proposition than it would've been if you ask anybody a year ago or two years ago. i think the republican party look stronger after the last election. i don't think secretary clinton looks as nearly as indestructible as she did when she left the state department. we know she will have a powerful campaign. >> thank you for joining us. we will be right back after the break. ♪ >> one other thing i want to show everybody. i slowed with the attorney general of utah. he is a rising star with the rnc. he gave me a war dance. >> the

bush and maybe christie. but the lesser known candidates will be sighting that. >> and just so you know bret has be building the lanterns. >> a long day ahead. the white house is weighing n on the ownership of guantanamo bay. the next guest explains why united states presence is necessary on the island and also legal. we learn about the factors that caused the economy to grow at a slower than usual rate in the last three months of the year last year. we will get into that next. right! now you're gonna ask for my credit card - - so you can charge me on the down low two weeks later look, credit karma - are you talking to websites again? this website says 'free credit scores'. oh. credit karma! yeah, it's really free. look, you don't even have to put in your credit card information. what?! credit karma. really free credit scores. really. free. i could talk to you all day. push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a pa

i know jim bush is rusty. know he will have trouble getting through the republican nomination, but mitt romney got shellacked in 2012. for all of the reasons he was beaten in 2012, none of the things that kept him from winning has he done anything to fix, including his problem with hispanics. what is your actual answer? >> my actual answer is the tie is broken by this poor rollout. the romney people have conceded to us it hasn't been great. it hasn't improved either. you can imagine a world in which romney did not unveil this in a room with rich people in manhattan. his speech at the rnc meeting was pretty good, and there was a message, but republicans, even the ones intrigued, or not pleased with how it has gone. jeb has the stronger argument. >> i like it when we agree. benjamin netanyahu is coming to washington to address congress. usually president obama would also sit down with the visiting head of state, but this time, no meeting. the white house says it is too close to the israeli election. the question

jeb bush will go up there. but i think today, rand paul is the most likely one to win. >> i will go back to strengths. i mentioned christie on the way in. he has a lot of problems, chris christie am a going into this. romney was thinking about some of the vetting they'd did for him in the vice presidential selection process. there are problems for chris christie. i just can't help but think he is looking at those donors who mitt romney would have locked up. he has got to be happy. >> jeb bush is going to get more of them. >> we have more to the poll, check it out on bloomberg politics. >> enough about mitt romney for today. this next topic is brought to you by money. from there. 28 of this year to october 1 there are five key deadlines for the fiscal fight they could get messy. last night, one of the huffington post most prominent blah bloggers, barack obama, wants to spend the money. he wants to jack of spending by 7%, make his case two houston mcbride's pre-is going to hate this? every republican. in these li

you had bush 41 whose father was a u.s. senator, bush 43 whose dad was a president. you of course have arizona's own john mccain whose dad helped run the u.s. navy. you had mitt romney whose dad ran michigan, one of the largest car companies in the world. there is no coincidence this is a republican party that seems stuck in the past, and now here we have a coronation supposedly for jeb bush, and i just think like mitt romney said in his statement, republicans are going to be looking for someone new. >> it is okay for the republicans to look for somebody kn new. nobody doesn't run if he thinks he is going to win -- >> he is ahead in every poll. >> but rudy giuliani was once ahead in the polls and got one delegate after spending $50 million. he thought he could be elected president by becoming president of the state of florida. >> you don't buy it? >> no, if he thought he could win he would have run. >> he is not running because his wife does not want him to run. >> you think it's ann? >> yes, and he doesn't have a natural base. with christie in it, he doesn't have a

can you see a romney/bush clash? see that but i see this more being about romney himself. having been through this experience with my dad running, running for president is a humiliating experience. it's tough on families. a lot of people are scratching their heads saying what you really want to do this again? and what this comes down to is romney runs on ego. what he wants is control. and i think he had the sense that the party would sort of coalesce around him and say, you're the only one who can beat hillary clinton and jeb makes it obvious that he's thinking about running and you have donors fleeing to jeb bush and that's scary for someone like romney because it makes him feel like he's not as relevant, like he didn't have the power that he thought he had. this is more about romney wanting to stay relevant whether or not it's the best thing for him and his family or the country, for that matter. >> jonathan, at least on the surface, the similarities between jeb bush and romney are striking. they are both former go

bush foreign policy. building and that's going to be jeb bush's biggest problem in a general election, is how to differentiate himself from the george w. bush foreign policy. i don't think he can successfully. that's going to be his biggest hurdle. >> former governor ed rendell, thank you for your time tonight. >> my pleasure rev. >>> we're following breaking news, nbc news reporting that there is an active shooter incident in progress at the v.a. clinic in ft. bliss, texas. officials say the base is now on lockdown. both military and civilian police are in a stand-off with what is believed to be a lone shooter. no word yet on any casualties. more on this after the break. anks to the tools and help on experian.com. kaboom... well, i just have a few other questions. >>chuck, the only other question you need to ask is, "what else can you do for me?" i'll just take a water... get your credit swagger on. become a member of experian credit tracker and find out your fico score powered by experian. fico scores a

you know, jeb bush -- jeb bush is a front-runner but guess what, he's not a front-runner. he has a lot of work to do with republicans and so does everybody else. chris christie is vastly diminished from a year ago but that puts him on an even playing field. >> you say why not. it's a wide open field. you have the ideologically split area. same-sex marriage, the supreme court agrees to take that. there's no question whatever decision the court makes by june will be front and center. education, governor bush is for common core education standards. many would say no way. you have ideological steps that would play out plus this. increasingly they're not saying hillary clinton is not formidable. they look at 2014, where the president is standing. maybe they're deluding themselves. they think now more than if you ask them six months than a year ago that she's beatable. >> you saw that from romney's remarks on friday. they're trying to tie that to president obama's foreign policy and they believe they have an opportunity coming off the momentum in 2014 to contend for the white ho

mitt romney was doubling up jeb bush.y that lost the 2012 election for republicans and more than twice republicans we'd rather go with romney than jeb bush. this new poll did not include romney against bush. i think that's a key benchmark if you want to talk about a surge and republicans rallying around bush. are we at a point saying we'd rather have him than romney. take a look at this every other major national poll that has been taken that has paired romney and bush has shown the same thing. romney 21 romney 19. five-point lead, eight-point lead. that tells me i'm a little less certain that jeb bush has surged into the lead here. i think he has to prove a lot more. anyway, to talk more about the jeb bush/mitt romney dynamic. steve moore joins us. i have to swipe him in to get him on the screen. welcome this morning. i want to get to the jeb/romney question. the big news of mike huckabee making a pretty big step towards a presidential candidacy. i know there is a divide at conservative circles where he is very popular a

so he has gone with jeb bush. a lot of folks have tried to drive a one to one correlation saying the loss in iowa was the straw that broke the cappal's back and got romney out. they had been sort of thinking this through and beginning to have a more tempered approach to it several days ago. cochal is a huge get for jeb bush. it means he out of politics for 15 years can go into iowa with a seasoned organizer big boost for jeb not withstanding the let down it was for romney. >> it's eric. so i listened to that comment that he put out there very classy and nice. he stepped aside. you could feel it was emotional for him, it was a tough decision for he and his family. one of the lines that jumped out is he said i'm stepping aside and hopefully to have a new generation of republicans to take over. a lot of people are saying if he was stepping aside to make room for jeb bush that might not be the way he would do that. so a lot of other people are saying is it rubio or christie? what did he mean by the new generation? wha

he's against common core, because jeb bush, they're trying to pin common core on jeb bush, one of besthings that jeb bush ever did. >> that is a fascinating distinction. he takes conservative positions, but he says believes in immigration reform. he respects people in same-sex marriages. it seems like he hayes beliefs, where romney is so versatile here, governor. let me get back to mike on this, so versatile that he can put on anything he has to put on, whatever apparel is necessary to the occasion, he's ready to switch. >> i think, chris, that is going to be the rub here. you've got two presidential candidates -- campaigns that predate this. you've got this now movement, if you will, in a new direction, so he's going to be buffeted by two competing interests. one is having to go back and explain. you've run the catalog. and then he's going to have to look to his right. he said he's going to run to the right of jeb bush and presumably rand paul that's going to be interesting in and of itself. so this is a campaign, while it is in its infancy, looks interesting, will be procedure proble

but the romney camp is taking pops at jeb bush. the battle for the center of the republican party such as it is appears to be on. i guess the republican establishment think they can beat hillary. >>> also, federal prosecutors are recommending criminal charges against america's most famous general. general petraeus. the question, did general petraeus actually leak anything important? >>> plus, president obama's calling for tuition-free community college. house democrats want a tax cut for the middle class paid for by the rich. it looks like the dems are finally getting into income inequality. >>> i'm going to finish tonight with a case of selma. voting rights for all americans. this is "hardball." the place for politics. flo: hey, big guy. i heard you lost a close one today. look, jamie, maybe we weren't the lowest rate this time. but when you show people their progressive direct rate and our competitors' rates you can't win them all. the important part is, you helped them save. thanks, flo. okay, let's go get you an ice cream cone,

jeb bush definitely jeb bush definitely has the experience to be president.ibly strong economic record and he did exceptionally well with hispanics. hispanics. if you look at if you look at his second race for governor he got 14% with african-americans and he tied with women. those are those are all key constituencies that republicans need to do better better with. con con ser va tifts have some real cause for concern with his stance on stance on immigration and common core. it's his ability or it's his ability or inability to explain that to the explain that to the primary voter voter that will make or break the the candidacy. democrats have democrats have problems with -- >> hang in >> hang in there. i want to i want to bring mark in here. she brings up she brings up some important things. th if you get through a if you get through a primary as with jeb with jeb bush, he has a decent shot shot against hillary? >> no >> no kidding. i i have a lot of friends that are in the in the conservative movement and they all they all put their money on jeb bush because

that's where jeb bush may have a problem. you're right, it's not to the scale of mitt romney, but it's not like ross perot who back in 1992 could point to an electronics company that created a lot of jobs and products that people can identify. it's difficult for average voters to identify, well, okay he's raising funds. he's doing it with chinese help and plowing it back into this fund. it seems like he's just trading with pieces of paper. >> if you go back to the last election, and once it fades from memory, the concept of the 47% the mitt romney recording, the idea that we were bifurcated by class and income in many cases in voting, this is becoming a bigger deal. >> it's becoming a bigger deal and the emphasis will be when the first quarter report comes down, about where did he get all his money. and he's on pace to raise $100 million in the first quarter. the stories will shift from these strange connections in terms of private equity to well, who are all these people who are funding his campaign and you will see that it

he sort of went at bush saying bush's business background is going to be the problem after all that mitt last time around. >> well, look, you're going to have two big business candidates, candidates of wall street, candidates of big corporate boardrooms, that does mean -- >> hillary and who else? >> whoever is going to be the next president, she's going going to have some very important decisions to make about big business. you know, i do think -- >> did you just come out for elizabeth warren?. >> it leaves a big opening in the republican party and, well, let's al t talk about the democratic party with regard to the nonestablishment nonbig business, non-wall street wing of both parties. >> i'm glad you brought that up. i want to bring this to you, james carville. there was a fascinating focus group this week run by peter harden, colorado. dan balz writes about it in the "washington post." 12 voters, a small focus group, independents, democrats and republicans, the one thing they can seem to agree on they're not really excited about bush or clinton about the establishment. >> to be fair t

he's among the candidates along with romney and bush.i think he's lost a little bit of establishment among the donor class. >> why? >> the bridgegate. this is why it made his iowa appearance this weekend so necessary and important because he's got to move sort of beyond the establishment to the conservative base, and i think he -- >> he's a very good campaigner. >> but he doesn't translate to other parts of the country. >> finally the other guy i want to talk about is rick perry from texas, a fabulous economic story to tell. didn't do so fabulous last time around. do you see him as a threat to hillary clinton, kirsten? >> no i don't. >> why? >> he's a likeable person he's obviously done some good things in texas, but i didn't -- the last time around, i didn't find him to be that compelling of a candidate and i don't know why he would be that radically different this time around. >> he and kasich from ohio have the two best economic stories to tell americans. >> but they have to be able to tell the story. >> that's right. and to kirsten's

bush clinton, bush.ow clinton. >> well, hillary, there hasn't been a republican white house without a bush since 1977 and we're ready to be back. >> let me shoot straight with you, jeb. bill and i are dead broke. we need a place to stay. 1600 pennsylvania ave is calling me home. maybe we can work something out. we both agree on so many issues. bigger government, common core and amnesty for illegal immigrants. >> well, we've both got problems. you've got problems with grass roots and i've got all of those damn conservatives. what's say we make a deal. sorry, hillary, i have to go. mitt keeps calling. >> matt lewis grinning away there in washington. >> okay. i thought the hillary impersonation obviously much better than the jeb. >> yeah. >> they got to find a good jeb, you know? i don't know how you do him. it's easier to do bush in this. jeb is tougher to do. i think it's funny. you know who knows how long -- at some point we have to talk -- you know, rand has to have sub substance substance. i thought it

about jeb bush. forgive me, governor. is he hillary clinton or is he bill clinton? hillary clinton in 2008 ran, she was formidable on paperu.s. like jeb bush is now, she had a great organization, could raise the money like jeb bush is now but she had an ideology problem, voted for authorization to go in war in iraq, jeb bush has the ideology problem on immigration and education or is he bill clinton who ran against his own party said democrats have to be different. we're wrong on some issues and we have to change if we're going to win and his viability as a general election candidate helped him survive some inner party challenges? >> i think he wants to be a bill clinton. but they're going to do their darnedest to make him the hillary clinton and i think that's what he -- remember he's talked about wanting to run with joy. >> with joy. >> a real desire. he can see the path from march 2016 on. what he can't live with is between now and march 2016 and clearing the decks and putting all the e-mails out