joining me now, chris cillizza of managing editor of post politics.com and susan page. e you struck by the silence out there among republicans about chris christie? >> i think it's notable for sure, andrea. and there are probably -- there are a lot two reasons. let's say that. one is that christie's style, even prior to this debate over is he a bully or brash or blunt, it works in new jersey and helped to get him re-elected in new jersey but it can rub politicians the wrong way. the other part, andrea, everyone is waiting to see if there's any other stuff out there. is there another -- christie said unee quifically, he wasn't involved. he staked his political career on that pledge. other politicians will not sort of just jump in to defend him when we were really only about 48 hours out from the revelation that his deputy chief of staff was involved in this, which when the week started we had no idea about. >> lindsay graham among others said that reinforces a narrative that's troublesome about the guy. he's kind of a bully. i don't see how people close to him would have

chris cillizza, there is no road map from where they are going to store these data. and if the president is saying we need to have the metadata but we're not going to collect it -- we'll collect it but not going to store it on government property but at the same time most privacy advocates or many privacy advocates would acknowledge that it's not necessarily better to have the telephone companies have it. we haven't been -- we certainly have enough information recently that credit card and other information can be penetrated very easily. >> well, two things, the first is to chuck's point, this is really a process argument. it's not should the data be collect the but it's who should hold the data after it's been collected. number two, you just heard ben rhodes talk about this. it's not clear who will hold the data. will it be these phone companies and will they create another entity whose job solely it is to hold the data. is there some way outside of the government that it exists now -- that's a whole other hornet's nest in terms of who wants to hold the data much le

joining me now for our daily fix is chris cillizza and live in trenton, new jersey, nbc's kelly o'donne o'donnell. kelly, today we learned there's going to be a special investigative committee solely focused on the bridge with subpoena power. you sat down with the assemlyman who will lead it, john wisniewski, how significant is this announcement and what can we expect? >> i just came from the announcement that they made and raced over here to be able to tell you first, peter, what they've said is they created this super committee which means it is pulling together both members of both parties and they will have this special power but also hire outside counsel to pursue this investigation. as you know, legislative bodies have committees that have certain areas of jurisdiction and basically say these issues have become so significant and you are potentially so far reaching they need to create a separate way to pursue this. they also told us that because of the calendar of how they do business here, things will slow down a little bit. on thursday, the new assembly begins a new session and

joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza, nbc senior political editor mark murray, associated press white house correspondent julie pace and on the phone kelley o'donnell in new jersey joining us as well. kelly, first to you, what did chris christie do today with the homeowners and what are we expected to hear from the special committee? >> well, in man hawken, it was a day for chris christie to re assure people that his focus is fixed on getting job done they need to recover from sandy and work at hand. while he never directly mentioned bridge scandal, he alluded to it several times saying that his focus would be on the work at hand, that he would not be distracted. he acknowledged there were more cameras in the room then there would be for a sandy event, as he called it. he was definitely speaking to more than one audience, local mayors and officials and local residents who have been terribly affected by the devastation of the storm and a larger political message. he said he is going to serve for eight years with that focus and mentioned at the end of the oath he takes for o

. >> chris cillizza joining ugss well. was this the fix for chris christie or does have he a lot of questions to answer after almost two hourds. >> to echo mark, the most interesting thing -- zero wiggle room if anything that comes out in any way shape or form disputes i didn't know anything or had nothing to do with this and then learned about it at ten of 9:00 on wednesday morning narrative. if nothing else comes out beyond that, it is certainly a bump in the road, chris christie would rather not have this on the march to the presidential candidacy at least. it's survivable. if anything that comes out that disputes that narrative, to show -- that's probably it for him. he's making a big gamble and he feels he is on the right side of this thing and he's willing to take the hit that comes with how could you possibly be so out of the loop because that hit is a lot less bad politically than the you knew about this and you didn't say anything. >> kelly o'donnell is in trenton and had a front row seat. kelly, i want to play the

this is something that has been a hillary clinton problem for a long time, which chris cillizza wrote about in the piece you were citing, the idea that she is just full of calculation, that everything she does is about politics and this underscores that. we'll see how well this plays out in terms of who hears what. it's somewhat going to depend on what the white house says about this, what hillary clinton herself says about this there is a way to deal with it. but on its face, it's not great. >> let me go back to what try to study, governor, and you exemplify, which is you have to be who you are, but you also have to grow. and people have to see something developing. when you see a picture of paul mccartney, he looks different than he did ten years ago. he doesn't try to look like the same person. people develop new ways of saying things. they learn and they show they have learned. they mature how. is hillary clinton going to look different as we use the phrase 2.0 as opposed to 1.0, not like tricky dick nixon changing himself mysteriously and incredibly. how is she going to show the

joining me now, chris cillizza and managing editor of postpolitics.com and casey hunt live at the rncmeetings. casey, let's talk about the calendar. they are trying to consolidate the primaries and also move up the convention. how is that likely to turn out? >> they are trying to minimize damage to the nominee and trying to compress the calendar when mitt romney ran in 2012, he ran out of money through the summer and pummeled on the air waves by the obama campaign and never quite recovered. they are also talking about states that want to move earlier and adjusting how delegates are awards to minimize damage to the ultimate nominee. also as a side note as well in the early stages of deciding where the national convention is going to be in 2016. we've got several cities following all over themselves to be the city that gets picked. bob dole came out actually for kansas city at the reception last night. denver is handing out broncos gear and las vegas is paying for the wi-fi. >> we've all -- we're in kansas city have the 1976 convention, that would be a second time around for kansas city

joining me now from our daily fix, chris cillizza, managing editor of postpolitics.com and luke russert is he house republican retreat in maryland. there is going to be a political fallout of all of this, people have to pay the price for such terrible management. >> let me first apologize for my voice. this cold weather has me under the weather but you're exactly right. reed's appearance on morning joe was very telling. he kept saying the pictures you're showing, those aren't the city of atlanta. those are the highways. that's not a great explanation. it may blow over but you noted we've seen this happen in places like new york and happened in washington, d.c. where these -- i don't want to say unexpected but school scope of these weather related problems really causes political damage. why andrea? because most people are in a car sitting in a car, can't get home, worried about their kids caught at school. it's an issue that touches everyone, the weather. they are very few issues out there that everyone relates to. >> and it's so relatable because it's so real. we've all been in trouble

chris cillizza still ranked him as number one in the republican field for the most likely to win this thing, with the best shot of capturing the 2016 nomination. according to cillizza. he is smart. here is a quote here. a sign of both the considerable strengths he retains in the race and the lack of an obvious challenger to his dominance. assuming that no other revelations emerge linking him to the closure of several lanes of traffic. this is one of those caveats. of course, this pill makes you arms fall off and everything else on television, the exception of possible florida governor jeb bush whose best position to build the coalition of major donors, party activists and gop elites necessary to win the nomination. howard fineman is editorial director of "the huffington post" and both are at prized msnbc political analysts. i want to start with howard. by the way, you guys take all the time. i'm going to listen for once. i'm really curious about what you both say. that is this. how does it change the field any thought christie was the only guy that could go in the race head to head wi

joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza and managing editor of postpolitics.com and susan page, you're both parents of two sons, differing ages but we certainly have the parental issue here. chris, would you want your boys to play football? >> no, absolutely not. my wife and i talked about this and i would say, look, andrea, my wife is a coach at the collegiate level. we are not someone who is adverse to sports. we love sports. i love sports. but i don't -- it seems to me that the studies and what we know now are close to conclusive and i have a feeling that nothing that is going to come out in the near future or the not so near future is going to contradict the idea that smashing your body into someone else's body repeatedly is a bad thing for you. i played basketball as a kid. i hope my kids play basketball. but you know, soccer even, even though i know there's concussion issues there. i just don't think -- my wife and i talked about this many times. i don't see how i would be willing to put them out there to play football. >> and susan, we've never talked about this. your bo

to howard's point about the internals in the democratic party, your colleague, gene, chris cillizza in "the washington post" made the point that the president has lost the most in this past year among democrats and independents. among republicans he dropped only four points because his approval was frankly already so low. but among independents and democrats, he was down double-digits. and according to cillizza quote, add it all up and you can conclude two things. one, obama's best prapsz erhaps strategy is to move things in the near term. he will find himself well short of the lofty ratings of reagan and clinton in their second terms. to make that glass half full, you would say well, he can pick up ground with democrats surely, perhaps within independents. >> well, i think he probably can. as you noted, he couldn't get much lower with republicans. so you can kind of toss that aside. but i'm not familiar with the internals on that poll as to exactly why democrats seem to be disillusioned. my guess would be that it has a good deal to do with is the awkward horrible roll-out of the affor

we're delighted to have chris, chris cillizza today. he's washington's premier political journalist. he's with "washington post." chris covers congress, the white house and all things political for the fix, his political blog that we all probably read day. chris came the "washington post" from roll call, and other washington publications i'm sure we all read as well. prior to joining roll call chris covered governors races in house races at "the cook political report" and wrote a column on politics or congress daily so please join me in welcoming chris today. [applause] >> then has decades of experience in politics and this international recognized for working as a campaign strategy, message development, targeting and persuasion mail, which i'm not sure what i know what they do so i would like to learn if we could. and 1982, and formed targeted creative communications, a republican direct marketing company based in alexandria, virginia. t. cq has worked with campaigns in virtually every state, this past flights include bush-cheney in 200

chris cillizza and usa today washington bureau chief, susan page. on the "washington post" reporter, they have been all over this story for months and months as this investigation progressed. let's talk about that plea deal. they pleaded not guilty it will and won't appear in court until next summer with all of the pretrial maneuvering that's going to take place. but why is your reporting why is the "washington post" reporting that he rejected that deal, because he believes he's not guilty or they have a different strategy? >> first of all, thank you for the acknowledgement, i would say it's roz who has done the vast majority of reporting and done amazing work. i think the answer is what you said and its kind of in front of your face politically speaking, which is bob mcdonnell didn't want to plead to anything. and the not guilty plea affirms that but i think it is easy to look at the gifts and say, golly, that -- he really overstepped the line. and politically speaking, no matter what happens politically, he is in a very bad place. legally, remembe

chris cillizza moderates the discussion hosted by the group center forward. p center forward. >> if everyone could take a seat, we would get started with the program. thank you all for coming today to the first quarterly event or 2014. i know it's bad weather. we originally federal the store late last year and it snowed. we originally scheduled this event for late last year. academicgs together find a common ground and common sense solution the challenges. i would like to first introduce our moderator. we are delighted to have chris cillizza today. he's a premier political journalist. the washingtonh post. he covers congress, the white house, and all things white house in his blog, the fix. roll call.m the cookthat, aat political report. join me in welcoming him today. [applause] is republicant strategist dan hazelwood. he is nationally recognized for his work in the areas of targeting andegy, persuasion theodore and -- persuasion. i'm not sure if i know what that is. targeted creative communications a republican based marketing company in alexandria, virgini

that theory about equality is helpful to obama because one of the places he's lost ground is chris cillizza pointed out in the "washington post" is among democrats. he's got to shore up his core support before he rises elsewhere. but i think that if obamacare starts working reasonably well, and you showed that big number of 9 million, and he'll probably go above that nice round number of 10 million, then it becomes harder, i think for republicans to go at it. they are still going to go at it and find other ways to attack it. but they really need some answers to the problems large numbers, majority of americans face out there. and i think that's what some of these reform conservatives are trying to push them to do. >> answers to solution -- solutions to problems. those would be nice, would they not? mark halperin, i expect to see your time on this show -- >> got an extraordinary shot of the empty chair across the studio. >> that's what the people want to say and "washington post's" e.j.dionne. >> thanks. >> the never ending battle against the affordable care act. we'll discuss the contracept

. >> chris cillizza and chuck todd, we'll all be watching together tonight. thanks so much. from capitol hill on tonight's statue of the union. >>> 1964, one quarter of all americans were living in poverty and americans were fighting in vietnam. a war time president declared a new domestic war. >> unfortunately many americans live on the outskirts of hope. some because of their poverty and some because of their color. and all too many because of both. our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity. and this administration today, here and now declares unconditional war on poverty in america. [ applause ] if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what m

chris cillizza explained today why this is not a repeat when clinton was a favorite.on't assume because she lost the lead lose it again. they had their own basis of support. well, according to cillizza, quote, while obama could look at early 2008 polling and see a path to victory if he could consolidate all of the anti-hillary votes behind him, that looks like the path of 20ish%. put simply, the opposition to the idea of her as nomination in the water was clear and vocal in the run-up to 2008. it simply does not exist now. too small to cause her in agitas. wonder where he got that. and for any politician looking to take a flyer on challenging clinton in the 2016 democratic primary. let me get to the bottom of this argument. it seems to me according to cillizza, there is not enough anti-hillary feeling. >> right. >> free-floating negativity. if you add it all up. >> elizabeth warren on the left, and you say so what, you can't package that for a victory against her because there is not enough of it. >> right. she had a formidable field in 2008, apart from obama. our vot

to maggie haverman's exclusive reporting on politico today and joining us for the daily fix, chris cillizzarespondent kelly o'donnell and maggie haberman. what are the key indicators as far as you're concerned? the meeting in her home here in washington with political experts, the truce between the super pacts or do you think it's the cautionary advice from two of her closest advisers. i think it's all of the above. it's not certain that hillary clinton is going to run for president. i really don't. i know i'm in the minority on that. i do think that people are doing a lot of things on her behalf. some of it with her approval to begin to prepare for that. that includes looking at the work ready for hillary is doing which has been preparatory in terms of field, they reached a truce with a bigger super pact that helps to line up major donors next year. i think a lot of things are being put in place. i think it's important to remember with super pacts this is not in the direct control of the potential candidate. there's a limit to how much prework they can do at a certain point if they becomes

. -- chris cillizza today. is washington's -- is with "washington post." chris comforts august, white house an open political for the fixed, his political law. he came to washington those from roll call and other washington publications i'm sure we all read as well. prior to join roll call chris covered governors races and house races at the cook political report. so please join me in welcoming chris today. [applause] >> our first panel today is republican -- dan hazelwood. he is recognized for his work in the areas of campaign strategy, message to open, persuasion which i'm not sure what i mean what they do so would like to learn today if we could. in 1992, dan formed targeted creative communications, republican direct marketing company based in alexandria, virginia. it's in virtually every state. is as close to the bush-cheney in 2004 and 2000, dole in 96 and so senate and governor races. and over five dozen members of the house of representatives. please join me in welcoming dan. [applause] >> our next unless is david wasserman, he is the house editor fo

we are delighted to have chris cillizza today. he's a premier political journalist. the washingtonh post. he covers congress, the white house, and all things white house in his blog, the fix. roll call.m the cookthat, aat political report. join me in welcoming him today. [applause] is republicant strategist dan hazelwood. he is nationally recognized for his work in the areas of targeting andegy, persuasion theodore and -- persuasion. i'm not sure if i know what that is. targeted creative communications a republican based marketing company in alexandria, virginia. it works with campaigns in every state. it's past clients include bush cheney, dole kep, and over dozen members of the house of representatives. please join me in welcoming down. our next panelist is david wasserman from the cook political report, a dream job for a lot of us in the room. he is responsible for handicapping and analyzing house races and also serves with the national journal. 2011, the cook political report pass comprehensive 2012 redistricting outlook. please join me in welcoming down. -- dan.