tonight chris christie's re-election has everything to do with chris christie, and nothing to do with his democratic opponent. it has a little bit of the -- but chris christie, think about this, in winning tonight, and i'm guessing, we'll see what the final margin is, it's probably going to be in the range of 20 points, maybe a little bit bigger. not since 1985, before tonight had a republican won a state wide election in new jersey and got more than 30% of the vote. that's the territory he's in right now. >> you took the words right out of my mouth. it hasn't been since 1985 that republicans -- chris christie, there was a quote from the former adviser to the president who said, democrats are going to live to regret not going harder after chris christie in this election. do you think that's true? >> there's always a republican party that will go hard against chris christie if he goes to higher office. christi didn't have any kind of a challenger. christy's numbers were so good that democrats didn't think -- they weren't going to put any muscle into that race. i think, i mean i remain

are you going to join the cult of chris christi? >> chris christie's going to win unanimously. but there's a couple other things too. what a lot of people are going to try to write tomorrow was that it was a moderate one. and the republicans are going to move to the center. i don't think that's what happened. a reformer won in new jersey. someone who was going to bring fiscal sanity back. the ultimate paradox, though, as people start talking about 2016 is what sometimes makes you a national candidate doesn't necessarily make you somebody who can win in places like south carolina or iowa or -- >> we'll get to that. i want to press you on this stuff. i think there's a big myth about chris christi. this guy has the worst bond rating of almost any state. jobs are down. probably taxes are up. he's got this big personality. there's not much behind it. he's never really been in a heavyweight fight. do you think he's going to be able to trick republicans into supporting him and collapse in the general? >> i think it's premature to talk about anybody. we went through this. anybody who t

christie is not doing that. he's not tribalist. >> i agree about the threshold moment for a lot of voters for christie and the hug and the president in the wake of sandy, that image created a threshold that christie could get over, no matter what the substance -- it was ironic to me tonight, the governor was evoking the spirit of sandy. if you look into the record of sandy rebuilding in the state of new jersey, there is a lot to not like about the record of how they have rebuilt that state. you have $850 million in federal money and no one knows where it's going. yet he's standing up there saying the spirit of sandy, because the atmospherics for voters, what it communicated about where his heart is and what his beliefs are about that moment so transcended necessarily the details of what is happening with rebuilding in that state. >> it's way behind schedule. would it be worse if they didn't get along? what's interesting is that new jersey also has, he's smart, he's shrewd. they don't mind being known as the stat

christie need to do? does he need to become divorced in some formal way from the president of the united states? does he need to say offensive things? does he need tro perhaps introduce a few racist gibes or introduce the idea of birtherism? you laugh, but isn't that necessary? >> chris christie who was able to win in large part because he could push off the tox republican brand, 57% of the voters in the exit polls said they do not like the republican party but they separate him from it. he's going to be head of the republican governors association. he's clearly going to run for president. when he has to go to iowa, he will have to do a few things to gain credibility. look what marco rubio had to morph himself into. he had to turn against sonia sotomayor and against the dream act and every other form of immigration reform. he tried to softly jump toward immigration reform and got shellacked. she's now on the sidelines just wishing he could be chris christie's friend. if he doesn't want to be marco rubio,

christie's tea party numbers have gotten worse. speaking of governor christie, he gets some company today. he's appearing at several stops with suzanna martinez. is this something they could only dream of? live in new jersey kicking off his day moments from now. . if they could dream up a republican ticket in 2016, it would look like that. >> the long time consultant to the governor and previously giuliani. it's like a test lab for 2016 being on the road with governor christie over the weekend. we have seen the and they are waiting to see governor christie where he is posing with people and taking photos and doing that big personality stuff that he does on the campaign trail. he is also talking to us along the way and i asked him about all of this 2016 buzz. here's what he had to say. >> it sounds like you are planning for a message beyond new jersey. is that fair? >> i'm not planning for it. it's inevitable. people try to discern things about what they mean of that moment and for the future. i think what people are going to see is

like chris christie. chris christie telling our jake tapper today he is a good conservative. to you what is he? >> i think he's a reformer who broadly represents conservative values. he's pro-life. he took on the teachers union. he's done a very good job of working to change trenton, the state capital. in many ways he's a lot like scott walker of wisconsin. i look to that one poll that andrew raised about how many people think he's really presidential material. i tried to imagine in 1992 if you had run that poll in arkansas, two years before the presidential election, what percent would have said bill clinton was presidential. or if you'd gone to georgia in 1975 and said what percent think jim any carter is presidential, i think that's a very hard poll for local folks. because they can't quite imagine the majesty of the white house with their particular guy. >> there's chris christie obviously and his family very happy acknowledging the crowd. as soon as he begins to talk -- >> it was not that he would be

so the point where you talked extensively to chris christie. just for example we tried very hard to get an interview with terry mcauliffe. he was not giving any interviews to any national media. actually very few to local virginia media for awhile because they wanted to very much keep him on message. and this message has been, as gloria was just talking about you were talking about his republican opponent ken cucinnelli was simply too extreme. and other way he did it, frankly he got lucky with the republican strategy that ultimately led to a government shutdown. where we are right now is knee deep in federal workers, people who were personally affected by the shutdown. and they, even some probably more registered republicans, traditional republican voters said that they're just sort of done with that wing of the republican party and swung over to terry mcauliffe. that probably at the end of the day helped mcauliffe and the millions and millions of dollars that he was able to raise personally that the clip tons, his very very good friends, were

clinton and chris christie. by a narrow margin they said we'd take hillary clinton. >> we'll wait to hear from chris christie. christie headquarters in asbury park you're looking there. the governor expected at the microphone any minute now. we'll bring you his comments. first let's check in with dana bash and hillary clinton call live headquarters in virginia. a lot of excitement there. >> that is an understate. people here really thought they were going to be feeling and seeing and they were going to be able to bask in a couple hours ago. it was closer than even mcauliffe's closest supporters and campaign workers thought it will be. but a victory is a victory. and the reality of this race is that people here in virginia didn't love either of the candidates. i mean, if you look at sort of the general anecdotes from all the reporting that went on here, it's not like a new jersey where there was -- it was and is a big political figure. this was a situation where people here seemed to be decided between two people

so this is the dynamic christie is now fronting. i think christie has to take his time.on't do this on their timetable or their turf. he's now set the stage. and he can define the direction of this party almost indirectly around these folks without having to play the game they want him to play. >> let me try something. i love that thinking there. let me ask you michael duffy, test me on this. here's my theory. if they thought they were going to beat him down the road next time, they would need him in the general come 2016. if they want a confident victory over him, they would be seducing him a little, saying nice things. if they fear him in the meantime, they'd be attacking him now. it seems the real statement is we don't think we can beat this guy unless we can attack him. your thoughts. >> the smart play was to just stroke him and keep him alive so you can chew him up later. but to do it now just underscores how effective christie's message is in politics. the way he's running the campaign. going into minority districts. he doesn't get all of those votes, but he gets s

chris christie? >> hmm, he brought together a nice coalition but his message was very different from some of the other republicans there. he's focused on governing. he's invested in education. we saw late in the campaign he switched his campaign on instate tuition for answer authorized immigrants and he did quite well among latino voters there. he is a governor who basically based his reputation on i want to governor. i don't want to be an ideologue. this is a good mention in the state , and it gives him an opportunity to get beyond the polarization and claim action for governoring. >> david sirota, how does a guy like chris christie, with the acceptance speech, we get things done. they should be watching this in washington. how does that play in denver? how does this play across the country? >> chris christie figured out what ronald reagan figured out. he's making sure he's positioning himself for president. the way he has done that is by instate stressing the parts of his record that he finds commo

and chris christie has problems besides not being a tea partier. mean, when you really dig into chris christie's record, he's not the perfect presidential candidate. all of the divisions within the party aside. my guess is going to get a challenge from the center also. but yeah, you're right. the rest of the party's going to be divided between five people on the tea party wing. but they're going to give him a lot of room to see reasonable. >> michael, to ron's point, i've written on this subject noting that which makes him immensely popular in new jersey, those every man characteristics and qualities and outbursts, if you string them together in a two-minute reel, people might start to question his temperance to be commander in chief. >> they absolutely will. and not just string them in a two-minute reel, but put it out on the campaign trail surrounded by packs of reporters, hecklers. when you're out in iowa, new hampshire, those early states you don't have a huge bubble around you. people can shout in your face stand up and try to provoke you, and

i'm going to tell the truth, whether i like christie or dislike christie, i want to talk about what ilistically the size of his win means and what he can do. i don't worry about stuff like this. >> the authors of this new book will be here in "the situation room" on thursday. you've got a new book out, too called "breakout." we'll talk about that. van, the president keeps changing the line if you like your health policy, you can keep it. if you like your doctor, you can keep it. now there's a nuance, a significant one. a big "if" in there. listen to what he said. >> if you have or had one of these plans before the affordable care act came into law and you really like that plan, what we said was you could keep it if it hasn't changed since the law's passed. >> that was a new clause that was added. we didn't hear that in 2009, 2010 when he was winning support for the legislation. jay carney had this explanation when he was questioned by jim acosta. listen to this. >> so if the president could go back, he would use the same words again? >> well, the president, as awesomely powerful as th

christie is winning because he is chris christie. in virginia, and another cycle or two, we will be describing virginia as a blue state. we will not be calling it a tossup or purple straight that state anymore. terry mcauliffe is benefiting from the demographic changes in that state and he got a very right-wing candidate that alienated northern virginia. in virginia, i would disagree with what kellyanne said that the virginia races in any way a referendum on ideology. none of those issues that buono tried to raise became a part of the campaign. the campaign ended -- >> vomited on. >> that campaign ended during standing. it was over. he won election by the way he dealt with sandy, he won by embracing obama, which a lot of people that conservatives did not like. he won by being bipartisan. there was never a race after that moment. i think that christie's success as a 2016 candidate will depend on next year's midterm. the model here is george w. bush in 2000. remember after 1998 -- the opening for george bush was the disastrous midterm

chris christie got a second term. in new york, an overwhelmingly democratic city collects its first democratic mayor in more than 20 years. bill is the winner in that race. joining me now is chris matthews, the host of hardball here on en masse and bc. can we talk about that chris christy speech? if your have not seen it, i will play a little bit of chris christy's acceptance speech. i have never seen a more explicit launching of a presidential campaign. >> no, it is. >> it was unbelievable. take a look at chris christy's acceptance speech. >> we will show you that when we have that in. what was your reaction? >> i thought it was about unity, and i thought it was about the fact that it's implicit. it will have divided government for as long as the eye can see. we will have divided government with one party controlling the white house and the other at least one house and congress. to make a dynamic government, it will have to be a deal making government. not just here, extreme combat over and over again. i think he was

if you drill down into chris christie's victory. it was a victory for chris christie.hat's pretty much it. he has an outside personality. no question about that. people are grateful to him the i am from a state where i jubdz stand, gratefulness after a governor has, you know come in and, helped, their people after a natural disaster look hurricane sandy was. look at the results, the rest of the state. the state senate, despite millions of dollars being poured in. didn't lose a single seat in the state senate. the voters passed it in new jersey last night. you have a regard he can't brag about. the highest foreclosure rate in the country. in terms of issues important to women. and middle-class, working families. chris christie is wrong on every single one of the issues. >> the mayor of herschellville, endorsed terry mcauliffe. he said, "our party in many respects in virginia has been taken over by a side show, the party of the reagans big tent, has been reduced by some to a dunce cap." we can do better than that. >> interesting how, sure i will get hate tweets saying th

>> so chris christie is running on the theme "i can do it". >> chris christie emerged from last night's election as a frontrunner for the 2016 republican election. and he got there in no small part, thanks to hurricane sandy. but don't take our word for it. >> my pledge to you tonight is i will govern with the spirit of sandy. >> the spirit of sandy that christie evoked so many times last night is one thing. but the facts of the recovery are something else entirely. new jersey received billions of dollars in federal aid to rebuild, and 1.8 billion of that came from the u.s. department of housing and urban development to get people back in their homes. to get that money, christie promised that 60% of the funds would be reserved for low to moderate income households. right now, it appears that chris christie is breaking that promise. of course, we don't know for sure. >> fair share housing center, an advocate group says they're frustrated, and talks of the failure to provide the most basic documents, on why thousands of families have been denied the most basic necessaries since sandy. >>

hillary clinton or chris christie? looking at that angle, the question people put out there, if they could win new jersey in 2016 in the general election, that's gravy. the state they're telling republicans and they want the political world to think is pence. they think chris christie could beat hillary clinton or another republican and pick off oh pennsylvania. >> even though the clintons have that history in pennsylvania. >> but pennsylvania on paper is the one that -- romney got down to 3.5, 4% last time. pence is the one that's a lot more of those sort of -- white working class voters that -- can be peeled off from the -- i do wants to say something quickly in barbara buono's defense. she got served up by her own party. i don't think this is a problem of barbara buono of being a deficient candidate. i think she did the best she could. she was working really hard on this campaign and her own party sold her out. that's part of the success of christie. the democratic party -- where was chris christie last night? with

i think the whole idea of chris christie -- this idea of chris christie the moderate republican who isbsolute nonstarter with the tea party right and republican party, i think that might be overstated a little bit. i think christie's moderation to the extent he's seen and perceived as a moderate, a lot is stylistic. a lot has to do -- a lot has to do with the fact he embraced president obama at the heart of superstorm sandy in new jersey. i think when you get down to it and look at christie's positions on the issues, think back a few years when rudy giuliani was running on the republican side trying to pass off with the republican base. ruddy giuliani, pro-choice, gun control, out front calling for immigration reform. if you look at those issues, hot button issues to the tea party right to the conservative movement what really stands out about chris christie is he checks off their boxes. this is a governor overwhelmingly re-elected in a blue state who calls himself pro-life. this is a governor opposed to gay marriage. a governor not out there on gun control like ruddy giuliani is. chri

a landslide for chris christie. he wins re-election as new jersey's governor already thinking about running for president from 2016. a very different story in the gubernatorial election in virginia. a lot of red for ken cucinnelli. but because of the blue in the washington, d.c. suburbs in northern virginia terry mcauliffe eeking out a narrow victory thanks to his is up sport in the suburbs. exit polls, again a gender gap in presidential politics. favored president obama last time. christie will make the case even against a woman democratic opponent he won the women's vote a majority of the electorate, handily carried the men's vote. chris christie will make that his calling card as he looks to 2016. among african-americans, yes, his democratic opponent won. but look at this. remember barack obama won more than 9 in 10 african-american votes. chris christie getting 21% of that vote, dramatically up doubling that vote for four years ago. he'll make the case that's much better than john mccain and mitt romney. in lati

but if you look at christie here, i mean, christie didn't really run on an ideology. we talk about him as a moderate republican. in terms of his message. you heard it in the speech. much more about leadership. and telling you the truth. also way being forth right with you. that is much more of his message. if you can connect with voters on that level, then you are able to gloss over a lot of the ideological differences which he has with voters in his state and which he will have with the republican primary electorate. >> go ahead. >> i would say something. what crystal said, a little harsher terms. what democrats didn't do. they didn't muddy chris christie up. the truth is. there is a lot of stuff. i won't do a book plug. >> we'll do this tomorrow night. >> there is stuff in chris christie's record that has not gotten that much scrutiny in new jersey. democrats did not mess him up. you think about, muddy him up very much. think about the last republican, every election, and ran up a big margin like this. democrats failed to muddy up. george w. bush. that was the model

i wanted everyone to say christie.ked at the map and thought where. >> still saying marco rubio, ted cruz, rand paul. did you get a sense of what their preerts were as they were saying this in terms of their answers. >> i think people know with 24 hour media cycle and media beast that he's going to have a really hard time as some of the things that come out of his mouth are not pc and that will be hard to overcome. >> there were texans in 2000 who voted for pat buchanan, steve forbes, didn't vote for bush. it's true scepticism from the left and right will be a challenge for him. if you're governor and running for president you want polls to show your states are behind you. there are lots that won't be for chris christie, lots. >> the idea it's a squish. it's backed up by a solidly conservative record. >> i don't think he's a switch. i don't know if people examined the death of conservatism or broker bipartisan reform or legislation with democrats. >> sure, no, i wasn't suggesting you said that. i think he'll have a str

christie has shown the way. the question again is whether the republican activist, conservative, tea party, whether they are willing to embrace somebody as moderate conservative as chris christie. >> coming up next, chris chris tee's big win and jack tapper and there and more on new york's new mayor bill deblast owe. i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hoe'saving. sa the most about yo matters most t at masutual we're owne by ou, and they matter most to us. whether you're just starting your 401(k) or you are ready for retirement, we'll help you get there. shhhh! i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. it dsn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting tihistamine. oh what a relief it is! see who does good work and compare costs. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doct

the elephant in the room, pokes at christie's weight.eno proved last night it could have been a lot worse. >> in their defense, i think they chose the least defensive time. chris christie having a whale of a time. "between a rock and a lard place" and hail to the chef. i don't think any of those were appropriate. >> next up, it's a single page in the latest issue of guns and ammo and ignited a firestorm among the magazine's readers. in an article titled let's talk about limits. dick metcalf made a seemingly inknoouyous case for gun contro. they made comes like guns and ammo, supporting gun control is like penthouse reporting articles on pornography and immorality of master detectibat. they issued this apology. i thought it would generate a healthy exchange of ideas on gun rates. i ask for your forgiveness. so much for opening dialogue. and steve king would best be known for comparing mexicans to cantaloupes and wanting to build a fence on our southern border. it was one of the arguments for going me to war with iraq. president bush claim

i love chris christie. that's where the republican party needs to find itself as we move forward. >> isn't the problem, though, between a republican party that wants to stand on principles versus a republican party that wants to govern? $30 billion in damages to new jersey after hurricane sandy, something like $65 billion in damages to the country. rick, isn't this the dynamic in the republican party right now? one side wants to govern, the other side wants to stand on issues? >> i think it's a bit of both. one of the problemsivity with chris christie is his recent speech with the rnc where he says all i care about is winning. we've seen that before. okay, if we win, we get what? i would say, he did what he had to do with the storm. i do think, though, there was a bit of december probably a little too cozy with the president, knowing it was the final daze of mitt romney, with what mark halperin wrote in his book. that might have been a thumb in the eye. i'm not sure. that might have been a style he needs to

maybe christie will do that.ever, if you listen to the media, you would think that it was a bad day for the democrats. >> governor christie, wow. >> i think he has a tremendous charisma. he didn't win the most democrat votes, but for a republican, that's killing it. >> he pretty much said look what we're doing in new jersey. we're accomplishing things. >> what chris christie managed to do was to run as chris christie and to say that the pragmatic republican can make in roads with democratic voters. >> nobody pointed out that the only one last night for the republicans was chris christie. good thing he was in the game. he was expected to win by a large margin, and he did. and, of course, christie came out last night and gave his typical jersey tough guy speech. >> i did not seek a second term to do small things. i sought a second term to finish the job. now watch me do it. >> okay. i'll watch you replace those 6,000 teachers and that billion dollars you cut out of education. christie -- he has to feel pretty good

how would christie play in the middle of the country? you how far to the right the republican party has moved that chris christie is called a moderate. here in the midwest we recognize that crackdown on unions and the particularly nasty attacks on teach thaefers christie is famous for. it's a message to the middle class that doesn't say i'm going to help you do better. it says there are a few people who still have pensions and they still have health care benefits, and we ought to attack them and bring them down. and it's a losing message if you want to live in a better society. but chris christie hasn't been so crazy that he turned away the medicaid expansion under the affordable care act like many republican governors, including our governor here in wisconsin, scott walker. so he has been, you know, compared to the true wing nuts in the tea party a relative moderate. he wanted the federal government to come in and help people after hurricane sandy. he argued the shutdown was a disaster. that's where most americans are. he looks moderate

as we saw with chris christie's convention speech it's all about chris christie.hat was the most disappointing keynote convention speech of my life. i flew into tampa just to see chris christie. he's bright, charismatic. we expected the street fighter. he has a lot of good things going for him. >> he's got problems. wait until they dig into the appointments. he can go campaign for lindsey graham all he wants but he seems to be at war against conservative tea party members. do you not see that? >> i do. it's not just the establishment. mott just the tea party. not just egos. it's all of these things. republicans need to focus on winning. i commend you for continuing to bring up the red state democrats who voted for obama care. that obama care vote three and a half years ago gives the lie to any id cannot who says there is no difference between the parties. not one democrat voted against us. republicans, let's concentrate on winning the the senate and taking out -- as you keep pointing out, thank you -- mary landrieu in louisiana. mark pryor in arkansas, replacing t