. >> american history tv is featuring corpus christi, texas. in corpus christi in 1948, dr. hector p garcia founded the american g.i. forum, which advocates for equal treatment of hispanic veterans. posted by our time warner cable partners, we visited many sites showcasing the city's history. learn more about corpus christi all weekend here on american history tv. >> welcome to the acm of science and history. the museum was started in 1957. it operates as a public-private partnership. we started as a general museum. today, we have more detailed topics. we talk about the city of corpus christi, including major business developments that we have shared with the world. we are going to explore the corpus christie history gallery. this area of the museum discusses the native peoples. they did not have a written language. they were here and the 1850's. they made a fierce reputation for themselves and were a formidable foe to the white settlers who eventually drove them out that these lands. a were here and tell the 1850's. they interacted with a lot of early settlers. they built h

also significant for corpus christi, he got his wings at the naval air station corpus christi.hat is another attachment to corpus christi for president herbert walker bush. this airplane he flew. and people know that he got shot down during the course of the war. but also, he went down another time due to an oil pressure problem. when he went down that first time, he was rescued and ended up on the lexington for a couple of days, until he could get back to his aircraft carrier, the san jacinto. he came on board and spoke at an event we had. he did not remember too much of his time on board the lexington. he says he does remember what he calls sack time, sleeping a lot, on lexington. not very historical for us, but he did spend a couple of days in world war ii on board lexington. most visitors that come here, we would like them to come aboard to learn all the history about it. that is not necessarily the case. many people come on board and go, wow, this is really big. we get people on board that do not care about airplanes. they are engineers. the want to see how the ship ran. t

. >> all weekend american history tv is featuring corpus christi texas. corpus christi started out as a small trading post in the mid-19th century and has transformed into a modern city with the fifth largest seaport in america. posted by our time warner cable partners, c-span's cities tour staff recently visited many sites showcasing the city's history. learn more about corpus christi all weekend here on american history tv. >> the naval station has a chairman is history that it's back even before 1941 when it was commissioned. in 1938, the navy did an investigation on the best suitable location for a naval air station. when the authorization came from congress to establish a naval air station, there were 12 in all, including corpus christi. this was the biggest and the best and it remains over these 75 years so vitally, critically important in the defense of the united states. >> paris, undefended, fell like a ripe plumb into the basket of conquest. >> world war ii having already begun, it just made clear the urgency of getting a naval air station. the

but first, chris christie fumbles.hris christie of the garden states comes in not first, not second, not third, not even fourth or fifth, he comes in sixth place in likely republican caucusers. for christie, it is bad, and it gets badder, as he has an unfavorable rating of 54%. and it gets badder-er-er, he said this in london on monday. this is about getting your kids vaccinated. >> it is more important what you think as a parent than what you think as a public official. it depends on what the vaccine is what the disease type is, and all the rest, i did not say to give people the option, i am just considering parental concern. >> he walked back a little bit but how did he get on this side in the vaccine discussion? >> the guy is now acting like a politician, that is an answer where he is trying to split the difference between what science says, ignoring what the medical profession says, and what a group of know-nothing anti-science people believe, and he is trying to have it both ways. that is not chris christie's bran

also significant for corpus christi, he got his wings at the naval air station corpus christi. that is another attachment to corpus christi for president herbert walker bush. this airplane he flew. and people know that he got shot down during the course of the war. but also he went down another time due to an oil pressure problem. when he went down that first time, he was rescued and ended up on the lexington for a couple of days, until he could get back to his aircraft carrier, the san jacinto. he came on board and spoke at an event we had. he did not remember too much of his time on board the lexington. he says he does remember what he calls sack time, sleeping a lot on lexington. not very historical for us, but he did spend a couple of days in world war ii on board lexington. most visitors that come here, we would like them to come aboard to learn all the history about it. that is not necessarily the case. many people come on board and go, wow, this is really big. we get people on board that do not care about airplanes. they are engineers. the want to see how the ship ran. t

chris christie, we are going to talk about him more in the show.etween the vaccine thing and the new york times story, a new federal probe, a criminal probe on new jersey, and handled ready badly. he got -- handled pretty badly. he got to london and refuse to answer questions. i think it is a bad omen for things to come. >> also a horrible week for rand paul, another guy who shows that the worst thing you can do is signal to donors, the press, and activists that the thing you think is weakest in value is actually true. he did that this week on vaccines. he got some scrutiny from the new york times. he seemed thin-skinned. if he is going to have to be a nominee he is going to have to stop being thin-skinned. >> going to have to be tougher. >> finally, what happened was overlooked. >> we have these bloomberg politics that came out of the very beginning the week. i was struck most high the fact that the past winners of the iowa caucus, neither doing well in iowa at all. rick santorum in the single digits. if you added them up together they are still s

we also know chris christie.e know his modus operandi. >> today, he did not have to answer questions in london. there was some press. he blew them off. the vaccine story that we talked about yesterday, it kind of turned some heads, his statement on that. when he is in iowa and new hampshire, and someone either enterprise reporting or other he is going to have to start answering, and if he answers them the way he normally does come with the temperament that people are now tired of, it is going to be a problem. i think mitt romney believes and some people believe he is overwhelming. >> he believes that chris christie has been vetted, and that is what mitt romney said back in 2012, but you have never really been vetted i tune you are a presidential candidate. >> is there a doctor in the house? senator rand paul gave an interview about vaccination nation, and the senator revealed what many think is a thin-skinned side, and things got a little awkward. it is what we say in the television business good tv. >> we have t

bad week for him and christie.inally, what happened this week in 2016 that you say was overlooked? >> we had this bloomberg politics at the morning register iowa poll that came out at beginning of the week. scott walker did well in that poll. i was struck most by the fact that the two past winners of the iowa caucus was mike huckabee, rick santorum, neither one doing well in iowa at all. if you added them up together, they still were short of where scott walker was in the poll. those guys us a tensably should be leading in the iowa poll in the iowa caucuses because they're well known in iowa. the fact they're doing so poorly there, not great. the iowa race is wide open for republicans. >> bad sign for them. overlooked is rick perry. i'm higher on his chances than a lot of people. he's building a good staff. he's out there being aggressive on media and on money. again i say, jeb bush will raise the most money for the republicans by a lot, i asked all the republicans, keep your eye on the ball, the ball is a giant pi

good for christie or bad for christie? >> bad for christie. when the court comes down and says you have roque and the law, it's bad for you and it highlights the fact that new jersey's fiscal situation is in bad shape. the big decisions are going to come tomorrow. when he goes to see pack later in the week, he has to give a real political speech. >> i don't think the new jersey economy has failed to improve -- his big calling card was that he could be tough on unions but still make deals with them. having a deal is good. >> that things have gone past that now. people are looking at christie through a new lens in this economy thing is one of the untold stories. >> he's a springsteen guy and i'm a barry manilow guy. he's got to get that feeling again or he has no chance. scott walker is running, bashing unions, not working with democrats. >> are moving onto one of your other favorite people -- below riley, who refers to his show as the "no spin zone." poppa bear has threatened a new york times reporter and might cancel the subscription. mark, my

learn more about corpus christie and other stops at c-span.org/localcontent. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. join american history on sunday as we visit a botanic garden at the foot of capitol hill. the executive secretary discusses the history of the oldest botanic garden in america, originally proposed by george washington. that is sunday on american artifacts here on c-span three, american history tv. >> h history we bring you a archival films that help tell the 20th century. developed during -- over 500 victory cargo ships were built to replace ships destroyed by submarines. the film, hannibal victory documents the cargo delivered for the war effort including several steam engines. we're going to get one more lift before they are under their own steam. these work on land and water. it went lower our locomotives on solid ground once again. it is a strange setting to find our engines and. they won't carry the war goods first. we know after this war is over it will mean a lot in helping our friends get on it their f

that's the old chris christie. that's not what he wants to be. >> in rapid paul's cand paul's gotten this far by playing by his own rules. he feels he's too good for the rules. he can shush a reporter, play the victim, blame the media. at some point you have to enact some measure of discipline over what you're saying. rand paul has a bad habit of saying one thing in one place and saying something somewhere else and saying he didn't say it. >> at a basic level, we talk about mitt romney and the downfalls of running for president a couple of times and not doing so well. one of the great things running for president more than ones is you have experience in it. the two candidates who are testing the waters for the first time, they have a risk of being caught off guard by issues they didn't expect to be talking about. in chris christie's case and rand paul to some degree, the experience of seeing something that you've been seeing in your home state and suddenly saying it in front of a national audience is much different

this is a blow to chris christie, no doubt. is it a sign that chris christie is toast?> he is not toast, but this hurts. he has been written off earlier. he owns a new jersey football team. he owns a new jersey football team. ' it is not the first tri-state area bundler christie has lost to jeb bush, but i am telling you right now, i don't believe the christie people know how bad it is. i know they have recognized that they have lost people, but people are writing him off. >> while scott walker is here he didn't handle that question well, but the truth is, among new york donors who don't want jeb bush, they have an open ear for scott walker. because they don't want chris christie. that is why scott walker is getting a hearing this week. >> it previously was the case for people that we talked to that christie would be the #2 contender to bush. the one upside for christie is he is going to have to fight for it now in a way that's not going to be like a chair fund-raising. he is going to have to fight for the nomination, potentially underfunded. he is going to have to use

christie is done with jersey.ltimately he cares about a poll in iowa. >> but the citizens of iowa who read every newspaper, i hear they don't like you but i count. sahil, i'm always impressed by the knowledge base of the person being polled on the candidate side. there's a dozen of them. everybody has an opinion on every one of them. >> right. >> how can -- or is it just a wake. i have no idea what you're talking about. >> and chris christie snare scenario, since he got elected, he's taken steps that are clearly suggests that he's looking at the presidential election, that he's not really thinking about new jersey. >> what was he doing in london? i don't think you announce that you're home by going to london. >>> up next, why was president obama irritated at mitt romney when mitt romney called him to concede the 2012 election? this is "hardball." this is so fascinating. sensitivity and awkward statements. anyway, the place for politics. back in a minute. it's scary. little bit in my eye. [ michelle ] underneath th

including corpus christi, or flower bluff. this was the biggest and the best, and remains over these like 75 years. so vitally, critically important in the defense of the united states. >> paris, undefended, fell into the conquest. >> in june of 1940 over in europe and world war ii already having begun, it just made clearer the urgency of getting a naval air station, the funding was authorized to be $24 million. and by the time they finished it was well over $100 million. it grew bigger and bigger and the need for the additional fields. and there would be five of them for the primary or the intermediate or advanced training, instrument training building. so eventually, this became the largest naval air station, not just in the united states but in the world. by the time of the dedication in march of 1941 the main station was 70% completed by that time. and they -- they already were bringing in cadets also at that time for the training even they had airplanes. they had cadets doing the ground school training. the very first cad

garcia called corpus christie home. he founded the american gi forum and became an advocate for mexican americans rights. we visited the mary and jeff l library in corpus christi to learn more about dr. garcia's work. >> we have a variety of materials illustrating different phases of his life and career. he is best known as the founder of the american gi forum. that was established in 18 48th, not too long after his return from his service in world war ii. it was created to assist mexican-american veterans in their struggle to return to normal life after their war service. he is recorded as having said that he felt especially suited to do that work because he had compassion for others as a physician. he had military training and service, which made him understand how to organize things. he also said that it lends itself to creating a national organization which started here in corpus christi because the people he was trying to help were military. they were accustomed to being grouped and organized in that fashion. the a

you don't think christie was pandering? >> no. >> wished have an option for vac nations or not with our xids? you go into a cool there's a bunch of kids that aren't -- >> every one of my grandkids are vaccinated. i have to tell you, it's a tough issue, because some parents really do feel strongly that -- about having their kids vaccinated. i think there has to be a good education program that moves them in the right direction. >> you think the right direction is vaccination? >> i do. >>> raymond buckley, mr. buckley, mr. chairman thank you for joining us. it's "hardball," i've been pretty nice with the governor so i'll be tough with you, should there be as a matter of principle, debates going toward the primaries, a year from now, as a matter of principle, debates? >> there has to be more than one candidate to have a debate and we don't know that at this point. >> jim, isn't webb running? >> he hasn't contacted anyone in new hampshire that i'm aware of. >> so you're going to do this number on me the whole night. but as a ma

take chris christie in new hampshire. let's say he finishes a strong third in iowa and second to paul in new hampshire. that are so many candidates, so many ways to accumulate delegates. i don't see a lot of must-wins. >> in a word, yes. if rick perry comes in second, he has a past the nomination. -- past two -- pass to the nomination. i don't think there is a world where he finishes second in new hampshire and chris christie finishes second in iowa. i can imagine the path for those guys but in the real world given their weaknesses for one of the other two state, they have to win one of them, otherwise the momentum will not be there. >> people look at the rudy giuliani experiment. they say, he waited for florida. if you perform well even without a win and you talk to the media about a delegate accumulation strategy and you keep up enough momentum by closing strong, i don't think you need to win an early state. as long as you are accumulating delegates and raising money and performing well in terms of media i don't , think

christie has something of a profile, and mrs. cruz is a something of a bright person, but we have not heard mrs. walker, i could not pick her up out of a lineup, and i don't think we could know who would help or hurt, but i think all of them are not afraid, but very cautious. mark: kelley paul is the first that we heard of, but she is one that is not always an asset when there is strategy meetings. i am not saying that she will ruin things, but we should watch it. john: we shouldn't say there is another exception and that is karen santorum and she is a big asset. mark: another person who could be a huge asset and a huge liability is bill clinton. maybe the biggest asset in the world, but he could also really be a problem. john: i think it is safe to say that there is not one of those smart republican espouses who would not be as good of a candidate at strategist roles as hillary clinton. mark: and scott walker will be making the rounds in gotham next week and there is no doubt that jeb bush has the inside track when it comes to f

i am chasing governor christie across the state and beyond.ive political action conference where governor christie we will be speaking. before that i we will take a look around. >> down hear with different groups promoting different ideas. i came across one saying big government sucks. a lot of young people are down here but i have not come across anything promoting governor christie. behind me is a straw poll. i we will try to meet with people and see who they are voting for. >> ted cruz. >> ted cruz. >> sarah palin. >> rand paul. >> my vote would probably go to chris christie. >> i have not found a lot of people voting for governor christie. he we will be making remarks. >> if i decide to run for president i'm not worried about what polls say 21 months before we elect the president of the united states. if i run, i we will run a hard, fighting campaign and fight for the taxpayers of this country. >> the fans must have been hiding because they were here in full force. people laughed, cheered, gave him a standing ovation. [applause] it was an

. >> coming up, new jersey governor chris christie at a dinner. and then a state of the nation speech by japanese prime minister shinzo abe. and then another chance to see "q&a" about internment camps in world war ii. >> the british parliament was in recess last week so prime minister's questions will not be seen to. new jersey -- correct. -- tonight. new jersey governor chris christie spoke at the lincoln reagan dinner. he discussed leadership in washington and reestablishing amount reputation in the world. this is an hour and 10 minutes -- america's reputation in the world. it misses and i wanted 10 minutes. -- this is an hour and 10 minutes. >> [applause] >> good evening. thank you very much. thank you. i have all of one town in a merrimack county, so i'm not running for anything. i wanted to come here and spend a little time with some good americans and good republicans. very pleased that governor christie traveled up in this weather to be with us this evening as well. he is obviously not afraid of a little snow. nor are we here in the granite

christie, willie? are you surprised by what chris christie and rand paul, a doctor? >> well, that i found disturbing that a doctor would come on and say that he's a doctor. but if you look at the republicans, they're outliars. scott walker, rick perry, mike huckabee. you go down the line they came out strongly and said vaccines are one of the greatest parts of human progress in the last 50 60 years. the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963. it's not that hard. you look at the chart of how many people had measles, how many people died. skyrockets down. and so in this day and age to hear someone come out and say that and then christie backtracked on it, no we think measles, that vaccine is good but he was eluding to the fact that perhaps there are other vaccines that we need to be more careful with which he did not provide any evidence for. if it's a political strategy it's an odd one, i think. if he feels like he's appealing to a group that might doubt vaccine or doubt government being in our lives, p

and a town hall with chris christie.ut first the new poll out of iowa puts scott walker the top of the pack by healthy margin and raises some critical issues for jeb bush. if you could hear me across the hudson, who at this moment is the current republican front-runner? mark: by every measure it is jeb bush. he will raise the most money the establishment likes him, a lot of members of congress would like to see him be the nominee. scott walker ahead in the new poll and is being seen by younger people as a more exciting alternative to jeb bush. if you go by traditional measures, jeb bush is the front runner. according to web fundraising it is scott walker. john: right now, scott walker, the poll puts him ahead. he has 17 points between him and jeb bush in iowa. a place where scott walker needs to win. you also see in this poll that jeb bush way worse numbers than anyone else in the republican field. 40% unfave and a lot of republicans will not vote for him. he is the front runner but scott walker is coming out strong. mar

corpus christi is a city of 300,000 today. what they did is back in the early 1960's is they said let's take this area of the island where the cattle ranching is coming to a close, the park service bought the land and created another national sea shore unit so there would be a place where everybody could come out fishing, swimming a place for birds badgers raccoons coyotes. so that yt of protecting the national landscape and a great place to redick erat. whatever you do, fly a kite, swimming surfing, kite boarding. all those things you can do in a place like a national sea shore. why the national see shore is important is like knit other national park unit, it is that in the national park service there are so many different times of ecosystems in the united states of america. a barrier island, and a prairie barrier island is a unique place. think about all the barrier islands on the coastal bend, a lot of them have been developed. so to preserve an ecosystem intact this is what we have tried to do. since the 1960's, the place

when the port of corporis -- of corpus christi it opened a lot of economic doors for corpus christi and this entire area. on display here, we have a doodlebug, a retrofitted ford model a. during the depression era, it was for bit into by new tractors. the building of the port of corpus christi brought thousands of jobs to the area and encouraged further industrialization to advance corpus christi into the modern age. with world war ii already raging in europe, the united states realized they could not quickly train pilots to accommodate a u.s. entry into world war ii unless they built additional naval air stations. in may 1941, naval station corpus christi open to train pilots. little did they know that only that december they would need to really quickly train pilots when pearl harbor happened. the weather in corpus christi is so mild that pilot turning can happen almost year-round. metal is something that was really important when we were building such big things like ships and planes and all the things we needed to fight world war ii. so the citizens of corpus christi sacrificed what

tough week for chris christie.ad the washington post, "the new york times," people are saying, guess what, governor, you're losing some of the big donors. you're losing some big network staffers. is there pressure on chris christie? he can wait longer. isn't there a ticking clock here? >> there is. he and his folks around them want to think that they have more time, that this will play out more slowly, that there is, as they said in these stories, a lot more donor availability out there than just the bush network or just the network that jeb bush is getting, but he is under pressure now. john, you know, there are ebbs and flows in these situations. can he come back? certainly he can come back, but he's in a different place today than he was two months ago, six months ago and under much more pressure to be able to show some forward motion. >> and his failure, perhaps, to be more aggressive with donors, to woo donors, i'm sure many of us, i certainly have heard whining from donors for several months that christie was

i know chris christie is his friend. it's odd public that that's your first move. >> it is a little bit of odd public posturing. this is a big win for chris christie as well with jeb bush in the race, with mitt romney in the race it would have been very hard for him particularly on the money side to carve out. does mitt romney do anything immediately after this dinner he's had. i don't think that will be the case. people come to kiss mitt's ring and what role he plays next will be a fascinating story in this presidential campaign. >> i predict he won't endorse anybody. the people around him say he wants to, as you call him a king maker, wants to preserve his dignity. he pulled the plug just in time so he didn't get embarrassed as jay martin would say. he wants to help the rnc. he wants to be a big help to whoever the nominee is. he's going to do what he should have done before. >> john, this is somebody who was so haunted by what went wrong in his campaigns. i was with him last week in mississippi when he gave a speech a

we begin with chris christie.trip abroad. it started with a thud. >> there's a debate going on in the united states a measles outbreak that's been caused in part by people not vaccinating their kids. do you think americans should vaccinate their kids? >> all i can say is we vaccinate ours. that's the best opinion i can give you. it's much more important when you think as a parent than what you think as a public official. that's what we do. i also understand parents need to have a measure of choice in things. that's the balance has the government has to decide. >> that set off a firestorm of controversy with even many republicans blasting christie over his vaccine comments. that was just the start of what was the most trying week of christie's national political year. the next day after that the "new york times" documented in detail christie's taste for expensive travel while others pay the bill. including a private jet paid for by sheldon adelson, $30,000 in luxury hotel rooms paid for by the king of jordan. then

chris christie got himself into.rick perry. >> sorry, rick perry did. he knows that michele bachmann had just a field day with that. so, you know, the problem is whether they're talking about vaccination or about birth control. you can see why they want to limit the number of debates on the republican side because they get into president 19th century debates in the 21st century. >> isn't that also part of what we're looking at here are these guys ready for primetime politics? the big stage. where you're going to have to deal with these issues and not stumble all over yourself in talking about it. >> right. it really seems like they're not. it's somewhat surprising with chris christie because she's supposed to be the moderate. he should not be you know appealing to the michele bachmann demographic but it seems like he thinks that he's got to. >> dana milbank and joan walsh. thank you both for your time this evening. >> thanks, reverend. >>> coming up the epic super bowl ending. some are calling it the worst play call

was a mercy rule, chris christie would qualify. a new jersey judge ruled that chris christie broke his own law when he decided to cut $1.6 billion in cop tryntributions to the pension system. the state cannot simply walk away from it's obligations. in wisconsin. protestors gathered today in a scene that evokes memories of 2011. >> they don't care what happens to your retirement. they want power, more profits and they want to do it on the backs of the workers. >> at issue today is the republican legislature's plan to push through a so called right to work law, an antiunion measure that antiunion worker wills have to pay dues. the measure is expected to pass and walker says he will sign it that will conflict with the right to work. and hand the gofer another victory to the left and new jersey flails in new jersey and scott walker is picking fights that seem to endear him to voters. joining me now is ruth conniff. there has been a little question about whether scott walker wants this. he says he is not that interested, what's your sen

christie helped with a lot of that. so i think that christie money he is never going to come close to what jeb bush is raising. that is very clear. i'm not sure anyone is in the primary contest but he needs to have enough money to stay in this thing and start building his case face-to-face with retail politics and strong debate performances. right now he might be floundering a little bit. there is still time to right the ship but that door eventually does start to close. jon: a little bit later on we'll talk about potential democratic frontrunner in the presidential race. that is coming up on "happening now." guy benson richard fowler. thank you both. >> thank you jon. jenna: also happening now, the trial of the former marine accused of murdering "american sniper" chris kyle and his friend chad littlefield is moving closer to the jury of the defense resting its case yesterday. attorneys are pursuing a insanity defense for eddie ray routh. prosecutors are recalling rebuttal witnesses to the stand. casey stiegel at the wh

we want the real chris christie. there's only one chris christie, this is it. >> he played up the aggressive fighting style. here he is. >> there will be times i will say some things that will make you shake your head. there would be times i will say things in a way you may think he could maybe have said that a bit better, but what you are will never say is that i don't know who he is, and i don't know what he believes, and i don't know what he's willing to fight for and who he's willing to fight to get there. >> christie finds himself trailing the pack in all of the primary states. i know it's early. south carolina he doesn't even make the top five. rob, this thing about being two-faced or -- hughey long did it in the old days. i mean, you can get away with that before there was like radio, but now it seems to be that people know what people are saying in other places. can christie by the live free or die character? gritty new hampshire or easier going fella out in iowa who hates loud noises. >> i think it's hard to

what's christie up to? i think he was playing to the group we were talking to out in iowa. >>> president obama's budget out there today as a bold progressive statement. he wants to raise taxes on the rich and spend money to put people to work. good stuff. corporate tax reform, tax reform, infrastructure. everything i've been believing in. i don't think it came from me, but it's certainly what i think is right. it shows me he wants to lead with swagger and dare the republicans to say no to a really good centrist idea. >>> if you watched the super bowl last night, you heard plenty of talk about this guy, chris matthews. the seahawks' chris matthews. finally, let me finish with why i think the democrats need to hold their convention next year, national convention, in philadelphia. and this is "hardball." the place for politics. dish issues? cascade platinum powers through your toughest messes better than the competition the first time. cascade. now that's clean. >>> well, new england is celebrating its super b

chris christie and his expense account, hillary clinton and her private jets.y question to you as this presidential campaign rolls around, which of the candidates is going to spend the most time in the barrel? >> hillary clinton is going to spend a lot of time in there. there is tons of investigative stuff to do. the two other people i think have to worry right now are jeb bush, because i think he will emerge as a clear front runner when the fundraising figures come out, and there is a lot of his life the national media has never dug into, and rand paul. rand paul is going to be out there attracting attention, and there is lots to look at. >> i absolutely agree with you. i will add one to the list. chris christie -- if you go back and read the detailed account of the vice presidential vet in 2012, there's a lot of stuff there. people have only scratched the surface of that material various controversies. i think teams are out there mining that stuff, and the papers are waiting for it. he's a big target. >> how many of investigative pieces about them that put th

what kind of grade did you give to chris christie? mark: he came in because he was given a bad run, i give him a b plus so he was very interesting , and he went after jeb bush recently. john: he also said he was willing to take on unscripted questions. mark: some people are saying that it is ridiculous that the head of the rga -- that the chair of the rga was saying that, but again, he is still in a deep hole, but it has been a pretty good day for him. all right, next up is ted cruz which john and i did an interview with and we will show that a little bit later. john: he did all right, i thought, you know, that we always say that people say that he needs new material, and this is more like a greatest hits album. he got a lot of applause in the room, solidity or a little clip and will get back to your grade. ted cruz: if you are really a conservative, you will have been in the trenches, you will bear the scars, you will have been fighting the fight, and i will tell you what the men and women of cpac understand. it is the biggest divide

who chris christie is? >> no. >> as christie steps in a minefield. >> groundhog day brought to you in a debate over the vaccines. >> rand paul also has said that this should be up to parents. >> parents are making the wrong choice. >> the science is you know pretty indisputable. >> now we turn to the president. >> this is white house budget day. >> that is an immediate battle that is looming. >> you see bill murray playing the piano in the forrier we're probably going to do this again. >> mitt romney said i believe one of our next generation of republican leaders, one who may not be as well-known as i am today, one who may not yet have taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started may well emerge as being able to defeat the democrat nominee. in fact i expect and hope that to be the case. mitt romney gave no hint as to who that mythical character might be. after making that announcement mitt romney had dinner with chris christie. >> how did that dinner go with mitt romney? >> how yo

christie.now it is hard to keep track sometimes of what is following him around. but the chris christie story that we're talking about here is one that you might remember from way back. that is about the cat police. it is a case that originated in hunterdon county. with fake kre dencredentials and part of the spca. we have reposted our segment on this story at maddow blog tonight in case you want to watch it again, it's great. so for all of the details, the allegations of wrong doing for governor chris christie and his add minministration boil down to the prosecutor saying the christie administration quashed his indictment against some of the christie al lies. and ben farlin has been pursuing this case for a long time. the new reports this week are sort of shocking. federal investigators are now launched a formal from criminal investigation into this hunterdon scandal. so you mielgt have seen those headline -- might have seen those headlines this week. is it true? you have seen the headlines ab

how serious trouble is christie in right now in this process?e process, so i think governor christie could certainly come back. but you're a political junkie for new jersey. you know when tom kean sr., former governor state senator, christie's 2009 campaign chairman when their rueeluctance to sign up that spells trouble for christie. >> the reporting this week -- and this gets to something i have noticed about christie you know, this is a guy who is supreme confidence in his own skills to basically walk into any situation and change that situation to his favor. and i have seen him. in his defense, i've seen him go into hostile crowds in new jersey, college students during the iraq war and 45 minutes later these students loved him. i can see how he starts to believe that. is there more of a plan of saying the power of my personality is going to get me through this? >> he really believes his skills as a retail politician will enable him to eventually right with polls and voters. also the association network that he capitalized on last year raised

watching chris christie for years and listening to him now more than most politicians i think chris christieis really selective and really knows how to turn 0 on and off when it comes to seeing gray. he has all of these moments where you can think of get the hell often the beach, he stands up for muslim judge in new jersey. where there's black and there's white and absolutely no in between. he make as name for himself by coming down and taking firm stands, where he gets a reputation for straight talk and tell 2g like it is and all that stuff. it's interesting to contrast that with what you just heard there. where suddenly when it comes to the general electorate is here and republican electorate or parts of it are over here. so he tries to put himself in the midst. he gets himself in trouble, it's jarring for him. people are accustomed to the so-called straight-talking, plain-talking chris christie. >> this is how hillary clinton got in trouble in the drex debate and had to deep et yitliot spitzer happy and the hispanic community and the general electorate didn't like that going on. this is c