cokie, you're one of the few who have been to castel gandolfo.was an early summer morning. my mother and my husband -- >> there you are right there. >> that was in the vatican. but with the swiss guard but my mother and jewish husband and i went and we were -- there's the castel gandolfo. and -- you see how much more casual it is. we were in a holding room for awhile and we thought they had forgotten about us and then we -- i went out to the hallway as a reporter and said where is everybody and finally someone came and brought us down this narrow hallway and unexpectedly we turned left into a tiny chapel that was profused with light and there as close to me as john is to me was pope john paul ii praying very simply and my husband who is jewish and i both just felt the moment of spirituality unlike something neither one of us has ever felt and completely unguarded and unexpected as we turned into the chapel there and then we had a mass where the pope was really too weak to really pray orally but he was there on his knees throughout with others say

it depends how deep it runs to cokie's point.o we resolve ourselves to get around this quicker general ideas that are principled positions for the party to take or still go through the social conservati conservatives, fiscal conservatives, national security conservatives and continue to split this up. i stay there's a common thread. i found it in 2009 and 2010 and we won and cobbled around the coalitions we needed around the country and put those coalitions to work on behalf of a common idea whether health care or the economy. that seems to have dissipated. the rnc has walked away from that, trying to come back with messaging. they're touring a listening tour but they're tone deaf to what's going on out there. the reality, people are telling exactly what they want. just listen to it and do it. >> they make people feel unwelcome in the party. you had marco rubio up on the stage at the republican convention but you also had joe arpaio, the sheriff from arizona who is such an advocate of that immigration law. you have those immigrat

morning joe" live from washington, we'll preview tonight's state the union address at the roundtable and cokieerts and michael steel will join the conversation. plus, david gregory and chris matthews and chuck todd. when we come back here, we're going to huddle up around the water cooler and we're going to fry up facts about bacon. it's no longer just for eating. we'll explain that.widely surpa i thought was achievable. i mean look at it. it sparkles. >> we'll explain that bake cony outfit when "way too early" comes back. [ male announcer ] no matter what city you're playing tomorrow. [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪ but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands? your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a

let's bring in cokie roberts. pope benedict was anointed the successor to pope john paul ii in many ways. can benedict anoint his own successor now? >> sure he can. if he wants to. that's the question now. this surprise and shocking resignation as opposed to the death of the pope means we have an odd period of time before the conclave. usually, there's a long period of mourning, which is also a time for politicking. among the cardinals. now we don't know when the conclave will happen. i would suspect sooner than later, with easter around the corner. i think that the politicking time period is probably going to be shorter than usual. that will have an effect. >> you talk about the politicking. there was a saying that the rumor mongering among the different vatican watchers begins about who will be the next pope the minute the previous pope is sworn in. who are the names that have emerged in the last eight years that we have had pope benedict leading the church as to who might be his successor? >> the whole argument

cokie, thank you so much. >>> elizabeth thanks. now to the other big headlines. the extreme weather slamming the country. tornadoes tearing across the country. sam is tracking it all. two blizzards. a real round of severe storms. we'll start with the pictures out of minnesota. it was the sunday blizzard. not the friday one. the one in the middle of country that put anywhere from 16 inches to 18 inches on the ground. about 15 tornadoes reported in that zone. one of them in hattiesburg. dangerously close to a university. our steve osunsami is there in hattiesburg this morning. >> reporter: good morning, sam. one tornado warning after another. they just kept coming. this historic building at the university of southern mississippi has stood here for more than 100 years. it was destroyed in seconds. luckily, no one was inside. families in south central mississippi were in the middle of sunday's supper. when, all of a sudden, the sky went dark. then came the sound of terror. a giant tornado screaming through town. >> i have never heard it like that. it's hugely loud. >

. >> and certainly, sending the signal, cokie roberts, our own vatican expert, and your mother servedambassador to the vatican tharkts he will not interfere with the choice of the next pope. of the 115 cardinals or so who will vote for the next pope, this pope appointed more than half of them. he does have an influence in that respect. >> absolutely. more than 57% have been appointed by him. they have a certain allegiance to him. but they've also never been in a conclave before. they're in this position of trying to figure out who a new pope will be, probably for life, though perhaps benedict has set a precedent by resigning. it will affect the 1.5 million catholics in the world but it will affect them, their job. he sta the cardinal said, it is with trepidation we dom this moment. that's what i'm feeling here at the vatican today and yesterday, trepidation. real sense of, this has never happened before and we're not at all sure this is a good thing. >> and this had haz to be a terrifying choice, terry moran, because this has been a time of trouble for the church, dealing with the abu

. >> and tomorrow, we will be joined by award-winning journalist cokie robertson, and chris matthewsomorrow on "morning e joe." [ male announcer] surprise -- you're having triplets. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat