>>> we're back with hillary rosen and kevin madden. >> hillary clinton has been named for the 12th year in a row as the most admired woman in america. and show's probably going to be the democratic nominee in 2016, how does that make you feel? >> it's going to make him ooh and ah. >> i have a question for you, though. would you primary her? >> no. >> i was hoping that was a question you weren't prepared for. >> while that's a lovely distinction, it's not a distinction that helped her win the presidency the first time. more good news for us. chris christie is polling behind hillary clinton. >> since chris christie is spending all of his time attacking other republicans instead of attacking democrats, it doesn't worry me at all. i figure lit the republicans get mad at him first. >> do you guys regret not dough fining him in this last election more? >> there's plenty of time. >> as somebody who's run, not only did he supposedly close three lanes to get back at the mayor or whatever it is, but now they found programs he cut. and he took away the security detail of the former governor who's

a lawyer who worked at the same law firm as hillary clinton in arkansas.e served time in prison from embezzling money from that law firm and the story broke that he could be heard in taped phone calls from prison, sort of maybe indicating the clintons, especially hillary clinton, in bad things. maybe even criminal bad things. >> now on tape, phone calls from prison. >> we're on a recorded phone. >> did he say anything damaging about his friends, the clintons? >> in one tape, the issue is protecting the first lady. hubbell's wife says he can't sue his old law firm over a billing dispute because that might expose hillary, his former law partner. >> makes it look like you really don't give a [ bleep ] and that it's wrong that you're opening hillary up to all of this. >> i would not do that. i won't raise those allegations that might open it up to hillary, and you know that. >> congressional investigators, specifically the chair of the house government reform and oversight committee, dan burton, had acquired 54 tapes of web hubbell's phone calls from prison an

hillary clinton.illary he says and he has a prescription how she can fix her image if she wants to and help the democrats hold onto the white house in 2016. >>> also how did an epa employee so-called convince the agency the reason he wasn't showing up for work two and a half years was because he was away on a cia mission? this is unbelievable. and how did he wind up living in the guest room of another epa official. this does not build confidence in government. >>> finally, the "duck dynasty" star who got a bit too graphic about why he's against homosexuality. well, this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ mom ] with my little girl, every food is finger food. so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth. it's durable. and it's 3 times cleaner. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to bounty duratowel. [knock] no one was at home, but on the kitchen table sat three insurance policies. the first had lots of coverage. t

hillary clinton.aybe john kerry and bill richardson can be 3 and 4 in the sent subsequent -- >> does that give her heat from benghazi, richard? the other people still feel good about benghazi and what happened that night. seem to be some lingering sense that there were major screwups over at the he state department. forget the cia but at the state department with security. a lot of red flags and people didn't do what they should have. does this "new york times" thing give her a blanket cover? >> look, it helps. there is nobody, i suspect not a single voter in the democratic primary process who aattaches significance to benghazi and thinks that hillary was under oath before rand paul and people who really wanted to stick it to her and we all know what came of that we all know bob gates the secretary of state the relief was cartoonish. i don't think benghazi, the "new york times" story helps but that's all. >> democrats going to hit her in the primaries over benghazi. >> if she even in a challenger from

isn't there somebody out there that can give hillary a good fight?i can't think of any one. >> anybody who can give her a tussle, make it interesting. >> not anybody, and i don't know how joe biden runs. who's the most significant opponent? the vice president of the united states. but where does he move? to the right? >> nobody's going to give her a hard fight, let's face it. there are two reasons to run, right? because you might want to be the vp. >> explain how that works. the mondale way, bush has done that. you run against the person, you fade-out sometime during the primary with good cheer and they call you back for vp. >> you're not going to run hard against her. so you don't want to tick her off and then you're disqualified from that. it's good to run once of about you run twice, except i'm not sure about the four times. >> look at these quinnipiac polls. they're fascinating out of iowa right now. clinton 45. paul, 44. look at this one, clinton, 40, christie 45. look at this one. cruz 41, clinton, 48. and there's clinton, bush, 47 to 40 for bu

hillary clinton.illary he says and he has a prescription how she can fix her image if she wants to and help the democrats hold onto the white house in 2016. >>> also how did an epa employee so-called convince the agency the reason he wasn't showing up for work two and a half years was because he was away on a cia mission? this is unbelievable. and how did he wind up living in the guest room of another epa official. this does not build confidence in government. >>> finally, the "duck dynasty" star who got a bit too graphic about why he's against homosexuality. well, this is "hardball," the place for politics. clients are always learning more to make their money do more. (ann) to help me plan my next move, i take scottrade's free, in-branch seminars... plus, their live webinars. i use daily market commentary to improve my strategy. and my local scottrade office guides my learning every step of the way. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) ranke

hillary posts the video on youtube.hin hours it goes viral setting off a firestorm of national media coverage. >> a disturbing story out of texas. >> hillary and her mom hallie, now divorced from william, appear on the "today" show and other national media. william adams gives his side when questioned by a local reporter at the time. >> in my mind i haven't done anything wrong other than discipline after my child after she was caught stealing. i did lose my temper but i've since apologized. it looks worse than it is. there is a story. it will come out in time. >> you acknowledge that is you. >> it is me. >> police investigate but the statute of limitations has run out and no charges are filed. >> adams is suspended with full pay from the bench pending the results of an investigation by the state commission on judicial conduct. in september 2012, the commission issues adams a public warning about his conduct. two months later adams is reinstated by the state supreme court. up for re-election in 2014, he declined our requ

>> first, i liked hillary with those wolf blitzer glasses on there. i think it is tough for any politician go to through the process. hillary clinton era of big government is over but with president obama the era of big government is back with a vengeance. in a primary she has to hug barack obama. but barack obama in a general election that is a different story. >> does anyone doubt she is going to run for president? >> no. >> you don't doubt it? >> what has happened to bring this into full focus right now today? what is now about this relationship? as far as i can see you were the only one quoted in there. no one wants to talk about this? the democratic party. >> she is out there working the trail and making outreach to black voters. she was -- >> "the new york times". >> she was on the campaign trail in virginia. she is busy for someone who is not running. >> but the piece didn't provide evidence of tension or conflict and for obvious reasons. eventually she has to define her own agenda. she didn't have to do it now. it would be crazy for her to put

she genuinelilikes hillary clinton. she chose her friend and someone she wants to be president in 2016. if i had the career she did, i might pick my buddy too. >> did you watch it last night? >> i. >> what she did say in the interview. she said it might not be the last one. well you know if it's really popular, we may come back and do it again. >> can i ask you something. if she does run, she had her own version of obamacare before obamacare and it was called hillary care. see what happens when you leave her to her own devices. it's more colossal. >> this makes you put the obama bashing last couple of months as a cover for hillary. they've already moved on to starting her campaign. it must be great to have the media as your own propaganda arm. you don't have to work. >> you think barbara said that, i thought he was the messiah, no, wait, here she is. >> the interesting thing she will outline the problems facing the country today in some detail. jobs, small business, economy, on and on. that was her own way of separating

>> as richard stated her whole resume, we have a lot of things to run against hillary on. not only her policy as a senator, but also what she did as secretary of state. but also what her husband did during the clinton years. do we want four more years of bill clinton being first spouse? i do believe she will run. remember that barbara walters interview? she's going to run -- >> what about health care, angela, you didn't mention that but, you know, the first lady at the time, hillary clinton, had some ideas about health care. it was somewhat unique for a first lady to take such a strong position on such an important issue. now, she will have to explain away the obama care debacle. >> that's what she's trying to do. she's doing this political two-step jamie where she is trying to distance herself from the president's unpopular policies. still, she has to play to that base. she is going to have to explain would she have supported obama care and when she was first lady. she wanted socialized medicine. so then -- >> why are you laughing, richard? >> i don't know if i would call

could hillary flip that in 2016?here she's going to go the next year or so so we can see if she's a contender for 2016. >> in terms of christie, i mean, remember what happened the last election cycle during the gop primary. you had almost every single candidate herman cain, rick perry, leading polls for a couple of weeks at most. it was in flux. the party is still in this internal battle to figure out its identity. i think it would be too early to make any bets as to anything that's assuredly going to happen in 2016. >> is christie conservative enough to get some of the base in the areas where people aren't sure how well they'll do? >> that's part of the problem. he's moderate. in jersey, face it it's more of a progressive state. so he's been able to play safely on the republican line. but in terms offiersy politics. when you go deep into the battleground states, it's more difficult to pull because he's not conservative enough. his fate might be decided during the republican primarieprimarie know that soon enough. >>

i don't think anybody would see hillary as a hard right.t be a center-left person but a hard right i think is unfair. >> adam green, you know, if she runs unopposed, i imagine you would expect certainly a drift to what we might call the center. >> it's possible. >> unopposed in the democratic primaries. >> i think brian schweitzer was saying she will have to pick a side. the corporate wing, including people like bill clinton's chief of staff, elizabeth warren wing has tom haskins from the state of iowa and mark begich from alaska. let's expand social security benefits, not cut them. same is true of wall street. so, you know, my basic thought is, if hillary clinton firmly says that she supports elizabeth warren's positions on the populism issues, there's very little room to her left. there's little room for a competitive primary change but if she takes the wrong position on those issues, some insurgent could occupy that political space. >> karen, there is the notion that you would be doing hillary clinton a favor by running against her. let'

if we want another outsider, then hillary is going to fall off so i think it's way too soon to say hillarynwhile we saw the president sit down with barbara walters of abc to talk about trust in the government and recognizing his low poll numbers. take a look. >> every president in their second term is, you know, mindful that you've only got a limited amount of time left and you want to make sure that you are squeezing every last ounce of energy that you have to try to deliver on the commitments you made to the american people. >> limited amount of time here, corey. so the president recognizes he only has a little bit of time left before the party does need to ramp up to figure out who could potentially take the white house after him, who is best suited to do that. so how does he maneuver the hillary speculation with his own agenda? >> i think he's going to stay as far from the hillary speculation as he can, because we have joe biden, the vice president of course, who's considering a run. but he's going to try to keep this democratic coalition together in his party for as long as possible,

he said of hillary clinton, this was last months -- he said hillary? not so fast.e called her the establishment candidate, part of the ruling class that voters have come to disgust. what about that? >> well, first of all, i don't agree with that, but the funny part of primary caucuses on both sides is it's not about what the general public thinks and that's one of the tricky parts to these polls. chris christie has got good name recognition. i think he's very popular among moderate voters. but moderate voters don't vote in republican primaries and caucuses. by the same token, establishment democrats do control the primaries and caucuses. so if you're looking at hillary clinton at 67%, well, it really is hers for the losing. >> jonah goldberg asked in his column, what has hillary actually ever accomplished? let's put it up on the screen. here is part of what he wrote. as first lady, her only major accomplishment was a failed health care reform scheme. as a carpet bagging senator from new york, what historic legislation did she shepherd? the only thing they can tout

whereas hillary, no matter what hillary does at this point, hillary has been in our consciousness since 1988 and there becomes moments in time where we want that right turn or a left turn. i don't mean politically. >> right. >> i don't know how hillary overcomes the country's ned to make a move. >> there is such contempt for washington. there is such contempt for the establishment. i even think it's going to be a problem for these three senators, republican senators running as fire brands. we were talking about rand palm, ted cruz or marco rubbio, they are a part of the walk problem. washington, you know, the congress has anywhere between a 9 and 14% approval rating. i think that can be problematic. >> while we are there, why don't we move on to this. the senate is setting up a final vote on the bill later today. 12 republicans voted to advance the bill along with every democrat and independent in the state. minority leader mitch mcconnell and senators marco rubio and ted cruz and rand paul all voted against the measure. a number of republicans were against a portion of the bill that wo

if hillary clinton doesn't run, who do you see?> if hillary clinton doesn't run, i think we have a strong finish. there has been talk about right here in maryland, the governor of maryland -- joe, you know what, joe biden, i will say this, joe biden won over a lot of democrats in the debate where he did to congressman ryan what many were hoping that the president was going to do to mitt romney. so don't underestimate joe biden in the democratic primary if hillary clinton is not -- >> let me point out, that was a spot-on report by john king but here's an irony. at the end of 2006 when people thought hillary clinton might be a lock for the democratic nomination, they weren't thinking about barack obama, hillary clinton went out and ran to the left of obama on health care. she was the queen of the individual mandate. barack obama was not for that as a candidate. of course, we all know that she was the first one who spearheaded her husband's efforts to create a universal health care plan in his presidency. hillary this time around is d

and hillary too -- >> no hillary -- >> hillary might get a cup and saucer. but -- now, now. >> we're ready for her. i think there is a lot of passion for hillary clinton and particular with the black community. she has showed up even before she started running. she came to the essence music festival, sat down and engaged thousands of women around katrina. she was so well informed about who essence was to black women, who the leaders were and the people in the community were. >> what happens to president obama when more attention is paid to hillary clinton and the race in 2016. how big of an issue does that become? >> he is now a wounded president. unlike some folks my experience is there are things that 345rk you forever, the watergates and the katrinas and some 9/11s for bush are good and some are not. this is that kind of transformational event for obama. whatever happens after this he may achieve other good things but he will be remembered by this. this will drag his honesty numbers down. >> why -- >> i'm sharing my experience with you. he may win the oly

hillary clinton has surprising crossover appeal. not sure joe biden has the same crossover appeal particularly because he's been, frankly, so gaffe prone. >> juan carlos also asked the former president about comments he made saying that the current president, president obama, should honor his commitment to make sure if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. there seemed to be a little tension at the time. this is how he explained what he said. >> i said nothing about this. not one word until the president, himself, spoke. i don't think you can find anybody in america who's worked harder for his re-election or supported this bill or went out of his way to explain the bill to the american people more than i did. >> get a quick thought from all three of you. paul? >> he's right, right? good point. i actually think president obama should have never made that pledge, but i think president clinton is saying something different saying just what president obama said. >> i think what president clinton is saying i

and ironically, hillary, as great as she is, a lot of people don't see her that way.his image of him meeting president obama in the aftermath of superstorm standee. people were touched he could embrace the president in that way. he'll be able to energize both sides of the aisle. >> it's interesting, she may have to remind people of that, susan, because she got a reputation in the senate of being somebody who worked across the aisle. she has very close friends who are republican senators. >> and it also matters are the president's numbers are and where the economy is. there's a lot of factors. but she's going to -- and i think it's one of the reasons why she's fortunate that she has all this time to decide, and she should take it. it's very hard to come out with a strategy at this point because you don't know what you're running to or from given the volatile economy and the president's numbers with health care. >> but it's fun for us to talk about. sploo absolutely. >> alexis, lisa, great article in "the observer. thanks to all of you for coming in. >> thank you. >>> w

somehow if hillary and biden didn't run, you know, everything that's old is new again. terrific, michael sto , steele, amy wallace, dan, thank you. just 662 have served in both chambers, we know you got that answer. we'll be right back with my 2014 takeaway. this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ is sweatier and messier than my family on the field. so like the nfl i use tide... ...because i'm the equipment manager in this house. that's my tide. what's yours? >>> time for my final takeaway of 2013. if we were writing a book about politics, here we would borrow a phrase entitled "the chapter for 2013 is simply embrace the suck" used by nancy pelosi during this month's budget deal, special sums up this year in politics, the successes were small, overshadowed by the negative. the budget deal went through, "well at least we didn't shut down the government." low bar of expectations. there are distinct issues here leadin

on benghazi, and hillary clinton, i would say that it has already had an effect. if you look at her favorability ratings just a year ago and look at where they are now, it's very clear that it's had an effect. she has dropped some 30 points depending on the poll that you look at. >> i would disagree though that she won't be a strong candidate. i think she will be a very strong candidate. and she also polls a lot of independent women, republican women who are -- who find her candidacy very appealing. i think the other factor to look at here is that the republican party is still in the midst of a civil war. and that's going to play out in the primaries and i think that's going to continue to hurt them in the general election. >> yeah, we will see what happens in 2014. an opportunity to possibly do a little kum ba yah. we will see. thank you, panel. that's it for the panel. stay tuned for a little guy scoring a very big goal. >>> finally tonight, another installment in our end of the year staff picks. following the final english premier league match of the season in

the republicans have a big primary in front of them and number of candidates, hillary clinton won't have much of a primary in front of her and that makes a big difference. >> i agree. >> she is still the winner on the -- on the gallop pole and she is at 15%. so that is -- >> did you see that oprah winfrey edged out michelle obama. >> i saw that. she is not happy about that. >> she's burning in the white house. she's very upset. >> the president will be sleeping on the couch. with all of the that love and affection, you have edged me out. >> and one more thing to talk about that you might watch this other station, and you might have seen the "today" show did a ranking of prit cal -- political events of 2013. take a look at this sound of matt lauer. >> number ten, the event that everybody said should make the list is wendy davis defending abortion rights. >> people felt if we had more leaders like wendy davis willing to stand up for what is right, we would get somewhere. >> and number five, the government shutdown. >> i called it the gop shutdown. it is false to say it was a failure of gov

let's face it hillary clinton has got a big edge there.ause all of the big -- othe big democratic super superr pacs and outside organizations are already pretty much aligned with her. >> rick, when you look at the republicans and as you have reported on and you read the stories all about republican infighting, how much of an impact do you think that has early on in a race like this? >> it opens up the field to a lot of different folks. i think there is going to be a couple different brackets in the republican primary. you have some tea party favorites who battle it out. you will have more pragmatic kind of governors battling it out o. chris christie a huge 2014 and scott walker poised for a 2014. you have battle out for constituencies to try to beat the viability threshold and plussability threshold. there is room for a lot of them. you you mention the money. i think there is a enough money out there particularly with the rise of super pacs and potential for any outside group to come in and basically prop up a candidacy. i think you could

if 2008, you had hillary clinton finish 3rd in the caucuses.o do with the vote if 2002 the vote that brian sweitzer brought up in iowa this week. now you are saying, this is sort of happened nationally, too. democrats are looking at hillary clinton different than if 2008. what exactly has changed, the image of hillary clinton in iowa. is it now a lot more friendly turf for her than it was headed into 2008? >> i think it is a lot more friendly turf. in part, because of her experience as secretary of state. this is a job that she got, you know, in addition to being a senator, this is an executive experience besides being first lady, which, of course, brought its own issues. this is something that people respected the job that she did. i think also the idea of a woman for president has only grown over the years. hillary clinton kind of complained about iowa in 2008 because iowa had not and still has not ever sent a woman to congress or to the u.s. senate or to the governor's office. and that is still true. although, perhaps that will change in 201

she's the most trusted most respected individual in the country and in some cases across the globe hillary would come in higher politically though and she's a very divisive social come in very high among women very high among democrats very well among republicans as well she could win though she's clearly more than just viable i think that she's the front runner and going back to a balika zero zero then that the challenge with him is that the polarization this country is so deep that republicans democrats can't talk to each other they can't dine with each other right now i like to joke that democrats laugh louder are much more fun to hang out with but they always stick you with a check at the end of the evening right now we're not talking to each other and so this divide has become a chasm but in every poll in the past obama always came out well in likeability yes we liked him because because they thought he was honest because they thought he was trying the problem with health care is that now they're not convinced of that he looked a straight in the eye and said again and again if you wan

she's the most trusted most respected individual in the country and in some cases across the globe hillary would come in her politically though and she's a very divisive social come in very high among women very high among democrats very well among republicans as well she could win though she is clearly more than just viable i think that she's the front runner but going back to obama considers it then that the challenge with him is that if the polarization this country is so deep that republicans democrats can't talk to each other they can't dine with each other right now i like to joke that democrats laugh louder are much more fun to hang out with but they always stick you with a check at the end of the evening right now we're not talking to each other and so this divide has become a chasm but in every poll in the past obama always came out well in likability yes we liked him because because they thought he was honest because they thought he was trying the problem with health care is that now they're not convinced of that he looked a straight in the eye and said again and again if you wan

david axelrod said something, i think, very smart, hillary clinton '07 terrible candidate.on '08, about to be lost coming from behind, turned out to be a great campaigner. which do we see? >> i think the '08 2.0, i think she's going to be much bet, surround herself -- and this is the criticism -- people around her take away, detract from her ability to be that candidate. so if she stockpile the smart and the best, and she goes out there and is herself, i think she's going to be formidable. the backdrop, if she decides not to get in, this falls to joe biden. >> right. >> here's a question, who's going to invite hillary clinton to campaign for them in 2014? >> you think some won't want to do it? i don't know. that's what i think now. >> very popular. >> is kay hagan? >> potentially. >> she's popular in red states. >> don't underestimate the secretary of state. >> there are a lot of, particularly, republican women who like hillary clinton. >> i was going to to say, i think hillary clinton is more popular in '014 than '06. >> secretary of state -- being secretary of state chang

the intrigue out there right now, michael, is that it's still all about hillary. >> it's hillary 24/7s about her. i think ruth is right, that obviously we have some deep sympathies all of us, all three of us for since i'm from the midwest as well in detroit for those midwestern populists who talk about, you know, the poor people at the bottom, who talk about working class people. and then on the other hand, you've got people who are actually electable. now, we face that dilemma all the time. how much do we capitulate to a kind of corporatist conservative agenda that says the things that are must be dealt with, and any politician who has a chance of getting elect shod be placed above the interests of the people. the question is can any populist make a dent on the race in 2016? i think hillary has it lock, stock, and barrel. i don't think much opposition will be put forward. and if she announces, if she does indeed announce, i think everything becomes about her. and lining up behind her to try to stop the republican who will be on the ticket. >> ruth, does she have to have competition?

that is on the subject of hillary clinton 2016. and i say this.sure, yes, i've worked for hillary clinton. i worked for her in the white house. i worked for her senate race. i am sick of hearing about 2016, not the least of which because, kiki, we have a president right now. he's got three more years. a lot of stuff that he needs our help on. >> yeah. i completely agree. the fact of the matter is, there's a president in an office. whether or not hillary clinton decides to be president doesn't impact what's happening today. more to the point is, i would like to hear from hillary clinton when she's ready to talk about it as opposed to everybody else telling me what they think she's thinking about. >> that's right. eric, you wrote about this, this week. specifically looking at "the new york times" piece about how they're trying to, you know, the clintons are trying to get back in good with the black community. as you point out, there's so much that just wasn't even in that piece in terms of, you know, sort of the numbers where hillary clinton's favor

we talk about hillary clinton in 2016. how does this impact the white house president obama heading into 2014. they spent a fair amount of the first part of the year dealing with the fallout from benghazi. >> i don't think that there will be a conclusive answer on this. the accountability issue and there is a great piece in politico about why we will never stop arguing about benghazi. a lot of this has political aspects and a disagreement within both parties about whether things are accurate and which are accurate. he was also saying that there links in the intelligence from certain al qaeda aspects. obviously there is some disagreement overall about what the conclusions to be drawn out of this. it will continue to play out. >> that's right. people looking at this said it has implications for other conflicts. i will head the articles. it shows the loyalty and the difficulty discerning friend from allies of convenience and decades of western sentiment. both hanging over syria's civil conflict. >> it means we face a differen

hillary clinton is, also. he was the first black president, she may be the first woman president. >> most reporters in the so called >> she's running for president they're going to try to find out what happened with benghazi and to what extent she did something wrong? i don't think so. there is another factor. when barack obama ran, the media slobbered all over him. the title of my last book. they had a slobbering love affair with him. that in no small way helped him get nomination over hillary clinton. i think this is -- >> pay back. >> right. they're going to show they love her and her liberal politics. >> it's going to be the woman that gender factor is going to be huge. >> accusation that's the party may be too mean and then, a factor give away that you might like. blp hi, i'm terry and i have diabetic nerve pain. it's hard to describe, because you have a numbness, but yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot. it was progressively getting worse, and at that point i knew i had t

hillary clinton consider the chris christie threat? and we have winners, two lucky ticket holders are now mega rich. we're going to go live to where one of those winning mega millions tickets was sold next. ya know, with new fedex one rate you can fill that box and pay one flat rate. i didn't know the coal thing was real. it's very real... david rivera. rivera, david. [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you ca

cornell, if not hillary who? who else the democrats got?ell, i think the democrats have a fairly strong bench i'll talk about them in a moment. i want to push back on this ideal that hillary is now being dragged down by obama care problems. she's cleaning the clock of most of the field. these a statistical tossup quite frankly with the most popular sort of broadly republican we have. i will agree that none of these polls are predict anything in the future. in 2006 around this time cnn's polling had mccain ahead of obama, nbc's polling actually had him i think by 5 or 6 points. they're sort of meaningless because the contours of the election have not been settled. for me the real challenge for republicans is really this. if you have a candidate who comes out of your primary who cannot compete for that diverse s.w.a. swath of electorate, unable to compete in key states like florida and virginia and nevada for that degreeing diverse electorate, if they have a candidate who can't do that they have very little hope. >> do you think christie can

hillary clinton, as you and all of our viewers know is the overwhelming democti favorite president in2016ingor what does the former president say about his wife and 2016? >> he is saying he doesn't know if she's going to run or not. >> is mrs. clinton running for president? >> i don't know. and i think and she believes that the country should spend at least another year working very hard on the problems we have. we w haveery serious challenges in america. and we have responsibilities around the world. i think it's a big mistake, you know, this constanten four-year campaign is not good for america. we nee to deal with the business we have before us. >> wolf, i did ask him ask the former president what he thought of vice president biden as a possible president in 20716. he says he likes him a lot. >> i guess we shouldn't be surprised about that. we'll see if he likes him a lot if in fact, bide is challenging hillary clinton for that democratic nomination or if he decides if she runs, he's not going to run or what's going on. lots of unanswered questions out there. juan carlos lopez, as usual, th

governor chris christie would be neck and neck with hillary clinton.s hillary have what it takes to be in the white house and win the white house? i have my doubts too but charles krauthammer has some bold remarks. >> i think the status she enjoyed with democrats is semi devine. it is not a correlation, it will be a worship service. >> it will be weak, if they decides to run, which i think she is likely going to, i think she will be a rather weak opponent and republicans will have a good shot at the white house. >> i agree and disagree. which i don't. let's go around the table. we'll start with you. >> well love, charles. brilliant. i disagree. i think she'll be a good candidate and have a boat-load of money and exceed any numbers with money. and when the negative advertising happens that helps a lot. but kind of -- for -- i asked twitter and facebook viewers about their opinion, obama was number one and benghazi was number two. people are still tuned into benghazi. this will haunt her in 2016. i guarantee what difference it doesn't make that point, we

i'm going to put you in the yes hillary column. >> for sure yes hillary. support her and work hard for her to make sure she gets elected. but she has to make that very personal decision. it's a difficult job. i can't imagine going through it, traveling around the country, reaching out to people. there's so much support that i do hope she considers and makes that decision. >> we'll have to leave it there for now. thank you very much, congresswoman. >> thank you. >> nearly a week after president obama's handshake with cuba's raul castro raised eyebrows in some quarters we're seeing the first new photo of his brother fidel castro since earlier this year. cuban government website published the photo taken last week, the 87-year-old fidel photo with a visiting spanish journalist. hoo-hoo hoo. sir... i'll get it together i promise... heeheehee. jimmy: ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? ronny:i'd say happier than the pillsbury doughboy on his way to a baking convention. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you

i'm hard pressed to see how joe biden runs if hillary is serious and if the party coalesces around her early i think that just seems like that's a fight you want to avoid. although you know it's not as if either one of them are the future you know i mean if you're still digging into the past year of democratic politics in terms of who the nominee would anyone not want to go on meet the press you get turned down we get turned down i mean i think there i think people make calculations about whether there's too much downside none of upside and the one thing that i that i'm always so proudest of about meet the press and its history and over the past five years is that you can come on and say your piece you can get your message across and that's very important to me i think it's important to be able to ask a tough question to be able to ask follow up questions but it's still a place to come on and be heard. but you know despite that yeah there are people particularly candidates who think it's you know something that they should probably avoid holgate we're in the first amendment gallery. an

martha: is hillary the most fascinating person of 2013?acking hillary clinton, she's impressive in a lot of ways, but her husband is fascinating, she is not. i have to say, though, the real question is not does your husband want you to run, of course, i mean, he's telling everybody in hotel lobbies across america i want my wife to run. he's aggressively promoting her. the question is, does the democratic base want hillary to run? and i'm not sure they do. the washington democratic establishment wants her to run, for sure. they know her, they understand her, they're promoting her. but the people who actually choose the nominee in the early primary states are way to the left of hillary clinton, they hate the fact that she's connected to tightly to the -- so tightly to the banks, she's supported these various wars, she's out of step with the democratic way. martha: it's interesting to note that she ran for president once before, and she did not get the nomination of her own party. >> right. martha: and it's fascinating to me because i think b

i think the other thing to remember, if hillary clinton decide to run.don't know if she will. >> come on. come on on this show she is running. she is running. >> for you i will say, so great to my dad last night at the holiday party. but i think, the point of it is, she has also got a very good answer for why. and either you agreen with it or you disagree. the point is something looking that that is so old, just pure politics. if you are asked the question and you have a good answer, that's sort of the end of it for a lot of voters. again i think particularly at a time when it is far more likely talking income inequality. and the economy. and jobs. the sort of last several years of, republican cuckoo caucus than we will the iraq vote. not that it may not be important to some voters. i don't think it is again going to have the same kind of potency that it did back then. >>> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. republicans close out their year on capitol hill, suddenly invested with a new sense of swagger and braggadocio. everywhere you look, repub