. ♪ >> what was the issue between you and jim messina? >> i like jim messina.im was a colleague of mine in the white house. >> every political reporter knows. >> i think we have a slightly different approach to politics. jim is an itinerant political manager, operative. sees it more of a business than i did. >> business means what? >> you approach it more like a lawyer. evaluate the client in the same way. you are not out there searching for people who you deeply believe in to work for you, you are responding to people who have a need. was that careful enough? >> anybody would understand what you are saying. what is happening in england, in britain where you are on the opposite side? >> he went to work for david cameron. that is probably the big money side to be on over there. i work for the labour party. ed milliband, the leader of the labour party. the reason i did that was not because jim went to work for them. that did get my attention. i worked for them -- >> what did you mean a got your attention? >> i was kind of quizzical about it because we just bought

last week's roundtable, we talked about the down side of dominance following a conflict between jim messinarock, that broke out into the open. here it is. >> part of the problem is, these operatives and strategists don't have anywhere else to go. so they're all fighting over a large pie, but it's only one pie. >> john podesta has to get control of the clinton operation. >> and he's pretty good at that. >> john podesta is expected to become chairman of the clinton operation. he has deep roots with the clinton and more recently president obama. in a profile today, "the new york times" described his role this we. it will fall to him to impose discipline on the sprawling and fractious clinton universe, including the candidate and her famously undisciplined husband. that's one tall order. i'm joined now by the roundtable, sam stein, ruth marcus and charles elson. i want to start with sam. i don't care how vintage he is, how does john podesta make sure bill clinton doesn't do anything embarrassing and help to keep together the fractious amazing watchdogs, that really tough crowd that know how to

jim mesina, and was the president's 2012 campaign manager and longtime clinton allies, including brock, who reportedly feared being pushed aside. the battle is fierce. in the "times" yesterday, one messinamorgan, described brock on the record as, quote, a cancer who is unwilling to do what's best for clinton and the nation. morgan added, if you care about your party and your country, you just do what you're asked. if you care about yourself, you take your toys and go home. joining me is someone who has been all over the story, and wrote the piece that blew it out in the open, the political reporter for "the new york times." >> hey, chris. >> first of all, what is going on? so is this a war between these two pacs, between two camps? what's going on? >> in the olden days, chris, back in the pre-citizens days, a person like me would have to wait months, or even a year from now to see this kind of infighting in a noncampaign. there is no campaign. there's just these groups that have tried to stake out a piece of a role of her future campaign for president. a collection of super pacs, with overlapping boards and with an overlapping need for money. what this partly comes down to is the fact t