john dickerson. al hunt of bloomberg news. also joining me from the set mark halperin and john heilemann. david brooks will join us later. i am pleased to have all of you here. an assessment of what the president calls the final quarter of his presidency. al hunt, reaction to the state of the union? >> charlie, this was a guy 11 weeks ago who suffered a disastrous electoral defeat. and yet tonight, i think he gave one of the best speeches of his presidency. i think he was confident, he did not give a laundry list of 28 different programs. he struck a good balance between a populist rhetoric and also stressed values. i think he did it remarkably -- it was remarkably effective. >> even if his intent is to get things done. >> at of the there is much he will get done career that is always the case in this cycle. bill clinton, george w. bush andrew jackson -- i will defer to john on that. this is not a cycle where you get much done. >> the point is to reassert the debate. >> the debate will take place over the next two years. i thin

from iowa, john dickerson, the chief political correspondent for slate magazine and political director for cbs news. with me is al huntqnews and jon meacham author and historian. joining is with all due respect john -- i'm pleased to have all of them here. take a look at the assessment of this state of the union and what it says about what the president calls the final quarter of his presidency. and i begin with al hunt reaction to this state of the unit and what it said and what it means. >> charlie, thisweeks ago who suffered a disastrous electoral defeat. he's a lame duck president and terrible cycle yet tonight i think he gave one of the best speeches of his president z i thought he was compelling, he was appropriately assertive he was confident. he didn't give a laundry list of 28 different programs. but i think he struck a good balance when you know, a populist rhetoric that is in tune with the times as opposed to maybe five or ten years ago. ten years ago at least. and also stressed values and i thought he did it remarkably, it was remarkably effective. much more than i expected

our political director john dickerson is there, and, john, this is a meeting of the most conservative wing of the republican party there, and yet the spotlight is on a moderate. you can tell me about that? >> reporter: that's right. the folks in the audience here represent the real grass roots of the conservative movement. i've talked to lots of people from various tea parties across the state of iowa and they're hear to hear conservative darlings like ted cruz and scott walker. chris christie showed up. some say christie is too moderate but he came today to define himself with this important group and try to dispel some of the fears against him. >> axelrod: you have been in iowa all week. what have you seen? >> reporter: in the conversations i've had here in iowa the pace has really quickened. the rest of the country the election is not for two years but the caucus here in iowa, the first important contest of the nominating process for republicans is a year away, and to give you a sense of how tough the competition is, in conversations with people who are trying to get jeb bush elect

overtly taking part in the primary count for the first time at the iowa freedom summit where john dickerson finds himself tonight which raises the question, john, why are you there? >> seems a little early, doesn't it, gwen? we got two years until the 2016 election. but you can't get started too early in iowa. the caucuses are a year away. and we have the iowa freedom summit as you mentioned and seven to 10 depending on what definition you use, republicans who are thinking about running for president, then a bunch of them who are not here. but what the iowa freedom summit is is a chance for some of the marquee names -- scott walker, governor of wisconsin, chris christie, governor of new jersey, rick perry, the former governor of texas -- to come, make their pitch to this very conservative group of republican voters and it's kind of the kick-off event of the caucus. that's the way the people i've been talking to all week have been referring to it. the other thing that's going on among all campaigns including the romney campaign, bush campaign, and when i say "campaign" what i mean is campaig

. >> axelrod: let's begin our political director john dickerson, let's talk costs. how much damage, if any, has chris christie done to any presidential aspirations? >> probably not much. we are a year away from the first caucus, and between now and then republicans are going to have all kinds of things to make their decisions about but these kinds of things do become symbolic of whatever it is they ultimately think about chris christie, so we are still like throw hear about the sky box snuggle again. >> axelrod: so let's move to another big republican name, mitt romney now seems to be considering another run. he did not get the nomination in 2008, didn't win the election in 2012. is he, does he still yet he still seems a credible candidate in some circles. >> in some circles particularly those who are part of the big fund-raising network he worked hard for republican candidates in the 2014, 2014 theable elections and that improved his reputation in the party and conservatives who are at the core of the party are still september cal about him, he had trouble articula

. >>> joining us now from washington is john dickerson the political director for cbs news and he will be on face the the nation this sunday. john, it is not surprising that mitt romney is not going to run again but he has kept us guessing for a few weeks now. why do you think he did it that way, what was the benefit to him. >> reporter: in the end romney definitely still thought he would make the best president among the field. he thought he could beat likely democratic nominee hillary clinton but in the end hurdles were just too high for him. biggest one was the slog ahead of him, this would have been his third race and he wouldn't have gotten any leg up. he would have had a tougher field then the one he faced the last time and there would have been attacks and to drag himself through that again just seemed to leery to try one more time. >> john dickerson from cbs news. he will be on face the nation as part of the round table this sunday morning at 10:30 right here on cbs-3. >>> and, at 5:37, we are going outside to the schuylkill expressway where things are almost at a stand still h

also about american politics john dickerson has been out in iowa for that extraordinary show.what he has to say about that. narrator: gas prices are down helping middle class families. but now, the white house wants to impose title ii regulations on your internet meaning new government taxes and fees. every month: you'd pay more. 11 billion dollars a year in new taxes and fees. internet freedoms can be protected with the white house and congress working together, but imposing new tax increases through public utility style regulations will hurt middle class families let's protect the internet we love without regressive taxes and fees. no to title ii. >> seriously considering the positives >> why do you people keep inviting me back. >> it can't be mitt bus mitt ran and failed. he failed. >> the last thing we need is another bush. >> i am seriously thinking of running for president. >> i've been thinking a little bit about 2016. >> let's take the oval office. no girls allowed. >> i'm pleased to be here in iowa today i'm going to come back many more times in the future. >> my name

also about american politics john dickerson has been out in iowa for that extraordinary show.what he has to say about that. here's some news you may find surprising. we're for an open internet for all. we're for creating more innovation and competition. we're for net neutrality protection. now, here's some news you may find even more surprising. we're comcast. the only isp legally bound by full net neutrality rules. comcast and time warner cable, together for more net neutrality protection. >> seriously considering the positives >> why do you people keep inviting me back. >> it can't be mitt bus mitt ran and failed. he failed. >> the last thing we need is another bush. >> i am seriously thinking of running for president. >> i've been thinking a little bit about 2016. >> let's take the oval office. no girls allowed. >> i'm pleased to be here in iowa today i'm going to come back many more times in the future. >> my name is mike lee i'm from utah. i'm not running for president. >> schieffer: he may the only person in the united states senate to make that statement. you were out t

cbs analyst john dickerson gave his analysis. >> he framed them as lobbyists and super wealthy. he said they were essentially hypocrites on minimum wage. he said their obsession was the keystone pipeline was limiting and limited in terms of america's vision. and he issued a whole host of veto threats because he you know, just sort of warned them from following their worst instinct. so his kind of between the lines the way he was treating republicans was certainly the way they read it as well was not something very favorable. >> well at several occasions during his speech the president ad-libbed. when republicans applauded he had run his last campaign, the president responded. >> i have no more campaigns to run. [ applause ] >> i know because i won both of them. >> earlier i spoke with cbs news chief correspondent bob schieffer about the president's seemingly relaxed key meaner. >> the president made his point. he said some things that some republicans in the room did not like. a lot of them will never see the light of day as legislation, quite frankly, but he did it all in kind

. >> pelley: our cbs news political director john dickerson is in iowa this evening. nd, john, it seems after the midterm elections, you have a republican party that is emboldened and a president of the united states with nothing to lose. >> reporter: well, that's right. as bob said, he really seemed to be enjoying himself tonight. george w. bush used to say when he'd see the opposition in the audience, he'd kind of lean into it, kind of enjoy it, having something to push against. barack obama seemed to be that way tonight. but as you say, the two worlds are totally apart. the president said, sort of talked about being vindicated. his policies worked, he basically said. well, a lot of those new republicans sitting in that audience who are there now in the majority think they won because the president's policies were repudiated. so he feels emboldened and they feel emboldepped. they are still world apart and after this speech this was tweaking on the minimum wage, the xl pipeline. they're going to have plenty to be irritated about after this is over. >> pelley: presiden

. >>> with us our political director john dickerson, political correspondent nancy cordes and peggy noonanannoonan columnistcolumn columnist. happy new year. >> happy new year. >> i think we've got a couple of big clues on how things are going to go down. first of all the republicans who don't control the house and senate yet are feeling their oats. they slipped in a few big priorities at the last minute and democrats had a choice to make. they came down to two camps. you had one camp who said look we don't love this but it's going to get worse, we have to take this deal. you have other democrats like nancy pelosi saying no we've got to to take a stand because it's only going to get worse for us in the new year and we have to show we have limits and we won't get pushed around. in the end, that white house and the wing of the democratic party won, but i think you can see going forward it's not going to be republicans against the democrats but you're going to have two camps deciding on what the issues. >> so what is it. >> they want corporate and individual tax reform. leader mcconnell, th

. >>> for more on the race of 2016 we turn to cbs political director john dickerson. hn, good morning. >> good morning, anthony. >> if mr. romney says he gets better with age, there are a lot of republicans who would say he's had his chance. is there really an opening for him? >> there's an opening for this within. he has a fund-raising effort that still exists and having money is a crucial part of running for president. the fact that he has that network creates the opening for him. the question is there an opening among the voters? there are a lot of people who like mitt romney but as nancy mentioned in her piece, it's a much more crowded field and it's crowded in that specific little place where mitt is trying to make his pitch. candidates who have a pragmatic, slightly ideological look at the campaign. >> you mention competition so often in politics it's all about comparison. talk about the republican field. how is it lining up right now? >> there's sort of three baskets you can put the candidates in at the moment. quite early, of course. you've got the ideological