howard fineman, mark halperin, the war between the states. louisiana governor bobby jindal is going crazy these days broke the peace and went outside the white house and dumped all over his host, that being the president, it was connecticut's dan malloy who came to the host's rescue. dan malloy joins us next. bobby jindal won't answer our calls. >>> jan brewer in arizona, well, apple the computer company says veto it. arizona's two republican senators say veto it, that includes john mccain. the chamber of commerce says veto it. the super bowl host committee says veto it. does arizona really want another martin luther king holiday mess on its hands like the old days? >>> plus, guess who is benefitting from implementing the health care law? a bunch of republican governors. do you believe it? is not one of them who has expanded medicaid is in political trouble this november. and what's that tell you? >>> and it looks like ted nugent just can't get enough of comparing president obama to guess what? the nazis. he is at it again, just days after ma

it struck him, according to mark halperin and john heilemann as an outrageous strong arm move, like, quote, something out of "the sopranos." today the current presidential wanna-be is hitting christie with the same charge, of being a bull hi. quote, it's important that people think that their government not be used to bully them, rand paul said this weekend. nobody wants to think their government would shut down a bridge just because you're a democrat and i'm a republican. nobody wants a government that thinks if i win i'm going to punish you because you're in a different party. well, holding back final judgment, rand paul called the charge unsettling and serious about the bridge business. tonight we tighten in about chris christie's methods of operation, how he gets his way with other politicians, the press and the public. we look at how his image is causing other republicans across the country to run when they see him coming. not because they fear him, but fear being seen with the man from new jersey. mark halperin is the co-author of "double down" that wrote the great passage i me

joining me for our "daily fix," chris cilizza and mark halperin. you, you and i were covering a lot of this back in the day. diane blair was one of hillary clinton's closest friends. the first friend she and jim blair whom hillary made when she moved to arkansas. she was a professor for 30 years in fayetteville. she died in 2000, and she was friendly with the clintons all through whitewater, lewinsky, impeachment, practically living at the white house by some accounts in 1993. so what is new here? these are the archival documents that her husband put in at the university of arkansas and put in to be released i guess four years ago. and now they're being made public by a conservative website. >> well, there's no doubt, as you suggested, andrea, that diane blair was very close to hillary clinton. from that point of view, we're dealing with somebody, while she was alive as an adult, no one was closer to hillary clinton amongst her friends. that adds -- that puts a foundation down that says we should take this seriously. on the other hand, what we have

what are you saying, mark halperin? what?kind of equal. dark. >> well, there's that. and it's true. he has people arrested and things. with us on set -- i think he's a murderer. right. okay. with us now, msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin, white house correspondent for associated press julie. huh. hey, julie. and thomas roberting from "it's way too early." i don't know what i walked in on with you and louis, and i don't think i want to know. >> you do. it's good, clean fun. halperin said we needed to do that. >> got to fight fire with fire. >> yes. oh, god, i don't need to see that one. >> there's a second one i just tweeted out. louis. make people work for it. >> some of the competition is trying to trump thomas roberts with eye candy. and thomas is fighting fire with fire. >> oh, you mean the legs? >> endless legs. >> yeah. legs and gloss. legs and gloss. legs and gloss. you will never, ever be able to trump that. >> i love a challenge. >> you have just thrown it down. double dog dare. >> chall

mark halperin, julie pace, and michael steele are still with us. who happens to have a brilliant daughter, bill kristol. and in washington, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown" chuck todd. she's a good teacher. we need those. >> bill has a crystal ball at home. he is -- and he looks into it every once in a while and politico asked him to name the candidates who are actually -- we're sitting here debating what is this chris christie thing, is jeb going to be jumping into the race. scott walker, is this -- bill just was asked who's going to be on the stage at these debates and you said there are going to be -- your crystal ball showed you in advance of nine people that will be on stage. >> nine. >> i've been right so many times in the past that -- this is what people are paying. politico asked a bunch of people in light of christie's troubles and all the other talk who are going to be the finalist in the republican race, the nominee. i did send them a little paragraph and i said i don't know

joining me now is mark halperin and former governor of ohio, governor ted strickland. thank you so much for joining us. i want to start with you, governor. you have weighed in on the possible ineptitude. >> i think he has some answers that he needs to be forthcoming with. some things that were said in the e-mails that were not illegal portrayed an attitude of intolerance. the department of natural resources is supposed to oversee the fracking industry. there's an enemies' list that oppose fracking. initially they denied it and through public records request that information has come forth and the governor's office has been implicated in this. there are several republican governors that have a lot to explain if they're contemplating being president in 2016. >> with he and chris christie, there's the issue of guilt. there's still the issue of what kind of climate he creates in his office. as governor strickland says, a climate of inktolerance and questionable attitudes about race. how much do you think he needs to come forward before he goes any further with a possible p

. >> joining me right now is "time" magazine's mark halperin and john heilemann. olitical analysts and co-authors of the great book "double down." so gentlemen, starting with john heilemann and then to mark quickly with the same question, will ted cruz be a major player in your next book? will he figure prominently beyond the rick perry level of comedy in the fight for the presidency in 2016? >> rick perry had a pretty big role in "double down," chris, so you set that bar exactly that level. ted cruz decides to run for president, he certainly looks like he is going to, he'll be a part of our book if we decide to write one in 2016 for sure. >> god, that's qualified. let me go to mark on that. ted cruz, will he be bigger than rick perry who couldn't remember the government agencies he was going to get rid of. probably the most famous bartletts quotation for him will be oops. will he get beyond that bar? >> first of all, i'm a little surprise you'd didn't show barbara mikulski's imitation of seth meyers which also kills. this thing, as you know, is so wide open. i thi

mark halperin is a msnbc political analyst and co-author of double down.ton post" and a msnbc contributor. if you ask vice president biden and he is a regular person and assume you're a regular person, let me ask you this, mark. you would ask him, was there any obvious reason you wouldn't run. and the obvious reason not to run is secretary clinton is beating his butt by 60 points and she'll probably be the nominee. so he ignores the elephant in the room, hillary clinton's inevitableability and said no. why doesn't he say if hillary clinton runs, i'd have to take another look at it. of course she would be a the clear front-runner and of course the usual courtesy. instead he said i can't think of any reason not to run. i can't think of hillary clinton. >> because he loves politics, and he would like to be president, and he is keeping his options open. i don't think there are any circumstances under which he'll run if she runs. i really don't. but i also have been surprised -- >> why is he leaving that possibility out there, then, by saying i don't see her as

strange. >> mark halperin, what's going on here? >> legal side or political side?onomics club and the democrats are going to do what they've been doing, which they'll try to get press coverage. governor strictiland, former governor of ohio. having trouble raising money. as long as this story holds up, donors will stay with him. the big thing is the speech. what is his vision for the american economy? let's see if he can give it undistracted and good, solid speech. if he does, that is part of the path back here as long as his story holds up. >> mike i said if he was a distraction to the rga with all these stories coming out it would be better for the rga if he just stayed home and worried about what he was doing at home. the betrayal of joe scarborou scarborough -- it's not a betrayal of chris christie. it's just a fact. if you were a republican like myself and you want governors to get re-elected in 2014 and you don't want to control 30 state houses, you want to control 35 state houses you want somebody who has no distraction. he raised a lot of money in january. w

up out west, a live look at new york city, back with us on set, mike barnicle, michael steele, mark halperin >> welcome back. >> thanks. it was a good trip. it was cool. i think the anticipation was all of the security problems, and it wouldn't be a great. and actually, they did a good job with security. they did a good job with the transportation, venues were nice. it doesn't mean there aren't a lot of problems in sochi and in russia. >> it was disconcerting seeing you standing there in 60-degree weather, and going up to bobsled races on -- >> yeah, we knew that going in, that down by the coast -- the coastal cluster done by the water. the mountain cluster up top. it was 60 degrees, it was 65 degrees. but all of the venues, they're indoors, obviously. when you got up in the mountains, it was cold enough to operate, although sometimes the snow got slushy. it was strange looking at palm trees where you were standing, and then seeing the snow-capped mountains behind them. it was this weird paradox. but it was good. got back late saturday night, and away we go. >> we can do a doubleheader now.

you know, mark halperin has talked for years about the invisible primary. is a story on the front page of the "wall street journal," reflects the conversations that we're having around washington. democrats are three big fears. one, as you mentioned, the money will be going to the ready for hillary and other hillary clinton operations, including the super pac priorities usa, instead of to those midterm candidates. two, you choke off other potential strong candidates. just yesterday, there was a story on the front page of the metro section, the "washington post," making it clear that the maryland governor, martin o'malley, wants to run hillary, knows hillary. and third, they're worried she won't be strong from having come through a tough primary, so that -- so people are doing to try to deal with it, priorities usa are talking about the biggest donors and say, hold off, write your biggest checks after the midterms, after november 2014. that's a way to try to tamp down some of the concern. >> politico's mike allen, thank you. >>> still ahead, our conversation