i think mitch daniels. i think chris christie. i think jeb bush. think haley barbour, are all better as a group than the team on the field of the republican side. up next, jon stewart weighed in on the circus that is the republican field, too. he's next in the sideshow. you're watching "hardball." ♪ ♪ ♪ when the things that you need ♪ ♪ come at just the right speed, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ medicine that can't wait legal briefs there by eight, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ freight for you, box for me box that keeps you healthy, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ saving time, cutting stress, when you use ups ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ we're centurylink... a new kind of broadband company committed to improving lives with honest, personal service, 5-year price lock guarantees and consistently fast speeds. ♪ that's relied on to help bring children holiday joy, and while it doesn't travel by sleigh or reindeer, it does get around... in fact, every year duracell sends loads of batteries to the mattel children's hospital, u.c.l.a. of course, children here and everywhere d

governor mitch daniels, governor haley barbour, governor jeb bush are impressive candidates.he only problem is they're not in the field. think of our field. vice-president joe biden. secretary of state hillary clinton. former senator chris dodd. president obama. now you think of their field. michele bachmann. rick perry. rick santorum. who is not feeling sorry for republican primary voters right now? four years ago, at this dinner, and many of you were in attendance, a young senator from my home state of illinois, who was 23 points down in the polls, spoke to you in words you will never forget. with the promises he made in a speech, he began a journey that would change history, and he did it with your help. now, all of us may be a little older and a little grayer, or as my youngest daughter likes to say, they call it salt and pepper, but for your dad, it is all salt. we can remember what he said, but we can also remember that what he said was worth fighting for. he stood on this platform and promised to end a war that should never have been authorized and should never have be

directors for the indiana republican party and may have been the communication director for the mitch danielsor president campaign, which i'm sure some are wondering about. when it comes to rick perry, amy, what was interesting after the debate, all the candidates were asked about it. here is michele bachmann's response to it. >> it was a tough moment. i think all of us recognize that is something none of us want to go through, it was very difficult, and we all felt very bad for him. >> amy, any part of this where you feel like maybe we're pouncing because the perception was he was already a bad debater. >> yes and no. certainly everybody in the room felt empathy, it was a horrible moment for everybody, but there's still the larger story line here, which is that he -- his campaign was already in a position of needing to prove that he could do this, and they proved the opposite last night. >> pete, you're in touch with republican donors, activists, how important have these debates been to them, how influential could a moment like this be? >> absolutely important. folks are watching these. back

and then we go to the people who didn't run and mitch daniels and chris christie.ho considers running for president who doesn't, there's only one, except for the utter frauds like donald trump. >> could you put sarah palin? >> yes, it was a money making scheme that worked for both of them. the only reason they don't is because they think they won't win. there's not a single person in our history who thought he or she would win and then did not run for president, not one. >> you don't think the actual cal can y cal cue house was a deter rent, if i take the office in 2013, there's not much i can do -- >> if you're am the middle of a nuclear war -- >> there's no version of air force one they don't want to fly on and no version of living in the white house that they don't want. they'll take anything. >> what part of president of the united states do you not like. >> certainly the last presidential campaign shows you that. they knew they were running into a disaster of two wars and economy on the way to the bottom. they knew. there's nothing about conditions out there t

that list includes the great haley barbour, jeb bush, chris christie, and mitch daniels.ch one of them do you think would have been the happy leader of this gang, the guy who red shirted himself and should be in the game? >> give me any one of them. i told haley, i said, for a small ambassadorship some place warm and pleasant, i'll go around and translate for you. when you speak, i'll tell people what you said. >> what was your worst vacation experience? >> my worst vacation experience, skiing in ohio. >> you couldn't find a mount? >> the top elevation in ohio is like 500 feet. i was talking to "ski" magazine editor and said you're always doing these beautiful places that nobody can afford to go, why don't we do a thing about skiing in ohio. he said okay. i had to go do it. >> my wife went skiing in kuwait. ever hear about that, the indoor ski resort? anyway, i once sat with the late tony snow back in the drinking days. we listened to you. i have tell you, we listened to you two, three hours a night. i've never in my life had more fun than listening to you, mr. o'rourke.

well, we all made fun of bill kristol and other republican leaders when they were calling for mitch danielsve the party or calling for paul ryan to save the party. that was not crazy. they might have seen something coming. this might have been a nostradamus moment for people like kristol. because this is a mess. mitt romney is in the eyes of what's left of the republican establishment, certainly in the eyes of republican pollsters, is an electable candidate who, you know, has advantages over obama that most -- the last few -- the other possible nominees don't have. and he can't convince this -- about 75% of the republican party to take him seriously, especially in iowa. >> you know, dave, you look at the democrats. john edwards spent almost four years in iowa. chris dodd moved there. hillary clinton had awesome name recognition. but it was the ground game of barack obama and a bunch of youngsters out there working every single county. is newt gingrich, is he working every county? is he going to be able to -- who's got the best ground game in iowa, to your knowledge? >> he's doing better. ro

trying to dis anyone, but why do so many decide not to run, the chris christies of the world, the mitch danielsllish process and you crawl out of the it, and governor huckabee said more than one occasion, it is a process he is afraid of more than anything else. >>neil: that could explain why you are waiting. >>guest: when they stop whacking, they only do a background check six months back i am good to go. michael>>neil: anything over, ge over. and we mentioned herman cain, and he is still fight asking now herman cain is here to tell us why he is still fighting. good do have you. thank you for coming. >>guest: happy to be with you. >>neil: you said yesterday to your staff you were areassessing, does that monday you are thinking of quitting? >>guest: no i am reasitting, the same as reevaluating and looking at four factors: first, the impact on my family. i have denied the charges. but the fact that sometimes they are distorted hurts my family when they are twisted in the media so i have to make that my number one priority. second i am looking at the feedback from my supporters. and i can tell you

>> we all made fun of bill crystal and the republican leaders when they were calling for mitch danielsthe party. that was not crazy. they may have seen something coming. this may have been a nostradamus moment for them. certainly in the eyes of republican pollsters, mitt romney is an electable candidate, if he has an advantage over obama, the last few nominees don't have. he can't convince about 75% of the republican party to take him seriously. especially in iowa. >> you look at the democrats. john edwards spent almost four years in iowa. chris dodd moved there. hillary clinton had awesome name recognition. it was the ground game of barack obama. and a bunch of youngsters out there working every single county. is newt gingrich working every county? who's got the best ground game in iowa to your knowledge? >> he's doing better. romney theoretically has something that can be activated. he got 25% last time. he has a network that he's worked diligently, under the radar as we've all been chasing other candidates. gingrich -- the thing about iowa, the person who spent the most time there i

i think huckabee, i think mitch daniels, i think chris christie, i think jeb bush, i think haley barbour are all better as a group than the team on the field on the republican side. >>> up next, jon stewart weighed in on the circus that is the republican field too. he's next in the side show. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. smal l bu sinesses are the smal lifeblood of our communities. on november 26th you can make a huge impact by shopping small on small business saturday. one purchase. one purchase is all it takes. so, pick your favorite local business... and join the movement. i pledge to shop small at big top candy shop. allen's boots... at juno baby store. make the pledge to shop small. please. shop small on small business saturday. our machines help identify early stages of cancer, and it's something that we're extremely proud of. you see someone who is saved because of this technology, you know that the things that you do in your life matter. if i did have an opportunity to meet a cancer survivor, i'm sure i could take something positive away from that. [ jocelyn ] my na

i think huckabee, i think mitch daniels, i think chris christie, i think jeb bush, i think haley barbourre all better as a group than the team on the field on the republican side. >>> up next, jon stewart weighed in on the circus that is the republican field too. he's next in the side show. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] our nation's veterans are real-life heroes. but when they come home, they don't want a parade; they want a job. the postal service employs more veterans than any other civilian employer. but congress is debating a bill that would force the postal service to fire tens of thousands of vets, close post offices, shut mail processing plants, and disrupt mail delivery. drastic cuts won't fix the postal service and aren't needed. tell your representative to vote "no" on house resolution 2309. it's time to deliver for our veterans -- and america. that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through c

cents the third year, two cents the fifth year, and the only one who really objected to it was mitch daniels, but everyone else was on board. so you have a 15-deck power point presentation in the roosevelt room with the president, go through the whole thing, and if he goes back to page three, picks out his sharpie pen, circles the tax increases, and says, norm, i don't want those tax increases, get them out. and as i recall, it was about a $330 billion program i think that we had with about a $7 billion or $8 billion unobligated surplus at the end that have six-year period. so we went back to the drawing board and come back, roosevelt room, same presentation, no tax increase first year, no tax increase third year. fifth year, i put a c.p.i. inflater on the 18.4 cent gasoline tax. go through the whole presentation, go back to page three, the president picks up the sharpie, circles and says, norm, that's a tax increase, get it out. so we went with the taxes that we had, that i took the surplus and highway trust fund down to one billion, and that's where we ended up with, what was it, a $267 bi

mitch daniels, jeb bush. the only problem? they are not on the field.'ll work your four years ago. think of our field. joe biden, hillary clinton, chris dodd, president obama. do you think of their field. michele bachmann, rick perry, and rick santorum. four years ago, at this dinner, many of you were in attendance, at a young senator from my home state of illinois, who is 23 points down in the polls, spoke to you in words will never forget. with the promises he made in that speech, he began a journey that would change history. he did it with your help. all of us may be a little older and a little grayer. we can remember what he said. we can also remember what he said was worth fighting for. he stood on this platform and promised to end a war that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged. republicans did not want to let it happen. democrats did not believe its coach. the last of america's finest hour on their way home. the war is over. that is the change we believed then -- in. that is the change we worked for. that is the chan

that list includes the great haley barbour, jeb bush, chris christie and mitch daniels.he gang? >> give me any one of them. i told haley, for a small ambassad ambassadorship, i will go around and translate for you. when you speak, i'll tell people what you say. >> what was your worst vacationing experience? >> my worst vacationing experience, skiing in ohio. >> you couldn't find a moupd mound. >> i was talking to the ski magazine editor. you're always doing beautiful playses nobody can afford to go. let's do a thing about skiing in ohio. he said okay. i had to go do it. >> my wife went skiing in kuwait. you ever hear about that? an indoor ski resort. i once sat with the late tony snow. back in the drinking days. we listened to you together for two or three hours. you did parliament of whores. i never had more fun than listens to you. how can you keep your mood about politics today, when you have a stinky list of republican candidates, maybe not romney. just drink your way through it? >> absolutely. >> who wins the general election next november? >> romney if the economy

mitch daniels is doing a lot of it in indiana. on the smaller basis across the country water districts are being turned over to private companies. more properly and efficiently. the state in which to live as 11,000 state agencies. this was a hundred years ago. this is not necessary for us to have that many state agencies here. long island, as you go across the county, each county has a different water district and a different set of rules that will pit commissioners. >> i would consolidate a lot of it. i would consolidate a lot of education. it is very tough because people have attachments. the system that is going to consolidate and chase the reform is a system that is being reformed and rewarded by the way it exists now. i'm inclined to do it. >> we had, on the same states, malcolm black was when the talks. >> just. >> the founder of teach for america. i think one of the most powerful parts of your book is precisely your worry really with the state of education in this country. you have this anecdote about being in. and seeing c

early on she could pick mitch daniels, he could pick tim pawlenty, ron portman, somebody that sort of exudes and reinforces the top of the ticket the way that al gore reinforced bill clinton back in 1992 or is he forced to do business are things that are distracting but really kind of short weaknesses message to me that is the sort of bottom line as i see at but let me turn to my colleagues. who wants to go first? >> i can take a shot at that. let me echo what charlie said it's great to come to work with so many wonderful and interesting people and the job with a hat you can have a half-hour discussion of the kentucky six where indiana with 35 house seats. to tie in with what you said to the connection poll that i've been working on and publishing in the national journal daily, this has been agreed survey and ever so delighted in the technology has chosen to underwrite with us because they are like snowflakes the milk on impact and tell you what they had that day. i think what we try to do is get inside of the politics and policies to make sense of this congress and explain to the leg

that politics was something all of the should be involved i recently that the governor of indiana mitch daniels. i said, i am sorry you are not running for the presidency. he said, why do you say that? i know you are a democrat. i said i learned from my boss adlai stevenson that the best people in both parties should run, not the worst people. i believe that. i think adlai stevenson taught that to all of us. i think that is a legacy to be extremely grateful for. his contribution is enduring today. >> i think is starkly he is a bridge between the new deal and the new frontier. he holds the banner of liberalism in the 1950's -- a difficult era. it is an interesting brand of liberalism. he believes in american exceptional was on every bit as many of the right to do today. it was an exceptional was some debt was about ideas and ideals. it was leading by example. it was not an exception allows some enforced by military force. he brought a whole generation of young people who were inspired by his words, his example, his approach, his very unorthodox approach to politics. >> we only have a few minutes

ask mitch daniels. what does newt and what does herman cain have in common?ey were more focused on vacations and more focused on selling books -- >> herman cain went to alabama to sell books. >> a funny thing happened on the way to the book signing. >> exactly. exactly. >> the public paid attention, at least the grass roots activists did. and they attached to an idea for herman cain, 9-9-9. for newt gingrich, it's been the slow and steady build on the issues. and now they find themselves actually having to run these campaigns on the ground. and as you noted in iowa, not a whole lot of spending there. >> they're selling books in alabama. >> iowa's already organizing in so many respects and -- it's not reflective of what the polls are telling you that's going on in iowa. it's a whole different beat there. you've got cain at the top, you've got the conservative candidates -- >> if you're romney's people, you look at iowa, you have to think to yourself, wow, i could spend $1 million there in the next month, which is not that much for mitt -- >> go for the kill. >

have those sitting there that take different positions on the certain of the questions, and then mitch danielsernor of indiana, and you admire him -- >> i think he has done a lot of impressive things. >> he had a truce that he floated that the consubjectives were going to be benefitted by turning away the issues that we saw as the focus last night. do you think that that -- that he has been successful, or the people advocating that thing has been successful in determining the orientation of the republican party. feels like we are dealing with the same electorate. >> i think there is a fantasy in political life that the people with whom we disagree will pick up their bags and vanish, and i think that's dead wrong. what melissa said earlier on, one of the things going on here is when you are looking at the personhood amendment, it represented the overreach on the part of some folks, and some people idea them as prolife or conservative, this has been a strategy for a long time. you look at the deployment of what the liberal journalists called pro-choice conservativism. that's a preproductive choi

then it was mitch daniels from indiana. then chris christie from jersey.ent to cain, bachmann, now gingrich, perry. they are desperate to find anybody but mitt romney an the longer the delay of romney's coordination takes the greater position it is going to be for president obama because the truth is, support for romney is broad but very, very thin particularly among republicans. and conservative republicans would far rather have newt gingrich on the ticket. problem is newt gingrich can't beat president obama. >> yeah. but lenny on point he just made, the longer it draws out, can't that be an advantage? because it is going to keep the media's attention, it is going to be a long fight. a lot of people say that helped with obama and hillary clinton going at it for so long. it kept the national interest. >> listen. gingrich, obama in three take bates in the general election, gingrich wins 2 out of those 3 debates. the contrast would be so great gingrich would be able to close the gap on those polls. gingrich just got to the tocht gop polls just a second ago.

you saw people jumping on the trump band wagon and mitch daniels is wagon.mann and cain and perry and now the latest is gingrich. the conservatives are desperate to have someone else other than mitt romney. they don't like him and they don't trust him. he is a flip flopper. the problem is the far right candidates cannot win a general election. i got to say this delays the coronation of mitt romney. >> bernard, great spin, terrible analysis. here is the fact of the matter. primaries are healthy. you are looking for the best candidate because everybody can agree on one thing, barack obama has been an epic failure and you want to defeat him. look at the numbers, bernard, you are a pollster. mitt romney has plenty of conservative support. newt gingrich leading in conservatives by a little bit. mitt romney has conservative and moderate support. the fact is, it is very, very healthy to go through the primary process unlike democrats who will change rules, have party leaders, you know, cheat for other people. and we saw how the democrats did it last time. remember

>> we saw in indiana when mitch daniels ended these kind of union privileges, it enabled local governments to have all kinds of flexibility. by the way it turned out that so many union employees in wisconsin were obviously not pleased with the amount of union dues they were paying, several hundred dollars a year, only 5 percent of indiana employees belong to the union and pay dues. now n. ohio, local governments are hurting, tax revenue is down and they're facing massive layoffs of policemen, school teachers and firemen. what is was designed to do was give the flexibility to renegotiate soaring health and pngs benefits and we saw that in lancaster, ohio, they shut down the fire station, they fired 13 firefighters, and that's because the law has been froze then place based on this referendum and they don't have the flexibility to say okay, if you take a cut here and here, we won't have to close the fire station. bill kasick has argued you can save jobs if you enact it. we'll see how it goes tomorrow. there's another big vote in ohio, and it's coming back to this maj battle ground. again, th

mitch daniels is doing a lot of it in indiana turning it over to private corporations.smaller pieces across the country water districts are turned over and run more profitably and more efficiently. the state in which you live has 11 dozen state agencies. this is a system that is just behind for political patronage a hundred years ago. it's not necessary for us to have that many state agencies here. long island as you go across the county, each county has a different water district in a different set of rules and well-paid commissioners. >> i consolidate a lot of it. i would consolidate a lot of education america. it's very tough because people of attachments and pride in these institutions in a system that's going to consolidate and change and reform than does the system being reformed as being rewarded now. so they're not inclined to do it. >> we have on this very stage, malcolm gladwell for the founder of teach for america and one of the most powerful parts of your book is precisely your worry really what the state of education in this country. you have disconnected a

[laughter] the republicans have an impressive field, governor mitch daniels. jeb bush.t on the field. think about this. you're here four years ago. vice-president and joe biden. [applause] hillary clinton. [applause] chris dodd. [applause] president obama. [applause] think of their field, rick santorum, michele bock man. who was feeling sorry for voters now? four years ago, at this dinner, many of you were in attendance. a young senator from my home state of illinois who is 23 points down in the polls spoke to you in words you'll never forget. with the promises he made in that speech he began a journey that would change history and he did it with your help. all of us may be a little older and grayer. they say it is salt and pepper but for you, dad, it is al-sadr. what is he said was worth fighting for. he stood on this platform and promised to end the war that should have never been authorized and should never have been waged. [applause] republicans did not want to let it happen. the honest. democrats did not believe it could. tonight, the last of 170,000 of america's f

they believe that is the only chance to get a jeb bush or mitch daniels or paul ryan. don't want mitt romney, and they don't want these other people either. >> fascinating. chuck todd -- >> what a race. >> what a race. >> oh, can i ask, chuck? heisman trophy, who's your vote for? >> you know what? and i'm not just doing this to pander, i go with trent richardson. >> the run was remarkable. >> unbelievable. he had a heisman moment. >> andrew locke has not risen. and lsu/alabama, that'll be the game, right? >> i guess. no defense, and it's deserving, but i, you know, i guess i'd like to see -- i don't want to see -- it's not fair to lsu, they lose to you guys 9-6, then what do they -- is that really mean alabama was the best team or not? or was there essentially these were the two best teams and they barely could move each other? >> chuck, thousand did lowly boston college do this weekend? do you follow them at all? >> i don't follow football games played on fridays. that's what i've learned. >> just ahead -- >> apparently i'm washing luke russert's ford f-150. >> one of

a whole bunch of people who presented themselves as that have fallen by the wayside, pawlenty, mitch danielslywood movie has had its run, maybe we want somebody who has some experience governing whatever the reality of his success or failure. gingrich is a candidate to become the other guy. if romney's going to be there like pawlenty, somebody that's nobody particularly interested in, but maybe they have to take them. and all i'm suggesting is when we make these judgments, he's finished, he's toast, we should remember back to three or four years ago when a guy named mccain in the summer of '07 was bankrupt without a staff and played a long game and waited for the others to either destroy each other or destroy themselves and wound up the nominee of a republican party that didn't like him. >> didn't like him. >> that's all i'm saying. >> i didn't know how to do predictions, if i did, i'd have the powder bowl. >> and by the way, mika, the long game is even longer this year in '12 because republicans have changed their rules. this one's probably going to be going into the summer. >> you talk abo

. >> think of what the field could have been, mitch daniels -- >> jeb. >> chris christie, some giants bait. >> what does that say about the process? >> something bad about the process. >> says republicans are in trouble this year. >>> still ahead, presidential candidate ron paul will be here. he's running, he's qualified, and he's going to have fun on "morning joe." we'll be back with willie's news you can't use. capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ] ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. >>> oh, yes, it's time isn't it? >> it is, mika. >> please. >> time for ne

long-term trend by the way, it will be that we'll have more public/private partnerships, what mitch danielst a private company coming in to manage water districts much more efficiently. even turning out profits for them. you're seeing that in some of the schools. it's a tricky piece but we've got as i said the other day a political culture that is analog and we're living in a digital world and we need to change all of that. >> you when i graduated from school in canada, 50% of the top quartile of the classes of canadian universities wanted to move to the united states. >> right. >> everybody wanted to come here. and one of the reasons is this is a country that still recognizes talent, rewards talent, celebrates talent. there's more upward mobility in this society, by far, than anybody else. strangely enough now, what has gone wrong is the way the political leadership is perceived as not leading the country, as not making the country available to that kind of talent. and i don't know how you get -- as you say, given the role of money, given the way that congressional districts are drawn, how

mitch daniels is conservative, -- >> they're not running.en in the race. and the guy that's in the race is connected with the people at a level that matters to them. >> oh, god, that scares me.ç >> i'm just saying, folks. >> is there any way anyone could jump in? >> you couldn't get organized to do it to get on the ballot. but joe, your point goes to what's driving at the soul of the party right now. something it's got to work out internally. this is a long-standing issue within the party. >> we think independents are seeing this. >> that's great news. >> this is a great point. barack obama is out and just -- >> his numbers keep going up. this is helping barack obama. >> and the white house is really frustrated as you saw with me on sunday, going after mitt romney because they're so frustrated that republicans in the race are not doing that. throwing their support behind herman cain is not creating as much of a contrast. >> isn't it fascinating, though, david? it appears the other candidates don't have to go after mitt romney because he's n

mitch daniels said no. jeb bush said no. barbara said no. rob portman decided not to run.ng as she hoped. in the end, it was going to be someone like a newt gingrich and i think we look back on the cruise, everyone was complain being it? maybe the cruise did him good. who knows? in the end, again, you're not going to worry he's going to have an oops moment like herman cain had yesterday. you don't have to worry what's going on with libya or collective bargaining. >> gretchen: he'll be coming up live on our show. >> eric: topic two, peter schweitzer comes out and talking about new ways congress people are treated differently in insider trading. here is the one, one of the things that we found or that he exposes, up to 80% of the department of energy loans went to -- let me read this properly -- members of obama's finance committee or large donors to the democratic party. when $16 billion of the $20 billion available goes to friends of obama, what does that tell you? >> well, what happened to we're going to drain the swamp? remember pelosi comes out when she takes the gavel.

i recently met the governor of indiana, mitch daniels.sorry you are not running for the presidency. he said, why do you say that? i know you are a democrat. i said i learned from my boss adlai stevenson that the best people in both parties should run, not the worst people. i believe that. i think adlai stevenson taught that to all of us. i think that is a legacy to be extremely grateful for. his contribution is enduring today. >> i think historically he is a bridge between the new deal and the new frontier. he holds the banner of liberalism in the 1950's -- a difficult era. it is an interesting brand of liberalism. he believes in american exceptionalism every bit as many of the right do today. it was an exceptionalism that was about ideas and ideals. it was leading by example. it was not an exceptionalism enforced by military force. he brought a whole generation of young people who were inspired by his words, his example, his approach, his very unorthodox approach to politics. >> we only have a few minutes left. carrie joe from minnesota,