paul steinhauser, thanks for coming in. >> i have a quick question, do they really just ponder?d hillary clinton, or do you have to kind of know you're going to do it and lay it out? >> i think there's a middle ground. i think you say i'm doing everything that i need to do in case i decide to run. so, i've decided to do everything possible, but i can still pull the trigger one way or another down the line. i think that's where they all are right now. >> keeping the rest of us guessing. >>> let's get a look at what's coming up on "new day," kate bolduan. >> good morning, guys. we'll be looking closely at the new nutrition labels. this is fascinating and important for everybody. the nutrition labels will be debuting today. they're supposed to make it easier to figure out honestly what's healthy for your family, or at least what you're eating in each of these serving sizes. but of course, the question is, whenever anyone tries to help and correct us, are they just going to make it more confusing with these new labels? dr. sanjay gupta will be here to explain what it all means and w

so, let's bring in cnn political editor paul steinhauser. in the republican party nationally, let alone texas. what does that tell you, that they're not willing to appear with him? >> reporter: this is a very, very interesting story line. remember, it was just, what, a couple weeks ago, john and christine, that we were going through this when chris christie was in florida, when he had those large events down there with rick scott, the republican governor down there who's running for re-election, but this is a different situation. when he was in florida, and we spent a lot of time talking about that, those were big events. this time around, chris christie's doing a lot of smaller, one-on-one donor meetings in the dallas-ft. worth area. where is greg abbott going to be? as you mentioned, he is the texas attorney general and also is the likely republican nominee for governor this year. he's not going to be in dallas-ft. worth with chris christie. he is going to be in houston. and the texas governor, rick perry, won't be there either, likely pre

we're joined by cnn political editor paul steinhauser. found these numbers fairly, fairly staggering, almost. >> yeah, they are troubling for chris christie, if he decides to run for president in 2016. and of course, he is seriously considering that, john. take a look at this. this is our new cnn/orc poll. we did it over the weekend, and one of the questions we asked was the republican nomination for 2016. last time we asked back in november, chris christie was on top of the pack at 24%, leading all the other possible hopefuls there in the race for the nomination. now down to 10%, in the middle of the pack. here's another striking number. this is a possible matchup, chris christie, the republican nominee, hillary clinton, the democratic nominee. look. back in december, christie had a slight two-point edge. now hillary clinton with a 16-point lead over christie. a lot of that coming from independents who went from christie to clinton. troubling numbers for chris christie, john. >> the numbers for hillary clinton, how are they -- how are pot

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cnn's political editor paul steinhauser is here with us, bright and early, my friend. >> definitely. n idea what's on the agenda today. what are his plans? >> reporter: here's what's on tap for the governor. he's going to be giving a speech and taking questions in front of cameras. this is going to be interesting, at the chicago economics club. he's also got some one-on-one meetings with top donors and then there's a fund-raiser for the republican governors association. christie the chairman of the rga, which some people see as a possible stepping stone to christie running for the white house in 2016. also, just a couple hours before he heads to chicago, the rga released some fund-raising numbers. this is interesting. they say that $6 million was raised this last month in january. their best january ever. and that christie just last week, remember he was in texas fund-raising, they say he raked in $1.5 million. so, i think the rga is saying even with the controversies back in new jersey, christie is doing what he needs to do as rga chairman, raise money. guys? >> so, paul, this new je

paul steinhauser is joining us with more from washington. good morning! >> reporter: good morning!un, i guess you could say. bill clinton is basically a rock star on the campaign trail for his party. here he goes again. and you made a good point, this time again campaigning in a red state where president barack obama and his policies are not so popular. a senior democratic party official told me that bill clinton's probably their best surrogate in these kind of states, rather than the president himself. and with the democrats defending a bunch of senate seats in those states, expect to see a lot of bill clinton this year. as for today, alison grimes, there is a family tie here to the clintons. her father was the party boss, the democratic party boss in kentucky back in the day, and he's also very close to both bill and hillary clinton. he chaired hillary clinton's 2008 campaign in kentucky. and you know what? we've seen this with bill clinton the last couple cycles when he goes on the campaign trail, he often helps people who backed hillary clinton in 2008. so, all this kind of hov

cnn political editor paul steinhauser joining me now.8 million compare to previous rga chairmen? >> here's how, a record. most ever in the first three months steering that committee. this comes, you mentioned, during the rga meeting happening right now in washington, and this is the first time chris christie's meeting up with fellow republican governors since that george washington bridge controversy went viral early last month. we know chris christie is considering a run for the white house in 2016 and taking over at the chairman of the rga was seen as a possible warm-up act for a potential presidential run. the bridge controversy put a business of a question mark on his political future. one thing is for sure, chris christie can raise the money, he can bring in the bucks. >> they like that. so if christie does decide to make a run for the white house in 2016, apparently texas governor rick perry could potentially be a main poeoppone. a bit of what perry had to say to wolf blitzer about chris christie. >> we're on the same team, working

paul steinhauser explains, americans are lukewarm on the prospect for the overall economy. >> presidentng the jobs numbers. >> our unemployment rate is now the lowest it's been since before i was first elected. >> by saying we're moving in the right direction, the administration admits more needs to be done. >> we're making progress in the economic recovery but we're not moving fast enough. we need to pick up the pace. >> republicans were quick to criticizes the white house saying the jobs report proves the president's policies aren't working. the american people continue to ask where are the jobs and the president clearly has no answers, said house speaker john boehner. so what do you think about the economy? near two-thirds give the economy a thumb's down according to latest cnn orc poll. 36% of you rate current economic conditions as good, the highest percentage in six years. who do you blame for the state of the economy? more of you continue to point fingers at former president george w. bush. for the first time less than half say bush is to blame. >> confidence in the economy, a li

. >> all right, cnn editor paul steinhauser, political editor, joins us from washington right now. is to me, because the house leadership unveiled their sort of roadmap to immigration reform just a week ago. there was hope amongst the leadership in the house and people for immigration reform, that that could mean something gets through. now a very hasty retreat from the speaker. what's going on here? >> sounds like we've heard this before, right? and you said it right there, leadership. maybe the rank and file doesn't feel the same way. i guess, john and christine, here's where it stands. house speaker john boehner truly feels that some immigration reform would be good for the economy, and he also wants to help his party, the republican party, try to appeal better to latino voters, which would help the gop in 2016 as they try to win back the white house, but this is 2014. we've got the midterm elections coming up in november, and there's a lot of pushback from conservative lawmakers. they're in districts with small latino populations and they're in districts where their base is very

here to tell us more about it is cnn's political editor, paul steinhauser, who's in washington this morningr being canceled twice, he finally got to have his town hall we were all waiting for. >> reporter: he sure did, his first town hall in a number of months. he's coming right here to the nation's capital, and he's got important meetings. the republican governors association today and tomorrow here in d.c. remember, christie took over as chairman of the rga three months ago, and many see that move as a stepping stone to a possible run in 2016 for the white house. you know, for christie, this is his first get-together with his fellow republican governors since the george washington bridge controversy went viral in early january. and the key here is, we'll see how he's received by his colleagues. one thing, though, that may make his colleagues happy, his fellow governors, a republican governors association official telling me christie has helped raise $18 million since he took over as chairman three months ago. that's not too shabby. christie known as a veracious fund-raiser. also, rick per