>> let me ask a question about governor romney.hen we heard him do the call it was noticeable that he left the door ajar. if any circumstance would arise where he might change his mind he said that seems unlikely. >> one thing i know about mitt romney -- if he thought there was a need and that his party needed him to be able to defeat hillary clinton i know he would be there if called upon. but i also take him at his word that he wanted to give other people an opportunity who hadn't had an opportunity to get their message out there. but if needed would he be there? there's no doubt in my mind. >> you are talking for him, not just your hopes and dreams question mark >> you have to ask him, but do i believe he would be there absolutely? -- absolutely. the guys a patriot. what guy is leading the poll has an ability to bring the money and would not run? i believe mitt romney made that decision because he's a true patriot. maybe someone has a better chance of beating hillary clinton. >> we're going to talk more about hillary clinton aft

. >>> mitt romney leans in and abruptly bows out. no third white house run in 2016. >> it's best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee. >> jeb bush is the instant winner, but who might benefit most in the long run. >>> plus, president obama prepares to budge if it raises spendsing and rallies his base. >> we need to stand up and go on offense and not be defensive about what we believe in. >> republicans say the president is in denial about last year's election results. what about their own promises? >> so, yeah, there have been a couple of stumbles. >> "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters now. >>> welcome to "inside politics" i'm john king. thanks for sharing your sunday morning with us. here is jackie ka sin fish, michael len, wanda summers and jonathan martin of "the new york times." for the past three weeks he looked like a candidate, certainly talked like a candidate but, no, there will be no mitt 3.0. >> i also believe with the message of making the world sa

mitt romney deciding not to run for president a third time. republicans had been full of praise for another romney run. right up until the point when mitt romney actually considered making another run. then former romney supporters decided they really didn't want to take yes for an answer. in fact, here was a typical example. >> there is not a lot of good press in it for somebody losing the election and coming back four years later and becoming a nominee. thomas dewy is the best example in our party. didn't work out too well. >> who better to join us than congressman paul ryan, mitt romney's running mate from 2012. also chairman of the influential house ways and means committee. in fact, ryan may be the most important republican in washington these days because if president obama is going to get deals done with the new

scott walker with mitt romney in the race. scott walker 15, paul 14 romney, 13 huckabee, 10.and ben carson at 9. we'll let you know what candidate is not in that top five. and then our friends at the des moines registrar were able to reallocate romney second choice supporters. here is what it is without romney. walk, 16, paul, 15 huckabee moves up the most with three points, to 13. carson, 10. and, oh look there is an establishment candidate, jeb bush in there at 9%. mark halperin, you were behind this poll at bloomberg and the des moines registrar. scott walker in the poll position. how about that? that's your headline. that was an oh wow, how about that? >> strong performance. now an opportunity for him, mitt romney leaves a huge vacuum in the establishment lane, scott walker as you and i discussed, plays in both lanes. he can be a grassroots activist kind of candidate but also establishment candidate. he would be smart right now to not let jeb bush and chris christie lock up the establishment donors from the romney world. he can be the winner of iowa and the second best ca

>> i think romney -- you nailed it. how many times does someone have to tell you they don't want to go out with you until you take your marbles and go home. >> i like the romantic analogy. >> the guy that keeps ask you out, he keeps saying no. and that's what mitt romney was to the republican party. and also not just the republicans, but independents and democrats, as well. you can't continue to reinvent yourself every single time and expect to come back and win a primary election. and this time he was going to be authentic as you said. we don't even know what authenticity is to mitt romney is anymore. he's so focus grouped. he has no authenticity to give. >> but you said is it the press' fault. people were getting on the phone with him and his top close advisers and saying there is not an appetite for this. for all those reasons. and the primary reason is because he lost -- >> remember all those interviews where are you you going to run, are you going to run, he would say no, no, no. we're done. the president was sort

. >>> this super bowl sunday mitt romney >>> this super bowl sunday, mitt romney gets out, just as he was being pushed. >> i decided it's best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee. >> with romney out, the republican field is now set. which candidates benefit from the romney departure? i'll be joined by mitt romney's 2012 running mate, congressman paul ryan. >>> plus, isis executes a second japanese hostage. former defense secretary robert gates joins me on the fight against the terror group. >>> also, are the big hits the fans love jeopardizing the future of football? >> i would forget things, i would forget places. i would have this erratic behavior towards my child. for no reason. >> what more does the nfl need to do to protect players from brain injuries? and how young is too young to let your child play football? >>> finally, how athletes are like politicians, and why this -- >> i'm here so i won't get fined. i'm here so i won't get fined. >> -- reminded us of this. >> there is no controlling legal authority. there is no controlling legal a

. >>> and mitt romney is out. not without taking a jab at some of the gop hopefuls who are still in. our panel on what it means for 2016 as we look ahead on "sunday morning futures." >>> japan this morning condemning an online video that proports to show an isis militant beheading a japanese journalist. kenji goto. it ended days of negotiations and heightened fears for the life of a jordanian fighter pilot who is being held hostage. ed royce joins us now. representative, good to have you on the program. welcome. >> thank you. what do you think it tells us they're putting the video out beheading a japanese journalist. why japan? >> for one them, they're attempting to raise money. last year isis raised tens of millions of dollars by exporting ransom. it is in this particular case the demand was for $200 million. that's one point. the second point isis is messaging out to young men around the world that respond to their message to come and join the fight for the caliphate and kill the infidel. that's part of the mess

romney and could benefit from a romney endorsement which is valuable.nd we are hearing from a force that mitt believes it is not about him being president but the presidency in the right hand. >> we are seeing unique insight in romney's thought process by a film maker who documented his family by the movie mitt. >> and he is probably smart enough to assess the chances and looked hard and carefully. it must be alluring to run given the poll numbers and i think he came down on the side that he would do more harm than good by running at this point. >> romney decided to drop out last weekend and took a few days to it think about it and ultimately announced it yesterday. >> how have the democrats react. >> it is night and day. you have an excited david a xel rod that he's thrilled to host romney in april. but jim maanyonesa, he posted this. friday ruined now that romney is not running. i anyhow that god didn't love me enough for that gift. operators having to wait to know for sure who their competition really is. >> it will be interesting to find out. peter,

with mitt romney? >> how you doing? >> thanks, guys. you can yell at him now. >> and the latest poll, scott walker is the new front runner, with 15%. rand paul is basically tied at 14%. mitt romney's still in that poll at 13%. carson at 9% and bush at 8%. laura ingraham said this today. >> and so i think jeb bush, you >> joining me now a reporter for the washington post, and a reporter for politico. >> it's the race that might have gone to mitt romney if he stayed in this race. where's that money going now? >> money's still on the sidelines. the donor community isn't sure about bush. they think he is probably the front runner for the center right vote. but they are looking at walker, rubio, christie. >> there may not have been a lot of money waiting to go to mitt romney. and that might be part of why he pulled out of this thing. >> that was mitt romney's real strength, for all you can say and all the valid criticisms about him as a candidate, his inability to connect with people, he was an amazing fund

romney's donor dollars?probably the bulk of it will go to george bush -- excuse me. see? that's where i did it. there's the problem, there's the problem. he will be the establishment candidate even though, as the iowa poll today shows, he continues to do poorly with voters. this is about the greatest mismatch i've ever seen of a class of donors for a candidate who so far has shown nothing -- has done nothing but to get very high unfavorables, in the iowa poll he actually had negative ratings. >> let's talk about that. this is new. bloomberg des moines register poll showing that governor scott walker apparently made a splash there last weekend. the poll was taken last week before romney's announcement, but look he was already doing well. >> yeah. >> scott walker. >> where's bush? he's not even on the list. >> exactly. doug, your thoughts? >> pat is undeniably right about jeb bush but let me provide a little context for scott walker. he may be a so-called regional favorite, but he's hardly put much time into i

during the deliberations romney and bush jeb bush met once at romney's utah home on january 22nd.ney arrived armed with a mountain of polling data which seemed to shape his view of the race. romney shared that information as a way of explaining his motivation to thinking about running again. how do you think he went from that to days later saying oops never mind? >> it's very interesting. the information he got, which was polling data a donor of his from the past had commissioned. it showed him in very good shape at this point in a lot of states up to 20 states as i was told but what he came to conclude and in part because of the reaction he got after he announced his interest in running again, he concluded that by the time he got through another really tough brutal republican nomination battle he might not be in the kind of shape to be able to take on presumably hillary clinton in the general election. i think that according to a couple of people close to him shaped his ultimate decision to not running. >> that's his head. what about his heart? >> kevin you knowing him, you spent

which candidates benefit from the romney departure?ned by mitt romney's 2012 running mate, congressman paul ryan. >>> plus, isis executes a second japanese hostage. former defense secretary robert gates joins me on the fight against the terror group. >>> also, are the big hits the fans love jeopardizing the future of football? >> i wasould forget things, i would forget places. i would have this erratic behavior towards my child.

romney himself put it this way., look, i understand everybody's sitting there telling me to run. and once i were to get in the race, it would look different. he ended up testing out that thesis. for 2016, it leaves more room for jeb bush, chris christie for the establishment part of the party clarifies that a little bit. we've got a very open-ended race here. 15, 20 candidates at this point potentially. and it's a very open field. >> george, did mitt romney make the right decision not to run? and how do you think this shapes the field or what we think is going to be the field for the next two years? >> mitt romney became wealthy because he knows how to read markets, read the political market. its response to this product on a third romney run was uniformly negative. but he wants to delay as long as possible the time before the bull's eye on the back says the definite article the establishment candidate. so he has to avoid that trap. >> julie, i'm sure because they're all political animals that they talk about all th

mitt romney's olympic stumbles in london. mitt romney trip begins in shambles. that trip inspired the hashtag romney shambles that trended in britain and the united states while he was there. this mitt person is an american borat, right? hash #romney shambles. it may not be his fault. it maybe the mix of london and american politicians. a few weeks ago, the american tv channel fox news became a laughing stock all over britain when they put somebody on the air who insisted there were parts of england where only muslims were allowed, including he said the entire major city of birmingham. that led 0 a response where british people tried to explain the birmingham allegation from the fox news perspective. the hashtag on that was fox news facts. the city is called birming because ham is not allowed. fox news facts. birling ham has a chain of fast food restaurants called birmig king. >> jam jars are radicalized. see jam jars in tiny burr kas. i choked on my pore age enthought it must be april fool's day. this guy is an idiot. fox news within a couple of days to a lot o

jeb bush, mitt romney, chris christie.would say chris christie but definitely jeb bush is, you know, when it comes to the establishment, the one to beat at this point. >> so we've talked this morning about this new poll out in iowa that has governor scott walker at the top with 15%. mike huckabee down at 10%. he won the 2008 iowa caucuses. these early polls are a lot about name recognition. why is he so far down the list here, do we know? >> we should say that now that mitt romney is not in the race he's bumped up a little bit. look, scott walker gave a very well-received speech at the first cattle call in iowa just last weekend, and he is somebody who is from just -- sort of a nearby state, has the kind of midwestern values because he is from wisconsin, but, you know, i've covered iowa politics enough to know that it might not be the best thing in the world to be peeking a year from the iowa caucuses. by the way, today is a year from the iowa caucuses. that's what i -- that's what i think. you know, huckabee has been out

it is a terrible idea. >> romney is like a loafer, a casual sweater. i want someone who is persuasive republican who wants to win. >> romney pulled the plug on friday and the pundits or various explanations the consensus was it was smart to stay out and another campaign did not make sense. >> after much back-and-forth mitt romney decided not to run again. it was a stretch for even loyal republicans to picture romney making a third try. >> this is not going to be a good race for him. it was going to hurt the party. >> he knows he could never be a candidate for the middle class because of his history. can't change who he is. >> joining us to examine the impact of the unfavorable coverage on mitt romney and sarah palin editor and chief of rollcall, and political consultant and former bush white house spokeswoman fox contributor. >> it was relentless criticism. did the press play a role? >> this is self infixed wound. he climbed a big ladder and jumped off on to the trampoline. he did not need to climb the ladder. he has been in politics no a long-term and

jeb bush benefit of the mitt romney dropped out today? >> yes, i think so.hink that mitt romney had a few strong supporters compared to advancing his interest in doing so. i think it was right for him to decline to run for the third time. so i think that probably there are opportunities there for multiple candidates to get into his support and fund-raising days. neil: do think that the supporters were beginning to wonder, if that was not the case occurred in a different story? >> i happen to agree with larry that there are a lot of folks who respect and admire his works as a businessman who never felt the need to find himself in after two tries in a billion dollars, i think a lot of people are looking for something a bit different. neil: coming up next going back to it trick question. all this time you have been focused on deflated balls. many people clean their dentures with toothpaste or plain water. and even though their dentures look clean, in reality they're not. if a denture were to be put under a microscope we can see all the bacteria that still exist

to equate jeb bush with mitt romney.opposed the auto bailout. after jeb bush makes his speeches you get notes from democrats saying, oh, look how similar this is to things that mitt romney said. the obvious advantage is that he's seen this playbook before. >> if he's to succeed, he better. >> we know scott walker, wisconsin governor and likely presidential candidate has had a few good weeks. he's bumped up in the polls because of good speeches. what's interesting is what he's done with that. he has been as aggressive in jeb bush in making phone calls, hiring staff, digital feel, fundraisers. he hired a big deal fund-raiser from the nrcc, jenny druker. the invisible primary is not just about poll numbers, who's up, who's down, it's what you're doing with it. he's done a lot especially with the departure of mitt romney in the field going after donors and staff. they've had a lot of people coming to them with resumes in the early weeks. >> early infrastructure matters. >> somebody we should watch, tim scott. tomorrow he wil

i'm a great admirer of mitt romney.i think there's going to be many ways he can continue to serve this country. but he may have, frankly, spared his family from the ordeal, which we all know is a very difficult one. >> you said you thought he was going to run. what did he say to you that made you think that? >> when we talked on the phone he made it very clear to me that he was seriously considering running again, and i'm sure that he spent a lot of time with his family and friends and came to the decision that he made and, again, i have great respect and affection for mitt romney. i think he ran an honorable campaign. >> do you think he could have won the primary even? >> i don't know because -- the reason why i don't know is, you know, you only have so many chances at the brass ring and then people say, well, it's somebody else's turn. there's no education in the second kick of a mule. >> another person who you knew from those days, sarah palin, she was in iowa this past weekend. i'm sure you saw. she's taking some he

in terms of romney i don't think there were any people who wanted romney to run than the democrats andeople on capitol hill. they had a great argument they could make against him. if you look at comments the president made the night before romney said he wasn't going to run, president had this pretty sharp jab against mitt romney talking about how the former presidential candidate was talking about poverty and inequality. obama welcomes that kind of debate. there may be disappointment in the white house that romney is not running this time around. >> what do you think about jeb bush and the degree the bush name is tainted? >> well if you remember, obama had this comment a few months ago he talked a americans wants a new car smell when they look at their presidential candidates. i think that they -- looking at their own experience feel like candidates who are fresh who are new can bring new ideas and new energy to presidential campaign, that that's their preferred model. they're not going to say that bush shouldn't run. i think there is some sense that maybe some younger people, a new g

ann romney remake? first, cheesecake. dust off the tri-quarter hats, democrats.e are going to philadelphia. philly beat out columbus, ohio possibly because republicans are having their convention in ohio, and brooklyn lost probably because jay-z and beyonce wanted to keep the riffraff out of the 718. picture this, late july, city of brotherly love, good idea or bad idea? >> my view has always been that the convention should have been in brooklyn, four one million reasons. this is not a bad idea. philadelphia has done these things before. philadelphia, pennsylvania, not much of a swing state, but it will provide a lot of support. >> there are four reasons to pick your convention season -- city. they are logistics, logistics, logistics, and fundraising. i'm not sure philadelphia will raise the money easily, but they will raise it in the end. brooklyn always made me skeptical. the arena -- what do you call that arena? the barclay center, there is too much around it. philadelphia, they basically turned the city -- the perimeter was totally controlled. they can do tha

romney.>> he was playing romney. he was the stand-in for romney. but he was quite right about that. and i actually had that in some earlier versions earlier drafts. it dropped out. but on the very positive about the book. you know and i was not uncritical there. i make the point that you brought up earlier which is that he request be off-putting to other politicians sometimes. he can lecture when he should be listening. sometimes. and that's hurt him. i think in some of these dealings. i don't think it would have materially changed a lot of things. but it's true in his dealings sometimes with foreign leaders as well. most of theme people are life-long politicians. and they don't need him to tell them what their political interests are. >> rose: what foreign leaders is he closest to? >> well you know obviously i think-- there was some friction over the intelligence revelations. but merkel merkel is someone i know he has a great deal of respect for. >> rose: friction would be -- >> and understa

>> i cannot be privy to what romney did or did not know.'m just telling you what the president said. it's hard to believe the president would contrive the story of what he just heard. >> he didn't say anything, that romney did not say anything about the turnout? >> i only know what i read. they didn't call me to compare notes. >> suppose jeb bush gets the nomination. he is an attractive candidate. >> he is. i have said if he gets the nomination without subverting his views on issues like immigration reform, and he can survive that process, it could be a formidable candidate for the obvious reason which is states like nevada, colorado florida with large hispanic populations -- he has a large kinship with the hispanic community. >> ohio has a republican governor that is very popular. >> the real question is you cannot win the nomination like that. >> bill clinton said to me at this table you cannot, in the primary campaign, say things that will destroy you in the general election. >> the last two republican candidates did not adhere to that d

its response to a third romney run was almost uniformly negative. mixed blessing for jeb wants bush. it opens up the donor class to him more but he wants to delay as long as possible the time before the bull's-eye on his back says definite article the candidate, he has to avoid that they'r trap. >> because they're all politicaland th animals that they talk about all of this in the house. how did they handicap the field? what did they make of mitt romney getting in and getting g out? they're not going to be running is. against whoever the kand will be, it will be hillary clinton probably, but who do they think is the most formidable republican opponent?nk i >>s i think on the latter they at look like someone like jeb bush who sees he's a governor he has a record to run on he has a donor base he's making smart moves early, so they think he'd be viable. white there is interest in the white r house about people like ted cruz and rand paul because they deal with them on the hill.ney, mitt romney i don't think there were any more people who wanted romney

this guy raised a ton of money or mitt romney -- for mitt romney. he owns a new jersey football team. it is not the first tri-state area bundler christie has lost to jeb bush, but i am telling you right now, i don't believe the christie people know how bad it is. people are writing him off. >> while scott walker is here he didn't handle it well, but the truth is, among new york donors who don't want jeb bush, they have an open ear for his -- an open ear for scott walker. because they don't want chris christie. that is why scott walker is getting a hearing this week. >> i think the one upside for christie is he is going to have to fight for it now in a way that's not going to be like in -- like a chair fund-raising. he is going to have to use his political skills which, the people writing him off or get are from edible. >> they are from edible. -- forget our formidable. >> they are formidable. there is all this polling now and you know as well as i do that bundler's look at numbers. >> he is going to be the nominee right now. >> james wants you to mo

which was romney had congratulated him.e said we were surprised by some of the turnout, how you got the boat out in places like cleveland and milwaukee. >> he didn't say i know high you got the black vote out? >> no, no. >> you got a better turnout. >> getting the urban vote out in cleveland and milwaukee. that is what he said. >> the president interpreted -- >> even as i heard the president's report of what romney's, i don't think he was trying to be ungracious. you have to put it into the context that these two guys had battled this race for months and months. they were looking at it through a different lens. i was surprised the romney guys elevated the way they did because i don't think it warranted the response. >> they stepped forward and said romney did not even know that detail about the campaign. he had no real withstanding of that. you are saying what? >> i cannot be to what romney did or did not know. i'm just telling you what the president said. it's hard to believe the president would contrive the story of what

do you think romney said this? that this is a book and you want to sell books. this is the first of -- i mean not the first, rather but one of many books that have come out within the obama administration and with any book there's always another side to that story. i think to jimmy's point, there are a number of things that have been said from folks within the republican party. this though, i'm not really on the same page as the panelist because i think you have to think about the man who said it. mitt romney, who is a very awkward guy. and the one thing he wants more than anything in the world, is to be president of the united states. that call had to be very very difficult for him to make. so no matter what he said it was going to come out awkward. so i don't know if what he said really came across the way that people took it. so you know i don't want to believe it. i hope that's not what he meant, if that's the case. it's probably best that he didn't end up winning in the end. but look i'd like to think there's

any chance that romney could fall on the vip o vp run. >> i sort of doubt that.ney's statement saying you know, i'm not going to run. he says it's time for a new generation. time for someone whose name isn't known was a very quiet -- >> he won't consider for running for prp? >> you never know. >> you never know. speaking of you never know christie chris christie is in london. he meets with cameron today and so how is this for him, this overseas trip? is this playing well for him over here especially if he's possibly going to run in 2016? >> for him he's saying it's just a trade mission talking to one of our top trading partners but an opportunity for him to tart talking foreign policy clout. he's a very -- domestic policy on lockdown for his team but needs to show he has a bit more breadth and on a broader scale. >> are you surprised he's over there? >> no. i mean i think we'll see a lot of republicans sort of showing up. we saw bobby jindal a couple weeks ago talking to a think tank. he doesn't have the angle that i think -- that governor christie does but i thi

romney, bush both got right near the top. bush won it. romney tied santorum. the 2008 winner of iowa walk cuss, governor mike huckabee is in the head lips to comments he made ability how he squares his religious convictions with being friends withgays and lesbians. >> people can be my friends whose lifestyle is not necessarily my lifestyle. i don't shut people out of my circle or my life because they have a different point of view. i don't drink alcohol but a lot of my friends, maybe most of them, do. you know don't use profanity but believe me i've got a lot of friends who do. some people really like classical music and ballet and opera, it's not my cup of tea. i accept a lot of people as ends from maybe whose lifestyle i don't necessarily adhere to agree with or practice. doesn't mean that i can't have a good relationship with anyone or lead them or govern them. >> huckabee went on to say he won't evolve on same-sex marriage calling it a biblical issue, not a political one. it's always a hard question depending on your point of view on this. what's the good

and mitt romney bows out as two gop governors inch closer to a 2016 run. who is most likely to benefit from his exit? >> so the serious future can begin. the only way to bring stability and peace to syria is going to be for assad to step down. >> assad needs to go. he needs to transfer power to a transitional body that is the only way we're going to resolve this crisis. >> welcome to the "journal editorial report." well, after repeatedly calling for the oust of assad is president obama changing his policy? sources are leaking that the president thinks assad and his regime may be part of the solution. as the priority shifts to defeating islamic state. this as moderate syrian rebels claim that u.s. money and supplies have all but dried up over the past several months. even as the president touted american support for the opposition in his state of the union address. so has the administration quietly changed the syrian policy in the middle east. let's ask dan henninger and foreign affairs columnist brett stevens. no official announcement about this. but lots

mitt romney, unbelievable. >> mitt romney, former governor of massachusetts, and he did something with the salt lake city olympics. is the third time the charm for governor mitt romney? >> not even 24 hours after sam seder got mitt romney on his fantasy draft, who has includes scott walker and jeb bush, lost it's luster. he announced he was bowing out of a running for president. that is one of the 25 draft picks definitely out and a big one too. watch this space to see how the rest of the players fair as our race for 2016 heats up. the conference call. the ultimate arena for business. hour after hour of diving deep, touching base, and putting ducks in rows. the only problem with conference calls: eventually they have to end. unless you have the comcast business voiceedge mobile app. it lets you switch seamlessly from your desk phone to your mobile with no interruptions. i've never felt so alive. get the future of phone and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business. >> the super bowl guarantees advertisers their biggest tv audience of the year. about a third of the count

mitt romney officially saying he is not going to run for president. our political insider will weigh in on what this means for the race for the white house and the coke brothers are pumping a lot of money into this year's election. we'll take a look at that. >> political insiders weighing in on what kind of effect the big money will have in 2016. but first a live look right now at gorgeous golden gate bridge. cloudy out there. cloudier than what we saw yesterday and cooler. temperatures only 39 degrees right now in livermore. 51 in san francisco. 40 degrees in concord. so your headlines for today weather wise, a partly cloudy and cool start. a mild afternoon and rain is going to be back in the forecast later on this week. we'll look at your seven-day forecast coming up but first here is mark with your headlines. >>> the chp just leaving the scene of a deadly accident in san jose. three people were killed at 2:00 this morning when the car they were riding in ran off the freeway and crashed. now, the car burst into flames and started a small vegetation

one reason why the governor was not chosen as mitt romney's running mate, and we promise you this isust the tip. mark my question to you today, is this the beginning of a cascade of ugly stories about him? >> there is no doubt no doubt based on what republicans have said to us about our book that people are going to come after his background. it is unfortunate for him. like mitt romney in the "boston globe," and there is a lot to look at, and we will see how he handles it. today in london, he handled it by not taking questions. >> you do not need to be reminded of this, but your own reporting suggested this is one reason why mitt romney believes that chris christie will never be the nominee. his background is a mass preview have got his lobbying, and one of his clients was bernie madoff. >> not that bernie madoff? >> that bernie madoff. securities fraud. there are all kinds of things. one of the reasons i thought bridgegate was powerful is that they thought that was the tip of the iceberg. we also know chris christie. we know his modus operandi. >> today, he did not have to answer qu

jeb bush had already gotten a lot of the assets that i think romney is now falling to romney. is now the watershed for the rest of the field to prove that he is out of touch with the republican party. so he now has a target on his back that he was at least going to share with mitt romney. so that may be problematic for bush in the early going. >> david, in your latest article you mention carson. >> this is the only guy who hasn't held elected office before, neurosurgeon from maryland. he was out there in iowa. he speaks he sort of has an image where he speaks truth to power. doesn't do political correctness. he makes some controversial statements. you know he has edgy rhetoric but the right part of the party, conservative base loves it. you saw that in iowa. that's why you see him performing well in polling in iowa. whether he can go the distance put together a national campaign is to be determined. haven't seen him making the moves like top tier contenders cultivating staff and donors but he will have a portion of the right part but also vying for with the likes of senator te

i'm a great admirer of mitt romney. think there's going to be many ways he can continue to serve this country. >> that was john mccain reacting to mitt romney's announcement. pro two days after, they are publicly complimenting the gop nominee. who benefits most now from rom knee's departure? former press secretary for al gore. and press secretary for rip roadway. this was such a surprise that mitt romney dropped out. was this a case that he finally decided look, i've done this twice, i'm tired, or was he reading the tea leaves that my money was disappears my fundraisers weren't going to be there and also my aids were leaving me? >> i think mitt romney looked at his closest allies and realized, we can beat hillary clinton this time. republicans can win. it may not be us. i think they did the right thing. sense this has happened, "washington post" yesterday said jeb bush is now the front runner. all cameras now point to him. >> all research, everything else. that might be what was behind this tweet from mr. obama's 2008 c