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>> hi, this is chris christie. i'm not running for anything. i'm focused on being governor for new jersey. stop calling me. i don't want to play these sorts of games, speaking of which, boy, somebody needs to change the culture of d.c. christie, 2016. two completely unrelated words. >> two completely unrelated words. let's get right to our panel. here with us in new york is msnbc contributor, joy reid, managing editor of thegrio.com, and in seattle, msnbc john heilemann, coauthor of the book "double down." and john i've got to start with you. there is a lot in our poll to furrow the brow of mr...

It certainly is more -- the thing he has to worry about like every presidential candidate is how you win your party's nomination before you move on to thinking about the next battle, which is winning a general election. and chris christie has issues that come through in that poll. and i think in our book you'll also see he has some issues with his own background and issues that mitt romney's vetters when they looked to him for the vice presidential nomination were concerned with. there is no smoking gun in that record as we report in the book, but there are things that are going to get a lot m...

Year. that's not difficult. >> well, look, a half dozen people have done it out of the millions and millions that would like to do it. and cain, you know, he lasted a couple weeks. i think ted cruz has already outlasted -- i'm just saying that his acting skills are, i think, impressive, despite, you know, some so-so performances he might have turned in that were caught on that film. >> right. okay. now john, chris christie is another republican in that top tier of 2016 hopefuls. but you've written, and i'm quoting you, that sheparding christie through a competitive republican primary will be v...

34-year-old nba center, i'm black and i'm gay. i didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major american team sport, but since i am, i'm happy to start the conversation. i wish i wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying i'm different. if i had my way, someone else would've already done this. nobody has, which is why i'm raising my hand. joining us now john, good to have you here. >> thanks. >> first of all, how did this come about? did he approach you recently? >> yeah, maybe a month ago. we got a call, his agent sort of indicated there might be a playe...

>> anything but mitt romney. they show gingrich leading or in a tie. blowing him away in south carolina. will voters forget about newt's adultery and the poison onnous behavior of the past and be able to pull it off or are ow john's side of the pages where you think that newt will probably last for 15 minutes and descend? >> i cannot see all of newt's baggage. he was the boogie man and he was something that just made even independents just great their teeth. i can't imagine that all of that is going to go away. the republican base tends to be fairly forgiving with old sexual indiscretions. wit...