Obamacare On Track For 7 Million; Christie's Top Three For 2016; Ryan's Dilemma
JOHN KING, HOST, CNN'S "INSIDE POLITICS": Let's start with these numbers, and let's show our viewers. Again, Republicans are going to say they're cooking the books or we don't know how many of these people had health insurance before. But look at this number. In the first month while we were going through the Obamacare website disaster, 106,000 people signed up. They are going to hit, maybe even surpass by a little bit 7 million by their deadline last night. Eight or 10 states are going to extend the deadline for several more weeks. So when it comes to the numbers, they got there.</s>NIA MALIKA HENDERSON, "THE WASHINGTON POST": They got there. These were the numbers that the CBO set out. There was a lot of nay saying early on. We still have to dig into what this means. A lot of the narrative I think around health care could be baked into the cake. You had Republicans out spending millions and millions of dollars on this, and you feel like Democrats haven't really mounted a good fight yet. Now you've got these 7 million.</s>PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: I think some of the finger wagging we saw yesterday from the White House, some of you guys didn't think that we would get there, this is sort of the web site glitches yesterday as people were rushing to sign up was an indicator of widespread enthusiasm. In some ways, it's like tax day.</s>KING: The politics at the moment still favor Republicans, but let's not move to the politics just yet. Even though we are inside politics here. From a policy perspective, if they have 7 million, and they have 3.5 million to 4 million more getting access through Medicaid. The goal of the law was to expand access, to get more people into the system, to get more young people covered. So people can't be, I'll use a technical term, screwed by their insurance companies. From a policy perspective, Peter, can the Republicans still argue we're going to repeal this thing and throw it away or is it now that it is the law of the land. By the time you get to the next presidential election or anyplace where the Republicans might have enough votes, do you just change it?</s>HAMBY: There are some Republicans, Bobby Jindall from Louisiana is one of them saying we can't run solely on Obamacare this year. People like Jim Miller saying we should focus on jobs and the economy, education, things like that. The Democratic argument that has surfaced, which is look, send me to Washington and we're going to tweak it, seems to be actually the more compelling one. I Republicans I think are going to start adopting that and Democrats are going to be left scrambling.</s>HAMBY: So that's the question. Politicians are not known for being terribly brave and they fall behind the polls. The lion in the "Wizard of Oz." This is Arkansas. It's one senate race, but you're going to see if. If you have a competitive Senate race in your state, you're going to see an ad like this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mark Pryor voted for this law.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He hasn't been that responsive to the issue now. Do you think he'll be responsive four years from now?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's just a silence. Senator Mark Pryor voted for Obamacare. Tell Senator Pryor Obamacare hurts Arkansas families.</s>KING: Now look at this chart as we talk about this. This is why Republicans don't back down. This is voter intensity. If it's the most important thing in the election, most important of the people who say that, 30 percent support the law, 60 percent oppose it. If it's a major factor in your vote, 37 percent are supporters of the law, 53 opponents so a 16 point swing there. That's why Republicans think this helps them. Opposition to the law drives their base.</s>HENDERSON: That's right. And it's emotional, right? I mean, you have this woman that's a doctor, the bumper sticker says, "Keep your doctor, fire your senator." So it's very I think to connect with voters in oppositions in the law and Democrats haven't yet figured out how to frame Obamacare as an emotional issue.</s>HAMBY: Those ads are good. I was in the green room here at CNN with a man who walked up to the TV and turned away. She hadn't seen the ad before and said, wow, that was a really good ad. The "Post" reported just yesterday, they spent $7.2 million on those ads.</s>KING: So the question is, can the Democrats take these numbers, which are a policy achievement and change it going forward. Let's move on. We know Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey is in a bit trouble because of bridgegate. He still thinks he's the best candidate. Listen to him here about who he otherwise thinks might be OK.</s>GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I think Jeb Bush would be an outstanding candidate for president. I think Scott Walker would be a really good candidate for president. I think Paul Ryan would be a really good candidate for president.</s>MEGAN KELLY, FOX NEWS: Rand Paul?</s>CHRISTIE: I think he'd be a credible candidate for president. I think Marco Rubio would be a good candidate for president.</s>KING: Not a Rand Paul fan.</s>HAMBY: Not at all. Long-running tension between these two. It goes back to their feud last year over sort of the national security state. I think it's less that they dislike each other rather than they both view each other as fundamentally unserious. Christie doesn't think Rand Paul's views have a place in the Republican Party. Rand just thinks that he can poke Christie. He doesn't see him as sort of a serious figure personally. They both realize they have probably a lot to gain.</s>HENDERSON: That's right. I mean, Rand Paul called Chris Christie, the king of bacon. I think that gets at how they view each other and how they both benefit, right, from both being in the news at the same time going at each other.</s>HAMBY: And there is no sense pretending. I mean, these guys are going to go out on a debate stage together.</s>KING: On a debate stage, that's what I'm looking forward to. Let's move on, another big retirement, we saw a Republican Chairman, Mike Rogers of the Intelligence Committee, he is stepping down. Now the Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. It's the huge committee that writes tax laws, Dave Camp of Michigan. Now he says he is going to retire. Here is why this one is delicious politically. Number one, Dave Camp just put on the table and House leadership released a tax reform proposal that would ask wealthy investors to pay more. A lot of Republican megadonors are like, why. Why did you do that? Why did you put that out? And then he retires. And so the Democrats are going to look, vote for that. But here's the thing, Peter, that makes this most delicious for me. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's vice presidential nominee. A lot of establishment donors want him to run again, yet he wants to take over that committee. Huge power in the House. If you want to be Speaker Paul Ryan, that's your ascension. Stay in the Congress, be the speaker of the House. What the tug of war within Paul Ryan over whether to be a legislator and get the gavel or to run for president?</s>HAMBY: Well, Dave Camp was already going to be term limited out of this post until 2015, I believe and Paul Ryan has been on the record in the "Wall Street Journal" saying, I want that job. He definitely wants to have his hands in sort of this policy meet in the House. But it is very hard to say, I'm going to take over this hugely important committee on the House and then immediately pivot -- we're talking November -- to running for president. And he wants to be in the presidential mix too. He's been very quiet about it, methodical, but he has gone to Iowa --</s>KING: He's going to have to make a choice.</s>HENDERSON: Yes. He's going to have to make a choice at some point, but this is the perfect role for him. He's not able to translate in the way Bill Clinton would.</s>KING: In the room of one with himself about who he wants to be 10, 20 years from now. As we go back to New York, a big day, keep your eye on Washington, you mentioned the General Motors hearing on Capitol Hill. A big debate over whether to declassify and release the so- called torture report about enhance interrogation tactics. And ladies and gentlemen, especially pre-noon, the most important thing in Washington today, the world champion, Boston Red Sox down at the White House.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: At least you have your priorities in order.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It turns out the same software company that set up the Obamacare is the one that suggested the Red Sox will win again this season.</s>BOLDUAN: He's been thinking about that reply the entire "Inside Politics" segment.</s>KING: We have to do NEW DAY from Yankee stadium when they're there and then from Fenway when they're there. We'll all have a nice day.</s>BOLDUAN: You know how to win me over.</s>CUOMO: I fell in love with the city. Boston strong. I'm very happy you guys won last year. But now that part is over, John. Go back to what you do best, losing to the Yankees.</s>BOLDUAN: And with that, I'm going to cut you off.</s>CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, Air France 447 also found in the ocean, also caught by satellite images. So what do those images look like compared to what we've been seeing in the search for Flight 370? We'll line them up and compare.