Sen. Schumer endorses Hillary Clinton for president

>>>
there is another race that started to heat up even though we're less than a year into
president obama
's second term. talking about the race for president. last night new york senator
chuck schumer
urged
hillary clinton
to run for the
white house
saying she'd looet lead his party to victory. today new jersey governor
chris christie
is traveling around new jersey as he runs for re-election in what's widely seen as a test run for president himself.
david gregory
, moderator of "meet the press." great to see you.

>>
thanks.

>>
schumer says she has his full and unwavering support. with her his party with vanquish
ted cruz
, the
tea party
republicans in
2016
. i'm curious, does this start to sound like the beginning of a series of coordinated and carefully timed endorsements to give her campaign a ring of invincibility?

>>
i think you're right. i think that's the right instinct. i've talked to supporters of
hillary clinton
. they're unabashed about she's running, that all signs point to it. even though there are some who cling to the idea that she needs to be persuaded to make the final decision. maybe that's the case. but it's all lining up that way. i would be careful about an air of inevitability. that's what she had with
barack obama
and we know how that turned out. she has to have a way to recalibrate that, have a message that's her own while at the same time sticking very close to
barack obama
. that's the legacy. she's served in his administration, that she's going to want to carry on.

>>
wonder if it's also meant to discourage other democratic challenge.

>>
good question. there's a likes of
elizabeth warren
or anyone who would challenge
hillary clinton
from the left with a more progressive approach. we typically see that in primary fights. i think there will be early rumblings of that.

>>
on the
republican side
we mentioned new jersey governor
chris christie
facing election with bag lead. but still has something like 90 stops on his bus tour. does he appear to be testing the waters for apartmental run?

>>
without a doubt. look at the language he's using. he spoke to our colleague kelly o'donnell overnight, and he was making the point that he knows new jersey will be looked at. that there will be reverberations. he wants to be a leadership model for the
republican party
. think about the
republican party
right now. there's actually governance going on among republican governors and more opposition going on at the national level, resistance to
president obama
's policies. i think
chris christie
is going to lay his case out there and say i've led, i've governed and here is a blueprint for how a republican can do it. it reminds me a lot of former
president bush
, while he came from a republican
state of texas
, built on the idea of governance and getting along with democrats.

>>

mitt romney
took a pass on
christie
as a running mate. kelly o'donnell caught up with
christie
about asked him about this new book that says
mitt romney
had serious concerns about
christie
because of some baggage. here is what he had to say.

>>
when the romney team talks about
land mines
during the vetting process last time around, does that plant any seeds of concern?

>>
no. because any of that stuff that was in the book was the stuff litigated in the
2009
campaign and litigated again in the future. i understand that. the fact is these are two guys trying to sell a book.

>>
i've got to tell you. if there are
land mines
out there, doesn't it work to his advantage to get those out now so they don't become an issue if he runs?

>>
maybe not now. also in the book, governor
christie
saying some of these may have been litigated in
2009
, but not in the governor's race. when you run for president it's a whole different level of scrutiny. i think governor
christie
understands that. i think he also understands his weight, his health is going to be an issue. that was something that weighed on the mind of governor romney.