jim messina said the candidate they were most worried about initially was jon huntsman and were happy to see they didn't make it through the primary process. >> that's right. that was part of the reason they originally took him into the administration. and one of the reasons was, their focus groups were showing them that there was a big appeal for a bipartisan candidate. that's why david axelrod told me in an interview that one of the mistakes the romney campaign made was not pushing the bipartisan message earlier. a republican governor who had made things happen in a democratic state. they thought that would have had a lot of appeal. it's one of the reasons that chris christie has a lot of appeal right now. and in addition to that quinnipiac poll you showed, another poll that politico has this morning for chris christie, a poll for the new jersey republican party, showing that he's more popular in the state than ever. more popular than president obama who won the state big. >> really interesting interview that politico playbook breakfast. mike allen, check it out on the website.