of subjects from the nsa and rand paul wing, abortion, appealing to women, i mean it s very splintered. at this point their focus is on trying to at least project a semblance of unity. this is one way they think they can do it. strategically my thought about this in a generic way is that a shortened primary process, a condensed process like this, and even the change around proportional allocation versus winner-take-all will tend to reward whoever looks good before the whole process starts. yes. there s not going to be there s not going to be any dark horse candidate that comes from behind and wins in a shortened primary process. whoever has got it together in the beginning is more likely to be the nominee. i think you re right about that point. the one caveat i would say is that we still have these early states stacked up. so you re still going to start in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. ke, key point, yes. and so, you know, candidates
of suggestion he was running against rick santorum who is a social conservative and he was sort of boxed into what he was able to say because he was so concerned about winning the nomination. so because the party is so fractured right now and even that was on display at this rnc winter meeting on a wide variety of subjects from the nsa and rand paul wing, abortion, appealing to women, i mean it s very splintered. at this point their focus is on trying to at least project a semblance of unity. this is one way they think they can do it. strategically my thought about this in a generic way is that a shortened primary process, a condensed process like this, and even the change around proportional allocation versus winner-take-all will tend to reward whoever looks good before the whole process starts. yes. there s not going to be there s not going to be any dark horse candidate that comes from behind and wins in a shortened primary process. whoever has got it together in the beginni
bring in e.j. dionne and melissa harris-perry. let me start with you, e.j. e.j., governor christie tried getting back to ordinary business this week. but this investigation only seems to be getting hotter. and hotter. doesn t it seem that way to you? yeah. i think that the governor now has a real damage control problem. let s put aside the question of what we find out in the end about what he knew or didn t know, because once this process starts, it s hard to turn off the story, which he would love to do. the subpoenas went out. that s a story. they re will be responses to the subpoenas. if people try to sort of resist them, that s a story. if they produce information that pushes, gives us more of a sense of what happened, that s a story. if the governor cooperates, decides not to cooperate, that s a story. something he does not want out there at a time when republican