Nothing in my performance will be deflated. Good day, everyone im Andrea Mitchell in washington. We begin with our breaking news exploding all of the conventional wisdom of the last month, mitt romney says he will not make a third run for the white house, urging the party to turn instead to a new generations of leaders, take that jeb and Chris Christie. Chuck todd joins me now. What do you think went into this calculation from your reporting . I think he had the sober conversation about what the primary gauntlet was going to look like. I think theres two things here. I think i wanted to be the nominee and think he wanted to be president. I think he looked at what the next six months. Theres a good idea what it would look like. He gets in and every day is a story that were with mitt romney signing up with somebody else six months of that. Then he looks good in the polls now as more candidates get in and voters start looking around and kicking the tires, he was going to see that sort of lead of name recognition start eroding. The next six months are going to be really hard what shape would his candidacy be in labor day of this year. Was he willing to do all of the gauntlet . Remember john mccain, the one man gang in 07. And he had the stomach to do it like that and it was a tough slog. Romney had done it twice, going through it the third time i have to think that that was what talked him out of this. I think he wants to be the nominee and wants to be president. Thats not gone. It was the primary gauntlet. Getting through it. Lets listen to a little bit of that call that he made to his supporters. I feel that its critical that america elect a conservative leader become our next president. You know that i wanted to be that president. But i do not want to make it more difficult for someone else to emerge who may have a better chance of becoming that president. When hes talking about someone else who has a better chance of becoming that president , hes talking about a new generation. He said that literally, not talking about jeb bush his competitor, sometime rival. Is he talking about chris christ j . We understand from Jonathan Martin that they are having dinner together tonight . I dont know if he is. I think thats just a little jab at jeb to be honest. If you look around whos an immediate potential beneficiary of mitt romney not running . Its probably going to be Chris Christie he was going to get squeezed out, in the wall street money world. There was no room for christie. Now theres a narrow path. I dont think he will get nearly the amount of donor support romney would have gotten but theres viability there. Look the jeb mitt relationship was not good. People say when did it go sour . It went sour back in the First Campaign of 08. Jeb was a huge romney guy. You talk to jeb in early 07 and he was proromney not mccain. Before the debate on immigration. Then he used immigration as a wedge against mccain and that ended it. It was a very cold relationship from then on and it lasted for a long time. I think there is no love lost and more so probably mitt to jeb than jeb to mitt. I have think the christie think is a poke at jeb. They are tweeting reactions they must love him. Your best day in politics is the day you decide not to run. Exactly. Jeb says mitt is a patriot and i join many in hoping his days of serving his nation and our party are not over. He can still be helpful to whoever the nominee is. I think thats right. I think somebody else i think mitt romney wants to be viewed as the elder statesman i think he wants to be a king maker now. I dont know what means anymore, when you have a rambunctious electorate youve got to be careful. If you try to be a king maker, sometimes the establishment will run away from that a little bit. But i think he clearly i think he can play a role. I have a feeling now youll see mitt romney back off. He was getting engaged in day to day politics. Hell back off and take a 30,000 foot view again. Marco rubio has weighed in. Over the past two years there hasnt been a day when i didnt think mitt romney would have been a better president than barack obama. Over the years ive enjoined campaigning for him, grateful for his support in the senate race and know what a difficult situation this must be. He earned the right to consider running so i deeply respect his decision to give the next generation he loves the next generation bush elected in 98, romney elected in owe02. Now were in the whatever well call it the teens, now in the teens and i think thats what romney is hoping that the scott walkers and marco rubio. And rand paul not to forget. Among serious players with big following followings, what about Lindsey Graham . The Lindsey Graham has almost everything to do with rand paul and nothing else. That he is in there to articulate the hawkish wing of the party. There is a concern by the Mccain Graham wing of the party, the interventionist wing of the Foreign Policy world that nobody else wants to articulate the Foreign Policy. He views this more of making sure the issues are talked about at the debates. I dont any if lindsey sees himself as a nominee but making sure to be blunt, making sure hes the guy that attacks rand paul. I think that ive always thats my theory of how this has come about a little bit. Now that youve got mitt romney seahawks or patriots . Im shocked the patriots are favored. Find me another Super Bowl Team where the best defense in the league when they make the super bowl tell me the last time that team lost . If you were making me put my mortgage payment on it i would go with the seahawks. We will see. If its super bowl sundays, of course its meet the press. Everything sports and politics on the program, a big sunday and with unique insight into mitt romneys decision his former running mate paul ryan joining chuck. The other big story weve been watching the fate of two isis hostages still unclear today, a day after a deadline for a possible swap between isis and the government of jordan. For a would be suicide bomber who has been in prison on death row since 2005. Chief global correspondent bill neeley joins me from amman jordan. Reporter it doesnt look good here. Theres complete silence from isis no sign a deal has been done or the hostages are being released and jordans government said that that convicted suicide bomber was still in jordan nowhere near where a deal might be done. Theres ominous signs here. Jordans government has asked the family of its kapt turped pilot not to talk to the media anymore. It is if you like preparing the public here for the worst. And if you like also preparing for a backlash because people are holding King Abdullah responsible for this and thats what isis wants. Remember, there are two nations involved here, japan and jordan but isis real target is jordan a moderate Muslim Country that is a staunch ally. They loathe everything jordan stands for. They are doing everything to destabilize jordan. If for example, isis was to kill the jordanian pilot and turn to jordan and say we will rea lease the japanese hostage if you release the convicted suicide bomber. That puts jordan in a lose lose situation and what isis wants. It wants to destabilize this country. Is there any scenario in which they would swap the jordanian pilot they are still asking for proof of life correct . We dont know if the two hostages are tied together in this political sphere or whether there would be some japanese negotiation thats separate from the jordanian . Reporter no thats right. There is some confusion that jordanians initially said they were open to a deal and then they said, no hang on we want proof our pilot is still alive. The family said through its channels that it established that the pilot was in fact alive. But this is a very complex threeway deal. Isis holds the hostages and as far as i can see it holds all the cards. Japans Prime Minister who remember three years ago said he wanted to play a more global role, well three years later hes had one decapitated hostage and is facing this hostage crisis. Gentleman fan looks rather powerless. Jordan doesnt look very powerful at all. As i say, thats exactly what isis is trying to do. If a deal is done as well of course, it lends more legitimacy to isis which in its eyes would be yet another victory. Bill neely, thank you very much. Coming up back home super security after deflate gate. Extra measures in place to protect sundays game balls. Well go live to the home of super bowl xlix coming up next. 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Well talk about that in just a moment but we have the breaking news from mitt romney what does it mean for the rest of the republican president ial field . Former republican congressman vin weber served as Senior Adviser to romney during his 2012 campaign. Does this surprise you . It surprises me. All of the signals governor romney was sending was that he was likely to run and close supporters said they thought it was about an 80 likelihood. Im a great add mirror of governor romney but glad hes not running. I think the process of running for the third time would have been pretty tough on him and now he has a chance to resume his role as the most respected guy in the Republican Party and one of the most respected guys in the country. Even though its hard to believe that somebody can say youre a great admirer of somebody but that is my view. Do you think it was because key supporters past supporters iowa and elsewhere were moving to jeb bush . Do you think that was part of the calculation . My guess and its a guess that he saw there were a lot of viable candidates. Jeb bush has done a good job and attracted some support. I think Governor Walker has made progress and marco rubio is making progress and Chris Christie after a bad first part of last year has come back on the scene and saw it would have been a highly competitive race. Gechb the stature he has as the former nominee, i dont think wanted to go down there and tough it out and thats a perfectly legitimate reason to not run. I want to play more of that call to supporters this morning. Cant imagine how hard it is to step aside, especially knowing of your support and the support of so many people across the country. We believe its for the best of the party and the nation. Ive been asked and will certainly be asked again, if there are any circumstances, whatsoever, that might develop that could change my mind. And it seems unlikely. Well thats a bit of a hedge but really isnt. Hes just saying if something amazing happened like not having to run in the primaries. A terrorism attack on the first debate and all candidates are wiped out. I dont think hes going to get back in. We have a strong group of candidates running this time quite different than a couple of years ago when we had at least one strong candidate and some not so good ones. There are a lot of good candidates this time and we wont have to look for more. I think hell play a major role. Hes probably the most effective critic of how the democrats have been running the country for the last six years because of the things he said as a candidate. My argument to his people was i dont think that would have been the platform on which to run as a future looking candidate but it certainly helps republicans develop a critique of democratic governments. Are you aligning yourself with anyone . I havent yet. I like a lot of candidates probably spend more time talking to governor bush and the bush people and like the way he launched his candidacy on the issues of social mobility and how to rise middle class incomes, but there are other good candidates and i want to listen to them but im very impressed with governor bush. Do you have any worry hes rusty and the world has moved by that mitt romney seems to be pointsing toward . Ive heard certainly that critique. I view it with a little bit of amusement, on the one hand you hear a fresh face not the political faces in a long time. The next breath he hasnt been involved for a long time. I think he cant be both. He was a great governor of florida and he has had a time out that has given him a perspective. The bush name is known but governor jeb bush is not widely known outside of florida. He has a chance to introduce himself to the country, not as another bush but jeb bush. Thanks so much. With only two days to go weve been talking about the super bowl and vin is a vikings fan. We wont talk about that. Will there be major fumbles before the game . The matchup has been flooded with news about deflategate. A Measles Outbreak in phoenix and security concerns. One bright spot seattle cornerback richrd shermans girlfriend is set to deliver a baby any day now. He was asked about the chance if the baby was born early, the star player might miss the big game. He knows he has an opportunity to face a big decision. Whenever our players have a personal or family issue that comes out, its about family first and they have to decide whats best for them and i support that. However he goes with that if hes faced with that decision well support him. And well see how that goes. Wish him luck and cant wait to see little pety. Nbcs craig melvin joins us from glendale arizona. Youre a relatively new dad. You can relate to what richard sherd sherman is going through. Reporter never played in the super bowl but that anxiety. Heres a guy getting ready for the big game and now all of a sudden, oh my goodness my son could come any day now. Im pretty sure that Richard Sherman is going to be on the field here come sunday sunday evening around 6 30 university of phoenix stadium behind me. The weather, andrea has been the story so far. It has been sloppy and soggy all morning. Its expected to rain tomorrow as well. The rain though going to move out in time for the big game. Not stopping the fans though. There are a lot of folks out last night partying it up a lot of folks going to be out tonight as well. More than a dozen sponsored parties planned and a lot of folks go to those ahead of the big game. You mentioned security. We can tell you that the blackhawk helicopters have already been flying around the stadium enforcing the no fly zone. Some 4,000 private security personnel are being trucked in to provide additional security. Theyll supplement the Police Officers who are already here in the area. And in a sign of the times, perhaps, a strict no drone policy is going to be enforced as well here in and around the stadium. Craig melvin thank you very much. We know security is going to be tight, not only against any possible trouble makers but also the balls. Craig, have fun out there. Thanks for being with us. As we mentioned, this is your home for everything super bowl xlix. Tonight, hardball is live from arizona at 7 00 p. M. Chris is followed by a special morning joe at night, catch them live from phoenix tonight from 8 00 to 10 00 p. M. Eastern. And sunday of course watch the big game on nbc at 6 30 eastern. And as his former team preps for super bowl sunday tgs day two of Aaron Hernandez murder trial in massachusetts. He is charged in the 2013 shooting death of semiprofootball player oddup lloyd. 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