>> what you think of when you see a tree? a treatment for cancer? alternative fuel for our cars? do you think of hope for the environment? food, clothing, shelter? we do. weyerhaeuser. grilling ideas. -- growing ideas. >> how about this, new jersey? >> this week on "inside washington" -- reading the tea leaves for a glimpse of the future. >> the people of the city have chosen a progressive path.

>> the democrats' close call in virginia. >> we said this was a referendum on obamacare. although i lost, you sent a message to the president. >> the obamacare rollout nightmare continues. >> this is like having a really good product in the store and the cash registers do not work and there are not enough parking spots. >> no more excuses. just give us the truth. >> and the nuclear deal with iran? >> are we better off? and then we have an automatic military confrontation. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> questions -- did republican governor chris christie big win

mean he is the odds on favorite for 2016? will republicans be able to patch up their differences before then? was terry mcauliffe's victory in virginia a warning for the tea party? or was the narrowness of his win attributable to the miserable obamacare rollout? did victories by populist democrats in new york and boston indicate the debate over income and equality will dominate our politics for the next few election cycles? let's start with virginia. terry mcauliffe had a pretty good lead going into the election. it turned out to be much closer than anticipated. here are some thoughts. >> i was not a fan of either candidate. >> i think people are split everywhere. i do not think it is virginia. i think it is everywhere. >> what did the results tell us, charles? >> i think the narrowing of the gap was probably significant. cuccinelli gambled it all on obamacare.

it had some resonance. he obviously was hurt by the shutdown, which affected the northern virginia constituency. he got slammed on that. i think it played out as predicted and i think it put a real scare -- one of the reasons the democratic senators are so afraid of obamacare and went to see obama about it is because of the virginia results. >> mark? >> i do not know anyone who seriously believed that mcauliffe had a double-digit lead. the "post" had an outside poll on it. mcauliffe did. it was always a 5, 6, 7-point margin. president obama carried the state by four points. terry mcauliffe carried it by three. i think the perception is obamacare and the rollout in the disappointment and all that dissatisfaction did in fact hurt, and perception does become reality, no question about it. the fact is for republicans it

is a very serious warning that they cannot run somebody who is so far out of the mainstream in a mainstream state. >> nina? >> i agree with both charles and i thk cuccinelli lucked out inw. shutdown, but that was over. the last week or 10 days, there was nothg but is crescendo, bad story about obamacare. so, i think he definitely benefited by that and i think it is a warning to republicans and democrats. charles is completely right. the democrat senate candidates are freaking out and they are probably right to be freaking out. >> colby? >> on thursday, i spoke with rand paul, and he complained bitterly about the lack of financial support to cuccinelli.

particularly from the rnc. they pulled out. he talked about cuccinelli being outspent four or five to one. he cited as a significant factor. i think the exit polls showed something different. on obamacare. question about health care was three or four for something that voters were concerned about. the problem is larger than just obamacare. it is the president and how he has come off the last few weeks. he was not an asset in this race. >> there is no question that cuccinelli was outspent, but if you want to leave someone twisting in the wind, how about the democratic candidate for governor of new jersey, mark? >> she was absolutely a nonperson. barbara buono. >> she was collateral damage. >> the president never went near there. the national chair never went near. the clintons never went near

there. i think the democrats will rue the day they let chris christie run essentially unopposed for reelection, because he comes out of it on start, untarnished -- unscarred, untarnished. it is an impressive christie victory. he is pro-life, anti-same-sex marriage. he won 57% of the women's vote against a woman candidate. he won 51% of the latino vote and 66% of the independent vote. that is impressive. >> and three in 10 democrats went to the polls to vote. >> 32%. >> he is right where the democrats want him. they are doing nothing to discourage the candidacy of chris christie. chris christie is the person they want to see run, because they know that he cannot get the republican nomination.

>> charles? he is giving conservative acid reflux, chris christie. >> i would not declare right now he will win the republican nomination. i think he has a very good chance to win it. i would say he is the front runner to win it. after losing twice in a row, a party gets hungry. i think they want to see someone who is shown to be a winner in a blue state. that's a very strong calling card. and he is not a lindsay republican. he is not a liberal northeast republican. as mark said, he has very strong republican credentials. there are some issues where conservatives will be upset with him, but he is not a liberal. i think it puts him in a very strong position. >> if you listen to some others on the right, not necessarily our colleagues here, but the limbaughs and the hannitys, they go through this. immigration he is wrong on, their point of view.

birth control, he is wrong on abortionbirth control, he is wrong on, that issue. they have a litany of tests he fails on. he is going to have to get past iowa, south carolina. >> i agree. but who do you think has a better chance at the nomination? >> that does not mean he will win. >> i did not say he was going to win. i said he has the best chance to win. >> i think it is six of one and a half dozen of another in a way. conservatives who are running could split their votes, and he could come out the winner and he is an enormous political talent in much the way that clinton is. , >> give us a scenario for christie winning the nomination. mark? >> christie has something that none of the republicans and very few democrats have. at he can talk to ordinary americans. in language that is not patronizing, condescending, not created or orchestrated. he just has a way of doing it.

that is a gift. if i am chris christie, at some point, the conservatives have to get off their purity bench and say, wouldn't it be nice to go to an inaugural ball? ronald reagan's said if someone is with us 80% of the time, he is our friend. he is not our 20% enemy. chris christie is with them that much. if they want to find someone to be with them on 23 out of 23 issues, they can do it and go down in flames again. >> ok, we want to have an example of chris christie's plain speaking in a second. the horrible obamacare rollout was all over the virginia election and the issue will not go away. >> here is my advice to the president. don't be so cute. and when you make a mistake, admit it. >> the president of chris christie's advice and apologize to americans losing their health care plans. >> i'm sorry that they find themselves in a situation based on assurances they got for me. >> i think people would give

any leader in that circumstance a lot of credit for owning up to it instead of -- do not lawyer it. people do not like lawyers. >> that is chris christie and his interview with jake tapper earlier this week. don't lawyer it. pretty good advice. why did it take the president so long to take it? >> i'm not sure he did take the advice. he went part of the way. he apologized to people who find themselves losing their insurance, but what did he say to the nation? he told the rest of us that people would not lose their health care. when the president of the united states speaks, you expect the president to tell the truth. the question is, when he spoke those words repeatedly, did he know the results were actually different? or was he speaking based on bad information? that question has led others to

draw a conclusion about what he did. did he know better than he said that? >> he has two arrows in his side. he has that one and he has the horrible rollout of obamacare which is still screwed up, nina. i mean the website. >> they say they will have it fixed by the end of this month. i treat that with a grain of salt, but they better pull the act together or there will be such an unbelievable struggle in 2014 and everybody on the hill with a seat at risk knows that. >> that the federal government is not canceling anything. these are the insurance companies canceling the policies. >> yes, and to be fair, they did grandfather policies are everyone had the same exact policy at the time this law passed was supposed to be guaranteed their policy, but of course no policy stays the same. it is a fact of life.

if you look at the fine print on your insurance policy, it changes. >> the insurance company's canceled the policies because they knew could not meet the standards for the health care act. you cannot blame your insurance companies for that. >> i'm not blaming them. i'm just saying the government is not canceling anything. >> it established a law under which the insurance had to. that is the federal government doing that. if you are in insurer and the law says you cannot continue the policy if it does not have these 10 requirements, you have forced them to cancel the policy. to blame it on the insurance is ridiculous. >> they say, i'm not going to meet any minimum standards like guaranteeing pre-existing health conditions will be covered. i'm not going to maintain coverage you -- for you if you get sick. i'm not going to do that.

>> i'm not going to have >> if unlimited payments. the insurance company does what obama has promised, allows the person to keep the plan they had, even though it doesn't meet the requirements of obamacare, then it would be violating -- >> i'm not saying that. i'm saying why not meet the requirements? >> you are changing the policy. that is the only point we are making here. you are implying it is the federal government that is changing the policy, it is the insurers. it is the federal government imposing the policy. this isn't even close, gordo. >> go ahead. >> we have barbara mikulski, the chairman of the senate appropriations committee, a loyal white house supporter, saying this is a crisis of confidence. she is reflecting the feelings of people like kay hagan, going for reelection in north carolina. >> mark pryor. >> mark pryor in arkansas.

begich.ggage -- these are people really in peril. i think it is safe to say without too much of a reach the sense of dissatisfaction, the dysfunction of the federal government as witnessed by the rollout coupled with the shutdown contributed to loss of referendum questions in states like colorado. the hemorrhaging of confidence in the public sector. >> not to mention to come to the conclusion led by the president of the united states. >> exactly. >> the last two presidents and the presidents even before them have abrogated more and more power to the white house and the

cabinet secretaries have less and less power. there is not staff at the white house to support that. so, you have all of this power and no apparatus to carry it out. it is absolutely obvious. >> lying about obamacare is not a staff problem. it is a presidential problem. >> let me refer you to something from "politico" lit last week. from the moment the health care act was announced, leaders of the republican party vowed to kill it, taking it all the way to the supreme court. "the gop faithful kept up the crusade past the president's prez election in mass resistance not since the southern states protested brown versus the board of education in 1964. the plan was to derail the signature achievement and the president himself." >> total rubbish. >> total rubbish?

>> total rubbish. >> i say it is completely true, but it doesn't matter. where we are now is, it doesn't matter. the president has made a non- apology apology. it is the kind of apology you make when you are a kid. your mother says go back into it again. he either knowingly lied, that is he told us something that was not true, or and i'm not sure if this is better or worse -- he passed the plan and did not know what it did. either way, it is really bad for him. rubbish -- total rubbish, completely true, take your pick. >> most people, everybody knew the republicans were going to go after obamacare. what you don't want to do is give them a stick with which to beat you. >> right. >> that said, why do you make that statement that you can keep your doctor keep your plan when that is at variance with the truth? did the president know that or

was he misled? ill by his staff? >> there is the question. how does an administration that was so smart and getting itself reelected deliver it self into the hands of its political enemies? >> you have to take responsibility, the somewhat parochial, provincial, cultlike staff. you do not have someone telling you. you know, the republican position ostensibly is repeal and replace. anybody who is waiting for the replacement of the republicans this is a party shedding crocodile tears up and down pennsylvania avenue, that is so indifferent, reading messages from their constituents that are heart wrenching. this is the party that sense john chafee was in the united states senate and bob dole was

the republican leader has not offered any kind of health plan. >> let's hear from charles. >> i don't know where to start. so much error and we have what? a minute? i have to write an essay on this. i would give you a plan in a minute and a half. there are plans and it has been out there. number two. colby asked why did the president say something that isn't true? you know why? that's all they got it through by the skin of their teeth. they had to assure the american people that this program was aimed to the uninsured who needed help. i agree with that. they needed help. the way to get it done was to say it would not cost a penny. he said that over and over again. that is what you have all the hidden subsidies. that is why everybody with a canceled plan is discovering the new plan is more expensive. to subsidize everyone else. secondly they had to do it so

everyone would think this is not going to affect me. it will not add a penny to the deficit. no taxes. that is how they got it done. he got it done on a partyline vote. they never accepted republican ideas and that is why republicans opposed it. no tort reform, no purchasing insurance across state lines. that is why you had united opposition. >> the only way we can take this great nation, peace loving nation to war in iraq was to say we have weapons of mass destruction. did the president know? not telling the truth? did he know he was wrong? or was he recklessly indifferent? >> i'm not answering that. what will the next big debate in american politics be? >> we have no illusions about the path that lies ahead, tackling inequality is not easy. it never has been and never will

be. >> ok, just ended 20 years of republican leadership in new york city. make no mistake about it. this guy is a real lefty. he's talking about income inequality. says he's going to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires, and there are a lot of them in new york. also, we have the democrat elected in boston, marty walsh. is the issue of income inequality going to take hold in the next cycle? >> i think it has the potential to be what iraq was in 2008, the defining difference. we essentially decriminalized white-collar crime, both parties. you had to pay a fine and say you did not do it. that's perfectly all right. there is a sense that the system is rigged, rigged in favor of the one percent and the other 99% are cannon fodder for the economic system.

i don't think there's any question. he raised this issue. he confronted it in a national community that is as chummy with the financial community as anywhere in the country. that's the potential dividing line. >> i agree it has potential, but i don't know how it happens when, for example, npr had a bunch of shows this week. 501(c) 4's have become laundering machines for political money. where they were spending a few million in 2010 or 2008, it is now 8000 times that amount and -- 8000 times that amount. quickly theure how

effect on new york will be felt. we have had 20 years of excellent governance under giuliani and bloomberg, which has made the city livable. the crime rate is the lowest it has been in 50 years. there is income inequality. they are going to go after it. they will start by abolishing stop and frisk. when the time right -- crime rate starts to go up in the minority communities, where it has gone down, when they start to accumulate, i think there will be a backlash. i do think occupy wall street, the big flash in the pan, the new york times will pump it up until it explodes. i think there will be no residue, because the results are going to be very bad. >> colby? >> i can't tell you what will be the issue in 2016. i'm not sure if it will be income inequality. it depends on how the economy will be doing at that time. as it always does. if you want to generate a good recovery at that time, maybe there will be some issues.

i think governance will be the issue. not in the archaic way of saying it, but the question of restoring confidence in public officials is going to permeate that campaign. >> not only restoring confidence, but a sense of optimism. maybe your kids are going to do a little bit better. >> and a lot of questions about whether de blasio is a good manager. if you can't run a city, we will know that. it will be a mess. >> it is exactly like obamacare. you can have the best intentions in the world. >> right. it is true. a question of the competence of big government, it and is a big question right now. >> de blasio represents a real threat to what has been the dominant approach of the national democratic party for the last 25 years, which is we will be business friendly. we will not be as pro-business as the republicans, but we will be business friendly.

and we are your buddies. let's not have too much divisiveness. but we have got divisiveness economically. >> which led us to the prosperity of the clinton years. >> a deal with iran? good idea? bad idea? >> iran knows if they do not meet the standards of the international community, sanctions could be increased and even worse if the clock ticks down to where you have a dangerous situation, there may be no option but the military option. >> that's the secretary of state. there is a deal in the works. apparently iran's nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions. what's in it for us, charles? >> avoiding a confrontation is a real consideration. the reason that the saudis and the israelis are apoplectic, the is because the deal as it appears --nd it has not been

done as of the time we're doing the show, leaves iran the ability to do several things. the right to enrich uranium. which we have insisted it should not have. second, 9000 centrifuges, which will allow it to continue to make uranium. israel and the saudis will have to live perpetually on a three-month timetable. >> the administration is framing this as a first step. 10 years ago we walked away from the table basically. at that point, they were nowhere near having a bomb. now they are at the edge of having a bomb. we either should have come to something we thought was workable or we are facing -- >> now we know why secretary of state kerry went to saudi arabia and spent some time with the prime minister, netanyahu,

because he knew that this deal going tog, and he is have to explain the u.s. position on this. prints, thee fine prime minister of israel says this is the heel of the century for iran, for the reasons charles is mentioned. we have some work to do with our allies, saudi arabia, and israel. lexmark? >> two points. john kerry is a combat veteran. he knows the terrible cost of war and wants to avoid it. second, its accra been, the martyred prime minister of israel said "you don't make for -- peace with your friends. you make peace with your enemies ." i think john kerry brings both of those qualities to that discussion. >> that is the last word. thanks.