Sideshow: Colbert for Senate? S.C. gov. says, 'No thanks'

>>> for the "sideshow." first, governor chris christie as i said is an outrageous bruce springsteen fan. he's been to over 100 of the boss' concerts but self-proclaimed liberal bruce himself hasn't returned the love until lately. last night christie told jon stewart boo meeting springsteen at the nbc telethon for hurricane sandy.

>> i was on the stage afterwards talking to steve van zandt and max and all of a sudden they were looking behind me, they moved away and stopped talking. so i turned around and there he was.

>> and there he was.

>> there he was.

>> and he gave you --

>> he put his hand out and i shook his hand. i tried to be cool, i wasn't.

>> no.

>> and then he said, come on, give me a hug. and i said, all right. and i hugged him, and --

>> and did he go, come on, stop.

>> no. you know, that's always hard to judge, right. when do you stop the man hug. it's hard --

>> you got to give also this, the pat or did you just go slow dance .

>> no, i went slow dance .

>> you've got to be kidding.

>> i went slow dance . i did.

>> no pat?

>> no pat, i went slow dance . but then he said the most amazing thing to me. he said, it's official, we're friends.

>> oh, wow. that's nice. that's nice.

>> sounds like getting a knighthood, a jersey knighthood.

>>> neck, remember this from the final days of the presidential campaign?

>> i will come on " morning joe " and i will shave off my mustache of 40 years if we lose any of those three states.

>> that's right. our old friend a and obama adviser david axelrod was so confident president obama would win pennsylvania, michigan, and minnesota he bet his mustache. he soon turned the bet in a challenge with joe to raise money. he's championed a cause in support of his daughter. thanks to joe and mika, they met their goal of $1 million raised and ax lived up with his pledge. here is " morning joe " today.

>> i have been staring at it for 40 years, savannah. i'm very attached to it. i was up all night to be honest with you.

>> oh, good lord.

>> it's a little unsettling.

>> well, here you can see side by side before and after footage of ax. what do you think? a little dark on that left side.

>>> lastly, lots of speculation about whom south carolina governor nikki haley will pick to fill jim demint 's senate seat. our pal stephen colbert put his mind to it.

>> but who will she pick? let's see, you want somebody young, somebody conservative, somebody from south carolina , maybe somebody who had a super pac. wait a second. watch where you point that thing. it's powerful. i know when i look at the u.s. senate , i say to myself, you know what they could use? another white guy.

>> well, the governor responded on her facebook page saying, stephen, thank you for your interest in south carolina 's u.s. senate seat and for the thousands of tweets you and your fans sent me, but you forget one thing, my friend. you didn't know our state drink . big, big mistake . well, she was referring to this from earlier this year.

>> what's the state drink ?

>> there's a state drink ?

>> it's milk.

>> i didn't realize my state was so boring.

>> makes me think i'm going to like the person she picks a lot less than i do steve colbert .

>>> the fiscal cliff. if it's down to the president and john boehner deciding this, what does a win look like for both sides? you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.