Looking ahead to 2016: Will Hillary Clinton run?

>> state hillary clinton getting quite the going away gift from the obama team. josh green reporting a group of obama donors decided to pay off the remainder of her 2008 campaign debt that came to 250 grand as of last year. 120 different people cut checks to pay off those bills. hillary clinton 's campaign, which was never officially shut down, now has a surplus of about $200,000 in the bank. should clinton decide to run in 2016 , there's already a super pac supporting her, ready for hillary , it's called, already garnering nearly 50,000 twitter followers.

>> i'm sure steve rattner set up that account yesterday.

>> he's ready.

>> have you given money yet, steve rattner, to hillary 's super pac ?

>> i have not. we would. my wife and i were her second biggest fund-raisers in 2008 and we're huge fans and she is certainly the elephant in the room when it comes to 2016 .

>> the measure of the super pac 's strength now is it twitter followers.

>> who are those 50,000 people.

>> we should ask you, steve , but your wife, maureen, is hillary going to run? what does maureen say?

>> the honest answer is we don't know. i think when she gets some rest and sleeps off the last four years and looks around says inned, inned -- i'm still really energetic and strong and one of the most popular politicians in the country, hard that she doesn't give this more thought.

>> what does joe biden say about this and something said about the president given a tacid endorse document hillary clinton as joe biden steamed somewhere in his office.

>> he had to love that 60th minute interview. the reality is it depends on hillary clinton , if she decides in two years or four years time s she's had enough rest and comes to the realization she will never be a normal person who can walk down the street by herself. she will always be hillary clinton and why not throw her hat in the ring and not a private individual that can go for private life and may as well go for the presidency. if she makes that decision, joe biden has to back off. he won't be able to run if she is running. he's in a difficult position and has to sit and wait while she takes the rest she needs to take after this grueling secretary of state and then decide does she want to go for the presidency without this brutal campaign she had to go through in 2008 because no serious democrat will run against her or feel she does want to take back as much of a private life she can do.

>> sam stein, we just have to remember back to 2006 and 2007 , when hillary clinton was just as much the 800 pound elephant in the room , the giant that strode in, whatever you wanted to call it, she was the dominant force of the democratic party and nobody believed, myself included, that anybody could rise up to beat her. nobody believed that. we will see that for the next couple of years. are we making the same mistake we made before?

>> it gives me cold sweats we're talking 2016 at this juncture.

>> come on, sam.

>> hold on. we're not talking about 2016 , we're talking about 2013 and how joe biden moves going forward and what barack obama is doing. barack obama and his administration are making decision decisions where to put him out there for reasons i'm not talking about 2016 , this will shape the direction of the democratic party the next four years and shape the president's relationship with the vice president. everything comes out of -- the second a lame duck president is elected in 2012 , everybody starts looking at 2016 in washington. this is not a parlor game. this affects what goes on in washington d.c. , what bills are passed, what alliances are made, how the city operates and functions over the next four years.

>> this is why i think we will keep talking about this two years. the administration is invested in having biden still be perceived as a presidential possibility. it gives him more power, allows people to conceive of him as being someone of influence who will matter in a couple years time. as soon as it becomes clear, if it becomes clear joe biden will not be a candidate, he instantly loses that. they're invested in not having this conversation for a year. with respect to joe's first question about hillary in 2006 and circa 2006 we all thought she was this unbeatable giant, i think there's the same probability of us over overemphasizing her strengths here. you get a lot more sympathetic coverage you're secretary of state, you're traveling the world, you don't have to be at the epicenter of hot political debates over health care , deficit reduction and you don't have to take these positions. she's benefitted from that. at the same time, she has an immense amount of experience that makes her an obvious candidate.

>> she was taken down in 2006 and 28th not by a republican but barack obama .

>> there is no barack obama at the moment. let's not make too many assumptions. in 1992 , nobody wanted to run against george bush in the primary because they thought he was unbeatable. i think somebody will take her hon on if she runs. i think the white house and biden has a confluence of interest and the white house doesn't want to see biden lose his stature and biden doesn't want to lose his stature. biden wants to run and make himself presidential.

>> i can't really look forward to 2016 because i can't even look past tomorrow. tomorrow's show, seriously, it is -- i always joke, it's like night of the thousand stars. look at this. willie, look, the mt. rushmore of whatever it is the mt. rushmore of. al gore and bill gates will be on tomorrow. we're looking forward to that. also, coming up today, we're talking to senators john mccain and chuck schumer about their proposals on immigration reform and whether they really think this time is different than last time and former senate majority leader, all around great guy, tom daschle and mike van deltei and bill karins will be here to tell us about their hunting trip.

>>> outbreak and possible tornadoes for arkansas and louisiana and maybe tennessee. let me break it down for you. we're waking up at 5:00 a.m . in oklahoma. thunderstorms erupting to the west side of oklahoma city . chance of tornadoes, damage until about noon today. this is just the beginning of a long 48 hours tracking storms from oklahoma to texas all the way to carolina and georgia this time tomorrow and tomorrow afternoon. this is the setup, incredible. a very late march severe weather . it is 66 degrees, already record high in kansas city to start your morning. 22 in denver. you have the cold air and moisture. the area of red is a concern, talking the state of arkansas towards memphis and northern louisiana. on wednesday, all of these storms continue to push to the east coast . not worried about tornadoes in georgia and carolinas, a lot of damaging wind and trees down on houses and cars and a lot of cleanup by the time we get to thursday. today's forecast, record warmth in the middle of the country and dangerous thunderstorms and possible tornadoes late this afternoon or evening in arkansas . if you have friends in that area, arkansas to memphis, shreveport, make sure they know they're under threat when they go to bed. tornadoes typically turn out to be deadly. you're watching " morning joe " brewed by starbucks. capella