Rubio, Christie to gather with potential GOP '16 hopefuls

>> that's a quick look at the papers. time now for "politico."

>> the chief white house correspondent for "politico" is mike allen with a look at the "playbook."

>> good morning, guys.

>> you're writing about the invisible primary. this weekend five of the biggest names people looking at for 2016 on the republican side will all be in one place down in florida. jeb bush , marco rubio , senator ted cruz , governor scott walker , and governor chris christie . what do we see here? what do we read into it?

>> well, governor christie may not have gotten his invitation to the conservative political action conference the following week, but as you say, he's going to be among those down in coral gables this weekend. it's remarkable. they've gotten all the top tier together except maybe paul ryan and bobby jindal of louisiana. but most of the names are all coming together. and this is a chance for the biggest donors to both see all these acts, but it's designed to show she's donors, hey, the party has a brighter future, still licking your wounds from november, reminds of some of it by the governor and ann romney over the weekend. but we have these young faces coming up that give the party hope and hope that donors keep opening their checkbooks.

>> by the way, we'll have jeb bush on " morning joe " tomorrow.

>> oh, that's big, man. that's huge-.

>> nicolle, when you look at those five names and perhaps a couple of others, as in touch as you are with republicans --

>> she's locked in.

>> -- who are they most excited about in a fantasy draft? who's the candidate they'd go with?

>> joe.

>> exactly. me. come on. this is easy.

>> people are excited about the promise of scott walker and marco rubio . people are always excited and animated by the articulate way that jeb bush can defend policies like immigration reform which certainly this is the wave taking over the country. to be on any other side of that is not just bad politics but bad reading of the tea leaves of where the country's going. the thing about this group is that i think that there's very little known -- i think people are disoriented about which one of them is actually going to have the fire in the belly and want to jump in and run. so i think this meeting -- i'll be curious --

>> does jeb have the fire in his belly?

>> i think he has the fire in the belly for the policy and governing, but i don't know if he has an appetite for a presidential campaign. i don't know.

>> mike, let me ask you quickly, one other story you guys are talking about, ashley judd in kentucky . you ran some quotes. may not help her a whole lot in the general election in comparing mining that's done in kentucky to i think rewandan genocide. i'm not really good with the nuances of kentucky politics, so i don't know how this plays with swing voters in the hill, as she says. i think she said some things about that as well. how much of a problem is this going to be for ashley judd ?

>> well, great hope for mitch mcconnell who is the top senate republican leader . democrats would love to take him out, but he's got $7 million in the bank. the 71-year-old is wily. and republican groups already running ads with some of the quotes you were talking about. also even though she was born in kentucky , lives in tennessee. quotes of her talking about san francisco as her home. tennessee as her home. she'd have to re-establish residency. so already they're trying to paint the idea of her as a crazy liberal, even before she talks about running.

>> i think privately there are people inside team mcconnell praying every night that she will run for senate.

>> please, god.

>> i've heard that bible studies in that office have picked up 75%. and number one on the prayer list, ashley judd .

>> stop.

>> you know, her own grandmother called her, quote, just another hollywood liberal. true story .

>> thanks, grandma.

>> my mother says that about me. i'm not going to judge. i'm not going to judge what her grandmother says. she may. and by the way, if she wants to, god bless her. i mean, i'm dead serious. you know, anybody that wants to get into politics --

>> especially women. and if it wasn't in a state like kentucky , i don't think we'd be laughing about her prospects.

>> what's next, willie?

>> we're certainly not making fun of her decision to want to run. i think that actually says something. she could do a lot of other things.

>> mike allen with a look at the "playbook." thanks.

>> have a great week.