'Brain Trust' panel makes picks for 2016

>>> i'm back now with the brain trust panel. ari melber, an msnbc contributor and correspondent for the nation, perry bacon, political editor for the grio, and an msnbc contributor, and peter suderman of reason magazine . thanks for coming back, guys. this week bobby jindal was one of the first republicans to call out mitt romney for comments where he essentially said the voters allowed themselves to be bribed by democrats. watch.

>> we need to stop being the dumb party. well need to offer smart, conservative, intelligent ideas and policies. that's how we win elections. we don't win elections by insulting voters.

>> and next up, new jersey governor chris christie . let's take a look at what he had to say.

>> do you agree with bobby jinds dall, it was a terrible thing to say and it was said terribly?

>> sure. you can't expect to be the leader of all the people and be divisive, okay. you have to talk about themes, policies that unite people. and play to their aspirations and their goals and their hopes for their family and their neighbors. and i always a think this kind of scapegoating after elections. when you lose, you lost. why did mitt romney lose? because he got less votes than barack obama . that's why.

>> okay, so that's jindal , christie for 2016 . perry , who else is possibly on this list?

>> i think -- it's my firm belief that the republican ticket will have a minority or a woman on the ticket no matter what in 2016 . i think you saw susannah martinez criticize the new mexico governor you. saw jindal . you have seen marco rubio in iowa today as well. i think this is a great move by jindal to get himself in the front of the line to be the first one saying this party needs to expand, and i'm the person to help do that. he was very aggressive and sort of set the bar for republicans in terms of criticizing the remark.

>> and as perry mentioned, marco rubio is already in iowa. it possible we're seeing potential candidates launching a four-year campaign?

>> i don't know. i don't think we have to read too much into it. we don't know who is going to run in the next election or the election after. we don't know 2016 . we don't know 2020 . if we spend too much time worrying about it, we're going to be reading the tea levels of people's travel schedules. we can look to issues, though. and i think the issue that is going to animate the republican party going into 2016 will be both immigration and populism. what does it mean to have an inclusive country and a path to residency and citizenship, even if you hold more conservative views about how to get it done or how to regulate it. and then number two, what does it mean to be populist when we have long-term unemployment, no matter what this congress does, no matter what the president does, we are in a new normal where we have a terrible ongoing jobs crisis. so the question for both parties isn't for starters who do you love? a lot of people love barack obama right now. but he is going to finish his term. a lot of people are loving certain guys, gals and gals wuys who might run. what are the ideas that are going to empower populism. i think a big one is reforming the tax code so it's less tilted towards millionaires.

>> peter, the last word on this. another possible 2016 candidate is hillary clinton . she is headed to capitol hill for benghazi hearing. is this the kind of attention she wants right now?

>> i think -- hillary clinton is probably looking to avoid controversy at this point. but, you know, she is secretary of state. this is the job she has to do. personnel is policy. and with these folks, you know, you get to see what the administration has to offer. and it's right now it's hillary clinton .

>> all right. perfect timing. ari, perry , peter, can't say that too fast. thank you, guys for your time this afternoon. that will do it for me, i'm mara schiavocampo. we'll keep you updated throughout the evening on the developing situation