MSNBC’s Alex Witt sits down with the host of Hardball - Chris Matthews

>>> 42 minutes past the hour now. in today's office politics , alex 's conversation with hardball host chris matthews . alex 's take on a potential faceoff between joe biden and hillary clinton for the democratic presidential nomination in 2016 . chris talks like a proud pop about his three kids and first grandchild. alex talked to him about his passion for politics.

>> there's two parts of politics they find great. one is the predictable part of it. that's what i write rules about. there seems to be the politicians always get in trouble for the same things. for getting the people at home. getting too washington, getting too high hat . when they do get in trouble. the left and the right fights are predictable. incumbency is always a tricky thing. then there's the phenomenal. black president . because this one guy could do it. i don't think many other people could have done it. so we in the political commentary didn't think up barack obama . he came to us. i remember saying when i first saw him, just saw your first black president right there. it didn't take much of a genius to figure that out. you saw him and heard him. the immigrant story because of his father being from another part of the world. the phenomenon of reagan, another guy that came out of nowhere, who was laughed at. and did work his way up through the system. the mondales and the doles are never going to be that exciting. even the mccains. the exciting politicians are the ones that come out of nowhere and excite the country. and i think obama and reagan are that way. who would have thought that joe biden could have marshalled a presidential campaign ? he's doing it right as we speak. he looked very good yesterday. he's likable. if ""saturday night live"" doesn't destroy him, which they might because they did it to jerry ford , he could make it. in fact, hillary must be thinking -- secretary clinton must be thinking i got to fight joe. they'll be really hating me because everybody likes him. that fight coming. once you announce you're going to do something you can't bow out. it's pride. what would be his reason for bowing out? she's better than him? you think he's going to admit that?

>> no.

>> why should he? who says he is? the hillary people will. each one has a president behind them.

>> ah.

>> bill clinton wants this probably more than anybody on the planet, more than joe biden or anybody else wants it. because it's his resurrection. it says everything that happened to him in 1998 was wrong. he was wronged. and he came back and the public brought him back to prove to the republicans that he was wronged. do you understand? this is very important. bill clinton -- otherwise if he doesn't get his wife re-elected bill clinton will go down as a guy that was basically impeached and ended with a tainted record. but it's really going to be up to her. she's a brilliantly talented person. she's going to decide. she's talk about phenomenons.

>> i have to ask you about being a new grandfather.

>> you can tell my son's a great father. i can tell the way he holds the baby.

>> where do you think he got that from?

>> i don't think i was as good. i think he's great. he holds the baby like this and the baby just lies there like this strong arm.

>> michael just went out to sundance for the festival.

>> that's his world. we're very proud of him.

>> as well you should be.

>> that's what he does.

>> what about your actor son? how great he's on the news room.

>> he has a part that appears every week. he's always on the set. and he's working on getting more lines. doing what he can. he looks great. he looks like a movie star .

>> what about your daughter? she's heading out to san francisco .

>> she's in san francisco as a google person. and she worked her way up through the -- worked in the boston office. it's almost like getting a rhodes scholarship working for google. she talks about the sales she pulls off and cold calling and millions of dollars of business. i said how do you make these sales? she says i just act like i've will ever made the close. i said i don't know how to do that.