Boehner’s Plan B unravels

>> republicans were visibly upset by last night's maneuvering and expressed both sadness and frustration on behalf of speaker john boehner . let's bring in nbc's senior political editor mark murray for our first read on politics. mark, we talked about, with kelly, and with peter, sort of the policy implication. let's talk about the political implications here. john boehner put himself out there. on wednesday he said, in a press, short press conference, he said, we are going to pass this and it is going to be in the presence. not only did they not pass it, it didn't even come for a vote. the speaker vote on whether john boehner remains speaker is january 3rd . should he worry about his chances there?

>> there are a lot of moving parts on whether or not he is going to hold his speakership. two things ended up happening last night. one house republicans lost a lot of leverage in this debate. they didn't have a whole lot going into it but they lost whatever they had. now if there is going to be any kind of deal either now or after december 31st , it's going to be done with a substantial of house democrats and that really takes away a lot of the bargaining chips that house republicans played. but the bigger result of last night was a loss of republican leadership. that goes straight to exactly the question on john boehner . and there is maybe the question that can anyone end up leading the republican party right now, the house republicans? however, the fact that you couldn't get republicans to line up for this leaves the question, what can they end up voting for? and that is the really big takeaway from last night.

>> you know, what is clear, you're exactly right. he wanted this. he made clear it was personal and important for him politically to be able to cut some kind of deal and have some kind of leverage with president obama and he still didn't get it.

>> and, chris, it was over a tactic or a pr move just to gain leverage.

>> right.

>> this was not a health care law of 2010 .

>> right. right. i want to talk about, because it is -- in the midst of that remarkable story unfolding, two other interesting things happened in politics yesterday. we have a potential return of former south carolina governor mark sanford to politics and we waited for a long time to say what he is doing, the mayor of newark, telling us what he is doing. give us a quick update on both.

>> mark sanford is planning to run for tim scott 's house seat that has now been vacated which would one make a possible political comeback for mark sanford which would be unbelievable. it is also just adding more that south carolina is the best state for american politics going on in the country right now. the other news --

>> just quickly to note this is the seat he held.

>> correct.

>> before he became governor and before everything happened. so he does have a base in the seat. i don't know if people will still vote for him.

>> it's a crowded primary too. the other news as you mentioned cory booker released a video yesterday. one touting all his accomplishments as newark mayor. but, two, essentially ruling out that he would run for new jersey governor, but three opening up the possibility he could run for new jersey senator in 2014 . the problem is frank lautenberg who currently holds the seat has not retired yet.

>> there is a democrat sitting there.

>> yesterday frank lautenberg 's office released a hot statement saying frank lautenberg is focused on big things . the tragedy in connecticut, gun safety , the hurricane sandy that he is focused on. he is not worried about politics. if you read that statement it was kind of a slap to cory booker . don't think about politics right now.

>> no question. mark murray , thank you.