Hillary Clinton running for president in 2016?

>>> i would love to see a secretary clinton become the nominee for president in 2016 . i do think, though, that the secretary should entertain the thought of running in 2016 . hasn't she been a magnificent secretary?

>> that was nancy pelosi in april hoping for a hillary clinton run for the presidency in 2016 . pelosi echoed those sentiments during a recent interview with the san francisco chronicle saying, why wouldn't she run? she's a magnificent secretary of state. she's our shot. former pennsylvania governor ed rendell is also pushing for hillary clinton to run for president again, revealing in his new book that he has even offered to manage her campaign for free. rendell wrote, she is bone tired. still, i believe, when she gets some rest and has a chance to reflect on what she wants, the challenges facing the country will be too great for her to resist, and she will change her mind. for her part, secretary clinton maintains she has no sfwoeintent to run again.

>> i'm very flattered, but i feel it's time for he to step off the high wire . i've been involved in american politics for 20 years now.

>> joining me now, johnathan capehart and karen finney . karen , i listened very carefully to what secretary clinton just said, and i did not hear her say, i will not run for president.

>> oh, my -- can i tell you, every day she ran for senate campai campaign, she got asked, are you going to run for president? she said, why are people asking me this question? maybe i should tell her she has to be more definitive. i'm of the mind she doesn't have that answer at this point. i genuinely believe she's exhausted and wants to, you know -- lord knows she has earned a rest. take a rest. i think from there figure out what she wants to do. most of us really want for her is for her to get to pick, what does he want to do for once?

>> let's listen to bill clinton help build hillary fever.

>> she's being absolutely honest with you when she says she doesn't think she'll go back into politics. whether she does or not, who knows what will happen. but if she comes home and we do this foundation stuff the rest of our lives, i'll be happy. if she changes her mind and decides to run, i'll be happy.

>> johnathan , if he decides to run, he'll be happy. big surprise.

>> he's being a supportive husband. what else do you want him to say? it's the right thing for him to say. but, you know, i agree with my darling wife karen finney when she says that, you know, secretary clinton is tired. folks want her to be able to, as she says, get off the high wire she's been on for the last 20 years and to rest and do what she wants to do. in an interview she did last year, maybe a year and a half ago, she talked about how she looked forward to being a grandmother and tending to her family and, you know, just taking some time off. also, if she were to run in 2016 , she's not going to have that much time off. the way the modern political cycle is, she'll be back into the game by 2014 , at the latest.

>> i was going to say, you mean march of 2013 . are you kidding me?

>> a year. this is one of those stories of a few that drive me absolutely nuts. secretary clinton says she doesn't want -- she wants out. she wants to rest. can't we just let her have that and let all the people who say they want her to run, fine, you say that, that's great. but take the secretary at her word that shewants out. i believe she wants out.

>> she has never said she wants out of presidential campaign politics. she's been very careful not to.

>> she said off the high wire .

>> let me tell you, to her insiders and to her fundraisers who are close to her, at least one of them has told me he's absolutely convinced she's going to run. that she's absolutely locking it in now. but it's going to be an amazing field if hillary 's in it. he's going to be going against her governor in new york , andrew cuomo , who's moving toward it. martin o'malley, strong governor in maryland . and we have joe biden , who would be 74, still not saying i'm not going to run. and you know, i previously had ruled out both hillary , who would be 69, and biden as being too old. now i no longer think they've hit an age barrier for running for president.

>> john mccain showed there's no age barrier, right, for running for president.

>> and reagan.

>> exactly. i have to say, though, for my own conversations with hillary , and chelsea's going to kill me for saying this, she really does want to be a grandmother. no pressure.

>> it's legal to be a grandmother and run for president. that's possible.

>> that's true, but if you want to be the kind of grandmother who gets to spend a lot of time with her grandchild, that's a little tough when you're running the country. let's be honest, even if it we get four more years of president obama , we're still going to have a lot of work to keep this country on the right track.

>> johnathan , what about the age issue for joe biden and for hillary clinton ? not factoring in whether they're going to run or not. have we moved into a zone where we have a higher age limitation than we used to have on this?

>> i think so. one, because folks are living longer. the people who are going to vote for them are going to look at them and say, they're young or they're right around my age or they're slightly older than i want. also, i think as we get further down in presidential election years, and if we don't dig out of the problems that we have by 2016 , the american people aren't going to be looking at age. they're not going to be looking at any other factors expect for competence and what ideas will those candidates bring to the table to change things, to make things better in this country, assuming things aren't where folks want them to be by '16 or '20.

>> i also think, lawrence, part of the fascination with this is -- i mean, it 's wonderful having president obama . it's inspiring having an african-american. a lot of us really still want to see a woman president. i think that's part of why hillary comes up so much in the conversation. there are other women in democratic politics who, i think -- you know, senator jill would make a fantastic president.

>> she already said she's going to urge hillary to run.

>> i know she will. there are a lot of wonderful, talented women coming up. but my point is that i think there really is still a desire to have a strong woman candidate. we really didn't get that fix from sarah palin as the vice presidential nominee . i think that's part of why hillary still comes up.

>> johnathan , andrew cuomo in new york has pushed through kind of bravely, politically pushed through marriage equality in new york . he achieved that. he's now looking at marijuana laws and saying we got to reduce the penalties on that and decriminalize this population of kids that have been getting dragged into the criminal system because of possession of small amounts of marijuana. i mean, andrew cuomo in addition to many other things, he's been making every right move to position himself for that nomination.

>> well, sure. he's been taking leadership positions. the marriage equality position he took is really extord their. keep in mind, he did that, personally separated that bill through to passage six months into his first term as governor of new york . something that lots of people thought was politically risky. he provided the way for governor o'malley of maryland and dare say president obama in terms of getting to yes on marriage equality . now what you're going to see, assuming that maryland 's marriage equality law does go through in january, we very well might see two leading contenders for the democratic nomination, one of whom could become the nominee, and either one who gets it is someone for same-sex marriage. i think the days of a major political candidate, particularly in the democratic party running, who's not in favor of marriage equality is over.

>> you're right.

>> karen finney and johnathan cape part. i'm placing my bet. hillary is going to run.

>> thanks, lawrence.

>>> coming up, alex castellanos is in the rewrite tonight. not for interrupting rachel on "meet the press." rachel did a fine job of handling herself on that. alex castellanos was back on "meet the press" this weekend. he said some really nutty things about president obama and bill clinton . that's what has him in the rewrite tonight.

>>> later, new york state is making a big move toward decriminalizing marijuana. that's coming up.