[Camerota:] Ever wondered what kind of emails Jeb Bush ever wondered what kind of emails Jeb Bush wrote when he was governor? You're about to find out. Here to weigh in, CNN political commentator and Republican consultant and Sirius XM host Margaret Hoover, and CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast", John Avlon. Great to see you, guys.
[Margaret Hoover, Cnn Political Commentator:] Good morning.
[Camerota:] OK. So, Jeb Bush just released this compendium of emails that he exchanged while he was governor. Some of them are tedious, presidential notes to staff, but the ones to constituents are a bit entertaining. Jeb Bush loved an emoticon. We've learned. Let me show one example of this from a constituent. They wrote to him, "Politicians make me sick. You make me sick." And he wrote, "I'm truly sorry you feel that way, have a nice day," smiley face. What is the point of this, Margaret?
[Hoover:] Imagine what he does with emojis. I mean, this is all the emojis
[Cuomo:] What if it's not something in this dump? Then, is this move something that winds you up enhancing the negative effect?
[John Avlon, Cnn Political Analyst:] No, no, no. You know, I think the point of the emails is like the emoticon, you're killing them with kindness, journalists and oppo researchers. You're saying, look, there's nothing left to hide. Now, if it's a planking move that's get you. There's nothing you can do about that. But this is really unprecedented. This kind of radical transparency, it's not just every email, but his entire calendar. I mean, that's a radical transparency move. It's because the Bushes have been to this rodeo before and they're anticipating future attacks.
[Hoover:] But it's extraordinary, too, because it shows he doesn't feel like he has anything to hide. He's willing to be an open book.
[Cuomo:] True.
[Hoover:] Not a lot of politicians are. And being and willing to put sort of everything you have out there. I mean, it's funny. What it does, is it gives you a sense of governing, what it's like to sort of be governor. Imagine if other governors just dumped all of their emails and you get a sense of what the day in and day out is like of the daily governance. To the extent that constituents don't even believe they're emailing him. So, if there's nothing critical that comes out, the advantage that it will be viewed in the context of thousands and thousands of other emails and nothing can be blown out of proportion when you have the full context of the governor's communications.
[Camerota:] Yes. I mean, some of it is mundane, but it is interesting to see how much he emailed, he was constantly on that BlackBerry and even responding to constituents, and that does say something about him.
[Avlon:] It does. It's estimated that
[Cuomo:] Do we know that it's him, by the way?
[Avlon:] We do. No, no, I mean, you know, Margaret was reading one of the emails on the way here. And it was actually a constituent asked that question he said, is it staff or Jeb? He said, it's Jeb.
[Cuomo:] Well, there you go. That's it, then.
[Avlon:] Thirty or 40 hours a week he was spending on this and he was an early adapter. I mean, you know, this sort of really being on email, dealing directly with constituents, it speaks to the man and his style of governing in a way that I think also creates a contrast with the other Bushes.
[Camerota:] Margaret, let's talk about what's going on with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Is he experiencing a surge in popularity right now? And if so, what's behind it?
[Hoover:] He is definitively, unquestionably, experiencing a surge in popularity, both in the grassroots and some of the conservative intelligentsia. And what I think is, he provides, at least on paper, before anybody's really lined up and started going a real alternative to Bush fatigue. And
[Camerota:] Just because his name isn't Bush?
[Hoover:] Because his name isn't Bush, and because he actually has a lot of mainstream appeal and access to major donors. The reason he has access to major donors is because he had the good side of having three races in four years. His recall actually allowed him to tap major donors around the country because there are unlimited contributions that are able to participate in that recall election. So, all the major donors in New York and in California, and around the country, started writing him big checks. So, that means he can go longer than all those
[Cuomo:] The other part of Hovalon was making a gas face
[Avlon:] Yes, here's the deal, first of all, you know, I get how a blue state Tea Party governor from the Midwest is doing well in Iowa right now. He's leading in one of the polls that just came off by one point.
[Cuomo:] Fifteen percent they give him.
[Avlon:] That's right. But reality check on this, when the greatest thing you've done as being governor is be so unpopular they want to kick you out midway in your term and survive, that's not a ringing endorsement. The second this, he's had an inflated reputation in Washington for a longtime because the RNC and Reince Priebus and the staffers at the Republican National Committee are all Wisconsinites. And so, he's a hometown hero to them. So, they've been pumping out his name inside the D.C. press corps for a long while now. So, there's a bit of a Walker bubble I think you're seeing as well.
[Camerota:] So, what does it mean for 2016, Margaret?
[Hoover:] Look, I think he and Jeb and Christie are sort of leading the pack and I think you have another tier of candidates that's sort of behind. And, look, we know this is a long race it takes two years to get there and then it is about you know, who can get the most money to get through it. And I think Walker is a contender. I really do think
[Cuomo:] Oh, you're going to have an emphasis on who right now, because you're light on what. You won the election but you won it basically because the Democrats were in disfavor, not because had you some plan you were offering or some rationale and I think that's why you're seeing a difficulty in congressional leadership early on. My question is, so, if you're not going to have the what, then what's the who? If you're not going to have the what and what's the who?
[Hoover:] What do you mean we don't have the what?
[Avalon:] This is like a Dr. Seuss book.
[Cuomo:] No, no, here's why Reaganesque is starting to come up again, right? Look, he may he rest in peace, he was a legend in American politics, but do you think that's the model you want to go if you want to win back the middle class, and you're going to have trickle-down? Trickle-down all of the deficit problems you had under Reagan?
[Hoover:] In the conservative primary, the Republican conservative primary, say Reagan as much as you want. If you want to win a new generation of Americans, the largest the oldest millennials were eight years old when Reagan was president. They don't remember him. If you want to build new coalitions, you want Hispanics, you want women, you want the youth who are going to be more than 25 percent of the electorate, don't do the Reagan thing. Just stop.
[Cuomo:] Then why do you keep saying it?
[Hoover:] What? I don't keep saying it. I think the conservative intelligentsia.
[Cuomo:] You have the elephant right over your shoulder right now. That's the people your party is in.
[Hoover:] He's talking in my ear. Look, it is not the way to win a new coalition to build new coalitions, you can't keep harping back. I agree with you, I think it's nuts. But Republicans can't help themselves. He's the last big successor who built coalitions on the Republican side.
[Camerota:] Margaret, John, great to see you guys.
[Avlon:] You guys, too.
[Camerota:] Thank you so much.
[Cuomo:] I felt like Margaret almost was with me on something there.
[Avlon:] How did it feel?
[Cuomo:] It's very odd. I don't know. I process and I'll get back
[Camerota:] He's disoriented at the moment. Thanks so much, you guys.
[Pereira:] We'll give awe whole commercial break to process that, Chris, OK? "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams now the subject of punch lines. Ahead, we're going to show you "The Daily Show" take on the scandal.