9:50 a.m. E.T.

Me on “Morning Joe,” explaining the litmus test for all potential GOP ’16 hopefuls:

You talk to Republicans about ’16, and obviously people are already talking about it. On the broadcast of record, “Way Too Early,” you were talking about Hillary Clinton. For a lot of Republicans, now, what people are auditioning for is can you beat Hillary Clinton? If you don’t have the premise of beating her, the stature to beat her, the fundraising to beat her, Republicans say, “No need to apply,” because that is, right now, the prism they’re looking at.

Watch the video above.