Mark Murray writes up the new NBC/Marist poll and leads with how, in Iowa and New Hampshire, Chris Christie has higher negatives among Republican voters than any other possible candidate. One-third of Iowans dislike him, as do close to one-third of New Hampshire Republicans. It's honestly not that bad for Christie, who's seven months on from the bridge scandal and only now clawing back to his old media profile. And the Christie path to a New Hampshire win always involved votes from independents and Democrats, who can cross over (there won't be much of a Democratic primary) as they did for John McCain in 2000 and 2008.

So, no crisis yet. Funny word, "crisis"—the most interesting part of this story is that the Judicial Crisis Network is already running (as of this week) 15-second ads warning Iowans that Christie has been unreliable when it comes to appointing conservative judges.

Remember that in Iowa, "rogue liberal judges" galvanize the Republican base. In 2010, in a delayed reaction to the court's legalization of gay marriage, three liberal judges were defeated after a campaign led by social conservatives.