Fox News will soon announce that Karl Rove has signed a multi-year deal to remain an on-air analyst through the 2016 election, Politico reports.

“The contract assures the ratings-leader cable news network that it will retain one of its most popular commentators, and someone whose views continually make news, especially in the heat of a campaign.”

RNC Chairman Reince Preibus told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel over the weekend that he thinks Wisconsin and other battleground states “should change the way they allocate their Electoral College votes, but he said he is not inserting himself into how states decide to proceed.”

The Fix: “Basically, Republicans who have control of states that went for President Obama in the 2012 election are pushing for their states to change how they award electoral votes. While almost every state awards electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis, Republicans want these states to instead award one vote to the winner of each congressional district.”

“The new system would allow Republicans to consistently win electoral
votes (and quite possibly a majority of electoral votes) from states
like Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Virginia, regardless of
whether they win the statewide vote. All five of these states went for Obama in 2012.”

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told the Wisconsin State Journal that he hasn’t ruled out running for president in 2016.

But he added, “I’ve decided not to decide.”

“For now, Ryan said he and his family are enjoying settling back down in his hometown, Janesville, after traveling around the country last year while he was the Republican vice presidential hopeful and running mate to Mitt Romney.”

Ezra Klein: “In the continuing drama that is the Obama presidency, Biden often appears as comic relief… Yet just a few days before he was giving dating advice on C-SPAN2, Biden again proved himself perhaps the most effective member of the Obama administration. He reprised his role as the White House closer, the guy who can cut a deal with the Republicans after everyone else has failed. In the end, Biden got Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to strike a deal that the White House was happy with. That’s something neither Obama nor Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had achieved. And it wasn’t the first time. Biden also helped close the 2011 deal that lifted the debt ceiling and the 2010 deal that extended the Bush tax cuts in return for fresh stimulus.”

“Biden’s skills as a campaigner are also considerable. According to Nielsen, his speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention won better television ratings than the addresses of either Bill Clinton or Obama (or Republicans Mitt Romney and Representative Paul Ryan, for that matter). His debate performance against Ryan bucked up anxious Democrats and arguably stanched the bleeding from Obama’s hapless initial appearance against Romney.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), “who spent his first two years in office establishing himself as a fiscal conservative, turned left in his third annual address to the Legislature, and sought to reclaim the state’s progressive mantle,” the New York Times reports.

Cuomo “had two emotional fulcrums in his sprawling 78-minute address: gun violence and Hurricane Sandy. But most of the speech was devoted to an onslaught of proposals favored by the left wing of his party.”

National Journal: “Cuomo’s aggressive advocacy for some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation is already heightening speculation that he’s seriously thinking about a presidential campaign in 2016.”

Nate Cohn: “The Republicans could nominate a unifying candidate in the 2016 primaries–you never know–but a contested primary would probably break along geographic lines. In retrospect, the 2012 primary might have been a sneak preview. Even though Romney possessed vastly superior resources and acceded to every substantive demand of the right, the GOP primary electorate divided neatly between north and south. Southerners concerned with nominating an authentic conservative never embraced Romney: Despite the help of a divided field, Romney only broke 31 percent of the vote in one southern state, Florida. Geographic polarization ensured that the 2012 Republican presidential primary lasted until April. The fiscal cliff vote shows that such polarization is becoming the rule rather than the exception. If a blue-state Republican secures the GOP presidential nomination thanks to winner-take-all contests in blue states like New Jersey and California, Krauthammer might actually get his civil war.”

Harper Polling takes an early look at 2016 GOP presidential contenders and finds Republican primary voters back Marco Rubio with 34%, followed by Chris Christie at 18%, Condi Rice at 14%, Rand Paul at 8%, Allen West at 5% and Scott Brown at 3%.

Most interesting is that the Tea Party is the foundation of Rubio’s support with 43% who identify as tea partiers backing the Florida senator.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) told NJPAC that he will be ready if he decides to run for president in 2016.

Said Christie: “I wasn’t ready to run for President this time. If it comes, I know that I will be more ready for it than I would have been this year.”

Jon Huntsman suggests to the Ripon Forum that he’s open to another presidential bid.

Said Huntsman: “My gut is telling me you’ve got to clear out all the cobwebs in your head before you even think about anything of that kind. But I will tell you this — I’m committed to serving my country. That’s been my life from the very beginning,”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told NBC News she wants Hillary Clinton to make another bid for the White House in 2016.

Said Pelosi: “Wouldn’t that be exciting? I hope she goes. Why wouldn’t she? She would be president of the United States, and she would be great. And if she decided to run, and I think she would win, she would go into the White House as well prepared or better prepared than almost anybody who has served in that office in a very long time.”

“It was an extraordinary experience — I mean, one that I wouldn’t trade. And looking back on it… I would do it again.”

— Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), quoted by NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, on running for president.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) writes in the Wall Street Journal that birth control should be sold without prescription.

“As a conservative Republican, I believe that we have been stupid to let the Democrats demagogue the contraceptives issue and pretend, during debates about health-care insurance, that Republicans are somehow against birth control. It’s a disingenuous political argument they make. As an unapologetic pro-life Republican, I also believe that every adult (18 years old and over) who wants contraception should be able to purchase it.”

Walter Shapiro: “Sure, Clinton may take two months or so off, interspersed with such restful tasks as house-hunting (the Clintons are said to be tempted by the Hamptons), hiring a staff, talking to a lecture agent, contemplating a book and presumably chatting with the most persistent political callers. If she does manage to sneak off on a vacation (Iowa is always lovely in March), rest assured that the paparazzi and the political press will be close behind.”

“Try as she might, Clinton will find it difficult, if not impossible, to avoid being entangled in a web of obligation. Legions of friends (and, unlike the norm in politics, her longstanding friendships appear genuine) will ask her for time-consuming favors that cannot all be rejected. The do-gooder side of her nature will propel her into too many events and trips for worthy causes. And, as a Clinton, she knows all too well how easily political supporters bristle when their egos are not being stroked.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) told ABC News that even though he is “more than a little” overweight, it’s “ridiculous” to think that he is too heavy to be president of the United States.

Said Christie: “I’ve done this job pretty well. I think people watched me for the last number of weeks during Hurricane Sandy doing 18-hour days and getting back up the next day and still being just as effective in the job, so i don’t think that will be a problem.”

“I really don’t believe that’s something I will do again.”

— Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview with ABC News, once again downplaying speculation that she’ll run for president in 2016.

Nate Silver sees Hillary Clinton’s high favorability numbers falling if she moves to run for president in 2016 because Republicans “would begin to criticize her, delicately at first, and then more expressly as the election drew nearer.”

“None of this is to argue that Mrs. Clinton would not have some unique strengths as a candidate. For all the reasons I mentioned at the top, she seems like Democrats’ best bet, perhaps by some margin, to extend their winning streak to three or more terms in the White House. If she ran even a point or two stronger than a ‘generic’ Democrat, the odds would shift meaningfully in her favor, holding other circumstances equal.”

“Perhaps Mrs. Clinton’s most impressive attribute is her ability to withstand criticism — and often emerge the stronger from it. If she runs for president again, she will surely receive plenty of it.”

The Week: Why Republicans are really scared of Hillary Clinton.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) refused to get pinned down on whether he would endorse Hillary Clinton if she runs for president in 2016, Politicker reports.

Said Cuomo: “There’s a long way away. We just elected a president… There’s no doubt that she’s incredibly popular, she’s got incredible support….She’s going to have to make her decision.”

Texas Sen.-elect Ted Cruz (R-TX) advised the Republican Party to rebrand itself under a banner of “Opportunity Conservatism” during a sweeping speech that will only stoke speculation about a 2016 presidential run, Politico reports.

Said Cruz: “Why did we lose? It wasn’t as the media would tell you: because the American people embraced big government, Barack Obama’s spending and debt and taxes… That wasn’t what happened. I’m going to suggest to you a very simple reason why we lost the election: We didn’t win the argument. We didn’t even make the argument.”

First Read: “We’ve seen plenty of new senators come in with plenty of hype and
attention (Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Marco Rubio), but those worked
hard to keep expectations down. This is something else entirely.”