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The list of official and likely candidates for president in 2016 includes some prominent Republicans who are currently governors. Three of them — Scott Walker, Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal — all tout executive experience as qualification for the White House. They also share something else — slumping poll numbers back home.

They've been working to make themselves familiar and friendly faces to the party faithful in early voting states, including at a big event hosted last week by the New Hampshire GOP.

Jindal, the sitting governor of Louisiana, was there. Also, Wisconsin's Scott Walker, greeting the audience in Nashua with some regular-guy, Midwestern small talk.

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Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Summit in New Hampshire. Darren McCollester/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Summit in New Hampshire.

Darren McCollester/Getty Images

"We're honored to be back here, New Hampshire," he said. "I wore a suit tonight. I didn't wear a $1 sweater like I did last time from Kohl's. Although I think this shirt is from Kohl's."

Kohl's, of course, is a reference to the Wisconsin-based department store.

And there's New Jersey's Chris Christie, who mentioned a text he'd just gotten from his 14-year-old son.

"He's at school, and he said to me 'where are you?' And i said 'I'm on my way to New Hampshire.' And he's a bit of a wise guy — I don't know where that comes from — and he said 'your new home state,'" Christie said to laughs.

It's all part of the "getting to know you" phase of an early presidential campaign. And for a sitting governor, it's a time to tell the world — especially voters in New Hampshire and Iowa — just what you've accomplished back home.

That's something Walker tried to do: "We took $3.6 billion budget deficit and turned it into a surplus. In fact we've done it in each of the last four years," he said.

But as these three governors eye the White House, each is also dealing with low public approval at home.

Walker has long been a polarizing figure due to his epic battles with public employee unions. But a new poll this week shows a new and sizable drop in his approval rating. Charles Franklin of Marquette University noted that Walker has shifted his rhetoric to the right on issues including immigration and abortion. That has likely fueled some of the drop. And, Franklin said, being out of the state so much doesn't help.

"He has had a style in which he governs by traveling around the state in presenting his case. Three, four, five events a day around the state arguing for his positions," Franklin said. "Now he isn't able to do as many of those."

Christie's popularity in New Jersey reached an all-time low this week. There was the so-called "bridgegate" scandal early last year, but more recently there's deep discontent over his handling of the economy and changes to retirement benefits for state workers.

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"I didn't run for governor of New Jersey to be elected prom king," Christie said recently. "I'm not looking to be the most popular guy in the world, I'm looking to be the most respected one." Darren McCollester/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Darren McCollester/Getty Images

"I didn't run for governor of New Jersey to be elected prom king," Christie said recently. "I'm not looking to be the most popular guy in the world, I'm looking to be the most respected one."

Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Jindal's approval is very low as well — fueled by his handling of the budget and education, among other things.

Governing is messy. And it's something a candidate not currently running a state doesn't have to worry about.

But political strategists like Rich Galen say that falling support at home — as long as it doesn't become a huge story on a hot button issue nationally — is not likely to have much impact on the presidential contest "as long as the dip is manageable."

"As long as the candidate doesn't feel that he or she has to race home to fix it. Then it's something that you let slide by and hope for the best as you move down the field," he said.

Now, there are other sitting governors who could still jump into the race. Like, say, say Ohio's John Kasich whose ratings have held up pretty well, so far.

But others wear their low approval ratings like a badge of honor. A sign of toughness. As Christie put it last weekend — he's not looking to be elected prom king.

If you're into "slow food" — the ethical response to "fast food" — you probably want to know how the animals were treated or whether pesticides were used on your vegetables. Now, the "slow fashion" movement is in the same spirit.

"It's about understanding the process or the origins of how things are made," says Soraya Darabi, co-founder of the clothing line Zady. "Where our products come from, how they're constructed and by whom. Slow fashion is really indicative of a movement of people who want to literally slow down."

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This idea of slow fashion has been around for a long time. But over the last two years it has surged into a small-but-dedicated movement, partly inspired by the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh. In 2013 some 2,000 people were making clothes — mostly for large, western brands — when the building they were working in collapsed. More than 1,100 people were killed.

Pietra Rivoli, a professor at Georgetown University, says tragedies like the one in Bangladesh are a result of fast fashion: Consumers in the West buying lots of cheap clothes that are made in countries with little or no oversight of fire safety and fair labor.

"We talk about a race to the bottom in apparel production with production chasing the lowest costs," Rivoli says. "I think the bottom right now is in Bangladesh."

Rivoli is the author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. She traced the origins of a T-shirt from Walgreens that cost $5.99.

PLANET MONEY MAKES A T-SHIRT: The world behind a simple shirt, in five chapters NPR hide caption

itoggle caption NPR

"A lot of times there are demand surges from the West," Rivoli explains. "You know, 'We need more of those pink T-shirts by next week,' and these brands had never really thought about the fact that they might need to be monitoring for actual structural integrity of the buildings. That wasn't something that was really on their radar screen."

Supply chain integrity is important to Soraya Darabi and Maxine Bdat, the co-founders of Zady. They've come out with a new T-shirt that's an example of "slow fashion." It was made entirely in the U.S. by companies that Bdat says try to be eco- and labor-friendly. The cotton is grown by the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative.

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Worker-owner Alfonso Gonzalez pieces together Zady's T-shirts at the Opportunity Threads cooperative in Morganton, N.C. Zady hide caption

itoggle caption Zady

Worker-owner Alfonso Gonzalez pieces together Zady's T-shirts at the Opportunity Threads cooperative in Morganton, N.C.

Zady

"The fact that it's USDA. Organic is very meaningful to us because what that means is there is a government representative that's actually visiting these farms on an annual basis and they're checking to make sure these organic standards are being met," Bdat says.

Then the cotton goes to North Carolina where it's spun by a multi-generational family cooperative. "The actual sewers own part of the company," Bdat explains.

The T-shirts are also dyed in North Carolina by TS Designs.

"What we're doing is piecing together what is left of an industry that has totally been decimated," Bdat says.

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Zady's "slow fashion" T-shirt costs $36. Zady hide caption

itoggle caption Zady

Zady's "slow fashion" T-shirt costs $36.

Zady

Zady's T-shirt costs $36.

"It is a little bit of an upfront investment, but it's also, we believe, the way of the future — to own fewer but better things," says Darabi.

Like the Zady founders, Linda Greer likes the idea of slow fashion, but her definition is different. Greer is a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It's intentional manufacturing with 'mindfulness' — to use current terms," she says.

Greer thinks the slow fashion movement should hold large retailers accountable for its manufacturing abroad. The NRDC. has a program called Clean by Design which works with retailers and designers to "green the fashion supply chain."

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For some shoppers, like Angelique Noire (left) and Jenny Rieu, "ethical fashion" means lining up for a massive vintage clothing sale. Nina Gregory/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Nina Gregory/NPR

For some shoppers, like Angelique Noire (left) and Jenny Rieu, "ethical fashion" means lining up for a massive vintage clothing sale.

Nina Gregory/NPR

Greer says 33 textile mills in China have adopted efficiency standards that have reduced pollution. These are mills that make clothes for Target, H&M and The Gap among others. But she says the apparel industry still has a very long way to go.

"The conundrum consumers face into trying to know where their clothing comes from is that even companies don't know where that clothing has come from," Greer says.

On a recent weekend, a huge line snaked around the Goodwill in Los Angeles for a massive vintage clothing sale. For these consumers slow fashion is recycling hats, dresses and purses that have some history.

"It was owned by someone living somewhere at some point and it already had a life and I'm here to give it maybe a second or third life," says shopper Jenny Rieu. Her Goodwill finds are unique and cheaper — not to mention friendlier to the environment.

Read an excerpt of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

Passwords get hacked — a lot. In an effort to move beyond passwords, big companies are embracing biometric technology: the use of fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition for user identification.

To heighten security, smartphones are being outfitted with biometric features. But, ditching passwords for biometrics may not make the hackers go away.

Selfie Security

At a big security conference called RSA, thousands of people gather in San Francisco's Moscone Center, selling products to make life online more secure.

Conor White, an executive at a biometrics company called Daon, begins to demonstrate how he logs into his bank account.

"I've just launched our mobile app and you can see here, I'm straight into the app," he says. "Watch how it authenticates me."

He doesn't type in a password. He holds his iPhone up to his face, like he's going to take a selfie.

He blinks — on purpose. What follows is a camera click sound.

USAA uses biometrics to authenticate its account holders. Courtesy of USAA hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of USAA

"I blink because photographs don't blink," White says. "It's a basic test to make sure it's not someone holding up a photograph of me on the Internet."

And if selfie security doesn't work — say you're in a dark room — you can use your fingerprint instead, or your voice. White reads this sentence to get into the app: "My identity is secure because my voice is my passport."

His company recently landed a big contract with USAA to do biometric identification for the financial services firm's account holders. White says bankers are calling him regularly now because the old system has failed.

Biometrics are a great alternative, he says, because they're super-personal.

"I wear my face every day," White says. It's the only face I have. As they say, a face only my mother could love."

And if it feels too personal, don't do it, he says.

"At the end of the day, it's down to choice," White says. "If people feel uncomfortable, they don't have to do it. They can continue to go with the password-based model. They may not get the level of service that they want, but it's their choice."

A Race To Patent

It's a choice for now. But given the pace at which companies are putting biometrics into their hardware, it could become the new normal soon.

Patent attorney Yuri Eliezer, with the firm SmartUp, says a decade ago, there were just 46 patent applications for biometrics. Last year, he counted at least 567.

"It's a definitely a growing number and we anticipate that's going to continue to grow," he says.

Apple, Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Intel are all filing. Eliezer says biometrics is part of the blueprint for the newest lines of smartphones and fitness trackers.

"This is something we're always holding in our hand or having in our pockets, always so close to our bodies," he says. "And now, the fact that we could integrate these sensing devices into our mobile devices, it makes it all the more useful to aggregate and collect data on us."

It could provide something useful, too.

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According to patent filings: Apple wants to use biometrics to lock and unlock messages [keep that text for your irises only]; Microsoft is interested in entertainment value, and is working on a device that monitors your heart rate or blood oxygen levels — maybe to adjust the music while you play Xbox.

"If your heart rate's increasing, the music might speed up or slow down based on the environment the gaming providers are trying to create," Eliezer says.

Increasing Risk

The biometric boom raises some well-known privacy concerns. It also raises some less-known security concerns.

David Cowan with Bessemer Venture Partners is an investor. He's put over $100 million into digital security companies, but he refuses to invest in biometrics.

"Either a password or a biometric can be stolen," he says. "But only the password can be changed. Once your fingerprint is stolen, it's stolen forever, and you're stuck."

Hackers have already made dummy fingerprints — using pictures of people's hands available online — to swipe into the iPhone 6 scanner.

Cowan says in a world where just about anything can be hacked, the cost of biometrics is just too high.

biometrics

security

smartphone

With her name recognition in a left-leaning state, she stood a pretty good shot of emerging from the Democratic primary, or potentially even clearing the field.

With a year left in her husband Bill Clinton's second term in the White House, Clinton officially announced her candidacy. Think about that for a second: Clinton doing what she did, timing-wise, would be the equivalent of Michelle Obama launching a Senate run nine months from now.

"I may be new to the neighborhood," Clinton told a crowd of 2,000, "but I'm not new to your concerns."

Clinton embarked on a 62-county listening tour, focusing on rural Upstate New York. She hoped to win over skeptical, Republican-leaning voters, who could be key to victory, especially in a race against Republican New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose strength was in the city, not the country.

Fearing a Giuliani run, New York Democrats cleared the way for Clinton.

"I pledge to you that I will work my heart out every day in this campaign to become your next senator," Clinton said in her May 16 acceptance speech (below) in Albany, N.Y.

Her message sounded a lot like today, focusing on family work-life issues, education, health care, abortion rights, even calling for women to get "equal pay for equal work" and advocating for rural broadband.

She saved some of her strongest words for the gun lobby, which she said was wrong for warning that her husband wanted to take away guns in the run up to signing the Brady bill in 1993. (The bill instituted background checks and waiting periods for handguns.)

"Taking the assault weapons off the street and passing the Brady bill kept 500,000 fugitives, felons, and stalkers from buying the guns that could have killed and maimed even more New Yorkers and Americans," Clinton thundered.

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During a 2000 Senate debate, Hillary Clinton's opponent Rick Lazio, R-N.Y., hands her a pledge to stop taking "soft money." But Lazio's tone was criticized for how not to debate a female candidate. Richard Drew/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Richard Drew/AP

During a 2000 Senate debate, Hillary Clinton's opponent Rick Lazio, R-N.Y., hands her a pledge to stop taking "soft money." But Lazio's tone was criticized for how not to debate a female candidate.

Richard Drew/AP

In a remarkable moment, she also thanked "Vice President Al Gore and President Bill Clinton." Bill waved to the crowd and stood for a standing ovation after these lines from his wife: "I am delighted that the president is here this evening and I am so grateful for his support. I would not be standing here tonight were it not for Bill and were it not for all he has done for me. And I could not be prouder as an American and as a New Yorker to have a president who has meant so much to our country. We are a better country than we were in 1992."

All signs had pointed to an epic showdown between Clinton and Giuliani. But three days after Clinton's acceptance speech, Giuliani's dropped out. His candidacy imploded amid front-page tabloid revelations of an affair just as he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Six months before the general election, Republicans were grasping for a candidate. Stepping into the void was Rick Lazio, the Long Island congressman. But his aggressive tactics and tone in a debate with Clinton — moderated by the late Tim Russert — is still being studied as an example of how not to debate a female candidate.

Here's (a very young) Jon Stewart in his early days as Daily Show host, wrapping the debate:

The Daily Show
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Clinton capitalized on it. A week after the debate, she rallied Democratic women in a Manhattan hotel ballroom and dismissed Lazio as a bully.

"There is a big difference between raising your voice and raising up the quality of education in our schools," Clinton said. "There is a big difference between pointing your finger and reaching out your hand to improve the quality of life for the people who need health and good jobs."

In her closing ad, sitting on a couch in a living room, Clinton acknowledged the improbability of her run.

"When I started this campaign, I'm not sure I knew quite what to expect," she said, "and you probably didn't either."

In the end, Clinton dispatched of Lazio in a 12-point win, laying the groundwork for all that would come next.

2016 Presidential Race

Congress

Hillary Clinton