Crossfire: Support for Biden and Christie in 2016

(CNN) - As 2016 chatter heats up, two political insiders spill their potential picks for their respective party's presidential nominee.

CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile said if Hillary Clinton doesn't run, Vice President Joe Biden might just take the cake.

"I would love to see a woman in the White House and so my money right now would stay on Hillary," Brazile said Monday on CNN's Crossfire.

"But if Joe Biden, I got to tell you, he's been a champion for women's' equality, and I would toss my support to Joe Biden,' she told Crossfire co-host S.E. Cupp.

For his part, former Minnesota governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, given a choice between GOP favorites Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, would pick Christie.

"Christie would be a stronger candidate," Pawlenty said to Crossfire co-host Van Jones. "No question in my mind."

Pawlenty also said he agrees "only to a point' with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's assessment that the ideal White House candidate would be a Washington outsider.

"I think it would help in the anti-Washington environment. People are sick of Washington, DC, in the gridlock and the dysfunction, so being an outside will definitely help but it's not the only factor," he said, pointing to the possibility of international influences, like a hypothetical situation of Iran bombing of Israel, which would propel someone with international expertise to the forefront of 2016 candidates.