mcconnell. >> it's possible. you have to give, you know, mcconnell an edge in kentucky. and if david perdue wins the georgia senate primary, establishment, businessman. be in good position too. both the guys are also capable of harming themselves. a businessman who has never run before. michelle nunn grew up. casey says, getting smoother, better. in kentucky, mitch mcconnell, a great back room political guy. can do the scheming and calculating. cut the deals, the rand paul crowd. do all of that. put him up front on the stage. and people don't like him as much. so, there, you know again, it could boil down to how the two personalities, as politicians come together. if allison grimes keeps getting better and doesn't make any mistakes herself. being on this -- high profile stage for the first time. >> i thought that was well said. not suppose to see the seams in a politician. bill clinton is smooth the way he puts things together. mitch mcconnell is a politician looks and acts like one. >> it has worked so far for him. has never seen a candidate like alison lundegran grimes

mcconnell. >> it's possible. you have to give, you know, mcconnell an edge in kentucky. and if david perdue wins the georgia senate primary, establishment, businessman. be in good position too. both the guys are also capable of harming themselves. a businessman who has never run before. michelle nunn grew up. casey says, getting smoother, better. in kentucky, mitch mcconnell, a great back room political guy. can do the scheming and calculating. cut the deals, the rand paul crowd. do all of that. put him up front on the stage. and people don't like him as much. so, there, you know again, it could boil down to how the two personalities, as politicians come together. if allison grimes keeps getting better and doesn't make any mistakes herself. being on this -- high profile stage for the first time. >> i thought that was well said. not suppose to see the seams in a politician. bill clinton is smooth the way he puts things together. mitch mcconnell is a politician looks and acts like one. >> it has worked so far for him. has never seen a candidate like alison lundegran grimes

that challenge will be the political fight of mcconnell's life. we'll bring you results in arkansas, idaho, oregon and pennsylvania in what will be telling prelude to the battle in the months to come. my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular blood tests or dietary restrictions. hey thanks for calling my doctor. sure. pradaxa is not for people with artificial heart valves. don't stop taking pradaxa without talking to your doctor. stopping increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you need to stop pradaxa before surgery or a medical or dental procedure. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have

mitch mcconnell is on -- gone. the person who said obama lies, we had more than 8 billion people who signed up for obamacare. but that's not right now. i'm just talking about alison grimes. we are going to put her up there. thank you very much, alison grimes, for speaking for every woman. >> host: thank you for the call. in his opening remarks senator mcconnell made reference to his wife as well as his own mother, his battle with polio, and a reference of three kentucky women who do not like the affordable care act. of course, that will be the key narrative in the kentucky election. in pennsylvania national journal is writing about john wills win once in a high-stakes contest against republican governor tom gordon. next from north carolina, republican line. good evening to use. >> caller: hello. my comment is about alison grimes, you know. we, the people, of the united states have been fooled by obama. this makes twice. he has promised us all kind of promises. he spends most of his time vacationing. they fly around

we know where senator mcconnell has been. we finally got the admission as we went to the eastern part of the state a month ago. in response to what will you do to help bring jobs back to this state he said, and i quote, it is not his job to bring jobs to the commonwealth of kentucky. we cannot afford to have a senator who does not believe as i do. it is a number one priority to help put hard-working kentuckians back to work. this race is about someone who for 30 years has never put forward a jobs plan, does not believe it is responsibility. unlike mitch mcconnell i will rise every morning and go to bed every night with the burden on my back of helping to put kentuckians back to work. that is the job of the united states senator. [applause] it is making sure the boilermaker in eastern kentucky who cannot put their suitcase in a yard sale because they've -- they might need it to go find work has a way forward. the mother of a six-month-old who does not know how she is going to be able to provide for her young daughter because o

that seeks to retire mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell fails to realize it's labor that lifted millions out of poverty. as he says no to collecting poverty. as he says no to a living wage. you have someone who says right to work for less is just another name for union busting and i will have none of it. >> mcconnell may find that grimes isn't the same stump speaker who began the campaign with a hastily arranged press conference and who often sounded sdripted and uncertain when speaking. monday night she seemed more comfortable in the role and hit all of her lines. the race is virtually tied right now prmcconnell has just a one-point lead, which is nothing. anyway, let's go right now, casey, your thoughts. have you been watching allison grimes? has she improved on the stump? is that obviously and objectively true. >> it is. she's made marked improvements. that's an advantage. it's given her a lot of time to practice and get better. she faced criticism for not being ready for prime time. they restaged that announcement event

this looks strong for mcconnell. he has already turned to fighting the general election campaign against alison grimes. on the other hand, matt bevin's not wrong that there's a level of mcconnell fatigue. he's deeply unpopular here. i think the question going into this general election is going to be are people more tired of senator mcconnell or more tired of president obama. that's really the fight we're going to see being played out here. >> it's interesting because there's a piece in the national journal that talks about the party in kentucky no longer really being the mcconnell party. how it's moving more towards rand paul. mcconnell really relying in a lot of ways on rand paul to shore up his party and inoculate him. to what extent do you think the people coming out today are rand paul type voters? would the rand paul voter in your estimation be a mcconnell voter? >> there definitely is a sense that mcconnell was almost hiding behind rand paul. i was down here earlier this year and saw them do an event together.

grimes against mcconnell. mcconnell has high unfavorables. the one person who does not have unfavorables yet, grimes. starting tomorrow. mitch mcconnell will tripe to drive those up. >> you saw. i can't quite remember. obviously every time you are in an election like this, you will see parties identify those in the opposition party who they think are least favorable. try how to run against them. when nancy pelosi was the stand in for every single member. running in the house or democarts. mub pubs are saying you are voting for nancy pelosi in swing districts. never seen it as aggressive. as mitch mcconnell going after barack obama in tonight's acceptance speech. he could barely bring himself to mention the name he was running against. >> i was in the room. i knew mitch mcconnell was tough. you knew the campaign would be directed against obama and harry reid. he was tough on him too. but it was just astonishing, time after time, after time. then what was interesting, was he was trying to -- turn his leadership into an asset as owe pezzed to th

grimes against mcconnell. mcconnell has high unfavorables. the one person who does not have unfavorables yet, grimes. starting tomorrow. mitch mcconnell will tripe to drive those up. >> you saw. i can't quite remember. obviously every time you are in an election like this, you will see parties identify those in the opposition party who they think are least favorable. try how to run against them. when nancy pelosi was the stand in for every single member. running in the house or democarts. mub pubs are saying you are voting for nancy pelosi in swing districts. never seen it as aggressive. as mitch mcconnell going after barack obama in tonight's acceptance speech. he scud bacould barely bring hio mention the name he was running against. >> i was in the room. i knew mitch mcconnell was tough. you knew the campaign would be directed against obama and harry reid. he was tough on him too. but it was just astonishing, time after time, after time. then what was interesting, was he was trying to -- turn his leadership into an asset as owe pezzed to th

i'm talking about kentucky senator mitch mcconnell. the man who spent the last five years obsessed with attacking president obama. remember his top political goal? >> some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> that's all he cared about, fighting president obama, refusing to negotiate with him, filibustering his nominees, blocking his bills, and then blaming the president when they didn't pass. and last night after beating a primary challenger, mcconnell made it clear he wants his re-election to be all about the president, too. >> my opponent is in this race because barack obama and harry reid want her to be in this race. look, barack obama's allies have one goal this year, one goal, just one, to cling to their power. a vote for my opponent is a vote for obamacare and the president who sold it to us on a mountain of lies. alison lundergan grimes is barack obama's candidate. >> mcconnell is so preoccupied with smearing presi

mcconnell's people didn't leave anything to chance. they watched too many of the senator's colleagues fall in the last two cycles and decided they would be different. >> looking ahead to the general. i want to play the clip from alison lundergan grimes in part because it seems like she knows, in some polls, a double-digit lead over mitch mcconnell against women voters. she seems to be trying to press her advantage there. do we know how that will play out in terms of the positions, the way they campaign and how much mcconnell may try to turn that around. his deficit with women voters could be fatal. >> that's right. women make up 53% of the electorate here. i thought it was interesting what you heard from the two speeches tonight. you can play the clips on a loop the next five months and throw in 75 million dollars or so and get the same result. i think what you heard from alison lundergan grimes over and over again is the same thing you heard since she got in the race, i'm a strong kentucky woman. what you heard from mitch mcconnell sa

mcconnell wants to stop. he wants to make this a choice election and put alison grimes in the spotlight. is she prepared for that battle to define her. keep an eye on this. the next 60 days i think will decide this race more so perhaps than the last 60. >>> coming up, more candidates. congressman jack kingston will be here to talk about his hopes for making the senate runoff isn't georgia. we'll also talk to brian smith in idaho. but first, today's tdr 50 trivia question. as you know the tdr 50 train is in kentucky this week. the most recent kentucky senator to serve as both senator majority leader and senator minority leader. who is it? mcconnell hopes to become the second one. the first person to tweet the correct answer will get the on-air shoutout. the answer is coming up in three minutes. you, my friend are a master of diversification. who would have thought three cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche? the same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds would go with a merging marke

you wrote a piece on mcconnell. how mitch mcconnell hacked american politics and i wonder, as we're on the eve of yet, another mitch mcconnell victory and a primary victory not general legs. whether or not you think the fact that he'll no longer have to contend with matt bevin will change the way mitch mcconnell behaves in the u.s. senate? >> i don't. he started this strategy at the outset of the obama presidency and this was his strategy how to regain power. he was confessing his scheme to reporters, you know, without hiding it. saying that, look, if we help obama pass legislation, people will think the problem has been solved and the people are happy and they'll support obama and it will be bad for us and good for him and he was right. if first major leader to come to the conclusion by partisanship and that was way before anyone heard of matt bevin. >> i wonder why mcconnell is thought of as the moderate, the guy that likes the establishment and he still has friends in the upper chamber and maybe friendship is a s

people in the polls show they are tired of mcconnell. if the race is about mcconnell, he will lose. grimes has to make sure the race is not about her or barack obama. >> right. the thing to remember about mitch mcconnell, 30 years in the senate. he's had close re-election races in kentucky before. this is not a widely beloved senator in kentucky. getting to georgia, open senate seat in georgia. he's retiring. this is a state democrats are going to run. michelle nun, the daughter of sam nunn. a brand name in georgia politics. these are the only two where democrats think they can get the republican seat. this is what the republican primary looks like now. a run off between the top two. the interesting thing about this is no clear tea party candidate emerged in this. kingston -- there's no clear tea party candidate. is that the story of georgia, in the absence of that, this guy perdue, he's the establishment candidate. he's going to be in position because the tea party never got their act together? >> he had the most money. he's campaigned aggressively. he is, like i said, on the issue

if she is, i think it is big trouble for mcconnell. this thing means it's a referendum on him. >> in terms of the other big, high-profile race tonight, georgia, seven republican candidates vying for that chance to stand up for saxby chambliss' seat. what do you see happening there tonight? >> well, look, the washington republ republican crowd is already happy. they don't mind any of the top three that are sitting out. they are relieved they don't have paul broun and phil gingrey. jack kingston more of a mainstream conservative rather than a tea party guy. even karen handel who i think still -- look, we have a lot of votes that haven't been counted. you can't even look at georgia results until you see fulton county come in, three big counties around the atlanta metro area. we have nothing out of kalb and gwinnett. the question is can kingston hold off handel? she should do well. does she do well enough to catch kingston at the end of the day? when all these -- we expect perdue to do well. weigh don't have any of that vote in. that's why

will bevin endorse mcconnell? he said he's never backed a democrat but argues he doesn't believe mcconnell is electable. >> do i think he can win in november? i don't think he can. for those who worry about keeping the seat, as is often said, they had better play close attention in this primary. >> mcconnell's rate against, 43% of registered voters backing her, 42% backing mcconnell. mcconnell told one crowd "people look at that i guess one of two ways. they either conclude you've been there too long or you're indispensable. who haviously i'm hoping for the latter o i ". one place he is not being replaced is -- this group was asked whether they would support mcconnell. listen to the answers. >> my answer is no. >> i'm going to support whoever will sign off on my drive to change the status quo. >> i made the strongest anti-establishment vote when i was one of 12 republican members that voted against john boehner. i never pledge what i'm going to do in the future until we look at who is going to be running so i don'

kentucky needs mcconnell. that's going to be the theme we're going to hear tonight and it's going to be what we hear all the way through november. this is a real neck and neck race that he's got in front of him. >> we'll be hearing a whole lot more of that. dana bash, thanks. >>> still to come, did led zeppelin steal stairway to heaven? >>> plus, one thousand dogs die after eating treats imported from china. we'll be telling you which snacks your pet needs to avoid. >>> and a teen shot and killed in montana. why the state's castle law may get the shooter off the hook. [ female announcer ] there's a gap out there. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪ all stations come over top mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one

mcconnell ran hard. in the end, he held him off easily. now the five-term senator faces a tougher fight in november against alison lungergan grimes. >> my opponent is in this race because barack obama and harry reid want her to be in this race. there's a reason, my friends, a reason every hollywood liberal is sending her a check. >> together, we will take this fight to mitch mcconnell and hold him accountable for his 30 years of failed leadership. >> in idaho, cnn projects republican congressman mike simpson has won his primary, one of many candidates to turn aside tea party backed candidates there. the house appropriations committee chairman faced a tough battle against bryan smith. the internal fight between conservative groups. governor bush otter running against fulcher who tried to run as the more conservative candidate. >> the election in oregon pitting jeff merkley against monica wehby. she is a pediatric neurosurgeon rocked by revelations of harassment complaints of an ex-husband and former boyfriend. she topped a more conservative

mcconnell ran away with it. what are your thoughts and why were you so supportive when others weren't? >> i want to see what a mission h -- politician has done. as we see in the republican primary in oregon, there's always a danger of someone who hasn't run for any elected office before. suddenly you get late news about a stalking allegation we haven't heard before. with an incumbent, you don't have to worry about that. mcconnell, we don't really have that many liberal republicans left. mcconnell has like a 90% conservative rating. what are they doing? >> let me ask you a question. >> instead of wasting money trying to take out a good republican like mcconnell, i wish that would be spent in north carolina. >> what about reports like this, how mitch -- mitch mcconnell's own comments about crushing the tea party. >> he didn't say that. that's a lie. i'm glad you asked me about that because i heard somebody from politico lying about that yesterday on msnbc. he said he wanted to crush the senate conservatives fund,

mcconnell's people didn't leave anything to chance. they watched too many of the senator's colleagues fall in the last two cycles and decided they would be different. >> looking ahead to the general. i want to play the clip from alison lundergan grimes in part because it seems like she knows, in some polls, a double-digit lead over mitch mcconnell against women voters. she seems to be trying to press her advantage there. do we know how that will play out in terms of the positions, the way they campaign and how much mcconnell may try to turn that around. his deficit with women voters could be fatal. >> that's right. women make up 53% of the electorate here. i thought it was interesting what you heard from the two speeches tonight. you can play the clips on a loop the next five months and throw in 75 million dollars or so and get the same result. i think what you heard from alison lundergan grimes over and over again is the same thing you heard since she got in the race, i'm a strong kentucky woman. what you heard from mitch mcconnell sa

mcconnell ran away with it. what are your thoughts and why were you so supportive when others weren't? >> because as i say, i mean i want to see what a politician has done. that always means more than a challenger saying this is what i'm going to do. we'll see. also as we see to leap ahead to the next race you'll ask me about, as we see in the republican primary in oregon, you know, there's always a danger of someone who hasn't run for any elected office before. you get late breaking news of a fracking allegation. with an incumbent or someone who has held some ele you don't have to worry. this is as bad as they will get even with pressure from chamber of commerce. we don't really have that many liberal republicans left. mcconnell has a 90% conservative rating. what are they doing? by the way, tea party group -- instead of wasting money to take out a good republican like mitch mcconnell i wish that money was spent in north carolina where you had true blue anti-amnesty republicans running against genuine establish

we know where senator mcconnell has been. admission ast the we went to the eastern part of the state a month ago. in response to what will you do to help bring jobs back to this state he said, and i quote, it is not his job to bring jobs to the commonwealth of kentucky. we cannot afford to have a senator who does not believe as i do. it is a number one priority to help put hard-working kentuckians back to work. this race is about someone who for 30 years has never put forward a jobs plan, does not believe it is responsibility. of mike mitch mcconnell i will rise every morning and go to bed every night with the burden on my back of helping to put kentuckians back to work. that is the job of the united states senator. sure theing boilermaker in eastern kentucky who cannot put their suitcase and a yard sale because they've might nine -- they might need it to go find work has a way forward. the mother of a six-month-old who does not know how she is going to be able to provide for her young daughter because of a 16 day government

in the early end look to see how big mitch mcconnell wins by. margins he's going shall very likely to be the nominee but look to see where he's weak and where he's strong and where matt bevin runs and no matter what he wins the primary by, he answers a general election tied in a best case scenario. >> and owes a lot for junior senator rand paul. >> endorsed mcconnell early on. he deserves credit. he's in many ways like harry reid. they take a lot of incoming from the other side. both men, reid in 2010 and mcconnell have won very good campaigns so far. >> thanks, chris cillizza i know you'll be up late. that does it for us and "ronan farrow daily" is up next. >> i'm bill karins, we're watching warm conditions finally reaching all the way up to the northern plains. warmest day of the spring, 80 in minneapolis today. unfortunately with the warmth will come a chance of thunderstorms late and a few could be strong, from iowa into areas of indiana and ohio. have a great day. where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked giants

mitch mcconnell pushing back against matt bevin. how mitch mcconnell is the head of the republican can you cause in the senate, and he sees the potential to become the top senator in washington if republicans can take control of the senate by winning just six seats. he has made it his personal mission to push back against tea party challengers who mitch mcconnell fears may not make the best general election candidates. now senator mcconnell is going for his sixth term and he's being challenged by matt bevin, who is a tea party-backed businessman. it turns out as we get close for tomorrow's election it looks like the polls are showing that bevin's fight against washington, his fight against the establishment has not been enough to go up against mitch mcconnell's seniority. he's telling voters i'm bringing home what you need, and i am a conservative guy. allison grimes, kentucky's secretary of state, the real question will be if mitch mcconnell wins tomorrow can he get those tea party-supporters to back him over a democrat. >> is the

i heard you play that clip from mcconnell earlier. he was lying when he said that it has resulted in premiums going up and people losing their coverage and people losing their jobs. it's just not true. i would point out, if i were alison lundergan grimes, that between 1998 and 2008, health insurance premiums went up 131%. that's what was going on before the affordable care act was passed, and they were refusing to sell coverage to people who really needed it. that's what mcconnell wants us to go back to. >> in light of what dr. potter said, let's look at it this way. 8 million people have rolled in obamacare, but the polling is mixed. the latest gallup poll shows that 51% of the americans disapprove of the law and 43% approve. how do you account for those numbers? >> the way it looks, when you look at these type of polls, you can get a poll to say anything, first of all. and you can get a sampling bias by sampling the people that you want to really affirm what you particularly think. so the people that are actually polled in this part

a vote for mcconnell is a vote for kentucky. that's certainly how they're going to be framing it because mitch mcconnell is really unabashed in the way he describes the stakes. it's about being able to get back to washington, to fight president obama, and if republicans do take six seats in fall, become the majority leader to lead kentucky to do that. >> dana bash reporting live from louisville, kentucky. now that the primaries are over, what are the lessons learned. across the nation, establishment candidates tamed the tea party. the message, now it's time to unite. two big names, bill and hillary clinton were not enough to endorse marge gentlemen march goll liss. joining me to talk about this, gloria borger. hi to you. >> hi. >> let's talk a bit more about kentucky and the race to come in november. this female candidate is strong. this could be one of the most expensive races in history. >> $100 million. >> and the most vicious. >> look, mitch mcconnell is a tough politician. she's going to have to be just as tough, fighting b

and i'll tell you, watching mcconnell that was the one questionable move that i thought mcconnell made that go dwrors point when he said, hey, i'm looking forward to be being the offensive coordinator. you got a chance to elect the snort majority leader. he was very much embracing it. but, okay, what does that mean? you know, all of his quotes, his entire agenda for six years has been to stop president obama's agenda. and it goes he doesn't have that answer, other than what is the republican agenda other than to stall out and run out the clock for last two years of obama's presidency. and i think that is going to be a challenge for republicans. okay, if you get the senate and the house, what are you going to do with it with barack obama in the presidency? is it basically you're saying let's go with stalemate. we already have stalemate. that's status quo, right? >> like donny said, you get the sense to elect the majority leader. you get the chance to have me. whatever happened to i would be honored to serve you which i didn't see anywhere in mitch mcconnell's words. >> you know, i agree

everybody down there, even the bevin campaign concedes mcconnell is well ahead. then he'd have a race against the democratic secretary of state, allison grimes. the most recent polls show it to be a dead heat. this race will be a target through november. mcconnell's last race, he got 53% against a businessman who spent a lot of money on this race. that's back in 2008. this is why mitch mcconnell thinks for all the talk of a close race, it won't be close in november. midterm elections are about the president. what you'll hear from mcconnell is this election in november is as much about obama as alison grimes, but on this big night, let's see if he can crush his tea party challenger. we'll watch the margin in that race and learn how much healing he has to do internally in the republican party. >> turnout in a midterm election year, that's a huge issue we're going to have to see, assuming he wins tonight, mcconnell, the turnout for democrats, how enthusiastic they are in november and the turnout for republicans, especially if the tea party loses tonight, will they r

supporterses are going to support mitch mcconnell, how important is for mitch mcconnell when he heads into this challenge with grimes? >> i feel in modern politics what unifies each party is more stopping the other than necessarily rallying behind their candidate. that's still there. think about what's happening here. the republicans are by and large getting the candidates they want to expand the playing field on the one hand and to places that weren't originally on the target list for the senate and also to make it tougher for democrats in turn to expand the playing field. q kentucky and georgia, both tough seats for democrats. now tougher to do that. you still have the core of this year, kate, democrats hold seven senate seats in states who voted for mitt romney in 2012. tough to defend. five or six democrat leading states they have to defend. add to that kentucky and georgia is where they hope to put a few republican seats out of play. that's a tough table when obama is looking at 33% approval rating in kentucky. in 2010 he was under 47% and democrats lost 13 of those. that isn't t

and let's start with mitch mcconnell and matt bevan. mitch mcconnell was trying to rally his base while matt bavn was -- matt bevan was on "the daily rundown" last how. >> it is little respect for the public officials. >> we need to change the country now. we need to impose the laws now. and with your help, starting tomorrow, we are on the way to change neshg. >> and bringing in harry bac bacon -- perry bacon from thegrio.com, and sam youngman from the "lexington herald." what are you planning to see, perry? >> well, when matt bevin got into the race, we thought it would be a dead heat, but instead, it is a margin of vick trishgs a tri, and anything can happen. we do expect senator mcconnell to pull out the win, but the question is how much. and that will tell us how much repair work he has do in the republican party in the fall campaign against alison grimes. >> and perry, as we know that the immigration is a one of the big themes, and especially in the primary turnout as well, they will tell you how much enthusiasm for a candidate, an

especially in kentucky with mitch mcconnell. over the weekend, he predicted that tea party candidates would get crushed in the primaries. tonight he appears to be doing

one thing mcconnell do not do is subtlety. he previewed his general election play book in a very obvious way. he wants to make this campaign about two thing, the president and the national democratic party. >> my opponent is in this race because barack obama and harry reid want her to be in this race. there isn't a dime's worth of difference, not a dime's worth of difference between a candidate who puts harry reid in charge and harry reid himself. >> president obama is not on kentucky's 2014 election ballot. nothing about this election will change who is in the white house, but we can change who is in washington d.c. >> the next 30 days might be more important than the last 30 days in this campaign and here's why. they're all about the race to define grimes, who will not have the luxury to sit on the sidelines anymore, comfortably before the fray as she had been. the question is how does she defray an assault. >> it seems no matter how many elections we have, nothing gets better in washington, it only gets worth. a lot of that

mcconnell is playing a dishonest game here. he describes the benefits obamacare has brought to his state while attacking it in name. howard fineman, editorial director of the huffington post and msnbc political analyst and berry bacon, nbc news senior political reporter. congratulations, sir, for joining us. >> thank you, chris. >> i want to start with you because you're on deck as a full-fledged expert and senior, i love that, senior guy. i want some seniority. this thing seems to be so blatantly simple. when you ask people in polling do they like the health care system, yeah, pretty good. you say obama's name and you lose all the conservatives. i also remember "w" running for president and he said social security wasn't a federal program. well, okay, it is. is this a case of mistaken or intentional mistaken identification by mitch mcconnell? >> this is very intentional. we have an nbc poll that showed kynect is very popular in kentucky, but they still want to rebeal obamacare. mitch mcconnell knows this, and he's doing one of

it is mitchrs, mcconnell at the center of the gridlock. kentucky is tired of a senator who proudly calls himself the dr. of no. the guardian of gridlock. we deserve a senator for the state.of cap -- this [applause] it is not about party control. differentt two very visions for the commonwealth of kentucky. one that wants to take us forward where we deserve to be. yet there that wants to hold us back as he has for the past three decades. mitch mcconnell stands on the wrong side of every issue out there for kentuckians. when it comes to increasing the minimum wage, he has voted against it 15 times. never gone without a pay raise for himself. worth on thes net backs of hard-working kentuckians that cannot afford it. he says it is the last thing he will put his name to. one i am the senate, it is the first thing we put our names to. senate, itm in the is the first thing we put our names to. it is not a minimum wage, it is a living wage. each and every kentucky and deserve to live the american dream. when it comes to the wyndham -- women, he is

mcconnell is trying to push that. one thing that happened today is that mcconnell challenged grimes to three lincoln douglas style debates, and their stat is telling me the goal there is to get grimes on the record. they want to make sure people know she's for the minimum wage increase. she supports obama care. they want -- the mcconnell campaign wants to turn it to a campaign about issues because their view is in a red state like this, most issue-based ideas, mcconnell is in a place where most voters are. even on obama care, even though the connect program has worked here pretty well. >> who would want an increase in the minimum wage? lease go back over to you. how realistic do republicans believe that figure, that poll that shows 25% of people who voted against mitch mcconnell in that primary would actually go with allison lundgren-grimes. how realistic is that going to grimes? >> not really that realistic. here's a look at what happened last night. you had some conservative leaders. i think this is because as much

up against mitch mcconnell who is very well known. if you talk to the grimes campaign, they are happy about the fact that he is well known and not that well liked. so what you're going to see, and you already are seeing, and you heard it in that soundbite just there, we heard it there in this room, he he is trying hard to define her before she can define herself. it is politics 101. particularly when you're entrenched in running against an unknown candidate. he is already doing it. but you heard also the really explicit appeal to the national level and national message that mitch mcconnell is giving. it is not about her. it is about barack obama and making mitch mcconnell the majority leader to try to stop obama and his policies the last two years he is in office. >> let's go to arkansas now. can we, wolf? >> yeah. a fascinating race in arkansas. incumbent dayer pryer, or i should say mark pryer. cotton, from arkansas, will be the republican challenger for the senate seat in oregon. tom cotton, an iraq war veteran. harvard grad. someo

matt bevins provided a real threat to mitch mcconnell. and, keep in mind, that the establishment mainstream republican part of the republican party has watched over the past two election cycles, they have watched potential senate pickups go by the wayside because of tea party candidates who could not appeal to a electorate. and that's been a big problem. so, what did mitch mcconnell do? a, he came out shooting fast. >> senator rand paul back him? >> and that's the other key. that's the subplot and to me the most intriguing subplot in all of this is rand paul. it was very smart on mitch mcconnell's part to cozy up to rand paul to put him on the senate foreign relations committee. a prime spot for a freshman senator. rand paul came out supporting him. what is rand paul going to do leading up to 2016? he is clearly, you know, wants to be a presidential candidate. what role is he going to play in this schism between the establishment of the party and the tea party part of the party? >> john, your favorite? >> i agree that kentucky is is an in

you heard mitch mcconnell's remarks. he laid out every woman he knows, beginning with the labor secretary, and his wife, elaine chow, his mother. three women having experiences with the president's health care law. both side feel like women are critical going into november. >> yeah, you mention the strategy that she is not mcconnell, and she is a strong kentucky woman. jonathan, you fit one out of the two factors. >> i'm not mcconnell. >> that's the right answer. >> so let me go to you on the question of, about, the aca, or obamacare or kentucky net. matters not what you call it. today breaking from the ap she was asked twice, alison lundegran grimes, asked twice whether she would have voted for the 2010 law. obviously a major issue. she wouldn't really answer. she says, look, i well, when we are in the u.s. senate, will work to fix the aca. >> look, this is in keeping with something she has been doing from the beginning. some one pointed out to me -- a reporter, if you ever noticed. she has never. can't find any tape of

if he takes a lot of republican voters away from mitch mcconnell that could hurt mcconnell in the fall because it could make him even weaker and his campaign is saying, you know what, it is true that you have primary battles and they are divisive but at the end of the day the primary voters are going to come home and vote for him rather than a democrat. >> it will be interesting. pushing the word change so much. if he gets through the primary, 4th will face in the general, could be the first woman senator from kentucky, that would be a different kind of change as well. dana bash, thank you very must have. let us know what happens. >>> we're going to have much more on today's primaries in "inside politics" segment coming up. you want to stick around for that. >>> turn to china. fighting back this morning. accusing the united states of hypocrisy after the obama administration charged five military officers with cyber crimes for spying on american companies. china has now summoned the u.s. ambassador there and is threatening to retaliate. let's bring in david mckenzie live in beijing. wha

mcconnell is deeply unpopular here. the question is whether or not he's able to resuscitate those numbers. he's tried in several sort of positive bigraphical ads. so far it doesn't seem to have worked. so his only alternative could be to drag down grimes' numbers as much as possible. that means voters are in for a dragout fight. >> cokie, it's interesting. kasie just referenced that mcconnell is deeply unpopular in kentucky but unpopular even within the republican structure in kentucky and yet he is obviously very popular within the minority of republicans who are in the united states senate. talk about the differences between being a leader in the senate and running for re-election in your own home state. >> well, actually, being a leader in the senate can be a detriment for running in your home state. the fact is that people at home want you to be paying attention at home. and we've seen several key senators lose mainly in their primaries because they haven't paid attention at home. but for instance, like dick lugar w

mcconnell is leading in the polls, but only after running hard to the right. even hiring rand paul's campaign manager. leading the charge and waving a rifle around onstage at this year's conference. similar story unfolding in georgia where seven republicans are clawing for the senate nomination. including three who raised their hands at a debate when asked if they'd impeach president obama. it's becoming clear. the tea party hasn't lost and it hasn't gone away. in many ways, the tea party has become the gop. speaker john boehner talked about it today. >> it's not that big a difference between what you all call the tea party and your average conservative republican. you know? we're against obamacare. we think taxes are too high. we think the government's too big. so i wouldn't continue to sing that same song. >> there's not a big difference between the tea party and the gop. the far right agenda has become the gop agenda. and that's what democratic candidates will face in the fall. joining me now is casey hunt, who is live in louisville, kentucky. and angela wr

mcconnell ran hard in the end. he easily held bevin off. he faces a tough fight against alison lunder gan grimes. mcconnell said he will make it a central part of his campaign. >> my opponent is in this race because barack obama and harry reid want her in this race. there's a reason, friends. a reason. every hollywood liberal is sending her a check. >> together, we will take this fight to mitch mcconnell and hold him accountable for his 30 years of failed leadership. >> in idaho, cnn projects republican congressman mike simpson won his primary, one of many establish candidates to turn aside tea party backed candidates there. the chair faced a tough battle against brian smith. it was a test between conservative groups. as for the governor's race there, he's on track to beat russ who ran as a more conservative candidate. >> the election in oregon is merkley against monica wehby. she talked the more conservative candidate in the race. >>> two establish candidates holding off the conservative backed secretary of state in that state. cnn project

what do you think mitch mcconnell wants to do? >> well, i think that that's actually -- once you parse it and you do need to parse it because it's intended to mislead, it's pretty clear. he's saying there are two populations. that's the people who would have been eligible for medicaid before obamacare but just didn't realize that they were and hadn't signed up. now that they have, they will get to keep medicaid even if obamacare is repealed which is like, thank you for allowing us to -- >> this thing we've qualified for for years. >> right. and then separately, there's the newly eligible people because of obamacare. he's saying, step one is repeal obamacare and that medicaid expansion for those newly eligible beneficiaries and step two, we'll allow the state of kentucky to decide if it can, wants to and can even afford to reinstate that medicaid expansion based on flexibility written into the program. obviously they're not going to be able to do that easily buzz it's a half a billion dollars a year. so he wants people to think the

no underestimating with mcconnell. the fact of the matter, today, mitch mcconnell is less popular in his own state than president obama, and he's less popular than obamacare. for god's sake, that is a very good starting position for alison grimes to go into. >> we'll see what happens. i mentioned rand paul at the top. she a tea party darling and currently right now the favorite among the gop to run for president and win. >> right. >> so the tea party right there. >> you think the tea party's dead? wait until 2016. >> i agree with that. >> thank you both. >>> still to come in the "newsroom," new details about a close call between two jets that almost collided over the runway. cnn's rene marsh following that story for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. these two passenger planes with passengers onboard come within yards of each other on the other side of the break we'll tell you what happens next. ♪ [ dog barks ] ♪ [ male announcer ] imagine the cars we drive... being able to see so clearly... to res

she's been slamming mcconnell for months already. mcconnell's favorable ratings are low in kentucky. he can't take anything for granted. he's a major league institution in kentucky who showed tonight in his victory remarks over bevin he'll tie grimes to the president at every opportunity. >> is vote for my opponent is vote for a guy who says coal makes you sick. a vote for my opponent is a vote for a guy who thinks nothing of this state if he thinks about it at all. a vote for my opponent is a vote for obamacare. and the president who sold it to us on a mountain of lies. >> reporter: both side will pour millions and millions of dollars into this case. it's almost unheard of for a senate leader in either party to get knocked off. he'll fight like it's his last day. >> we'll be watching it. carl, thank you. >> you bet. >> also breaking tonight big news for hillary clinton as abc announces that mrs. clint will be setting down with diane sawyer and robin roberts for lengthy interviews. around the same time as mrs. clinton's new book is r

i had a chance to ask mitch mcconnell about that yesterday. your likely democratic opponent says you're exactly what's wrong with washington, you're the personification of gridlock. >> look, we'll get into the debate in the general election tomorrow. i think what kentuckians have to decide is what direction they want the country to take. do we want to go in a different direction? or do we want harry reid to continue to be the majority leader? do we want to vote for barack obama in a state that he carried 4 out of 120 counties? that's what's really at stake in the fall election. >> and, wolf, what's been fascinating in watching mcconnell's race and the strategy he has, is it's kind of really antithetical to what you would think for an entrenched incumbent. he's running on it. he's running on his influence and experience. something many of his colleagues ran away from in this tea party era. he said, look this is the big picture here, this is about making sure that republicans win the senate, and if they do, he personally would be the majority le

i agree with what senator mcconnell said. the american people agree, and that is what the disclose act does. it calls were disclosure not just by five 2/7 but by the other groups, senator mcconnell said should be included. now a consensus statement senator mcconnell as totally flip-flop on disclosure. he has gone from saying we need more disclosure to arguing that more disclosure is some left-wing conspiracy to end free speech. he led the filibuster that blocked the vote on the senate version of the disclosure act in 2010. fifty-nine senators voted to proceed with the vote, but it was blocked by senator mcconnell and a minority of 41 senators. since then i have introduced revised versions of the disclosed that in both the last congress and this congress which address some of the concerns that senator mcconnell had earlier raised, but his opposition to transparency and disclosure as only hardened. let's look at the objections of senator mccall race here at a eye over the last two years. first, he argued that the disclose act r

this is going to be an interesting race, because one of the things like for instance in the mcconnell bevin race, is there wasn't a huge amount of difference between the candidates. >> on policy. >> on policy, on policy. that's why some of these challenges have fallen flat. i think what's challenging about the mississippi race is that you have a contrast there in terms of spending policy and stuff like that, which is why that is proving to be a little bit more competitive of a race. >> you're still picking cochran, right? >> i still think he's got the competitive advantage. >> when we come back, four years after haiti's devastating outbreak, is growing over the failed reconstruction and the role played by the clintons. .ita heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular b