Susan this week on newsmakers, steven law joins us, the president of the Senate Leadership fund. We also have the chief Congressional Correspondent with the Washington Examiner, and the chief Congressional Correspondent with the Associated Press. Let me begin with explaining to our viewers, what is your group, how much you plan to spend in the 2020 race, and where do you plan to spend that money. Steven i represent a Senate Leadership fund and one nation, two organizations involved in politics and policy, focused on the senate. In 2018, we raised and spent about 190 million. I think we will get somewhere in that range. The focus will be on holding the majority. Our focus is to make sure our senators come back and pick up the one senate seat, especially in alabama, that we lost in 2017. Greta what states are you focusing on . Steven that is yet to be determined. These races are starting to shape up, but we see contests in colorado, North Carolina, arizona and possibly maine, kentucky, iowa, maybe georgia, a distant maybe texas. That is the range. There are others that are possible. Michigan is a possible pickup we are hopeful about. That is the general range where we might be planning. Greta you have an interesting situation in the senate where there is a threevote majority for republicans. You need to hang onto that majority. The democrats need to pick up three seats. If there is a democrat in the white house, the Vice President could break the tie. This is a very competitive situation. And just today, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced that he is going to run in this competitive race for senate where you have cory gardner, the incumbent, and basically a tossup race. It has been rated a tossup by a lot of analysts. What do you think John Hickenlooper will do entering this race for your candidate, and do you think you can hang on to colorado . Steven i think John Hickenloopers entry is not a bad thing for republicans. He ran a disastrous race for president. He managed to actually make joe biden look young and spry in that race. I dont see any sign that the democrats will step aside for a guy who turned in a dminus performance for president. I think it could potentially complicate their primary. Even if he emerges as the nominee, and i am not sure he does, hickenlooper has not been seriously tested. The last republican he defeated and that isphaedo like beating roy moore. Cory gardner is one of the most talented politicians of our generation. And i think he will turn in a good race. So hickenlooper being in, i dont think it changes the dynamic and may make it more competitive for us to keep this in the r column. Susan you have other competitive races. One that everyone has been talking about in recent days is maine, Susan Collins in office 1997. She is a republican who has present herself as bipartisan from working across the aisle, but now there is a real effort by the democrats. They think they can pick up maine finally. What do you think of the maine race and how do you feel your chances are holding on to that seat . Steven to me, Susan Collins reminds me of joe manchin. She represents a state that has shifted in terms of its partisan moorings. She is very deeply wellknown in that state. It is a small state like West Virginia. It is also a state sensitive to the importance of the role of federal government, that relies on federal leadership to make sure its interests are protected and it gets the support it needs. Those kinds of officeholders are difficult to defeat. We had this experience with joe in the last election cycle. You can spend 5000 gross ratings tarnish atv trying to candidates reputation and it bounces off the body armor. I think Susan Collins is that kind of officeholder. She is well known in the state. She has not talked about as senator collins, she is talked about as susan. They know her and what she has done for Bath Iron Works and other things like that in the state. I think democrats will mount a serious effort. They want revenge for the kavanaugh vote, but at the end of the day, i think she has a durable image that i think will get her reelected assuming she runs for another term. Susan did her support for kavanaugh hurt her at all . Steven that remains to be seen. I think the bigger challenge is the challenge manchin faced in West Virginia and Susan Collins faces. We live in a much more polarized political environment. So simply being known as an icon in your state, it doesnt get you 80 approval ratings. You are going to be in the 50s or 60s on a really good day, because people are generally polarized and they look at what youre wearing and thats all they want to know about you. Even so, i think Susan Collins has a good, strong image. Theink that obviously kavanaugh confirmation was a flashpoint for the country. It definitely energized the opposition, but whether that results in anything more than a lot of money for her opponent remains to be seen. Lisa could you describe the states where there are these competitive races, colorado, North Carolina, arizona, maine, kentucky, all republicanheld seats right now. What is the chance the senate flips and you dont hold it in and the democrats take over a majority . Steven i think we have a Good Opportunity to hold the senate. It is going to be a fight. The democrats clearly see their shot to take it. They would like to own it all after 2020. If i were them, that would be my goal too, but i think we will win alabama and nominate somebody who will be competitive enough to beat doug jones in that election and take that seat back. So now we have a fourseat margin. If President Trump is reelected, as i think there are some good reasons why he would likely be, i think it becomes insurmountable for them to get to 51 votes in the senate, and even if that doesnt happen, and we have got a good shot in these other races, and most importantly, we have really good incumbents doing their work, raising the money. They dont have obvious vulnerabilities that put the seats in play. The main problem is some of these states have tough terrain, and that will be the challenge. Lisa what is the role of the president . The president is often someone who can carry members of the party over the finish line. We always hear of coattails. Is that what is happening from especially in what we would consider swing states, colorado, maine, even arizona to some extent, North Carolina . Is the president helping or hurting the Senate Candidates . Steven one thing i like about focusing on senate races more than the house is that senate races exist on their own. And you have had Senate Election cycles where the president of poorly andas done the candidates of that same party do very well in senate races because you are able to carve out your own destiny and you get known for who you are and the other candidate gets known for who they are as well. So i think the president will have some impact on our candidates, and obviously his most important goal is to secure reelection. That is what he needs to focus on. But i think it is also possible that our candidates will carve out their own destiny and results based on the campaigns they run. And i actually think it is important for all of our candidates to sell who they are, what they have done, what they have accomplished for the state, s, those currently in office, and in states like alabama and michigan, other states where we will try to take out democratic incumbents, we will have to make that case for why that candidate needs to go. But that will exist to some extent independently of how the president performs in what race he runs. Lisa is that possible . You just described this tribal nature of politics were people just want to see the jersey the other side is wearing, so how do the Senate Candidates and republican incumbents divorce themselves from some of the rhetoric or policies . Steven i dont know they need to divorce themselves from the president , but it is important they talk about who they are. The mistake one might make is to assume you can only ride on the coattails. In a state like alabama for , example, where we know the president will win by a colossal margin. I think it would be a mistake for whoever our nominee is to ride those coattails and assume they are going to win. Again, voters make a unique decision about Senate Elections that is separate from how they view the president ial race. I think that the house is much more impacted by those largescale trends because you dont get to know the house candidates nearly as well, but it will be important for the candidates to tell the story. Now, in any given state, if the president does a very very well, like alabama, for example, the number of ticket splitters will ho will be available to doug jones are not going to be that great. Colorado, for example, where the president may not do as well, we will see how that goes depending on who he runs against, but again, cory gardner will need ticket splitters if the president does not carry colorado, but at the end of the day, we dont know how that president ial race will shape up yet because the democrats have not picked a nominee, and that will have an impact on the dynamic of that race and Everything Else political next year. You talked about senators charting their own destiny, what are the big issues you have discussed with candidates that they will talk about with voters . Steven it depends on the state and senator. Again, when you are a senator, you can get things done, push legislation through, and one thing that gives me confidence about our incumbents is they have spent a lot of time working hard getting a lot done. In North Carolina, tom tillis is on the Armed Services committee, he has worked for veterans, for military readiness, and bases in North Carolina the people care about. Cory gardner gets a lot of Bipartisan Legislation pushed through because of where colorado is on legalization of marijuana, he is fighting for a states rights solution there that protects his states interest, so again, good politicians, good senators figure out what matters in the state and what they can get done, and it will be unique to each individual state depending on what their voters care about. Susan how much influence do you think National Issues have, such as the tax cuts, which democrats are trying to promote as something that only help big corporations and hurt the little guy . What about the most recent push for new gun control legislation . These are things people are talking about nationally. Immigration reform. Will those big issues be part of the conversation and help or hurt your candidates . Steven they may. If democrats want to spend time talking about the tax cuts, i would be happy for them to do that. I dont think that is an argument that will go very far but the flashpoint issues, gun control, immigration, health care is another issue, democrats advocacy of medicare for all, the Green New Deal these are issues that could have some residents in individual states. How they play could depend a lot on the president ial nominee on the democratic side, what people are talking about nationally, do local issues matter more . I think it still remains to be seen. But i expect we will be hearing about health care, immigration, gun control, medicare for all. Things like that will be in the national discussion. And all of these candidates will have to figure out how they position themselves on them, visavis their particular state and the electorate they are trying to cobble together to get reelection. Lisa how important is when congress resumes that the senate take on some of these issues . There has been talk among the senators of trying to put forward some legislation on gun violence, gun control. There has been talk of some work on health care and some bipartisan efforts underway, sort of behind the scenes with some senators trying to push forward some fixes for the high cost of health care. Leader mcconnell has often said his Main Objective right now in the senate is to be in the personnel business and have the senate take on the confirmation of the president s nominees, but how important is it for these candidates that they are able to tackle some of these other issues and maybe try to make some progress on some of these issues, like guns and health care . Steven i think it is important for senators to show that they are individually being constructive, trying to find solutions on issues their constituents care about. I think the reality, with divided government, the house primarily seems to be focused on trying to put together a case for impeachment, democrats in the senate not wanting to get this president a win. The likelihood of getting major constructive legislation done on almost any topic will be very hard. That does not mean that senators should not try. I think there are points that people give for trying in this business, but it will be hard. And i think that one thing i like about leader mcconnell i have known him for many years is that he is realistic. Again, the chances for breakthrough legislation on these topics is fairly small, but the opportunity to move forward nominations, particularly on judges, is something you can do essentially unilaterally if you want to, so that is where he has been focusing his energy. Lisa what is the likelihood of a vote this fall on gun legislation, do you think that comes to pass or not so much . Steven i really dont know. Part of it will be where the white house lands. I think republicans on the hill will be looking for guidance there. The president is clearly trying to figure out where he would go on it. Depending on where the white house ends up, that may impact the dynamic of the issue, but at the end of the day i am just not sure the democrats in the house, who are really playing to their base of opposing this president , or democrats in the senate there will be a lot of resistance to giving the other than an extreme hard left gun control measure that republicans will not end up supporting. We should note, the reason you have known leader mcconnell for many years is that you have served as his chief of staff. To follow up on lisas question about nomination, the democrats point to the agenda of the Senate Majority leader and say, again, all we are doing is another judicial nomination. Does that strategy help or hurt your candidates and what can they argue back in their states, naming and confirming judges to the bench . Steven i have seen what many of our Senate Candidates are talking about, and they are talking about securing a judiciary that respects the rule of law, for conservatives, but even for people who are more moderate people in the government, they want a judiciary that respects the rule of law, defends the constitution. And they understand why the courts matter. Our base has a strong appreciation for the importance of the judiciary, so they feel like it is a positive accomplishment, the fact we have two new Supreme Court justices, that is something that is a positive talking point. And then with respect to individual issues, issues that matter back home most of our , members have stories they can tell that things they have gotten passed that meet local needs and issues. And then on the issues where there is contention and a relative lack of likelihood for progress, this is what we want to do, but this is what im fighting for, and i think that is what voters will expect to see. Lisa what is your message to donors . You are out there, you need to raise 190 million. When you are out there talking to folks who might be willing to give to your organization, what is your selling point when you try to get them to support your efforts to keep the Senate Republican . Steven a couple of things. We have been at this for a while. We started this in 2010, and we now continue the fight, but the main thing we talk about, especially in this election cycle, is it is vitally important we hold the senate. Assuming President Trump wins reelection. If he does, he will need the senate to be his line of defense, at least to confirm Supreme Court justices and to defend against a house that could be still in democratic hands. If we lose the white house, then the senate is the last bulwark of freedom. As far as our organization goes, we have low overhead. We are focused on mission. We have put maximum resources on target. Right now i would say that the donors are very, very receptive to that argument. I find they complete my sentences when i go in for the pitch. So far this year, to date, we have raised more money than we have raised in all of 2017, our last big record year. So we will do better than we have ever done before. Hopefully it continues into next year, but so far there has been a lot of receptivity to that argument of holding the senate. Where do you think the disconnect is where so many of these proposals coming from the house do have popular support, right . Some sort of response to gun violence legislation, some sort of response to getting money out of politics, fixing the health care system. We see polling that shows these are popular issues, yet your argument of being a bulwark against the house seems to resonate, at least in terms of your ability to raise money. Why that disconnect . Anden you have seen it other times republicans were , very productive in the house in the obama administration. They would pass bill after bill after bill. Many of them would be viewed as widely popular. The senate would stop from ever getting to obamas desk. But, you have to look at these issues in some detail. Hr 1 was an Election Security bill, but it was a grab bag of things. It weaponized the fec, voting age down to 16, paved the way for the District Of Columbia to become a state, which would create two new democratic senators. There that lot in republicans would find anathema and have nothing to do with Election Security and clearly partisan in intent. At the end of the day, they felt comfortable saying no to that. And then some of these other issues the question is whether , it is possible to bridge what is basically a partisan or gap on issues like immigration and gun violence, so we could do something that would be productive for the american people. I just dont know, setting aside where republicans are, i dont know if the democrats want to give this president a win on anything at this point, even if it helps to solve a problem. Susan can you talk about how the democrats will affect the ticket . You are probably looking at this array of candidates and how it may affect your candidates. Can you talk about that knowing who is out there and who may be the nominee for the democrats . Steven sure. Obviously, i dont get a vote in the primary, but my assumption is joe biden does not end up being the nominee, representing the past rather than the progressive future of this party. But whoever the nominee is, you are starting to see an accumulation of hard left policies, at least the policy primary is way to the left, and even after they pick their nominee, these policies will be enshrined somewhere and become part of the platform or part of what the democratic nominee has to say they Will Champion in order to have gotten the support of that progressive base. I think it is that policy environment that will be very useful for our side. I think we will be able to capitalize on issues like medicare for all and the Green New Deal and packing the Supreme Court and allowing felons to vote and decriminalizing the border. These are issues gaining steam on the democratic side, and with fairly widespread acceptance, not on every issue, but many of them, and i think it will be hard for him to run after they pick a nominee and have to appeal to an america that is still basically somewhere in the middle. Biden is a more moderate candidate and he has a medicare for all more like a public option. He is not going for that. Is he a candidate that would be more difficult for republicans to follow on the ticket, instead of Kamala Harris or a more liberal candidate . Would you prefer a more liberal candidate to get the nomination because that would allow your candidates to differentiate themselves from the agenda you just described . Steven a more liberal candidate would be easier to oppose and defeat in the president ial race. If it were somebody like joe biden, i think individual candidates could find a way to parry that. Particularly biden, who has a habit of saying nice things about republicans. I think there is a way to manage that, but at the end of the day, senate races are great because individual candidates can find their own voice, figure their own lane, how they talk about whoever that democratic nominee is, but certainly if there was a democrat who was nominated who had a very farleft record from a very farleft agenda, that would be better for anyone in our party. Lets go back to the senate and talk about the majority leader in his reelection efforts. He has become more of a National Figure with hashtags like moscow mitch, etc. Is he vulnerable, and what is the impact of his becoming more nationally known on his reelection efforts . Steven sure. The leader always runs as if he is vulnerable, and that is one key of success. He raises a huge amount of money, takes it seriously, takes any opponent seriously, even those that look like they are not doing very well, he bears down and runs a great reelection campaign, but the reason why he will end up being fine as he has in the past is that he really focuses a huge amount of his time and energy on the state, getting things done for the state. He actually goes home. He prefers to be in kentucky than washington, d. C. One of the traps that someone in National Leadership can fall into, and certainly eric cantor found this, is you start to focus so much on being that National Figure that you lose sight of what is going on in your home state or district. And also, sometimes people in your home state or districts assume you have forgotten about them. You have gone washington. You dont care about them. Leader mcconnell has spent a lot of time focusing on the state, and he is able to go back to the state and say i helped with this issue, and we made this happen, in lexington with the army depot that had a chemical weapons supply that needs to be dealt with. He solved that problem. So off all of the state he has stories he could tell. The people know he delivered for kentucky. He still cares about it and it is number one on his list. Will your group play in kentucky . Steven i think we may end up doing so. I think National Democrats will be so focused on this race, regardless of whether amy mcgrath ends up being a competitive candidate or not, i think it will be this temptation for democrats and progressives to pour money into this race, so we will need to match it. Does that indicate vulnerability . Steven no, it means it will be an expensive race. Democrats will spend money, even to support failure, and you cant let that go completely what is the most expensive race, which one . Where is most of your money going to go, which state . Greta and that will be the last question. Go ahead. Steven i think it is too early to know, but any of these races we have talked about or mentioned, colorado, North Carolina, arizona, kentucky, maine i dont know whether we will be in a state like georgia. I doubt we will be in texas, but we will certainly be in alabama. All of these states in the current political environment with super pacs, these are tens of millions of dollars of investment overall, and some of that will include us. Greta stephen law, president of the Senate Leadership fun, thank you for your time. Steven thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Greta we are back with our reporters. I want to ask both of you, what does the landscape look like for the senate in 2020 . Susan it is tough with some of these swing states, arizona, maine, colorado, those are real nailbiters that could go either way. You lose three seats, you are in big trouble. They have to depend on winning back alabama, which was an outlier Democratic Victory a couple of years ago, so it is touch and go for republicans, whether they will stay in the majority. If you have a democrat in the white house and they arent in the majority, you have a full victory for the party and they can march ahead with their agenda. So, this is a highstakes election for republicans in the senate. Lisa yeah, i think thats right. I think the interesting points, one, the amount of money they will be raising for the senate seats. Again, a lot of money. When you look at that map, they are really concerned about the states where republicans are now senators and theyre trying to hold onto those seats. There is not a lot of pickup opportunities out there for democrats, other than the alabama seat. He made mention of michigan seat but we dont really have a candidate there. Republican senators in colorado, North Carolina, arizona, are needing to defend those seats and as the guest told us, it doesnt look like they can depend a lot on the coattails of the president. The president is not necessarily popular in the states and while they certainly will be able to enjoy some support from President Trumps backers, they need to chart their own way at a time when the senate isnt doing a lot of legislating. The senate is really stopping the democratic agenda coming over from the house, and so the senators running for reelection really need to run on more parochial issues that they are able to do back home and their ability to stand as a block of the democratic agenda. Greta what do you think this fall looks like as heading into november the full swing of the 2020 election, what do you think the senate floor looks like . What is Mitch Mcconnells strategy . Susan there is a sudden desire to at least consider some guncontrol bill, and we will see where that goes. There is not a lot of room for compromise there, even though it sounds that way given what the president has said. People are still fairly entrenched to the point where it is very hard to get anything that will result in a compromise. So they may attempt that. We will see that this fall. They are always talking about addressing immigration. I dont think that will happen but they talk about trying to make that happen in the fall. Mostly what you will see happen is a lot of talk about these policy issues and basically a focus on trying to pass the spending bills because youve got the september 30 end of the fiscal year deadline. They are already behind on getting those appropriation bills done. They will focus on the must pass stuff and there will be noise about gun control legislation and immigration, trying to insert stuff into the spending bills. It is tough in an election year, even though we are not quite in it yet, it is only 2019 but they are getting earlier and earlier. It is very hard for them to do big policy issues the closer they get and this will be one major electionyear because it is a president ial election year. Lisa the other issue here, and our guest made the point, so much depends legislatively on what President Trump may want to do and President Trump often has shifting opinions on gun violence, solving some immigration issues. The senate has been working on a Bipartisan Health care proposal. Not a massive proposal, but some elements to improve the current situation. These are potentially workable but unless the president puts himself behind it, i dont see mitch mcconnell, the leader of the the republican leader of the senate sticking his neck out to have any votes on anything if the president isnt going to back up the republican senators and say he will sign something into law. Susan it is true what steve ross said about the democrats. They really arent going to hand a win to the president on any of these big issues because they are trying to win, themselves and they dont want to make it look like he is doing anything right when they have a chance to retake the white house. Greta what did you two make of stephen law saying their group will have to spend some of their money in kentucky when they are defending a lot of seats . Lisa we are seeing leader mcconnell has been a more lowkey leader. Hes not out there a lot on the shows. He doesnt even really say very much. He is often tightlipped in his views and has become a National Figure. I think democrats are eager to continue pretraining him as a National Figure. He has these nicknames. We were talking about the moscow mitch, the grim reaper. Some that he has given himself, some others have given to him. It is a chance for democrats to go after this seat, much like often happens to leaders. This will be a new environment for leader mcconnell, but he has won before and we will see how he does again. Susan it is always competitive in kentucky. Ive covered so many of his reelection bids, they always go after him hard and he has managed to prevail. Always a lot of money spent. They are dying to take him out in kentucky and as he said, this is about cash being spent by the democrats. They need to match that. They are not going to let democrats overspend them in kentucky and saturate the market because you can win that way, when you are spending money on campaign ads, television spots, you need to match the spending when you have a race as competitive as kentucky. Amy mcgrath is not really a big challenge to him yet but she could be if there is enough money for democrats. Greta you can go to the Washington Examiner for Susan Ferrechio and the Associated Press for lisa mascaro. Thank you for being with us both of you. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] tonight, on the communicators, cnbc cybersecurity reporter on her book, kingdom of lives kingdom of lies, about the world cybercrime. If we want to understand why all these things are happening to us, whether it is the exploitation of the algorithms that run twitter and facebook in order to help the Russian Intelligence Agency control an taking down big cities like baltimore and atlanta. We have to understand the people who are behind these things, and all of them are different. Tonight at 8 00 eastern, on cspan2. The house will be in order. For 40 years, see hand cspan has been dividing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court, and Public Policy events from washington dc and around the country. Created by cable in 1979, cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Next, a discussion about universities, and diversity, with law Professor John hugh and political commentator steve hayward. I just want to set the scene for our event today. Us about thek to administrative bloat and running theersities, aggravating problem of campus conformity, University Enrollment is already starting to decline because of demographic reasons, and of of the oberlinue the bakerypute where was awarded 44 Million Dollars in damages, which was a very exciting thing and the people at oberlin college