Transcripts For MSNBCW The Daily Rundown 20140728

This is the daily rundown. Lets get right to my first reads of the morning. Get ready for a three and a half month sprint to the finish. The 2014 midterms are just 99 days away. Voters nationwide will cast ballots in 36 senate races, 36 contests for governor and pick their representatives. In all 435 house districts. One thing thats striking so far, we still dont know for sure what this election will be about. Will republicans net six seats and win 2014s big prize, control of the u. S. Senate . For democrats, avoiding a gop wave and a total disaster might actually represent a small victory. Can democrats offset potential losses at the federal level by picking off some vulnerable republican governors . Given gop gains over the last few cycles it was always see as an advantage prospect but democrats have their own vulnerable incumbent governors to defend. Both the democrats and the republicans legitimately believe they are going to pick up a few seats in november. Somebody has got to be wrong, right . Today as we enter the campaigns final stretch, and make no mistake, august 1 is the new labor day when it comes to campaign politics. Well take a look at what to watch for in the days leading up to november 4th and how the Political Landscape looks the same in many ways but different than it did six months ago. First, a few things that have not changed over the past six months. Number one, the president remains unpopular. 41 approval rating. That number hasnt been over 45 since the government shutdown. It hasnt been over 44 in all of 2014. By the way, in the states hes even more unpopular. The president s unpopularity is matched by an equally if not more unpopular Republican Party. A 29 positive rating for the gop the last time we measured it and its been more than a year since the gop had a positive rating over 30 . Number three, when it comes to the senate, the Battle Ground continues to be tilted in the Republican Partys favor. Republicans now have at least ten, count them, ten real pickup opportunities. Democrats have just two. And finally, outside money. Its driving an explosion of ad spending as the New York Times reports this morning. Six times as many ads paid for by outside groups have already been aired in senate contents than were in the entire 2010 cycle. Overall ad spending is up nearly 70 from 2010 and its expected to break 2 billion. By the way, this is mostly because democrats are almost on par with republicans in the outside money game. But though the Overall National environment has not changed drastically over the past six months, some Campaign Variables have panned out differently than expected. Lets start with health care. Yes, its a drag on some 2014 democrats, but its not the dominating issue that some in washington might have predicted six months ago. Still, its a chance to pop back up in the fall but well see. According to data crunched by the cook political report, health care attack ads are still 24 of all general election broadcast spots. So after slowing in the late spring and early summer, those numbers are starting to tick back up again. Thats not 24 of republican ads, by the way, its a quarter of all general election ads, so some democrats too. Fewer ads overall are aired in the midsummer and groups like americans for prosperity, the koch group and crossroads have the money to stay on the air. Democrats feel good about the fact that their candidates have survived a sixmonth onslaught in the issue and believe theres nothing much new to throw at them. 2014 has been defined a a few things. Democrats believe the hobby lobby decision was a game changer in their favor, raising the profile of the contraception issue in the fall which they hope will draw single women to the polls in states where it can make a difference. In our state polls this month we saw a big gender gap. Democrats led across the board among women. Doubledigit leads in places. But will unmarried women turn out . In a recent memo, democratic pollster Stan Greenberg concluded that almost onethird of the unmarried women who voted in 2012 wont come to the polls in 2014, writing that what he calls the rising american electorate or obamas 2012 coalition and particularly unmarried women are underperforming even 2010 margins, which was a terrible year for the democrats. Immigration has been a powerful issue in republican primaries, just ask eric cantor. Its still not clear who the issue favors in the fall. Neither party really wants to deal with it in the fall. Republicans will have trouble defending the immigration bills collapse and will be hamstrung trying to talk about the issue to conservatives and middle of the road voters at the same time. Then again, does the crisis of undocumented kids on the border ding the president on competency and end up hurting democrats on that score . Its not just the issue terrain that shifted slightly. Six months ago it looked like a dpaungt let of primaries could slow momentum as they did in 2010 and 2012. Instead, so far and theres still kansas to come, those challengers from the right have barely made a ripple. Two gop incumbents are still threatened, kansas pat roberts and lamar alexander. Very few serious Tea Party Challengers have emerged on the house side. Heres another variable not necessarily predictable, democrats are beating the gop in the money race. Being the minority in the house may be the least powerful position in washington, but somehow they have outraised 121 million to 101 so far. Nancy pelosi has raised more than 35 of that, traveling to 58 cities this cycle according to the New York Times. That money is helping democrats remain competitive. Another advantage, theres a number of famous political names, as National Journal points out. Democrats in seven of the nine senate races that the koch report makes at tossup come with a family with history in that state or federal politics. Think mark pryor to mark begich who ran this ad featuring his late father. You have Mary Landrieu running on political dynasties. Theres of course georgias jason carter, grandson of jimmy, running for governor. And today Florida House candidate gwen graham who both agree is the democrats top 2014 recruit is out with an ad starring her famous political father, bob graham who worked 408 different jobs over 30 years as a way to connect with his constituents. Im gwen graham and dad and i approve this message. I remember when my dad starred the work days. I watched him change, and change in terms of his understanding of people. Work days keep you in touch with the people most affected by what you do. One more variable that we predicted six months ago and now we are seeing the data to confirm it. The publics disgust at washington and their elected leaders is translating into fewer votes. As we told you last week, only 18 million out of the 123 million americans eligible to vote have bothered to do so so far in primaries. Overall primary turnout is down a whopping 18 in 2010 to less than 15 overall. Primary turnout was up in 94, up in 2006 and up in 2010. Those were wave years all of them, for one party or the other. So does a downturn mean no wave . But theres a lot of evidence, theres a lot of evidence that we wont see a wave this year in the trend that weve seen over the last four cycles of vote total rising wont repeat itself in the fall. Heres the thing, republicans dont need a wave election to win control of the senate. Lets take a look at where things stand. They need to net just six sets. Three are pretty much guaranteed pickups. In West Virginia, south dakota and the montana seat thats currently held by appointed senator john walsh. The plagiarism last week pretty much ended any chance that he had of making that race competitive. By the way, there are democrats that believe natalie tenant in West Virginia has one more shot at making this competitive. Well see, her ad Campaign Starts soon. Then there are the four endangered red state democrats weve been focused on. Arc louisiana, louisiana, North Carolina and and alaska. Theres no doubt theyre still at risk but all four of them have kept it close. All four ended june with more cash on hand their their republican opponents. It explains why this midterm doesnt meal like 10 or 06. But heres the problem for democrats. States that didnt look competitive for the gop six months ago are now real barn burners. Some of the states in this blue state Battle Grounds, New Hampshire, oregon, even virginia, still heavily favor the democrats, but you never know. Six months ago iowas bruce braley looked like the favorite but on friday he quietly shook up his Campaign Team a month ago under pressure from national democrats. Its just the latest blow to a campaign filled with a string of unforced errors by the candidate. Even democrats who are running ahead, like mark warner, are clearly nervous about this political environment. That was clear from his surprisingly aggressive debate performance in the campaigns first debate with ed gillespie on saturday. He spent his entire career as a d. C. Lobbyist and a partisan operative. He views every issue through the lens of republicans versus democrats. He even went on tv and called himself a partisan warrior. His words, not mine. If senator warner had been the senator he said he was going to be, i wouldnt have 47 of his eformer donors giving to me because of their frustration with his time in the senate. Look, governor warner wouldnt recognize senator warner today. Ouch. When it comes to the democrats pickup option it is kentucky and georgia. Republicans avoided Tea Party Candidates in both states, but they still havent shaken their democratic opponents. Democrats believe they can compete in both places. Bill clinton will campaign for Alison Grimes next week in eastern kentucky. On the house front both parties agree they are competing over a very narrow playing field. This isnt about whether republicans are going to hold the house, its pretty much a given that they will. The question is what is their majority going to look like and what are the pickup seats going to look like. Republicans hold 234 seats in the house. They have set themselves a goal of 245 total, meaning they would like to net 11 to proclaim a good night for them. Youll notice its a pretty good night for the republicans if gop candidates are knocking off democratic incumbents in places like illinois, arizona, minnesota, california and perhaps new york where the lions share of their targets are this year. Democrats believe theyll pick up seats. If they can, theyll do well in places like virginia, new jersey, florida, iowa and colorado, all places theyre targeting. First Lady Michelle obama implores democrats to turn out in a new video that the dccc has out. When it comes to the midterm elections this november, we need you to be as passionate and as hungry as you were back in 2008 and 2012. When it comes to the gubernatorial map given that 22 republican seats and just 14 democratic seats are up for grabs, it looked like when the cycle began, advantage d. Democrats have set their sights on defeating the republican governors who rode some of the tea party coat tails in 2010. Red state kansas is somehow competitive for Sam Brownback and wisconsins scott walker looks no better or worse than he did six months ago, maybe even a little worse out. Ohios john kassick in better shape. John hickenlooper also remains vulnerable. And of course theres florida, the most expensive race in the country on any level. Heres the big question for the next 99 days, though. In the end what is the fall election going to be about . Republicans want to make it about president obama, but the question is what about obama . Is it health care, the economy, the president s leadership overseas . Democrats want 2014 to be about republican obstruction and are doing their best to pointing their finger at congress. Neither party has come up with one signature defining issue which has the power to dominate this election and thats probably the most remarkable nondevelopment over the first seven months of this election cycle. Much more on the 99day beyonddowbeyon countdown. Well have a look at the nine races we believe are important and plus four wild cards. First well go to the middle east. Shelling subsides over gaza city but diplomatic tensions are rising. By the way, is john kerry lost the confidence of the Israeli Government . Theres something going on here between those two sides. Meanwhile, todays politics planner. Well hear from the u. N. Security council after a 10 00 a. M. Meeting. And the trial of former Virginia Governor Bob Mcdonnell starts this morning. Its jury selection so there wont be any big developments today other than that. Youre watching the daily rundown only on msnbc. Nineteen years ago, we thought, wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad . So we gave people the power of the review. And now angies list is revolutionizing local service again. You can easily buy and Schedule Services from toprated providers. Conveniently stay up to date on progress. And effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. Visit angieslist. Com today. Could help your business didavoid hours of delaynd test caused by slow internet from the phone company . Thats enough time to record a memo. Idea for sales giveaway. Return a call. Sign a contract. Pick a tie. Take a break with mr. Duck. Practice up for the business trip. Fly to florida. Win an award. Close a deal. Hire an intern. And still have time to spare. Go to comcastbusiness. Com checkyourspeed if we cant offer faster speeds or save you money well give you 150. Comcast business. Built for business. The brief break from the fighting is over in the middle east and theres no sign of a durable ceasefire, despite heavy international pressure. Today is a holy day in islam, marking the end of ramadan, so israel and hamas fighters had stopped rocket attacks overnight. There was sporadic fighting this morning. The Israeli Military says it carried out three air strikes on gaza, targeting hamas rocket launchers and infrastructure. Heres where the death toll now stands. 1,035 palestinians, 43 israeli troops and three israeli civilians just since july 8th. With the casualties mounting, the u. N. Security Council Called a midnight meeting. Members called for an immediate an unconditional humanitarian ceasefire. A longer lasting ceasefire deal could be tough. Hamas says it wants israel to release palestinian prisoners. Israel wants to remove all of the rockets from gaza. The u. N. Chief said an hour ago that all parties in the gaza conflict expressed serious interest in trying another temporary humanitarian truce. Prime minister netanyahu says israel has complied with all of the truces and blames hamas for breaking them. We have accepted five ceasefires, acted upon them. Hamas has rejected every single one of them, violated them, including two humanitarian sies fi ceasefires. Now hamas is suggesting a ceasefire and believe it or not, david, they have even violated their own ceasefire. So they continue to fire at us and well take the necessary action to protect ourselves. Meantime the leader of hamas calls jews in israel occupiers. Translator we are not fanatics, we are not fundamentalists, we do not actually fight the jews because they are jews per se. We do not fight any other races. We might the occupiers on the country. We actually respect the religious people. But he refused to acknowledge the idea that israel is a jewish state. Yesterday president obama called Prime Minister netanyahu expressing a, quote, growing concern about casualties on both sides. Nbcs Martin Fletcher has more from tel aviv. Martin, it seems to be over the weekend, and particularly there is this report about a ceasefire deal that john kerry purportedly had been floating around. It seems to me that the communication gap between kerry and netanyahu is growing, not shrinking. Reporter chuck, youre a master of understatement. There was a shocking reaction from israeli leaders who began leaking like crazy to the israeli media when they got the proposal, the truce proposal from kerry. I mean they were really in shock and thats why it was unanimously rejected, even though there are members of the cabinet who want a ceasefire right away, they rejected that proposal unanimously. They say that kerrys proposal essentially took the turkish qatari hamas proposal and made it his own, ignoring the israeli plo egyptian proposal and that really upset the israelis. They say, look, kerry has taken the side of hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and turkey and qatar against us, the ally. So they were shocked and rejected it, which was strange because the one thing thats pretty clear israel wants is a ceasefire, but they were put in the position of rejecting it. If at this point what are we looking at today . Now we hear john kerry talking about a series of temporary truces, essentially buying time. Is that something that netanyahu secretly wants, because he still wants to finish the military mission which in this case is getting rid of the tunnels . Reporter absolutely. The longer the truce will last the better it is for israels military because that gives him time to continue looking for and destroying the secret Tunnel Network that hamas built leading from gaza into israel. Bear in mind that is a static operation. When they find the tunnel, the combat engineers go in. Theyre surrounded by fighting troops who have to defend them and theyre only in one place so that makes them good targets. If they can do that with no fighting going on around them, thats much better for israel. Thats one reason that israel is in favor of a truce. But personally, im optimistic about this. This kind of ceasefire for 12 hours and 4 hours and another 12 hours, its progress. At least it stops the killing in gaza and the attacks on israel and hopefully kerry and others can build on that to achieve a longer lasting ceasefire. Thats certainly what the hope is. All right, martin in tel aviv for us. Thanks very much. Now lets turn to ayman mohyeldin. He is in gaza. Ayman, a couple of things. Number one, what is what are you seeing as far as the sporadic fighting thats been taking place over the last few hours . Well, we have a sense that the fighting is concentrated in a few pockets in gaza, predominantly in the northern part of the territory. Now palestinian militant sources from the various factions here say they have been engaged in some battles with Israeli Ground forces in those areas. Over the past several days we know the Israeli Ground forces that have pushed in all across the eastern part of the territory destroying some of those tunnels, trying to destroy some of those tunnels have been coming under attack. That is a condition of the palestinians if there is to be a durable ceasefire that israel will have to withdraw entirely from the gaza strip. This is something we talked about, that 40 of gaza is a nogo area. Certainly that is going to be a major demand of the palestinian factions. You probably heard the shelling just a few minutes ago. That has been a consistent sound and we have been hearing that with the same intensity weve heard over the past few days but nonetheless it does continue on this first day of the holy holiday. What do the remarks by mr. Marshall, who is the head of hamas, what do they mean as far as whether this is a setback to potential negotiations between the israelis and hamas . Well, actually in the context of this ongoing struggle, its an attempt to reframe the narrative. Oftentimes particularly in the west hamas is portrayed as a terrorist organization compared to other terrorist organizations that are cited, boko haram and others. That is something hamas has always distinguished itself from. They want to make it very clear they are simply fighting an occupation, a military occupation in their land and that is what he is trying to say. We are not fighting the jewish people, we are fighting israel which is occupying the land. Ayman mohyeldin, thanks very much. We had planned to talk to the israeli ambassador, the ambassador here in the United States but he unfortunately had a change in his schedule and had to cancel. Joining me now is the executive director of the Palestine Center in washington. So the series of trusces, what are you hearing on the ground . Are you optimistic that a truce can be abided by 12 hours at a time . Obviously to get anything lasting you need Significant International intervention and pressure, particularly on the israeli side because they really retain the monopoly on the use of force here and we see that displayed. We see that in the casualty count as well with over 1,000 palestinians now having been killed, the majority of whom are civilians. But i think theres something very interesting going on here between the israelis and the americans, which really says a lot about what the israeli intentions are on the ground. There was a very deliberate attempt by the Israeli Government to marginalize john kerry and we saw that in the last few days. The secretary came out with very strong pushback against some of the leaks that were made. I think its very clear that what the israelis attempted to do with that is to keep john kerry and the americans, their strongest allies in this, at bay as they are undertaking the expanded campaign in the gaza strip. Right now we see john kerry live at the start of, i believe, a youth town hall thats taking place for Young African leaders thats taking place here in washington. President obama will be speaking at it later. The comments by mr. Marshall when it comes to israel and hamas intentions, that doesnt seem to be any way to convince the israelis that hamas wants peace. I think if you look at what he said, he made a very clear distinction, which is one that is often misunderstood here in the United States about what the intentions of hamas and other groups in the palestinian territory are. He said we have nothing against jews as jews per se. Our issue is with the israeli occupation. And so they want to frame this very clearly as resistance to a Foreign Military occupation, not to members of a particular religion. But he didnt recognize israels right to exist. No, he didnt recognize israels right to exist. Even though other palestinians have, what i think people in hamas and other factions have seen is that this recognition of israels right to exist when not reciprocated actually does not lead to any positive results, so they are very hesitant to do Something Like that without any reciprocation of palestines right to exist, for example. Well, when it comes to hamas, is it better for the United States to be using egypt as a gobetween or qatar and turkey . Well, the geographic reality is egypt borders gaza. Theres no way around that. So the egyptians are going to have to be involved somehow, but theres a complete lack of trust between hamas and the Egyptian Government now. But its not just hamas and gaza. Youre talking about a variety of different factions that span the political spectrum, from nationalists to islamists to leftists as well who are secular. So the issue here is not just about one political party, but its really about a group of people under this siege who are asking for terms in a ceasefire that is going to bring some sort of relief to the civilian population on the ground. Ive got to leave it there. I appreciate you bringing a perspective here. Thanks for having me. Up next, a plan to overhaul the va actually moves forward, believe it or not. Congress might do something before it leaves. Plus a trial to test the limits of political corruption. Former Virginia Governor Bob Mcdonnell and his wife head to court. First the trivia question, when was the last time wisconsin voted for a republican president ial candidate . The answer and more is coming up on tdr. My motheits delicious. Toffee in the world. So now weve turned her toffee into a business. My goal was to take an idea and make it happen. Im janet long and i formed my Toffee Company through legalzoom. I never really thought i would make money doing what i love. 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All of this, there was massive bipartisan agreement in both houses and it was shocking they couldnt come together with just days to go before recess. Meanwhile its time for our first number in todays data bank. Five weeks. Thats how long former governor Bob Mcdonnells trial is expected to last. The governors trial begins in richmond. Mcdonnell and his wife, maureen, were indicted on 14 charges including accepting over 165,000 in gifts and loans. If convicted, the couple could face decades in prison. Up next, hundreds of races but only a few that will determine whos in charge on capitol hill. With 99 days to go, well tell you which midterm matchups you need to watch. Ive got a great round table to mess around with on this. Dont miss this one. 180 seconds, stay with us, well be back. Ll only give you 37thousand to replace it. Depreciation they claim. How can my car depreciate before its first oil change . You ask. Maybe the better question is, why do you have that Insurance Company . 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Who would you rather be at this point in time. Were giving you an out so when you get the complaint phone call you can say dan balz, colorado pretty much the only swing state thats in play and could maybe offer a tiny hint of 2016. Yeah, it is. Colorado has always been to me one of the most interesting states in the country for a couple of reasons. One is the shifting demographics. Two is just the way it swings. You know, it went democratic heavily after being republican for a long time, now maybe its swinging back a little bit. We know that the governor could have a race, john hickenlooper, and the senate is a real tight race. I think cory gardner is one of the better candidates the republicans have found. I think you still have to give the democrats a slight edge in that. Who would you rather be, udall or gardner. I would rather be udall. Republicans do love their incumbents. Lets go to michigan here, nathan. An open seat in many ways. Six months ago democrats felt relatively confident. A little reason to change . Theres some uncertainty, i think theres more confidence now. Id rather be congressman gary peters because just looking historically republicans have been able to get over except for spence abrahams win. But they dont have to win michigan in order to get to the majority . Any disagreement there . No. Sort of a unanimous view on that one. Lets move to iowa, amy. This is probably there is no race that has sort of changed more in the last six months than iowa. Right. This was supposed to be an easy hold. This is tom harkins seat. Bruce braley was the candidate everybody united behind. Joni ernst has turned out to be a very good candidate, bruce braley not so good, having a lot of troubles. When we talk about colorado is a swing state, so is iowa. Lets not forget that iowa too has gone back and forth, its really more of a purple state. If i were republicans i would much rather be focusing on states that have open seats rather than trying to beat some of these incumbents. Iowa always looks more democratic but it really is a tipping pointing. Who would you rather be . I dont know on that one. Terry branstad is still focused on making this a big year. Bral echt y has been on the defensive a number of times. Democrats are about to unload on joni ernst, well see how she holds up. Lets move now to arkansas, amy walter. Some thought if we were going to have a republican wave this would be off the table but its not off the table. Is that a good sign for democrats . I guess so. Look, i think arkansas we always put into the category of lets just sort of put that maybe not in the safe republican but leaning republican and worry about all these other states. And you still feel that way . Yeah. If you look at the last few polls, tom cotton, very slight lead. Nathan . I think at this point id rather be tom cotton. I do too. The numbers, you just dont know how pryor gets to 50. I think theres one caveat which a democrat indicated over the weekend to me and that is ground game. Theres never been a democratic effort to really do a ground game in arkansas. And they have made a real one. In all of these states. So thats one caveat on the race. Alaska, nathan. This has been is there a better democratic incumbent run campaign . Even some republicans are praising his campaign but talking about the democratic ground game, i was talking to a republican up there last week and there are 52 democratic operatives devoted solely to rural alaskaville annuals. The native alaskan vote. What does that tell you . Well get through the primary, see who it is and there will we some consolidation not knowing up in the polls right now. Weve got to remember the third party candidate. This is a place where 4 , 5 , 6 , mark begich doesnt have to get to 50 to win this thing. North carolina the other swing state thats sort of in the competitive battleground. In a sense i know their mega race, because of all of the money thats already gone into that race, you know, i think whats been interesting is that the republicans have unloaded on hagan earlier this year and she still held in there. Thom tillis has had problems because of the unpopularity of the legislature. I think at this point its still its clearly very much a tossup. I would not i think hagan is in a slightly better position, but thats a tough one. I feel that way too and the libertarian candidate. Low to midsingle digits. Lets move to louisiana. Amy, i go to you because we know charlie, your boss i feel like the cassidy campaign has decided theyre playing for the runoff. Thats right. Is that a mistake . Well, you mean should he be more aggressive right now . More aggressive going for the run in november. If you play for the runoff, you may not get there . He may not be the only one making that decision. You still have outside groups that are clearly trying to do that. Look, he has to define himself, thats part of the problem. Nobody knows who he is. Hes just a standin right now for a generic republican. And hes allowed it to be that way and thats what i dont quite get. It all seems to be about a runoff but who knows what the runoff looks like. Lets go to our two republican races. Georgia, nathan, david purdue, i guess if you say democrats would have picked purdue over kingston but slightly. Theres enough to shoot at no matter if kingston or perdue. I think were in this postprimary phase. I think it will get there but kind of similar to joni ernst in iowa. When Michelle Nunn comes under more scrutiny, well see how she holds up. Do you buy into Michelle Nunn . Possible but i think that state is hard to democrats. Lets go to kentucky. This race hasnt moved in six months, and i think there were some republicans who thought they might have a slight lead by now and they dont and that has them a little bit more nervous. They should be nervous. Hes been unpopular. Mitch mcconnell has been unpopular all the way through this. Shes holding up reasonably well. Shes raising a lot of money. I think this one obviously goes down to election night. They dont want to have to make a decision. Oh, lets just have we have to make it in november but i dont want to have to say now. If there wasnt an unpap lar obama, mcconnell would be dead in the water, wouldnt he . The saving grace, he runs for reelection in kentucky and not nevada or colorado. Now the wild card is here and i go, which is New Hampshire, virginia, oregon, kansas. You guys get to pick one you think is more likely to become competitive come november. Dan, where do you lie on this . Any of them . I dont buy virginia yet but i think virginia will tighten because its a close state. I dont buy New Hampshire yet. But that could that likely will close from where it is now. But i think Jeanne Shaheen knows that state so well and knows ground operations so well, so at this point i dont see any of those quite coming into play. Why do i think heres a bet ive thought about making. Why did you not put minnesota on there . Do you think thats more likely to pop than these four . That to me would be a much more interesting race to watch simply because its been so under the radar rather than these ones where you have it seems like its not fully there, though. I dont think i dont think i dont like buying any of them right now but if the president s popularity suffers even more and theres more drag, i think you see all of them come in or none of them come into play. Kansas is the one weird wild card in there and that is all about the pat roberts primary, how much trouble is he in. I assume he is no longer allowed to do talk radio, is that right . His campaign doesnt allow interviews. Other than that, thats something that you do. Kansas, the weirdest state in the union right now politically. Although it makes some sense. The reason you have so many of those republican governors, the ones in trouble, its about them more than it is about the environment. In this case Sam Brownback the fights hes picked with his own party and the decisions he made on tax cuts and education. But the other thing about kansas is there has been a battle inside the Republican Party since bob dole stepped down as majority leader when he ran for president and it continues to play out. And this is why something could set off. This is awesome. We could have done this for much longer. Well bring you back into it again, i promise. Up next, the state known for cheese is known for out of the box political thinking. The tdr 50 train rolls into wisconsin this week. 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Its 1984, which is the last time wisconsin voted for a republican president ial nominee. We call it a swing state every cycle and yet think about that. Congratulations to todays winner, steven cename. Well be right back. Vo this is the summer. The summer that summers from here on will be compared to. So get out there, and get the best price guaranteed. Find it for less and well match it and give you 50 toward your next trip. Expedia. Find yours. Live in the same communities that we serve. People here know that our operations have an impact locally. Were using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. The trucks are reliable, thats good for business. But they also reduce emissions, and thats good for everyone. It makes me feel very good about the future of our company. Say cheese were focussing our tdr 50 lens this week on wisconsin. Its a state known that is producing cheese and a lot of political change. Joe mccarthy may be wisconsins most infamous senator. The state has a history of those who did more than a witch hunt on capitol hill. You can trace wisconsins history as a reform to the governor Robert Lafayette who was elected after campaigning on on tax reform and corporate regulation. He took his talent and progressive eye doideals to con. It focussed. On efficient and effective government. Was labelled the wisconsin idea. His independence led to a split within the Republican Party. Created a schism not unlike the one created 100 years later. He ultimately ran for president in 1924. Won throughout the 20th century wisconsin never shied away from an out of the box style way of political thinking. Milwaukee elected three socialist mayors. And the progressive ideal that began with lafollete were picked up by democrats. Then william. He made his name crusading against government waste for more than 30 years. Gaylord nelson served as senator for 22 years known for the environmental work. He later founded earth day. Russ fine gold put the independent minded lawmaker that criticized both parties. Its not to say that wisconsin only backs democrats. But tends to side with lawmakers that push the envelope. Tommy thompson served for 14 years. Turned out to be a model for a federal welfare program. Current senator ron johnson was described as a face of the tea party when he emerged four years ago. Then he had congressman paul ryan consistently been a leading voice on fiscal issues since being elected at age 28. The states tolerance for change was pushed to the breaking point. When scott walker parked public outrage with his plan that called for more Union Contributions to benefit and curb on collective bargaining. Walker survived a recall effort that became the most expensive election in state history. He has the hands full this year in the reelection bid against democratic challenger mary berg. Its been a dead heat for months. Burke would be a somewhat surprising choice outside a local school board. She never held elected office. Picking a candidate somewhat out the box has never been a problem for wisconsin. Learn more on the badger state including mary burke. Shell be on the show tomorrow. Dont miss our report on excellent editing tools like the van that white veto. Its a fun week delving in on wisconsin. Coming up next jose diazbalart drilling down on the week of immigration debates. Im meteorologist bill karins. On this monday well have a thankfully quieter day than sunday with the crazy weather and the bad thunderstorms. Well have strong storms today but shouldnt have as many tornados or hail report. North new england at risk for heavy storms today. Albany all the way to boston. Have a great day oom is ready. So he knows exactly when he can prep for his presentation. And when steve is perfectly prepped, ya know what he brings . And thats how youll increase market share. Any questions . Can i get an a, steve . 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This time next week, Congress Members lch watching the show from home