Having a giggleinducing last name like that is probably both a blessing and a curse. I mean, sure, just like they have since elementary school, people make fun, they point it out to their friends when they see your name, but its also a very memorable name. They also remember your name. When youre running for Public Office people remembering your name is a really important thing. I would say name recognition in this case is an asset but his name is mr. Butt, so i dont want to say asset. Sorry. In any case, nobody has to call him mr. Butt any more because now what you should call him is mr. Mayor. Last night, against all the odds in the world, tom butt was elected mayor of richmond, california, working class, blue collar city just northeast of San Francisco where the Oil Company Chevron has operated a huge and sometimes troubled refinery for over a century now. A couple years ago there was a huge explosion and fire at the richmond refinery that sent more than 15,000 local people to the hospital. And if you didnt like the time in 2012 when it caught fire in blew up, there was also the time it caught fire and blew up in 1999. And if you didnt like the time in 1999 when it caught fire and blew up, there was also the time in 1989 when it caught fire and blew up. That chevron refinery in richmond, california, has been kind of a nightmare. When the latest explosion and fire and thousands of people going to the hospital disaster happened there a couple of years ago the city council and the mayor in that little city, in the more impoverished part in of the San Francisco bay area, folks in that little city, their elected officials decided they wanted more assurances from chevron. They wanted more safety precautions. They did not just want to wait for this refinery to catch fire and blow up again in their little town. The mayor and the city council started pushing chevron. So chevron decided that they would buy themselves a new mayor and a new city council in that town. Buoyed by the supreme courts decision that corporations can spend infinitely not only on federal elections but also on little local elections anywhere in the country, the giant Oil Company Chevron decided that they would spend infinitely in richmond. They would spend infinitely to elect their own preferred slate of prochevron city counselors in richmond and a new prochevron mayor in richmond. They dumped more than 3 million into the little local elections in this town to try to elect three new city counsellors and to elect their own preferred candidate over tom butt. Tom butt raised Something Like 40,000 for his campaign as of midoctober. Chevron dumped more than 3 million into that town to defeat him. And last night tom butt won. He beat chevron. All three of the city counselors who chevron spent all those millions of dollars to defeat, they all won. Chevron has more than 220 billion in revenue last year. Theyre one of the largest and richest corporations ever in the history of corporations. Chevron spent millions of dollars to buy themselves their own little City Government in this small town. Last night their opponents had no way to compete monetarily with that. And nevertheless, those little davids fighting that goliath, they whomped chevron in every single race in the city that chevron was trying to buy. And now richmond is going to have a mayor who, one of the Richest Companies on the history of the earth, has emphatically not bought and paid for and his name is tom butt. And that happens last night. That happened last night. A lot happened last night. Last night voters in the deep, deep red state of nebraska had a chance to vote on whether to raise the minimum wage. They voted yes by an 18 point margin. In alaska they voted to raise the minimum wage by a 38 point margin, in arkansas, 32 points, even in south dakota they voted. Two states where the antiabortion legislation, joni ernst in iowa, cory gardner, thom tillis, tom cotton, steve daines, they all support personhood that would ban all abortion in every circumstance and some popular forms of contraception as well. But voters last night were asked directly in two states if they wanted to vote for a personhood law statewide. In north dakota it lost by 28 points. In colorado, the numbers are still coming in, but so far it is losing by 30 points. Personhood lost by a huge margin in both states where people had a chance to vote on it. Last night voters in two states and in washington, d. C. , also had a chance to vote to legalize marijuana for recreational use, like colorado and in 2012 and Washington State. In oregon they voted to legalize pot in oregon and it won by 12 points. In alaska they voted on it there and it won by 4 points. In washington, d. C. , legalizing pot won by 37 points. In four place last night there was a measure on the ballot to give people paid sick leave from work. It was on the ballot statewide in massachusetts, it was also on the ballot in oakland, california, trenton new jersey, and montclaire, new jersey. Passed in all four of those places. When rhode island elected Gina Raimondo won, it was first time that rhode island had elected a woman governor and a democratic governor in two decades. In massachusetts, it hit 100 straight Congressional Elections in which the state has elected democrats to go to congress. The massachusetts democrat who had the hardest fight on his hand last night but he still won was iraq war veteran seth molton who volunteered for multiple missions in iraq despite his opposition to the iraq war. The boston globe caught him not being fully truthful with voters about his war record. What he didnt tell voters was about the medals he had won for bravery and heroism during his time in combat. He didnt think thats the sort of thing you should brag about, so he didnt bring it up. Seth moulton is now a congressman from massachusettss 6th district. In Washington State last night voters decided they would not be bamboozled by the gun lobby. They voted in Washington State last night that you should have to have a background check if you want to buy a gun. They voted for background checks and they voted against another measure that was purposely put on the ballot to confuse people which would have banned the same background checks that the state just agreed to pass. Washington state voters were not bamboozled. Remember our old friend scott brown . He lost the Massachusetts Senate seat to Elizabeth Warren two years ago then he moved north to his Vacation Home to try to run again for the senate from a different state. He lost last night. First person in u. S. History to lose two United States senate seats to two different women, scott brown, feminist icon. New hampshire reelected senator Jeanne Shaheen over scott brown last night. At the same time they reelected their democratic governor who is also a woman. After some of the worst gun massacres in our nations history, after newtown and after the aurora, colorado, Movie Theater massacre, the governors in the two states where those tragedies happened, the governors in those two states, in colorado and connecticut, they defied the gun lobby. Those two governors after those incidents they stepped up to create background checks for gun sales in their states and to pass other sort of lowest common denominator gun safety laws. The gun lobby went nuts. This gun lobby swore revenge. It screamed that it would be the end of each of those governors. Last night even on a huge night for republicans including in the governors races last night governor John Hicken Looper and malloy both were reelected last night. In colorado, who john hicken lopper beat was the guy who said he wanted to ban the iud. Because in his mind certain kinds of Birth Control make you basically a walking, talking abortion clinic. Youre having abortions constantly. Bob beauprez wanted to ban it. John hickenlooper beat him last night. In alaska in an effort to beat republican governor sean parnell, the democrat and the independent who had been splitting the vote decided in september that they would set aside their differences and instead run together as a unity ticket. A unity independent and democratic ticket against the incumbent republican. Now, nbc news has not yet projected a winner in that alaska governors race but with 73 of the vote in, the independent and democrat unity ticket is ahead there by roughly 1 at this point. For First Time Ever last night the Republican Party elected a black republican woman to go to congress. For First Time Since the post civil war reconstruction era, a state in the deep south voted to elect an africanamerican senator in South Carolina republican tim scott. West virginia sent its first ever woman to the senate. Iowa sent its first woman to either house of Congress Last night. Seriously, iowa . In San Francisco they voted to raise the local minimum wage to 15 an hour and the sky did not fall. In nebraska, the aforementioned deep, deep red state of nebraska, a republican incumbent congressman there ran an ad that blamed his democratic opponent for the murders committed by this tattooed face guy. It was the Willie Horton ad but worse. That Republican Congressman who ran that ad in nebraska, he lost his seat last might in nebraska. Republican lee terry lost his seat. Hell be replaced by a nebraska democrat named brad ashford. Here is my favorite what does that mean development from last night. If rand paul wants to run for president in 2016, rand paul better be sure hes going to win because apparently hes going to have to give up his seat in the United States senate if he wants to do that. Republicans in the last few years have taken over basically all of the state legislative chambers in the south except for kentucky. In kentucky the house is still held by democrats. Kentucky state law right now says you cant run for two federal offices at the same time. Rand paul was first elected to the senate in 2010, that means his seat will be up in 2016. 2016 is also the year he wants to run for another federal office. He also wants to run for president of the United States. Under kentucky law, he cannot do both. Cant run for both at once. The democrats in charge of the kentucky state house have said they have no intention of changing that state law just so rand paul can have the job security of keeping his senate seat while he also runs for president. Republicans thought they would win that last state legislative chamber in the house they thought they would take the Kentucky House away from the democrats. They want to do that for a million reasons. But rand paul needs them to take the house. But last night the Kentucky House stayed democratic. Part of the makeup was unchanged overall in last nights elections. The democrats are still in charge of that chamber. And however much you agree or disagree with all the beltway gushing over how interesting rand paul is, the decision that rand paul now has to make about giving up his senate seat if he really does want to run for president , that really is the first truly inarguably interesting thing about the prospect of rand paul running for president. Or maybe not running for president. And that just happened last night. That all just happened last night. And i think thats it. In terms of straws to grasp. Silver linings to spy in the clouds if you are not a republican and youre trying to figure out what those Election Results mean last night. I think what i just gave you is the entire universe of things that just happened in the election last night that are not about the republicans winning almost everything and everywhere they wanted to win. It is possible theres like a democrat somewhere who got a nice call from her mom last night or maybe somebody somewhere found a dollar on the sidewalk. I might have missed a micron of the republican Silver Lining in last nights Election Results but what i just ran down, i think thats it. Well, i should say theres this. Look, these three panda siblings did just turn 100 days old today. That happened today, too. And look, theyre really sleepy, and they love each other and theyre lock, theyre touching. Theyre bushy little hundreddayold pandas now. Look, that happened. Thats true. Aside from that, which has nothing to do with politics, you know exactly what happened last night. A big republican singlenote win in the Midterm Elections. Yes, there were a few things that broke pattern. Tom butt in richmond and all the rest of it, right . But aside from that list that i just did, what happened last night is clear and its big. And now is when the really fun part begins because it is all change in washington as of last night, all change for the republicans and the democrats. All change in terms of what we have been watching unfold and covering here in the News Business for the last several years, all change. And there are a million different ways this could go from here. About to get very, very unpredictable in our national politics. And unpredictable is always fascinating to watch. The first surprise has started already happening today. And that storys next. Then theres trusting your vehicle maintenance to ford service confidence. Our expertise, technology, and high quality parts means your peace of mind. Its no wonder last year we sold over three million tires. And during the big tire event, get up to 140 in mailin rebates on four select tires. For most people, earning cash back ends here, at the purchase. But theres a new card in town. Introducing the citi® double cash card. It lets you earn cash back when you buy and again as you pay. Thats cash back twice. Its cash back with a side of cash back. The citi double cash card. The only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1 when you buy and 1 as you pay. With two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem onesided. A broader mix of energies, world needs which is why we are supplying natural gas, to generate cleaner electricity, that has around 50 fewer co2 emissions than coal. And why with our partner in brazil, we are producing a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane to fuel cars. Lets broaden the Worlds Energy mix, lets go. Takyou havent seen ep like. Your bed in days. No, like you havent seen a bed in weeks zzzquil. The non habit forming sleepaid that helps you sleep easily and wake refreshed. Because sleep is a beautiful thing. Yyou would need like a bunch of those to clean this mess. Then ill use a bunch of them. What are you doing . Dish issues . Get cascade complete. One pac cleans better than six pacs of the bargain brand combined. Cascade. Now thats clean. The party of the president in power always does terribly in Midterm Elections. These are the average losses for what happens to the president s party in six midterms. In the second Midterm Election when you have a twoterm president. Since world war ii in Midterm Elections like last night the president s party loses 26 seats in the house and 6 in the senate. The results from last night are not totally in yet. But at this point, the democrats are projected to lose at least 14 seats in the house and they have lost 7 seats in the senate. So democrats did a little worse than the historical average in the senate last night. Thus far a little better than historical average in the house. Still, though, with or without that historical context, this was obviously a big loss last night for the president s party, for the Democratic Party. And republicans are going to have a small majority in the senate and a big majority in the house with which they can do whatever they want in congress. What are they going to do with it . The New York Times today Michael Beschloss wrote about what happens to other president s with big losses. In 1994 Congress Took over during bill clintons presidency then decided to work with him on issues like the budget and welfare. In 1986 when democrats took over congress during Ronald Reagans presidency, democrats decided to work with reagan on issues like arms control. After world war ii when republicans took over congress during Harry Trumans democratic presidency, republicans in Congress Worked with harry truman on lots of different Foreign Policy issues including the Marshall Plan. Theres lots of precedent for the opposing party taking over congress during Midterm Elections. And then deciding to work on stuff with the serving president even though hes from the other party. That has happened. That has happened a lot in our country in the past. Who thinks thats whats going to happen now . It is rare that a Political Party running for office in a Midterm Election not standing for anything ends up with a mandate, and they have one, and it is the biggest and perhaps the most important mandate a Political Party has had in the recent era. And it is very simple what that mandate is. It is to stop barack obama. It is to stop the democrat party. There is no other reason why republicans were elected yesterday. Republicans were not elected to govern. How can you govern with a president that disobeys the constitution . How can you govern with a president that is demonstrably lawless when he thinks he has to be. The republican was not elected to fix a broken government. The Republican Party was not elected to sit down and Work Together with the democrats. That was the tone on conservative talk radio today. Republicans didnt get elected to govern. They got elected for one reason and one reason only to destroy barack obama thats the one thing republicans stand for and the only thing they need to do. This was the front page of one of the representative conservative blogs today. On redstate today. Dear republican, no one elected you to work with democrats. And sure, yes, i know, thats the conservative media. Theres no reason to believe that the Republican Party proper, the Republican Party itself shares that view, right . If you listen to the beltway, the beltway is sure that republicans getting big majorities in congress means that the Republican Party will now be ready to govern, theyll be ready to forget all that past nonsense about just stopping anything president obama might want to do. Just because president obama wants to do it no matter what it is, theyll stop all that, theyll govern now. They have to. Theres no reason to keep focusing now on just stopping obama. Thats over now. Thats what the beltway said all last night and today. Did you see the Republican Partys official press Conference Today . That they called to talk about Election Results . Not did you see that they did it or did you read about what they said, did you actually see what it looked like . This was their press conference about the election today. They gave their press conference about what they were going to do now with their new majority in congress in front of a giant screen, a giant red screen that says, stop obama. Fire harry reid they didnt get harry reid fired as majority leader so they can get do the real business of stop obama. Thats their reason for existing. Thats what they chose as the backdrop for their announcement about winning the election. Anybody expecting that this Republican Party has a grand bipartisan policy idea for what they want the do as a governing party is smoking something thats now legal in a lot more places. You as the republicans as ready to compromise, ready to Work Together, over it how much they hate barack obama, thats just not based on the visible truth of whats going on. Now already its getting its first test. Today. I did not expect this, but on day one in this new era in washington, the beltway wakes up saying now the republicans will finally work with washington. No, they woke up saying well destroy obama. This is a fascinating move. Everybody is talking about immigration. Will the president follow through and do something on immigration without congress . When will he do something about immigration . The republicans are talking about trying to impeach him if he does anything on immigration . Last night as soon as it was clear that republicans will win control, everybody wanted to talk about immigration. The president said if you really want to talk about policy in this New Washington, in this new congress after the big election, lets do something about specifically what just happened in this election. Because this is how republicans ran for office in this election all over the country. Look around. Open borders. Threats of terrorism. Ebola. Obama has no plan. Pelosi just points fingers. This election is about our safety, our future. These are serious times. That isis cant be defeated without hitting it we dont have a strategy. In kentucky we have a proven leader. When so many in washington cant do the job, shouldnt kentucky have a senator who can . Radical islamic terrorists are threatening to cut the class of our country. President obama and senator shaheen seem confused about the nature of the threat. In the middle east, radical terrorists are on the march destabilizing our allies, beheading americans and crucifying christians, president obama admits he underestimated them. Isis gaining ground. Terrorists committing mass murder. Ebola inside the u. S. Americans alarmed about national security. Whats president obama doing . Ignoring the constitution, congress and the american people. November 4th, obamas policies is are on the ballot. Vote to keep terrorists off u. S. Soil. Vote republican. That last ad ran in eight battleground states. And this is by no means an exhaustive list of states where republicans used terrorism, isis, right, and disease, ebola specifically, as campaign issues. This is a teeny smattering of states where republicans made the case. Because they did it all over country. Vote for us because ebola. Or vote for us because isis. Or vote for us because isis ebola, are they two Different Things . So the president walked up to the podium today and he called the question. First, im submitting a request to congress for funding to ensure that our doctors, scientists and troops have the resources that they need to combat the spread of ebola in africa and to increase our preparedness for any future cases here at home. Second, im going to begin Engaging Congress over a new authorization to use military force against isil. The world needs to know we are united behind this effort and the men and women of our military deserve our clear and unified support. Call the question. This is the test. Day one of the New Washington. If the republicans want to do something other than stop obama, right, if they really do want to make policy, heres a chance to actually make policy, to fund a response, to decide on a response, to the two things you just spent months terrifying the country about. Telling them that if they felt scared with isis or ebola they should vote to send republicans to washington. Call the question on day one in the New Washington. Did republicans go there to make any sort of policy, make any sort of decisions or did they just go there to destroy the president . This is a test. This is the first test. And it arrived early on day one. Joining me now is president ial historian Michael Beschloss. Great to see you, rachel. I cant wait to see how this will all turn out. I wonder if reading your historical analysis of this today, i felt like, oh, theres some consistency when you look at different historical eras at least over the past century in terms of ways that parties out of power have come to power under a president they might disagree with. I just dont feel like this moment matches what history teach us is likely to happen. No, i agree with you. And this is a meaner time than it was the last time. You have that kind of cooperation, which was probably the mid1990s between bill clinton and bob dole and newt gingrich. But there are a couple reasons why it actually might be better than it may seem. One of them is i thought Mitch Mcconnell was fascinating today because that was a little bit more of a restrained press conference than some people were anticipating. He said there are not going to be any more shutdowns. Im not going to contest the National Government debt limit. Hes got some interest in keeping a little bit of a lid on this because he and john boehner presumably would like to see a republican president elected in two years. They know that is not likely to happen if the house and senate seem so extreme because of republican control that americans are going to be afraid of letting there be a Republican Congress and a republican president. One of the things that you wrote about today in the times but ive heard you talk about before is that sort of strategy as it played out during the gerald ford era. So when gerald ford lost congress to the Democratic Party in 70s, he vetoed everything nine ways to sunday because he thought that would make the Democratic Congress look radical and it would make him look resolute. He thought that would help him get elected in 1976. He didnt get elected. He didnt but he came pretty close. Harry truman in 1947 and 1948 tried to and in some cases did veto a number of republican domestic bills. He talked about at his convention in 1948 on campaigning against that good for nothing congress, thats what well remember, but at the same time he was having that confrontation behind the scenes in many cases he was cooperating with republicans on things like the Marshall Plan and nato. So there was this odd bifurcation between domestic and foreign. Anything to watch for in particular in terms of how president obama behaves and how he treats this congress in terms of setting um not himself for a reelection effort but somebody from the Democratic Party to hopefully take over the white house in 2016 . Sure, hes got an interest in cooperating and getting some things done that helps his legacy. But if hes doing this with an eye to helping his democratic successor, whether Hillary Clinton or someone else, to some extent hes got an interest in vetoing bills, making this Republican Congress look extreme just as harry truman did in 1947 so that the predicate for 2016 for a democratic nominee is you got to put a democrat in the white house to restrain this congress. Michael beschloss, president ial historian. I was really looking forward to talking to you all day today. Me, too. So fascinating to watch. Thank you, rachel. Appreciate it, thanks. Just ahead one of the last nights democratic Success Stories which wasnt clear it would be a democratic Success Story but it turned into one today. Weve got a very interesting case on the interview tonight. Stay with us. [singing to himself] here she comes now sayin mony mony. 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Like 50,000 bonus points when i spent 5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. And i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at Office Supply stores. With ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. Travel, gift cards, even cash back. And my rewards points wont expire. So you can make owning a business even more rewarding. Ink from chase. So you can. A hi. Ty . Im new ensure active clear protein drink. Clear huh . My nutritional standards are high. Im not juice or fancy water. Ive got 8 grams of protein. Twist my lid thats three times more than me. 17 vitamins and minerals. And zero fat hmmmm. You bring a lot to the party yay new ensure active clear protein. 8 grams protein. Zero fat. 17 vitamins and minerals. In delicious blueberry pomegranate and mixed fruit. Here live for the interview tonight is a democratic governor who went to bed last night not knowing if he held on to his seat. He found out today he had by a whisker. He joins us live next. 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Go further. This is kathleen. Setting up the perfect wedding day starts with her minor arthritis pain, and two pills. Afternoon arrives and feeling good, but her knee pain returns. Thats two more pills. The evenings event brings laughter, joy, and more pain. Whats that, like six pills today . Yeah. I could take two aleve for all day relief. Really . For my arthritis pain, i now choose aleve. 2 pills. All day strong. All day long. And now introducing, aleve pm for a better am. Did you stay up for the alaska returns last night . I stayed up for alaska. It closed at 1 00 a. M. Eastern. We were on the air until 2 00 a. M. Then i hung around here talking about people and the election, until 2 30 or so. I got home by 3 00. I was so wired and i knew i wouldnt go to sleep for hours. I stayed up till after 5 00 in the morning Binge Watching the whole Second Season of alpha house on amazon before i could fall asleep. Election night is always very exciting and very bad for your sleep patterns particularly because of alaska. But none of us had it as bad as John Hickenlooper and bob beauprez, the two candidate for governor. Polls closed in colorado but even with staying up all night we still had no idea who won last night. It wasnt until 7 30 this morning local time that the denver post called the race for governor hickenlooper. It wasnt until two hours later that nbc news called the race for governor hickenlooper as well. And five hours after that, the middle of this afternoon before the republican challenger bob beauprez finally conceded the race. Yes, Election Night is always very exciting. But it was nowhere near as exciting for any of us as it was for our next very tired guest. Joining us now for the interview is the newly elected governor from the state of colorado, governor John Hickenlooper. Congratulations. How are you feeling today . I feel great, rachel. I mean, to be sleep deprived always puts you a little bit in that kind of special zone, but when you win, the zone is much nicer. Its better lit at lease. Exactly. So your race was particularly tight right up until the very end. The other statewide race in colorado saw the defeat of your friend mark udall, the Democratic Congressman, incumbent congressman from colorado. Were you expecting that it might be a split result . Was your internal polling telling you an optimistic ruling . The rural rates, they come in sooner. If you look at the vote counts now, cory gardner and i have almost exactly the same number of votes. Just his came in a lot sooner than mine did. Mark udalls vote comes back up, in the end that race will be decided by probably about 3 which my race will probably be 2 1 2 . In terms of whats going on in colorado in the big picture. I went out last week to talk to senator udall and senator bennett and some other people and think about whats going on in that state, from 2004, starting about 2004, colorado democrats have been running the board. Before that republicans were winning all the top of the ticket race, winning the governorships, starting about 2004, about ten years ago, democrats started winning everything, up to and including your race that got you into the governors seat in the first place. It seems now like colorado is now either a more balanced place or tilting back towards the Republican Party. Whats your view of where your state is at both ideologically and in partisan terms after what happened last night . I think were an interesting test case for the country. Colorados almost exactly even, you know, onethird republican, onethird democrat and onethird independent and really i dont think it ever tipped so much. It kind of trended a little bit. But those were a lot of close races. Just like last night. And i think it depends on the candidates and you get better candidates one year than another, or in this case there was a head wind, anybody connected with washington both republicans or democrats, had a certain to a certain degree a head wind. That hurt mark a little bit. In terms of what happens now with this next term thats ahead of you, obviously, you had a bit of a National Target on you in part because the gun lobby was so angry about the gun Safety Measures that you were willing to see put in place in your state, particularly after the tragedies youve had in the state around gun violence. That gave you a little bit of a national gloss to your race if only by your enemies. Now you have this very tight reelection effort. What do you think youll be able to do . Whats most important to you to try to do in your second term now that last nights clear . Well, just like in first term, we tried to manage from the middle, and were going to keep doing that. Colorado has always been the thinnest state but we havent been the healthiest state. Were coming close to that in the last four years. We cut teen aged pregnancy, cut Prescription Drug abuse, we added 411,000 people to the rolls of those who have health n yet our average premium increase a new weeks ago was a little over 1 . So were controlling the cost. I think thats a big push. Obviously the economy is big out here. We have one of the Fastest Growing economies in the country. And that helped me probably more than it did mark just because im here every day and, you know, when forbes rates you the number one work force, things like that, local officials i think probably get a little more credit. Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, thanks very much for your time tonight. Congratulations again. I do hope youre able to get some rest. You got a lot of work ahead of you, sir. Thank you. Thanks, rachel. Coming up next, i kid you not, the singlebest thing about msnbc right now. 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Dont stop now come on mony come on yeah i say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah cause you make me feel like a pony so good like your pony so good ride the pony the sentra, with bose audio and nissanconnect technology. Spread your joy. Nissan. Innovation that excites. Im just looking over the company bills. Up . [singing] mony mony is that what we pay for internet . Yup. Dsl is about 90 bucks a month. Thats funny, for that price with comcast business, i think you get like 50 megabits. Wow thats fast. Personally, i prefer a slow internet. There is something about the sweet meditative glow of a loading website. Dont listen to the naysayer. Switch to comcast Business Today and get 50 megabits per second for 89. 95. Comcast business. Built for business. Well, lets talk about Mitch Mcconnell for a moment because thats a big victory for the Republican Party to have him as the Senate Majority leader if they get to a majority. The question is will he change . We were just talking here off the air about a lot of us, all about 2016, about how they get to the white house the next time. Thats the big prize in washington. And there have been a lot of republican senators who have hoped that Mitch Mcconnell will could that be me . No, its not you. Its something ambient. No, im afraid it is, unfortunately. The alarm goes off and there you are. I thought i thought you were a fire. Yes, i will remember to bring home the milk and dont worry about it. And ill feed the dog in the morning. Just sleep in. It will be okay. At any rate there were a lot of weird things that happened last night. Who knew tom brokaws cell phone alarm sounded like that . Amazing. One of the weirdest things that happened last night was the complete and utter wrongness of the polls. It was thought to be a nailbiter or a landslide. She didnt just win, she won by nine points. The polls was way off. This was the final in kentucky. They had mcconnell beating grimes by seven. He won not by seven but by nearly 16. How about arkansas . Final polling efforts predicting a win for tom cotton by seven points. Tom cotton beat mark pryor by 17 points. There were a ton of these. This is the final average heading into the virginia race, mark warner beating ed gillespie by double digit, and then, oops, turns out it was more like half a point. Ed gillespie has conceded that race yet. The poll just missed it. Down do the wire for the most vulnerable republican in the senate, pat roberts, it showed greg orman beating pat roberts. Orman had a lead of about a point. But then last night look, pat roberts won by nearly 11 points. What explains this . Theres only one person i can think of who could conceivably know the answer to that and could explain it in a way that doesnt make me grind my teeth. Joining us, the breakout star, the great steve kornacki. Why were the polls so wrong this year . I have no idea. Okay. Lets look at kansas. You set it up there. I think as you said, this is one we were expecting. A late night in kansas thinking maybe theres a recount or something and it comes up 11 point. What happens here . This is a trend, this is a story, this is something that really accelerated in american politics in the last six years or so, and that is that voters, when theyre in the voting booth, when theyre forced to finally decide an election, when they have to decide an election, they have to stop thinking about this candidate ran a better campaign, i kind of like this persons style better and they think much more in terms of party, in terms of national party. When you think about kansas, its the perfect example of that this year because the entire pat Roberts Campaign was dont vote for greg orman because hes going to put the Democratic Party in charge of the senate. And roberts even had ads up that were saying, hey, i may not be perfect, you may not even like me that much but you dont want a democratic senate. What you had in kansas was a candidate here greg orman who people liked a little bit better. They liked the message of independence better, but ultimately they wanted the republican senate. The effect of that campaign that pat roberts ran, we can illustrate that for you. I can show you this is the map of kansas in the 2012 election. We didnt pay much attention to it, why . Because its kansas, of course. Romney won easily. This is what it looked like 105 counties and 103 is republican red. Thats what happens when a National Democrat runs in kansas. The roberts people ran that campaign against orman. Hey, dont give the National Democrats the senate. What happens . What does the map look like in kansas last night . After this razor thin Campaign Comes down to the wire, it looks exactly the same. 102 counties in kansas go republican red. Three go for orman, two are the same that went for obama. Theres essentially no difference there. Thats the story in kansas. The other big surprise, mark warner ends up a surprise, but this was shockingly close. Because mark warner we know is a guy who is a very popular governor in virginia and when he first ran for for the seat in 2008 got 65 of the vote. When you actually look at this number in virginia and you think back to 2012, the obama romney race, its not that different. Obama won virginia, mark warner won it by a point last night. If you take a look at the county map in virginia, this is the red blue scheme. Big democratic county is up here, we get a lot of the vote from, the richmond area and a few scattered areas that are blue, otherwise a big sea of red. 2012, obama romney in virginia. The exact same thing. Mark warner before the last six years or so, before the obama era, where this polarization has accelerated, he would run and win in south virginia. You look at the counties last night ed gillespie is performing exactly the same as mitt romney did. This is something for democrats to be thinking about as they go forward. You can win in virginia, for instance, you can win with the socalled Obama Coalition but you also end up writing off big chunks of the state. Democrats have to think about a way to get those voters back who were willing to vote for them not that long ago. In terms of the polling, bottom line, people are lying to pollsters or theyre telling pollsters something they think theyre going to do that they dont end up doing. Im not sure if its lying as much as they think again. So youre in the voting booth, i wonder, and you just say, i like orman in kansas, but i dont want harry reid in the senate. They revert to their partisan lizard brain. Steve kornacki, the single best thing about msnbc right now. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Everybody knows that. Well, did you know certain cartoon characters should never have an energy drink . Action blahbechtblah blublublubblah geico®. 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Gotta get greater growth. I just talked to ups. They got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. Like smart pick ups. Theyll only show up when you print a label and its automatic. We save time and money. Time . Money . Time and money. Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome awesome all awesome i love logistics. 46 out of 50 states including alaska. That day in alaska was being run by a high school, a bunch of kids from the school held up a sign that said bong hits for jesus. The principal tore down the sign. He was suspended. He fought for the right to his bong hits for jesus sign all the way to the supreme court. In 2007, he lost his case there when the court ruled his free speech wasnt protected because he was promoting illegal drug use. Well, not anymore. Today ought to be Joe Frederick day in alaska because alaska just voted to legalize bong hits for everyone. Oregon legalized pot in 2012. Alaska and oregon did it last night. And washington, d. C. This new congress elected in this big republican election last night. Last night, the people of d. C. Were voting overwhelmingly to legalize pot, a Republican Congressman named andy harris from the Eastern Shore of maryland threatened that he will get congress to stop d. C. From implementing this new law. In 200 9, the city voted for samesex marriage and then etwo congressmen introduced bills to block what d. C. Decided to do. In 2011, republicans in congress blocked d. C. s own locally decided, locally funded abortion policy. Now theyre doing it again. D. C. Votes to legalize pot just as republicans sweep to power in the senate and expand their majority in the house. Remember the whole republican mantra about local control getting the boot of federal government off our necks . Butt out . This is the test. Does the new republican majority in congress let d. C. s new pot law stand or do they try to undo it . D. C. Officials are going to have to accepted this to congress for a review very shortly. That will be another test of what this New Washington is going to be like. Today is day one. Good evening. Im glad you binged watch alpha house last night. I did that recently, too, and i discovered the amazing performance of Rachel Maddow in one of the episodes of season two. There is now a new best actor from the cable news world among us. I was so i was in the last episode. I was so beery eyed by the time i got there, even i liked it. Thank you, lawrence. Well, the senate is now two months away from having a new majority leader. One of the real masters of the senate is here to tell us what to expect from majority leader Mitch Mcconnell