there are two republican senators. steve: thought that about healthcare, too. ainsley: who knows two. republican senators saying they may or may not support. this one is senator rand paul and one is senator ted cruz. ted cruz has not said whether he is supporting or not. senator rand paul objects to the spending levels republicans agreed on this can a. republicans say excess spending something overseas military operations which are not subjected to the cap. brian: right. by the way, we need them because we have a lot of terror challenges. next, i think it s important to point out that i spoke to mick mulvaney on our show. and he said i m kind of down about the chances of getting these votes needed. he see him two hours later on the radio he says i m much more upbeat now. ainsley: what changed? brian: ed that cochran is not going to be out all week. ainsley: he was sick and aid said he was not going to vote and now is he back. brian: got word that john mccain is going to vote with this
and he is what we need in washington, d.c. to stay as long as he wants to stay. reporter: at this point, cochran is trying to avoid unforced errors, going to head-scratching extremes to avoid talking to us. we tried to catch cochran after this event. but when an aide came out and saw us, they did a bait and switch. the car they told us cochran was getting in screeched away without him, while he snuck out another door to a different car, leaving reporters like us in the dust, unable to talk to the senator. dana, this story is incredible on every level, including that. going to those lengths to dodge you? i don t think i m that scary, do you? look, this is all about making sure there are no forced errors. it is do no harm that is the most important thing pour the cochran campaign. that s why he isn t talking to anybody at this point. the gop primary a week away from today. i can see in that interview you did with mcdaniel why they would
this republican primary was supposed to be about the struggle of ideas within the gop. chris mcdaniel. reporter: a young tea party-backed upstart challenging a fellow republican for being out of touch and too entrenched in washington after 36 years in the senate. now chris mcdaniel is fending off questions about whether his campaign had anything to do with photographing his opponent s sick wife. our campaign had absolutely no connection to that whatsoever. reporter: you personally, when did you find out about the break-in? we re going focus on his record right now. god bless the tea party. reporter: mcdaniel would like to be the senate s next ted cruz, stick to principle, compromise be damned. i am not going to washington, d.c. to be a member of the cocktail circuit or to make back room deals. i m going up there to fight and defend the constitution. reporter: talk to mississippi republicans and democrats who say come on,ed that cochran has been there a long time, but
call him the next ted cruz. but obviously, trying to this whole link possibly to taking pictures of senator cochran s wife in a hospice is distasteful at best. does mcdaniel still have a shot at winning? when i talked to him today he says they feel confident, they feel good. but i have to say that republican sources who i think are pretty good in washington who are fighting really hard for cochran insist that he is going to survive. he is going to stay in the senate. and they are really hoping that happens for a lot of reasons. but they hope this deals another blow to the tea party. we ll see a week from today, though. thank you very much, dana bash in biloxi, mississippi tonight. and still to come, a shocking new weight loss study. we ll tell you which beverage researcher says will help you lose weight. it s kind of miraculous. and the white house responding after blowing the cover of a top cia agent. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better
is a good public servant. i say one fight senator cochran has put out against barack obama. name one time he has raised his voice in defense of conservatism. reporter: for the tea party movement after a string of primary losses this year, mcdaniel has been their great hope, the best chance of toppling a republican, especially after this cochran stumble. the tea party, you know, is something that i don t really know a lot about. reporter: millions of dollars pouring into mississippi against cochran come from a who s who of tea party groups nationwide. mcdaniel says he is a life-long republican. reporter: but like other republican incumbents, this year cochran and his allies are fighting back, painting mcdaniel as extreme and inconsistent. after four decades in washington, cochran has loyal supporters like this democratic mayor. you re a democrat. yes. reporter: and you re supporting senator cochran? yes. reporter: why is that? one is that i understand politics, a