the national level as a result of that. these are places that were fairly normal by republican standards, which have now swung to this thing. this is really a republican problem to solve in places like michigan. no one else is going to solve this for them. no. and you re exactly right. the michigan republican party has a long history of influence that s from gerald ford. it s george romney. ronna mcdaniel was actually the chairwoman of the michigan republican party up until 2017 when she became the chair of the rnc. betsy devos, the former education secretary is one of the most powerful political power brokers in the state and also in the country. her network extends well beyond the state lines of measure. so this was a state party that had vast national both import and influence. and when you look at these prominent republicans in the state right now, they re almost content to let it die on the vine so they can build it back up from the ashes.
play. neil: should they worry that is it is and spend time there? democrats would be just as happy if they have to reallocate resources there. it s a good point. i think the republicans are going to have to shore up texas. trump is not particularly popular here by republican standards. that was a common theme for all the republicans in 2018 in texas that had trouble. you had the lieutenant governor s race, the attorney general s race and with cruz. unpopular republicans, they won by won by single digits and low single digits. trump, i think, there s a strong argument falls into that category. a relatively unpopular republican. then you have a home grown beto o rourke as a potential challenger. that i think would be cause for concern. i also point out, neil, times have changed with respect to campaign financing. you mentioned when you and i watched this stuff in the 80s and 90s, people were talking public funds, an $80 million cap in total spending.
3:00 in the morning and work until 10:00 at night. it s not that you ve been working hard for 35 year. it s not that you stayed in school and got advanced degrees, or it s not that you wake up and take two, three jobs so your kids can go to community colleges, and then go on to other colleges, possibly, and have a better life than you. it s all because of me that this economy is doing well. why, that s elizabeth warren thinking, by republican standards. isn t it? it s another way sort of like donald trump s version of i alone can fix. another incarnation of that. i alone can fix it. the famous obama line, you didn t build that, is what you re referring to. and look. trump fundamentally every decent real conservative republican believes we have a giant, private economy, that the government can affect on the margins. the policy moves the needle a little bit. you can create good economic conditions, get government out of the way. speaking here if you were a real conservative. get go
he won it, but by republican standards, you re suppose thed o better in washington county. you are going to need more than 53% of these absentee ballots. what we saw in allegheny and westmoreland is that lamb s doing better on absentees than he did on election day. that pattern would have to break here in washington county, but if it does, saccone could get a bump, if it doesn t, he very quickly runs out of votes. greene county, 200 absentee ballots. they re going to count those tomorrow. there s only 200. military votes that will probably go republican, there are only a couple scores of those. and then provisionals, especially allegheny county, only a couple hundred. the low hundreds here of pro
cut severely into that 579. what he s up against is this. he won it, but by republican standards, you re supposed to do better in washington county. you are going to need more than 53% of these absentee ballots. what we saw in allegheny and westmoreland is that lamb s doing better on absentees than he did on election day. that pattern would have to break here in washington county, but if it does, saccone could get a bump, if it doesn t, he very quickly runs out of votes. greene county, 200 absentee ballots. they re going to count those tomorrow. there s only 200. military votes that will probably go republican, there are only a couple scores of those. and then provisionals, especially allegheny county, only a couple hundred.