up and start running tv ad s and he goes on to neutralize all of that spending. specter has 99% name i.d. and the other guy is way down on name i.d. can he blunt this chance? if anybody can do it, it s arlen specter. and the question is, is he, on some fundamental level, it seems so far he s not. i think democrats have been voting for specter for years and the establishment is behind him. your thoughts on this, steve? the establishment of the democratic party, the city organization, governor is behind them. can the suburbs come out against them or the rural areas and pick a guy that s been a democrat perhaps more authentically in the past? i think of what you said and alex just said. i agree. i m thinking back to lynn and arlen specter in 19826789 this
is a guy that you don t vote against. i ll tell you, if there s one exception this year, i don t think it s going to be harry reid or blanche lincoln. i think it could be arlen specter in pennsylvania. that s incredible to watch. the youngsters that you are, you are incredible to watch. thank you alex and steve. you know your stuff. when we return, i ll tell you what i think about a big problem facing america today, and that is illegal immigration and there is a right way to deal with it. many people agree. you re watching hardball only on msnbc.
running tv ads, positive ads for himself. the minute he does that, specter goes on to neutralize all that spending. will that work for specter this time? specter s got 99% name i.d. the other guy is way down in name i.d. you know better than anybody else, if anybody can do it it s arlen specter. the question is, is he on some fundamental level unacceptable to the democratic electorate? so far it seems he s not. i think democrats have been voting for specter for years, and the establishment s behind him. your thoughts on this, steve? the establishment of the democratic party, bob brady, the governor s behind him. can the suburbs come out against him, or the rural areas and pick a guy who s been a democrat perhaps more authentically in the past? i think of what you said and what alex just said, and i agree. i m thinking back to 1992, we thought that was the end for arlen specter. this was just a guy, you don t bet against.
seat? we don t even know who is running against him and this guy has a hard time, right, alex? alex? maybe the most, best-known candidate running in the race is an attorney naked mike lee, a former prosecutor, his father was a solicitor-general. but doesn t have much of a political profile on his own. he s hoping to take advantage of what is really a petty unusual nominating process out there. there s a convention that s really activist dominated and if one candidate can get 60% of those activists behind them, they can get the nomination. now mitt romney is going out to that event to win votes for him. he s one of the most popular politicians in the state. it s a test of romney as well as for the senator. that is fascinating. steve, take a look at kentucky, this gop race is no tea party. it s getting nasty between trey grayson, the establishment candidate, and rand paul, ron paul s son. how does that look? rand paul, no matter what the establishment throws at him, no matser what
run as a republican in 2012. if he goes independent, you ve got polls that are showing him barely ahead. there s not too much history on this stuff. when you look at it, the big name figures leave a party in the senate face, and with the exception of joe lieberman, you re looking at tom dodd and marshal coleman in virginia, 1994. they start strong and just recede as the campaign goes on and end up dreaming votes from one party. finally, let s take a look at pennsylvania. hot primary up there. you rarely see a primary this hot for the senate. arlen specter, the senator turned democrat right now, holding on a bit of a lead over joe sestak. if he s ahead, i have to ask steve if he s ahead, why is he going negative with the tough charge against joe sestak s naval record?