>> got that. >> and his distinctive quaff. >> joe, thank you so much. guess who else is in wbrazi? chris cuomo will be live starting from 6:00 a.m. make some great memories. >> "inside politics" with john king starts right now. tea party gets a shellacking including in a big mississippi senate race where the loser says it's wrong african-americans made a big difference. >> there is something a bit unusual about a republican primary that's decided by liberal democrats. >> reporter: and if the establishment is winning big and favors immigration reform, why won't gop leaders in congress schedule a vote? >> the legislation is not going to happen under this very cynical and cowardly leadership. >> reporter: plus the president hits the road, visiting the bluest of blue states. he's in a midterm funk and

wishes voters to take a closer look. >> by pretty much every measure, the economy is doing better than it was when i came into office and in most cases significantly better. >> reporter: and hillary clinton tries to clean up a mess of her own making with a little help from husband bill. "inside politics" the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters, now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing your sunday morning. with us to share their insights and reports is juana summers, andy walter of the politico report. the grassroots flamed out. half dozen states held primaries and runoffs and the republican establishment won big everywhere, including oklahoma and mississippi, where the tea party was counting on some big wins. the loser in mississippi, chris mcdaniel, he isn't going quietly. >> they called me a racist.

they used race-baiting tactics. they scared people to the polls. >> reporter: the incumbent thad rock ran did win because of african-americans who decided to cast ballots in a republican runoff and mcdaniel sounds like a man ready to challenge the results in court. >> what we're looking for is irregularities. we found hundreds and going to keep looking. >> reporter: robert costa, you spent a lot of time down there. is this sour grapes or do they think they have enough evidence of illegalities, not just democrats crossing over to vote in a republican runoff, to have a serious case in court? >> think it's a reflection of the frustration in chris mcdaniel's campaign. i was with him in coldwater, mississippi, a few days after the initial round of balloting and i asked mel dee melody so u sojourner. they were outgunned. the republicans brought out consultants and reached out to

democrats and independents and he was doing grassroots organizing but not much more. >> you hear a lot of protests from grassroots asking democrats and independents to vote. if this is the way we'll be treated by the establishment we should break off and have a third party. is chris mcdaniels more the heat of the moment? >> seems like more of the moment. if you're republicans, this should be, can't think about it if you're on the losing end but a good sign for them because where democrats have beaten republicans is really on the ground game and on the ability to get that strategic thinking like the thad cochran campaign put together in a big battleground state where every one of those votes matters. they should say hey, we can do what the democrats have been doing to us. >> most conservatives are grumbling about this, but one senator rand paul, who has tried to reach out to the

african-american community told "the washington post" i'm for more people voting, not less people voting. >> this is incredibly smart point. we talked about this the way rand paul has gone after african-american votes, comments like these or traveling to historically black colleges and universities, something that he's not a candidate that your average african-american voters are going to support but they cause people to pause and take a second look. that's not something you want to hear that black people shouldn't vote. >> the insurgency might be upset, steve, but the establishment is thrilled. they look at the governor's race in colorado and a new york congressional race where their incumbent won and they think we don't have any todd aikens on the ballot. republicans have to make their best effort, the resources will be spread thin. they have the president who is always an issue in midterm elections, not even talking about obamacare but they'll come back to that in the fall, they have the va scandal and the irs.

republicans think in terms of mojo they have a lot of things going for them. >> a lot of issues are important but they're not all. we are in a situation it's not clear it's going to be a nationalized election, it's not clear a lot of republicans want it nationalized. they've been avoiding putting out a national platform and in a midterm election that means it's about organization, and so republicans want to have their right people up front, want to have the organization behind them and they were able to do it to some degree in mississippi. >> if you're the chamber of commer commerce, you support immigration reform, you support the export/import bank, spending tens of thousands of dollars to help the establishment in the races and what do you get? the house stripped out funding for the export/import bank and won't bring immigration reform to the floor. lot saying we won't do it next year if you want to have serious comprehensive immigration reform we'll wait until after the presidential election. joe carr is a tea party challenger in tennessee, he's on

tv with this. >> there's a crisis in america, thousands of illegal aliens are overrunning. president obama created this crisis after lamar voted for him. he is responsible. >> are they that afraid? mitch mcconnell was for kennedy, mccain, bush, back in the day. >> it's not so much that that one south going to make the difference. it's when eric cantor loses even though the issue was not immigration per se it sends shock waves and a chill throughout the conference. the bigger promise when you dig down in the numbers you look at the people who turn out to vote, they're angry people. i'd love to think that people who are just full of hope and love and joy turn out and vote but really it's angry people that vote and in this case the angry people are the people who don't want to see -- >> in a midterm year. i always thought this would be

the 2015 plan because are republicans going to go into a presidential election having done nothing to try to at least make a downpayment by reaching out to hispanic voters? >> they do that before they go into a presidential primary season. >> that's a great point. their own candidates, but last thing, if you look at the dem demograph demographics, they may be able to keep the house majority for a long period of time and if they have a big year in 2014 they may be able to protect themselves in 2016 from presidential turnout if they win the senate majority. can they win the presidency? do john boehner and mitch mcconnell care about congress and not care about who the nominee is? >> they're pounding their chests saying they're winning the victories over the tea party, they may be outorganizing the tea party but where they challenge the tea party on policy? they're afraid to bring immigration to the floor because there's a culture among the republican base, when i spoke to david brat, cantor hasn't brought the dream act to the floor, hasn't done anything. brat says it's the idea that he

could that is the threat. this idea is keeping republicans even if they feel powerful on the sidelines to not do anything. >> mitt romney got one in ten non-white votes. that population is only growing. >> let answer remember in 2008 to 2012 there was a study that found the electorate shifted measurably in one election cycle giving the democrats several percentage points, perhaps more than they would have at least according to this one study. you had romney campaign people in 2012 saying we are the last presidential campaign ever that's going to try to have a white primarily white pool. >> do mitch mcconnell and john boehner like that? you could make a case well. has been good for the republican party. they have a majority in the house, think they're on a verge of getting a majority in the senate. do they like hillary clinton in the white house where they can raise money against her? >> no. >> taking it a little bit too far? >> there are a lot of democrats who say if we have to lose the senate, fine. let those people come in and now they have to be the governing party. that's going to be a great

platform to run against in 2016 for our candidates, and they can't get it together to not overreach. >> when is jeb bush or chris christie or someone major on the establishment side going to run against ted cruz of the party. who is their leader? i don't know. >> they're doing it by not saying we're going to be the opposite of these issues, we're going to co-opt these issues and try to move a little bit more to the right in order not to anger the pace. up next, payback is the key piece of our political puzzle as bill clinton returns, oh, a crucial favor. first this week's installment of politicians say the darnedest thing. the congressional leaders try to sing an oldiveily rights ballad. ♪

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i don't leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. welcome back. look at this picture you're about to see. i was standing a few feet away, the clinton family album, super bowl sunday, 1992. hillary clinton comes to her husband's defense, in the middle of a huge character crisis in the democratic primary running for president. she steps up. >> you know, i'm not sitting here some little woman standing by my man like tammy wynette. i'm sitting here because i love him and i respect him and i honor what he's been through and what we've been through together, and you know f that's not enough for people, then heck, don't vote for him. >> it has been for three decades now a political partnership. remember he went on to win the presidency. she was by his side, this is the health care debate at a town

hall meeting in 1994. she was critical again as a character witness in 1998 in the middle of the monica lewinsky scandal, and things moved on. bill clinton left the white house, hillary clinton ran for senate. she was elected to the senate representing new york. 2008 she ran for president. you see some pictures here. she didn't win but she did become secretary of state for barack obama. now she has a book out, thinking about running when it. she's had a few missteps talking about we were dead broke when we left the white house, talking about all the money they made in speaking fees. this time it's his turn to come to her defense. >> she's not out of touch and she advocated and worked as a senator for things that were good for ordinary people and we've got a good life and i'm grateful for it. but i still, we go to our local grocery store on the weekend. we talk to people in our town. we know what's going on. >> it is remarkable whether you like them or not, whether you support them or not to watch this partnership through the

years. the question now steve inskeep, she said it was sweet for her husband to come to her defense but she can explain her own record. she admits she's made some mistakes. >> i don't know she's cleaned up but i don't know how much difference it will make in the long run. it would make a greater difference if she ran against a middle income presidential candidate which is not going to happen. everyone who ends up as presidential candidate is well off and exceedingly well connected at the least. i don't know what the context is that she would get in that much trouble. it is interesting in any case to see president clinton defending her. i'm remembering in 2012 many of the times that president clinton seemed to go too far and got in a little bit of trouble it was when he was defending his wife. >> that's true. one of the key tests of any politicians how they clean up their mistakes, a pivot. you get asked a question you don't like, puts you on the spot, give one sentence and get to an issue. hillary clinton by the time she was done sitting down with gwen eiffel here she learned how to

pivot. >> i shouldn't have said i think the five or so words that i said but you know, my inartful use of those few words doesn't change who i am, what i've stood for my entire life, what i stand for today. bill and i have had terrific opportunities. both of us have worked hard but we've been grateful for everything that we've been able to achieve, and sadly, that's just not true for most americans today. >> the last part, she tries to make the connection, i've been lucky, i'm fortunate but it's not true for a lot of people and i get that and i want to represent them. to steve's point, you can make mistakes in politics but someone has to be against you on the ballot. martin o'malley, bernie sanders, they have a visit planned to new hampshire. is there anyone on the rise who has a realistic chance of beating hillary clinton? >> i don't know if i see that path. one thing about this and this stuck out to me in this cleanup she did in an interview, she made it not about her and the words dead broke about her finances and her life and her

tremendous wealth and privilege, she made it about people, and i think that is really the key here and that's what hillary clinton has to do if she wants to be successful because while i don't necessarily see anyone with frankly right now a fighting chance that, could easily change if these things become the norm they quickly come to define as you get closer to a primary. >> does this wealth matter? we put some graphics up on the screen in "the washington post" this week. cnn did this work over a year ago looking at the financial disclosure forms. $106 million in speaking fees, $57 million from speeches overseas. we have hey wealthy presidents in the past. do people begrudge the wealth, how you get it or how you explain it? >> it's a bigger problem for hillary clinton if she were running against a republican party that has been putting policies forward to talk about how we're going to help out with the middle class. her biggest asset she has right now is republicans for the last few years have been running on everything they're against or just sort of putting out the

same old tired we're going to do tax cuts, we're going to do regulation reform, that's going to bring growth. voters don't buy that, and so the middle class issue is one in which democrats still own, it was definitely inartful what she said but at this point, democrats still have the advantage. the bigger problem for her is that the economy in 2016 may not be much better and so it's not necessarily that she's been making so much money. it's that regular people haven't been making any money. >> republicans are trying to figure out a way to address those issues. one of the most interesting speeches i've seen recently, a speech by jeb bush in new york city a few weeks ago, he spoke about the fact there's a large number of people stuck at the bottom and he's trying to figure out how to address that. the question is, how do you address that in a republican way that republicans can accept in a primary. >> marco rubio tried to touch on this, rick santorum talked about the blue collar approach. listen to the president, he's out in minneapolis at the end of the week, he spent two days out there, in part to raise money

but good for him to get out of the bubble and talk to some real people. the president is walking a delicate line. to amy's point, people don't buy it. he's trying to convince people things aren't as bad as you think. >> what we do is stay focused on what matters, and chip away at it and try to make progress. people have health care. the economy has gotten a lot better. what i do worry about is that right now, we've got a republican party that seems to only care about saying no to me. >> there are so many things in that, that are delicious in a way. number one is the economy part and he said this in the town hall, too, things are getting better. look at the statistics, but you look at the polling, the nbc/"wall street journal" poll last week, is the economy going to get better in the next 12 months? 20% yes, and stay the same or get worse 72%. incredibly tough sell for the president. even though you have a 401(k) and done well and george h.w. bush got this in 1992 with 5%

growth, he couldn't convince anybody that the recession was over. is that why democrats are running from the president? >> i think the president's really become almost a non-factor for a lot of democrats. if anything they're trying to run away from him and republicans are not really running against the president himself but his administration at large when they go at the irs and benghazi and as hillary clinton grapples with the she's looking at a president who is not a force. she's trying to fill that vacuum but this is the year of thomas machette and elizabeth wr rehn. she's trying to figure out where she fits in those forces >> the democrat senate from minnesota on the ballot came out for day two. al franken came out and see if the others go to colorado or alaska or arkansas. one other point before we move on, what struck me in the bite with george stephanopolous, chip away from it. how different than 2008 the

transformational inspirational i'm going to make democrats and republicans work together on big things. now his goal is to chip away at it? >> this is so incremental. it sounds nothing like the obama in 2008 campaign. part of that is the reality that you have the factors at play, it's a hard thing to work at and i think that's something he's had to come around to. this is different from the obama i think we heard in 2012 on the campaign trail. >> in addition to the economy, polarized politics. he said the sun rises and they'd disagree. stay put, as our reporters get you on the political stories just around the corner. seize the summer with up to 40% off hotels from travelocity.

and before we go, let's go around the table and ask our great reporters to get you out ahead of the coming political news. >> the sexual assault catch us, you heard congress and education officials testify and they talked about how this issue has been swept under the rug for too long. questions what do we do with it? that's so long we're following at npr to see what are the solutions that come out, what will come out of the claims. dozens of schools being investigated by the education department department of justice on the title knipe violations. >> stay at it. robert? >> one of the lesser told lessones in mississippi, it's okay to be a hawk if you're an

incumbent, thad cochran had a good strategy and reached out to democrats and played up his military record, brought in john mccain in the final days of the campaign. on the ground that helped him with veterans and military personnel and across the country some other republicans maybe taking that as a lesson. >> i want to talk about a military conflict in iraq, which has been in such crisis in recent weeks. i've opinion talking with analysts which suggest while you can't predict the future it will be with us for a long time. isis is just too weak to do very much more than they have but is too strong to be easily dislodged. that raises the prospect of a war that goes on for several years that overshadows the ends of obama's presidency that is some kind of a factor potentially in the presidential campaign or at the least will be left to the next president. >> iraq is still with us. >> i'm going back to the economy and turnout. democrats have a turnout problem traditionally especially in a midterm year. their voters young people, minorities, tend to not get out and vote. what's also going to be a

problem i think for democrats as i'm starting to dig into the polls and talk to consultants out there is this economic pessimism we were talking about earlier and where it's really hitting minority voters you look at non-white voters in 2012, 70% of them said i don't think things are good now but they will be good a year from now. now only 50% of non-white voters think that things are going to be better a year from now. when you're talking about you need to turn out your base in a midterm election, that's the kind of voters that democrats really need. >> thatfootnote to the mississi race. the chamber of commerce supported thad cochran, the infamous bringing brett fafb out at the end. the election results tuesday night and close of business on friday the chamber of commerce raised more than $3 million more for its 2014 voter education fund. they're watching tea party challenges in tennessee and kansas against incumbent

senators. they see no reason for alarm and holding out the possibility of turning the tables and trying to take out a house republican tea party incumbent in the state of michigan. that's it for "inside politics." we'll see you soon. "state of the union with candy crowley" starts right now. the missing irs e-mails, for the first time on tv, meet the man who says he knows exactly what happened. former irs official lois lerner won't talk to congress, but today her attorney is talking to us about the scandal gripping washington. plus an exclusive with the republican chair of the house oversight committee, darrell issa. >> i'm sick and tired of your game playing. we have a problem with you. did you hope you could run out the clock on this scandal? then the man the u.s. says is behind the attack in benghazi that killed four americans has