book tv airs tonight at 8:30 p.m. eastern on c-span2. senate confirmation hearings for brett kavanaugh to be a supreme court justice are expected in september, and they are likely wade,stion about roe v. the restriction that struck down restrictions on abortion. landmark cases presents an in-depth look at roe v. wade. we will also hear from david discussing just -- judge kavanagh's nomination. host: joining us from new york on c-span's "newsmakers" program

is alexandra smith, the executive director of the conservative pac, "america rising." and here in washington with the questions, james hohmann, national political reporter for the "washington post," and al weaver, he covers politics for the "washington examiner." at the outset, let us talk about the organization. what is your mission and what role do you plan to play in the midterm elections? alex: our sole purpose is to and defeat the democrats. we are the gop's premier opposition research organization. we spend countless hours reviewing videotape, going out in the field ourselves, reading and producing countless pages of material to really shape the narrative on democratic candidates. in the 2018 cycle, we will be playing the same role as we had in our inception during 2013. we will look at democratic targets, particularly our friends running in the trump states, the 10 democratic candidates who are running in states that trump won in 2016, along with a host of other house and state candidates. america rising really covers it all. host: does opposition research include following candidates around with cameras, monitoring every statement they make, every media appearance they have? alex: it does.

there is a caricature of opposition research, you can either go with the very sexy james bond type caricature, or you can think about it as dumpster diving, neither of which are true. really, the opposition research that we do is take all of the information that a public citizen -- an average citizen, could access and put it together in a narrative form. we use devices like the freedom of information requests, we follow candidates with cameras at public events to capture what they are saying, to see if it is different from what they have said on the record elsewhere. we are doing what any citizen could do, we are just doing it in a very organized and methodical way. host: let me turn to james hohmann of the "washington post." james: you are also doing a lot

for 2020. how does your america rising experience in the 2016 cycle shape your approach? it seems that you are starting very early and aggressive? alex: we started in march 21, 2013, the first day of the first page of what would become a 1000-page research book on hillary clinton. we had researchers from that very day particularly dedicated to just researching hillary clinton, evaluating all her public statements, going out into the field and doing research, at libraries, courthouses, whereever we needed to go to compile this incredible document that was used throughout the gop ecosystem in the 2016 campaign. america rising was there when hillary clinton started her book tour. if you remember the shadow campaign that she had started when she was going around the

country and talking about her book, america rising was there with the freedom of information request, for example, that showed that she had made huge sums off of speaking at taxpayer-funded universities. we were also the ones to be unwinding the very complex ties between the clinton foundation and the state department. so america rising was there early and often, which i think was the lesson from 2016. you know, i think -- it is not true anymore that simply one gaff or instance defines a candidate, you really need to build that narrative. for 2020, the way that 2016 is in forming efforts is starting the process early. unfortunately for us, we have many more candidates to be evaluating van just hillary clinton, although, bernie

sanders definitely came in 2016 and our researchers were getting information compiled on him. in 2020, we have candidates from across the spectrum running. whether it is traditional candidates like elizabeth warren or nontraditional candidates like ceo's like howard schultz, we are really seeing a huge field starting to develop in 2020. as you alluded to, james, we see that there are already running. [laughs] alex: they are very much in the game, they are taking positions now, which is causing a lot of heartache for those 2018 democrats who are trying to survive in those red states. so, america rising has studied our 2020 residential initiative, which involves the tracking and research, field research that will go into ultimately developing the research books and the entire compendium on these various individuals. we already have a dedicated team that just looks at 2020, if you

can believe it. as our 2018 researchers busy themselves on work on the house and senate side. host: also joining us is al weaver. he covers politics for the "washington examiner." al: hi, alex. thanks for joining us. you mentioned the many candidates who will be running in 2020. you mentioned the opposition book on hillary clinton, i would like to get into that a little bit. how many opposition books do you plan to come out with in 2020? how many candidates are you looking into as you head into this endeavor? what does that look like? alex: i think as a baseline, we will be looking to anybody who expresses interest in running, including traditional and nontraditional candidates. if 2016 taught us anything, it is that president trump was able to claw through an otherwise very traditional group of politicians, and ultimately win the republican nomination.

so, you know, i think it would be unwise of us to simply look at elizabeth warren or cory booker. i would say at this point, we are really eyeing about a dozen books that we will be looking to seriously produce. we are not limited to that number, obviously. if interest fades in certain candidates or interest perks up in certain others, we are certainly interested in expanding that. we announced our 2020 initiative two weeks ago. we will be going around the country asking donors to contribute to this very important effort for america rising, because as i said, in 2016, the lesson we took from that was defining hillary clinton early and often, was the key to making her an absolutely unacceptable alternative. host: are you also looking at republicans, such as ohio governor john kasich or arizona

senator jeff flake? alex: america rising focuses solely on democrats. our only mission is to focus on the democrats and defeating them in the general elections. host: james hohmann? james: you mentioned a dozen. looking at the paper trail that already exists, who do you think is a most overrated democrat in terms of electability and also the most underrated in terms of those not much out there to hit them on? alex: i will start with our two initiatives we launched prior to our 2020 initiative. we had started with the elizabeth warren initiative, because i think that after 2016, she was perhaps the most aggressive in making it known that she wanted to run for president. america rising was actually the first to obtain a copy of elizabeth warren's book through our trackers in the field, which i don't think she was too pleased about, because we

released excerpts ahead of time, so we sort of took the wind out of her sails in the initial book pitch. sorry, liz. we had been looking at elizabeth warren, we have been following her and tracking her, and she is undoubtedly taking positions that are way to the left of where i think most of the country is, and she is bringing the rest of the field along with her in many ways. i think she is someone who is absolutely interested in running. she is attempting to create this brand of herself, which, "she persisted," she is using it for every cause out there, whether it is talking about pride month, or the boston marathon, she is doing her best to make it her own, with the branding that is unique to elizabeth warren and the elizabeth warren store, i might add. another person we focused on last year around this time was actually andrew cuomo. the reason we had looked at him was obviously he was governor of

one of the larger states in the country, he had a $5 million war chest at the time we launched our initiative. he is also someone who faced a challenge in the 2018 primary cycle, and an unexpected challenge. he was faced in the primary by cynthia nixon, which i think is devastating to andrew cuomo, who i think try to desperately to throughout the 2017 to shed some of the progressive criticisms of him. he draped his arm around bernie sanders, and he talked about free tuition. he has been trying to put himself out there as a more progressive candidate, because he kind of has a rep for being more establishment, not playing well with the 2016 democratic primary process.

and out of nowhere, from his left, comes cynthia nixon. she is showing not only -- she is showcasing the fact that his positions are not as progressive as people would like them to be, i think, in the democratic primary base, but i think she is also showing what thin skin he has. he has a real issue talking to the press. he frequently gets angry in the face of tough questions. i am not sure how well that attitude would play out in iowa, come 2019 and 2020. it has been interesting to see how different people have advanced and how in some ways, retreated. al: i want to get into that, alex. how thankful are you guys for cynthia nixon? alex: [laughs] she has been a source of great joy and great fun in america rising, particularly during that new york democratic convention,

a couple of months ago. our research team, and i mean this genuinely, had so much fun watching this. because what we saw play out was almost like a mini 2016 right in new york state. you had sort of the establishment that was shoving andrew cuomo through, of course, the presumptive favorite, as was hillary clinton, and this insurgent candidacy from cynthia nixon coming out there from the activists who were in the crowd as well. so, when tom perez, the dnc chair, got up at the convention after vowing after 2016 not to get involved in primary battles and endorses andrew cuomo, i think you could hear an audible gasp from the america rising war room. we were all pretty shocked about that but also pretty elated. we had a lot of fun about that. i think it is good for cynthia nixon, for showcasing andrew cuomo for who he is, which is a very small person, someone who really has a lot to answer for in terms of the corrupt ties he

has in his state and state contracts. there is a lot going on with andrew cuomo. james: you obviously have successfully used cynthia nixon to highlight cuomo's problems on the left. one of your initiatives is sort of trying to sow the division in the democratic civil war. alex: us? no. we would never. [laughs] james: can you highlight how huge a factor it will be in the campaigns? alex: i think it will be a huge factor. when you look at the field of candidates, people like senator people like senator elizabeth warren, senator cory booker, senator gillibrand, senator kamala harris, these are more traditional candidates. they kind of look like a homogenous group. some, like senator gillibrand, used to be a blue dog democrat, and senator cory booker, who has ties to bain capital and previously defended them, then

you have kamala harris who was -- i think she has some ties to corporate issues in california, her background in law enforcement makes some of them was problematic for some other progressives out there. you have a group that is largely taking the same positions. so i think a great example of this is the refusal to take corporate money. elizabeth warren was first out there with that. she declared early that she was not going to take donations from corporations. then, you know, you had kirsten gillibrand many moons later come out with a very random facebook video where she said, i am not taking corporate contributions.

so, cory booker, not to be outdone, he must've been breathless, like, his people must've been running to get a video camera together. he gets other a couple hours later and says, "i won't either!" and kamala harris is on stage, this is a live stream for america rising that we were watching at a pretty sleepy hour for the rest of the country, we were watching this, and somebody asked senator harris, would he be taking corporate contributions? and she says, well, it depends. yet another siren moment for america rising. remember the meeting we went into action and put the video out there. not two weeks later, she was forced to retreat and say, no, no, no, i will not do it. so we have this group of people

who are all the same, presumably, on this issue. except now, it is really getting into the nuances of, how sure are you on this issue? for example, senator cory booker took missions from the insurance pac. where do they get their contributions from? from corporations. how pure was that pledge, cory, when you are taking contributions from the insurance pac, they're all really turn to fit themselves into what they think progressives will want in 2020. i think it is a good illustration of how the race for the left works. i think certainly in terms of issues, medicare for all -- this was a prominent bernie sanders proposal, which now we know from the mercatus center will cost us $32 trillion over 10 years. i mean, this is just like pretty

extreme for most americans. but you know, you have bernie sanders out there with this proposal. 16 senators have signed onto it. almost all of the 2020 hopefuls have tried to hang their star on the proposal as well, so we see these issues, there is a demonstrable attempt to shed past associations with anything that might be considered establishment or mainstream, or even conservative. and, you know, a flagrant attempt to adopt a new position that is more liberal and progressive. host: alex smith, let me follow up. admittedly, there is also a deeper position in your party. we saw that play out with the koch brothers, president trump is very critical of them. we saw a potential challenge to the president from governor kasich and senator jeff flake. as you look at the democrats, at your own party is also facing some internal divisions as well? alex: these divisions are not new to the republican party.

watching the 2016 presidential primary process play out is chief among the examples of that. these aren't new. i would say that the -- what is different about the democrats, and again, that is america rising's sole focus, so i spend my days watching democrats, not republicans these days -- what i would say is that this paradigm is new. it is a new thing to have such a wide market of candidates moving so markedly to the left. with the division with the gop, obviously they are real and they are there, they are not so much unexpected. whereas the democratic party, i think, is breaking in ways that are a little bit new to our political ecosystem, here. al: alex, let me ask you one quick 2020 question, then i want to go to 2018 for a second.

who is the one democrat that keeps you up at night, if anybody does? is there anyone you are concerned about? alex: they all keep me up at night. [laughs] alex: i cannot keep their voices out of my head. i am always watching them. [laughs] i don't think i have one democrat yet who has presented himself or herself as someone who is that viable as a contender. i think what keeps republicans up at night more is the unexpected, the x-factor. is there a nontraditional candidate who just like in the 2016 republican field can come in and totally upend what the democrats are trying to accomplish, through more traditional channels. i will say, though, just as a pure policy matter, it does keep me up at night the idea that we are marching so far to the left, and that someone who will eventually be the standardbearer for the democratic party will be adopting positions that are so far outside the mainstream. the young person who cares

deeply about the size of the national debt and the size of government, i worry about the kind of standard bearers the democrats will produce in 2020. host: but a tax cut that adds $1 trillion more to the debt, was supported by the republicans? alex: look, as someone concerned about the debt, that was a legitimate criticism, and something that as a younger person, i absolutely had concerns about. but we are talking about i think -- what democrats are trying to do here is a fundamental redefinition of who we are as americans. look no further than the dsa, they are increasingly playing a

role in these primaries, their membership has grown tremendously. i think what the democratic socialist have done is try to rebrand the failed soviet style socialism into this shiny new packaging. they think that it is going to fool everyone. look no further than venezuela to see socialism's great failures, even in present day. so i think that what i do worry about is a paradigm shift on the left that is taking the country -- the democratic socialists, for example, support abolishing the senate. that is a position that is totally antithetical to our republican system of government. i think it is just really this enormous paradigm shift. james: alex, there are obviously a lot of places where you cannot hit democrats. i know we keep bringing it back to trump, but in some of these red states, you have obviously,

10 democratic senators who are up for reelection in states that the president carried. when you think about how the president sucks up all the oxygen, how hard does it make it to place negative stories about a joe donnelly or a heidi heitkamp or a joe manchin, given that these stories have it comes so much more nationalized? is it harder than in 2014 or 2016? alex: i think the nationalization of the presidency and what is going on in washington, is somewhat confined to the washington bubble just because i think -- i am from pennsylvania originally, so i have a lot of family and friends back home in the county where the president was last night. some of my family and friends were two-time obama voters who ended up voting for the president. whenever i get a chance, i ask them what they think is going

on, what it is they feel about what is happening in america today. i think in terms of what is going on day today in washington and the latest controversy or the latest tweet, that is not necessarily the case out there in these red states. i think what the voters in these states, what i hear most often from family and friends and other people, other political operatives that i work with, is that there is a real desire from the constituents in these red states to have their democratic senators work with the president, reach across the aisle, work with him. sort of put partisanship behind them, to actually reach out. in some of these places, like in missouri, for example, with senator claire mccaskill, she is somebody who voted against the confirmation of justice gorsuch. don't forget, people who were voting and had the supreme court as their top issue, they voted very heavily for trump.

this is a big reason why people voted. she voted against justice gorsuch and against repealing obamacare, against the tax cuts and jobs act. now, it is looking like the confirmation of judge kavanagh. we don't really know where she is on that. i find it hard to understand how she will go back to her constituents, or even someone like bill nelson, who has followed this pattern down in florida, how they will go back to their constituents and say, yes, i went to washington and made a difference on your behalf. there was a clear signal in 2016, for both parties, i think 2016 was distinctly not about partisanship. both parties, whether it was the insurgent candidacy of bernie sanders or that of donald trump, both parties were tired of washington as usual. al: alex, i want to ask

something else about 2018. you mentioned how you obviously do not train your fire on republicans at all or anything like that. about prioritization of races, you look at arizona, mississippi where there could be republicans in the general election who are not necessarily desirable for major swaths of the republican party. mcconnell allies, people like that. are there races that america rising will not play in, such as if a republican gets into the race, for example kelly in arizona, do have races where you are not playing so much in? alex: from a political action committee standpoint, we are solely focused on the democrats. so really the primary process, other than looking at the democrats in the primary process, which is of great interest to us, we are not

really looking at the republican primaries. although, we do see them playing out and we are looking at them. in terms of where our resources go, it goes where the marketplace is, right? if there are races that are more competitive than others, that is where we will focus our attention. we are focused like a laser on the democrats, not so much on the republican primaries. al: well, no, of course. i guess my point is, if you have the opportunity to shift resources from arizona if kelly ward or somebody gets through the primary, to a place like north dakota or missouri or something like that, is that something that is on the table for you guys? alex: of course, you know, resources are finite, so we will put them where they will be of greatest use. i think this has been sort of an unpredictable cycle in so many ways. there have been surprises in

some of these primaries. there has been a lot of fluctuation after 2016. so i think those are judgment calls that we will make into the mid-and late fall, really looking at the viability of different candidates and the state of the races, and looking at where will send our resources. host: alex smith, executive director of "america rising." joining us from new york, rossway of catholic university, former chair of the college republicans, we thank you for being with us here on "newsmakers." alex: thank you so much for having me. host: let me turn to both of you. james, she mentioned democratic socialists a couple of times. what was your reaction? james: they want to emphasize the division in the democratic party, and as you know, there are obviously civil war is going on in the democratic party. my take away from listening is that i think -- even she was criticizing the president and republicans on deficits and a host of different things, sort of nodding that these disagreements existed, but saying that the real story is the divisions on the democratic

side. i think that telegraphs how kind of vicious and how negative the 2020 races will be. we saw that in 2016, where the only way that donald trump could win was being approved usually by americans on election day was to make hillary clinton be viewed even more unfavorably. i think that is how america rising will play an important role in 2018. pointing out the divisions in the far left. host: al, she pointed out everything they do is in the public domain. you said vicious, some would say that that is what makes politics dirty? al: i don't blame them for going out in doing this. i remember in 2014, it was on my first cycles. america rising really made a big imprint at the end of that, they kept asking folks, did you vote for president obama? no democrats wanted to say that. i think you will see a continuation of that as we head into the 2020 cycle. they started a long time ago,

going back to last year, their 2020 operation is here to stay, and it is not going away anytime soon. james: it has really changed the dynamic on the campaign trail. politicians are more guarded on both sides, at political events -- if somebody's walking around with a camcorder in their face all the time. the reason america rising was started was that democrats were doing this first. they had footage of republicans saying embarrassing things in 2012 and cost republicans some senate seats. i think republicans played catch-up and are probably ahead of the game on this. it is not entirely all in the republican domain, it is not wrong, but they are out there at every event. it is illuminating as a reporter sometimes, because both the democratic and republican groups are posting videos on youtube

that we wouldn't see otherwise. one of america rising's big wins in 2014, there was a big liquor cart next to a politician who was giving a speech and he started talking about how if republicans won the senate, senator chuck grassley, respected senior senator from iowa, he would be the chairman of the senate judiciary committee. "how crazy is that, a farmer from iowa?" this was a candidate from iowa in a fundraiser in texas, and they found that video. none of us would have found that video. they put it up and i think that video may have cost democrats that senate seat. al: there was also the same reaction in 2012 with mitt romney. james: i think that is a world we live in right now, the new

norm. host: what is your take away and terms of their role in 2020, you kept pressing her on that? james: they are looking at a dozen democrats, and also, they don't want to be caught offguard. i think if democrats were making opposition research books on republicans going into 2016, no one would have bothered to make one on donald trump. you remember in 2015, there were a lot of democrats rooting on donald trump to be the republican nominee, because they thought he would never win. it was interesting when she said they were paying attention to some underlying names. howard schultz, a billionaire. bernie sanders, joe biden. it will be interesting to see who the dozen are. if you can bet on anything, it is that the lists can change. some people who are not on the radar, perhaps some of the senate, will be on the radar. sometimes i find when you talk to operatives in the party all day everyday, republicans do not understand democrats, and democrats do not understand republicans. they may not be the best

situated to decide their nominee, but getting democrats to attack each other by highlighting some areas of disagreements, and does help to make those scabs. pushing democrats who say they will not take any corporate money. that can be significant in 2021 and do they break their promise or they feel like their hands are tied and they are leaving money on the table that republicans are happily taking. host: al weaver, you can have the final word. we are embarking on an interesting campaign cycle. al: i agree. it will be a very fluid process, nothing like 2016 with hillary clinton and bernie sanders. superdelegates will be used.

it will be bigger for democrats in all way, shape, and forms. host: al weaver, who covers politics for the "washington examiner," and james hohmann, who works with the washington post," we appreciate you being here with us on "newsmakers." james: thank you. click's discussion about the role of civil society in -- live starting at 4 p.m. eastern here on c-span. nominated to the supreme court in 1987, justice antonin -- justice anthony kennedy is retiring. look at his a

legacy on the supreme court and impact on the nation. clerk for justice kennedy from 2011 to 2012 and former assistant to the solicitor general. watch the legacy of supreme court justice anthony kennedy, tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> tonight, a look at the general data protection regulation, privacy laws and how it will impact companies like google and facebook. program,s on the president and ceo of the software alliance. >> we need to think of our data custodian responsibilities.

every company is a tech company. people are using and analyzing and amalgamating data. i think this signals a real change in our thinking in the private sector and government about the race of an individual in his or her own data. person has ongoing rights even when used legitimately by corporate actors. if we want all the innovation that the united states is so good at. to have the right rules underneath that. >> watch the communicators tonight at eight eastern on c-span two. >> tonight, american history tv with a look at the vietnam war. from the tet offensive to the

mainline massacre. we will hear from vietnam veteran jim west. as well as david marinus. tonight at 8ory tv p.m. eastern on c-span three. with a look at books written about congress. first south carolina congressman trey gowdy. how are unlikely friendship gives us hope for a divided country. thompson examines why moderates are less likely to run for congress. negotiator andde his book broken. book tv airs tonight at 8:30 p.m. eastern on c-span two.

>> senate confirmation hearings for brett kavanaugh to be a supreme court justice are expected in september. and they are likely to question him about grover way -- about roe v. wade. on tuesday, c-span's landmark cases presented in-depth look at roe v. wade. we will also hear from los angeles time supreme court reporter discussing his nomination and the abortion issue. >> last week and the young america's foundation hosted its annual student conference in washington dc. this portion featured remarks by political commentator dinesh to souza.-- dinesh d' this is an hour. >> he served as a speaker for the american foundation for gera