. >> medicaid expansion meets a red state, blue state divide. we are have a lot on our meendz at the start of this saturday morning, thinking about what it could possibly take to convince red state governors and politicians to back off and deal with a crucial component of president obama's health care law, the expansion of educate. we find ourselves with who will win the big outstanding state wide election yet to be

determined from tuesday night a. key state wide office in virginia. the same office that gave rise to ken cuccinelli. the race is close. it seems there are thousands of ballots that went uncounted on election night. we will film you in on the latest on that. we are wondering if history will, indeed, repeat itself with chris christie playing that role. i have thoughts about that. it involves explaining to you what something called a he cume is. you might want to stick around for that. our friend mellissa harris-perry is taking her dedication will pay off. that is ahead. but first, president obama is waking up in miami, florida today on his tour of southern statesch red southern states encouraging republicans to do

something he didn't expect he'd have to be doing 17 months ago. it starts in june of 2012. that's when the supreme court issues its long awaited ruling on obama care. to the surprise of many and dismay of conservatives, it upheld the law. >> that ruling came with a catch. the law called for states to expand their ped cade programs, to expand low income people eligible for subsidized health care coverage and for the federal government to pick up the lion's share of the cost of that expansion. but the court also ruled states didn't have to take part in this expansion. they didn't have to take the free medicaid money. it would be their choice. someone said this might be a problem. here we were smack in the middle of the tea party era when opposing fighting and railing against obama care was a test of basic tribal loyaltive. wouldn't governors see a political advantage and imperative in rejecting the money, in rejecting the expansion of ped cade in

undercutting a crucial component of the health care law. >> that court ruling came down a year-and-a-half ago, conventional wisdom was resounding. of course not. >> it is the most general federal match in the history of medicaid. a vast ma voter of states will come in. for those few to come in will have to answer why they're letting people down. >> the generous thing you can say is lou was partially right a. handful of republican states have slowly come into the fold. mostly recently, john casich of ohio. still that medicaid money is still being left on the table in half the states. it basically tracks what the red state, blue state dwiechltd there are currently 25 states that are not moving forward on the medicaid expansion. of those 25 states only six of them voted for obama last year.

maine, new hampshire, wisconsin, pennsylvania, virginia and florida and not coincidentally not all of those states has a republican governor. in the sixth, new hampshire has a democratic dpof who must deal with a republican state senate. >> that map could be changing a little. new hampshire is right now holding a special session on this issue. the governor maggie hassand a democrat, she is trying to find some kind of compromise with state legislators. virginia on tuesday elected a newf go, a democratic governor, terry mcauliffe, who says he wants to expand ped cade rules in his state. rick scott, florida governor, actually came around on the law this spring only to be jammed up by his republican state legislature. we will see what happens with that. in other red states, there is no sign of any momentum. then there are the states that are embracing medicaid expansion, there are 25 of them. along with the district of columbia. five of those states voted for

romney last year. three of them, arkansas, kentucky, west virginia, those three states have democratic governors. also, north dakota jack doulrichle came around, jane brewer waged a protracted fight with her colleagues. governor rick snyder is a democrat in a blue state. if you can make sense of all. that he had a similar standoff with his own party and he prevailed this summer. there is progress on the medicaid expansion front, but it is very slow. and the technical problems with the health care exchanges website have only given republicans another excuse to drag their heels and just say no. as long as fighting obama care remains a preparty test, it's hard to see most of america embracing medicare expansion. this is why the brent to the

heart, to dallas texas, to make a pitch for rick merry's state to sign on for expansion. >> i think that all of you understand that no state that actually needs this more than texas. here in just the dallas area, 133,000 people who don't currently have health insurance would immediately get health insurance, without even having to go through the website if the state of texas decided to do it. >> but this is the tea party era. this is texas. so not surprising outside that event there were protesters tweaking president obama. democrats in general are fighting a long war here. it seems that for the foreseeable future, being poor in red state america and poor in blue state america will mean very different levels of service

all because of our polarized politics. we will talk about all of this with a policy reporter for politico.com. a political correspondent for national journal, nbc correspondent. steve kornacki, last minute. jeremy peters, politics reporter from the new york times. thank you for joining us. i guess we start with that. we placed jack lew a week after the supreme court ruling came down in june of 2012. i think the conventional wis come he was expressing was, yeah, sure, technically the courts allowed the states could opt out. there will be an immense amount of pressure from the hospitals and their states to take this money. at the end of the day, this is one of those things we will all have to give in. here we are, as we say, a week and a half later, that just hasn't happened. is that a surprise to anyone here?

what has happened that alleged the stalemate? >> i think it underestimated the challenge. right now, this is one of the affect. ed ways for republicans to protest this law. they've done a number of symbolic things. they've voted over 40 times in the house to repeal it. they've shut down the government over obama care, which nobody knew it wasn't going to work and succeed into funding that law. so this is one of the ways to effectively throw a monkey wrench in the plan, it does interfere with the law of the land. it covers a large swath of people through the expansion of medicare, medicaid. when they decide to opt out. it interferes with the goals of the law and the mech names put in place. so, for example, the federal government is going to gradually phase out uncomplicated care because that money was supposed to be offset by medicaid and for states that opt out and aren't expanding medicaid, it's an effective way to protest and opt

out setting up their own exchanges. that's a part of the problem with the website is there has been a lot of money alocated for states to set up their own exchanges, not for the federal government to put it together. so when they have to take on that work, it interferes with the whole process. or now, it's one of the effective ways the governor has to protest obama care. >> that really is driving all of this, basically the republican party decided in the run up to the enactment of obama care this is the no. 1 thing they are fighting, the test of being a republican today is fighting obama care tooth and name. it seems as long as that's the case, there is no incentive to expand it in his or her state. >> one is by allowing states to opt out of this, what you have is what should have been a policy debate turned into

strictly a political debate. that's what's happening in these states right now, legislators rejecting the policy that has become their raise on detra. they will stop at nothing, it seems, to try to smash this law. but where it gets tricky, i think, is if you look at who exactly is suffering because medicaid is not being expanded to the states, these 2006 have not opted into it. that's half the population. it is also two-thirds of the poor. >> and poorer states. >> exactly. >> so these people are left behind. >> i want to play this first. this was president obama in new orleans yesterday. he is making his case in a red state yesterday in new orleans. >> one thing, though, i was talking to your mayor and your

governor about, though, a separate issue is one thing the affordable care act does is expand medicaid to cover more of their citizens and, you know, here in louisiana, here in louisiana that, benefitted about 265,000 people. >> so there, he is making the case. of course, within like an hour of giving that speech, the republican governor of louisiana, bobby jindal puts out a statement, we will not allow president obama to bully louisiana into accepting expansion of obama care. we have rejected it in louisiana. because it would cost taxpayers $1.7 over the next ten years and move 250,000 louisianians from private cover to medicaid. a case in point, we don't need top down one size fits all mandates. it strikes me, i start to wonder, what is the point of this tour that president obama is on right now given the sort of polarized reality of american

politics. he goes into a red state in louisiana. he makes good faith state for this law. there is nothing to do than attack the bullying of the democratic president. >> i think they are both posturing here. he wants to go there and say he's doing his best to do something, because what kells he do? he knows and they know they're not coming around. i think if i was bobby jindal, i would look at jan brewer in arizona, tea party rewho. she eats scorpions for breakfast, according to title of her book. she was on the fascial stage of immigration a few years ago and she decided to go ahead with the medicaid expansion and it's now become a person is that non-grataf. i was jindal looking at 2016, i would look at that example and say, woe, i better back off there. >> the key is, i don't think he's running for re-election

again in arizona, so this is sort of the end of the line for her so what, could, is there anything the president the white house the supporters, what can they do to get the governor of lousiana the government of mississippi, states like this, what can they do to get get them to say, okay. we will sign won medicaid expansion. >> i think the time will be the main thing here. it's been more than a year. lolts of time has passed. a few republican governors have actually signed on. so if you think of them, there are about 30 republican governors, i'd say almost a half signed on to expanding medicaid and tear state. if you look at john case kasich in ohio, he said, we need this for the state we need the money. we will do this on our own. that you notice will they can it to independent court. tennessee is looking at this.

up in maine, paul le page has vetoed the expansion of the medicaid, but he's just recently come out and said, you know even though i vetoed it, there are ideas i would support. in arkansas, they came up with a deal to assuage republicans where instead of taking the medicaid money, they would change it so that the money would go to the private insurance. so individuals instead of being on medicaid would use funds for private insurance. now we are seeing a whole bunch of republicans sort of opened to that bobby jindal will not be one of them. i think we are seeing movement on this and over time as governors see this is a free pot of money if they want it, i think we're going to see more. >> arkansas issued an example, too, you have a state that voted overwhelmingly, on the other side of the break with ve a

former governor in a state that may be, probably right now is the next battleground over the expansion of medicaid. that's virginia because of what happened tuesday night in virginia. we will talk to the former governor there right after this. vo: it's that time of year again. medicare open enrollment. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes. but it never hurts to see if you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits

you get after the health care law. open enrollment ends december 7th. so now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! ♪ heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact save your coffee from the artificial stuff. ♪ switch to truvia. great tasting, zero-calorie sweetness... ...from the stevia leaf. how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age.

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>> it is $21 billion. it's our money. we should be bringing it back. 29 states have already agreed to do it. it's just that it's fiscally irresponsible not to take it to those virginians that get life saving care. it's morally and socially the right thing to do. >> that is the incoming lt. gov. terry mcauliffe, here to talk more about how health care played a role in the 2013

governor's race in virginia, i want to bring in a former virginia governor jim gilmore, a republican. he joins us live from richmond right now. governor, appreciate the time this morning. so this was a pretty big campaign issue in your state where terry mcauliffe, you know, clearly said throughout this campaign he wants to expand medicaid, his opponent ran ads saying, don't vote for terry mcauliffe, he will expand it. now he has one, i know he has to deal with a republican majority in one of the state legislative chambers. do you expect they will have medicaid as a result of this election? >> well that's not really clear. let me say, everybody wants americans to have access to good health care t. real question is, is this the best way to do it? is this obama care the common sense approach and most people

really think that it is not the best approach. now, look, governor. >> i don't mean to interrupt, from a state standpoint, we had the federal argument the federal level is obama dare right way? at the federal level, obama care is the law. what is being asked is to expand their rules and have that paid for by the federal government and slowly phase it out to 90%. ultimately, 90% is coming from the federal government for your state. >> well, first of all, this is a chart. this is what is happening in virginia right now. when i was governor, we were paying about $3 billion for medicaid, now it's up to $7 billion in the last ten years revenues have not kept up with that. it's increasingly expanding health care that will go on forever. when the states have to kick in that 10%, ten it's going to be a

giant hole in the budget. that's the problem that people are foreseeing that will be the problem. that's the reality. the question is not whether we want toem people to have health care, is this sustainable? what is going to happen as this continues to expand and expand at the state level and more and more costs are built in because nothing controls costs in obama care. that continues to go on, then it's going to crowd out other things. where is the money going to come from for transportation? where is it coming from for education? where is it coming from for public safety? the answer, of course, is these are the first dollars that must be spent. if you have to do all this other great stuff, you raise taxes. people foresee this. they understand this, the problem is that obama care is not a good approach and the difficulty you got now is that because everybody says, well it's the law, so we all got to do it? well, it stops us from thinking of other innovative ways of

providing health care. the real problem we got right now is that this thing is going to be a continuous expansion that goes on forever. one more thing the fact is that they're saying right now and governor elect mcauliffe who i just met with yesterday is focusing on the fact as all the other governors are, including governor kasich, we're going to get this big slug of money in here well, the federal government is bribing in the long run it will be catastrophic to the states. people across the country are saying, wait a minute, let's take a deep breath and find more innovative approaches. >> i just want to follow up on something you said. you say that everybody wants better health care an everybody wants more individuals covered, but we need to find more innovative ways to do that. if obama care is not right way what is your alternative?

>> there are other things to talk about. there are self insurance programs for lower income employees are often provided health care programs by their companies. there are no know rate issive ways that you can afford through insurance. obama care will squeeze that out. you see companies saying we can't afford to do this and we will let them go onto the exchanges. of course, we know that technically they haven't been able to implement that. the real underlying problem is not computers t. real underlying problem is you are eliminating the private sector from providing health care coverage in a reasonable way because of this one sides fits all obama care problem. the problem is that this government controlled problem of this approach is squeezing everything else out. if you remember, one more point want to make, the most important

thing is we got to get people into the work force so they can get benefits from their employers. >> that meejs we got to build up this commitment reduce unemployment and get excitement going in this economy again. there is nothing going on in washington to build up this economy and to create jobs and stop worrying about whether or not we will socialize medicine all across the country, we need to be putting innovative things in here to restore the economy, get people back to work again. >> governor, hi, jeremy peters here. i want to talk about something that may seem obscure to most people, but is important in the way we select our candidates for office. that's the convention system the republican party has in virginia. as you know, the convention process selected ken cuccinelli, a candidate that did not win and many more moderate voters felt was out of step with their views. that happened because the republican party decided to

forego the process and put the decision making into the hands of a small group of conservative republicans. do you think the process needs to be opened up? >> that's a great question. the whole political system is on life support. maybe obama care can provide that for us. the real issue is that with a convention, you are talking about party, rank and file to come in and make this selection. with a primary that is the entire general public. at that point rich people get to come in and finance their particular candidates. it's out of the hands of the party, into the hands of the financiers. on the other hand, everybody gets to vote across the state. if we had party registration in virginia where you had democrats and republicans register as democrats and republican, then a primary system probably might make more sense and i think it's a case by case basis. so that both have pros and cons as to what works best. the question, are you going to put the selection process into the hands of the party rank and file or are you going to put it in the hand of people we don't

even know that write big checks. >> governor, a question for you back on the medicaid expansions. >> hi, rachel. >> you mentioned the concern is the costs and if you expand medicaid to say everyone above a certain threshold of the poverty lean. i believe it's for individuals making around $15,000 a year and for families of three or four making around 32, then eventually the costs would grow, grow, grow and the costs would exceed what the states are getting from the government. my question is more immediate, when obama care was created t. point of the medicaid expansion, it was paid for by phaseing out a totally different part of med case. so the federal government right now is taking billions of dollars away from the states on another part of medicare. so i guess my question is, is that a concern? because that's also being taken away right now? if you don't expand it to get money for, you know, certain programs, aren't states just

going to lose more money? >> well, in the short run they might. but in the long run the real issue we are dealing with here is that under all these programs, there has been no thought put into how you control costs and a lot of the states are looking at that right now. virginia is looking at it right now on a competition. governor elect mcauliffe might decide he wants to expand medicaid because he wants to expand that bribe cash supposed to be coming into the federal government. >> to pick up on rachel's point, specifically, this involves the hospitals in your state. the result of what rachel is talking about is the hospitals who right now care for people who don't have insurance get reimbursed by the federal government. the federal government anticipating that states like yours would take the medicaid money from the federal government, phased out that reimbursement. so right now the hospitals in your state and across the country are lining up. >> that i are begging governors to sign up for this program because they are in for a huge hit if they don't. doesn't that register with you what the hospitals are saying?

>> it does, that means the federal government made a bad decision. they made a dra conyan decision which injuries providers. in the long run, this whole system here is designed to squeeze providers and that mean, of course, you are going to reduce the provision of health care, the supply of health care. and yet at the same time, you are exploding the number of people who are going to be demanding health care. simple economics tells you that means the costs will go through the ceiling and ultimately, somebody has got to pay for that. it's going to be the taxpayer. now, look, i'm not saying we don't want people to have access to health care. what i am saying is we got to find ways of getting the private enterprise system involved more people who are low wages working and getting health care is a benefit. at that point you are not throwing everything onto the government and the taxpayers. the federal government is using this major clout and say we will

withdraw the money to pressure the states into a program. i want to say something to you. i was a governor and we always started with medicaid is unalterable. it's right here. this is a big thing. you can't change anything. that's your first dollars that have to be spentch within i was governor, it was about 12% of our budget. now it's closer to between 16 an 20% of our budget. when obama care kicks in, it will blow things out of the water. how are you going to educate children? deal with keeping the streets safe? these are questions, frankly, your panel today has to be willing to give answers to. i haven't heard them. >> jim gilmore. i appreciate the time this morning. we will be back after this.

. >> you know, i waslyening to jim gilmore, who do you all have to say about the rising costs of

medicaid? it reminds me of this rhetoric we haerd about food stanks you look at the number of people suddenly on food stamps, what could be causing that? could it be the fact that the economy melted down and the level of poverty and the level in this country that is in more demand than ever, maybe it has something to do with that. we will digest the conversations with dpof gilmore and where the battle for the expansion of medicare goes right after this. [ male announcer ] united is rolling out .

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to share with family. [ woman 2 ] to carry on traditions. [ woman 3 ] to come together even when we're apart. [ male announcer ] in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and more, swanson makes holiday dishes delicious. . >> so i think we've heard from governor gilmore, there is what you are hearing from republicans across the country with the are saying, force we will not expand. one thing i picked up in a lot of what he was saying there, alex, how the problems with the healthcare.gov right now and the problems with the creation of these exchanges are giving ammunition to republicans who want to resist expanding medicaid because they are able to frame it saying, why, look, why would we take part in this

program failing at the federal level. it understands the importance of getting this thing up and running and getting it working. it is giving ammunition to the opposition. >> this is a massive law. from the beginning, republicans have tried to lump it altogether. because if you have one problem with one part of it like healthcare.gov, it translates to everything in the mind's eye of most voters. so i think it's critical. i think obama made a mistake. he was correct on the policy argument. politically, he did nothing to comfort his allies and gave more fodder to his critics who can say, loose, even obama is making a mistake here when he told chuck todd he was sorry. this is clearly a disaster on the website. but they should have seen this coming from the beginning. for the doubt about that. they have done a terrible job on the back end of hand himming the cleanup of the obama white house to overrespond too quickly without thinking through the

political allocations. >> the critical way the website is working, from governors who are not running their own exchanges, that is a part of the reason, then the federal government has to take on the work of managing all of those state exchanges. there are a number of states where things are going quite well because the states are managing their own exchange. a white house official compared this to building a building in a war zone while people are throwing bombs at you, the work required to put this website together was tremendously difficult. then you add on the aspect of working in a tense political cloimt. so it's a little disingenuous to criticize the way the website is working when part of the reason it is having problems and granted the administration did not do a good job of setting this up to make shower they have the mechanisms in place to handle the single technological challenges the administration has to face. within that, they have the added challenge of taking on work they were going to do.

>> kentucky the democratic governor of kentucky forced through the expansion of medicaid and the creation of these exchanges in his state. there are statistics from kentucky where this seems to be working, over 32,000 enrollees in medicaid, 5,000 enrolled in the qualified health care plan. so there is an example of a state that said, hey, we are going to be proactive. we will do this. we dpoot result here. >> in arkansas, you saw i believe 6,000 people in the first few weeks. i think what the problem that the republican party faces on litigating this issue too much a problem they've had kind of all along, including back into the last presidential election, which is a problem of tone and what they've wrestled with is striking that right tone. they need to realize the public does nots will like this law necessarily as much as they do. we saw this with the irs scandal an benghazi, some of the

republican strategists are worried about reigning in members of congress and making, a real effort to make the party sound like it's not being to shrill on this, if they, are they will lose the strategic advantage they have with this very unpopular law. >> maybe the ship has sailed, too, i wonder. one of these lucky panelists is about to become a panelist on up against the clock two. of them are. it's a very special not to be missed edition of america's fastest growing abbreviated made for saturday politics and/or current events quiz show. that's coming up next. [ music playing ] for car insura? yeah. i heard about progressive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah? yeah.

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save your coffee from the artificial stuff. switch to truvia. great tasting, zero-calorie sweetness from the stevia leaf. [ herbie ] no doubt about it brent, a real gate keeper. here's kevin in the nissan sentra. lamb to the slaughter. mom's baked cookies but he'll be lucky to make it inside. and here's the play. oh, dad did not see this coming. [ crowd cheering ] now if kevin can just seize the opportunity. he's seen it. it's all over. nothing but daylight. yes i'd love a cookie. [ male announcer ] make a powerful first impression. the nissan sentra. now get one fifty nine per month lease on a two-thousand thirteen nissan sentra. ♪ >> every week on the show, we put three contestants up against the clock. a test of their current events accumen and buzzer pressingable.

one of today's contestants, you may recognize her mellissa harris-per kwli has been documenting every arduous strength building test of her journey to contestant's row. way to go. >> i'm ready to go, coach. [ music playing ] lbj in 1964. those up against the clock podium. ha. yes. there it is. i'm ready. where is my coach? >> how much? >> downgrade a minus 3 plus. >> a tidbit. >> mitt romney. >> all right.

you are ready. >> that is very impressive stuff. clearly, she is different getting herself in excellent quiz show shape. don't forget, she will be facing two fierce competitors, going through their own growling regimen. sit tight. we are mere minutes away from from what it takes to be crowned up against the clock champion. that's right after this.

. >> live from studio 3a in rockefeller center usa, it's time for up against the clock. our first contestant, originally from brookline, massachusettes the birthplace of jfk, mike wallace and michael did yukakis from santa fe new mexico, home of the minor league juggernaut the santa bay fuego, say hello to alex. today's contestant from new

orleans, louisiana, home of the new orleans pelicans, it's mellissa harris-perry. here's the host of up against the clock, steve kornacki. >> oh, thank you, studio audience, thank you everyone for tuneing in for another thrill packed edition of up against the clock. melissa today's celebrity guest contestant. you foe the rules by now and at hope, wrong answers will cost you. there are a few instant bonuses scattered throughout these questions. as always, studio audience, i implore you, please, no outbursts, our contestants demand absolute concentration with that, i will ask you, contestants, are you ready? . we will start with 100 second on

the clock in the 100 point round. we will go, 25 years ago yesterday, george h.b. bush was elected president over what -- >> dukakis. michael dukakis the defeated candidate. the next question, 3 billion, $2.5 billion or doctor 2 billion the white house released a report showing the shutdown cost how much in employee back pay, alex? >> c, $2 billion. >> doctor 2 billion is correct in back pay, try again with alex and mellissa. it took multiple calls and wrong numbers before vice president joe biden. >> incorrect. it took multiple calls before joe bind replaced a call to newly elected mayor. >> boston. >> according to city officials

in boston, this red sox slugger came in third place on write-in votes absolutely no idea. >> encorrect. david ortiz. >> 100 point question the grandson of which former american president announced this week. >> jimmy carter correct, his granddon now running for governor of go. . 100 point question, new jersey governor chris christy made his prime time acting debut. >> nbc michael j. fox i don't know, michael j. fox show? >> it is. 100 points for mellissa. we will finish the question, after being declared the winner tuesday night ken cuccinelli refused to report what custom mary. >> call the winner. >> he refused to call the

winner, terry mcauliffe. we go to the end of the round. mellissa, the early lead with 300 points, alex with 200. moving up from negative territory with that correct answer, but now things start to get a littlewhile wild because we move to the 200 point round. again, you are penalized. you get big points, 100 second on the clock. first 200 point question is this, sporting a nifty pair of glasses, this former candidate returned to iowa on thursday and said, if i was making a plan for 2016, coming to iowa early an often would be. >> rand paul. >> encorrect. >> wrong. >> alex. >> rick perry is direct correct. big twin there, a reader revolt participated the departmenture of guns and ammo after they published an editorial in favor of what, alex? >> gun control.

>> 200 more points for alex. politico reported this week that this nationally ambitious tea party senator recently had private meetings with news corps rupert murdock and fox news. >> rand paul. >> that is correct. >> 200 points for mellissa. back with this. nine years after his death, a group of swiss scientists reported this week. >> arafat. >> yes, yasser arafat. poison was found in his remains. 200 point question, many believe the political demise of ross perrot was triggered 20 years ago this week when he delivered an erratic performance in a prime time debate. >> larry king, al gore? >> correct. >> cnn. >> incorrect. we have to deduct 200 points. finish the question. an erratic performance in a prime time debate against whom?

no calls, time. al gore. the sitting vice president on larry king live. that brings us to the end of the 200 point round. alex has stormed into the lead with 600 points, maura now with 200. mellissa with 100. can you see a very volatile gain, though, especially as you introduce the ph.d. round. these are 300 point questions. this is where champions are made. we will put 100 second on the clock t. crucial final round begins with this. illinois senator mark kirk teamed up on thursday with what conservative democratic senator to introduce legislation to delay the obama care mandate one 84. >> alex. >> joe manchin of west virginia is correct. 300 point question, plans to create america's 51st state are on hold after six conservative counties on tuesday rejected a non-binding plan to succeed? >> colorado.

>> colorado is correct or 300 point. instant bonus. >> had the if you state been created, what would the state's name have been? >> there is no penalty for getting this wrong? i have no idea. >> the answer is colorado. when the employment non-discrimination act, which prohibits employment of lesbians, gays, transexuals was being debated on the state floor this woke, one senator spoke publicly against it, who was it? >> david individualer. >> encorrect. >> time, dan coax of any. 300 point question. john runon, a second term republican from south jersey announced this week, we will not seek re-election proposal played professional football for what monita franchise? >> the jets. >> the jets is incorrect. >> the eagles.

correct. 300 point question, in a concession speech tuesday night, this defeated candidate said, quote the onslaught of betrayal from our own political party was at fault for her loss. >> barbara bueno 300 point, correct. it gives maura 800 short of the 1,200 alex racked up. >> that makes alex for today's up against the clock champion. bill wolf. tell him what he's won. >> as our champion, will you have your name printed in exquisite sharpee, you get to take the trophy home and show it off to family, friends and school children for one woke. you will receive an appearance this coming week on msnbc's in the the cycle." you get to play in our jackpot bonus round for the grand prize of a $50 gift certificate to little pony, the most authentic

eating and drinking experience while you are there, get a tattoo or a piercing. back to you, steve. >> congratulation, we have unfinished business for that $50 gift certificate. here is a jackpot bonus question. fine years ago yesterday the republican revolution of 1994 vaulted the gop to the house of representatives for the first time in four years and made newt gingrich speaker. for your bonus, what democrat did gingrich succeed as speaker? >> jim wright. >> incorrect. it was tom foley, i'm sorry. the $50 gift certificate is safe for another week, alex, you have one of our highest points of all time. it puts you in a tie for second place maura with 800 points, you may still be in contention,

mellissa, it was a fast start. you had an aggressive buzzer style. >> yes. >> you knew about the cnn debate. unfortunately, we didn't finish the question first. you will not leave empty hand. we have the home edition. thank you for playing today. we will see you next week for another up against the clock after this, the real show begins again. my customers can shop around--

. >> there are a lot of good explanations how george w. bush became president. the fatigue over scandals, lousy campaigns over al gore. i have a different theory. i think it's all because of the he coumb. let me take you to the fall of 1994, two years after george h. bush was bounced from office

after two terms. two sons were launching careers of their own. george w. was a few-years-older the word was jeb was the one to watch. sharp intellect. someone who could dazzle the crowd. george w. he never done much. goofy, awkward, empty. rumor had it the old man saw jeb as the future president. the son who would go on to reclaim the white house for the family. w. seemed to be acting out a revenge fantasy t. they lam pooned his father at the 1988 democratic convention, she said he had been put with a silver foot in his mouth. beyond that, no one seemed too sure why he was running. in the home stretch, it looked like the public saw it. in texas, the ratings stood at

60%. voters hit a soft spot for the plain spoken incumbent. w. was the underdog. but in florida, it was a different story t. state's business lobby released a poll taken in mid-october. jeb bush 48%, lawton chiles 43% other polls showed jeb bush ahead. lawton shotz, a folksy yarn spinner 64-years-old, he looked at least ten years older than that. time was catching up. when the poll came out, it looked like it was all over. jeb is columnist wrote is charging down the home stretch like wildfire, some closest to chiles say they expect him to be coasted and are looking for job opportunities. lawton chiles was nothing if not wiley, when he got the chance to stand face to face with jeb on the same stage days before the election. he knew better than to make it a contrast between a democrat and

a republican, a liberal and a conservative. he made it about culture. the floridians never get their way of life. he made it about, here's that word again, he made it about the he coumb. >> my mama told me sticks and stones will break my bones, names will never hurt me. let me tell you. one other thing about the old liberal, the old he coon walks just before the light of day. . >> the he coon according to real florida lor is a tough ornery raccoon with his might and wit defends all the other ones that will do them hard, lawton chiles pitch perfectly claiming the he coon mant el and polished son of the yankee arising tocracy and

privilege -- a riscracy. and he ran with it. he took to wearing a coon 16 cap as he barn stormed florida in the findal hours of the campaign. you could feel the bush lead melting away. 1994 was a devastating year for democrats everywhere, florida in particular. a massive mid-term backlash, a backlash of the so-called angry white males against bill clinton and the national democratic party. the angry florida voters granted one exemption for one democrat who showed them that he got them. that he knew them. >> that he was one of them they re-elected the he coon. >> what time is it? it's just before down at the same moment that lawton chiles was declaring victory, though, a

few hundred miles west, that same national republican tide was hitting texas. this one came with no special dispensations for folksiness. anne richards put up her best fight, a wha wail of a fight t. tide was too strong t. state was aching to vote against bill clinton's party, that meant a voting for george w. bush, voting for the bush brother who was never supposed to when that year. >> what texans can dream texans can do. >> so there it was, election night '94. the bush brother who was supposed to when that night and take that havingtory and use it as a springboard to a bush white house restoration was derailed. instead of going national, he spent the next years mending fences in florida, winning over the locals, to make sure the next time he ran there would be no, he coon moment. it did work. jeb got elected governor. by that point, he had been

lapped by his big brother, the bush brother who was never supposed to win in the first place. because of that weird twist of fate in 1994, it was w who got to lead one of america's biggest states, flirting with presidential politics. he ba imthe vehicle, the profoundly unlikely vehicle. on the night jeb won florida in 1998, w. was getting reelected in texas by a huge margin, 38 points. so it was his plan. this was carl reserve os plan, run up the score in '98. make eye browseing inrates with latinos, with voters who had been flocking to president clinton and flocking away from the republican party. 1998 was a generally miserable year for the republican party. you probably seen the recent polls after last month's government shutdown that show the gop favorable score at an all time low. the only other time they were in that same ballpark was the end

of 1998. that's when a newt gingrich led gop house that had already shut down the government and was unpopular that, has defied public opinion and led an impeachment drive against president clinton. >> that produced a loss for republicans in 1998, the first time since james monroe's presidency, they failed to gain seats in the second term mid-term election. this was the context of george bush's victory. it was the biggest bright spot. maybe the only bright spot in a very dark hour for the republican party. by that point they had lost the 'necks election to him. lost the '98 mid-terms, it was losing the impeachment fight. they were sick of losing and it was hungry to when again. it was nothing particularly ideological about it. when george bush talking up what

he had done in texas, started talking up what he called compassionate conservatism, in an active way than dogma prescribed, he found a receptive audience in the party. finally he can communicate empathy to americans the way bill clinton did. after all, look what he had done in texas. this was how bush was able to spend 1999 creating the most formidable machine in the history of modern prun politics. fundraising figures were reported for the second quarter of the year. his advantage was so staggering, so shocking that it set in motion the demise of not one, not two, not three, not four, not five but six of his interparty foes before a single ballot was cast. bush did end up facing the spirited fight from john mccain in 2000 t. outcome was never in much doubt. party elets were so over

wellingly on bush's side, he was able to define himself as the candidate of purity and mccain's calling card was campaign finance reform, a plan loathed by interest groups to portray him as the apostate. this upped mcclain's popularity and that alienated him more from the republican base and that cemented bush's hold on the nomination t. race was over in the first week of march, 2000. in ten months, one supreme court ruling later, george w. bush was president. all of this is the backdrop for what happened with new jersey governor chris christie this week. after what christie hopes will happen in the next three years. because it's the bush model, the george w. bush model that christie wants to emulate on the surface, the setup is almost the same. this is a low moment t. destructive impact of the shutdown and the party's general reliance on tea party rhetoric and tactics as of late helped

opinion shapers. blair bare in the blue state, the state that last elected a republican to the senate more than 40 years ago, there in that very blue state is a republican governor who racked up more than 60% of the vote, nearly a third of the black vote who outpolled his female democratic opponent by 12 moints points among women. christie can say the same thing bush did 15 years ago. our party is in a bad place, but i know how to win. the republican party is also much different now than it was yooen 15 years ago. it's a twins of how his presidency ended, the rise of barak obama and the agenda the right regard is an affront to freedom. to explain how this could happen, how americans could go to the polls and willfully elect

a left of center government, the right decided it had to blame george w. bush. the basic idea, that bush's compassionate conservatism ended up amounting to reckless big government. it gave conservatism a bad name that then led a confused electorate to turn to obama. it is out of this conviction the tea party was formed. both to fight obama and the republicans who would enable bush and might enable a future bush. the attitude of the republican party 15 years ago was like the old al davis saying, just win, baby. but today purity is just as important. maybe more important to the tea party right. this is what maiblg makes christie's path to the gop nomination far trickier than bush is. he is going to have to satisfy a critical chunk of that tea party right that he's one of them or at least he's close enough to being one of them and check off his name anyway. there is a school of thought is

an impossible tavenlth christie literally embraced the president at the most sensitive moment in last year's presidential campaign a. charge he single handedly expanded the white house by four years could make christie a total non-starter with too many tea party years. i tend to take a less fatalistic view. look closer, you will see he is not a moderate in the way we once thought of northeast republican moderates. he's pro-life. he is staunchly anti-tax. he is happy to war with public employee unions. he is happy to veto gun control bills and vital public transportation projects. there is also this trump card. personality. now i know many people loathe christie. plenty also appreciate his swagger, especially when you are talking about the republican universe. the reason christie is a national candidate is he will lose his temper at the wrong moment, an ugly explosion that becomes his identity that sinks his campaign. the flip side though is that he

is good at this game. he is a rare politician who can talk to a room of people who disagree with them an win him over. they warm up to him. laugh at his jokes, then without realizing it, they find themselves working backwards in their minds to tell them, come to think of it, it wouldn't be crazy to support it. i have seen him do this in rooms of skeptical conservatives and i absolutely could see him doing this in rooms of skeptical iowa republicans two years from now after what happened this week, how much does chris christie have to worry about the tea party and how much of the republican party? we will dive into that right after this. make a monday mornin' feel like a friday afternoon with some nestle toll house morsels. let's close our laptops and open our ovens. these things don't bake themselves. we have to bake them for one another. we can bake the world a better place

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. >> i'll tell you about chris christie's political future and how big a factor the tea party will play in his front runner

status. we have policy reporter from politico.com reigning up against the clock alex and jeremy peters politics reporter for the new york times. so, you know, i'm curious what you guys make sort of coming out of this week with chris christie the whole sort of debate is, yes, he is clearly electable in a blue state. he would be the worst nightmare if he were an opponent. did you see anything this week in these results? do you see things percolating right now that answers that question? could he get through a republican primary? >> i think in response to his victory, we got a lot of clues to that. you saw the right wing republicans in different ways being critical of him. going on the air and calling him a moderate, which is a very inside baseball way of slamming him for those looking for a candidate farther on the right. you see some clues in that.

i think what they're suffering from is they are dealing with the fear of romney again, a conservative who is not conservative in his heart. he doesn't believe those things. he was for gun control before he was against it. he vetoed same-sex marriage and gave up the fight in the courts. i think that's their big concern. the same things that make him marketable in a general election could serve to be liabilities to him when it comes to getting a nomination. >> i try to differentiate in my head, i look back at the past year, clearly there are the hard line conservatives in the party you give the slightest hint you may be in 50 years be for gay marriage, that i will never vote for you and rick santorum will win 11 states, there are still enough states out there for romney to get through and there is still a big enough path for mitt romney. i'm trying to figure out, has that path narrowed in the last year or is it sort of the same dynamic? >> i think it's narrowed.

i think if there is anywhere the establish him and big donors can win, they can held sway in a presidential nomination race. will you have a crowded field on the right with maybe ted cruz and rand paul and others, so i think there is a big chance he can come up the middle. not to mention the fact that governors tend to do better than senators. mitt rom fiwas a moderate who attacked what i to the right. christie is a conservative at heart on unions, on climate change, on gay rights. sandy is sort of a mant el put on him. it doesn't accurately describe who he is. he can take that mant el. it might upset the base. the donor class aren't fooled by that, they're clamouring to enter 2012. i don't think this field will be that much stronger as a lot of people expected. >> would we call him in the term moderate is attached to chris

christie reflectively. if it hadn't been for sandy and praiseing and embrace obama at the height of that, would we be calling him a moderate? his record otherwise, i remember he was the tea party hero with his first two years in office, with the ending if millionaire's tax, is it a function of saying nooigs nice things about president obama? >> i don't think it is. if you look at the other policy, social conservatives made a big fuss when he outlaws therapy, what they called procureing gay youngsters. >> the parity is there. the guns thing, mentioning not specifically legislation but saying guns should be controlled more in new jersey. obviously, he sort of backed off from that. that was what he sort of did at first. taxes, it's interesting you mentioned this, yes, the millionaire tax expired under him. he didn't knock that down. it expired. >> the legislature tried to extend it.

he retoed it. >> there is an interesting undercurrent there. he ran in 2009 on a platform of tax relief, property tax relief. property taxes in new jersey are $8,000 on average, first in the country. highest in the country. they have a high income tax and competent tax. he came in, in 2009 and said, this is awful. i want to expand tax relief for the middle class. he specifically a few months after he was elected got rid of a whole bunch of tax deductions and credits targeted toward the middle class that effectively increase taxes on a whole bunch of people. i'm talking hundreds of thousands of people. i talked to a few people in new jersey about this. you don't really hear much about it in the media right now. but this is something that anything that smells like a tax hike is going to be something that conservatives will attack him for in a gop primary. i could see this being something that could potentially hinder him. he promised to expand credits to scale back taxes and even the

opposite, actually. >> this was the day after the election, a day after chris christie got reelected. he held a press conference, he's feeling good about himself, listen to what what he had to say that day. >> people that think that folks vote based on a checklist, only special interest groups do that. only special interest groups do that. when they put together a checklist, they see how many boxes they check. real voters don't do that. role voters get a feeling for somebody. it's emotional, visceral type of thing in my experience and they determine in their gut, can i trust this person? are they telling many ethe truth? not do they agree with me on every issue. >> so he's absolutely right. >> i want to make a very unpolitical science argument here and any political scientists out there will tell me it's ridiculous. i think personality does matter. i think the personality chris christie has is so different than a guy like mitt romney. i can see chris christie going

into a group of party years. hey, he didn't fight gay marriage hard enough. i think he's that rare plichlths he's got the personality, where he can walk in that room. they can be like i don't like this guy. i want to get behind this guy. they rationalize backwards in their mind to get will. >> i can see voters in other states say other than new jersey responding very differently. so i would be careful about drawing too many conclusions about the electorate in new jersey and applying those to the greater primary elect terror rat. he may have won with hispanics and women overwhelmingly in new jersey. i don't know that that's going to extend to the rest of the country like it did, would that apply in ohio? i don't know that it would apply in ohio. up are talking about a state that elect rick santorum. >> you mean peoria? >> to your point, he got a third of democrats in the state, two-thirds of moderates.

two-third of independents. let's look at democrats, you would presume they are against the policy ideas. they voted with him. there was a connection with him. when you talk about political skill, something that you mentioned, he is a very skillful politician. a lot comes down to people don't out reach too. he does that well? democrats in new jersey, they discovered this. they discovered it nationally. you can find all of these issues where he is out of step with where the majority of public opinion is. how much does that personality override it? democrats did not figure out new jersey and would have to figure out nationally. you know the basic debate over social security, one side says cut it. private advertise it. the other side says keep at this time way it is, but there is a growing group of democrats that want to blow off the tomorrows of that debate. we will tell you how, that is next.

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. >> i will keep social security in a lock box and that pays down the national debt. i think it should say in a lock box. i'll tell you this, i will veto anything that takes money out of social security for privatization or anything else other than social security. >> that is one of more satirized moments. the response fit right into the egrowing narrative about hit stiff persona. but the lock box the vice president invoked seven times in that debate perfectly summed up the position on social security for the last half century, don't cut it, don't private advertise it. don't touch it. more and more democrats are saying they do want to touch it to change the basic terms of debhat of what's been called the third rail of american politics. we will talk to one of those democrats right after this.

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. >> the debate over social security has been consistent for the last half century, on the right, they say cut it or private advertise it. this entitlement is the senior population explodes and life expectancies rise. >> while younger workers on a voluntary basis to take some of their own money and set it aside in the form of a personal savings account. >> i think it's very important that we reform our entitlement programs. my friends, we are not going to be able provide the same benefit for present day workers that present day retirees have today. >> it is a monstrous lie. it is a poenz scheme to tell our kids 25 or 30-years-old today, you are paying into a program that's going to be there. >> on the left, liberals tend to say, don't touch social

security. preserve it. it's a vital part of the safety net. it will be solvent for years to come. >> we will protect social security. i will not private advertise it. i will not cut the benefits. >> i think for us to act like social security is in crisis is a republican trap. >> i don't believe it add aspeny to the deficit. it shouldn't be a victim of deficit reduction within it has nothing to do with the deficit. >> occasionally, they give voice to social security and there are plenty of democrats who express the more conservative view. a, the debate goes, that's the limit of it. those are the two polls cutting it or private advertising it on one endsh leaving it alone, preserving it on the other, which can be a problem for liberals, any compromise, any meeting point between those two polls will entail some reduction in benefits. i saw this when president obama offered chained cti, a

recalculation of the social benefits formula that would have resulted in lower payouts during the grand bargain talks of 2011 and again in his budget this spring. so this is why there are now some progressive democrats in congress trying to expand the terms of debate. this week, sharod brown of ohio became the late toast put his name to increase social security benefits. that's right. in an era defined by belt tightening, liberals are trying to provide retirees with bigger monthly checks. as more democrats sign on, we are seeing the beginnings to change the social security from not wanting to preserve it but to expanding it. these are the kind of long-term efforts that can take years but redefine the agenda of a political party. at the table with us now is congressman jerry nather of new york. he is one of 39 co-sponsors of

that legislation. thank you for joining us. we laid it out there. this is a debate we heard a hundred times, democrats saying, let's preserve it. make your case for why that debate is bogus and we node to be talking about expanding it? >> well the trust fund is 2.7 trillion. it dlb 2.4 trillion in 2025. there is no prospect of them running short in 2033 or any foreseeable future. number one, number two, we have always said retirement ought to be a three legged stool, based on pension, savings and social security. two of those legs are basically destroyed. in the private sector, there are almost no more push, a push we have to oppose, nonetheless, it's there and savings, two-third of retirees have had virtually no savings.

it's like 30,000 in its 402k. with the average social security check being $40,000 a 84, if that's it, our sflrs going to be retiring to poverty. in fact, the latest statistics show that while the overall participation rate in the labor force is down, for people over 65, it is up. >> that moans people can't afford to retire. so we have to increase social security in order to make up for the collapse of the private sector pension system and the failure of the 401k savings. >> what you are up against first of all is a lot of knee jerk conventional wis do. first of all, you are up against knee jerk conventional wisdom that affects your own party. we have the example of president obama who three times has put the chained cti out there of

reduceing social security benefits. where among your fellow democrats, where does that instinct come from when we are having fiscal talks, where does that come from to put social security on the table? >> it comes from the president, basically, there is almost a unanimous opposition to that. 100 some odd democrats have signed a letter saying, no way, know how. i don't know why the president puts this on the table. i think it's a bad mistake to do that. it's totally unnecessary, also. as i've said, the social security, they're reported as quote gospel and come out and say we will have a shortfall of fund. that's the immediate forecast. which has always been wrong. the optimistic forecast, with i that put out every year, the optimistic forecast, which generally has been right over the last 30 years, which is never quoted by the press, says social security fluctuated for

the future we can see. >> i wonder if you are talking about with president obama, as we all know, the communication ween the white house and members of congress is not always the greatest. so what do you see the president doing to reach out to congressional democrats to forge a solution on things? >> not much. >> that's actually what i was going to ask the president as the leader of the democratic party has proposed change cpi, which would obviously scale back the annual increases that seniors receive. i just don't see where this would go anyway, yes, people are talking about it right now. but harry reid, the senate majority loader would not put something on the senate floor for senate democrats to vote for if it goes against what the president wants. right now. we are in -- >> harry reid said he wouldn't put a changed cpi on the floor, even if the president wanted it.

the bulk of the democratic caucus in the house wouldn't consider it. the fact is, it's entirely theoretical because the republicans getting increased revenues, in any deal, with i they will never do. >> down there is a political clax, it's the dirty word the word for clinton in the '90s, trianglation? do you think there is a trianglation as a part of we will go to the left by asking for more revenue. we will see we are to the middle on the entitlement? >> i don't know. i certainly hope that isn't the calculation. if that were the calculation, it would be foolish politically. every poll shows that overwhelmingly, the people do not want reductions in social security benefits or medicare benefits. overwhelmingly. if god forbid we would do this, it would be a terrible proceed to candidates if 2014 or 2016. it's politically just foolish. so why put it out there?

i don't know. >> congressman, it seems to be politically as steve was talking about, this seems to be changing over the long term, moving the poll, expanding a bit t. white house has mostly demanded pretty much that democrats fall in loin on every piece of legislation. are they starting to understand the way the tea party opened up the right wing, liberal democrats should do the same? >> well, i don't know the white house has demanded democrats fall in line. are they understanding? maybe. i don't know. the fact is we are doing this. it is essential because we are seeing increaseingly that the other two retirement stools have collapsed and people cannot be expected to retire on 14 or 15 or $16,000 a year and then have a changed cpi, with i is framplgly a dishonest calculation. it understates inflation. frankly the current cpi also under states inflation. we got to increase it because

the cpi, the consumer price index is fixed by saying what is a bread basket, what is a basket that people buy? how much do you spend on education, health care, et cetera? okay. how much does health care increase in costs, et cetera in the fact what the cpi says if stake gets too expensive, you switch to hamburger. that's, in other words, figuring in a reduction in your standard of living into the calculation, which i think is just wrong. now, instead, what we should lock at is a different measure him the borough of labor statistics is developing, that says, okay. for seniors, they spend more on health care than 30-year-olds. they spend less on education than 30-year-olds. we should have a senior cpi which state inflation is heavier than the current cpi does. even that wouldn't satisfy the problem. >> yes, that's one of the issues, the opposite of changed cpi, moving it in the opposite

direction. i got to say, this is one of the reasons, you talk about 2016 sometimes, this is one of the reasons, if you are a democrat, this is an issue you care about. you hope there are lots of candidates out there. >> that could create the pressure for candidates to make this a priority if they get in office. it's one of the ways i'm going to justify talking about 2016 sometimes. i want to thank congressman jerry nather. i appreciate it. we do not have a winner in one important race because of some incredible sleuthing by numbers experts on twitter. it's a wild story. we will tell it to you next. [ female announcer ] think all pads are the same? don't.

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we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ . >> in waukesha county, wisconsin, the results for the race for state supreme court swung dramatically from the democratic candidate to the republican after the county clerk revealed she failed to count the votes from an entire

city. mitt romney's squeaker of a victory by only 8 votes in the 2012 iowa caucuses was called into question two days later when they said a counting error gave him 20 more votes than he received and rick santorum had been the winner there. that was before officials admitted entire precincts were missing, which led to weeks later to a startling declaration from the iowa republican party. mitt romney hadn't one the caucuses after all. rick santorum had. mistakes happen all the time it's only within they are close we realize how flawed and imperfect and human our election system is. that's the back drop playing out in virginia. we know there is a new governor elect, terry mcauliffe and a

governor elect and we have absolutely no idea who will win the other race for statewide office, the race for attorney general. current republican general ken cuccinelli lost tuesday's governor's election. in that job, attorney general is important in virginia for a lot of reasons, including the bake fact it's an established launching pad for governor officially the republican ag candidate is in the lead by about 1,200 votes. those results do not tell the full story. the full story involves my kind of people, numbers obsessed political sauvants. two in particular, dave wasserman an ben trivet goes by the twitter hand him not larry sabtow. they return fairfax county. it seemed to them like not enough ab tent see ballots were

counted. after they noticed, a local congressman picked up the scent, too. here's what they say happened. you can usually expect a certain percentage of people to actually use them to turn them in, to vote. fairfax county, that return rate is 88%. of the 8,000 absentee billion lots in the 8th congressional district, they were requested if fairfax only half were counted. a lot less than 88%. election officials say they believe almost 2,000 votes when unaccounted. they aren't sure yet what the right number actually is the big question is whether those numbers will be enough to take the race for attorney general. if mark herring becomes the next attorney general, that would give them the non-segregation sweep of the top three offices in both u.s. seats for the commonwealth since ever.

it's never happened before. so it's interesting to me because the attorney general in virginia, ted cuccinelli gave us a case study in why it is important from a policy whole o idea began with ken cuccinelli. ken cuccinelli used that to make himself a rising republican national star, to become the nominee for virginia, so obviously the outcome of this race is important. it makes a symbolic statement if democrats win it. it's shocking, we shouldn't be shocked, we've seen this before, but we have no idea who's won this race. >> and the attorney general's race is really where a lot of the attention focused towards the end of the race as it became clear that ken cuccinelli was probably not going to be able to fill it out. republicans shifted a lot of money into the race, democrats did, too. one basically predicted exactly how it went down. mcauliffe underperform manager the polls. the attorney general's going to

be the squeaker and that's going to be the important one because you can attribute the cuccinelli to -- attribute lieutenant governor to e.w. jackson, hardly a qualified candidate. but this is going to be a real test of the parties and a big signal of where the regime is headed. >> election officials have said clearly there's something wrong here. they were expects more than 7,000 of these ballots to come back and they only got like 5200. so i think now it's going to be quite a bit longer before we know the results because we're almost certainly looking at a recount, it could end up in the courts as both sides decide which votes they want in and which they want out. it could be a while before we know the outcome. >> we're talking about it coming down to fairfax county, northern virginia, and that's where the election of that story was. big early lead for ken cuccinelli, then that northern friendly blue part of the state comes in and changes everything. we'll find out if the absentees there are enough to give the democrats what would be a historic sweep.

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what our guests know now that they didn't when the week we gan. raich snell. >> these. sweets. >> yes. >> food and drug administration this week announced that it's going to be banning transfats over the next few years. so things like this, things like your doughnuts, they're going to start tasting a little different because the food industry is going to have to adjust. basically, transfats, they found more and more research is, you know, awful for high blood pressure, and if it's disavowed in foods they think that this could potentially prevent 7,000 heart attacks a year. 7,000 deaths a year. 20,000 heart attacks. >> but it's so delicious. >> i know. >> i learned that female spies are better at spotting surveillance, people following them, based on their socks thanks to a great story in

mother jones about women in the cia. >> interesting. >> yesterday a teenager in detroit was laid to rest, 19 years old, killed a week ago. she got to a car accident, went door to door seeking help and the person inside the homes came out with a shotgun and shot her in the face. no charges have been filed, no arrests made. police continue to investigate. police say that the person who shot her believed she was trying to break into the home. we'll wait and see what happens with that story. >> jeremy. >> when the senate took a historic step this weekend and passed a bill that would outlaw sexual discrimination, the pivotal votes, three of them were republicans. i think that's something nobody would have expected five years ago. >> interesting. i learned that melissa harris-perry is a great sport. she took time off from her show today to come down and play up against the clock. in the training interview, i hope you saw it. check it out online. it was hilarious. check it out. my thanks to rachel, alex,

maura, and jeremy. thanks for getting "up." tomorrow, it has been over a century and a half since the wind party took america by storm and gave andrew jackson fits, then vanished, until this week, when a man calling himself a wig won an election. who he is, how he won. is he still furious with andrew jackson? we'll introduce you to him and talk to america's only wig elected official tomorrow. next, melissa harris-perry. see you tomorrow at 8:00. thanks for getting "up." reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally. a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation --

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