>> the kentucky race is really interesting. >> alison lundergran grimes is trying to beat mitch mcconnell. >> brian sullivan was trying to say the picture of him naked trying to run over a squirrel was a fake. what other pictures do you have? it wasn't a bicycle, it was rollerblades? are there more? are you kidding me? >> if we could go back to this picture. this is a perfect segue to chuck todd's show. "the daily rundown" is next. get ready for a kentucky horse race. mitch mcconnell didn't hide his strategy in his victory speech last night and alison lundergran grimes didn't hold back either. today a look at the key counties that will make or break her bid to pull the big upset. meantime, we got two more months

of a primary fight in georgia where the establishment prevails but it still will be a rackous runoff all the way to july. >> and the bizarre story of thad cochran when his opponent delivers his defense in a rambling radio interview. good morning, it's wednesday, may 21st, 2014. this is "the daily rundown." as we know, the issue with the veterans administration probably is going to drive a lot of things in washington today. let me get right to my first read of the morning and it's all about 2014. the empire strikes back. it's good news for the republicans who are battling to retake control of the u.s. senate. in kentucky, senator mitch mcconnell didn't just win, he won easily, beating back the

challenge from matt bevin. he got more primary vote percentagewise than texas senator john con irnish, settinp a race with republican alison lundergran grimes, which will perhaps be one of the most expensive races in history. congressman jack kingston competing. per duridue came out on top las night. kingston did not do well in the atlanta media market. that's going to be the interesting issue for him. tea party when 0 for 3 in the marquee races we were watching. and mike simpson, an ally of speaker boehner, look at this one, 62% of the vote against challenger brian smith, big win

there, big loss for club for growth. mcconnell's election campaign against grimes began last night. one thing mcconnell do not do is subtlety. he previewed his general election play book in a very obvious way. he wants to make this campaign about two thing, the president and the national democratic party. >> my opponent is in this race because barack obama and harry reid want her to be in this race. there isn't a dime's worth of difference, not a dime's worth of difference between a candidate who puts harry reid in charge and harry reid himself. >> president obama is not on kentucky's 2014 election ballot. nothing about this election will change who is in the white house, but we can change who is in washington d.c. >> the next 30 days might be more important than the last 30 days in this campaign and here's why. they're all about the race to define grimes, who will not have the luxury to sit on the sidelines anymore, comfortably

before the fray as she had been. the question is how does she defray an assault. >> it seems no matter how many elections we have, nothing gets better in washington, it only gets worth. a lot of that is because of the people at the top of both political parties. if we keep sending them back, nothing will change. >> but attacks for mcconnell have also begun. an ad ties grimes to hollywood, liberals and the president, trying to make it seem as if this is all about national donors in california and new york who want to muckrake in kentucky. mcconnell has decided to embrace

ris ro his role as senate majority leader. it's a risky strategy. live by the sword, die buy y it. republicans were hoping a tea party candidate would get into a runoff. they won't have to spend their own money over the next nine weeks worry about getting one electable candidate out of the runoff. but the bad news for them is that jack kingston in particular is the republican nominee. he will begin the general election with an empty bank account. perdue is a self-funder. perdue wrote himself a $2.9 million check in the primary. now that kingston-perdue race is under way and it will get pricey. >> we are in a very solid position for the next two months to work hard, finish this job, become the nominee, win in

november. >> one thing we did do tonight is we retired three career politicians and we got one more to go. >> i think we know where this campaign is going to get framed, washington and not washington. the winner takes on democrat michelle nunn, who trying to paint herself as an anti-washingtonian as well. >> we don't yet know hot candidates on the other side are going to be tonight, but we know that these candidates are all in a race for the extremes. >> establishment republicans also fended off challenges in the tea party in the idaho governor's race, oregon and in pennsylvania. butch otter survived a challenge

by russ fulcher. bill schuster only got 52% of the vote. i wonder if some tea party groups wonder if they picked the wrong guys to target. and physician monica wehby easily defeated jason conger. the race will likely center on oregon's unpopular health care exchange. in her victory speech last night, she took the time to take on charges. >> over the last several days there have been a lot of vicious, ugly, hurtful attacks. the lord knows that i am not

perfect. i'm a working mom who balances a career that she loves with children she absolutely adores and would do anything to protect. i try my best but we all make mistakes. >> not good to have to start your campaign off that way, though, in a general election. a republican has not won a statewide in oregon since 2002 and the race is only likely to competitive if there is a national wave. and in oregon the incumbent will take on john kitzhaber. in pennsylvania businessman tom

wolffe, first virtually unknown, spent early and coasted to victory. he trounced the second place competitor. schwartz put out a somewhat bitter letter. i don't know how this became a gender issue. i don't think it ever was in the primary campaign it was but judging by that release, you would have thought that was somehow the centerpiece of this campaign. it wasn't. wonderful was take on tom corbett, a candidate with money who has never held political office and is already campaigning as a populist. >> this can't be a place that actually does good things for

you if you have the right connections, if you live in the right place, if you look the right way. this has to be a place that is open and fair for everybody. >> down the ballot in pennsylvania, republicans couldn't return marjorie margolis to congress. she discovered a house home coming is no piece of cake. bob barr is headed to a july runoff election with barry loudermilk. state senator buddy carter and

johnston will compete in a runoff in the brown district seat. and republican governor nathan deal won. and finally in arkansas, democrats hope republican candidates up and down the ballot can help them hold the governor's mansion. former democratic congressman mike ross easily defeated his competitor bryant and he'll take on asa hutchinson, who ran for governor himself back in '06. democrats home having roth at the top of the pickett will help him win over tom cotton.

and democrats hope former fema administrator can beat his challenger. >> and democrat brendan boyle who beat marjorie margolis in the race. coming up, we'll get an update on the veterans affairs administration there. we have not heard from the president on the v.a. issues since the trip to asia.

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back now with more on today's top political story, which of course is the day after the big primary day. the establishment sweep of the primaries across the country. mike simpson easily defeating brian smith, in what turned into a very expense of house primary that began as a proxy fight between the gop business wing and the club for growth. the club thought they could take advantage of the small state and cheap media market and catch an incumbent napping. but simpson was ready and house leadership decided perhaps they wanted to send a message to conservative groups who have caused this many problems in legislating. simpson was boosted by $2.4

million outside spending on his report. congratulations to you, sir, on your nomination. >> thank you. >> does this make goff verningo easier for you today and the message it sent? this wasn't about if had you lost, democrats could win your house seat. this was really a republican family feud if you want to call it that. do you think the message was received inside the conference that, hey, you don't have to worry as much about outside groups when you're in the middle of legislating? >> chuck, i said many times in this campaign that this election, not just mine but across the country was really about the heart and soul of the republican party and whether we were going to be a republican majority, a party that gets 75% or 80% of what you want or whether we're going to be an

ideologically pure minority. we can do that, be 100 members that doesn't get anything done. this was a good day for the republicans a republicans. >> what does this mean for this year? i always get this question of, hey, what is congress going to get done this year? we're all sort of cynical about election years but do you think your success and some of this success that you termed as traditional republicans in these primaries means that, say, a transportation bill gets done before the election, even immigration, you can start taking that up before the election? >> it might do, i don't know, but it depends on how other members of congress view this. i'm certain if i had been defeated in this primary that it would have sent kind of a schiffer through an awful lot of republicans, those of us that try to actually get something done, would have been a little

bit nervous pup know, these outside groups, like the club for growth or whatever, their only poufer comes from being able to take on and challenge an ibt like me and try to get them to vote their way because they're afraid of ul all the money they're going to spend against me. if they had defeated me with that, i think other republicans would have been nervous about that. >> maybe there's lack of power on this issue of immigration, and how if you have any path to citizenship, 12, 13, 14 years, that you can get slapped with the "a" word, amnesty. >> i think we can pass an immigration bill. i don't know if it will be before the election or not. everybody knows we have to address immigration. everybody knows the sprongs it have that have to be addressed. you have to secure the border, get a program to bring workers

inside the united states and they have to deal with the people who are here illegally. everybody knows we're not going to deport them all so what do you do? i suggested, as others have also, you give them the ability to get permanent status residency here, and if they want to become citizens, they can apply lieu the regular process. >> mike simpson, republican from idaho, big win for you last night. >> a turn to pennsylvania's 13th district. the old saying that all politics is local and it certainly happened here. margolis lost despite getting some powerful support from her inlaws, hillary and bill clinton. joining me is the nominee from the 13th district. brendan boyle.

congratulations to you. >> thanks, chuck. good to be with you. >> is it as simple as local p l politics trump national politics, generational? what do you believe helped you overcome someone who had a lot of ties and help from very popular people in your district, the clintons? >> it wasn't just one or two things the local aspect it have helped. also i focused on income inequality. we were systematic about it from beginning to end. and as unsexy as it may sound, good old fashioned hard work. i spent 13 months, myself, my brother is also a state representative, knocking on doors literally. we were able to show you could run a grass roots campaign. i stood on my feet all 13 hours yesterday at a polling location yesterday in a neighborhood of

philadelphia asking people for their vote and they appreciated that i was in their face that, i showed up before, that they thought that i shared their values and would fight for them and the end people want that, not celebrity. >> now, there seem to be a lot of attacks on you having to do on the issue of choice. last night pro-choice america put out this statement after your victory: "brendan boyle spent much of this campaign tap dancing around votes he took that would throw roadblocks in n front of women seeking repro duct of health care for one reason only, he knows those positions are losing ones. are you in favor of some restrictions on abortions and what restrictions are those? >> i'm pro-choice, i support roe v. wade, i think my positions were mischaracterized. there was a couple positions

after the dr. gosnell situation here in philadelphia where his facility hadn't been inspected in 20 years because the state health department hadn't had any inspections and there wasn't any state mandate to do inspections and had there been inspections, two women would be alive today. there were two very strong female candidates in the race and so if you're part of the d.c. insider groups and want to support a woman elective and don't want to choose between the leading women, attacking the guy is probably a good way. i think that probably had more to do with it than anything else. >> being the minority in congress, what do you hope you can get done? >> first of all, that's no different from me now.

i'm in the minority as a strous democrat here in pennsylvania. we just showed at the state level a few months that i go we actually can come together and get big pieces of legislation done. i know at the national level we haven't had a transportation bill forever. here at the state level we hadn't had one in 16 years and a number of ushs about 50 democrats, 50 republicans joined together in the statehouse and passed a massive compromise transportation bill that, again, didn't make ultra conservatives or ultra liberals happy but it actually got the job done and achieved progress. i hope that cab road map for washington, d.c., which is obviously suffering from a lot of dysfunction right now. >> brendan boyle, a heavy favorite in the general. don't ever count your chickens but thanks for coming on this morning. >> thank you. >> up next, the can't-miss comments from mississippi candidate chris mcdaniel on that bizarre story arrested for

filming senator thad cochran's wife in a nursing home. but first, who is the most recent kentucky governor to also serve in the u.s. senate? be the first person to tweet the correct answer and we'll give you the on-air shoutout right on the show. [ female announcer ] who are we? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. turning dreamers into business owners. if ...hey breathing's hard... know the feeling? copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment

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about the arrest of a blogger accused of taking video of senator thad cochran's bed-ridden wife that was turned into a political hit piece, very temporarily posted online. the investigation is now under way to see if someone put this blogger up to it, including a possible connection to cochran's opponent, the campaign of state senator chris mcdaniel. in his first extensive public comments on the issue, mcdaniel went on paul gallow's talk radio show for what he thought might be a friendly interview. instead he ran into a buzz saw. he began by categorically denying his people had any link to the blogger, clayton kelly, but had a tough time explaining why his campaign manager knew about the connection before it was revealed to police and why he denied knowledge about the incident hours after his campaign manager said he knew about it. >> i said, whoa, stop right

there pup kn there. you know our campaign's position -- >> but she didn't tell you there was an arrest. >> stop there. i can explain this. >> i can't imagine your campaign manager -- >> i was asleep. >> she called you and told you there was a problem? what did she say? >> she said, chris, we have an interview involving ms. cochran. i said let me do this, let me get up, let me take a shower. >> you got to the craft fair and you didn't call her back? >> paul, no, we're busy. >> when gallow asked him why he didn't bring the information to the police, mcdaniel said they tried to deal with it internally and then suggested that cochran's team may have held on to the information to use it for

political gain. frankly the story has consumed this election all of a sudden in mississippi since the story broke saturday. the three major networks in jackson have run a combined 22 stories on it. the newspapers have each run seven different stories on it in five days. this is a story that has totally upended this primary. if cochran wins he may have this story to thank for his survival. >> we're back in three minutes. some come here to build something stronger. others come to build something faster... something safer... something greener. something the whole world can share. people come to boeing to do many different things. but it's always about the very thing we do best. ♪

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the major storyline in washington, d.c. centers around those plays defense, in many races for governor, democrats are playing offense. democrats hope to push out two

republican incumbents in georgia and pennsylvania, but at the same time republicans have a strong challenger in both oregon and in arkansas, where they hope to top vulnerable democrats there. let's take a look at the overall picture. there are 36 governor seats on the ballot this year. right now republicans control 22 of those seats. democrats hold 14. chair of the democratic governor's association, vermont's peter shumland said they have significantly increased the number of governorships they control after this year. democrats picked up two open seats in iowa and california. flash forward to a pretty good year for them in '06 and democrats picked up five open seats in arkansas, colorado,

massachusetts, new york and a ohio. what kind of year will 2014 be? i'm joined now by vermont governor. governor, good morning to you, sir. >> hey, it's great to you with you. >> i think that seems to be your biggest challenge where at the end of the day when we look back at '98 after the '94 gop waiver, we look at '06, the gains that a party makes usually are in open seats, knocking off incumbents is very, very difficult. >> well, yeah, but let's remember that first of all in this particular round, 2010 was the biggest election of new governors in the history of america. and bottom line is what these republican governors have done is implement, the tea party sweep across america and what the governors have done is

implement the tea party policies that the folks in congress so badly wanted to implement but the senate and president obama wouldn't let him. i think what you're sees across the country in this case of these republican governors who have slashed education spending, decimated schools, raised taxes on the middle class while they have reduced taxes for wealthy corporations and wealthy individuals and have really gone after women, gay and lesbian americans, you know, anyone -- i mean, it's been a tough road for them. they've implemented conservative tea party policies across the country. i think so many other states are saying these governors have not delivered on jobs, our economy is worse than it was when they started in many cases, they have literally hurt working families at the expense of giving breaks to their wealthy friends, i don't think they'll see

reelection fights that are going to be very easy. >> you talk about the economy. we go down the state. let's look at, michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, florida, really the republicans have improved their situations politically. michigan, ohio, wisconsin and iowa for sure, a little less in pennsylvania and florida but in every case it's because the unemployment rate has dropped in all of those states and in some of these states precipitously. >> actually, i would disagree with that. let's take pennsylvania where we had an extraordinary win last night. tom wolf is an extraordinary candidate. bottom line is if you look at governor corbett in pennsylvania, his numbers are in the tank. they're in the tank because since he's been governor, pennsylvania turned to job creation has gone from 7th in the nation to 47th in the nation, it's a state where he's slashed $1 billion from

education, decimated schools, hurt taxpayers and the working folks of pennsylvania. while he's done that, he's also said, hey, you know, gay marriage, marriage equality is the equivalent of incest. he's taken legal action to stop marriage equality in pennsylvania, he has ensured that really the folks who desperately need to be lifted up in this economy, the middle class, working pennsylvanians working hard have been hit in the teeth. we have candidate who says i'll restore education and i'll pay for it by taxing the oil companies and gas companies that are doing just fine in pennsylvania right now and change the dynamic so that working, middle class families have a shot. >> you brought up marriage equality a couple of times now in your answers about targeting the republican governors. do you think that is a message that can resonate across the

country in any of thesestates, whether it's in georgia, or arkansas but also some of these places in michigan, wisconsin and iowa? >> no, i mean, i think the message is going to resonate for voters is job and economic prosperity. and really the formula for these governors in every case, nathan deal, another great example in georgia is to slash education. natan deal cut the hope scholarship program so that literally 100,000 georgians will not be able to go to college or technical they so badly needed to give them a good chance at a job. let's look at georgia. we understand georgia is a red state. we have an extraordinary candidate in jason carter won the primary last night. he's a fiscal conservative, he doesn't care about partisan politics. he's a candidate who has never voted for a tax increase but he understands if you continue to slash education in georgia at the expense of kids and working

families, middle-class families, you're not going to have a prosperous future. es p so he's about jobs and economic development. i'm convinced with the ethical challenges dr. deal has faced, time and final p time again he's gotten inquiries where stacy callerman has gotten fired from his job for the way he was abusing the 2010 laws. jason cart ser a guy who wants state that's as good and honest as the people of georgia and he wants to focus on job creation for the middle class. >> how many republican governorships are you going to win. >> we believe we're going to gain democratic governors across the country. i can't tell you how many. we're on offense, not defense because we're fighting for middle class families and governors that are delivering jobs in america. >> governor shumlin, thanks for

your time. >> thanks for having me on. >> up next, of course, control of the capital is up for grabs. a look at how the senate landscape has shaken out after the biggest primary day of the year. we're in bardstown kentucky at the holdest bar on the trail and they're serving up white bean soup today with your shot of whatever you want to drink. we'll be right back. nutrition... that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost.

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senator max bachus's seat. they also have vulnerable states in their sights. while democrats didn't get much help from the tea party, they're hoping to pick up one or two of those states. in kentucky, it's alison lundergran grimes and in arkansas, mark pryor. and joining me, two people who have been in the firing line. i was just talking to you guys off camera. you both have been through competitive primaries and competitive generals, highs and lows so i think you have the thick skin to prove it. >> yes. >> primaries as a challenger

when you won your primary in the house gave you a ton of momentum. as an incumbent when you won your primary, it was tough on the general. so talk about that as far as mitch mcconnell's thinking this morning. is he more vulnerable or less? >> i think in the house and senate i had a four-way primary and then a runoff. when you had multiple election, it's all about obviously raising money and everything that's being thrown at you. i think that really does create some challenges for you. i mean, you got to be able to beat the other guy in your own house, your own party. and i think mitch has had a tough time at it. they're going to obviously have to throw some money in there. but he still is, you know, he's an incumbent, he knows kentucky, he knows how to campaign in kentucky, but she gave a great speech last night, alison. i think it's going to be a very tough race. >> you know you had a tough

opponent facing you. you were the challenger when you did this with bob smith. you realize you start that next round and you're out of money and that's got to be tough -- >> in new hampshire in september. so you've only got a two-month wind window. i'm a little different than my former colleagues. i think primaries are almost always good. there are exception. if you're an incumbent like senator mcconnell, you don't want a primary. they make you tougher, they sharpen you up. mcconnell had someone running on his right, whether you think it's a good thing or not, probably makes him look a little bit more centrist. i don't think that's really an issue for him. look, the thing that's going to kill alison grimes in kentucky is the president has one goal and one goal only on energy and

that's to destroy the coal industry. she is not going to win in kentucky because as that message resonates, she is going to be stuck at 43, 44, 45%. and the on reason i think senator mcconnell has been stuck at 45% or 46% in polling is because his -- those that didn't vote for him in the primary aren't going to tell a pollster they're going to vote for him in the general election. >> i've heard they're in. the question is how many of them do finally come back into the fold. this issue of the president. you had this challenge in 2010, right? they wanted to nationalize this race, they knew arkansas was one of those rare places where the president did worse than john kerry, so you knew this was going to be tough. is that even possible to truly distance yourself from the president if you're -- your own party? >> it's tough. i agree with john. primaries can make you stronger. but in this day and age and the way that we are going, the amount of money that can be

spent in your state from outside your state and nobody knows who the heck is spending that money with messages that are just awful, that's a real challenge. yes, i think you can you can di on issues that are important. and there are a bunch of groups out there, and coal blue which supports coal-based energy, and we are looking for the kind of technologies that are going to be doing better in terms of emissions. >> but i would say that the groups in democratic counties would mask that. >> and you are absolutely right, you can do it, but you to do -- >> well, you were with it, and you could not do it, because bush took you down. >> well, in 2008, i don't care who you were running as a republican, but mary landrieu in louisiana has worked at establishing herself and her own

issues over a long period of time and that is someone who has done it successfully and may or may not be enough for her race in louisiana, but you can't do it overnight, and that is what people like udall in colorado and mercury and beg itch, t-- b and that is what they do. >> scott brown conservative enough to win a primary in new hampshire? >> yes. >> hard though? >> well, it depends on the voting dynamics, and if obamacare remains a strong issue, it is a strong issue for him. >> i did not mean to cut you off there, and thank you both, because i am tight on the time, my apologies. democrat wendell ford is the state's most recent governor to serve in the u.s. senate. he ran for senate before governor and lost to mitch mcconnell. congratulations to the winner today, jim higdon. we will be right back. e makes us that are powered by the moon.

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. >> take away time and what else? talk the about kentucky, the battle for the senate in the bluegrass state is the senate race in the marquee terms, and look forward for alison grimes, looking back at the democratic governor steve bashir's victory is the best model for the hopeful. she has to run up the score with the base voters in the two the largest county, fay yet and jefferson and that is where lexington and louisville are. and bashir had won it over jack conway three times, and almost 13,000 votes he ran up. and in conway's margins half of jefferson's who ultimately lost it to the rand paul by ten points. grimes is going to have to run up big areas here, and she would

beat mcconnell by 25,000 votes in the lexlexington, and 16,000 nevers neverson. in addition to the two largest metropolitan areas that i talked abo about, watch these counties that steve ba shir won and then rand paul won in 2010, and they are in the cincinnati suburbs and trent trenton and louisville and lexington and then the college area home of bowling green. they need to run up the score in lexington and louisville to have a chance, and remember, that mitch mcconnell is from louisville. and chris jansing is coming up live in studio to have a live meeting with the president after his meeting with the v.a.

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good morning, i'm chris jansing coming to you from washington, d.c. where there is a lot happening. right now, president obama is meeting with embattled v.a. secretary eric shinseki and we are expecting the president to make a statement from the briefing room. also at the meeting is rob neighbor na nabors, and he is going to be look to phoenix where the secret wait lists and other allegations took place. and there are hearings on this same issue on the hill today. meeting with the chairman of the