buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? it's time now to talk about what we learn at that. it's the only thing we've learned. good talk, dad. will willie geist and his dad book tour. barnicle will be moderating. >> if it's way too early, it's "morning joe." stick around, because what's next? >> chuck todd with "daily rundown." >> have a good day, everybody. has the lone star state turned into ted cruz country? the texas two-step is in the hands of voters today as two notable names could see their long political runs come to an end in a runoff. in the wake of sunday's vote and the election of a chocolate

billionaire king as president, more fighting today in eastern ukraine as the military tries to crack down on rebels once and for all. plus, is it really philadelphia and pittsburgh with alabama in the middle? tdr 50 pivots to pennsylvania this week with none other than chris matthews, who will give us his version of the lay of the land of the keystone state. good morning from washington. it's tuesday, may 27th, 2014. this is "the daily rundown," your campaign 2014 headquarters. let's get right to my first read of the morning. it's tuesday, so you know what that means, somebody is voting somewhere. we begin with that somewhere in texas. the runoff election in texas which could end the political careers of two of the state's most famous names and which some establishment republicans fear will drive the state gop to the right, perhaps too far to the right. if democrats can figure out a way to turn texas blue in a race in 2016, 2018 or 2020, some democrats believe they'll look back on today's runoff for the

state's number two job as the turning point in making that happen. nationally the tea party has been taking it on the chin from the establishment, that's not been the case in texas. the texas gop is no longer george bush's republican party and it really doesn't belong to rick perry. this is ted cruz's texas and some believe it will belong to a man named dan patrick. david dewhurst has been a fixture over a decade but he could be voted out of office by republican voters eager to shift to the right. dewhurst lost the senate primary to ted cruz, finished second in march's primary for lieutenant governor with just 28% of the vote. now fighting for his political life, dewhurst has spent $5 million of his own personal fortune in what has become one of 2014's most brutal and personal campaigns anywhere. but dewhurst is running behind in the polls and has been unable to gain ground against dan patrick. he's founder of the texas legislature's tea party caucus.

>> a lot of times people ask me what are tea partiers all about. i think they're the people that are going to save our nation. the question is did i have the courage to take on someone worth $200 or $300 million who has a history of not talking public policy. >> patrick told a group of reporters last week keep in mind that in the history of the state of texas, the second place finisher two-thirds of the time wins. it's a fact. dewhurst should know about that. in 2012 texas senator ted cruz beat him in a senate runoff by questioning his conservative credentials. with all of the state's top jobs open, a host of hopefuls are aiming to become the next ted cruz and capture conservative lightning in a bottle. that begins with patrick, who has run to the right of david dewhurst and even to the right of ted cruz, particularly on the issue of immigration. >> dewhurst's lies won't hide his failed record on illegal immigration. under dewhurst's leadership the senate passed an expansion of in state tuition and free health care to illegal immigrants.

>> one of the reasons texas republicans have swept statewide offices as long as they have, is they have not alienated hispanic voters. some republicans in texas are nervous. new hearst has suggested patrick changed his name to avoid debt after personal bankruptcy in the 80s. patrick was born danny gohe. he legally changed his name in 2003. the dewhurst campaign posted a parody of "let it go" that featured an animated dan patrick. ♪ we won't let them in, won't let them see ♪ ♪ that i'm a phony radio disk jockey ♪ ♪ danny goeb, danny goeb, i can't lie to you anymore ♪ ♪ that's my name, danny goeb >> all right. that's on the lighter side of

things. the nastiest episode happened just days before early voting. jerry patterson, who ran fourth in the lieutenant governor primary and endorsed dewhurst distributed hundreds of pages of patrick's mental health records from decades ago showing that he was hospitalized twice in the '80s, once after an apparent suicide attempt and received treatment for depression. patrick acknowledged he was treated for depression three decades ago and chastised dewhurst's campaign in a statement. this is outrageous. dewhurst had already hit bottom and now he has found a new low. he has no honor and knows no shame. dewhurst denied vochinvolvement released a statement that said this. quote, my heart goes out to dan and his family for what they have endured while coping with his condition. and then he told this to "the dallas morning news." people are scared of patrick. i am worried about the stress he will be under and whether he can handle it. >> if you're saying the truth

and you're simply comparing facts between two candidates, that's not a negative campaign. i think what we've seen is that in the primary, my opponent and i just -- just ran exclusively a positive campaign. >> the patrick campaign is accusing dewhurst of running an 11th hour push poll that brings up the mental health issue again followed by does knowing these facts make you less likely or more likely to vote for dan patrick. now, the patrick campaign claims they have a recording of the call but declined to send it to reporters after deeming it too disgusting to repeat. meanwhile this mailer was sent out to hundreds of thousands of republican voters calling on them to elect what it called tea party champions. it shows dewhurst alongside tea party-backed candidates like attorney general candidate ken paxton and sid miller, but tea party groups who mostly back patrick say they have nothing to do with this mailer and haven't

heard of united texas tea party which is the group that supposedly sent it out. moving on. not a single incumbent member of congress has lost so far in primary but in texas, republican ralph hall is fighting for his political life. he's the oldest member to ever serve in the u.s. house. former u.s. attorney john radcliff who forced the race into a runoff in march said it's time for a new generation of leadership in congress. a not so veiled reference to hall's age. >> do you think age is a fair issue here? >> sure it is. i think that that's something that the voters are concerned about. it's certainly something that we haven't focused on with respect to our campaign. >> hall now running for an 18th term says voters should judge him by his record, not his birth certificate. >> i'm a good congressman. i'm not the flashy congressman, but i'm a good congressman. i don't know the tea party people. i don't know thousand direct

mail them or anything. i tell them simply to look at my record. what i've voted for and what i've voted against. i trust the tea party with the vote. >> we turn first to the marquee race today, the texas runoff for what is arguably the most powerful job, the lieutenant governorship. more powerful than the governorship when it comes to lentiling. david dewhurst joins me on the phone. thank you for joining us me, sir. >> good morning. thank you for having me on. >> let me ask you a straight question. do you believe dan patrick is fit for office? >> i think i'm a lot more fit for office. i have shown over the last ten years that i've got the ability to lead in texas, to help lead during good economic times and bad economic times and played a large, large role because of the things you said just as you were introducing me in creating the best business climate in the country right here in texas. so we're able to lead the country in job creation. we're able to lead the country in virtually every economic

category. and i'm proud of that. i'm proud of how hard texans have worked and i'm proud of what they have accomplished. >> why have you had such a hard time convincing tea party conservatives that you're conservative enough? >> i don't. that's a red herring by my opponent. we have some 1,000 grassroots tea party groups that have endorsed us. sha sean hannity, dr. ron paul endorsed us. we have many, many tea party leaders, tea party clubs all around the state of texas as well as republican women and business people. virtually every business organization, every professional organization is supporting us is because they know that my opponent, who has a very, very thin legislative record and compared to myself, i have led in the state over the last 10, 11 years from passing all of

these pro-growth bills, photo voter i.d., standing up for conservative values, cutting taxes 54 times in texas -- >> let me stop you a minute. >> funding our priorities. >> let me stop you here a minute. how do you explain finishing second in the runoff, just 28% for a job you've held for a decade and how do you explain losing to ted cruz basically in both instances it's because conservative voters went another direction? >> well, not exactly. ted cruz -- my opponent is no ted cruz. i've been friends with ted cruz for a long, long time. and we didn't run as good of a campaign as we should have. at the same time, i give ted cruz a lot of compliments. he ran a very good, disciplined campaign and outspent us, but that's fine. that was then. this is now. and i'm proud of our conservative support, but i'm

proud of our broad-based support. like you said a few minutes ago, in texas, historically two-thirds of the second place winners win. we've worked as hard as we can. right now quite frankly it's all up to turnout. i must be good for farmers and ranchers. you know, it is raining cats and dogs in texas. we've got a heavy front that is sitting from south texas to north texas and east. so we're going to get a lot of rain over the next couple days. >> very quickly, are you going to be -- will you be able to endorse the republican nominee, no matter who it is, if it's not you? >> i have always supported -- i mean when ted cruz won in 2012, i immediately called him. i wekt out and campaigned for him and hosted fund-raisers for him. >> so if you don't win today -- >> this is a very for voters. who has the most ability and who has the most integrity. i ran 21 positive spots and two spots where we define my opponent strictly with quotes from newspapers. i've run a positive campaign.

i want to win for texas, not for myself. and so that's what we're working hard to do. >> lieutenant governor david dewhurst on the ballot today. as you mentioned, it's very rainy there. you will be driving a lot, i imagine, so stay safe on the campaign trail. >> thank you, sir. appreciate it. let me turn to texas congressman ralph hall. he joins me now on the phone. congressman hall, good voting day to you, sir. >> yes, sir. if you talk a little louder, it will help. >> you got it. why did you want one more term in congress? you have said this is going to be your last term if you win. why did you want that one more term and why did you set a sort of limit on yourself? >> well, for the very reason i'm running, to keep on doing what i'm doing. continue working on tax increases -- against tax increases. i've fought those down, but i'm -- i'm in the top 3% of fighting obama and his administration.

we're going to knock that out sooner or later. >> what is it that you believe you can do with one more term in 2015 and 2016 that john radcliff cannot? >> well, i don't know what he can do. i've only seen him as a mayor of a little county here in my county. he's a nice guy. but i just continue to fight the obama administration, anything they do. as a matter of fact, i'm in the top 3% of members of congress that are pushing back against obama. so i'm one of the seven leaders out of 432 people that are fighting him at the top. i want to keep on doing that for my children and grandchildren. it's a bad bill, it's not even a health bill. we have a bill -- a congressman from georgia has a bill to put in its place immediately when we kill it. >> your record is very conservative. why do you think some conservative groups have been

supporting your opponent and not yourself? >> i don't know of any of them that have been -- there's two of them, i think, that did and one of them never endorsed me before. i have no idea. 90% of the conservatives have endorsed me. >> all right. congressman ralph hall, i know it's kind of a rough weather day there, so stay safe on the campaign trail. we'll be watching tonight, sir. >> all right. good luck to you and thank you for calling. >> thank you, sir. coming up next, a possible turning point for a divided ukraine. can the country's newly elected president end the fighting and mend ties with both europe and the kremlin? but first, a look ahead at today's planner. classes are cancelled today at uc santa barbara as the community continues to mourn the loss of six students who were killed in a shooting rampage on friday. thousands are expected to attend a memorial on campus this afternoon. that will actually take place around 7:00 p.m. eastern time. you're watching "the daily

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in ukraine, the newly elected president has promised to make quick work of pro-russian rebels. right now it seems the ukrainian military is gaining the upper hand. for a second straight day heavy fighting has been reported in donetsk, a critical hub that's been held by russian separatists for weeks. as many as 40 to 100 people have been killed in the last two days, most of them in a fight for the donetsk airport. the military brought in fighter jets and helicopter gunships to retake the building from the rebels. russian president putin is demanding an end to the offensive but there's no indication that's going to happen. the fighting follows tough talk from the newly elected president, petro poroshenko.

a 48-year-old candy billionaire who's been nicknamed the chocolate king. he won a resounding victory in sunday's election, beating his closest opponent by 40 points. this is despite the fact that voters in some contested parts of eastern ukraine were unable to vote. former u.s. secretary of state madeleine albright was one of the observers and said a concerted effort has been made to bring those regions back into the fold. >> what needs to happen is to make clear that there is a determination to include the people of the east, donetsk, and a part of ukraine that has another chance. >> poroshenko says his top priority is to bring peace to the region but it won't be easy. he wants to strengthen ties with the west by simultaneously mending fences with russia. he seemed hesitant to blame moscow for the turmoil in ukraine. >> the country's object of aggression. the country now in a state of

war. >> so what or who is the biggest obstacle to peace in ukraine? >> we will have a peace and we will stop the war. nobody and nothing can stop us. >> joining me now, former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul, an nbc news analyst. ambassador, let me ask you this question this way. part of the mystery of ukraine is why after two historic popular uprisings in a single decade against a political system corrupted by business tycoons that the ukrainians would choose yet another billionaire as president. can you explain? >> well, comparatively speaking, he has a better reputation than other oligarcs. he's somebody from the system, not somebody from the street challenging the system. he's been foreign minister and the speaker even for a while.

he does have a different reputation, though. secondly, he said this is our time. we cannot afford not to go after the cancer that is corruption, i think is the quote that he said. and third, he's the best of other alternatives. i think the vote for poroshenko is a vote for the future as opposed -- the number two candidate was yulia tymoshenko and it was very striking to me how poorly she did. that to me was a signal that ukrainians want to move forward, not backward. >> you know, it's interesting. there was some hint that one of the reasons why putin in particular, it seemed like about seven to nine days before the election was actually starting to at least send a message every day that he wanted to pull back from the border. he got the sense poroshenko was going to win and he could deal with poroshenko. do you get that sense? >> yes. and a third, that he had no better options.

so most certainly poroshenko is somebody the people in moscow know well. he's dealt with many elites in moscow for some decades. this is not some unknown person. second, putin didn't have any good options. he didn't have a counterstrategy out in the east. i get the sense he doesn't quite know what to do with these rebels out in eastern ukraine right now. by saying and hinting that he was going to acknowledge the election results and then foreign minister said even stronger terms yesterday it's time for us to make amends with ukraine really leaves hanging those armed rebels out in eastern ukraine. >> it does. it seems as if that allowed the ukrainians to actually make some progress because they do seem as if the russians are leaving them on an island. let me ask you this. are the future of sanctions against russia now in the hands of poroshenko? if poroshenko says, you know what, i've cut a deal with moscow. we have a truce, an uneasy peace. we're going to start creating a working relationship.

at that point how fast does the west start pulling back on these sanctions? >> well, most certainly what he says and what he agrees with putin will have an effect on sanctions. but i don't think it's going to happen any time soon. i think there's going to be a long, drawn-out process. first and foremost about paying for gas. secondly, about what to do with the rebels in eastern ukraine. as you said, this assault of the last 24 hours, this is the most bloodshed we've seen in this battle so far. and i'm not sure putin will just watch it. it will be very interesting to see how he responds to that increased escalation of violence. so it's only after you get those things done that there's going to be a discussion of lifting sanctions. >> i have to say the way you're describing it, so poroshenko is somehow the best option for the united states, europe and the best option for putin. is that really -- did we really

just have that type of election in ukraine? >> well, i'm sure president putin would have had other options. he was close to tymoshenko, for instance, but compared to some right wing radical -- by the way, they did extremely poorly, the nationalists in ukraine. the nationalist parties did much better in western europe than they did in ukraine on sunday. and, you know, that would have created conflict with russia. maybe that would have been easier for him to deal with. but i think this is the beginning of a process that might just be negotiation over federalism, negotiation over more autonomy for eastern ukraine. that's a negotiation that poroshenko will engage in. >> ambassador mike mcfaul on what could be an historic turning point for ukraine. we shall see. thank you, sir. >> thanks for having me. it's time for the first number in today's data bank. one. that's the number of cia agents whose covers were inadvertently

blown by the white house this weekend. during the president's surprise visit to afghanistan, the white house released a list of senior officials briefing the president on the situation in afrg. the first list that was sent to nearly 6,000 reporters accidentally included the name of the cia station chief in afghanistan. the white house recognized the mistake and removed the agent's name from the list after it had been disseminated. the cia and white house have yet to comment on the matter. nbc news is withholding the name of the station chief. on the heels of that trip to afghanistan, president obama heads to west point tomorrow for a commencement but it's a lot more than that. meanwhile a republican senator may have unintentionally taken some political heat off the obama administration over the va mess. that's all coming up next. first, today's trivia question. the tdr 50 train is in pennsylvania. so here it is. when was the last time pennsylvania voted for a republican who lost the presidential election? the first person to tweet the correct answer will get the

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well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. president obama's speech at west point tomorrow will not be a routine commencement address. instead, it's going to be a big foreign policy speech that outlines his view of what american foreign policy should look like in a post-war era. the president's speech comes on the heels of a 33-hour surprise trip to afghanistan on sunday. he tried to focus his remarks on ending the war in afghanistan by the end of the year, but the va mess was clearly looming large. right now 26 va hospitals are still under investigation, accused of falsifying records to cover up delays that some veterans were receiving for treatment. now, the president is expected to get a preliminary report this week from his embattled va secretary, eric shinseki, on the department's internal investigation. the white house also has its own

report that's new next month. that will come from white house deputy chief of staff rob nabors. he's been meeting at ground zero of this mess, the va facilities in phoenix, arizona. in an effort to reduce delays for care, secretary shinseki said clinics are expanding capacity and some patients are being transferred to private hospitals. but another controversy erupted over the weekend. in fact it happened yesterday and this one got a bit personal. after a committee hearing on va hospital delays, the ranking republican on the veterans affairs committee, north carolina senator richard burr, wrote an open letter criticizing the leaders of the veterans organizations in washington, d.c. here's what he said. quote, the leaders appear to be more interested in defending the statute kwoe within va, protecting their relationships within the agency and securing their access to the secretary and his inner circle. while the veterans of foreign wars and the paralyzed veterans of america slammed the senator's remarks calling burr's letter a monumental cheap shot and ill

timed. the groups added this. you can also be assured that in the future we will spend a substantial percentage of our time seeking to inform our members and constituents of the repeated failure to act by elected officials. during this memorial day weekend, president obama referred to the va controversy in both his weekly radio address and remarks that he gave yesterday at arlington national cemetery. >> as we've been reminded in recent days, we must do more to keep faith with our veterans and their families and ensure they get the benefits and care and opportunities that they have earned and they deserve. these americans have done their duty. they ask nothing more than that our country does ours, now and for decades to come. >> so in the middle of this crisis with veterans affairs, president obama is planning a major foreign policy speech tomorrow. he's trying to get the country an outline of his post-war

vision for the remainder of his term and he'll bring up how, if ever, does congress rescind this war authorization act that sat there right after 9/11 that of course allows the administration today to do all it does with drones and some other covert operations. we'll have live coverage of that speech tomorrow right here on msnbc. time now for the next number in today's data bank. 70. that's the number of days until michigan holds its primary. guess what, it now appears that john conyers will be on the ballot. a federal judge ordered conyers back on the ballot on friday afternoon, only hours after michigan secretary of state's office upheld a previous ruling by the wayne county clerk that conyers was ineligible to appear on the primary ballot because he did not have the 1,000 ballot signatures necessary. it's not yet clear if the state plans to appeal the judge's ruling. we're getting to nitty-gritty time with ballot printing and all that mess. so guess what, betting conyers

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i'm monica santiago of fidelity investments, and low fees and commissions are another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. our tdr 50 heads to the keystone state today. a state that democratic strategist james carvell once described as philadelphia and pittsburgh with alabama in the middle. if you look at a political map of the state you can see what he means. it's basically a sea of red with islands of blue to the east and the west. that's philadelphia county to the east and allegheny county to the west. despite all that red, republicans have had a tough time putting the state in play in presidential elections and here's why. in 2012 there were 556,000 registered democrats and 856,000 in philadelphia. that's 1.4 million democrats, a third of all the democrats in

the state. it's equal to about half the number of registered republicans in the entire state. it used to be that republicans could count on votes in the suburbs to counterbalance the democratic's huge advantage among urban voters but that's no longer the case. back in 2004 republicans outnumbered democrats in three counties by big margins. more than 171,000 total votes. by 2012 there had been a huge shift. democrats now have the edge in bucks and montgomery counties and in delaware it's a 50-50 split. those numbers were key to president obama's re-election. he only won 13 out of the state's 67 counties but those three counties were among them, delivering more than half a million votes. pennsylvania is a state that's cast ballots in every presidential election in the country's history starting with the first one in 1788. it was a hotbed of resistance to british rule as far back at 1765. it hosted the first and second continental congress where they approved the declaration of independence. its most famous politician is

benjamin franklin, even more than the only president to ever come out of the keystone state, james buchanan. pennsylvania has voted for the democrat in the last six elections but lived up to its label as a battleground state in 2012 when it was one of the more closely contested states in the nation. but when it comes to representing the state in the united states senate, it's actually republicans who have been historically dominant outnumbering democrats more than 2 to 1 in current victories. outside of bob casey, the last two democrats elected were harris wofford in a special election in '91 and joseph clark in 1962. in addition, 13 of the 18 pennsylvania representatives to the u.s. house are republican. at the same time polling suggests that the culture of pennsylvania, though, is becoming more liberal. this bring pennsylvanians backed same-sex marriage by 20 points. a ban that had been put in place in 1996 was struck down earlier this month. the state was split down the middle on the question of legalized marijuana, but supported it for medical use by a margin of 6-1. last year pennsylvanians

indicated they would support stricter gun laws by nearly a 2-1 margin. it remains to be seen what role social issues will take place but the governor is doing his best to get them off the table. just ahead of tom wolf's surprising and easy victory in the democratic primary, corbett dropped his bid to keep the same-sex ban in place. he essentially adopted the same position as his opponent. joining me now, chris matthews, host of "hardball" here on msnbc and a pennsylvania native. >> everything you said is true. >> there you go. >> there really is more to say but that's it, that's the bottom line. >> let me ask you this. this is a state that you and i argue all the time whether it's really a swing state. you've been trying to argue it was still a swing state but it doesn't act like one anymore, does it? >> i think you've lined it up. if you look at a map you just showed of pittsburgh and philadelphia at different ends, it's just like the map of the united states, blue at both ends and green and red in the middle

and it's very much like that. same with the house. you said it's 13-5 in the house representation but democrats carried the state and congressional races by over 100,000 votes. so philadelphia is 85% democrat. so 85% for obama. so you see they flood the zone. they put all their votes in the big city and they can win statewide because of that because the vote comes out in philadelphia. it's not just minorities. >> but the key seems to have been the shift in the suburbs. >> my brother was county commissioner for eight years in montgomery. montgomery is now democrat. >> and the suburbs of philadelphia were consistently -- lean republican. they certainly -- but these were your rockefeller republicans, probably better to call them eisenhower republicans. >> or scranton republicans. >> scranton republicans. and now i assume that social issues have driven them to become democratic voters. >> there are people who go to new york once in a while to see a play. they read "the new york times" now and then, they keep up and are very liberal on social issues.

a lot of things you pointed to, they're very afraid of the hard right on social issues. they're pro choice. that comes down to why the governor made it clear he's not going to challenge the court decision. >> and pat toomey came out for a background check bill. some of his big donors that live in the philadelphia area probably want some gun control. >> think about somewhere between me and smirconish. it's hard to say left of center, right of center, they're just about in the center, it's very interesting the suburbs, yet they are pro-choice. yet they don't want government wasting money. they're very concerned about fiscal problems. and they love their cities too. that's the irony of these people. >> you know particularly philadelphia politics as well as anybody. how did the philadelphia machine get smoked by tom wolf? >> well, let me tell you, philadelphia is really the delaware valley. it's the state of delaware. joe biden is a philly guy in many ways. i grew up in ocean city every summer. we had a house there. it's an hour away to the ocean,

atlantic ocean. so that's one culture. there's pittsburgh, which is really midwestern and erie, which is like cleveland. it's another lake state. and the southwest was just poor white, appalachian, in many ways very hard on obama. just very tough on him. then you have scranton which roots for the yankees. ou pay for them. that's the only way to get the five media markets -- >> the philadelphia machine doesn't have the statewide influence -- >> she lost montgomery county to tom wolf. this is a remarkable development. she lost her home county. this thing we're on right now, television, is more important than people walking door to door. yesterday brendan boyle won that seat to the house allison gave up by going door to door in the 61st ward. door to door this white guy did it which is so great. his two strongest wards were the irish ward, where i did the best

when i ran 40 years ago, and also i did very well in the 35th. but his 61st ward performance was door to door. if you go door to door, you're going to beat the ward leader. >> if tom wolf does win the governorship and she starhe sta as the early favorite over co corbe corbett. he doesn't feel like ed rendell, he feels like a totally different type of governor. >> let's go back to the map you showed. in philly he should run as a democrat. he could do both. philly will be hard. brady had to back allison schwartz out of loyalty but she wasn't known in philadelphia. allison was telling everybody i'll well known. she wasn't. for some strange reason a woman as attractive as her, politically as attractive, moderate democrat, never did tv. never showed up on this show, my show and i never could figure that out.

i know why al franken doesn't do it, he wants to be local. but she lost a chance to hit all those local media markets. i don't know why not. >> where does tom wolf fit in the history of politics? >> if he beats tom corbett, he will be the first guy ever to beat an incumbent governor. i think a lot of people he has a ten point spread or better coming out of this because eddie rendell beat lynn swann. >> swann actually led. >> by ten in june. this month if he's up by more than ten, david cohen has pointed out he has a ten-point spread, then he can win. if it's closer than that, i think it's very good for corbett. corbett could pull this off. you know what, turnout. the democrats, as you and i know, are disheartened right now. they're not good from playing from behind anymore. i don't know why they lost the ability to play from behind. you have to learn how to play from behind because you have to play from behind. i wish i had an hour or two. >> you have an hour later today.

>> i'm not going to do it on "hardball." >> we can switch roles at 7:00 if you want. i'll set you up and you can just go. that's what you want, right? >> talk to the agents. >> chris matthews, thank you. time for the next number in today's data bank. it's 1. we're only one week away from mississippi's senate primary between incoumbent senator thad cochran and chris mcdaniel. this race has gotten heated and downright dirty after a blogger was arrested for taking a picture of cochran's bed-ridden wife in a nursing home. three others have been arrested in connection with the incident. we'll be covering this race very closely in the coming days right here on tdr as we approach june 3rd. up next, possible breakthrough in the search for those hundreds of missing nigerian school girls. plus an historic trip that the pope makes, puts himself in the middle of the middle east peace minefield. first, our tdr soup of the day comes from malvern, pennsylvania, historic general

warren inn. they're serving snapper turtle soup today. the question is is it snapping turtle or snapper and turtle. we'll have to get a clarification. we'll be right back. what are you doing? there's no dip in that bowl. they're new pringles tortillas. so good, they don't need dip. mmmm... not bad, right? i'll have some more! that's a double dip! you... double dipped... new pringles tortillas. you dip 'em or don't. pringles!

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they're delicious, and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. some new developments this morning in the search for the nearly 300 school girls that were kidnapped by the militant group boko haram in nigeria. the country's defense chief says government officials actually know where the girls are being held captive but they have decided not to use force to rescue them. the pentagon says it's unable to confirm location that the nigerian government has said they figured out where the girls are. the government was close to a deal offering to free 100 militants in exchange for 50 of the girls but then nigeria backed out. these girls were kidnapped seven weeks ago by members of the terrorist group boko haram. the kidnappers have threatened to sell the girls into slavery

if their demands are not met. trivia time. you have to go back 66 years to 1948 to find the last time that pennsylvania voted for a republican in a for a republican in a presidential race. but then, that ended up losing the race overall, and the keystone state has voted for thomas dewey, but the country elected harry truman. congratulations to the winner today.

honestly, the off-season isn't really off for me. i've got a lot to do. that's why i got my surface.

it's great for watching game film and drawing up plays. it's got onenote, so i can stay on top of my to-do list, which has been absolutely absurd since the big game. with skype, it's just really easy to stay in touch with the kids i work with. alright, russell you are good to go! alright, fellas. alright, russ. back to work! pope francis is back at the vatican this morning after a whirlwind visit to the mideast. it was heavy on the symbolism. he prayed at the wall that was built along the palestinian bank. and at the request of benjamin netanyahu, he prayed for the

peace process, and in bethlehem, he said he would use his personal clout to restart the peace process. at the dome of the rock, he urged that nobody use god's name in the name of violence. and he asked for peaceful coalition between all religions. he then told the reporters that he is planning a meeting at the v vatican to talk to the sex abuse victims and that is a big deal especially as he plans to make it to the united states in 2015. moving along, it is takeaway time, and we begin with this. if you look at any of the problems of the obama administration that they have face ed faced in the president's second term, and start with the v.a. mess, the benghazi fallout, thi obamacare launch. in hindsight the event that may

have gone the farthest to set back the white house is con t k contractor edward snowden's nsa surveillance. one of the reasons na -- reasons that president obama was re-elected with was to repair the nation after war. well, snowden set all of that back damaging the u.s. relations with key allies and it undermined the president's credibility with part of the political base, and younger americans and then touched off the tense relationship that we are seeing today. and it is the domestic rating down, and started a combative foreign policy with rivals and some allies, and that is why hearing from snowden is interesting and hearing from the person who may have impacted a president's foreign policy and american foreign policy more than any other individual in the last two years. brian williams sat down with him for five hours last week in moscow, and the exclusive wide ranging interview will air in a

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stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial. we must do more to keep faith with the veterans. >> that is a sacred obligation, and we are behind right now. >> as commander in chief, i believe that taking care of our veterans and their families is a sacred obligation. president obama making a pledge to veterans over and over again memorial day weekend. he is going to take care of them, and will he keep the promise? ukraine unrest, an attack to take back the airport from pro russian separatist ss a day aft the election. can the brand new billionaire president bring back order? and marching towards 2016, new excerpts are from hillary clinton's book as a few new democrats are asking, should we be looking for someone else? i'm francis rivera in for chris jansing.

with bege gin this morning with tragedy at uc santa barbara. classes are cancelled today for the mourning of the students who were killed in a shooting rampage. family and friends are trying to come to grips with the tragedy. >> i was giving him cpr, and i looked down and i recognized his fa face. >> my son, his whole life, i have so proud of him. he is a really nice guy. >> she just went into everything with such vitality and enthusiasm. she was strong. she was smart. she had a great sense of who she was. >> and nbc's jennifer bjorklund joining us from santa barbara, and what can you tell us about the response to the tragedy? >> well, francis, they have cancelled the classes today and holding a day of mourning and reflection, and this afternoon at 4:00 pacific, 7:00 eastern, they