staying with us for the next hour. on the wednesday night of the republican convention this summer, you might remember that texas senator ted cruz, in his speech, he did not say the word "trump," while he gave his speech at the republican convention. he, of course, had signed a pledge along with all the other republican candidates, saying he would support whoever the republican nominee for president was, but ted cruz really just could not stand donald trump. and even though he was invited to speak at the convention, he couldn't bring himself to say donald trump's name. the closest he could get was, vote your conscience. and he got screamed at and booed at and he got yelled off the stage. his family had to be, reportedly, escorted out of the arena for their own safety. and then the next morning, with his home state texas delegation to the convention, he decided he would not back down.

he went to go meet with the texas delegation, after he had given this speech and been booed and screamed off the stage, and he said what he thought of donald trump. and he said why he didn't endorse him in that speech. and while he was speaking to the texas delegation, half of that room cheered him on, and clapped for him, sticking to his guns, and the other half of the room screamed at him all over again. >> i am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father. [ clapping ] [ yelling ] >> and that pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack heidi, that i'm going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog, and say, thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father. >> not going to come like a servile puppy dog.

i mean, even if you like servile puppy dogs, and who among us does not, right? lie down, fellas. look at you, lie down. if there's anything better than a lying down dog, it's a good sit. even if you like servile puppies, or puppy dogs never sentence, droouz put a spin on the word "puppy dog" that basically turned that word into a curse. >> that pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack heidi that i'm going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog, and say, "thank you very much." >> the vitriol, the disgust -- "a servile puppy dog!" the disgust that senator cruz spat

for donald trump at the republican convention, the disgust he had with him throughout this campaign, it was not a normal level of intracandidate fighting. i mean, ted cruz would just get beside himself about donald trump. he would get so map, he almost couldn't get the words out when he talked about donald trump. >> it's not easy to tick me off. i don't get angry often. but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that'll do it every time. >> this morning, donald trump went on national television and attacked my father. donald trump alleges that my dad was involved in assassinating jfk. now, let's be clear. this is nuts. this is not a reasonable position. this is just kooky. i'm going to tell you what i really think of donald trump. this man is a pathological liar. he doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. he lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. i actually think donald, if you hooked him up to a lie detector test, he could say one thing in the morning, one thing at noon,

one thing evening, all contradictory, and he would pass the test every time. whatever he says in the minute, he believes it. the man is utterly amoral. morality does not exist for him. he is lying to his supporters. donald will betray his supporters on every issue if this man were to become president. think about that next five years, the boasting, the pathological lying, the picking up the national enquirer and accusing people of killing jfk. the bullying. think about your kids coming back and emulating this. listen, donald trump is a serial flander, and he boasts about it. think about your teenage kids. i'll tell you as the father of two young girls, the idea of our daughters coming home and repeating any word that man says horrifies me.

donald, you're a sniveling coward and leave heidi the hell alone. >> so will you support him as the nominee? >> i'm going to beat him for the nomination -- >> that is not an answer -- >> i am answering the nomination. donald trump will not be the nominee. >> he's lead right now. you just looked in that camera and said that he's a coward. >> donald trump will not be the nominee. >> and then donald trump became the nominee. and then donald trump won the presidency. and now i give you, on a platter, the fully cooked, sliced, salted, and peppered soul of senator ted cruz. >> how would you characterize your visit with the president-elect? >> listen, it was very productive. i spent several hours in trump tower, had the chance to meet with the president-elect. i am eager and committed to working with president-elect trump. i'm eager to work with the new president, in whatever capacity. i'm looking forward to working very, very closely with president trump. >> would it be safe to say, it sounds like, you and donald

trump are pretty much on the same page? >> he and i have been fighting for a long time, for many of the same -- >> oh, we remember! >> he was the one who brought up the word "principles" there. he wasn't asked that, he brought it up. senator ted cruz of texas today, sit. good boy! lie down. but this was that day in american politics. this was the day when very famous men in politics measured the distance between the height of their high horse and bowing and scraping the floor. >> dishonesty is donald trump's hallmark. >> presidents have an impact on the nature our nation. and these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of america. this is not a matter of just policy, it's more a matter of character and integrity.

>> you think he's a racist? >> oh, i think his comments time and again, appeal to the racist tendency that exists in some people. and i think that's very dangerous. >> mr. trump is a con man. a fake. his imagination must not be married to real power. his domestic policies would lead to recession. his foreign policies would make america and the world less safe. he has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. this is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss. >> into the abyss? this has led other nations into the abyss, this has been the death of other nations, that is -- that is serious from governor -- oh, you know, actually, it's not that serious.

>> mitt romney is going to be meeting with donald trump on sunday this weekend? that's a big deal. now we are reporting and able to report that he is being considered for secretary of state. >> for donald trump's secretary of state. to be clear. former massachusetts governor mitt romney might get a job out of all of this! it turns out. so never mind about the whole "into the abyss" thing. woof. sit. sit. sit. soft mouth. today was the day when the last vestige of republican, honorable, principled horror at donald trump dissolved into everybody just trying to get a job with him now. forget all that. today we also learned, after days of reporting, that president-elect trump would try to bring his relatives into the white house, despite nepotism laws that ban that. today we learned, apparently, how they plan to try to skirt the nepotism law, at least when it comes to donald trump's son-in-law, a man named jared kushner. "the new york times" reporting today that what the trump folks are going to try is that they're going to say that technically donald trump wouldn't be hiring

his son-in-law into the government, and so technically the nepotism laws wouldn't apply, if jared kushner turned down the salary that would usually come with the white house job, that they want to give him. which, of course, is no problem for him, because he's also from a real estate billionaire family, so your petty little public servant salary is basically an insult to him, anyway. now, if this were true. if this legal theory worked out, as a matter of precedent, that would almost be funny, right? that would mean only rich presidents could bring their rich families into the government. but the nepotism laws would still apply to everybody else. only the rich don't have to abide by that law. you just don't take the salary. who needs it? honestly, though, we're probably not even going to get to that punch line as a country, though, because if they do try this, it is not likely to be legal, even as "the new york times" notes today, under federal law, offer ing something to a president for

free doesn't magically make that thing legal if it would otherwise be prohibited by law for him to accept it. outside what is now a sustained, ongoing, increasingly hilarious struggle by the president-elect to try to find ways to employ his immediate family members, the trump transition tonight has apparently offered the job of national security adviser to retired general michael flynn. now, one good thing about this particular job off, as a fit for michael flynn, is that national security adviser, interestingly, does not require senate confirmation. it's a very powerful job, but doesn't go through the senate. the president just gets to designate his or her national security adviser. it's a good thing it would not have to go to the senate, this appointment, if it is, in fact,

something that's going to happen. it's a good thing for general flynn that it would not go to the senate, because there are things in general flynn's immediate background and in fact his current employment that might be trouble in the senate, especially a narrowly divided senate, like we're going to have. general flynn was forced out of the defense intelligence agency, just a few years ago, under not-positive circumstances that nobody in the trump foreign government. this firm is being paid to lobby for turkey. and apparently, that is something that was true throughout the trump campaign, while general flynn was working for the trump campaign. and general flynn, in all that time, never publicly disclosed that. even while he was writing pro-turkey op-eds on election day, which apparently a foreign country was paying for. so, the national security adviser is a position that does

not get senate confirmation. in general flynn's case, that is probably very opportune in terms of whether or not he could expect to be confirmed. there's no word yet on whether general flynn has accepted this job offer, but the associated press is reporting tonight that as to have tonight, the national security adviser job offer is on the table. meanwhile, this was an unusual development, the man who has spent the whole last week representing himself as the immigration chief for the trump transition team, kansas secretary of state, kris kobach, the guy who wrote the papers, please, law in arizona, and the anti-hazelton law and the anti-immigrant law in alabama, kris kobach has spent the last week describing what he says will be the trump campaign's -- excuse me, the trump administration's first actions on immigration and what they plan to do over the course of their time in office. he's the guy who has said that trump will be ready to massively increase deportation as of day one. he's the one who has said there will be an immigration ban on muslims, there will be a

registry of muslims. well, after that solid week of news from kris kobach, who says he's the immigration guy in the trump transition team, the trump transition team said today that, actually, they've decided that kris kobach is not on the transition team. now, what's weird about that is that they're not announcing that they are firing him. what they are doing is they're saying, he was never on the transition team in the first place. he's just been on tv, every single day for the past week, speaking for the trump transition team, on the issue of immigration, and apparently what they're going to say about that is that they didn't notice that he was doing that until now. hey, who's that guy? none of us know him! he doesn't speak for us! and if you want to throw a grappling hook and then rappel with me down to the bottom of the memory hole on this, the trump team is now claiming that donald trump as a candidate never advocated these controversial policies that kris kobach has been talking about

implementing for the past week. i think they're trying to maintain here that kris kobach just made this stuff up and it was never donald trump's positions. this was the statement from the trump transition tonight. quote, president-elect trump has never advocated for any registry or system that tracks individuals based on their religion. and to imply otherwise is completely false. that's what they're trying to say now. and that's insane. >> there should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. we should have a lot of systems. >> that's something your white house would like to -- >> i would certainly implement that. absolutely. >> "absolutely, i would certainly implement that." databases? beyond databases. donald trump is on tape advocating aegistry of muslims, in the united states. but as of tonight, the donald trump president-elect transition team says he never advocated

that, and for good measure, what was the threat, "to imply otherwise is completely false." and that's insane. but that's what every day in the news is like now. and i've got to tell you, for the sheer kinetic whiplash of it, this is kind of exhilarating stuff to cover. it's exhilarating the way those free fall rides at amusement parks kind of make you feel alive! but this is incredible stuff. what a moment to be trying to explain and cover this stuff. we have a big show tonight. there is one last u.s. senate race in the country that is not yet decided. this is the race that will determine the number of senators the republicans have and the number of senators the democrats have in the senate, and we all know that's going to be really, really, really important in terms of what the trump administration is able to do. the democratic candidate for that one remaining senate race in the country is here with us tonight.

you are definitely going to want to see that. also tonight, former speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, has a challenger for the job of leading the democrats in the house. that challenger is here tonight to explain why he says, that even show he, personally, loves nancy pelosi, he is now trying town seat here. so we've got two really interesting guests right in the middle of two very live, very important fights. they're both here with us tonight. it's a big, big, big evening. and it's an insane time to be alive. stay with us.

if you look at race by race, it was close. the cumulative effect, however, was not too close, it was a thumping. >> it was a thumping. which is a technical term. president george w. bush's self-deprecating take on the midterm elections that happened in his second term. that was him responding to the 2006 midterms. and that was a decade ago. but it was a thumping.

and people could sort of see that one coming. going into that election, the iraq war was going terribly. it was one of the bloodiest years of all, of the iraq war. president bush had also mishandled hurricane katrina the previous year in 2005. the democrats turned all of that against him in 2006 and turned it on in terms of democratic energy. the result in the 2006 election was just a huge blue wave at the polls. that year in 2006, democrats recaptured both the senate and the house. they also retook a majority of governorships. these were the final numbers, that year in 2006, democrats picked up six governorships, six senate seats, 31 seats in the house. not a single democratic incumbent lost a seat in 2006. not one. first time that's ever happened. and of course, the democratic leader in the house, nancy pelosi, she got a lot of credit for what happened with democrats that year.

she also made history herself that year, when she became the first woman ever to take the gavel, to become speaker of the house. and then just two years later, 2008, it was democratic president, barack obama, making history of his own, defeating john mccain, one of those moments that will forever give democrats warm fuzzy feelings, for good reason. but you know what, that was not just president obama's night. after their big year that they had just had two years earlier in 2006, that night, election night in 2008, that was the second democratic wave building on the gains from two years earlier, which nobody thought was even possible. but in 2008, democrats won another eight seats in the senate. they won another 21 seats in the house. they even added another governor's seat. on that night in 2008, democrats were flying high. they held huge majorities in both chambers in washington, the country had just elected a massively popular democratic president. there was talk of an emerging democratic majority for years to come. and of course, president obama was the tip of that spear. but once again, for the second

wave in two cycles, a lot of the credit went to nancy pelosi, for, again, not just keeping the democratic majority, but expanding it. and then we know what happened, right? that night, november 4th, 2008, that was the top of the mountain. i mean, yes, president obama won re-election four years later, over mitt romney and the democrats in congress picked up a few seats in 2012, but that was the exception that proved the rule over the last eight years. in the interim, democrats got their own version of a thumping in 2010, the first midterm as barack obama's time as president in 2010, the democrats lost 63 seats in the house. president obama didn't call that a thumping, he called it a shellacking, the largest shellacking in 60 years. and in 2014, the next midterm of his second term, they got another shellacking. and overall, since that magical, misty-eyed amazing night for democrats in 2008, with the exception of barack obama's re-election, democratic losses have been huge.

even before last week's electoral disaster, democrats under the era of president obama lost 13 senate seats, 69 house seats, 12 governorships, over 900 seats in state legislatures across the country. that was all before last tuesday. and now suddenly, those blue waves from 2006 and 2008, they look like an awfully long time ago. and now as of this afternoon, nancy pelosi, that history-making first woman speaker of the house, long-standing democratic leader, she now finds herself facing a challenger from among the house democrats. a challenger who says that he is the type of new leader democrats need if they are ever going to get the house back and if they are going to take the fight both to congressional republicans and to donald trump. >> you spend your life, your entire business career, screwing

average people, filing bankruptcy. i don't mean to be graphic, but this guy, to our friends in the trades, to our steelworkers, who he's been treating very unfairly, very unfairly, he will, he will gut you, and he will walk over your cold, dead body and he won't even flinch. he'll climb over your cold, dead body and get on his helicopter. >> that's ohio congressman tim ryan. he's joining us tonight, in peon, for his first interview since announcing today that he is going to challenge nancy pelosi to be democratic leader in congress. that is next. stay with us.

i know many of us have been talking about this for a long, long time, to where we have 30 years of stagnant wages in the united states. and there is no way that we're going to be able to continue to be the leader of the free world or really even have the kind of country that we want, if we have this kind of level of inequality. the issue that we are talking about in ohio and wisconsin is an issue of respect for the average worker in the united states of america. the issue is, are we going to respect work in the united states of america? are we going to respect the workers in the united states of america, while all these fat cats have gotten off scot-free. and we turn around and tell the

workers in ohio and wisconsin and indiana and the big ten conference, you got to take the hit, it's unfair and it's disrespectful and it is not an american value. >> there have been a few times over the years on this show that we have talked to and talked about youngstown, ohio, democratic congressman, tim ryan. it is almost because of him making a populist case, a blue collar, economic populist case for a democratic congress that's for the working class and the kind of left-behind americans that frankly turned his home state bright red this year, even as he held on to his youngstown and akron district by a margin of 35 points. and now he's here tonight, because he is taking a shot at the king, or sorry, the leader. longtime house democratic leader, nancy pelosi.

that's her today -- excuse me, that's her last week, telling reporters right after the election that she definitely still has the two-thirds support she needs among house democrats in order to hold on to her leadership job there. congressman tim ryan of ohio thinks she's wrong. thinks he can beat her for that job. joining us for the interview tonight is ohio congress manning, tim ryan. you need two-thirds support among house democrats. nancy pelosi says she has absolutely got the two-thirds. do you really think she's -- i tend to think she's right. do you think she's wrong? >> i think there are a lot of people who are looking for a new direction. and i don't -- i think maybe before someone else got in the race, she may have had two-thirds, but i would say that there's going to be a lot of people evaluating me, what i'm talking about, what i stand for, what direction i would like to take the caucus and the country and the democratic party in. and they're going to give it a

good look. >> what would you do differently than she would do? and i ask that cognizant of the fact that you don't like nancy pelosi, you love nancy pelosi, that you have a lot of respect for her, both as an individual member of congress and the way that she has led. what would you do so differently? >> yeah, i do love her. and this is tough, because this is a battle kind of within the family. this is a decision that i had to make kind of going against the family member, if you want to think of it that way, but i think, you know, what we've got to do -- and i'm not worried about the past. you showed the past and there were some great memories there and some really tough nights from '10 and '12, '14, and '16. especially, you know, last week. we've got to talk about the future. and i think we are going to have to win 30 or 40 congressional districts in the southern part of the country, in red congressional districts, southern indiana, ohio, wisconsin, michigan. we've got to win seats that are upstate new york and we need a leader who can go into all of

those districts and persuade people who voted for donald trump to come back into the democratic fold. and i think -- i think i can do that. i know i can do that. i've been doing it my whole clear and i want to offer the members of our congress is to have a choice in this. my job is not to get elected, or once i get elected, it's not about me, it's about serving the members of the caucus. and the first thing you have to do is get back in the power. because republicans will cut taxes for the top 1%, there's no question about that. they're going to privatize medicare and throw people off their health insurance. and i'll be damned if i'm going to stand by and allow that to happen. i want to talk to voters in these different states and say, you belong in the democratic party, i get it. we screwed up. you didn't screw up, we screwed up. we didn't have the message for you, we didn't talk to you, we didn't pay attention to you. and i'm going to come down there and pay attention to you and bring you into the fold and fight donald trump.

>> can you stay another moment? i have a couple of things i want to ask you about what you're offering. congressman ryan announced today he's challenging nancy pelosi to be leader of the house democrats. he'll join us again right after this.

we're back with ohio congressman, tim ryan, who made the bold decision today to challenge house democratic

leader, nancy pelosi. nancy pelosi says she has the votes to stay where she is. the congressman begs to differ. congressman, thank you for staying with us. >> great to be back. >> a few quick things i want to get your take on. i don't know your answer on any of these and i want to get through a few of them. number one, are you supporting anybody for dnc chair or do you want to say right now who you think ought to be the next dnc chair? >> no, not yet. you haven't really dug in, but great candidates, i'm hearing, you know, keith ellison's a good buddy of mine in the house of representatives, worked a lot with tom perez, who i heard his name floated. so i think there's a lot of names out there, but i think everybody's keeping their powder dry at this point to see what the field looks like. and i think the election's not until february, so -- >> do you have a strong opinion about the democratic party doing things wrong as a party, that you want to see them do things differently? >> there's no question. technologically, i think we need an upgrade. i think we've got to speak to the working class people, the blue collar people. we've got this beautiful tapestry of the democratic party

and we've got to energize this base. it's not about one segment, it's about all of us. if you look back at the progress we made as a party and as a country, workers' right and civil rights, the 40-hour workweek, medicare, medicaid, social security, go through the whole list, that's when we were all together. we hung together as a party. black, white, latino, middle class, poor, we were all together. and that's how we made progress. and so whoever was the head of the dnc and whoever's the head of our caucus needs to represent and understand that. and i think nancy pelosi does. but we need to represent the entire party and these working class people rely on us. we need a strong democratic party in the united states and right now, you know, we're reeling. >> one of the civil rights that's never been under more threat than it is right now is reproductive rights. you were pro-life until last year, when you decided to announce that you were pro-choice. why should anybody trust you on that issue as a recent convert? >> well, i would say, talk to our friends at planned parenthood. this has been a long journey for me, coming in pro-life, really not giving a whole lot of thought about it and i dug into

the issue with friends of mine, like rosa dlora and others and consistently learned more. i really educated myself. i met women who were in really difficult circumstances and then 2 1/2 years, i had a -- my wife, andrea, and i had a baby. and we were sitting in the doctor's office and i remember they were running tests on the baby. the baby's fine, he's healthy, he's great. but was didn't know, for some moments there. and i remember sitting there with my wife in the doctor's office waiting for the results to come back and thinking, uncle sam should not be in this room right now with us. these are really tough decisions and we need to honor women and be compassionate for those who end up in difficult circumstances. and that was my -- that was like, that's done, i'm writing an op-ed, i wrote it, and i was like, i've changed, you know, i evolved over time. but my friends really help med meet people and understand it in a deeper way and my position changed and that's where it is now. >> ohio congressman tim ryan,

taking a big jump tonight into democratic leadership contest. nice to see you, sir. thank you for coming in and talking about it. really appreciate it. >> what a pleasure. >> i feel like i need to warn the country, if he wins, it will be paul ryan in terms of tim ryan, house republicans versus democrats. >> a lot of happy people in ireland. >> and you'll have to wear shirts with first initials on them. hard as it may be to wrap your head around, hillary clinton's lead in the popular

hard as it may be to wrap your head around, hillary clinton's lead in the popular vote for this presidential election has now grown to more than 1.3 million votes. and it's expected to grow. millions of votes are still to be counted as of tonight in true blue california. but there is another very important race, that hasn't even

been voted on yet. and it's a race that could determine just how much of a fight democrats are going to be able to put up against a president trump in the united states senate next year, and that very interesting story is next. stay with us.

we are down to the very last unsettled races in the country. in north carolina now, we're getting word that the sewer tight governor's race in that state may not be called until next month. the democrat in that governor's race is north carolina attorney general, roy cooper. he has declared victory in the race and he's ahead. the republican incumbent governor, pat mccrory, though, he has not conceded. state officials are still reviewing ballots, counting absentee ballots and overseas ballots. and pat mccrory's campaign announced that they have filed challenges to ballots in 50 counties with possibly more to come. as it stands tonight, pat mccrory is behind by about 5,000

votes, so this race does remain too close to call. it's also getting more complicated and a little bit more fraught by the hour. so we're keeping an eye on that super hotly contested governor's race in north carolina. but if you're interested in what's going to happen upcoast in washington, d.c.'s, we have a senate race where the voting doesn't happen for another three weeks. it's the race for the u.s. senate seat in louisiana. it starts as an everybody in jungle primary, is what they call it. this year they had 23 people all running together. republicans, democrats, everybody. you might remember a little national attention to this race, because this was the race where freaking kkk grand wizard david duke ran for senate as a republican. he actually managed to get 5% in one poll, so he got himself a place at one of the televised senate debates this year. unfortunately, it was the one held at an historically black

college, dillard university. so that was exciting. same way the stomach flu can be exciting. but louisiana voted on election night across the nation. louisiana voted in their jungle primary. and in that senate race in louisiana, none of the 23 people who were running got a majority and won the seat. so now what happens next is the top two finishers, regardless of party, they go to a runoff that happens three weeks from now. i should tell you, happily, david duke was not in the top two, nowhere near. he's now gone back to his regular life of being a full-time fan boy for donald trump, celebrating his victory as a coupe for white supremacy. but the louisiana senate race continues without him. the runoff election take place in louisiana on december 10th. there's so much at stake here. right? this is how the senate looks now. senate horseshoe, pretty even. right now it's 48 democrats and 51 republicans. democrats picked up two seats last week, but republicans retained control of the senate

narrowly. you can see the one clear dot there that's not filled in, that's what we're talking about tonight. that's louisiana. if a republican wins that, that would make the difference 48-52, it's be a four-seat difference, republicans would have a fairly firm grip on that chamber, but if a democrat would win, that would make the difference between the democrats and republicans only two. that is a gap democrats can work with. that is a gap that stuff might happen. you know, winning this louisiana senate seat could mean a world of difference for democrats trying to stop the trump agenda, as the best website in the world, wonkette.com, put it today, if a democrat won that seat, it means it wouldn't be as much of a stretch to try to form majority coalitions with republican senators who are occasionally decent on specific issues, like john mccain with russia or rand paul opposing rudy giuliani and john bolton for secretary of state. from wonkette.com, if 49 democrats can pull a john mccain or a susan collins across the aisle to oppose trump in erecting a statue of vladimir putin on top of the white house,

we might at least be able to mitigate some of trump's damage, which is what we need. and i know, i know, louisiana is a red state. louisiana went for donald trump by 20 points, for christ's sake, but louisiana also did elect a democrat for governor last year. and this louisiana senate race, the republican is the state treasurer. he's a former democrat. he unsuccessfully ran in 2004, became a republican in 2007. smart money says he is favored to win, but the democrat is no slouch. he's one-half of the last senate race in the country right now. and he is carrying the hopes of democrats not just in louisiana, and honestly around the nation. and his name is foster campbell. joining us now is father campbell, the louisiana public service commissioner and democratic candidate for the last u.s. senate seat at stake in the country. commissioner, thank you very much for being here.

it's nice to see you. >> thank you so much, i'm down here fighting, running against a guy who's been everything but a baptist preacher. he's been everything. he's all over the wall. he's been a liberal democrat, he's been to the right of newt gingrich. so every day, you don't know what this guy's going to do. we're fighting hard, we've got a lot of help. the governor's supporting us, we've had a lot of help from all over the country and i'm glad to be in the fight. we've got a good chance of winning. we're going to take it to him and talk about his record and talk about my record. i have a record of helping people. i've helped consumers all my life. i wear that badge very proudly. i am very waging the minimum wage. i want to make sure that women have equal pay and i want to do everything i can to help this great state of louisiana and our country. people will be proud if i'm in the united states senate. i'll never vote to do anything but help social security. and i'll never vote to privatize medicare. that would be the worst thing

that could ever happen. i won't be on their sides there, you can believe that. >> commissioner, you've described your opponent as having been everything but a baptist preacher, at one point having been a liberal democrat and now something quite different. for a national audience that's learning about your race for the first time, who's being introduced to you for the first time, how would you describe your own politics? obviously, you're running statewide in a red state that did just elect a democratic governor, but also picked donald trump by a large margin. how would you describe yourself in terms of how you fit on the ideological number line, if you do? >> well, when it comes to people, aisle on their side, when it comes to consumers, i'm on their side. i took on the utility companies and made them reduce their rate of return on their profit. i've been on the side of consumers all my life. so when it comes to consumers, i am to the left of the center. when it comes to money, sometimes i'm very conservative at saving money. i've created the only $1 billion trust fund that's ever been

created for schools in louisiana. so when it makes good sense, i'm with the -- there's an old saying in the south, there's no wrong way to do the right thing. i'm going to do the right thing. >> commissioner, do you feel like you've received sort of adequate support, adequate attention from democrats in your state, from democrats around the country. there's a lot of reason, a lot of call to focus a lot of national attention on your race given the stakes it has nationwide. do you feel like you're out there on your own or do you feel like you're getting national support? >> no, no, i don't think i'm on my own. i'm not on my own in louisiana. the governor's supporting me. i was in the assassinate senate for 27 years. my friends are supporting me. they know i'll stand up for the people. and the people of the united states of america have been great to me. they're helping me raise the money i need to put on this campaign. you know republicans always have

the money. they'll always have the money, because big corporations put up the money. democrats have a harder time, because usually democrats don't have that kind of money to spread around. but we've been getting campaign contributions from all over, places like wyoming and new york, new jersey, california. so i am very proud to be in this race and i have a great chance to win. we're going to the wall. we're going on my record or his record. my record is representing people. miss record is representing the haves, i've represented the have-nots. there's an old verse, what you do for the least of these, you do for me. that's my motto. i'm for businesses, doing right, but not for being greedy. >> foster campbell, the democratic candidate for u.s. senate from louisiana this year. sir, it's nice to meet you. thanks for being with us tonight. stay in touch with us over these next three weeks, if you would.

>> thank you so much. i appreciate this opportunity. >> sure. thank you, sir. all right. we'll be right back. you're so cold, come in! what's wrong? take off your hat! no hey...it's, it's dry... your scalp? mine gets dry in the winter too. try head and shoulders' dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp 3 surface layers deep to help... ...prevent dryness and keeps you up to 100% flake free now we can cuddle the whole winter! head and shoulders' dry scalp care

apart from politics, apart from wins and losses and pending races, miles from competing agendas or tumultuous transition teams or audacious nepotism, apart from all of that, i have got a little tiny story tonight to end the show, that will make you sleep better than you have been sleeping recently. it will make you happy. it will break your heart a tiny little bit, but in a way that's worth it. you'll be glad you saw it. that's next. stay with us.

best new thing in the world. are you ready? ready? ready. the first rule of being a viking.

is that teamwork is important. these images are from march.

best new thing in the world. are you ready? ready? ready. these images are from march. the stunning three-book series to have graphic novels, depicting the life and life's work of civil rights hero, john lewis. since the first of the march books came out, congressman lewis has been gracious enough to come on this show with his co-author, andrew iden, and with artist, nate powell. the three of them have come here to this show, to be here with us, to launch each step in this trilogy of incredible graphic novels they have put out. and they really are breathtaking. they show and explain, i think, better than anything else i've ever come across, how john lewis and his fellow civil rights activists did when they did. how they won, how hard it was

for them, personally, when they went through as individuals. i mean, on this show, we're, you know, blessed. we get to talk to important people, members of congress, right, all the time on this show. in fact, we get to talk to people who write books all the time. but when congressman lewis came to our show to make these announcements, it was a huge deal. john lewis is real-life, genuine superhero, the kind you usually see in comics. and to say that these books that he's done have been a hook is an absurd understatement. book one of march made its way to "the new york times" best seller list and stayed there for 47 weeks. 47 weeks on the best seller list, seriously? book two won the eisner award, which is like winning the oscar for best graphic novel. and now the third book, book three, just got the national book award. what?! and it is very exciting to say that.

and true to form, his acceptance speech was -- just watch. >> thank you. this is unreal. this is unbelievable. i remember in 1956, when i was 16 years old some of my brothers and sisters and cousins going down to the library, trying to get library cards. and we were told that the libraries were for whites only, not for colors. and to come here and receive this award. >> congratulations to congressman john lewis and andrew iden and nate powell. congratulations to everybody who

read "march," including the approximately 14 gazillion of you to whom i sent the book and demanded you must read. john lewis, national book award recipient. best new thing in the world. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." see y again tomorrow. "first look" is up next. i can't believe is being considered, mitt romney, who is meeting with donald trump this weekend, reportedly to talk about becoming secretary of state. mitt romney didn't even vote for donald trump. remember how they said trump is keeping a list of his enemies? turns out he was keeping it so he could offer them jobs afterwards. maybe trump is screwing with them and wants them to come to the office. you're fired. fired from what? doesn't matter, get lost. >> president-elect donald trump is looking to fill another top spot in his administration. lieutenant general michael flynn is expected to be the next national security adviser. he brings with him experience and controversy. plus,