war hero. i'll be first to say that. spent all that time in that prison. came back and you've been in the senate, twice presidential candidate. >> both times lost. >> what do you want to be remembered for? >> he served his country. that's what i'd like to see. he served his country. hopefully with the word honorably on it. that's all. in the end, he never became

president. losing to george w. bush and later barack obama. and he resisted a changing of the guard in politics often at odds with president donald trump and the two shared a little more in common than their political party. and, yet, mccain did not yield. >> most wondrous land on earth, indeed. i've had the good fortune to spend 60 years in service to this wondrous land. to fear the world we have organized and led the three quarters of a century, to boopd the ideals we advanced around the globe, to re fuse the obligations of international leadership and duty to remain the last best hope of earth, for the same of some half-baked spurious nationalist cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. [ applause ] is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired

dogma of the past that americans consigned to the ash heap of history. . >> remarkable. he was known by his colleagues in the senate as a man unafraid to reach across the aisle. and unafraid of bucking his own party for what he thought was the good of the country. one of his colleagues, democratic senator from minnesota amy klobuchar, joins me now from minneapolis. senator klobuchar, it's good to see you on this very somber weekend. but we've been remembering senator mccain here tonight for, of course, the accomplishments that he brought, but also for the man that he was. i know you spent quite a bit of time traveling with him. there was a new year's eve

incident in the baltics, i'm told, among other things. what do you remember about him? >> well, kasie, i loved how you captured his sense of humor and how for him, jabbing at you a bit in good humor, good humor, was a compliment. there's nothing better when you're a democrat and got a call from john mccain which i did several times where he'd say i just saw you on sunday morning defending immigration. he goes, pretty good for a communist. that was a compliment. he was someone that just had a joy about his work and, yes, as you know, he could get crabby, he could get intense, but he had a mission and that mission, i was reminded of the last time i saw him when my husband and i went to the ranch to see him and cindy, and he was frail, but still showed that true grit as

he talked about the issues of the day. but he pointed to a line from one of his books where he said nothing in life is more liberating than fighting for a cause greater than yourself. that's what defined his life, letting prisoners of war be released before him. i stood with him in front of the cell in vietnam and saw how small the place was where he was tortured. whether it was working the senate as you point out bucking his party on everything from immigration, to being against torture or whether it was his decision in a solitary moment in minnesota at that rally when that woman questioned barack obama's patriotism and he looked at her in a very polite way and said, ma'am, no, you're wrong, ma'am. he was a family man. he was a decent -- he is a

decent person. that's what he said. and those are decisions, some were made over time, but some were made in the moment and that was john mccain. >> really demonstrated the instincts that he had in that moment. he also was known as being a mentor to other senators. he was somebody who cared deeply about the institution and it sounds as though he played that role for you. >> he did. and i'm sure you can think of people in your love, men who came before you and helped you out and introduced you around. well, that's what he did to so many senators and especially women senators on the world stage. and at times when we would be at meetings with all-male leaders, especially in asia, and it was lindsey and me and john mccain and of course john mccain would start. he was the head of the delegation. then they'd all turn to look at lindsey graham.

every single time john mccain would look at them and say, i'm sorry, senator klobuchar is a democratic lead of this delegation. she will go next. and he was in that moment telling them, no, this woman is someone to listen to. and i can't tell you how many other women, democrats and republicans, have told me similar stories and part of it may be that he spent his life surrounded by powerful women from his mother, who is still alive, to cindy mccain who's an incredibly strong person, to meghan and the rest of the family and may have sculpted who he was in those moments in the senate. >> roberta mccain, his mother, 106 years old, really, really remarkable. chuck schumer, your democratic leader, has proposed renaming the russell senate office building for senator mccain. is that something you would support? >> of course. i think it is a very smart idea. it's a place, as you know,

kasiers, when you talk about walking the marble floors, it's where he worked for years and also embodies the traditions of the senate in that it's the oldest senate office building and he was a student of history. every trip that i went with him on, h he was constantly reading books. world war ii books. taking those lessons of history which you heard in that talk he gave on half-baked nationalism not so long ago. and bringing them to the present. understanding what that threat of russia really meant. and if i learned anything from him on foreign policy, it was that the lessons of history matter. and that america is at its strongest when we are a beacon for democracies around the world and that we shouldn't shirk from that duty. >> senator amy klobuchar, thank you so much for coming on tonight, sharing your thoughts and reflections. >> thank you. thank you for capturing senator mccain with that moment where he was teasing you about your role as a journalist. >> always. >> he did that so well. >> he did. and we really miss him in the halls of the hill. as i know you know. so, thank you. i want to now welcome in my panel tonight. senior writer for politico, co-author of the political playbook, jake sherman. republican strategist and director of media affairs for john mccain's 2008 campaign, kevin mclaughlin. political columncolumnist, karen tumulty. and msnbc political analyst mike murphy. thank you all for being here tonight. i want, first, karen has written

a definitive obituary of senator mccain. karen, you write in the "washington post," "when he acted like an ordinary politician, trimming principles in the cause of ambition and experience, it was all the more jarring because of the standard he had set. in the years that followed, a question often asked was which is the real john mccain?" so which one is it? >> well, there really was -- john mccain had this code of honor that i think on the one hand both defined him, but i think it was also a burden. i think it also haunted him because when he fell short of his own standards, he was in torment. you ask what was the worst moment when he was a prisoner of war, it wasn't being tortured. it wasn't all those years of solitary confinement. it was -- it was when after having his arms rebroken, he was forced to sign a sort of stilted confession. so, again, you don't see that sort of kind of internal, you know, an internal code of honor in that many politicians. so, yes, he was both -- he was both of those john mccains. he was the john mccain who aspired perfection and he's the john mccain who sometimes fell short. >> mike murphy, pick up on that

point. you're somebody who worked with mccain in 2000 on that sort of improbable run that he made against george w. bush when h he really earned for all of the country that nickname of maverick. >> yeah. well, he -- he was a rascal. he -- he was driven by honor. his entire focus was serving with honor. but he was also human and he knew his flaws and he was very hard on himself. because he was a -- you know, a flawed person like all of us. so, and he was in the political world where you spend half your time trying to navigate mindfields with honor and the other half of your time suffering fools which it took him some patience to do. so it was a lot of fun. >> i'm not sure he actually had the patience. i don't know that -- >> i think he had pretty

remarkable patience. i was around a lot of the fools he was suffering and it was pretty remarkable in 2000. i think the whole temper thing's overrated. i think people miss it which is mccain -- what mccain never liked in life, excuse me, were -- his favorite word, joking, he didn't mean it, did sometimes behind closed doors, jerks and bullies. when he saw somebody with power bullying down, he had a dislike of it. there's a lot of that foolishness in politics but fundamentally what he tried to do and i thought was very successful in doing through his career was put his own compass first and the hell with it if there was political trouble. he also loved to fight so he was able to bring those two things together. but he was very unique. and nobody was more fun to work with particularly in 2000 in a long shot campaign, where he had nothing to lose and it was like a bank heist. he was in the middle of it and

he had a terrific time because he was alloweded to be himself a saw it resonated in the country in politics. >> so mccain came up short twice in his bids for president. he lost the 2000 primary. we were just talking about. to george w. bush. and eight years later, of course, the general election to barack obama. and with the campaign reaching its fever pitch in october of 2008, mccain, of course, can see the writing on the wall. >> i come here tonight to the al smith dinner knowing i'm the underdog in these final weeks, but if you know where to look, there's signs of hope. there's signs of hope. even in the most unexpected places. even in this room full of proud manhattan democrats. i can't -- i can't shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me. i'm delighted to see you here tonight, hillary. [ applause ]

i don't want it getting out of this room, but my opponent is an impressive fellow in many ways. political opponents can have a little trouble seeing the best in each other. but i've had a few glimpses of this man at his best. and i admire his great skill, energy, and determination. it's not for nothing that he's inspired so many folks in his own party and beyond. senator obama talks about making h history, and he's made quite a bit of it already. there was a time when the mere invitation of an african-american citizen to dine

at the white house was taken as an outrage and an insult in many quarters. today, he's a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time, and good riddance. i can't wish my opponent luck, but i do wish him well. [ applause ] >> kevin mclaughlin, where -- where is that in our politics today? where is it? we watched how republicans reacted after charlottesville. it's so far. >> yeah. >> from what john mccain did right there. >> yeah. you know, i think it's been a long slog to get to where we are right now. seeing him talk and think about 2008, i was with the mccain campaign in the 2007 primary and it was brutal, i was in charge of radio and tv, when i talked to the right wingers of the whole thing, john mccain was the

mccain/kennedy immigration bill and the surge in iraq and would get crushed every day. >> there's even conspiracy theories that karen was talking about. they call him a traitor. >> every day we get to work at 6:00, stand at the desk and hope to god we get through the day, come out and everything would be okay. mccain had this ability in the military, i think they have a saying, it's like do the hard right as opposed to the easy wrong and totally emboied him. he came back from iraq when he met the soldier who got shot through the eye who grabbed him by the arm. and whispered in his ear, i'm pulling for you. he came right in the campaign office and was just, like, a mess. he was off the plane and he was crying. and everyone was crying. and it made it so much bigger and so much easier to work in those terrible days.

>> yeah. jake sherman, on capitol hill, it's clear that people who have spent a lot of time up there, you know, really loved him. and republicans loved him. this president, though, not so much. >> to. definitely not. and i think part of it, i'm not -- it's tough to put anybody on the psychiatric couch, but john mccain, i don't think there's anybody in the senate or in the house who could go out into the world and meet with world leaders and have the gravitas that mccain has. he's almost like seen as a head of state. >> yeah. >> when he's out there in the world. out there on congressional delegations meeting with people, leaders around the world. he commands that kind of respect. and thinking through the elected officials that we have now, there's really nobody else like that, but i think the president has had a long distaste for john mccain for whatever reason, in 1999 in an interview i think with dan rather on "60 minutes" brought up that the idea that he was captured. so this is something that's been going on for decades. right? so it's not a new thing. >> and i'm glad you make that point because the "washington post" is reporting tonight that president trump squashed plans

for a white house statement praising the life and heroism of senator john mccain. current and former white house aides tell the "post" that the statement was drafted before mccain's death and it was ready for the president to sign off on it. but upon review, the president reportedly decided he would rather post a brief tweet instead. that read, "my deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of senator john mccain. our hearts and prayers are with you." the post is reporting as well your colleagues, karen, that this white house statement would have called him a hero, praised his military service and his president elected not to do that. >> it's sort of small on the president's part. it's reminiscent of him going and signing the defense authorization bill a couple weeks ago which is named for john mccain. and not mentioning john mccain's

name. because it does appear that with donald trump, everything is about donald trump. and so he has a feud going with him and he will not let go of it. he will not look at john mccain in the larger lens of his service to this country which was incredible. and lasted for many decades. >> i think it's important to also note, if you look at george w. bush is going to eulogize john mccain. they had one of the nastiest primaries in recent presidential history. it's possible to disagree with somebody politically -- >> there was very personal stuff in the 2000 campaign around senator mccain's daughter and yet he still, of course, extending forgiveness and asked, we've been reporting, that mccain personally asked both bush and obama to deliver those eulogies. all right. we have much more to come on the show tonight. we're going to talk about who will fill john mccain's seat and how he is shaping another race for senate in arizona. and later, is the u.s. ready to take on trolls and fake accounts in 2018? we're joined exclusively by facebook's former chief security officer. he says no.

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not only was a finally on the bus, but i was finally going to get a chance to talk to senator john mccain. >> what is it. >> you're welcome on our bus at any time. >> let's do a lightning round. >> okay. >> your favorite book? >> from whom the bell tolls. >> favorite movie? >> marlon brando.

>> close enough. >> if i were a tree, i would be a -- >> if i were a tree, i would be a root. what does mat mean? senator, how do you reconcile the fact you were one of the midwest vocal critics of pork barrel politics yet while you were chairman of the commerce committee, that committee set a record for unauthorized appropriations? i'm just kidding. no, i don't even know what that means. >> a glimpse at the lighter side of john mccain playing along with steve corel in a 1999 episode of "the daily show." kevin mclaughlin, we've talked a lot about obviously the somber aspects of this, but this was a guy who was real, he was personable, he was funny. not poll tested. not carefully shined.

consultants, maybe a nightmare but in his case kind of a dream. >> he had a wicked sense of humor. whenever anyone asks me what he was like, i'm like think of all the stereotypical traits people say about fighter pilots and he had them all. i mean, he was -- he was fearless. he was reckless. he was funny. he was arrogant. he was smart. he was hardworking. i mean, he was -- he was everything. and he really made it an amazing -- you wanted to aspire to be like him. the thing i liked most about him as a human being was he was in touch with his shortcomings and very open about them. while he was his heavyweight, respected, seen as a head of state around the world, he still could touch, you know, the average american person because he was open and honest about his shortcomings and failures and there was an amazing quality. >> one moment in that time, too, karen, was the keating 5 scandal which he later reflected on as one of his worst moment. >> that's right. this was during the savings and loan crisis back in 1989. senator mccain and four democrats became known as the keating 5 because they had met with saings and loan regulators

on behalf of a donor, charles keating. john mccain said, was so horrified, at his own behavior even though of the keating 5, he got the least, you know, serious admonishment from the senate. but he said this is going to be on my tombstone, but it was from that that he really decided to pick up with russ feingold and for seven years, it took them to get campaign finance reform through. so it was just so typical of the way john mccain would handle his own shortcomings and in this case it was a lapse of judgement. >> yeah. another sort of correction he made to himself, jake, was the issue of the confederate flag and this was back in the 2000 campaign when he said that he should not have stayed neutral

on the confederate flag. that was something that he later went out and made a statement and said i was wrong to do that. i, you know, here is where i stand. that was long before this became a real issue but something where he had to back track. >> he actually in a recent interview, his most recent interview on "the view" where this daughter meghan mccain is a most, he said several times a clearly frail john mccain in the last kind of months of his life said that was his biggest regret ever. not speaking out about that in south carolina during that primary. which is stunning. i mean, that's a long career and he brought that up twice. this is something that i should have been more vocal on, i

should have been more forceful on. as a national leader. so it's -- it's refreshing because we don't have politicians who do that in almost any way anymore. people don't reflect. people are dug in on their points of view and don't have any time for self-reflection. >> yeah. we're sort of ruled by the tyranny of the tweets, it seems. karen, thank you so much for being here and sharing your insights tonight. nd sharing you insights tonight

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coming up on "kasie d.c." my exclusive interview with the

welcome back. while the country waits for robert mueller to release his report on russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, it's important to remember threats to our democracy are still being detected. just this week, facebook said it removed 652 fake accounts, pages and groups after discovering new influence operations linked to russia and iran. meanwhile, in a new p-ped for law fair, former facebook chief security officer writes, "in some ways the united states has broadcast to the world that it doesn't take these issues seriously and that any perpetrators of information warfare against the west will get at most a slap on the wrist." joining me is alex stamos, now a visiting scholar at the hoover institution. thank you so much for being on the show tonight. >> thank you, kasie. >> let's start with what happened in 2016. what did facebook know? what, in your view, and how, did they fall short? >> so there's really two

different parts of the russian disinformation campaign in 2016. the first was a campaign that was undertaken by the main intelligence director of the russian military which is also called the greu and that campaign was mostly focused on stealing information and then using that stolen information, in particular, e-mails from the dnc and john podesta, to create news stories and amplify them that were harmful to hillary clinton's campaign. the second component was the trolling operation which is mostly done by a group called the internet research agency of st. petersburg. that was a campaign that was particularly on twitter and facebook and aimed at heightening tensions between different groups in the united states. >> do you think that facebook is taking this seriously enough now? >> i think so. i think all the tech companies are taking it extremely seriously. their responsibility to find and

stop disinformation. that's why you saw announcements this week from microsoft, from facebook, from twitter, from go google. . that's not an accident. these companies are working together to find and stop these groups. the problem is the companies can't do it by themselves. this is going to require all of society approach to push back and deter these adversaries because in the long run, in an open society like ours, there's always a chance for this kind of disinformation and propaganda to be injected into social media and the media environment overall. >> yeah. did you try to raise alarms in 2016 about what was going on, from your position were you able to see there was this nefarious behavior going on? >> 2016, we were really focused on the traditional types of cyber security threats from russia we expected around the election, particularly the hacking campaign. and what we did see, we turned over proactively to federal law enforcement. what wasn't of -- as something that we were looking into as deeply at the time was the pure problem began do activities and that's where i think the companies have really made big steps in the last two years to have dedicated teams looking for propaganda actors as well as a bunch of technology that makes

for that coordinated inauthentic behavior of pushing the stories of what is sometimes called fake news, sometimes called disinformation of pushing those over and over again in front of people's eyeballs and trying to raise the divisiveness in american society overall. >> mark zuckerberg has been criticized for not taking this seriously enough. how much personal responsibility do you think and other tech ceos bear for this? >> well, you know, it's hard to say. we're at this intersection of these huge historical forces and whomever the ceos were going to be of these companies, this was always an issue that we're going to have to deal with.

when internet technology gave billions of people voice, it also opened the door for entirely new types of manipulation that we've never seen before. what i can say about mark is i know he takes this really seriously. he is really concerned about the long-term impact of the company he's built. and i think it's great that we've seen from mark and the other ceos them taking personal responsibility then getting personally involved with leading the response in 2018 and 2020. >> do you think that facebook has been transparent enough with its users in how it's dealing with this? >> this is also one of those interesting changes over the last couple of years. it used to be the acceptable steps that a company would take if finding activity by a foreign country was to inform law enforcement. inform the federal government. and let them handle the public aspect. what we're seeing is that's not going to be good enough. so you've seen this progression first with us publishing the paper in april of 2017 then later in the summer of 2017. more information first coming out of facebook then later out of twitter and google about the kinds of things we had found in 2016. and what i think you're going do

see now is this regular pace of all the major tech companies coming out and saying in very short order after an event happens we have found this activity, we have stopped it, here's what we know and here's what we're doing to stop it in the future. >> we know that one thing that essentially trying to foment dissent on controversial topics online and this has sort of come back to the center with alex jones who after some pressure was critics call it censored but others say, look, this guy is violating terms of service, left, right and center and is saying things that are, frankly, appalling. was -- did facebook react too slowly to the alex jones issue? and is there a responsibility in this context of security and election security and our political security? does facebook have a responsibility to take on figures like this? >> i see the alex jones issue a little different than the elections security issue. content policies are a really difficult area and when it comes

to alex jones, the focus has been rightly so on his naming of individuals he disagrees with and kind of sending his followers after them and i do agree the platforms have a responsibility to make sure they're not used for these threatening messages to be put out. but i also think we have to be really careful here. these companies are incredibly powerful. some of them are approaching $1 trillion in market capitalization. i don't think it is a good outcome at this time would be to have the massive tech companies effectively operating as a ministry of truth. of deciding who is a journalist or not, what is outside the acceptable bounds of behavior? i think they need transparent rules around the safety of individuals. and to enforce that in a vigorous and, again, transparent way. but i don't think we should rush into the idea that the best way to deal with people like alex jones is to have them disappear off the internet. i don't think that solves root problems we're dealing with. >> one thing we've also been grappling with here is, frankly,

the speed with which these technologies have been invented and how that can lead to unintended consequences. i want to read from a memo that you wrote to your colleagues back in march just days after announcing you were leaving facebook. you say, "we need to listen to people including internally when they tell us a feature is creepy or point out a negative impact we were having in the world. we need to deprioritize short-term growth in revenue and explain to wall street why that's okay. we need to be willing to pick sides when there are clear moral or humanitarian issues and need to be open, honest and transparent about our channels and what we are doing to fix them." what do you say to people who feel as though, perhaps, they're not being listened to? do you think facebook is trying to live up to the standard that you set in that memo or did that fall on deaf ears? >> so there's a lot of people who agree with me about what facebook needs to do. there's some great people who are still there who are working on it. this is one of the reasons i'm

happy to come to stanford is one of both the strengths and weaknesses of silicon valley is we don't have a lot of memory so you have young people coming out of universities like stanford, not remembering the failures of the past. that makes them very excited and fearless in creating new technoloies but it also means they don't learn from the mistakes those of us who are older than them have made. so one of my goals here at stanford, i think a number of people here share that, we need to start to imbue into the next generation of tech leaders understanding of that technology will always be misused to cause harm and understand how it's been misused in the past and make sure if we're going to make mistakes, we should make new ones. not the same mistakes over and over again. >> very quickly before i let you go here, are the 2018 elections under attack? >> i think with what we saw from the announcements from microsoft and facebook this week is that the russian actors have not been deterred. the russian government is still

wants to be involved in the u.s. elections. and that their playbook is going to be picked up by a number of other countries. what the russians did in 2016 is that not technically sophisticated and there's iran, china and north korea that have the capability to run the same playbook. so i can't say what exactly is going to happen in 2018. what i do know is we haven't really used the last two years effectively to prevent attacks against 2018. we need to start thinking right now about the ways we're going to change our election infrastructure, how we're going to change the laws around online advertising, how we're going to secure the election in 2020. we can't wait another two years to get seriously involved with deterring this action and securing our elections. >> alex stamos, thanks so much for sharing your insights tonight. really appreciate it. >> thanks, casey. thank you. >> good to see you. just ahead, new reporting on how republicans in congress are preparing for a potential blue wave and the investigations that could come with it. "kasie d.c." back in a moment. it "kasie d.c." back in a moment.

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"kasie d.c." back in a moment. we have some brand-new reporting from axios out tonight on how republicans are preparing for the possibility that democrats will retake the house in the midterm elections. jonathan swan obtained a document that's reportedly been circulating throughout gop circles including one leadership office that lays out the potential probes that democrats will likely pursue if they flip the house. some of the investigations republicans are predicting, one on the president's tax returns. one on the payment to stormy daniels. one on james comey's firing. one on the family separation policy. and one on the hurricane

response in puerto rico. and jake sherman, that is a pretty short list. the list is actually much longer than what we showed on the screen there. i feel like sometimes in our quickness to raise the specter of watergate and impeachment the way many on the left are discussing, we missed the fact there's a whole hell of a rot of steps in between and lot of investigative power the democrats don't currently have that they could gain if they win the house. >> i think impeachment would obviously be a huge headache for president trump is the least of his headache but going to have democrats throwing out subpoenas, holding out investigative hearings. i remember in the early days of the obama administration and late days of the obama administration republicans did that. darrell issa did that. >> i almost forgot about darrell issa. >> i never forgot about that. that's a big headache. i do want to say we don't know who's going to be in the leadership of the house republicans at this point so there's no real way for them to prepare because we don't know who the top house republicans are going to be and plus a lot of the preparation has to come out of the white house.

it's about turning over documents. it's going to be really messy. i agree with jonathan on this, i've long thought people, democrats, republicans are not prepared enough. >> the white house definitely does not seem prepared enough according to my sources. when we come backing we're going to dive into the dirty world of florida politics. plus inside the race to replace jeff flake. states of play up next. e jeff flake states of play up next on tuesday, voters in arizona will cast their ballots in the primary to replace senator jeff flake. plus inside the race to replace jeff flake. states of play up next. e jeff flake states of play up next states of play up next

on tuesday, voters in arizona will cast their ballots in the primary to replace senator jeff flake. republican candidate kelli ward made her final pitch to voters on a bus tour where she was joined by a number of conservative voices including one of the main promotors of the pizza gate conspiracy that led to a shooting here in d.c. i asked her about that last week on the show. do you support his views, generally speaking? >> i don't really know what his views are. i know he's got an audience and we want to serve everyone. >> and nbc's vaughn hillyardnbc controversial guest appearance.

>> attaching those things to me is ridiculous because we need to have a hook to get you guys interested in seeing the buck tour, and so just having a great candidate is not enough for the media, sadly, so you need someone to spin things up. >> you've been following the race this week, joining me now from phoenix. vaughn, what's it looking like on the ground there, and, obviously, so many dynamics at play. this is jeff flake's old seat felt he couldn't win, and now that's under the shadow of senator mccain's passing. >> reporter: come this winter, arizona will not be represented by the likes of flake or mccain anymore. there's three individuals vies tuesday for the republican nomination. kelly ward and others, to be clear, none of them have stood or sung the praises of flake or mccain. interestingly, one who has is the democrat, likely democratic nominee who is marketed herself this summer across tv air waves as a western independent. i say this from the aspect i

didn't know mccain like you did, casey, or like a lot of the colleagues, but i grew up ten minutes down the road from mccain in arizona, and for as long as i lived, mccain represented me and my state as a u.s. senator, and i want to note that. over two months, we'll see whether the likes of the john mccain, that independent voice, or the likes of a kirsten that propels the state forward. looking at this, casey, this is a matter of a state that john mccain when he moved here in 1981, two years later running for congress in 1983. he was calmed the carpet bagger. from iowa to new york came to move here. four years later, he took on the role that goldwater left as u.s. senator. there's a lot of individuals like this that have been

provocative figures across the state that give the wild west look, but it's a matter of the likes of john mccain, the goldwaters, o'connor that represented this state. i'll remind you in 2016 in november, casey, it was mccain that won the race by 13 percentage points and donald trump won his by just three. casey? >> thank you so much for the reporting. i'll see you in arizona tomorrow, my friend. meanwhile, voters in florida will also cast their ballots and several hotly contested primaries tuesday. president trump won the state by just one point in 2016. in both parties, they are pouring money into the race. while the president and his policies have dominated the news, some voters tell us there's something in the water that could have a big impact come election day. >> reporter: politics can be a dirty business anywhere, but in florida -- >> all the way through. >> reporter: you can take that literally. toxic blue-green algae in long lasting red tide packed a punch, not just to florida's waters.

>> miles in every direction. i'm second generation fishermen, and my dad never saw anything like this. >> reporter: the state to decide which party controls the u.s. senate is voting with the environment front of mind. >> i don't consider myself a single issue voter, but in this case, i'm a single issue voter. >> reporter: while rick scott and nelson try to slam each other -- >> bill nelson made a pledge 30 years ago to solve this problem. ♪ >> reporter: voters just want a solution. >> the algae thing is, i think, the major crisis here. i'm a republican. i vote republican. but i don't know if i would vote republican for this, but i won't vote for nelson either. >> reporter: polls show it's the environment, not russia or tariffs, among the most important issues to voters, but

one of florida's most famous residents is shaping the race as well. >> and everybody needs the support rhonda in the august 28th primary. >> reporter: that endorsement with a trumped up ad -- >> then mr. trump said, you're fired! i love that part. >> reporter: jolted a lagging opponent, state agriculture opponent, showing the grassroots power of a trump endorsement. >> putnam's been in government a long time, but with that, trump endorsement, santos will have an edge. >> reporter: meanwhile, democrats tried to one-up each other when it comes to standing up to donald trump. >> i fought donald trump and can continue to fight donald trump. >> donald trump is the example of a bully. >> only candidate in america willing to stand up for trump in his own dining room. >> you think trump is on the ballot because he's in every ad. >> reporter: it's under voters' noses that bring them to the ballot box. >> you see images of dead fish and wildlife, but the odor is a atrocious. that motivates me.

>> reporter: and, casey, i think that there's a really interesting dynamic i'm watching for tuesday, this shift in the republican party here in florida. the trumpfication of the gop that we talk about. sanchez, fox news darling, relative outsider considering the fact that putnam, the opponent, is a fifth generation, a long time public servant here in florida. sanchez with the trump nod could show the republican party here in florida that once nominated and elected jeb bush to the governorship is very much different in 2018. casey? >> seems like those days may be behind us. thank you so much. great reporting. when we return here, what to watch for in the week ahead.

before we go, let's talk about what you're watching in the week ahead. kevin? >> friday to get a nasa deal, and so the decision to see if the administration can get that done, and arizona primary tuesday. >> uh-huh. >> how trump handles himself in a week that's about john mccain and whether that affects the 2018 midterms and if people are turned off with trump dumping all over mccain. >> i'm heading to arizona to cover that primary and the

funeral at the end of the week. that's all for us here, i'm kasie dc. we're back here tomorrow night. for tonight, good night from washington. it's because the type of person that's a bed rock of the institution that puts the institution above a political "kasie dc." we will be back next week. good night from washington. ♪ this morning another mass shooting in america. authorities are investigating a deadly shooting in jacksonville, florida that has left three people dead including the gunman and almost a dozen others injured. plus, remembering john mccain. the condolences are pouring in after the senator passed away this weekend following his battle with brain cancer. new reporting that president's long-time friend roger stone is predicting that donald trump jr. could soon be indicted in the mueller