thanks for watching. i'll see you back here next saturday. you heard it right, we have two shows now saturdays and sundays at 5:00 p.m. two new live shows each week. up next, "meet the press" with chuck todd. this sunday, who will control congress? two weeks to go before the midterms. president trump is trying to make it all about him. >> remember this, a vote for david is a vote for me. >> republicans are still riding a post kavanaugh surge of enthusiasm on the senate side. >> whatever deficit in enthusiasm republican voters may have had going into the fall election, it's been eliminated. >> while democratic anger at the president continues to fuel a likely takeover on the house side. >> i am outraged because this is outrageous! >> democrats debate whether to fight mr. trump on his own terms.

>> they go low, we kick them. >> with us this morning, two challengers, republican nat nominee in missouri josh hawley and democratic nominee for governor of georgia, stacey abrams. plus washington post columnist jamal khashoggi is feared killed by saudi forces. president trump promises severe punishment but not if it hurts u.s. arm sales. >> i don't want to hurt jobs. >> senate republicans meanwhile are speaking out. >> if it did happen, there would be hell to pay. >> my guests this morning, republican senator marco rubio of florida, and former cia chief john brennan. joining me for insight and analysis, nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell, peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times," nbc news national political reporter carol lee and lanhee chen of stanford university. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press."

good sunday morning. tip o'neill famously said "all politics is local." he was right then. boy, is he wrong now. in the age of trump, all politics is national. republicans, mostly in senate race, want to remind voters how much they love president trump. democrats mostly in suburb house races want to remind voters how much they dislike president trump. and mr. trump wants to remind everyone how much he wants to be at the center of it all, flooding the zone. we've never seen one party take over a chamber of congress while the opposing party gains seats in the other chamber. that could happen this year. president trump's popularity in red america and his toxicity in blue america suggests democrats could win back the house while republicans actually pick up seats in the senate, making securing their majority for perhaps four or more years. in other words, red is getting red and blue is getting bluer. then there's purple that could

end up deciding the whole thing. the question with three weeks to go until the midterm election is this. will the republicans post-kavanaugh momentum continue? >> we're having a lot of victories, folks. can you handle it? >> president trump eager to energize his base and kick start his 2020 campaign has a message for republican voters. the midterm elections are all about him. >> a vote for david is a vote for me. >> a vote for steve is a vote for me. >> a vote for cindy is a vote for me. >> a vote for marsha is really a vote for me. >> it's an argument democratic candidates are also making in the suburb house districts the party needs to win back control. >> barbara come stack might as well be barbara trumpstock. >> mike coffman didn't stand up to mr. trump. >> he toured from khan sill bluffs, iowa, to erie, pennsylvania, cincinnati, ohio to richmond, kentucky. called in to fox news and answered questions from

reporters taking advantage to tout republican momentum. >> we are more energized as republicans than i think ever before. we just got poll numbers for some of the senate races. >> in many of those senate races republican candidates are hoping to sustain energy among mr. trump's core supporters without alienating independent voters. >> do you consider yourself aligning more with jeff flake or president trump. >> i'm a matha mcsally republican. >> i'm a mitt romney republican. >> still in the aftermath of the supreme court fight over brett kavanaugh, republican voters remain energized. >> whatever deficit and enthusiasm republican voters may have had in the fall has been eliminated. >> democrats are facing the hard realities of the senate landscape in order to net the two seats they need for the majority, democrats need to win at least one of the three contests that currently lean republican, north dakota,

tennessee or texas. even if they hold every other democratic seat and win both republicans to-ups. >> at this point the chances of my party being in a majority in the senate are minuscule. i always thought they were very low. >> while republicans borrow trump talking points. >> angry left wing mob. >> the left wing mob. >> mob. >> far left mob. >> mob. >> angry mobs. >> some democrats gearing up for 2020 argue that to beat mr. trump they need to be more like him. >> michelle obama said when they go low, we go high. no, when we go low, we kick them. >> a message some 2018 candidates in competitive races are rejecting. >> i'm going to quote my grandma ma. she used to say never, ever wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty, but the pig likes me. >> joining me from florida is republican senator marco rubio. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you.

>> before i get to the primary subject with saudi arabia, i want to start with hurricane michael's impact, particularly to the eastern part of the panhandle. it does seem as if this was a pretty devastating hit to that part. a lot of people having flashback, myself included, to what happened to homestead. how concerned are you that panama city, mexico beach, will never get rebuilt the way they would like to be rebuilt? >> well, you used the exact analogy i've used, and that is andrew. i think you and i both lived down here during that period of time. it's the closest thing i can remember in terms of panama beach -- panama city when i saw it. i didn't get to mexico beach. i was at the eoc, the energy operations center. the drone had just come back. so we had the best images. it basically is a total wipeout. it's hard to imagine it having the exact identity it had. it will all will rebuilt but it's going to take a long time.

as far as electricity in panama city, the whole grid has to be rebuilt. what i'm concerned about, there are poor rural counties to the north of there. these counties took a devastating hit. we're talking about poor people, many of them older, miles from each other, isolated in many cases from roads including dirt roads that are cut off right now. we haven't been able to reach those people in a number of days. i know they're doing the best they can to get to them. i'm very concerned. >> is there more resources you want from the feds here? is there some military support that's necessary here in order to speed up the ability to get to some of these communities? >> maybe. it's available. what people forget and i always warrant to remind them, when it comes to the hurricane, the state government is in the lead. it's the state government in charge of the response. the federal government stands in

support. the state government tells the federal government we need this and we need that. so far i haven't heard anything that the state government has asked for that the federal government hasn't provided. whether there needs to be more, that's something we'll see in the days to come. i know the federal government, including the department of defense, is standing ready to offer more if the state says it needs it. >> i know political norms get reerased all the time. one of the norms erased in florida, in the middle of a hurricane coming and hitting the shores, there was a cease-fire on television, no political negative ads. that didn't happen this time. the republican party running negative ads against andrew gillum. is this par for the course, or would you like to see this put back into place? >> i don't think anything is ever going to be the way it once was, especially the eve of the election, four weeks away. whether politics is standings in the way of dealing with the hurricane, that would be what i'd have a problem with. i don't think television ads, whether right or wrong, keep

candidates from doing their job. you saw the mayor of tallahassee went back to tallahassee. the governor is doing his job there. bill nelson is focused on his job. ron desantis, i think that's the thing i would look at. as far as norms are concerned, politics is different today than it used to be, and i don't think it's going to go back in many instances. >> i want to move to the disturbing story of the missing journalist, jamal khashoggi, "washington post" columnist. first of all, as a member of the intelligence committee, do you know if he's dead or alive? >> i do not. i don't think anyone does. i think the turks have a very strong opinion and claim there's

evidence they're sharing with u.s. intelligence officials. i haven't seen that yet. suffice it to say, it's been a long time since it happened. the last place he went in was into the saudi consulate. no video of him leaving. i'm not prepared to pass judgment on things i don't know for 100% certainty. i can tell you he walked into that consulate and we have never soon him come out. something happened. if he's not alive, it's the saudis that would know what happened. >> do you know if we got intelligence beforehand that his life may be in danger? >> well, i'm not going to discuss that on television. suffice it to say, i certainly think if, in fact, the saudis are responsible for this, and we're going to learn that. i truly believe we'll know the answer to that. it's not something that people would look at and be surprised

by. this is clearly someone they were unhappy and uncomfortable with. what i do think is shocking is if, in fact, he was lured into a diplomatic facility, murdered, his body chopped up and they sent a group of people down there to carry this out, that would be an outrage, an atrocity and a swift response certainly from congress. >> if u.s. intelligence knew in advance he was in trouble, do you think we had a duty to warn him? >> well, i think that's our policy. if we know someone is facing a specific threat, that we would let them know that. i think in this particular case, i'm not sure that he was not aware of it. for example, i'm not sure he was ever going to get on a plane and fly back to riyadh or saudi arabia. there's been reports that they were trying to get him to do that. what i've never seen evidence of is that somehow walking into a diplomatic facility in a third country would endanger his life. that's the most shocking part. if this happened in saudi arabia, it would still be outrageous, but that's different from saying in a third country, not saudi arabia, in a diplomatic facility, you're going to walk in and then they're going to do that to ice you.

that would be something we've never seen before, certainly from a country that's an ally. >> let's talk about potential punishments here. the president said one thing is off the table. he would not cancel any arm sale to saudi arabia, saying that would hurt america more than saudi arabia. if that's the case, how does that not come across as the united states putting a price on our human rights policy? >> well, i would have phrased it differently. arm sales to saudi arabia are important, not because of money. he's right when he says they'll buy it from somebody else. when they buy from us, they need training, things that give us leverage over there. there's advantage to arm sales that have nothing to do with money. that said, our moral credibility, our ability to call putin a murder because he is, our ability to cal assad a murderer because he is, our ability to confront madura, all of that is undermined and compromised if we somehow decide because an ally who is important did that, we're in the going to

call it out. i will say this to you with full confidence. if this is proven to be true there's going to be a response from congress, it's going to be nearly unanimous and swift. that could include arm sales but could include a bunch of other things as well. >> the president doesn't look like he's ready to commit as far as you just went. >> well, at some point, like i said, when all the evidence is in, we'll see. i saw an interview after he said the things with the arm sales where he said if this turns out to be true, there will be a price to pay. i believe if this has happened and can be proven, the white house will do something significant. i believe they'll do it. i know congress will do it. >> senator marco rubio, thank you for coming in. thank you for sharing your views. joining me now former director of the cia john brennan, a one-time stakes chief in saudi arabia. welcome back. >> good morning, chuck.

>> it seems as if in the early parts of the obama administration, if there was a problem between the obama administration and saudi arabia, you were the one sent to try to mediate the situation. so let me ask you this, what is the cia doing -- what would you do doing right now trying to figure out this mystery? >> working with our longstanding partners, the turkish intelligence officers as well as saudi intelligence officers and others, to see what information they might be able to share with us, but also looking at what other types of collection capabilities we have and going back into systems and databases and seeing if there are any indications of what may have happened when jamal khashoggi went to the saudi consulate.

>> we have tight intelligence sharing with the saudis, do we not? >> yes. >> how likely is it that we would have a hint that they had some issue with khashoggi, that they were going arrest him, detain him? >> i think it was pretty open that the saudi government had issues with jamal khashoggi because of his writings. i wouldn't be surprised if u.s. diplomats, intelligence officers were mindful about the potential for something to happen to jamal khashoggi. >> if you have this information, you know the saudi government might aggressive with you, he was a u.s. resident, but a saudi citizen. do we have a duty to warn him? >> if there's credible intelligence that somebody is under threat of violent attack, nah would trigger a process to decide about the ability to warn that individual. i don't know what type of intelligence we had before his disappearance. but it was arrest or detention or capture of jamal khashoggi, he is a saudi citizen, even though he's an american resident. so i am unclear exactly whether or not that threshold for duty to warn was triggered.

it would have to have some type of threat of violence associated with it. >> i'm curious. the release of pastor brunson by the turks. the president said there was no connection. any connection here? could it be this is the turk's way of trying to get on the u.s. side because they want the united states to believe their version of events here. >> i think one can make the argument that the turks are trying to improve relations with the united states, not just for this issue, but also more broadly, particularly on the economic and political front. the coincidence of the two in terms of khashaggi's disappearance and brunson's release is interesting. i don't know what it was that might have been brokered between ankara and washington. >> there's a lot of people who seem to be pretty confident that this was likely an order from mds and the government in saudi arabia. where are you on that? >> two points. if he had disappeared in turkey when at a hotel or public

residence, i think there's plausible deniability, but he disappeared when there's video evidence of him being at the saudi consulate, a diplomatic mission under the full control of saudi arabia. their denials very much ring hollow. to go after a permanent resident of the united states who writes for "the washington post" and doing it on foreign soil at a diplomatic mission, to me it would be inconceivable that such an operation would be run by the saudis without the knowledge of the day-to-day decision maker of saudi arabia, crown prince mohammed bin salman. i think it's up to the saudis now to explain what actually happened. >> would it matter if their explanation is this was an rendition gone wrong, we didn't, quote, mean to kill him? >> i think there has to be a full accounting of it. there have been calls for investigations. king salman's father has had a long-standing reputation of being fair, pious, but also

meeting out justice to members of the royal family. there have been princes in the past who have been held to account for transgressions of the law, including executions. it's going to be up to king salman, if he has the mental capacity and political strength -- >> you said if. you don't think the king has mental capacity right now? >> well, he is aging, and there are indications that he has failed a bit. whether or not now he's able to muster the strength and the capacity to find out what happened, including the role of his son -- >> the issue with saudi arabia, it seems it's always been a transactional relationship, no matter which party has been in the white house. isn't it understandable that saudi arabia always thinks at the end of the day the u.s. needs them more and will overlook these things. is that what mbs was possibly gambling on? >> the strength of the

u.s.-saudi relationship goes back many years. i think mbs has been emboldened. his relationship with the white house, with donald trump as well as with jared kushner i think probably gave him increased confidence to do some of these things in a more aggressive way. look what's happened in yemen and that awful, awful tragic war. i also think donald trump's siding up to authoritarian leaders around the globe, donald trump's condemnation of the press that's critical, his continued dishonesty and denial of reality, i think that's encouraged mbs to go along this road. >> would you put mbs in the same column as putin. >> clearly in the authoritarian

autocratic camp, absolutely. >> john brennan, thanks for coming on. >> thanks, chuck. the panel is next. welcome back. panelists here. herefor coming on. >> thanks, chuck. the panel is next. (music throughout)

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welcome back. panelists here. lanhee chen, director of domestic policy studies from stanford. national political reporter carol lee. andrea mitchell, and peter baker, the chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and co-author of "impeachment: an american history." he writes the bill clinton chapter for those wondering. nice to see you. let me start with where we left off with former cia director and marco rubio. a full-page ad from "the washington post" saying on tuesday, october 2nd, "washington post" reporter jamal khashoggi entered the consulate at saudi arabia and has not been seen since.

demand answers. andrea mitchell, what did you hear? >> i heard congress is going to take action when they prove this. they will prove it, whether they claim it was an accident, a misguided kidnapping attempt. kidnapping rendition is also violence, taking someone. if we had intelligence, it's unclear from my reporting when we had intelligence. it may have been realtime or afterwards or after the fact. but there probably should have been a warning if we had anyway of stopping it. in any case, there will be action from congress. the president's hand is going to be forced. they've already in the foreign relations committee gone with the magnitsky letter saying you are under an affirmative requirement, legal requirement to investigate this which the administration did not want to do, investigated with a time limit and sanctions are coming. this is going to be sanctions against -- they've got leverage, the saudis, oil, the markets,

this is a big foreign policy crisis. we are in a war with them in yemen. >> with them. helping support them. >> to say nothing of syria. the president is not goings to be able to stand firm against taking action. peter baker, lanhee chen, carol lee. take away saudi arabia and say russia. >> the same thing. >> congress is united, the president is isolated. >> mds is a lot like early putin. there are moments when people found him to be a reformer, modernizer, hoping he could be a friend with the west. at home he was cracking down hard. the difference is when russia poisons a former russian agent on british soil we can unite against russia because russia is not an ally. saudi arabia is an ally. we're stuck between vary who has been a friend since the 1940s, it puts any president in a tough position. >> we shouldn't lose sight of

the fact there's regional dynamics that are very complicated. we certainly have an important alliance with the saudis. let's not forget who benefits if we have a fracture of our rbis. the turks are ready to step in, qataris. if we believe the saudis did this, huge problem. we obviously have to do something about it. let's not forget there are other players in the region with interests as well. let's not be quick to run to judgment unless we have complete and thorough evidence that this happened. >> i would also say if you step back and look at the way some officials in the government, particularly intelligence community viewed mbs, there was deep concern about how he operates. he's very young, 33 years old. he's ruthless, seen as reckless, somebody who has a lot of rope from this administration in particular and yet is somebody who, because of his impulses, needs a check from the united states.

so he hasn't had that. this is the kind of thing that intelligence officials have been worried about for quite some time. >> i want to shift a little bit to president bush. we're realizing mbs cares what the elites think. boy have they turned away from him big time. >> except the investment community. >> we'll see how they react in the next couple days. let's turn to the president. andrew sullivan, no donald trump defender, here is what he writes. trump's record as a force of destruction is profound, but as the months tick by there's a decent case that trump's proactive accomplishments are beginning to add up as well, a huge tax cut, two supreme court justices, wholesale deregulation, renegotiation of nafta, a broader reboot of bilateral nationalism on the world stage. lanhee chen. >> whether you like me or not, i'm going to get these things down that you care about. particularly in the senate races around the country, we're seeing how that is animating itself.

particularly with respect to the supreme court fight. what the kavanaugh nomination fight did was to remind republicans of just how important that central promise was, to nominate supreme court justices who would uphold certain views of the constitution. i think the president is coming back to that. he's nationalizing this race, and i think that's benefiting the republicans in some of these key senate races. >> he feels really good right now. >> yes, he does. >> you can see it. part of it is all of these accomplishments he feels like he's been racking up from the trade deal with canada and mexico to 3.7% unemployment, but also the mueller investigation has not been front and center. you don't have stormy daniels front and center and things like that. so that makes him feel really good. he loves being out on the

campaign trail. we're told he'll do four to five rallies a week from now until the election. he's got a three-day swing in the western part of the u.s. coming up this week. so he also feels like he's his best messenger and so he won't stop talking. >> montana, nevada, arizona. >> i was at two of his rallies this week, in iowa and pennsylvania. he gets a charge out of the crowd. the crowd loves him. there are thousands of people there, people outside waiting to get in. look back at president bush, president clinton, president obama, they had big crowds during midterm elections. they were not on the ballot and lost big seats. so this doesn't necessarily mean anything. but it does pump him up. he's no longer in that sort of restrained kind of like things are going to go bad mode. he's on offense rather than defense. >> you see it with him talking to the press. he's unleashed. he's his own communications chief, his own chief of staff. >> by the way, i have a scroll of all the stuff he's done over the last week. it is amazing. if there's a camera, he's going to make sure he's in front of it. >> this is really trump being trump. you can see how much he loves

being at the rallies, he's having these prime time rally, even though everyone isn't covering them and carrying them live in the past but he misspeaks. fact checking him doesn't seem to have any penetration. this is a man who is really enjoying being president. you can see it. >> he's enjoying the president that he's created. >> that he's created. it doesn't mean doing briefings, meetings, doing hard things. but he's also going to claim credit, is claiming credit for korea which is not a success. but this is part of his -- >> all right, guys. i'll pause it here. we'll be back in a moment. we'll talk to two people who have to win votes in three weeks. democrat stacey abram who hopes to become georgia's next governor. and josh hawley looking to unseat claire mccaskill as a senator from missouri.

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welcome back. there are 35 senate seats in play in this year's midterms, including 27 seats held or controlled by the democrats and nine by the republicans. republicans hope to use this very friendly map to increase their narrow 51-49 majority. meanwhile, the numbers are

reversed in governor's races. there are 26 republican seats up along with just nine democratic and one independent. democrats are the ones bullish about their prospects on that side of the ledge ever. we wanted to talk to some of the challengers in these races. we have two with us this morning. stacey abrams is the democratic candidate in georgia. josh hawley is challenging claire mccaskill for her senate seat. we'll began with mr. josh hawley. mr. attorney general, welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me. >> if you win, is it fair to say the number one issue on voters' minds was judges and justive kavanaugh? and if you come up short and senator mccaskill wins, is it fair to say the number one issue is health care? is it fair to say you have different views as to what's important. >> i think the debacle with

justice kavanaugh, what the senate democrats did is hugely motivating to missouri voters. they cannot believe the conduct of these senate democrats. they can't believe the smear campaign they launched and how they drove dr. ford blue the mud as well. missourians are paying outrageous health care costs. they want a change. claire mccaskill is gone, if you get elected, will you vote to repeal and replace obamacare? >> yes, i would. i think it's vital that we bring down costs, protect people with pre-existing conditions in the law with a mandate, chuck, that ensures we do it, but that we multiply options for families. i've had family after family in this state come up to me and say, look, we can't afford our health insurance. we'll have to get second jobs and a spouse back to work. it shouldn't have to be that way.

>> if you get rid of this law, you get rid of the protections on pre-existing conditions. i know you believe it can be passed, but frankly it never has been, as you know. in your lawsuit as attorney general that you filed, you could have severed the issue of pre-existing conditions. how do you plan on protecting pre-existing conditions? >> chuck, there are a number of ways to do it, to protect folks with pre-existing conditions, congress should mandate it. my position is insurance companies should be required by law to protect folks with pre-existing conditions. i have two boys at home. >> you think that's constitutional? >> i absolutely do. what's not constitutional is the requirement to have people buy health insurance they don't want. it's constitutional to say companies have to cover people with pre-existing conditions. my own little boy has a

pre-existing condition and should be covered under the law. but we don't have to have obamacare to do it. that's the big difference. claire mccaskill wants to protect obamacare by any means necessary. i think we need to put patients back in charge of their health care. >> final question for you. we found a clip of a tv ad you ran when you were running for attorney general in 2016. here is what you said in that ad. >> jefferson city is full of career politicians just climbing the ladder, using one office to get another. i'm josh hawley, i think you deserve better. >> you, within two years, immediately ran for the u.s. senate. what would you say to yourself in that ad? >> i would say the future of our country is at stake. i would say you can see it with the hearings with justice kavanaugh, what we're seeing on the streets. the future of this country and our way of life is at stake. it's incumbent upon all of us to

do all we can. i'm trying to do my part to make sure we fight for the future of this country and fight for missouri. claire mccaskill has not, but i will. >> all right. josh hawley, republican nominee for the u.s. senate in missouri. i appreciate you coming on. be safe on the campaign trail. >> thanks, chuck. >> joining me from atlanta now is stacey abrams. welcome to "meet the press." >> thank you for having me. >> let me start with the impact of hurricane michael particularly on southwest georgia. i know your opponent will be touring the area this week in his capacity as secretary of state. he says to see how local officials are going to be able to see if they can handle the start of early voting tomorrow. let me ask you what do you know about the area, how things are going, are they ready to be worrying about early voting yet or do they need to be worrying about getting the power on? >> i think it's going to be a combination, areas like albany or glasgow county, parts of southwest georgia were very strongly devastated. i know georgia power and the emcs are doing the best they can to turn power back on and deliver it to as many people as

possible. early voters allows for major centers to accept votes. i hope the priority will be in terms of voting making sure those places are ready. i know all of our hearts are reaching out to everyone in those areas. i've gone through a hurricane. it's a devastating process, and it takes months for recovery to happen. i think the governor and the state leaders have done a great job of responding very quickly. >> i'm curious. what's your message to residents in the area? you could be elected governor in a couple weeks. suddenly the task of rebuilding this part of georgia is on your to-do list. what's your message to those voters of why you would be better prepared to lead the recovery than your opponent? >> number one, i've been through this myself. i understand it's not just the physical plant that's a problem. it's making sure people have access to the resources they need. often hen the cameras turn off and people go home and stop

volunteering, that's when the real trouble starts. when people who have been unemployed are continuing to try to figure out how to make a living and take care of their families. i have will leverage the responsibility of the governor, the ability to connect with state, local and federal officials to make sure resources don't just end when the memory of the storm passes for the average person. i think that's what you need, someone who is thinking about this, not as a three-day or three-week return, but really as a ten-month, 12-month recovery period. >> let me ask you about an issue front and center of your campaign, and that is this issue of rejected voter registration forms due to this issue of exact match. if it isn't an exact match, the registration gets thrown out. 70% of these registrations belong to african-american voters. do you believe this is an intentional decision by your opinion point and the office that he runs? >> absolutely. i was part of a coalition that sued him in 2016 to force him to stop using this process. a federal judge agreed with us,

said that he had unlawfully canceled more than 33,000 registrations, and they forced him to restore those registrations. in response, the republicans passed a law in the 2017 legislative session to allow him to do it again. so the challenge is twofold. one is that we know this is a flawed system that has a disproportionate affect on people of color. but it also has the ability to erode trust in our system. i know secretary kemp is well aware of this, and it's part of a pattern of behavior where he tries to tilt the playing field in his favor or in the favor of his party. this should not require the erosion of public trust. >> are you confident this is going to be a fair election in november? >> i am, and here is why. the 53,000 we know about do have the ability to go and cast a ballot. the problem is, it's a subjective system with 159 counties and thousands of pre precincted poll workers being told to verify. my organization, working with the democratic party, we put together the largest voter

protection effort in the state's history. we have national organizations that are also paying attention. i think we can make this work. >> i want to ask you a comment that eric holder made, former attorney general, campaigning for you. it's blown up into a bit of a national story. he essentially said, when they go low, we go high. no, no, no. when they go low, we kick them. he goes on to explain. are you on the michelle obama side, when they go low, you go high or what eric holder is preaching, you know, every once in a while you've got to kick them. >> i'm think there's a hyperbolic moment that happens in every campaign. if you watch my campaign from the beginning through today, i've focused on three issues, education, jobs and health care. i don't point shotguns at people in my commercials to create histrionics. my responsibility is to show

georgians how i will lead the state. if they watched my campaign from the beginning in june 2017 through november 6, they will see the same consistent leadership i will bring to the governor's office. >> sounds like you're siding with michelle obama. i won't put words in your mouth. that's what i sounds like to me. fair enough? >> i'm siding with the people of georgia that i intend to be a strong leader. >> stacey abrams, thank you for coming on "meet the press." stay safe on the campaign trail. >> i appreciate your time. when we come back, the issue s that was once a big selling point for republicans that democrats are now more han happy to talk about. ut there was always a catch. like somehow you wind up getting less. but now that i book at hilton.com, and i get all these great perks. i got to select my room from the floor plan... very nice... i know, i'm good at picking stuff. free wi-fi... laptop by the pool is a bold choice... and the price match guarantee. how do you know all of this? are you like some magical hilton fairy? it's just here on the hilton app. just available to the public, so...

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welcome back. data download time. in the last four elections, republicans have consistently attacked democrats on obamacare, pledging to repeal and replace the law. democrats made health care and covering pre-existing conditions their issue in 2018. in fact, according to data analyzed by the wesleyan media project, health care has been a topic in 44% of ads for democratic house candidates and 50% for democratic senate candidates. republican house candidates mention health care in 34% of their ads. for gop senate candidates, it doesn't even crack the top five.

what does all this look like on the airwaves? >> patrick morrissey wants to take away health care. >> deny coverage for people with pre-existing condition. >> fought to protect coverage for pre-existing health conditions. >> she told us she'd protect people with pre-existing conditions. >> those ads were just from arizona and west virginia, two states with two very different races. since september 1st there have been 12 ads in the arizona senate race touching on health care. 11 ads specifically mention protections for pre-existing conditions. ten of those support the democratic candidate kyrsten sinema. even in west virginia, a state president trump won by over 40 points, the incumbent democrat joe manchin is running on, you guessed it, health care. ten ads in that race on health care since september 1st. eight mention pre-existing conditions, all support manchin. the democrats have plenty of divides in their party, the one issue that unites them right now is health care. it can play everywhere. this is a radical shift from the last two midterm cycles when at times anti-obamacare adds out

numbered pro by a margin of 10-1. this year it's the democrats running on offense rather than defense on the issue. when we come back, end game and the thing we've never seen before that just might happen on election night this november. coming up "end game" brought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. a wealth of information. a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management.

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boeing. continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. >> back now with "end game." it's fair to say carol lee, that the conventional wisdom has shifted big time when it comes to the senate versus the house. this idea of a split decision. republicans gaining in the senate, democrats gaining in the house. senate seemed to be falling away. here's phil bredesen, the democratic nominee in tennessee admitting as much. take a listen. >> at this point, the chances of my party being in the majority in the senate of minuscule. >> judges versus health care. are judges winning? >> they certainly are for now. the senate was always going to be a tougher haul for democrats. polls have shifted. that is not the message that democrats necessarily want to send that their chances are minuscule. but they are diminishing. and a lot of it has to do with

kavanaugh. the question is whether or not that energy that republicans have can hold over the next several weeks because democrats are also energized in their own way. but there's definitely this sense, and even senator corden said, i believe, on friday, that there's a chance that republicans could pick up seats in the senate which would be highly unusual. and so there's a shift happening. whether it shifts back between now and election day remains to be seen. >> i was just in missouri for a few days and it feels as if that is two different races. the democrats are running a campaign on health care. the republicans, i could see it, are running about conservative judges and the importance of what the senate majority means. missouri is one of those states that has a red tint to it and you can see the kavanaugh effect in realtime. >> absolutely. it's absolutely helped josh holley in missouri. midterm elections are a lot about convincing voters, what is it you stand to lose? what is it you stand to lose?

and for republicans, the pitch is, if a democratic senate gets elected, you'll lose these judges. if a republican senate gets elected, you'll lose obamacare. that's where y the pitch has focused in on judges and health care. the challenge is in some of these states, arizona, nevada, you're starting to see the race creep away from democrats. it's happened in a slow but steady fashion. in nevada, jackie rosen, the democrat, has not been ahead in a public poll since the end of september. in arizona, kirsten cinema. so these races are creep away but the narrative here is really about, what do you stand to lose? republicans have prosecuted that case effective lie. >> it's unclear the democrats have really energized their voters. hispanic voters have not been well reached out to and many hispanics in texas are really concerned about registering for anything, whether they're legal or not. they don't want to be part of the government. they're so afraid of i.c.e. and really -- rather than being

angry by what's happened on immigration, they are really afraid of the government right now and registration and voting is being part of the government. telling people where you live. the other thing is millennials may nobt t be as energized and excited. where is the gun debate, these other issues animating young people after parkland? it seems, it does feel the republicans are regaining on the senate side. >> peter, when you look at this from 30,000 feet, which you are asked to do a lot in your position at the times. a result that had republicans gaining in the senate and democrats winning the house is emblematic of the divide in this country. rural america is in one place. suburban america is in another. >> we set up a two-year period of complete and utter gridlock. you think the kavanaugh thing was ugly? imagine if you have a split congress, a president who wants to play off them to benefit his own possible re-election in 2020, possibly democratic house that launches an impeachment

inquiry. it may not go all the way further but certainly is going to have a lot of subpoenas and investigations. you thought the kavanaugh thing was ugly? we only saw the preseason. we're about to head into the main season. >> the president is doing "60 minutes" and something leaked out about jim mattis. he was a colleague at the hoover institute. the president has a tell of when somebody is about to lose their job. he says i think they're kind of a democrat. he once referred to rosenstein that way. he said i don't know anything, but he is kind of a democrat. well, boy, that's a tell. is he a democrat? >> not that i've ever seen. i mean, i think this would be a staggering finding to anybody who spent time around him. look. jim mattis has been a stabilizing force for national security policy during this administration. he's been someone who has presented a reasoned point of view. a lot of people would be very nervous if jim mattis were departing this administration.

the writing is on the wall with some of the tells we're seeing with the president. >> their relationship has been strained for some time. jim mattis has been the level-headed cabinet member who has put forward traditional positions but the president hasn't been listening to him for months in terms of whether it's on iran or other issues. and so there's been tensions in the relationship to begin with. >> the woodward book didn't help either. >> i don't think jim mattis is going to go voluntarily. so that sets up a situation where the president of the united states is going to fire jim mattis or push him out? that's a bigger lift than, say, rex tillerson. >> hour, with pompeo at state and bolton and his deputy ricardell now at the white house, there's been a poisoning of the atmosphere from bolton and his deputy against jim mattis. and that relationship has been very strained. you know, i think it's going to be hard to fire him, but i think there are big changes coming after the midterms. they are telegraphing he feels

empowered. >> shocking that we're going to have a midterm transition like nobody has ever seen. before we say good-bye, we'd like to know your thoughts on the 2018 election. so if you want to get something off your chest and do it anonymously, do it at our election confessions.com. and check out what other voters are saying, too. you don't want to admit what you are believing. admit it here. that's all we have for today. thanks for watching. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." congratulations, jordan and jeff.

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you got this. with the one hundred and forty-first pick, the seattle seahawks select. alright, you got it, shaquem. alright, let me see. ♪ welcome to "kasie dc." i'm kasie hunt. we're live every sunday from washington from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, two straight hours without kanye west or taylor swift. plus, i know we talk about midterms a lot on this show. but if you care about politics in government, now is the time. democrats seek to preserve their wave in the house while republicans get more confident about the senate. we have a great lineup to explain what signal and what's noise with less than a month to go. plus, believe it or not, our show is one year